Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours (6 August 1644 – 6 June 1710) was a French noblewoman and the mistress of Louis XIV from 1661 to 1667.
La Vallière joined the royal court in 1661 as maid-of-honour to Henrietta of England. She soon became Louis XIV's mistress. Two of her four children by the King, Marie-Anne, Mademoiselle de Blois (princess of Conti by marriage) and Louis, Count of Vermandois survived infancy and were legitimised. She was an important participant in the court's intellectual life, interested in the arts, literature, and philosophy.
In 1666, she was replaced as mistress by Madame de Montespan; she was created a suo jure duchess and invested with lands. After an illness in 1670, La Vallière turned to religion and wrote a popular devotional book. In 1674, she entered a Carmelite convent in Paris where she died in 1710.
Family and early life
In La Vallière's paternal family, Catholicism and royalism were important values: many relatives chose an ecclesiastical or military career. Her maternal family were noblesse de robe. Her father served as governor of the Castle of Amboise where she occasionally visited him. He was a devout Catholic who regularly practiced penance and charity and owned a library of forty-four folios (extensive for the time). In March 1651, during the Fronde, he held Amboise against the forces of the revolt and remained loyal to Louis XIV. Françoise-Louise , Mademoiselle de La Vallière was born on 6 August 1644 at the (also known as Hôtel de la Vallière) in Tours. She was the daughter of Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc, Seigneur of La Vallière, and his wife, Marie-Françoise Le Provost de La Coutelaye. She had an older brother, Jean-François, later marquis of La Vallière.
La Vallière and her brother were raised at the family seat, the Castle of La Vallière. Their uncle, Gilles de La Vallière (born 1616) was responsible for their education. La Vallière was instructed by the (whose convent included two of her paternal aunts) in reading, grammar, musical composition, and public speaking. The family owned horses and she may have gained her love of equitation then. Her limping in later life may have been caused by a horse riding accident from this time.
Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc died in the summer of 1651, leaving his family in debt. His widow claimed her dowry and dower to finance a new marriage, relinquishing guardianship of her children and depriving them of their maternal inheritance. La Vallière's paternal family persuaded Françoise Le Provost to settle the family debts and accept the furnishings of the family home in place of her dower. She rented the furniture back to her children with an interest. What happened to La Vallière at this time is unknown, but she may have been sent to her aunts’ convent.
In March 1655, Françoise Le Provost married Jacques de Courtavel, Marquis of Saint-Rémy, maître d’hôtel of the exiled Gaston, Duke of Orléans (uncle of Louis XIV). Saint-Rémy had a daughter of La Vallière's age, Catherine, and the couple had a third daughter together. The family moved to the Duke's household in Blois, where La Vallière and her stepsister became demoiselles de compagnie to the Duke's younger daughters. They occasionally saw the also-exiled Grande Mademoiselle, paternal half-sister of the princesses. La Vallière befriended Anne-Constance de Montalais, another demoiselle de compagnie, who remained her confidante for years.
Lair says the education of girls in the Orléans court was neglected, while Conley claims that they were taught painting, music, etiquette, and equitation, as well as literature and philosophy by the Duke's almoner, Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé. La Vallière may have been introduced to neo-Aristotelian thought by Rancé. Huertas argues that La Vallière had to have received a good education based on her exceptional spelling. Petitfils sees her education as more rudimentary, being only in "reading, prayer, [...] sewing, and embroidery", but agrees that she was well-trained in the necessary skills for a career at court (such as dancing and horse riding). Louis XIV was an important topic of conversation due to plans that the eldest Orléans princess would marry him. In August 1659, the King visited Blois; this was the first time La Vallière saw him. Around the same time, Jacques de Bragenlonge, son of the Duke's intendant, fell in love with her. Their letters were discovered by her mother, who forbade her from writing to him. She had a "good reputation"; the Duke once said that La Vallière certainly did not take part in mischief, as she was "too sensible". Later in life, she attributed the "beginning of [her] fall" to the self-assurance she gained from his praise.
In February 1660, the Duke died and his widow, Marguerite of Lorraine, moved the household to the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. The Orléans daughters and their friends spent their time with balls and feasts organised by the Grande Mademoiselle. In August 1660, La Vallière was present at the joyeuse entrée of Louis and his new wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, into Paris.
Secret lover of Louis XIV
Background
In April 1661, the King's younger brother, Philippe, the new duke of Orléans ("Monsieur"), married Henrietta of England ("Madame"). Madame's household was organised by Madame de Choisy, Jeanne de Bélesbat de Hurault, a distant relative of La Vallière and member of the former Orléans household, who appointed her and her friend Montalais filles d’honneur. La Vallière and her brother (who was embarking on a military career) had no money to finance their transitions, but nobody was willing to lend to minors. They petitioned a judge who instructed their mother and stepfather to borrow money for them. La Vallière joined the Orléans household in the Tuileries Palace after the wedding. On 19 April, they moved to the court in Fontainebleau. The King's attendants courted the maids-of-honour of Madame; La Vallière's suitor was Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche. The King and Madame grew close. Louis/ wife Maria Theresa, his mother, Anne of Austria, and Monsieur all disapproved. Rumours spread that the King and his sister-in-law were in love. The King may have been advised to pretend to be in love with others, or they may have decided to do so together with Madame. Huertas and Petitfils suggest that the ploy was Henrietta's idea to deceive the Queen Mother. Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons, assisted them. Henrietta may have chosen the decoys herself, including La Vallière and Bonne de Pons d’Heudicourt.
The King fell in love with La Vallière. She reciprocated his feelings and probably believed them to have been sincere from the beginning. They exchanged letters through , the King's premier écuyer ("first squire)". Their sexual relationship started around the end of July 1661, after about six weeks of courtship. The Queen Mother noticed that her son neglected religious practice and around mid-July discovered the identity of La Vallière. She reminded Louis of his duty to his country and God, asking him to hide his feelings for La Vallière from his wife. Louis did not end his relationship but promised to conduct it secretly.
La Vallière was characterised as "innocent", "submissive", "natural[ly] modest", "sincere", and even "naïve", different from the dominant and worldly women surrounding Louis, but fitting contemporary ideals of femininity. She was not flirtatious and did not act on self-interest, exhibiting an "absolute loyalty" to the King. She was described as tall, slim, and graceful despite her limp, with blue eyes, fine, silver-blond hair, and a "beautiful" voice. Fraser suggests that La Vallière refrained from pursuing material benefits through her relationship because she needed to conceptualise it as "pure" or "holy" to fit it into her religious worldview. In his memoirs, claims to have been in love with La Vallière, not knowing about her affair. The King saw them together when he was painting La Vallière. Brienne complimented her appearance to him, which embarrassed her. Later, discovering Louis and La Vallière together, he understood the situation. Louis then questioned him about his feelings and asked for his painting of La Vallière; Brienne promised never to talk to her again. However, by the time this story supposedly happened, Brienne had probably already heard about the King's affair from the Queen Mother.
First years of the relationship
Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances noticed that the King was neglecting his religious and administrative duties. He learned La Vallière's identity by 27 June through his network of spies. He wanted to establish a political relationship with the new favourite and sent her a letter complimenting her appearance and offering a bribe, which she refused. He then attempted to talk to her. La Vallière informed the King, who seems to have believed that Fouquet tried to seduce her. This probably added to his resentment against Fouquet, whose vast fortune, probably embezzled, he envied. In September, Fouquet was arrested and imprisoned until his death in 1680.
La Vallière became isolated because of her relationship, as Madame resented her for it. The devotion of the King to La Vallière was strengthened in October 1661, when he had a conflict with his wife who supported her father, Philip IV of Spain, in a diplomatic incident. If the Orléans household was established separately from the court, the King regularly dined there, probably to see La Vallière. La Vallière grew closer with Montalais. According to Madame de La Fayette, the King disapproved of this because he considered Montalais a "schemer". Louis seems to have been jealous of any close relationship La Vallière had. He disliked her mother and rarely permitted them to see each other.
During Lent 1662, a guest preacher, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet delivered a series of sermons criticising the King's behaviour through biblical examples. In late February, Louis questioned La Vallière about an alleged affair between Madame and the Count of Guiche, but she refused to answer. After their argument, troubled by Bossuet's sermons, she fled the Tuileries for the Augustinian Convent of Sainte-Pélerine in Chaillot. The King was informed during an audience with Spanish envoys, rushed the talks, and searched for her personally amid fears that his wife would learn of the affair because of La Vallière's disappearance. La Fayette claims that Madame and Monsieur were reluctant to admit La Vallière back into their household, but she was eventually permitted to stay. The King's affair became public when he did not take communion on Easter. His failure to participate in the Eucharist had already been noted, but when he did not receive the sacrament on Easter (which all Catholics were commanded to do), it caused a "scandal". Since people who were "living in sin" could not receive the Eucharist, Louis' sexual affair was confirmed. In March 1662, Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons conspired with the Count of Guiche and to replace La Vallière with someone she could control. They sent an anonymous letter to the Queen informing her of her husband's adultery and accusing La Vallière of trying to undermine her position. The message was intercepted by Maria MolinaWilliams, H. Noel (Hugh Noel):, 1903, Publisher New York : C. Scribner's Sons. Collection getty; americana. Contributor Getty Research Institute. s. 30-31 and given to the King, who exiled Guiche. In the summer of 1662 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Soissons drew the King's attention to Anne-Lucie de La Mothe-Houdancourt, who was famous for her beauty and for not granting sexual favours to her admirers. The King pursued her for some time, but Soisson's attempt at replacing La Vallière failed.