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| Cardinal Granvelle |
(1517-1586)
French aristocrat, statesman & cardinal.
Comte de La Baume Saint Amour
Canon of Besancon
Bishop of Arras 1540
Prime Minister to Margaret of Parma
as Regent of Netherlands 1559
Archbishop of Mechelen 1560
Cardinal 1561
Viceroy of Naples 1570
Archbishop of Besancon 1584
Son of: Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, Chancellor of the HRE
His lover was:
Diana di Falanga.
Lover in 1573.
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| Armand-Jean du Plessis Cardinal de Richelieu |
(1585-1642)
Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu
French clergyman, noble & statesman
His lovers were:
1) Madame de Fruges.
2) Marion Delorme.
(1613-1650)
French courtesan
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| Cardinal de Retz @Wikipedia |
Jean-Francois-Paul de Gondi (1613-1679)
Cardinal
Ecclesiastic love-adventurer.
"Cardinal de Retz had always a dozen love-adventures on hand, and he details them in his Memoirs as plain matters of fact, and with unblushing effrontery. The frankness of his avowals are surprising... In the very midst of his plots, schemes, and contrivances, when he is surrounded with danger, his light, buoyant, fickle heart, is struck with the beauty of some new face, and endeavouring to inveigle the fair possessor into his power by all the artful manoeuvres of a thoroughly unscrupulous man of the world. He got tired of Madame de Pommereul, and of Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, 'whose beauty was that of an angel, and whose head was that of a food' (such is his own statement), and was filled with admiration at the opening charms of the young Mademoiselle de la Loupe, then engaged to be married to the Count d'Olonne...." (Fraser's Magazine, Vol. 30: 302)
Relationship risks.
When Gondi delivered a moving sermon on Christian charity in St Germain d'Auxerrois, beside the Louvre, he was suffering painfully from venereal disease, the result of his recent liaison with the duchesse de Brissac. Currently his mistress was the pretty daughter of Mme de Chevreuse. . . ." (Mazarin: the Crisis of Absolutism in France : 124)
Physical apperance & personal qualities.
" . . . A braggart, a duellist, and more than a gallant---though having swarthy, ugly features, turned-up nose, and short, bandy legs---yet his expressive eyes carried off every fault, sparkling as they were with intelligence, audacity, and libertinage. Few withstood this subtle knave, for he was wont to waive all ceremonial and spare everybody prefatory speeches. The ladies of gallantry---especially whose lover he was---were his most indefatigable political agents. . . ." (Political Women: 152)
His lovers were:
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| Anne de Rohan |
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| Anne de Rohan @Wikipedia |
1) Anne de Rohan (1606-1685)
Princesse de Guemene
"Anne de Rohan (1604-85) was the wife---and also the first cousin---of Louis VII (or VIII) de Rohan, prince de Guemene, duc de Montbazon and peer of France (1598-1667). By the time that Hortense made this stop at her house, the princesse de Guemene was a sixty-four-year-old dowager, but in her earlier life she had been at the center of much court gallantry and also of the religious debates of the seventeenth century. She was the sister-in-law of the famous duchesse de Chevreuse; she was a great enemy of Richelieu and a mistress of Cardinal Retz; and she was one of the ladies of the highest French nobility who became converts to Jansenism and whom people called 'les belles amies de Port-Royal.'. . . " (Memoirs: 60)
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| Charlotte-Marie de Lorraine @V&A |
2) Charlotte-Marie de Lorraine (1627-1652)
Damoiselle de Chevreuse.
Daughter of: Claude de Lorraine, Duc de Chevreuse & Marie de Rohan.
Her other lover was:
Abbe Basile Fouquet (1622-1680)
Brother of Nicolas Fouquet.
Lover in 1648.
" . . . Madame de Motteville says of her: 'Mademoiselle de Chevreuse was not really beautiful; she had fine eyes and a beautiful mouth, and charming features; but she was not fair enough to be beautiful.' Her father, the Duc de Chevreuse, declared that her eyes were 'capable of inflaming the whole earth.'" (A Princess of Intrigue: 378)
3) Madame de Pommereux.
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| Marie de Rohan @Wikipedia |
4) Marie de Rohan (1600-1679)
Duchess de Chevreuse
5) Mademoiselle de La Loupe.
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| Marguerite-Francoise de Gondi @Wikipedia |
6) Marguerite-Francoise de Gondi (1655-1716)
By inheritance:
Marquise de La Garnache
Comtesse de Joigny
Baronne de Mortagne
Duchesse de Brissac.
By marriage:
Comtesse de Sault
Wife of Francois-Emmanuel de Blanchefort-Crequy, (1645-1685), 4th Duc de Lesdiguieres
Son of: Henri I de Lorraine, Duc de Guise & Katharina von Kleve.
Husband of: Charlotte des Essarts, Mademoiselle de La Haye, mar 1611.
His lover was:
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| Charlotte des Essarts @Wikipedia |
Charlotte des Essarts (1580-1651)
Comtesse de Romorantin
" . . . The last of the Guise cardinals, Louis de Lorraine (1575-1621), duly became du Bec's coadjutor in 1692 and then, when the latter died in 1605, his successor. But there is no record in papal archives of Guise's provisions as archbishop. Nor did the cardinal ever take the trouble to have himself ordained a priest, let alone consecrated as a bishop, not least because he was probably secretly married to a former mistress of Henri IV, Charlotte des Essarts, by whom he had several children, one of whom would become bishop of Condom in the late 1650s. . . ." (The Making og the French Episcopate, 1589-1661: 21)
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| Louis II Cardinal de Guise |
(1555-1588)
Archbishop of Reims
1574
Cardinal de Guise
1578
Son of: Francois, Duc de Guise & Anna d'Este
His lover was:
Aimerie de Lescheraine
Natural Offspring:
Louis batard de Guise (1588-1631).
"...(H)is mistress, Aymerie de Lescherenne, gave him four bastard sons...." (Caroll, 2011, p. cci)
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| Odet de Coligny Cardinal de Chatillon |
(1517-1571)
French cardinal.
Cardinal of Chatillon 1533
Archbishop of Toulouse 1534
Bishop-Count of Cambrai 1535
Bishop of Beauvais
Son of: Gaspard I de Coligny & Louise de Montmorency.
His lover was:
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| Isabelle de Hauteville |
Isabelle de Hauteville.
His wife from 1564.
"About this time Admiral Colign decided to send his brother, the excommunicated Cardinal, on a special mission to Cecil. Odet de Chatillon was now married to his former mistress. He appeared more devoted to her than some of the leaders of the Reformation were to the ladies of their choice. . . ." (Philip II (1527-1598))
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| Jules Cardinal Mazarin |
" . . . (I)t was during the early years of Louis XIV's minority that Cardinal Mazarin endeavoured by dint of persistent effort to establish Italian opera as a permanent institution at the French court. Marzarin's motives in doing so were largely political, but he was none the less a passionate lover of music. In his early days he had been in the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the leading organizer of operatic performances in Rome, and it was alleged that he was the lover of Leonora Baroni, the singer whom Milton heard at Rome and celebrated in a Latin poem. . . . " (Foundations of English Opera: 44)
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| Cardinal Mazarin |
Cardinal Mazarin's physical appearance & personal qualities.
The charm of his manners, the exquisite finish of his dress, and the beauty of his person: "Contemporary memoirs give a vivid picture of Mazarin's life and demeanour at this critical period. He was gentle, unassuming, accessible, full of kindness and fascination. He entertained as simply as a private person. He wanted nothing for himself: his own connections being in Italy, he should regard all the Queen's servants as his family. The antique statues sent him from Rome were the only relatives he wished to have in France. Friends and foes are unanimous in describing the charm of his manners, the exquisite finish of his dress, and the beauty of his person. At forty he was one of the handsomest at Court. A good figure, above the middle height, a clear complexion, eyes full of fire, a large nose, a broad and majestic forehead, hair chestnut and slightly wavy, his beard darker and carefully curled, his hands beautiful and well kept---it was impossible, wrote Mme. de Motteville, who bore him no good will not to be carried away by his seductiveness. . . ." (Quaterly Review, Volumes 154-155: 42)
His lover was:
Leonora Baroni.
"He was handsome, cunning and ambitious and he moved in the very highest ranks of the most brilliant social circles in Europe. He was befriended by the greatest families of the day, and he chose as his mistress Leonora Baroni, the singer whose fabulous success inaugurated the long and frenzied tradition of operatic 'stardom'...." (Haskell, 1980, p. 180)
Personal & Family Background: Leonora was the daughter of Adriana Basile, a singer, and Mutio Baroni.
Spouse & Children: She married, in 1640, Giulio Cesare Castelliani, the personal secretary of Francesco Cardinal Barberini.
" . . . During his stay at Rome, he was received with particular distinction by the Cardinal Barberini, the nephew of the reigning Pope, and at his palace had frequent opportunities of hearing Leonora Baroni, the finest singer in Italy. She was the daughter of Adriana of Mantua, surnamed for her beauty, La Bella Adriana, and the best singer and player on the lute of her time. Leonora inherited her mother's extraordinary talent for music, and conquered all hearts by the inexpressible charm of her voice and style. She was also a poetess, frequently composing the words of her own songs. Though not a regular beauty, she had brilliant eyes, and a captivating countenance and manner. . . ." (Patrons and Painters: 254)
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