- Marie Louise de Rohan
-
Marie Louise Countess of Marsan Spouse Gaston Jean Baptiste de Lorraine Full name Marie Louise Geneviève de Rohan Father Jules, Prince of Soubise Mother Anne Julie de Melun Born 7 January 1720
Paris, FranceDied 4 March 1803 (aged 83)
Regensburg, GermanyMarie Louise de Rohan (Marie Louise Geneviève; 7 January 1720 – 4 March 1803), also known as Madame de Marsan, was the governess of Louis XVI of France and his siblings.
Contents
Biography
She was the sister of the Prince of Soubise and marshal of France; Marie Louise's niece was Charlotte, princesse de Condé.
Marie Louise was the only daughter of Jules, Prince de Soubise and Anne Julie de Melun. After her parents died of smallpox in 1724 in Paris, she and her brothers lived at Versailles with their uncle, Hercule Mériadec de Rohan, Prince of Guéméné.
Her eldest brother Charles was the same age as Louis XV and became Louis' great companion.
On 4 June 1736,[1] Marie Louise married and the widow of Gaston Jean Baptiste de Lorraine, Count of Marsan and Walhaim, (1721–1743). The wedding nuptials were carried out in the chapel of the hôtel de Mayenne by her great uncle the Cardinal de Soubise.[2] At the age of 23, Marie Louise became a widow as her husband died of smallpox like her parents. Afterwards, she led a pious and reserved life. The couple had no surviving children.
As a widow, she took Louis Guillaume Le Monnier as a lover; he was the physician to Louis XV[3] .
Her husband was the brother of Louise de Lorraine, wife of the Duke of Bouillon.
Royal governess
Since 1727, the position of royal governess had been held by some female member of Madame de Marsan's family. Her great-grandmother, Madame de Ventadour, was the governess of the children of Louis de France, Duke of Burgundy, including Louis XV, and then the children of Louis XV himself. In 1735, Ventadour resigned and the post went to Madame de Marsan's aunt, Marie Isabelle de Rohan (1699–1754), the duchesse de Tallard.
When Madame de Tallard died in 1754, Marie Louise was appointed to her aunt's position as royal governess and took over the care of Louis XV's ten children.[4] The widowed and childless Madame de Marsan remained as governess for twenty-two years and taught the future Louis XVI[4] and his siblings. Her favorite charge was the Count of Provence; he in turn called her ma chère petite chère amie.[4]
She remained in her position until 1776, when there was a mass exodus of older nobles from the court because of Queen Marie Antoinette's disdain for formal court etiquette. Marie Louise resigned her post in favour of her niece, the Princess of Guéméné, the wife of Henri Louis, Prince of Guéméné.
In 1777, Marie Louise used her influence with King Louis XVI to have her cousin Louis René de Rohan appointed the Grand Almoner of France.[4]
In 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, Marie Louise fled France. She left behind her superb hôtel on the rue Neuve Saint Augustine in Paris. She died in Regensburg in exile at the age of 83.
Siblings
Her brothers were:
- Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise, Duke of Rohan-Rohan (16 July 1715–4 July 1787) married Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1722–1739) and had issue; married again to Princess Anna Teresa of Savoy (1717–1745) and had issue; married Victoria of Hesse-Rotenburg (1728–1792) no issue;
- François Armand Auguste de Rohan, cardinal de Soubise, Prince of Tournon (1 December 1717–28 June 1758); never married;
- François Auguste de Rohan, Count of Tournon (16 September 1721–6 August 1736) never married;
- René de Rohan, Abbot of Luxeuil (26 July 1723–7 February 1743) never married.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Marie Louise de Rohan 16. Hercule de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon 8. François de Rohan, Prince of Soubise 17. Marie de Bretagne d'Avaugour 4. Hercule Mériadec de Rohan, Duke of Rohan-Rohan 18. Henri Chabot, Duke of Rohan 9. Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Soubise 19. Marguerite de Rohan 2. Jules de Rohan, Prince of Soubise 20. Charles de Lévis, Duke of Ventadour 10. Louis Charles de Lévis, Duke of Ventadour 21. Marie de La Guiche 5. Anne Geneviève de Lévis 22. Philippe de La Mothe Houdancourt, Duke of Cardona 11. Charlotte de La Motte Houdancourt 23. Louise de Prie 1. Marie Louise Geneviève de Rohan 24. Guillaume de Melun, Prince of Epinoy 12. Alexandre Guillaume de Melun, Prince of Epinoy 25. Princesse Ernestine d'Arenberg 6. Louis de Melun, Prince of Epinoy 26. Henri Chabot, Duke of Rohan =18 13. Jeanne Pelagie de Rohan-Chabot 27. Marguerite de Rohan =19 3. Anne Julie de Melun 28. Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Elbeuf 14. François Marie de Lorraine, Prince of Lillebonne 29. Catherine Henriette de Bourbon, Légitimée de France, "Mademoiselle de Vendôme" 7. Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine 30. Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine 15. Anne de Lorraine 31. Béatrix de Cusance Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 7 January 1720 – 4 June 1736 Her Highness Mademoiselle de Soubise
- 4 June 1736 – 2 May 1743 Her Highness the Countess of Marsan
- 2 May 1743 – 4 March 1803 Her Highness the Dowager Countess of Marsan
References and notes
- ^ Some sources say 14 June
- ^ de La Chesnaye-Desbois, Badier, Francois Alexandre Aubert. Dictionnaire de la noblesse. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=to5YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA593&dq=louise+henriette+de+lorraine+duchesse+de+bouillon&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=xuryS5j1DI-2zQTegv2EDQ&cd=68#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
- ^ Gillispie. Charles Coulston: Science and polity in France: the end of the old regime, Princeton, New Jersey (1980), p.155
- ^ a b c d Mansel, Philip. "The Court of France 1789-1830". Googlebooks.org. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JTcIT7VDu58C&pg=PA14&dq=madame+de+marsan&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=CGvtS6jFLI7qzASs2f2rDg&cd=16#v=onepage&q=madame%20de%20marsan&f=false. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
Court offices Preceded by
The Duchess of TallardGoverness of the
Children of France
1754–1776Succeeded by
The Princess of GuéménéThe generations start from the children of Réné II 1st Generation 2nd Generation Princess Christina of Denmark · Marguerite d'Egmont · Princess Joanna of Savoy · Catherine Romula de Lorraine* · Louise de Rieux · Anna d'Este3rd Generation Princess Claude of France · Marie de Luxembourg · Marguerite de Chabot · Princess Henriette of Savoy · Catherine of Cleves4th Generation Princess Catherine of Navarre · Margherita Gonzaga · Christina of Salm · Catherine Henriette de Bourbon, Légitimée de France · Marguerite Philippe du Cambout · Marie de Rohan · Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse5th Generation Nicole de Lorraine* · Béatrice de Cusance · Claude Françoise de Lorraine* · Anne Élisabeth de Lannoy · Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne · · Françoise de Montault de Navailles · Anne d'Ornano · Christine d'Estrées · Anne de Lorraine* · Catherine de Neufville · Catherine de Goyon de Matignon · Marie Madeleine d'Epinay · Françoise Adélaide de Noailles · Marie Françoise de Valois6th Generation Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland · Princess Anne Élisabeth de Lorraine* · Charlotte de Rochechouart de Mortemart · Marie Therese de Stramboni · Innocentia Catherine du Plessis · Marie Françoise de Brancas · Marie Louise Jeannin de Castille · Élisabeth de Roquelaure · Anne Marguerite Gabrielle de Beauvau · Jeanne Henriette Marguerite de Durfort · Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans7th Generation Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans · Hélène Julie Rosalie Mancini · Louise Charlotte de Gramont · Auguste de Coëtquen · Louise de Rohan8th Generation Anna Zetzner · Viktoria Folliot de Crenneville · Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria · Marie Louise de Rohan- also a princess of Lorraine in her own right
Categories:- House of Rohan
- House of Lorraine
- 1720 births
- 1803 deaths
- Governesses to the Children of France
- People from Paris
- Ancien Régime office-holders
- French nobility
- 18th-century French people
- 19th-century French people
- French countesses
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.