Marie de Rochechouart

### Predecessor

Catherine Marie d’Escoubleau de Sourdis, ComtesseDouairière de Clermont (1580-1626) †

## Occupations

### Court Posts

Dame d'Honneur de l'Impératrice Mère Nicole de Lorraine (1634-1650)Dame du Chocolate de l'Impératrice Mère Nicole de Lorraine (1644-1650)

## Biography

### House

Rochechouart (Birth)Clermont-Tonnerre (Marriage)

### Spouse

Charles Henri II de Clermont-Tonnerre, Comte de Clermont (m.1634-1650)

### Romantic Interests

Charles Henri II de Clermont-Tonnerre, Comte de Clermont (Marriage)François Henri Valois d'Orléans d'Angoulême, Monsieur (1638-1640)François II de Lorraine-Guise (1644-1650)

### Father

Jean-Louis de Rochechouart, Marquis de Champdenier (1582-1634)

### Mother

Louise de Montbéron de Fontaines-Chalendray, Marquise de Champdenier Suo Jure Baronne de Fontaine Chalandré (1589-1649)

### Issue

Marie Hélène, Duchesse de GuiseMadeleine Marie, Mademoiselle de Tallard

Marie Louise, Mademoiselle de Husson †

Antoine François, Seigneur de Husson

Marie Charlotte, Comtesse de Bresteau

Roger Claude, Seigneur de Ravières

Marie Catherine, Mademoiselle de Clermont

Henri Jacques, Seigneur de Selles-sur-Cher

Charlotte Henriette, Mademoiselle de Husson

Marie Henriette, Mademoiselle d'Ancy le Franc

### Siblings

Jean-Louis II de Rochechouart, Duc de Champdenier (1610-present)
Charles de Rochechouart, Baron de Couches (1612-present)

Louise de Rochechouart, Archeveque de Poitiers (1614-present)

Claude-Charles de Rochechouart, Seigneur de Saint-Marcolle (1620-present)

### Signature

Marie de Rochechouart, Comtesse de Clermont

**Marie de Rochechouart, Comtesse de Clermont, (1st November 1613 - 16th January 1650)** is a Grandelumierian noblewoman from the old and ancient noble house of Rochechouart. She was the 4th child between the union of *Jean-Louis de Rochechouart, the Marquis de Champdenier* and *Louise de Montbéron de Fontaines-Chalendray, Marquise de Champdenier* who was also the Suo Jure Baronne de Fontaine Chalandré.

Marie de Rochechouart was also the wife of Charles-Henri II de Clermont-Tonnerre who was the Comte de Clermont and a Grandelumierian military officer.

## Early Life

### **Birth**

Marie was delivered to her parents, Jean-Louis de Rochechouart, the Marquis de Champdenier, and his wife, Louise de Montberon de Fontaines-Chalendray, the Baronne de Fontaine Chalandre by her own right, at the Chateau de Javarzay. Upon her birth she was styled the Mademoiselle de Champdenier. Her family was of the most ancient extraction within the Empire, having descended from the Vicomtes de Rochechouart of the later 10th century.

She would be baptised days after her delivery by the family chaplain, with her godparents as . After this, she was put into the care of a family governess, Marie Rouillé de Meslay, wife of Henri Feydeau the Seigneur de Brou. She would spend the earliest years of her childhood at the Chateau de Javazary with her elder brothers.

### **Childhood & Education**

Aged seven in 1622, Marie would be admitted to the Abbaye de Sainte-Marie de la Règle under the watch of Abbesse Jeanne IV de Verthamon de Lavaud. This would be the typical education of a young woman of noble extraction, and far more prestigious than home education. She would be educated in the subjects of grammar, philosophy, languages (particularly Latin and Greek), theology, arithmetic, and musical composition and dance. In addition, domestic classes were taught such as basic knowledge of cooking, embroidery, and horticulture.

She would reside at the abbey for education until the age of eighteen, when she left to return to her family residence in preparation of her marriage to the Comte de Clermont, Charles-Henri II.

### **Court Arrival**

Marie was rather surprised by what she found in her arrival at court. Her father, the honorable Marquis de Champdenier and her mother, the honorable Marquise de Champdenier had introduced their only daughter into court. After being introduced to the imperial family, the Mademoiselle de Champdenier had decided to have an adventurous journey around the Château de Louvre. It took her several hours, leading a lone exploration of the Louvre and its surrounding areas. As soon as she became accustomed to the palace, she was determined to begin to make allies among the courtiers. The Mademoiselle de Champdenier was succeeding at making allies in french court, all the other females had adored her, truly. The Mademoiselle and her company of females had taken a walk to the gardens, only to find another female just about her age. Her name was Mademoiselle de Bois-Dauphin. The maiden joined in with them and had vastly became close friends with the Mademoiselle de Champdenier. After getting a slight touch of the life at court, it was getting quite close to the Mademoiselle de Champdenier's union with the esteemed Charles-Henri II de Clermont-Tonnerre, Comte de Clermont.

### **Wedding**

The Mademoiselle de Champdenier initially had been ill at ease, days prior to the ceremony. However, she had the morning of the wedding, maintained herself efficiently, undismayed. She would have then embarked her journey, roughly around noon, to the Château d'Ancy-le-Franc. Marie would have emerged out from the carriage, evidently quivering. She and the Comte de Clermont then had ambled down to the altar, where they thereupon commenced the wedding ceremony. Following the ceremony, they individually paraded down the aisle, reunited, they thanked the Évêque, who had performed the wedding ceremony.

### **Early** **Marriage Life and Children**

After her wedding to the Comte de Clermont, Marie worked hard to be an ideal wife, and provide an heir to her spouse. Soon after the wedding, Marie had heard rumors on her husband's past libertine activities. The Comtesse was finally prepared to have an heir for Clermont. Not long after, Marie had became pregnant, the family was most joyous about the Comtesse barring a child. The time came when Marie was ready to give birth, she had her baby on August 18th, 1633. Madame de Clermont had given birth to a healthy female. Everyone had been heavily disappointed in Marie because she had not provided an heir. The disappointment of the Clermont family, did not match the anger the Comte had over Marie. This led to Marie being beaten several times each day. After awhile, the Comtesse had gotten pregnant, once more and the pressure was all on her. Marie had a painful delivery and exhausting delivery, though in the end, she had given birth to a male heir. The date of birth for the young Baron d'Ancy le Franc was September 2nd, 1634. Although she had an heir, the Comte de Clermont still resumed to abuse her. She was stuck with the secret of her husband's abuse, which impacted her entire life experience in court.

### **The Affair of 1634**

Madame la Comtesse de Clermont started a love affair with the Monsieur, Duc de Bourgogne on September 19th, 1634. Monsieur and the Comtesse met at one of her husband's libertine parties. After their greeting, Marie wanted to do everything in her power to have him be attracted to her. Almost everyday for the past 9 weeks, she made Monsieur a lovely piece of embroidery. Courtiers began to wonder why the Comtesse de Clermont kept visiting the Monsieur's chambers throughout the day. Marie soon became Monsieur's 2nd mistress, she would get presents from him such as pearls and other expensive items, etc. She had competition to be the main mistress, this courtier would be the Marquise de Mortemart.

### **Trial of 1640**

In the late 1640s, during Her Majesty's couvert, a problem had occurred. Madame de Clermont wanted to greet the Marquise de Rothelin, she approached her and had tapped her on the shoulder, alerting the Madame de Rothelin and she had almost assaulted the Comtesse out of self defense. Marie threatened the Marquise by saying, "We would have had quite the problem if you would assaulted me". Marie had quite the chuckle out of it however, the Marquise was clearly offended and displeased, though did nothing about the matter. The next day, Marie walked up to the Marquise de Rothelin and tapped her once more, which angered the old Marquise. And, the Madame de Clermont had asked if the Madame de Rothelin needed any assistance with something simple as walking. The Madame de Montmorency overheard this conversation and was utterly disgusted at the Madame de Clermont's rude behavior and shooed her away. Marie turned away walking back to her post by her husband, smirking. At the time, the Marquise de Rothelin was an princesse etranger, which is a very high ranking status in the french court though, Marie thought otherwise. On her way back to her rooms to change for dinner, Marie got a glimpse of Madame and Monsieur sitting on the edge of the fountain from a window. She immediately rushed to them, smirking to Monsieur as she made her way over. She had a small conversation with them both, Madame soon left to converse with other courtiers and to change for dinner with her dames. Monsieur then confessed that he wanted to commit to Madame, and that he needed to end the relationship between him and the Comtesse to please her. Marie began sobbing, miserably, but discreetly hid it from other courtiers's prying eyes. She resumed her day, not knowing that the Marquise de Rothelin and the Duchesse de Champdenier, (the comtesse's sister in law) were having a private meeting about the Comtesse's recent behavior. During the private meeting between the Duchesse de Champdenier and the Marquise de Rothelin, the Marquise de Rothelin had informed the Duchesse about the mysterious foreign friend that the Comtesse de Clermont was receiving gifts from. Marie had been receiving gifts from a foreign friend aka the Monsieur. After the meeting concluded, the Duchesse de Champdenier wrote a well-detailed letter to the Comte de Clermont about Marie's *foreign* friend and her behavior towards to princesse etranger.

The next day at the end Cardinal de Guise's mass, Madame de Clermont was approached by her husband, the Comte de Clermont, demanding to be told of her tiara that was given to her by her *foreign* friend. Of course, the Comtesse denied the accusations that were being thrown at her so early in the morning. The couple were in public while the verbal arguement occurred. Marie had claimed that a foreigner had given the tiara to her as a gift. She exited the conversation by running off to her rooms, though was cut off by her husband. He had gripped her arm, pulling her around and had scolded her for running away without being dismissed. He claimed that she was with another man, Marie denied the accusations and began to feel caged. After the *heated* conversation ended, the Comte had set his valet to follow Marie around, so that she wouldn't get into any trouble. That night, Marie has sought to leave the louvre to go spend time with her children, privately. She outsmarted the valet and road a carriage to the Château d'Ancy-le-Franc. The next morning she was found, and her husband decided to take her to trial for deserting him.

A few days go by, and the court trial is upcoming. If she were to lose, she would have to return to french court and be shamed by her family. The day finally came, November 1st, 1640. The trial started, everyone seemed to have ignored Marie. Not many came up to her to say good luck or anything of the sort. Marie was quite nervous as she didn't have any lawyers, and she was a bit intimidated by her husband and his lawyers. During the beginning of the trial, Marie thought it would be a good idea to bring up her husband's abuse towards her. Along with Clermont's reckless behavior. Towards the end of the trial, Marie had just finished her statement when the Marquise de Mortemart had stood up and told the judges and everyone in the courtroom about the Comtesse's affair with the Monsieur. Each courtier looked at the Comtesse de Clermont in disgust. After the Marquise de Mortemart had told everyone about the affair, the judges had determined that the Comte de Clermont had won the trial. and the Comtesse de Clermont had to return to court with her husband's valet at her side and soon-to-be shamed by her family.

## Personality and Appearance

### **Personality**

The Comtesse de Clermont had a calm soul. Ever since she was a child, she enjoyed embroidering with her mother and playing games with her older brothers, Jean-Louis II de Rochechouart and Charles de Rochechouart. Marie had been a social butterfly her entire life, she enjoyed conversing with strangers and introducing herself to others. Most courtiers say that Marie is awfully gregarious and that she is respectful to any courtier that does not disrespect her. Rumors have gone around about the Comtesse spreading gossip around court, which is quite scandalous.

### **Appearance**

Marie de Rochechouart had an enchanting appearance, many of members of her household had gorgeous genes. As a child, her immediate family would call her the 'pretty maiden', it was a safe and sacred nickname that her siblings grew up calling her. The Comtesse de Clermont had a very captivating figure, with an extensive amount of hair, the color was a dark chocolate tone. She always had her hair decorated with marble pearls. Marie was given her mere's cocoa-colored eye-color with beady upturned eyes. She also had downward-turned lips, with a light pink shade; with a greek-shaped nose.