Françoise d’Aubigné, the Marquise de Maintenon, was “constantly located ‘auprès du Roi’ and at the heart of the king’s government during the last twenty-five years of his rule (Bryant 9). Her position allowed her to possess a considerable amount of influence over Louis XIV and his court. Accordingly, jealous contemporaries were suspicious of Maintenon’s motivations and often viewed her as an all-powerful figure with a dangerous amount influence over Louis XIV. However, their fears were unfounded because both the king and society restricted her influence because of her inferior status as an ignoble woman.
Prior to the death of Marie Therese, the relationship between the Madame de Maintenon and Louis XIV was welcomed because she positively …show more content…
To some degree, they are correct; by her own admission “Some imagine that I govern the State; they perceive not, I am persuaded, that God has heaped so many Blessings on me, only that I might attend to the King’s Salvation. I daily beg of Heaven to enlighten and sanctify him” (Maintenon 173). Everyone at court was affected by the king’s renewed religiosity. Maintenon, pleased with the changes brought upon by her efforts, reflected in a letter to her brother, “I believe that the Queen has begg’d of God the Conversion of the whole Court: The King’s Conversion is worthy of Admiration; and the Ladies that seemed most averse to it are now constantly at Church” …show more content…
In his memoirs, he portrayed her as conniving, disingenuous, and easily manipulated by others. He believed that her piety, in particular, made her especially susceptible to the manipulations of others. In his memoirs, Saint-Simon noted a particular incident where “The new archbishop of Cambrai, gratified with his influence over Madame de Maintenon and with the advantages it had brought him, felt that unless he became completely master of her, the hopes he still entertained could not be satisfied” (1: 76). Saint-Simon also painted her as cruel and uncaring. He wrote that when Louis XIV and everyone in the entourage was reeling at the loss of Monsieur, the father of M. le Duc de Chatres, “She felt the loss of Monsieur as a deliverance, and could scarcely restrain her joy; and it was with the greatest difficulty she succeeded in putting on a mournful countenance . . . For propriety of appearance she cared nothing (Saint-Simon 1:
Prior to the death of Marie Therese, the relationship between the Madame de Maintenon and Louis XIV was welcomed because she positively …show more content…
To some degree, they are correct; by her own admission “Some imagine that I govern the State; they perceive not, I am persuaded, that God has heaped so many Blessings on me, only that I might attend to the King’s Salvation. I daily beg of Heaven to enlighten and sanctify him” (Maintenon 173). Everyone at court was affected by the king’s renewed religiosity. Maintenon, pleased with the changes brought upon by her efforts, reflected in a letter to her brother, “I believe that the Queen has begg’d of God the Conversion of the whole Court: The King’s Conversion is worthy of Admiration; and the Ladies that seemed most averse to it are now constantly at Church” …show more content…
In his memoirs, he portrayed her as conniving, disingenuous, and easily manipulated by others. He believed that her piety, in particular, made her especially susceptible to the manipulations of others. In his memoirs, Saint-Simon noted a particular incident where “The new archbishop of Cambrai, gratified with his influence over Madame de Maintenon and with the advantages it had brought him, felt that unless he became completely master of her, the hopes he still entertained could not be satisfied” (1: 76). Saint-Simon also painted her as cruel and uncaring. He wrote that when Louis XIV and everyone in the entourage was reeling at the loss of Monsieur, the father of M. le Duc de Chatres, “She felt the loss of Monsieur as a deliverance, and could scarcely restrain her joy; and it was with the greatest difficulty she succeeded in putting on a mournful countenance . . . For propriety of appearance she cared nothing (Saint-Simon 1: