La Cour
Prominent and lesser known individuals of the Sun King's court. From Ministers and Princesses to traitors and sorceresses.
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Françoise de Brancas, Princesse d’Harcourt
Louis XIV’s court was full with strange people and if the stories regarding the Princesse d’Harcourt are true, she is certainly on the very top of the list. Françoise de Brancas was born in around 1650 as the oldest daughter of Charles de Brancas, Marquis de Maubec, and his wife Suzanne Garnier. The family was quite respectable and her papa,…
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Louis XIII
Louis XIII succeeded to the French throne shortly before his ninth birthday and his reign lasted 33 years. It was full of intrigues, wars and seemingly endless worries about not being able to produce an heir. The future Louis XIII was born on 27 September 1601 as the first child and son of le bon roi Henri IV and…
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Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne better known as Madame de La Fayette, was the author of France’s first first historical novel La Princesse de Clèves. It was so successful that people outside of Paris had to wait months in order to get their hands on a copy, if they managed at all. Marie-Madeleine was born on 18 March 1634, into…
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Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Music during the time of Louis XIV was dominated by the male gender, there is one woman however who was celebrated for her creations as much as the males. Élisabeth Jacquet was born in the first months of the year 1665 to Claude Jacquet and Anne de la Touche. Her baptism took place on 17 March 1665 and her papa…
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Charles Le Brun, premier peintre du roi
Charles Le Brun, also written as Lebrun or LeBrun, was born on 24 February 1619 into a family of artists. He was the third of five children born to the sculptor Nicolas Le Brun and Julienne Le Bé, who came from a family of writers. Nicolas Le Brun trained his sons, Nicolas II, Charles and Gabriel, in the art of…
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Jules Hardouin-Mansart, premier architecte du roi
Born on 16 April 1646 in Paris, Jules Hardouin-Mansart rose to be one of the most famous French architects, whose style was often copied and can still be found in many places all over the world. Hardouin-Mansart was a great-nephew of the today slightly less famous Nicolas-François Mansart, who had been named architecte du roi in 1625 and was…
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Anne d’Autriche
Ana María Mauricia de Austria y Austria-Estiria or short Anne d’Autriche was born on 22 September 1601 as oldest daughter of Philip III of Spain and his second cousin and wife Margaret of Austria. Anne received her first name in honour of her grandmother Anne of Austria, fourth wife of Philip II, her second name María in honour of…
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Jeanne-Baptiste d’Albert de Luynes, Comtesse de Verrue
Born on 18 January in 1670 at the Hôtel de Luynes in Paris, Jeanne-Baptiste was a daughter of Louis-Charles d’Albert, Duc de Luynes, and his second wife Anne de Rohan, a daughter of the famous Madame de Chevreuse. Jeanne, who was named after her godfather Jean-Baptiste Colbert, spent most of her early years at Port-Royal, where she was educated.…
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Henri IV, Roi de France et de Navarre
Henri IV aka Henri Quatre aka Henri de Navarre aka le Bon Roi Henri, the grandfather of Louis XIV, was the first Bourbon King of France. Before the crown was placed on Henri’s head, France was ruled by the Valois for many generations, but they ran out of male heirs… This future King of France was born on the night…
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Élisabeth-Charlotte d’Orléans, Duchesse de Lorraine
Born on 13 September in 1676 at Saint-Cloud, Élisabeth-Charlotte was the third and last child born to Philippe de France and his second wife Liselotte von der Pfalz. She was the granddaughter of a King, niece of a King, mother of an Emperor and grandmother of France’s most famous Queen, Marie-Antoinette. After five years of marriage and two sons, Monsieur was…
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Marguerite-Louise d’Orléans, Grande-Duchesse de Toscane
Born on 28 July in 1645 at the château de Blois, Marguerite-Louise was the first child and daughter of Gaston de France and his second wife Marguerite de Lorraine and thus a first-cousin to Louis XIV. Gaston de France was the brother of Louis XIII and married Marguerite de Lorraine in secret and against the will of his kingly brother, which led to…
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Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville
On 28 August in 1619, a girl was born in the dark prison of the château de Vincennes, which was sixty years later inhabited by poisoners awaiting their death sentences after plenty of torture. That girl was Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon, the first child and only daughter of Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and his wife Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency. Her parents…
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Julie d’Aubigny, Mademoiselle Maupin
One can use a lot of words to describe Mademoiselle Maupin, a flamboyant cross-dressing opera-singing swords-woman, but utterly badass might be the most fitting. Julie was born between 1670 and 1673 to Gaston d’Aubigny, who served as secretary to the Comte d’Armagnac. Said Comte d’Armagnac, Louis de Lorraine, was a Prince of Lorraine and the Grand Écuyer of France and on…
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Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
“A General who has never been defeated can’t have been at his business very long.” Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, or simply Turenne, is one of the most celebrated war heroes of France and already was one during his lifetime. Henri comes from a prominent family with Huguenot roots that gained political influence. Henri IV arranged for Turenne’s father to…
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Marie Bosse, palm-reader and poisoner
After the arrest of Madame de Brinvilliers, who had conspired with her lover to murder half her family in order to inherit wealth and property, the people of Paris and Louis XIV’s court were not just truly shocked by it all, the arrest also made them remember quite the number of strange and mysterious deaths and talk of powders and…
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Élisabeth-Marguerite d’Orléans, Duchesse de Guise, d’Alençon et d’Angoulême
Élisabeth-Marguerite d’Orléans was the second born daughter to Gaston de France, brother of Louis XIII, and his second wife Marguerite de Lorraine. She was born on 26 December in 1646 in what was then the Palais d’Orléans and is now the Palais du Luxembourg. As grandchild of a King, Élisabeth-Marguerite was a Royal Highness and known at court as…
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Marie de Lorraine, Princesse de Monaco
Marie de Lorraine, born on 12 August 1674, was a daughter of Louis de Lorraine, Comte d’Armagnac, and his wife Catherine de Neufville de Villeroi. The couple was very fertile and had fourteen children, Marie was their ninth child and fifth daughter. Both of her parents were rather prominent courtiers. Louis held the rank of foreign prince and the…
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Julie d’Angennes, Duchesse de Montausier
Julie-Luciana d’Angennes was born in 1607 in Paris as daughter of Charles d’Angennes and the famous Catherine de Vivonne. Charles and Catherine married as she was twelve years old and they had seven children, two boys and five girls. Catherine, known as Madame de Rambouillet, was a very famous lady. She hosted the first and most brilliant Parisian literary…
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Françoise-Madeleine d’Orléans, Duchesse de Savoie
Françoise-Madeleine was born on 13 October in 1648 as third child and daughter of Gaston de France and his second wife Marguerite de Lorraine. The little girl received the style Mademoiselle de Valois, from one of her father’s properties, and spend much of her early years in the French countryside. Her papa was fond of intrigues and the result of one of…
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Marguerite de Lorraine, Duchesse d’Orléans
Born on 22 July in 1615, Marguerite was a daughter of François de Lorraine and his wife Christine de Salm. At the time of her birth, her father was known as the Comte de Vaudémont. He was a son of Charles III, Duc de Lorraine, and Claude de France, daughter of Henri II, and upon Charles’ death in 1608, François’ older brother Henri became Duc…
