7 October 1739
7 October 1739
From the Memoirs of the Duc de Luynes
On this day, news arrives at Fontainebleau of the death of Mme de Noailles. Our diarist, writing on 8 October, says:
“We learned yesterday morning of the death of Mme la Maréchale de Noailles. She died in Paris of small pox. She was a niece of Mme de Maintenon. She made a will of which I shall give the details when I know them.”
Commentary:
The late maréchale was indeed a niece of Mme de Maintenon, the daughter of her brother Charles, Comte d’Aubigné. Mme de Maintenon, M d’Aubigné, and their elder brother Constant, who died young and unmarried, were the children of Constant-Agrippa d’Aubigné, himself the son of the great Agrippa d’Aubigné, the fiery Huguenot intellectual and soldier who mightily wielded both sword and pen in the service of the Reformed Religion. It is an irony that his grand daughter not only converted to Catholicism, but had a hand in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the subsequent Edict of Fontainebleau, which together visited untold hardship on her forebears’ co-religionists.
Pictured: Françoise-Charlotte d’Aubigné (1684-1739), Marquise de Montclar by marriage to Adrien-Maurice de Noailles in 1698, Duchesse de Noailles from 1708 when her husband succeeded his father, and finally Maréchale de Noailles when he received the marshal’s baton in 1734, portrayed by Largillière with a portrait of her august aunt, Louis XIV’s secret second wife.
The late Mme de Noailles, as her aunt’s sole heiress, inherited her money and the domain of Maintenon. We can believe him when M de Luynes says he will let us know the terms of her will if or when he gets the information. He customarily records financial details. For example, he notes the income, if he knows it, of any person he mentions for the first time.
The court goes to Fontainebleau every autumn. This year, the King arrived on 2 October. He, and consequently the court and the entire executive branch of the government, will stay until 24 November.
The translation from the French is my own. Italicized and bold italicized words are in the glossary. If you have questions that I have not addressed in the commentary or the glossary, please ask in the comments.
Hey, do we know of any particular reason for de Luynes's recording of everyone's income?
How interesting that de Noailles, as d'Aubigne's grand-daughter, acted the way she did. Was it, in some part, a rebellion - or was it based on belief?