Montespan, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, marquise de

▪ French mistress

born Oct. 5, 1641, Tonnay-Charente, France

died May 27/28, 1707, Bourbon-l'Archambault

      mistress of Louis XIV of France for 13 years.

      Daughter of the marquis (from 1650 duc) de Mortemart, she was married in 1663 to the marquis de Montespan, by whom she had two children. She was appointed lady-in-waiting to the queen of France, Marie-Thérèse of Austria, in 1664, and became the king's mistress in 1667. A girl whom she bore to the king in 1669 died in 1672, but she had six other children by him who were later legitimated. They were Louis-Auguste (1670–1736), duc du Maine; Louis-César (1672–83), comte de Vexin; Louise-Françoise (1673–1743), known first as Mlle de Nantes, then as the duchesse de Bourbon; Louise-Marie (1676–81), known as Mlle de Tours; Françoise-Marie (1677–1749), known first as the second Mlle de Blois, finally as the duchesse d'Orléans; and Louis-Alexandre (1678–1737), comte de Toulouse. The marquis de Montespan, who displayed his resentment, was exiled to Guyenne in 1668 and judicially separated from his wife in 1674 (he died in 1701).

      When the Affair of the Poisons (Poisons, Affair of the) came to light in 1679, Mme de Montespan was alleged to have been from 1667 a customer of the witch La Voisin. Notwithstanding this affair, Mme de Montespan long remained at court, though the king transferred his affections to Mme de Maintenon. Finally, however, in 1691 she withdrew to the convent of Saint-Joseph (in Paris), of which she eventually became the superior.

* * *