Monday, September 19, 2016

French Aristocrats' Lovers & Mistresses

a.k.a.
George Sand
Chatelaine of Nohant.

Daughter ofMaurice Dupin, a relative of the Marechal de Saxe & Sophie, daughter of a professional bird fancier. [It is alleged that she was the illegitimate daughter of Marshal de Saxe.]

Wife of: Casimir, Baron Dudevant, son of a baron & a servant girl. mar 1822, sep 1831.

Her lovers were:

Lover in 1833-1835.

2) Felicien Mallefille.


3) Frederic Chopin.


4) Jules Sandeau.

Lover in 1831.

5) Louis Blanc.

6) Louis-Chrystosome Michel.

7) Marie Dorval.

8) Octave Feuillet.

9) Pagello, a doctor.

10) Pierre-Francois Bocage.

11) Prosper Merimee.

References:  [Bio2:1344] [Bio3] [Bio4] [Bio5] [Bio6[Ref1]

Image result for alexandre de beauharnais
Alexandre de Beauharnais
Vicomte de Beauharnais
@Pinterest
Alexandre de BeauharnaisVicomte de Beauharnais (1760-1794)
Mousquetaire de la Garde de Roi 1775

General en Chef de l'Armee Du Rhine 1793

a.k.a. Alexandre-Francois-Marie de Beauharnais.

Son ofFrancois de Beauharnais, Baron de Beauville & Marie-Henriette de Pyvart de Chastulle.

Husband ofJosephine Tascher de la Pagerie, mar 1779.


His lovers were:

1) Amalie Zephyrine zu Salm-Kyrburg (1760-1841)
[Fam1:Dinastias]
Lover in 1786-1794.

Daughter ofPhilipp Joseph zu Salm-Kyrburg & Maria Theresia Josepha de Hornes.

Wife ofAnton Aloys von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1762-1831) mar 1782.

2) Delphine de Sabran de Custine. (1770-1826)
a.k.a. Delphine de Sabran.
Lover in 1792.

3) Francoise-Lisette de Mondesir. (1763-?)

a.k.a. Francoise-Lisette-Sophie de La Ferte de Montdesir.
Lover in 1785.

Natural daughter ofMarie-Henriette de Rabodanges, Marquise de La Ferte

Natural offspring:
1. M Adelaide X Adele de La Ferte. (1786-1869)
a.k.a. M Adelaide X.

4) Laure de Longpre. (1749-1817)
Lover in 1770.
a.k.a. Laure de Girardin de Montgerald
Marie-Francoise-Laure de Girardin de Montgerald.

Wife ofAlexandre-Francois Le Vassor de la Touche de Longpre.

"...When she was pregnant with a second child..., Alexandre decided to visit Martinique and departed with a former mistress, Laure de Longpre.  The jealous Laure poisoned his mind against Rose and, once in Martinique, bribed and threatened the la Pagerie slaves to say that Rose had led a promiscuous life before she left for France...."  (Napoleon: A Biography: n.p.)

Alexandre was, in any case, still infatuated with someone else. . . The married lady from Brittany, 'the charming woman' about whom he had written so rapturously to Edmee years before, was still in his life.  Her name was Marie-Francoise-Laure de Girardin de Montgerald, and she was married to Alexandre-Francois Le Vassor de la Touche de Longpre.  Laure de Longpre was a Creole herself, a distant relative of Rose's family on her mother's side.  She was Alexandre's first love . . .  Laure was twenty-nine years old when the relationship began, eleven years Alexandre's senior and the mother of a small daughter.  Her second child born in the same year as Rose's marriage, was almost certainly Alexandre's.  The baby was christened Alexandre, an act of chutzpah that was only possible because of the coincidence that her lover and her husband shared a first name.  Elegant, fashionable and sophisticated, she was just the sort of woman that one imagines Alexandre would have fallen for. Given to violent mood swings, she knew how to play the game of love.  She was complicated enough to sustain his interest, and dramatic enough to heighten his prematurely jaded palate with her capricious behaviour.  That she was also a little neurotic was evidence by her habit of always carrying a candle with her that she nibbled compulsively."  (Josephine: The Rose of Martinique: 59)

"Alexandre was...still infatuated with someone else... Rose's resentments were fuelled by the suspicion that her husband was still seeing his mistress. Hers had been a crowded marriage from the start. The married lady from Brittany, 'the charming woman' about whom he had written so rapturously to Edmee years before, was still in his life. Her name was Marie-Francoise-Lause de Girardin de Montgerald, and she was married to Alexandre-Francois Le Vassor de la Touche de Longpre. Laure Longpre was a Creole herself, a distant relative of Rose's family on her mother's side. She was Alexandre's first love..." (Stuart, 2011, pp. 58-59) [Fam1:Geneanet] [Ref1:59]

Alexandre's physical appearance & personal qualities:  "It was not as if she would be marrying a stranger. She remembered Alexandre as a boy, much bigger and older than she was, fair and blue-eyed, a boy much-admired for his good looks. Aunt Edmee wrote that he had grown into a good-looking young man, witty and intelligent, with a true heart and a fine character.  'He is beloved by all who surround him,' she assured the family in one of her letters." (Erickson, 2000, p. 17)

Personal & Family Background:  ". . . Alexandre was the son of Francois de Beauharnais, former governor of the Windward Isles, who now lived in Paris with his married mistress, Joseph's sister Edmee.  Alexandre's mother, who was in poor health, also lived in France but apart from her husband, and apparently did not mind living apart from her son as well. So little Alexandre continued to be raised as a creole, along with the Tascher children Yeyette and Catherine, spending time with grandmother Tascher and grandmother de Sannois as well as at Trois-Ilets, never having known his parents.  It ever respect but that of blood kinship, he was one of the family."  (Erickson, 2000, p.5)

Alexandre-Jean-Joseph Le Riche de la Popeliniere. (1693-1762)

a.k.a. de la Poupliniere; M. de la Popeliniere.

His lovers were:
1) Francoise-Catherine-Therese Boutinon des Hayes(1714-1752)
French actress.

Lover in 1725.

a.k.a. Therese Boutinon des Hayes
Francoise de La Poupliniere
Madame de La Pompliniere
Madame La Poupliniere.

2) Hippolyte Clairon.


3) Madame de Saint-Aubin.

"The doyenne of La Poupliniere's mistresses was Mme de Saint Aubin, a former singer and musician who ruled over the household 'like an old sultana,' as Giustiniana put it.  La Poupliniere had long ceased to love her, but he did not have the strength to send this crafty and rather domineering woman away.  She has become an accomplished hostess, having taught herself hot to organize a good concert and an elegant dinner, and the old man depended on her to run his crowded house.  When she raised hell---which she often did---he simply raised her income."  (Di Robilant, 2007, p. 171)

4) Mademoiselle Navarre.

5) Sophie Mocet.
a.k.a. Sophie, Madame de Zimmerman.

"Mme de Saint Aubin's major enemies in the house were M. and Mme de Courcelles, La Poupliniere's brother-in-law and his pretty young wife, who occupied a large apartment in the house with their daughter, Alexandrine. The Courcelles qere allied with the Zimmermans---he a retired Swiss Guard, she the former Sophie Mocet, La Poupliniere's most recent mistress...." (Di Robilant, 2007, p. 171)

"Alexandre-Jean-Joseph Le Riche de la Popeliniere, or de la Poupliniere,...was one of the richest and wittiest financiers of the last century.  He was a fermier-general at the age of twenty-six.  He wrote several works of fiction, all of which are licentious, and nearly all anonymous...."  (White, 1877, p. 32)

No Money, No Honey:  "...Le Riche de la Popeliniere, taking advantage of his wealth as a financier, offered to pay his mistress more than the usual sum if she remained faithful.  (She took the money but did not uphold her end of the bargain.)...."  (Berlanstein, 2009, p. 48)

Alfred de Musset(1810-1857).
French aristocrat, dramatist, poet & novelist.

a.k.a.
Alfred-Louis-Charles de Musset-Pathay
Louis-Charles-Alfred de Musset.

Son ofVictor-Donatien de Musset & Edmee-Claudine Guyot Desherbiers.

" . . . The genealogy of the Musset family was aristocratic and could be traced back as far as the twelfth century. Alfred's father had survived the French Revolution in spit of his noble descent, partially as a result of his liberal sympathies, and he had served as a soldier and civil servant under the Republic and Napoleon Bonaparte's First Empire. Victor-Donatien was a many of literary tastes and scholarly temperament.

"Musset was of noble birth. He would probably have been better for a plebeian strain, since there was in him a touch of the degenerate. . . Young Alfred was nervous, delicate, slightly epileptic, and it is certain that he was given to dissipation, which so far had affected his health only by making him hysterical. He was an exceedingly handsome youth, with exquisite manners, 'dreamy rather than dazzling eyes, dilated nostrils, and vermilion li[s half opened.' Such was when George Sand, then seven years his senior, met him." (Famous Affinities of History)

His lovers were:
1) Caroline Jaubert(1803-1882)
Lover in 1835.
French writer.

a.k.a.
nee Caroline Alton
Caroline d'Alton-Shee.
French courtesan.
3) George Sand
French novelist & memoirist 
Lover in 1833-1835.

" . . Soon, however, she was to begin an episode which has been more famous that any other in her curious history, for she met Alfred de Musset, then a youth of twenty-three, but already well known for his poems and plays." (Famous Affinities of History)

4) Maria Kalergis (1822-1874)
Polish noblewoman, pianist & patron of the arts
Wife of: Jan Kalergis, a rich landowner

5) Rachel Felix:
[Bio2:Musset]

Alfred de Vigny(1797-1873)
a.k.a. Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny.

French aristocrat, Romantic poet & novelist.
Authored Cinq-Mars (1826), Poemes antiques.
[Ref:469]

"Comte Alfred de Vigny was born in 1797, the child of embittered ancien regime aristocrats.  His rigorous education included the services of a British tutor who made him translate Homer from Greek into English, then compared his version to Alexander Pope's.  After several years of military service, Vigny became a hero of the Romantic movement for his pioneering translation of Shakespeare's Othello, which was played at the Comedie Francaise.  He won equal recognition for his novels Cinq-Mars and Stello, his austere verses, and his play Chatterton, which expressed more poignantly than any other work of his generation society's heartlessness toward poets."  (Rage and Fire: A life of Louise Colet: 242)

" . . . Alfred, Comte de Vigny (1797-1863), French Romantic poet and novelist, born at Loches, author of Cinq-Mars (1826) and Poemes antiques et modernes (1826). . .  De Vigny's wife was an invalid, and he had numerous mistresses, including Louise Colet, more famous as the mistress of Flaubert. . . . " (Introductions and Reviews:469)


His lovers were:

1) Louise Colet:
a.k.a. the Muse.

"Louise Colet met Alfred de Vigny---known to his friends as 'Stello' for his early novel---in the summer of 1846 at James Pradier's studio. Vigny had been instantly entranced with Louise, and they had talked at great length about poetry.  She had sent him a selection of her works---Charlotte CordayMadame Roland, and a little collection entitled Les Femmes de Shakespeare.  Within a few days Vigny wrote her an effusive letter: 'Bless you, Madame, for being as beautiful and courageous as your French heroines as those Shakespearean women whom you love and understand like a sister. . .  Sadly for Vigny, at the time of this correspondence Louise was falling in love with Flaubert and did not give Vigny's love any chance to flower. . . That fall Vigny returned to his family estate near Angouleme to nurse his wife, an indolent British heiress---in twenty years she had never learned a word of French---with whom he had made a pragmatic marriage in this youth. . .  Vigny remained in rural seclusion for seven years, tending to his invalid spouse with an unfailing sense of duty and writing some of his finest poetry.  In 1853, he returned to the capital because his wife needed the care of Parisian doctors, and he resumed his courtship of Louise. . . .'" (Rage and Fire: A life of Louise Colet: 243)

"...De Vigny's wife was an invalid, and he had numerous mistresses, including Louise Colet, more famous as the mistress of Flaubert...."  (Lawrence, 2004, p. 469)

2) Marie-Catherine-SophieComtesse d'Agoult (1805-1876)
Vicomtesse de Flavigny
Comtesse d'Agoult.

a.k.a. nee Marie Catherine Sophie, Vicomtesse de Flavigny
Daniel Stern (pen name)
Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d'Agoult.

Daughter ofAlexander Victor Francois de Flavigny, an emigre French aristocrat, & Maria Elisabeth Bethmann, a German banker's daughter.

Wife of: Charles Louis Constant d'Agoult, Comte d'Agoult (1790-1875), mar 1827, div 1835.

3) Marie Dorval
French actress
Lover in 1838
[NNDB]

Anne-Charles-Gabriel de Saint-Charles.
Intendant of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France's finances.

His lover was:
Cahouette de Villers.

"Another woman, named Cahouette de Villers, whose husband held an office in the Treasury, being very irregular in conduct, and of a scheming turn of mind, had a mania for appearing in the eyes of her friends at Paris as a person in favour of the Court, to which she was not entitled by either birth or office... This woman formed the scheme of getting admission, in possible, to the presence of the Queen, or at least causing it to be believed that she had done so. She adopted as her lover Gabriel de Saint Charles, intendant of her Majesty's finances,---an office, the privileges of which were confined to the right of entering the Queen's apartment on Sunday.  Madame de Villers came every Saturday to Versailles with M. de Saint Charles, and lodged in his apartment...."  (Madame Campan, 2005, p. 99)

Cahouette de Villers.

Her lover was:
Anne-Charles-Gabriel de Saint-Charles.
Another trickster had a much longer career---and did much more damage. Cahouette de Villers, whom Madame Campan described as 'very irregular in conduct, and of a scheming turn of mind,' also posed as Louis XV's mistress and, after he died, as a familiar of Queen Antoinette. Cahouette's husband was a royal treasurer, but as he did not have the right of entry to the Queen's apartments, she set out to become the mistress of a man who did: Gabriel de Saint-Charles." (Erickson, 2004, pp. 120-121[Ref1:24]

His lovers were:
1) Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly, Duchesse d'Etampes

2) Diane de Poitiers

3) Marguerite de France, Duchesse de Savoia; Charlotte Le Sueur d'Esquetot (mar)]

Delphine de Sabran (1770-1826)
Marquise de Custine.
French society figure, letter writer & courtesan

a.k.a.
nee Louise-Eleonore-Melanie de Sabran
Delphine de Sabran de Custine
the Queen of Roses.

Daughter of: Joseph II de Sabran, Comte de Sabran, a.k.a. Admiral de Sabran. & Francoise-Eleonore de Jean de Manville.

Wife of: Armand de Custine, Comte de Custine (d.1794)

Her lovers were:

Lover in 1800.
"On 26 January 1795 Miranda was finally released from La Force, and installed himself in a splendid apartment at Rue St. Florentin costing 1,400 pounds a year -- a staggering sum for those days. He was determined to make up for the deprivations of the past year-and-a-half, of which sex -- although he seems to have had access to some women in prison -- was probably the most terrible. Women, the theatre and elegant parties were resumed with renewed vigour. In prison he had met 'Delfina', the beautiful Marchioness of Custine, whose husband was also in jail. Miranda embarked on a torrid affair with her -- until he discovered she had also satisfied the lusts of Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, Joseph Fouche, Alexandre de Beauharnais, M. de Grouchy, Comte Luis de Segur, Boissy d'Anglais and Dr. Koreff. Passionate and intelligent, but undoubtedly a nymphomaniac, Delfina failed to win him back to her bed, but they continued to quarrel with the intensity of lovers. Supposedly an illegitimate daughter of Louis XV, Delfina was the greatest French coquette of her time and, according to a contemporary wit, 'loved everyone, even her husband'. She showered Miranda with letters, saw him frequently and was his last companion when he left France." (Bolivar: The Liberator of Latin America)


Lover in 1802.
File:Joseph Fouche.png
Joseph Fouche
by Jean-Baptiste Sambat

6) Tutor of her son.

7) M. de Grouchy
8) Comte Luis de Segur
9) Dr. Koreff

Elisabeth de Bourgogne, Dame de Champlitte (1095-1125)

a.k.a.
Elizabeth of Varais
Isabelle de Macon.

Daughter of: Etienne I de Bourgogne & Beatrix de Lorraine.[Fam1:A Bit of HIstory]

Wife ofHugues I de Blois (in 1110)

Her lover was
Unnamed lover

Natural Offspring:
Eudes I de Champlitte.
"Elizabeth of Varais finally gave birth to a son, Eudes of Champlitte, in 1123. Only two years later however, Higues had himself declared medically incapable of reproducing. This effectively put Eudes of Champlitte in the indelicate position of being illegitimate.  Hugues repudiated Elizabeth and forced her and her son to leave his court. Hugues transmitted his position and titles to his nephew Thibaud and returned to the Holy Land to join the Knights Templars. During his lifetime, Eudes of Champlitte tried in vain to claim what he believed was his rightful inheritance." (University of Paris Intranet)

"Prince Eugene, under a simple exterior, concealed a noble character and great talents. Honor, integrity, humanity, and love of order and justice were the principal traits of his character. Wise in the council, undaunted in the field, and moderate in the exercise of power, he never appeared greater than in the midst of reverses, as the events of 1813 and 1814 prove. He was inaccessible to the spirit of party, benevolent and beneficent, and more devcoted to the good others than his own." (Makers of History Series - Hortense: 9)
Felix Lepeletier
French political figure.

a.k.a. Ferdinand-Louis-Felix Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau; the Blond (le Blondinet); the Alcibiades of the Revolution

His lover was:
Teresa Cabarrus:

Florence Laffitte, Marquise de Gallifet(1835-1901)

a.k.a.
Florence Georgina Lafitte.
Florence Lafitte
French society figure & courtier.
Lady-in-waiting to Empress Eugenie of the French.

"A prominent courtier of the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, Florence Lafitte became the wife of one of his most prominent generals, Gaston Alexandre, Marquis de Gallifet (1830 – 1909). Madame de Gallifet was a friend to the Comte and Comtesse de Greffuhle, and to the novelist Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922), who mentioned her in his novel, A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), and attended the famous salon of Madame Straus in the rue d’Astorg. The marquise was painted by the famous portraitist Franz Winterhalter. Madame de Gallifet later seperated from her husband (1891) and resided sat the Manoir des Roches in Trouville."  (A Bit of History)

Her lovers were:
1) Comte de Gallois.

2) Baron Emile d'Erlanger.

His lover was:
Rosalie Levasseur (1749-1826)

a.k.a. Mademoiselle Rosalie

". . . Rosalie Levasseur was the mistress of Mercy-Argenteau, the Austrian Ambassador at the French Court.   Shrewd and capable though Mercy was in everything relating to his professional duties. . . in love, he appears to have been as foolish as any of the gilded youths who haunted the coulisses of the Opera and the Comedie-Francaise.  The fair Rosalie exercised the most absolute ascendancy over him---a fact which was the more astonishing, as all Paris knew that she had an amant de coeur, in the person of Nicolet, the clown.  Mercy, in fact, could deny her nothing, and even carried his infatuation so far as to purchase for her a barony of the Holy Roman Empire, with a considerable revenue;  while, on another occasion, he condescended to bribe Larrivee, whose singing in a certain opera the young lady found was quite eclipsing her own, not to put forth his full powers."  (Williams, 1906, p. 71)

Fortunee Hamelin (1776-1851)

a.k.a.
Jeanne-Genevieve,Fortunee Lormier-Lagrave
Fortunee Hamelin

Her lovers were:

Physical Traits & Personal Qualities:  ". . . Fortunee Hamelin (nineteen) is a creole like Josephine.  She is famous for her wit, her daring (un)dress and her dancing . . ."  (Gulland, 2002, p. 29)

Personal & Family Background:  ". . . Born in 1776 in Santo Domingo, Madame Hamelin married an army contractor at sixteen but thereafter, in the words of the editor of her correspondence, 'the marital state did not constitute too heavy a burden upon her', and she became intimate with a number of prominent men of the First Empire.  She is thought possibly to have had an affair with Napoleon himself, and certainly idolised him and stayed in contact with his coirt when he was on St. Helena."  (Roberts, 2010, n.d.)

French nobleman, soldier, politician, colonial governor & admiral.

a.k.a. Francois V de Beauharnais.

Husband ofHenriette Pyvart de Chastille. mar 1751

His lover was:
Desiree-Eugenie Tascher de La Pagerie.
Lover, then 2nd wife, in 1796

"At nineteen, Edmee had become the mistress of the forty-two-year-old Francois de Beauharnais, a man of modest wealth and considerable rank.  Such liaisons were common, but socially acceptable only of both lovers were married; consequently Beauharnais supplied Edmee with a husband, Alexis Renaudin, a young officer with a shadow over his past and an inclination to violence.  Renaudin understood that in marrying Edmee he was doing a favor for a senior officer, and that she was to be his wife in name only; he could be counted on not to object to her relationship with Beauharnais."  (Erickson, 2000, p.9)

Francoise Scarron.

Her lover was:
Duc de Tresmes-Gescres
"...Scarron's sister, also called Francoise Scarron, was the mistress of the Duc de Tresmes-Gescres, having been seduced by him at fifteen; she had five illegitimate children...." (Fraser, 2007, n.p.)

Francoise de Soissan (1631-1699)

Wife of:
1. Esprit de Rafelis de Rus (married in 1649)
2. Pierre Arnoul.
[Gen1:GeneaNet]

Her lovers were:

1) Comte de Suze
"...She was a consummate schemer, who got herself exiled from court through involvement in the Fouquet affair, then became the mistress of the comte de Suze and bilked him out of valuable properties even without losing his affection...."  (Mancini, 2009, p. 38)

2) Pierre Arnoul

"...Her most striking accomplishment came in the 1670s, when she insinuated herself into the household of the dying intendant des galeres in Marseilles, Nicolas Arnoul... She became the mistress of Arnoul's son Pierre, who was intendant de galeres in Toulon, and eventually married him...." (Mancini, 2009, p. 38)

Gabrielle de Vergy, Dame de Fayel.

Daughter of: Guide Vergi, a premier baron of Bourgogne.

Wife of: Albert, Sire de Fayel.

Her lover was:
Raoul I de Couci, Castellan of Couci
"...His nephew Renaud, Castellan of Couci and the Lady of Faguel.' Having gone to the Holy Land with Richard Coeur de Lion, he was mortally wounded in defending a castle in 1191, and desired his squire, after his death to carry his heart to his mistress Gabrielle de Vergy, wife of the lord of Fayel. The squire was intercepted by the husband, and the heart of the unfortunate Castellan."  (Anderson, 1862, p. 104)

Physical Traits & Personal Qualities:  "He had brought his daughter along with him, than whom a more beautiful object had never appeared at the court of France.  Gabrielle received the praises even of her own sex: an inexpressible sweetness had lent her a new charm, superior even to her dazzling beauty...." (Dennie & Dickens, 1816, p. 67) [Ref1:59-60]

George d'Anthes (1812-1895)
French military officer & politician.

a.k.a.
Georges-Charles d'Anthes
Baron Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthes.

His lovers were:
  His adoptive father and alleged lover.
Dutch ambassador to St. Petersburg

2) Nataliya Nikolaevna Goncharova (1812-1863)

a.k.a. Nataliya Nikolaevna Pushkina-Lanskaya

". . . It was, in real life, the handsome Alsatian rake, Horse Guard lieutenant Baron George d'Anthes, adopted son of Baron Louis van Heeckeren, Dutch minister to Russia. Natalia, young, dazzlingly beautiful, adored and admired, simple and unsophisticated, caught up in the enticing net of glamour and gaiety, in the enchantment of court-life, dance and flirted, and won hearts: and d'Anthes was gallant, an aristocrat, rich. She was married as a matter of harsh expediency, and to a man she did not love, whom she did not understand, and whose genius she could never begin to appreciate. Though she was never unfaithful to her husband, she was not above responding to such adoration as d'Anthes pretended to offer. . . As the d'Anthes courtship of Natalia intensified, tongues wagged, faces leered and smirked. Natalia did little to alleviate the heart-sickening jealousy of her husband." (Ewen, 2004, pp. 410)

Handsomest of the guards:  "The young officer---'one of the handsomest of the guards, and one of the most fashionable men' commented Olga---was an immediate social success, and had soon a wide circle of acquaintances in high society and in the diplomatic and literary worlds, becoming---surprisingly, since he was by no means cultured---a frequent visitor to the Karamzins' and the Vyazemskys'.  Tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, distinguished by the romantic aura of a royalist exile, he was particularly successful with the opposite sex.  But he did not make the most of his opportunities.  Pavel Vyazemsky describes him as 'a practical, commonplace, good fellow, a joker, not at all a Lovelace or a Don Juan, who had come to Russia to make a career.  His philandering offended none of the decencies of St. Petersburg high society. . . ."  (Pushkin: A Biography: 499)

Personal & family background:  "Georges d'Anthes, Heeckeren's protege, came from Alsace.  The family fortunes had been established at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Jean Henri d'Anthes, a wealthy ironmaster, ennobled in 1731, whose estate at Soultz, near Mulhouse, became the family seat. . . ." (Pushkin: A Biography: 497)
Gilbert du Motier
Marquis de Lafayette
1834
French aristocrat & military officer.
Marquis of La Fayette 1759
Count of Chavaniac 1759
Major-General

a.k.a.
born Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette
Lafayette
the Hero of the Two Worlds.

Son ofMichel du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette & Marie-Louise Jolie de la Riviere
Marie-Adrienne-Francoise de Noailles

Marquise de La Fayette
by Unknown of French School, 18th century
@ Christie's
Husband of:
mar 1774
Lafayette, 1780
by Charles Wilson Peale
His lover was:
Aglae d'Hunolstein.

"It is unlikely that the rather shy Lafayette was either conqueror or conquered at Metz, although in Paris during the winter of 1776, he attempted a liaison with a beautiful woman of about his own age. Aglae d'Hunolstein. She was the wife of the Comte d'Hunolstein and part of a free-and-easy sent centered around the court. She was lady-in-waiting to the Duchesse de Chartres and was said to be involved with the Duc de Chartres, a cousin of the king. Lafayette was not merely being flirtatious; he had fallen in love. However, Aglae rejected him out of hand. . . ." (La Belle France: n.p.)

References for Marquis de La Fayette.


Isabeau Babou de la Bourdaisiere, Marquise de Sourdis.

a.k.a.
Isabelle Babou, Dame d'Alluie
Isabelle, Marquise de Sourdis
Mademoiselle de Sourdis.

Daughter ofJean Babou, Seigneur de la Bourdaisiere (Pardoe, 2006, p. 113)

Her lover was:

Isabelle de Limeuil (1535-1609)
French aristocrat & courtesan.
Maid of Honour to Queen Catherine de' Medici.

a.k.a. Isabelle de la Tour, Dame de Limeuil.

Her lovers were:
1) Claude II de Lorraine, Duc d'Aumale.
Lover in 1562.

"He allegedly fathered a son by his mistress, Isabelle de Limeuil, who served as Maid of Honour to Catherine de' Medici and was a member of her notorious goup of female spies at the French court as the 'Flying Squadron'.  He vigorously denied paternity much to Isabelle's chagrin."  (Wikipedia)

Jean de Neufchatel (1378-1433)
Seigneur de Montaigu et de Fontenoy-le-Chateau
Grand Bouteiller de France.

Son ofThibault, Seigneur de Neufchatel & Marguerite de Bourgogne, Dame de Montaigu.

Husband ofJeanne de Ghistelles (d. 1431), mar 1398.

His lovers were:

1) Isabelle de Villers

Natural offspringThibault (1396-1454)

2) Unnamed Woman

Natural offspringAntoine (d.1481).
French poet, philosopher and military officer.

a.k.a. Jean-Francois de Saint-Lambert.

His lovers were:
Lover in 1747-1748.

a.k.a. Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil; la Belle Emilie.

Daughter ofLouis Nicolas le Tonnelier de Breteuil & Gabrielle-Anne de Froulay.

Wife ofMarquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont, mar 1725

"Over the winter of 1747-48, Voltaire and his entourage took up residence in Lunéville. Saint-Lambert soon began a liaison with the great writer's mistress, Émilie du Châtelet.[5] She was in her forties, and had had many lovers, but succumbed to a mad passion for Saint-Lambert and became pregnant with his child. The baby, a girl named Stanislas-Adélaïde Du Châtelet, was born on 4 September 1749 in what at first seemed an easy delivery; but Émilie contracted a fever and died on 10 September. The infant died in Lunéville on 6 May 1751." (Wikipedia)

"But Emilie was determined not to leave, because she had now fallen head over heels in love with Jean-Francois, marquis de Saint-Lambert.  Very soon after their arrival she started making eyes at him; he responded; she fell into his arms; he told her that he loved her; and she swept him up into a passionate love affair."  (Davidson, 2010, p. 223)

2) Marie-Francoise-Catherine de Beauvau
Lover in 1745-46

"Saint-Lambert spent the winter quarter in Lunéville in 1745-46, and according to François-Antoine Devaux, he became at that time the lover of the Marquise de Boufflers.[4] She was a sister of the prince de Beauvau, and the mistress ofStanislaus Leszczynski, who had been established in 1737 as duke of Lorraine." (Wikipedia)

3) Sophie Lalive de BellegardeComtesse d'Houdetot.
Lover in 1752

"In 1752 he began the second of his two famous love affairs, with Sophie d'Houdetot. This relationship became noteworthy because in 1757, while Saint-Lambert was away on military duty in the Seven Years' WarJean-Jacques Rousseausuddenly conceived a mad passion for Sophie, which he wrote about in his Confessions. In Rousseau's mind, she became identified with a character in the great novel he was then writing,Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse. In the end, Sophie turned Rousseau away, saying that she loved Saint-Lambert.[9] She and Saint-Lambert remained together as a couple until his death in 1803, spending their last years in a cordialménage à trois with her husband." (Wikipedia)


Vicomte de Segur; French marshal de camp.

His lovers were:
[Pix]
2) Reine-Claude Chartraire de Bourbonne.
[Fam1:GeneaNet]

Joseph-Alphonse-Omer Valbelle, Comte de Tourves (1729-1778).

His lover was:
Claire Leyris de La Tude
a.k.a. Hippolyte Clairon

"Let us hasten to add that here, at any rate, Mlle. Clairon seems to have experienced a genuine passion, which was undoubtedly reciprocated; for her liaison with the Comte de Valbelle lasted for nineteen years, and...might have been regularised, had the actress been so disposed." (Williams, 2005, pp. 318-319)

Personal & Family Background:  He was the son of Andre Geoffroy de Valbelle and Marguerite-Delphine, sole heiress of the Marquis de Tourves.

Titles: Comte d'Oraison, Marquis de Tourves, Rians, Monfuron, Baronde Meyrargues, Comte de Valbelle de Sainte-Tulle et de Ribiers, Seineur de Venelles, Peyrolles, Mousteyret, Levens, Le Revest Cucuron. [Bio1]

Landri of Neustria (d.613).
Mayor of the Palace of Neustria.

a.k.a. Landric, Landeric

His lover was:
Fredegunde d'Ardennes:

"...During his (Dagobert) childhood, the king had been brought up in contact with old noblemen and women of quality who watched over his well-being. During his reign, his entourage included Landri, the mayor of the palace of Neustria, Fredegond's former lover, who was now over 70 years old...." (Minois, p. 153)

"[A.D. 584.] One evening Chilperic, on returning from hunting, was struck by a dagger by a person unknown, who disappeared in the gathering darkness. The King fell from his horse, and died in a few minutes; and the next day it was discovered that his murderer was no other than a young man named Landri, whom every one knew to be a favourite of the Queen. Of course, therefore, no one could doubt that Fredegonda herself was the author of the outrage. (Marshall, et. al., 1877, p. 32)
French aristocrat.
a.k.a. Loche.

Son ofKonstanty Wincenty Maria, Prince Radzivill & Louise-Antoinette-Sophie-Marie Blanc.

Husband of:
1. Antonie-Claude-Corisande de Gramont (1885-?), married in 1905
2. Dolores Konstancja Joanna Maria, Princess Radzivill (1886-?)
married in 1921

His lovers were:
Carlotta Grisi
1) Carlotta Grisi (1819-1899)
Italian ballet dancer.

a.k.a. Caronne Adele Josephine Marie Grisi
the Little Herbele.

Natural offspring:
Leontine Grisi.

Carlotta's other lover was:
French ballet dancer

Lover in 1834

Natural Offspring:

2) Christiane Louis.

3) Marthe Dalbane.

a.k.a.
born Marthe Claude Crowes
the Death Flower.
[Ref2:Syracuse Journal]

Louis II de Chalon, Comte de Tonnerre.

His lover was:
Juana de Perellos.
"Sometime during the winter of 1406-07, while John's wife the duchess Margaret of Bavaria was holding court at Douai, a young noble from the county of Burgundy, Louis de Chalon, who had become count of Tonnerre in 1398 and was a brother of Jehan de Chalon, prince of Orange, fell in love with an Aragonese lady-in-waiting of Margaret of Bavaria called Juana de Perellos. Her charms proved irresistible, and his passion drove Louis de Chalon to an unpardonable indiscretion: he broke into the duchess's apartments at night, carried off his paramour by force of arms; and installed her as his mistress in the castle of Maulne in his county of Tonnerre, which lay on the north-west frontier of the duchy of Burgundy. Not that this sort of thing was particularly unusual, but Louis had insulted the duchess of Burgundy. Moreover, he happened to be married to Marie de la Tremoille...." (Vaughan, 2002, pp. 10-11)

a.k.a. Louis-Berenger du Guast.

His lovers were:
a.k.a.  Marie-Francoise Babou de La Bourdaisiere.
Lover in 1564

4. Henriette von Kleve, Duchesse de Nevers.

"...[He was] one of the mignons of Henry d'Anjou, from whom he received numerous honours and favours. He accompanied d'Anjou to Poland in 1573 as colonel of his escort and, when d'Anjou became Henry III, became his Captain of Guards... He was murdered on 31 October 1575 in his house by masked men led by the Baron de Viteaux, an agent of d'Anjou, though probably on Marguerite's orders, for have made her affair with Charles de Balzac ('le Bel Entraguet') public knowledge. Brantome described him as cultured, courageous, and liberal, but Marguerite, who loathed him, called him 'a Machiavelist'...who exerted a powerful and 'pernicious' influence over d'Anjou." (Dumas, 1999, p. 473)
Louise de La Beraudiere du Rouhet
by Clouet
French aristocrat & royal mistress

Lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici

a.k.a.
La Belle Rouhet
Louise de La Beraudiere de l'Isle Rouhet
Louise de Rouet de la Berandiere.

Her lovers were:
1) Antoine I de Navarra.

Natural offspring:
Bishop of Comminges, 1569-1579
Bishop of Lectoure, 1590-1594
Archbishop of Rouen, 1597-1604
Abbot of Marmoutier, 1604-1610

"The main threats to the queen's power were Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and his brother, Louis, the powerful prince of Conde, both of whom could claim the right to serve as regent instead of Catherine, who, after all, was Italian---a foreigner. Catherine quickly appointed Antoine lieutenant general of the kingdom, a title that seemed to satisfy his ambition. It also meant that he had to remain in court, where Catherine could keep an eye on him. Her next move proved smarter still: Antoine had a notorious weakness for young women, so she assigned one of her most attractive maids of honor, Louise de Rouet, to seduce him. Now Antoine's intimate, Louise reported all of his actions to Catherine. The move worked so brilliantly that Catherine assigned another of her maids to Prince Conde, and thus was formed her escadron volant---'flying squadron'---of young girls whom she used to keep the unsuspecting males in the court under her control." (Greene, 2000, p. 277)

2) Claude de Clermont, Vicomte de Tallard (d.1569)
Lover in 1575-1576

5) Robert de Combault, Seigneur d'Arcis-sur-Aube.
Lover in 1580

Natural offspring:
1. Claude de Combault
2) Louise de Combault
[Bio1:Favorites Royales]
[Ref1:Histoire de France]

Marianne de Charpillon(1746-1777)

a.k.a. Marie-Anne-Genevieve Augspurgher
Marianne-Genevieve de Boulainvilliers
Mademoiselle Charpillon
Mademoiselle de Boulainvilliers
La Charpillon.

Her lovers were:
1) Francesco Lorenzo Morosini.
"...A beautiful woman, she was not put off by Wilkes's ugliness, for she was used to that sort of thing: she had been the mistress of another ugly man, an Italian diplomat, Count Morosini...." (Cash, 2006, p. 301)

2) Casanova.
"This was the first meeting between Casanova and Marianne Genevieve de Boulainvilliers, later known as Marianne de Charpillon.  When they met again four years later she thanked him for his generous gesture by becoming his torturer.  He wrote of their second meeting in London, 'It was on that fatal day at the beginning of September 1763 that I began to die and I ceased to live.'  Casanova was thirty-eight years old, wealthy, successful and, he had presumed until then, highly attractive to women.  Sixteen-year-old Marianne de Charpillon would show him otherwise.  As a lover, she almost destroyed him."  (Summers, 2007, pp. 271).

"...(O)nly towards the end of 1763 did the scales finally fall from her eyes.  It was in London, with a prostitute of Denmark Street known as La Charpollon, that Casanova finally met his match.  She robbed him, deceived him and humiliated him at every turn.  From this time on, he confessed, his life went downhill all the way."  (Casanova, 2007, n.p.)

 3) John Wilkes:
[Ref1] [Ref2]

Madeleine de Montmorency-Laval-Bois-Dauphin (1646-1729).

Her lover was:
Francois-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois:

"...Madeleine de Laval, marechale de Rochefort, was dame du palais de la Reine from 1674, and, after she became Louvois's mistress, lady-in-waiting to the new Dauphine in 1680...." (Rowlands, 2002, p. 45)

She married, in 1662, Henri-Louis d'Aloigny, Marquis de Rochefort (d.1676).

Achievements & Honours:  Lady of the Robes to the Duchesse de Bourgogne; First Lady of Honour to the Consort of the Regent d'Orleans.

Mademoiselle de Perigny.
French lady-in-waiting.

Her lovers were:
1) Comte de Marsin.
a.k.a. Marsan?.

2) Louis-Nicolas Le Tonnelier

Baron de Breteuil.

"...His first love-affair was with one of the queen's femmes de chambre, a certain Mlle de Perigny, who was not satisfied with a single string to her bow, and flirted with the Marquis d'Estrades and the Comte de Marsin at the same time as the Baron de Breteuil. One day the second called on her, to find the first and third already present. To his surprise she was dresses all in black and wore anything but a cheerful air...." (Hamel, 1911, p. 13)

3) Marquis d'Estrades.

Marianne Magnin (1752-1820)

a.k.a. Jeanne-Suzanne-Marie Magnin.

Her lover was:
Juste Constant de Rebecque:  

"At the age of four, Constant was moved to the care of Jeanne-Suzanne-Marie Magnin (1752-1820), a young woman of twenty years, who cared for the young child between 1772 and 1774.  There is a curious history associated with this. At the age of nine, Marianne Magnin (as she was called)  had been kidnapped from her peasant family by Constant's father Juste, who took charge of raising and educating her.  After the death of Benjamin's mother, Marianne Magnin became Juste's mistress and, subsequently (probably in 1792), his wife.  Marianne Magnin gave birth to a son Charles in 1784 and a daughter Louise in 1792. Until 1798, Constant was unaware of the second marriage, and, therefore, of the fact that he had half-siblings.  Where Constant's father died in 1812, there was a dispute over inheritance, but cordial relations between Constant and Marianne Magnin remained."  (Vincent, 2011, p. 19)

French aristocrat & murderer.

a.k.a. Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d'Aubray.

Her lover was:
Godin de Sainte-Croix.

". . . Sainte-Croix, the lover of French noblewoman Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers (1630-176) dies suddenly, asking that a casket of letters be returned to her.  Upon inspection, the letters are found to contain evidence that the marquise and her lover poisoned or tried to poison her father, brothers, sisters, husband, and chi The subsequent scandal, trial and execution will lead to uproar and accusations throughout the French nobility."  (Olsen, 1994, p. 75)

Marie-Therese d'Alegre (1680-1706)
Marquise de Barbezieux.

a.k.a. Marie-Therese-Delfine-Eustachie d'Alegre.

Daughter ofYves d'Alegre, Marquis d'Alegre & Jeanne-Francoise de Garaud de Donneville.

Wife ofLouis-Francois-Marie Le TellierMarquis de Barbezieux (1668-1701), mar 1696

Her lover was:
Duc d'Elbeuf.
" . . . Marie-Therese Eustachie de Barbezieux, the daughter of the marechal-marquis d'Alegre and wife of Louis-Francois de Barbezieux, himself the son of Louvois and secretary of state under Louis XIV.  Marie-Therese's wedding to Louis-Francois was worthy of a prince of the blood, and shortly thereafter the young bride was welcomed in the entourage of the duc de Bourgogne.  An alleged infidelity with the duc d'Elbeuf soon led to a separation, however, after which Barbezieux died.  The handsome Chevalier de Bouillon then fought a duel with the scheming marquis d'Entragues to decide which of the two would marry the young widow.  After this unfortunate incident, Marie-Therese withdrew or was packed off to a convent, where she died at age twenty-nine.  A portion of the vast Louvois-Barbezieux fortune passed through her to her daughter, the duchesse d'Harcourt, and thus to the Harcourt dynasty."

Pierre de BourdelleSeigneur de Brantome (1540-1614).

French historian, soldier & biographer.

a.k.a.
Pierre de Brantome
Abbe de Brantome.

His lover was:
[Bio1:Catholic Encyclopaedia]

Prosper de Barante (1782-1866)
French politician, statesman, writer  & historian
Auditor to the Council of State 1806
Ambassador to Spain 1806
Sub-Prefect of Bressuire 1807
Prefect of Vendee 1808
Prefect of Nantes
Councillor of State
Secretary-General of Ministry of Interior
Director-General of Indirect Taxes
Prefect of Lower Loire 1813
Pair de France 1819
Ambassador to Turin 1830
Grand Cross of Legion of Honour.

a.k.a. Born Amable-Guillaume-Prosper Brugiere, Baron de Barante
Prosper Brugiere, Baron de Barante.

Son ofClaude-Ignace Brugiere BaranteFirst prefect of Aude.

Husband ofCesarine d'Houdetot


Baronne de Barante.(1794-1877)

His lovers were:
1) Dorothea von Kurland, Duchesse de Dino.

2) Germaine, Madame de Stael.
Lover in 1804
"Prosper de Barante, the future historian of the dukes of Burgundy, was in his twenty-fourth year when he fell in love with Germaine, who was in her fortieth. His father, Claude-Ignace de Barante, Prefect of the department of Leman, had been among Germaine's admirers for many years. He had paid court to Germaine assiduously, perhaps not altogether without amorous intentions... Prosper, attached to the Ministry of the Interior, had first come to Germaine's attention in 1803. He was young, elegant, intelligenct, reserved, of delicate health---all qualities she liked in young men...." (Herold, 2002, p. 325)

3) Juliette Recamier.
First Encounter:  ""It was in 1809 that he met Juliette Recamier....(Hotels Paris

4) Duchesse de Broglie.
"In the case of the relationship between Mme de Broglie and Brante, she was married to a man who was a bit of a cold fish, and thus she sought certain forms of male attachment elsewhere.  Her relationship with Barante (and Guizot) compensated for the isolation she felt in her own marriage and household.  With Barante, she shared a past, memories of her childhood, and a certain aristocratic, polite, and sociable spirit (he had been the lover of her mother, Mme de Stael).  Her letters to him are witty and charming, and sho signs of a youth spent in high-society salons. Indeed, the two could even take a light, mocking, and flirtatious tone.  There was clearly something of the amitie amoureuse to this relationship.  Yest asking whether this was love or friendship was not necessarily a question that made sense to the men and women of this pre-Freudian era. . . ."  (States of Intimacy: Friendship and the Remaking of French Political Elites: 32)

Raymund de Trafford.
His lover was:
Alice Silverthorne.

"A year after her arrival, she fell wildly in love with the 26-year-old youngest son of a British baronet, who had decided to try his hand at big-game hunting and farming in East Africa. The darkly handsome and athletic Raymund de Trafford was also a gambler and a cad, who had already left a trail of broken hearts. And once again, he behaved true to form. After first promising Alice he would marry her if she left Frederic, he abruptly changed his mind a year later while they were both on a visit to Paris. Deaf to her anguish, he told her he'd be leaving on the evening train." (Colin on MailOnline)

Sophie Mocet.
a.k.a. Sophie, Madame de Zimmerman.

Her lover was:
"Mme de Saint Aubin's major enemies in the house were M. and Mme de Courcelles, La Poupliniere's brother-in-law and his pretty young wife, who occupied a large apartment in the house with their daughter, Alexandrine.  The Courcelles qere allied with the Zimmermans---he a retired Swiss Guard, she the former Sophie Mocet, La Poupliniere's most recent mistress...."  (Di Robilant, 2007, p. 171)

Suzanne de Livry, Marquise de Gouvernet.

Her lovers were:
1) Nicolas de La Faluere de Genonville
a.k.a. Lefevre de Genonville.

2) Voltaire

"...Possibly he might have married her, had she not run away with his particular friend, M. de Genonville. Voltaire was at first furious: he pursued the treacherous pair, but not overtaking them, had time to forgive them, though his despair made him seriously ill. He even wrote to De Genonville a poetical epistle, in which, while reproaching him, he expresses all his former attachment for him. this disloyal associate died a few years afterwards: by that time Suzanne had joined a company of strolling players, who extended their circuit as far as England...." (Oliphant, 1887, p. 25

Spouse:  Marquis La Tour du Pin de Gouvernet.  "...Mademoiselle de Livry was living in great privation, when the Marquis de Gouvernet saw and fell in love with her.  He proposed marriage, but Suzanne magnanimously refused him, on the score that she was penniless.  Upon this he made her buy a lottery-ticket:  it turned up a prize of several thousand pounds (supplied by the gallant lover, not by the lottery), and she became the Marquise de Gouvernet.  This marriage did not take place till several years after the episode with Voltaire.  She became a great lady, and took out of pawn Voltaire's portrait, which was hung up in the Marquis's hotel, apparently as a family picture."  (Oliphant, 1887, pp. 25-26)

Victor de Metternich.

His lover was:
Claire-Clemence-Henriette-Claudine de Maille de La Tour Landry, Duchesse de Castries (1796-1861)

Husband of Edmond Eugène-Philippe Hercule de la Croix, Duc de Castries (1787-1866)

"The Castries family came back to Paris during the Restoration. The eldest son, Edmond-Eugène Philippe, had married Claire-Clemence Henriette-Claudine de Maillé in 1816. The marriage was a failure, and the Duchess of Castries had an affair with Vi
ctor de Metternich, the fragile son of the Austrian chancellor, and then, after his death, had a platonic relationship with Balzac. With Metternich, by the way, she had a son." (Cooley, 2009, September 20)

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