Madame de Maintenon’s Beds
The widow Scarron was the no-nonsense governess of Louis XIV’s children with his mistress Madame de Montespan. Louis was grateful for the excellent care she took of his children and he gave her the money she used to buy the Chateau of Maintenon, and gave her the title of Marquise de Maintenon. The Chateau of Maintenon. Two months after Queen Marie-Thérèse died, Louis XIV secretly married Madame de Maintenon. Louis was 45 and his new wife was 48. She did not move into the Queen’s apartments in any of the official royal residences (apart from the one stay at Chambord). At Versailles she had her own apartment in the area at the top of the Queen’s staircase. Louis XIV spent a large part of his time there, meeting with officials and ambassadors while she sat unobtrusively knitting. He had a huge respect for her opinion and clearly she was the love of his life. Her apartment at the Grand Trianon was later used by Napoleon. It was a series of smaller rooms behind the main salons. She made no attempt to present herself as the Queen. Her bedchamber at Fontainebleau is another example. It was part of a discreet three room apartment near to the King.
Marquis d’Effiat
More importantly, it is – the Original bed! The canopy bed—”lit à baldequin” -was made for the chateau of the Marquis d’Effiat, early in the 17th century. The bed and matching six armchairs remained in the Chateau d’Effiat until the 19th century when they were auctioned off. They are now at the Louvre. Beds had become an important piece of furniture and this is a rare example of an original bed with its original embroidered crimson velvet. The Marquis was a friend of Cardinal Richelieu who had a similar bed decorated with gold embroidered white satin. Richelieu was a great supporter of the Marquis. He made him the special ambassador to England to arrange the marriage of Louis XIII’s sister Henrietta Marie to Charles, heir to the English throne. When the Marquis died, Richelieu became the protector of Effiat’s twelve year old son, the Marquis de Cinq-Mars. When the Marquis de Cinq-Mars was nineteen, Richelieu introduced him to the melancholy King Louis XIII, planning to make him the king’s “favourite”. The plan worked very well with the king appointing him to the sought after positions in the court. Cinq-Mars, who was a party animal, tired of the king who was twice his age. When Richelieu and the king opposed his plans to marry a woman of a higher station, Cinq-Mars joined in a treasonous plot against them which was discovered. He was arrested and decapitated. He was 22.
From Louis XIV to Louis XV
Louis XIV is officially the longest reigning monarch in world history. His reign lasted from May 14, 1643 until September 1, 1715, a total of over 72 years. His great grandson inherited the throne and his reign lasted more than 58 years, finishing with his death from smallpox in 1774. FOUR GENERATIONS OF LOUIS’ It is believed this portrait of Louis XIV, his son Louis the “Grand Dauphin”, grandson Louis, Duke of Burgundy and great grandson the future Louis XV was commissioned by Madame de Ventadour who is featured.* Madame de Ventadour was a duchess who was a friend of Madame de Maintenon and had been given the prestigious role of governess** of the royal children when Louis XIV’s first great grandchild was born. Eight years later an outbreak of measles claimed the lives of Louis XIV’s grandson and his wife. Their sons were also infected. The elder son, who was five, had become the heir to the French throne. The doctors were preoccupied with saving him. Madame de Ventadour observed their treatment, which included bleeding him, had severely weakened the child and he died. She was determined the surviving two year old would not suffer the same fate and removed him from their care. In so doing, she saved his life. She became a mother figure to him and he called her “Maman Ventadour”. She took care of him until he turned seven, the age when boys were traditionally turned over to be educated by men. She was seated in pride of place for his coronation and later “Maman” was well into her sixties when she was made governess of Louis XV’s own children. FAMILY TREE LOUIS XIV TO LOUIS XV Louis XIV and his cousin Queen Marie-Thérèse had six children. Only the eldest, Louis, survived to adulthood. Louis XIV organised his son’s marriage to his second cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria. Louis became known as the “Grand Dauphin” on the birth of his eldest son, also called Louis. The couple had two other sons, ensuring the dynasty, or so they thought. Louis XIV’s eldest grandson married Marie-Adelaide of Savoy. Everyone, especially Louis XIV and his wife Madame de Maintenon, loved the lively 12 year old. She gave birth to three sons, two of whom survived. King Louis XIV was a proud great grandfather with the Bourbon dynasty assured. Suddenly everything changed. The “Grand Dauphin”, Louis XIV’s 49 year old son and heir to the throne died of smallpox. Less than twelve months later Marie-Adelaide caught measles and passed it on to her husband and two sons. Marie-Adelaide and Louis died within six days of each other and were buried together. Their eldest son and new heir to the throne also died of measles within another month. The 73 year old Louis XIV’s sole surviving heir was his two year old great grandson. When Louis XIV died three years later, the five year old became Louis XV. *This portrait is part of the Wallace Collection in London. It is also suggested that Mme de Ventadour commissioned the painting when all the people portrayed were still alive and the child was the older brother of Louis XV. She is in mourning for her mother who died in 1709. **The position put her in charge of a large staff dedicated to each royal child.
Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet was the Minister of Finance for the young Louis XIV. He had political ambitions which he thought would be aided by his newly built Chateau at Vaux-le-Vicomte. He used what became the hot team – architect Le Vau, painter/decorator Charles le Brun and landscape gardener Le Notre. Fouquet’s fabulous new chateau was the talk of the town but he was arrested shortly after a house warming he had for the King Louis XIV, charged with using public funds for his personal use. The charge was true but also not terribly uncommon at the time. It was the way business had been done. Fouquet was arrested three weeks after the lavish party. His court case lasted three years. He ended up in prison for the rest of his life. Louis XIV took the Le Vau/Le Brun/Le Notre team and set them to work transforming the hunting lodge his father had built at Versailles. The Chateau of Versailles was the result.*
New connections to Spain
After Marie-Thérèse’ mother died, her father Philip IV of Spain remarried. In keeping with his parents’ tradition*, he married his niece. Their son became Charles II of Spain at the age of four. Charles II’s health was fragile and neither of his two marriages produced a child. He died at the age of 38 without an heir. When Marie-Thérèse’ brother, the King of Spain died without an heir in 1700 the next in line to the Spanish throne was her son Louis*. As heir to the French throne, the Grand Dauphin would not be acceptable. No European power would accept the same person on the throne of both France and Spain. Equally the eldest grandson Louis would inherit the French throne. Charles II’s will therefore named the Grand Dauphin’s second son Philip as his successor to the Spanish throne.* The 16 year old Philip had to renounce all rights to the French throne for himself and his successors. The following year he married Maria Luisa of Savoy, the sister of his elder brother’s wife. * Charles’ sister later married her uncle. ** This was disputed by Austria. Marie-Thérèse’ younger sister had married the Austrian Emperor Leopold. Both Marie-Thérèse’ and her sister had died. The dispute led to the War of the Spanish Succession.
The King’s Beds (Just in case!)
The new chateau at Vaux-le-Vicomte had a special room for the King to stay. Louis was so enraged when he saw the lavish residence his Finance Minister had built that he left after the party and this King’s bedroom was never used. It was normal practice among the aristocracy to reserve a richly decorated room for the King in case he should need accommodation during his travels. Here are some examples –
