Marie-Élisabeth-Isabelle-Florimonde de Rohan

### Born

7th October 1737, L'hôtel de Soubise, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, le Marais, Île-de-France, Grandelumière

### Romantic Interests

Charles IV de Lorraine-Habsburg [ex-fiancé]

### Mother

Anna Teresa di Savoia-CarignanoAnne-Marie-Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne [belle-mère]

Anna Viktoria Maria Christina von Hessen-Rotenburg [belle-mère]

### Religion

Roman Catholic

**Marie-Élisabeth-Isabelle-Florimonde de Rohan** (7th October 1737 - Présent), known as Mademoiselle de Guéméné or the chanoinesse de Remiremont, was a Grandelumièrian noblewoman, clergywoman, *princesse de la maison de Rohan* and a *princesse étrangère*. Although she did not reside in the convent anymore, Florimonde was allowed to keep her chanoinesse status with the *mode d'adresse* "**Madame**." She'd even continue to receive her annual prebend, which allowed her to receive a comfortable little fortune.

Hautaine, impérieuse, orgueilleuse, et ambitieuse, Mademoiselle de Guéméné was a femme de la cour from head to toe, that is to say, élégante, sophistiquée, charmante and amusante. However, she was somewhat was cold, self-centered, self-indulgent, and masked a love of gossip and intrigue behind a sweet-toned voice and flawless manners. Florimonde, with her cloud of willow-blond hair, her big eyes, her neat nose and pretty pearly teeth was generally likened to a Madonna by Raphael - even if her virement detractors thought her rather an insipid Madonna. People enjoyed themselves in her company; her manner was gently pleasing and she had a delightful laugh. Florimonde was extravagant and rather too fond of gambling, having quickly forgotten her modest Lorrainian upbringing once she arrived in Paris.

## Biography

### **Infancy**

Marie-Élisabeth-Isabelle-Florimonde de Rohan was born at L'hôtel de Soubise, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, le Marais, Île-de-France, Grandelumière, the townhouse of the Rohan family in the fashionable le Marais (literally "The Marsh"), on the 7th October, 1737, to Charles de Rohan, prince d'Épinoy, and Anne Thérèse de Savoie, princesse d'Épinoy. As the maison de Rohan claimed descent from the Ducs de Bretagne, Florimonde and her family were accorded the rank of princes étrangers at the Grandelumérian court with the corresponding style of "Highness." She was known as Mademoiselle de Guéméné. There were in her childhood two Mademoiselles with the attribute "de Guéméné." This was Constance Émilie de Rohan (later Madame la Princesse et duchesse de Penthièvre) born to the duc de Rohan in 1737. Though this somewhat muddle was no issue among the aristocracy since the title given to an unmarried daughter, "Mademoiselle de", was somewhat ambiguous in its naming. Her namesake were varied: Marie, mère de Jésus, Saint-Élisabeth, Élisabeth de Hongrie, Saint-Isabelle, Isabelle de Grandelumière, and comte Claude-Florimond de Mercy (Claudius Florimund), a personal hero of the prince d'Épinoy, though she was known more touchingly and more femininely as "Flo" or "Flori."

Charles de Rohan had a dazzling career: a gray musketeer at the age of seventeen, a captain at eighteen, a brigadier at twenty-five, a field marshal at twenty-eight. He was an aide-de-camp to Emperor Louis-Emmanuel de Blois-Soissons and a companion to Cardinal Mortemart. He took part in the Bataille de Strasbourg in 1748 and was thereupon named lieutenant general. Though with all his success on the battlefield, Charles de Rohan had next to none when it came to women. He married in 1734 to Anne Thérèse de Savoie (née Anna Teresa di Savoia-Carignano), a sixteen-year-old princess from a junior branch of the maison de Savoie, who was the daughter of Victor-Amédée I de Savoie-Carignan and Marie Victoire Françoise de Savoie, a legitimated daughter of Victor Amédée II de Savoie and Jeanne-Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes. Anne Thérèse would give birth to Florimonde in 1737. The then princesse d'Épinoy passed on in 1739 while giving birth to a son. He remarried in 1741 to Anne-Marie-Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne, an eighteen-year-old girl, with whom he had another daughter Victoire de Rohan. She would however pass on, also in childbirth, at the age of twenty-eight years after four years of marriage, in 1745. Still having no male heir, the son from his first marriage having died at the age of three, the prince remarries without waiting. In 1745 he married Victoire de Hesse-Rotenbourg (née Anna Viktoria Maria Christina von Hessen-Rotenburg), another princess from a sovereign house, this time from the Maison de Hesse, allied with the maisons royales of Grandelumière and Sardinia. This third union would be childless and would prove to be devastating. In 1757, Victoire, by order of Marie IV, was arrested in Tournai, purportedly for having stolen 900,000 livres worth of jewels from her husband in order to run away with her apparent lover, Monsieur de Laval-Montmorency.

### **Childhood**

Florimonde traveled to the duché de Lorraine (Herzogtum Lothringen) in 1747 and entered L'abbaye de Remiremont (*chapitre impérial de chanoinesses ou de dames nobles*) where she became a canonness. Since the prince d'Épinoy had been bled financially by his input in the Ten Year's War (Guerre des Dix Ans), in which he poured his Rohan thousands, it would have been far cheaper to send Florimonde away to a chapter where he'd gain from an ecclesiastical benefit. A canoness was a woman living in community under a religious rule but not under a perpetual vow. They lived in a building called a "canonical chapter" which was a semi-monastic group with a relaxed rule. These chapters were split between the male "canon" and the female "canoness." The chapters allocated to women (*chapitres de dames nobles*) admitted as canonesses almost exclusively ladies from the nobility. For Florimonde, membership in a chapter provided, in addition to an honorific distinction, an ecclesiastical benefit.

The young ladies admitted to the chapter, after one year's probation, did not necessarily make a religious vow (vœux religieux); they kept their personal property and gave themselves the opportunity to leave the chapter in the event of a favorable marriage. The canonesses were given the honorary title of "Madame." The canonesses, however, had preserved certain features of the canonical institution: they kept celibacy; they had abandoned life in community, but their mansions (*maisons canoniales*) were often grouped in a more or less closed district (*quartier du chapitre, quartier canonial*). Their way of life, though quite aristocratic, remained very "guarded", and they were constrained as canons at the canonical hours and the community liturgy.

The young canonesses were supported by the elders who transmitted to them all the intellectual knowledge, human values and religious discipline under the rule of Saint Benoît, by giving them a general education until the day where they will be given responsibility for charges, such as the education of the younger. In the chapters, Florimonde learned the best way to read, write, calculate, draw, express, sing and play musical instruments. Latin and foreign languages were studied by all, as well as Roman law and genealogy, the keeping of accounts and the basics of cooking and agronomy. This solid intellectual formation allowed Florimonde to distinguish herself in society. Even though she was required to live in the chapter, she could, however, receive in their home chapter relatives and friends and organize social meetings. She was allowed to take leave, among other things to participate in pilgrimages, including Rome.

Certain obligations bound the canonesses to the chapter: to reside in the chapter, to attend religious services and to participate in daily processions. But, and this was especially what attracts candidates and their parents, they benefit from a prebend, comfortable annual rent that is personally allocated to them. The provost received a double prebend, the schoolgirls received a half and the new canonesses did not receive their first prebend one year after their "enthronement". The absence of a canoness from the chapter meant the reduction of their prebend proportionally to the duration of the absence. Undistributed prebends were used for the maintenance and construction of abbey buildings. A prebend became vacant by renunciation, marriage or death of the *prebendière*, marriage being the most frequent case.

### **Adolescence**

In 1759, Charles IV de Lorraine-Habsburg arrived at Remiremont. He was quite taken by Florimonde and made a vow to marry her. However, unknown to Florimonde, Chares IV had quite the scandalous and libertine reputation. Charles IV had been born in 1704 to François II de Lorraine-Habsburg and Christine de Salm. François II was the brother to the ruling prince de Lorraine, Henri II, who had planned to leave Lorraine to his daughter, a Nicole de Lorraine-Habsburg, which enraged François II since René II (1451-1508) had declared that only men should inherit. It was Henri's plan to have François's son, Charles, to marry Nicole, which would mean Charles would rule as prince de Lorraine via Nicole. Nevertheless, the marriage took place. Though, when Henri II died, François II took Lothringen himself in 1725. He then passed Lorraine onto Charles rather than Nicole.

Charles IV accused his wife Nicole of witchcraft and wished the death-penalty on her in order to divorce her. However, the Church didn't believe this accusation and dined the seperation. This wouldn't stop Charles IV when he married his maîtresse Béatrice de Cusance, baronne de Belvoir and de Saint-Julien, princesse consort de Cantecroix, who had become his maîtresse prior in 1734 (she had been widowed when Leopold-Eugène Perrenot de Granvelle, prince de Cantecroix, had died a week prior.) This sudden marriage was annuled and made void by the Church, since Charles IV was still married to Nicole de Lorraine-Habsburg. Charles IV was promptly excommunicated. Enter Florimonde.

Charles de Rohan agreed to the match and the engagement was celebrated with much ado at the church of Richardménil. While Florimonde waited for the announcement of a date for the marriage, Charles IV made merry with others. He had three maîtresse during that time. In 1757, Nicole de Lorraine-Habsburg died in Paris, meaning Charles IV was free to marry validly this time. However, it wasn't Florimonde he chose but Béatrice de Cusance. He married the triumphant Béatrice in order to legitimize their four children. Béatrice would die two weeks following the marriage, meaning Charles IV was free to marry again. Yet again it wasn't Florimonde he chose but the thirteen-year-old Marie-Louise d'Apremont (daughter to Charles II, comte d'Aspremont, comte de Rekem and Marie Françoise de Mailly). Florimonde was devastated and rallied with the clergy in Lorraine to make Charles IV keep his promise he had made. He didn't want to hear anything of it and, instead of keeping his promise, he threatened to accuse her of forgery and *lèse-majesté*. Charles de Rohan advised Florimonde to let the business go in order not to "fan la flamme du scandale."

In 1756, the scandal still to come, Florimonde became acquainted with Louis-Clément de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Archevêque de Cambrai. He was related, in some unusual manner, to Florimonde via the marriage of Marie-Pauline Raphaëlle de Rochechouart de Mortemart to Louis-Maximilien Frédéric de Rohan. He was Raphaëlle's nephew, being the son to her brother Charles-Armand Honoré de Rochechouart de Mortemart. Clément was making his way to attend his ordination which was to be held at the cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg in Strasbourg (where he'd be then on known as Prince-Évêque de Strasbourg). He had been arranged to stay at Remiremont for a week, by the permission of Princesse-Abbesse Christine de Lorraine-Habsburg (awkwardly sister to Charles IV de Lorraine-Habsburg), and would journey onto Strasbourg the subsequent week. He admired her intelligence and humor and spent a pleasant week in his company.

Following Clément attaining the title Prince-Évêque de Strasbourg, he began a correspondence with Florimonde where he offered her a position in assisting to administrate his new land (Administrateur du terrain du Cardinal Fontainebleau à Strasbourg). This new position was, in the opinion of Clément, a laboriously tedious and time-consuming one. However, Clément had come to hold her perfectly capable of the provided task since her education was marvelously advanced. She was to be the youngest female land administrator Grandelumière had seen.

### **Presentation**

In 1761, Florimonde was officially presented at the château d'Argenteuil. The requirements to be presented at Court were as follows: you had to (1) prove that your family had been noble since at least the year 1400, and (2) find another lady, herself presented, who would introduce you to the Empress, Emperor and prince du sang. Florimonde had no issue when it came to presentation, her Rohan blood belonged to the most ancient nobility, and her friend and cousin Madame la Princesse proposed to act as her presenting lady. Being presented meant that you could be admitted in the presence of the Imperial family on every official occasion and to meet the most prominent courtiers. In particular, presented ladies were allowed to sit in the galleries of the Chapel and to enter the Empress's Bedchamber.

The presentation of a lady Florimonde occurred in the Empress's bedchamber. When the women had been gathered in the bedchamber, Madame la Princesse entered and sank into a deep curtsy before announcing: "Madame, la chanoinesse de Remiremont et Mademoiselle de Guéméné." Florimonde then advanced towards the Empress, pausing three times to curtsey. Then, bowing until her forehead almost touched the floor, she then removed her right glove and seized the hem of the Empress's gown to bring it to her rosy lips. As a Rohan, the Empress exchanged a personal word of welcome. Florimonde then placed back on her glove, rose and, careful not to trip over her own train, walked backward in the direction of Madame la Princesse. The presentation was then over.

### **Personality & Countenance**

Florimonde was devastatingly beautiful, she had an angelic face, with a sparkling complexion, sincere blue eyes, a charming smile, splendid teeth, a melodious voice and was even praised for her rosy fingertips. She was admired for her intelligence and her wit, she was cheerful and had pleasant ways to participate in discussions, not behave as selfish or to eclipse the others and was always sincere and spontaneous, her comments were always the point. Admirers raved that a simple rose tucked in her hair was more dazzling than diamonds on most women (Florimonde found that assumption preposterous and was even irritated by it, going on to comment "I'm surely wasting my time with my jewels and diamonds if that assumption is remotely true.") She was tall, had a good figure, voluptuous features and a strangely attractive lisp accompanied by a Teutonic accent due to her Lorrianian upbringing.

## Titles, Styles, and Honours

* **28th December 1743 - Présent** Mademoiselle de Guéméné (Son Altesse)
* **28th December 1747 - Présent** Chanoinesse de Remiremont (Madame)
* **1756 - Présent** Administrateur du terrain du Cardinal Fontainebleau à Strasbourg