Mistress (lover)

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A mistress or kept woman is a woman who is in a relatively long-term sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a different person. In the courts of Europe, particularly Versailles and Whitehall in the 17th and 18th centuries, royal mistresses often wielded great power and influence. A king might have numerous mistresses but have a single "favourite mistress" or "official mistress" (in French, maîtresse-en-titre), as with Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Other well-known royal mistresses include Agnès Sorel, Diane de Poitiers, Barbara Villiers, Nell Gwyn, and Madame de Montespan. Defenders of the practice of mistresses referred to the practice in the ancient Near East of keeping a concubine; they frequently quoted verses from the Old Testament to show that mistress-keeping was an ancient practice that was, if not acceptable, at least understandable. With the Romantics of the early 19th century, some came to view the role as a sign of independence and defiance of middle...

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