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.
Ancestry and early life
Family
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 (1611–1651) and his wife, Marie-Françoise Le Provost de La Coutelaye (died 1686). She had an older brother, Jean-François (1642–1676), later marquis of La Vallière.'
In La Vallière's paternal family, Catholicism and royalism were important values:' many relatives chose an ecclesiastical or military career. Rumours spread that the King and his sister-in-law were in love. 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.
In 1663, Louis gave a pension to La Vallière's brother, the Marquis of La Vallière, married him to a wealthy heiress, and put him in charge of a cavalry unit despite his lack of experience. After this public show of favour, in July 1663, Soissons and Madame informed the Queen of the King's affair. Maria Theresa was devastated and the King furious. Fraser and Petitfils argue that Maria Theresa had to have already suspected her husband's infidelity: in 1662, while giving birth to her second child, she saw La Vallière pass through the room, and said in Spanish, “this maiden [...] is the one the King wants”.
First pregnancy and aftermath
In the summer of 1663, La Vallière became pregnant. In late August, the King left on a military campaign and his chief minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert transmitted letters between the couple. When Louis returned in October, La Vallière left Madame's service and the King bought her the small Palais Brion near the Palais-Royal. Anxious to hide her condition, she never left the house and received guests in bed. She suffered from headaches and sometimes lost her sight. Colbert arranged for the child to be raised by his servants, Guy Focart Beauchamp and Clémence Pré (a married couple), who were told that it was an illegitimate child of Colbert's brother. On 19 December 1663, at around three in the morning, La Vallière gave birth to a son. At six, the attending physician, Dr Boucher (who also delivered the Queen's children) took him to a carriage with the Beauchamps who transported him to Saint-Leu. He was christened Charles and registered as the son of a fictional Monsieur de Lincourt and Élisabeth de Beux, with Beauchamp and his wife as godparents. He died in infancy, within two years of his birth, probably of influenza.
Despite all precautions, people speculated about La Vallière's disappearance and a talk the King had with Dr Boucher. La Vallière attended midnight mass on 24 December to counter rumours, but scorn was so great that she fled before the end of the service. Courtiers observed that she was “very pale” and “much changed”, proving that she had given birth. The situation was worsened by a story invented by Boucher: while he was delivering La Vallière's son, another woman called for him. To explain his absence, he told her that he had been taken blindfolded to deliver the child of a masked woman. Courtiers said that this was La Vallière. After the birth, with Queen Maria Theresa aware of the affair, it was impossible to hide the relationship. La Vallière became isolated, as ladies who wanted to retain the favour of the queen did not associate with her. She continued living in Palais Brion. As companion, she was assigned Claude-Marie du Guast d’Artigny who spied on her for the King.thumb|The theatre installed for the [[premiere of The Princess of Elid on a contemporary engraving by Israel Silvestre.]]
Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée
Between 5 and 14 May 1664, Louis XIV hosted and personally planned a feast called Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée (“The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle”) in Versailles. It was officially dedicated to Queen Maria Theresa and the Queen Mother, but secretly addressed to La Vallière. She was present and seated at the royal table, even though she was no longer a member of the Orléans household. In June, Louis and his mother had an argument, where the Queen Mother reminded her son of the “peril to his salvation”. Crying, he told his mother that he was “sometimes” ashamed but that his “passions had become stronger than his reason”, so he was no longer trying to end his affair.
Maîtresse-en-titre
Louis moved La Vallière back to court. His relationship with his mother deteriorated and they briefly stopped talking. In September, he took La Vallière to a reunion with his brother and sister-in-law in Villers-Cotterêts. Queen Maria Theresa could not attend because of her pregnancy and she was distraught by his behaviour. According to Françoise Bertaut de Motteville, the King promised his wife that after the age of thirty (he was then twenty-six), he would be an “examplary husband”, but left with La Vallière.thumb|La Vallière as [[Flora (mythology)|Flora on a portrait by Pierre Mignard.|left]]
Lair considers La Vallière the official favourite from the time of the festivities at Villers-Cotterêts. Courtiers now sought to be close to her. When they returned to Vincennes, the King took his mistress to the Queen Mother's salon to play cards with Monsieur and Madame. Neither queen was present, but the episode enraged them. Petitfils argues that the King made the decision to declare La Vallière maîtresse-en-titre out of love, despite his desire to avoid offending either public morals or his wife and mother. Seeing La Vallière's isolation, he wanted to legitimise her position. Whether La Vallière asked him to do so, or whether she wanted the position herself, is unknown. A contemporary observer noted that La Vallière had “never shown any pride” when receiving the monarch's visits. The King lived with her openly, going on walks, hunts, and carriage rides in public.
On 8 December 1664, Armand-Charles de La Porte, Duke of La Meilleraye, husband of Hortense Mancini and an extremely jealous person, publicly rebuked the King for “scandalising the nation” and urged him to “correct himself”, claiming to be “speaking from God”. The King ridiculed him by touching his forehead and saying, “I have always suspected that you have some injury there” (the exact words have been recorded differently in primary sources). The Duke retired from public life. Many courtiers were offended by the King's open adultery, but the common people were singing about it and considered the King's choice a mark of good taste, as La Vallière was seen as more attractive than the Queen.
Second pregnancy and marriage plans
On 7 January 1665 at noon, La Vallière gave birth to a second son in the Palais Brion with Dr Boucher. At nine in the evening, the physician gave the newborn to Colbert who delivered him to Monsieur Bernard, his servant. He was baptised Philippe, registered as the son of the fictional François Derssy, bourgeois and his wife, Marguerite Bernard. Philippe was raised in the Tuileries by Colbert's wife, Marie Charron. The King visited him often and grew to love him. The child was “robust”, “promised much”, and resembled his father. He died of a cardiac arrest at the end of July 1666.
Queen Maria Theresa, gravely ill at the time, asked her husband to arrange La Vallière's marriage; he agreed that she could wed if the queens found a match. Arranging a marriage for their extramarital partners was a common way for monarchs to provide for them, but marrying would have undermined La Vallière's idea of a “holy devotion” to her sovereign. According to diplomatic records from early 1665, there was a proposed match between her and the Marquis of Vardes, which both refused. The same dispatch mentions that the Palais Brion was attacked but the perpetrators were never identified; the King assigned guards to the house. The first book about La Vallière's affair, by Roger de Rabutin, Count of Bussy, a disgraced courtier who was imprisoned for his work, was written around 1665 and published in 1666, titled Les Amours du Palais-Royal (“Loves of the Palais-Royal”). It depicted La Vallière as a “gentle, kind, [and] selfless” person who loved the King “for himself”, concluding that she would “always be the King's great love”. She was becoming known around the country as Louis’ mistress.
In October 1665, the King had a short affair with Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont, Princess of Monaco, developed a “flirtatious friendship” with Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Soubise, and had at least “occasional” sexual encounters with Madame de Soissons. He probably also slept with other women put forward by factions hoping to replace La Vallière. Their relationship, however, remained strong and La Vallière was reportedly happy. They shared a love of hunting, in which La Vallière was regarded as a talent. A diplomat reported seeing her ride a Barb horse bareback, using only a silk string to guide it, standing up and sitting down while it was moving; she handled the pistol and the lance expertly. She was trained by a squire of Moorish origins. During her time as royal mistress, La Vallière played an important role in the intellectual life of the court. She belonged to the circles of libertines such as Isaac de Benserade and Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Duke of Lauzun. She read the popular books of the age Athénaïs, Marquise of Montespan started working to replace her. Montespan was “high-spirited and amusing” and considered an extraordinary beauty: with her full figure, she was more in line with contemporary beauty ideals than the thinner La Vallière. She was a member of the salons of the précieuses. Both women participated in courtly ballet performances. When her husband embarked on a military career, Montespan had an opportunity to seduce the King. She befriended both La Vallière and the Queen, visiting them daily to see the King at their appartments. La Vallière's detractors agreed that she could not “amuse” the King without Montespan's witty conversation. Louis started a sexual relationship with Montespan between November 1666 and July 1667.
It is unclear when sexual relations between La Vallière and the King ended. Plans to arrange her marriage or give her a suo jure title were renewed, seen by contemporaries as a sign of her retirement. That year, Louis XIV started to pursue personal glory through military conquests and magnificent feasts. At Easter 1667, he took communion again in preparation for marching on Flanders, starting the War of Devolution. In a dispatch from 29 April 1666, a diplomat reported that La Vallière was “losing much of her beauty”, becoming “very thin”. “[A]lmost nobody” visited her anymore. He found that she was behaving “arrogantly” with courtiers and “boldly” towards the King; public opinion held that she would soon be replaced because of this. On 4 May, Louis and Madame de Montespan went on a carriage ride alone.
Legitimisation of her daughter
thumb|Portrait of La Vallière from around 1667.
On 13 May, the King published a letter patent to legitimise his only living child with La Vallière, Marie-Anne. He conferred on her Chasteau in northern Touraine, including the ruins of a fortress on Lake Val Joyeux (Vaujours) and created a duchy “to be enjoyed by the said damoiselle Louise-Françoise de La Vallière, and, after her death, by Marie-Anne [...] [and] her [legitimate] heirs and descendants”. Marie-Anne was authorised to use her mother's surname and soon afterwards given the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Blois. At the same time, the King lamented committing adultery and promised that “he shall never return to it”.
Legitimising the “natural” children of French kings was regular practice, yet devout courtiers and those anxious for their privileges scorned the decision. Louis later explained in his Mémoirs that he wanted to provide for his mistress and child in case he died in war. He considered it “just” to grant Marie-Anne “the honour of her birth” and to reward La Vallière in a way “suited to [his] affection”. La Vallière's brother was promoted in the army and her uncle made a bishop. It seems that La Vallière was not aware that her lover's actions signalled the end of the relationship. She was pregnant again, but her unborn child (and any later offspring) was not included in the succession of her duchy.
Journey to Flanders
The military camp left for Compiègne on 24 May; from the ladies of the court, only the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting (including Montespan) were permitted to go. After a few weeks, La Vallière and her sister-in-law travelled to the camp without permission. She arrived at the Queen's household at La Fère on 20 June. Maria Theresa was upset by this, cried, did not sleep, felt ill, and had violent outbursts. She forbade her staff from giving food to La Vallière. In church, she had the royal gallery closed so that La Vallière could not enter and ignored her greeting in front of the church. During the following carriage ride, Montespan told Maria Theresa, “I admire [La Vallière's] boldness in daring to appear before the Queen”, adding, “God forbid that I should be the King's mistress! Yet if I were, I should be quite ashamed in front of the Queen”. Maria Theresa cried.In Guise, La Vallière did not attend the Queen's coucher, probably sensing the hostility that surrounded her. On 22 June, the Queen reached the camp at Avesnes. When the approach of the King was announced, La Vallière commanded her carriage to cut the path through the fields at full speed. Upon reaching the sovereign, La Vallière threw herself at his feet, but he received her coldly. He only paid her a formal visit to satisfy customs. She did not attend the cercle (royal reception) at night, probably to avoid rebukes By this time, Montespan was certainly Louis’ lover, but he insisted on following etiquette: as a duchess, La Vallière attended mass with the Queen, travelled in her carriage, and dined at the royal table. Maria Theresa remained angry with her; neither of them were aware that she had already been supplanted. Montespan and La Vallière were still friends. Many of La Valliére's early biographers, such as Charles Dreyss or Pierre Clément judged La Vallière harshly for this episode, describing her behaviour as “foolish haughtiness and cruel vanity”. She was openly mocked by the ladies of the court.
Later life at court
La Vallière returned to Paris, while the court stayed at Compiègne and Louis went on campaign. The Queen received a letter telling her that the King had taken Montespan as his mistress, but she did not believe it. When the King returned to Compiègne, La Vallière went there; Louis sometimes visited her. He then went on a tour of conquered towns, while La Vallière stayed in Versailles. She re-joined the court in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, where the King visited her thrice a day. On 2 October, she gave birth to Louis, who was taken away in secrecy. The King, who loved his older children by La Vallière, showed no care for him. Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate claims that the King was “led to believe” by Montespan and her supporters that La Vallière's youngest child had been fathered by the Duke of Lauzun.
thumb|Portrait painting of Madame de Montespan from the 1670s.
Montespan's husband returned and became extremely jealous, loudly complaining about the relationship between his wife and the King. He publicly lectured Louis on biblical morality and swore to take revenge by contracting a sexually transmitted infection and raping his wife so that she would infect the King. After he insulted and threatened the elderly Julie d’Angennes, Duchess of Montausier (whom he blamed for his wife's adultery), the King imprisoned him. He was freed on the condition that he exiled himself to his country estate. There, he announced the death of his wife, organised a funeral, wore mourning clothes, and forbade his children to contact their mother. In order to contain the scandal, La Vallière remained the official mistress and had to share an apartment with Montespan so that the King could visit her.'
“Double adultery”, an extramarital affair in which both parties are married to others, was considered a grave sin by the church and adulterous women could be imprisoned in a convent for life. Madame de Montespan had to be protected from the legal and personal attacks of her husband (who was known to be physically violent). Lair argues that La Vallière endured these humiliations to protect the interests of her son and because she had little income. Her son was acknowledged by the King in February 1669, created count of Vermandois, and made admiral of France (which ensured Louis’ personal control of the navy).' In March 1669, Montespan gave birth to her first child by the King.
During her time at court, La Vallière lived in several places, first in the Palais Brion until the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture moved there in July 1665. The King then gave her an hôtel particulière in the , near the Tuileries. She owned it until her entry into the convent, when her brother inherited it. Around 1668, she owned a pavilion in the rue de la Pompe in Versailles; in 1672, the King bought its land to build new stables. In 1669, she had a pavilion in the Tuileries; she owned a house in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye from March 1669 to December 1674, and had her own apartment in the palace there.
Religious turn and Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu
thumb|[[Peter Lely’s Mademoiselle de La Vallière et ses enfants (‘Mademoiselle de La Vallière and Her Children’), contemporary painting.]]
After the end of her affair with Louis XIV, La Vallière settled into a quiet life at court. She continued studying, reading historical, theological, and philosophical works. In 1670 (certainly before May), during a near-fatal, long illness (perhaps smallpox), she had a vision of her soul at the gates of hell, from which the “thunder of God” awakened her. She turned to religion and abandoned her previous, libertine friends. She read the spiritual works of the Counter-Reformation, being most influenced by Teresa of Ávila's The Way of Perfection. Bossuet became her spiritual guide. With his help, she wrote her Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu (“Reflections on the Mercy of God”) in 1671, which was published anonymously in 1680. It became a popular devotional book among French Catholics, reprinted at least ten times, often under her name.
In popular culture
The term ‘lavalier’, meaning a jeweled pendant necklace, comes either from her name or that of Ève Lavallière, through the French term for a pussy bow, lavallière;
- Letitia Elizabeth Landon composed a ‘poetical illustration’ titled Louise, Duchess of La Valliere to an engraving by John Henry Robinson based on a painting by Edmund Thomas Parris (1838);
- She is one of the main characters in Alexandre Dumas's novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, the second sequel to The Three Musketeers published between 1847 and 1850. Dumas makes her the fiancée of the fictional titular character, son of Athos. Some editions break the novel up into several books, one of them titled Louise de la Vallière;
- Christina Rossetti’s 1881 poem Sœur Louise de la Miséricorde is presumed to be about her.
- A German silent film titled Louise de Lavallière was made about her life, in which she was portrayed by Emmy Schaeff (1922);
- wrote a novel about her titled Louise de La Valliere (1938);
- Sandra Gulland titled Mistress of the Sun that features her (2008);
- Karleen Koen's novel Before Versailles is told from Louise de la Vallière's point of view (2011);
- Joan Sanders published a biography of Louise in 1959 titled La Petite : Louise de la Vallière (‘The Little: Louise de la Vallière’);
- Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, the main female character of The Familiar of Zero, was named after her;