Louise de La Vallière

Uncommon card · No. 157539

Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours (6 August 1644 – 6 June 1710) was a French noblewoman and the mistress of Louis XIV from 1661 to 1667. La Vallière joined the royal court in 1661 as maid-of-honour to Henrietta of England. She soon became Louis XIV's mistress. Two of her four children by the King, Marie-Anne, Mademoiselle de Blois (princess of Conti by marriage) and Louis, Count of Vermandois survived infancy and were legitimised. She was an important participant in the court's intellectual life, interested in the arts, literature, and philosophy. In 1666, she was replaced as mistress by Madame de Montespan; she was created a suo jure duchess and invested with lands. After an illness in 1670, La Vallière turned to religion and wrote a popular devotional book. In 1674, she entered a Carmelite convent in Paris where she died in 1710.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Attributed to Pierre Mignard I, Public domain