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| Marie Angélique de Scorailles | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Fontanges | |
 | |
| Full name | Marie Angélique de Scorailles |
| Born | 1661 Auvergne, France |
| Died | 28 June 1681 Abbaye de Port Royal, France |
Marie Angélique de Scorailles (1661 – 28 June 1681) was a French noblewoman and one of the many mistresses of Louis XIV. A lady-in-waiting to his sister-in-law the Duchess of Orléans, she caught the attention of the Sun King and became his lover in 1679. She died as a result of childbirth.
Royal mistress
Marie Angélique de Scorailles was born in 1661 at the Château of Cropières in Upper Auvergne. Marie arrived to the court of Louis XIV in 1678 and became the maid of honor to the Duchess of Orléans. Louis XIV was then torn in between the affections of Marquise de Montespan and Madame de Maintenon. Infactuated by the beauty of the young girl, the King suddenly abandoned both women. Despite her physical charm, Marie Angélique was, according to the Cour, "stupid as a basket", This declaration made Montespan and Maintenon certain that Louis XIV would return to either one of them. Arrangements were quickly made, and, a few weeks after the presentation of the young girl to court, the king made her his new favourite mistress and presented entertainments in her honour.
Louis showed his great affection for Marie Angélique by wearing ribbons often matched to hers. This flattery spoiled her, and she began to consider herself as the Queen. She begun passing by Queen Marie Thérèse without greeting her, and treated Athénaïs de Montespan ignominiously. The king gave her one hundred thousand crowns a month, twice as gifts, but he could not exhaust her extravagance, her coach was being driven by eight horses, it seemed to "eat her reign at a time." Louis XIV suddenly felt young again. He wore diamonds, ribbons and feathers. Every day they went out for a new party, ballets, and plays -- never had luxury been pushed so far.
Soon, it appeared that she was pregnant, causing the wrath of Madame de Montespan, who did not think the king was so enamoured of his young conquest. She then said to Marquise de Maintenon, "the king has three pillars: my name, this girl and your heart." Marie-Angélique soon created the famous fashion of Fontanges: during a ride in the forest of Fontainebleau, her hair clung to a branch and she appeared before the king tousled with a tangled hair, however Louis found her tangled hair stylish. The next day, all the courtiers adopted this hairstyle, except the Marquise de Montespan, who thought her hair was in "bad taste".
In December 1679, Marie Angélique gave birth prematurely to a stillborn boy. She was then said to have been "wounded in the service." The king bestowed on her the title Duchess of Fontanges, however, in 1680, the king's interest in her declined. Still sick (suffering from serious blood loss) since the birth, she retired to the Abbey of Chelles, and did not appear at court again. While the Duchess remained in the Abbey of Chelles, her doctor prescribed mineral water, six vials of which were secretly dispensed. The bottles were filled with poisonous water, sadly, the duchess was unaware of what she was taking. In the late 1680s, Madame de Montespan brought two tame bears as a gift to the king, after he destroyed the sumptuous apartment of the Duchess de Fontanges in Versailles. This event made her a laughingstock at court. She had fallen as the favorite mistress of the king.
Death
In 1681, Marie Angélique suffered a high fever and was sent to the abbey of Port-Royal. According to some sources, Marie Angélique gave birth prematurely to a stillborn girl in March. Sadly, her retirement did not last long. One day, the court learned that Mademoiselle Fontanges was going to die and she requested to see the king. Louis XIV surrendered to her request, touched by her suffering, he wept while at her deathbed. "I thank your majesty," murmured Fontanges, I'm happy because in my death bed I saw my king cry." The Duchess died on the night of 28 June 1681.
Death by poisoning?
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Marie Angélique died during the Affaire des Poisons. Poisoning was suspected to be the cause of death of the young duchess. During the interrogation of the accused witches and wizards, some of them mentioned the name of Mademoiselle de Fontanges, referring to a plot they planned on the duchess. The first witness who testified was Marie-Marguerite Monvoisin, the daughter of the sorceress La Voisin. She accused accomplices of her late mother who poisoned the Duchess of Fontanges. Marie-Marguerite Monvoisin lovers Bertrand and Romani were arrested in 1681 as suspects. Bertrand was accused of selling poisonous stuffs to Fontanges; while Romani was accused of delivering her gloves contaminated with poison. Defendants pronounced the name of Miss Carnation, a maid to the Marquise de Montespan, however there were no statements to back their claim.
While in prison, the poisoners agreed to name other poisoners so they would not undergo any torture. Their testimonies were fabricated. Then Frances Filastre, a poisoner and abortionist, entered the trial of Marie Angélique de Fontanges. When asked about what he knew about the duchess strange death, the Filastre denied he attempted to kill the young Duchess. However he panicked and admitted that Madame de Montespan wished the death of her young rival so she could regain the love of the king. Later the poisoner said about his statements: "All I said is false. I did that for me free of pain and torment of pain and fear that I rappliquât question. I say all this because I do not want to kill the guilty conscience of a lie." Though many believed the Duchess was indeed poisoned, the actual murderer was never identified or caught.
Louis XIV asked that there be no autopsy on the body of the duchess. This request by the monarch did amplify the doubts of the poisoning beliefs. However by the request of the family of the duchess, the autopsy still occurred. The autopsy results was that, "water in her membrane surrounded the heart which resulted in the increase of the volume of the liver, and caused her fatty liver." The cause of her death was known however not in any way connected with the blood loss which she suffered for months in 1680. They were unable to determine whether she was poisoned or not. The doctors later stated that the duchess aborted her children, and she was guilty of the crime of infanticide and abortion. Though, Marie Angélique wanted more than anything to give the King children so she would secure her place at court (like all the king's mistresses).
Aftermath
It was not until the late twentieth century that a medical specialist, Professor of Gynecology, Yves Malinas, conducted a study of the autopsy and according to his study, Marie Angélique died of cancer of the fetal membrane. After childbirth, a piece of placenta remained in the body of the Duchess which caused her a lot of blood loss.
Suggestions at court were made that the Duchess resented children or pregnancy, in contrast to the Marquise de Montespan. Madame de Caylus wrote about Fontanges pregnancy, "this girl was killed for trying to Fontainebleau from 13 May (1680), the same day that though the king was in labor and give birth. It was from still languishing." According to Ernest Lavisse and Bernard Christmas "Two miscarriages caused her to lose favor with the king."
Legend has it, in 1695, the ghost of Marie Angélique appeared to the king in bed. The Duchess asked him not to dispose Madame de Maintenon. The Duchess told him to return to Madame de Maintenon, and it was the only solution to ease his future punishment in purgatory after his death. She also reportedly told Louis XIV that his years of rule were numbered and he would soon join her. She also confessed that it was Madame de Montespan who poisoned her and made him abandon Madame de Maintenon. Eleven months after the duchess death, Madame de Montespan passed away. Princess Palatine wrote "it is certain that the Fontanges died poisoned. A servant that had won Montespan was destroyed with milk." Although medical results said otherwise, the court of Louis XIV believed the Duchess of Fontanges did not die of natural causes.
See also
References
- Rouge, Le Petit Homme (2006). The Favourites of Louis XIV. p. 249. ISBN 1428655212.
- Anne Somerset - The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV (St. Martin's Press (October 12, 2003) ISBN 0-312-33017-0)