Montespan, FRANÇOISE ATHÉNAIS, MARQUISE DE, mistress of Louis XIV., was born in 1641, the daughter of Gabriel de Rochechouart, Duc de Mortemart, and married in 1663 the Marquis de Montespan, and became attached to the household of the queen. Her beauty and wit captivated the heart of the king, and about 1668 she became his mistress, without, however, as yet supplanting La Vallière. The marquis was flung into the Bastille, next banished to his estates, and finally in 1676 his marriage was formally annulled. Montespan reigned till 1682, and bore the king eight children, which were legitimised, but at last her influence faded before the rising star of the astute widow of Scarron, afterwards Madame de Maintenon, whom she had engaged as governess to her children. Gradually she lost all hold over the king, and in 1687 left the court, in 1691 Paris itself. Later, like so many women of her class, she found relief in devotion, and died 27th May 1707. See her Mémoires (1829; trans. 1895), and the studies by A. Houssaye (6th ed. 1864) and Clément (1868).
Montespan, FRANÇOISE ATHÉNAIS, MARQUISE DE
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7: Maltebrun to Pearson, p. 286
Source scan(s): p. 0295