Marie-Olympe Adeline de Aubusson de la Feuillade

Duchesse de Sully, 1751

### Siblings

Marie Eloise de Aubusson de la Feuillade Louis Damien de Aubusson de la Feuillade

Jacques-Augustus de Aubusson de la Feuillade †

Marie Adeline de Aubusson de la Feuillade †

### Mother

Marie Céline de Aubusson de la Feuillade †

### Religion

Roman Catholicism

**Marie-Olympe Adeline, Duchesse de Sully** (April 14, 1734-November 17, 1754) was the wife of the *Duc de Sully*. She was the daughter of the *Duc et Duchess de la Feuillade* and was the oldest daughter of the couple.

## Titles

**Mademoiselle de la Feuillade-** 1734-1749

**Duchess de Sully-** 1749-1754

## Early Life (1734-1748)

### Birth (1734)

It was a cold, December morning at the Château de Aubusson de la Feuillade. Snow fell in the windows. The ladies of the house had gone to the salon to chat.

They were sipping tea and laughing, while the fire burnt and was tended to in front of them. When the Duchesse de la Feuillade clutched her stomach and started having contractions. Soon enough, she was in labor and was rushed to her chambers immediately.

The physician had said it would be a hard labor, and that there was a good chance of the baby dying. Especially when the duchess was 8 months into pregnancy, the labor was awfully early.

The anticipation for the child was excruciating. But 12 hours later, the wail of a newborn child echoed through the hallways.

Though the baby was female, her parents still loved her, since it took 4 years to conceive her. It was a good sign a son would come, because if they conceived a daughter, then they could conceive a son.

### Infancy (1734-1737)

During her infancy, she was taken care of by her governess.

As the eldest child, she was respected by her parents until her younger brother was born. She enjoyed playing with her brother, in which they played tag with each other in the gardens.

### Childhood (1737-1749)

When she was in her childhood, her mother gave birth to her little sister, Marie Eloise. At the age of 8, she was able to play tag with both of her siblings.

Though the last two children died after birth, Marie-Olympe had to learn to adapt to it. She was devastated for her mother's loss, but got used to it after her brother was stillborn.

Her mother only visited she and her siblings once a week, or sometimes once a month. Her father never visited them, or would've been once or twice a year.

On her 5th birthday, her mother gave her a porcelain doll. She took the doll wherever she went, and is still in her bedroom on top of her dresser.

One day, her governess gave her a journal to write in. Madame de Archambault thought that she would immediately let go of it but she wrote all kinds of poetry in it. So much, that by the time she was 10 she had to sew 100 more pages into her journal. Today, the journal is extremely thick because of how much she writes poems in it.

When she was 12, her mother died of tuberculosis which devastated Marie-Olympe. She wouldn't walk out of her bedroom until two weeks later. In that period, she sobbed heavily to the point it could be heard all throughout the château.

### Adolescence

#### Baptism

Marie-Olympe was baptized on August 2, 1739. In a gown of white silk, she was dunked under and reborn as the *Mademoiselle de la Feuillade.*

#### Education

After her baptism, her mother ordered her to be under the care of Madame du Archambault. The governess took Marie-Olympe with ease.

Marie-Olympe fell in love with music. Madame du Archambault taught her the harp, in which she did duets with her sister, Marie Eloise, who played the piano.

She explored the wonders of reading, writing, science, and math. Though she didn't have an interest in science and math, she still participated in it, to encourage herself.

## Arrival at Court (1749)

When Marie-Olympe arrived at court on April 17, 1749, she was made the Dame d'Honneur to the Madame la Dauphine. They made a strong relationship. Marie-Olympe always fought over who would tighten the corset.

She also introduced herself with other nobles, but she was very fond of the Madame la Dauphine.

## Marriage (1749)

As soon as Marie-Olympe arrived at court, she was immediately married to the Duke of Sully, who her father planned for her to marry since she was 9 years old. At the ripe age of 15, the wedding was at the chapel in the Château de Saint-Cloud.

It wasn't like she *wanted* to marry, so she wrote a poem. In it describes how she felt. *"Ô mère! Regarde-moi du ciel pendant que je fais mon héritage. Regarde-moi épouser un homme que je n'aime pas. Regardez-moi, car je dois répondre au dernier souhait de mon père."* Which translates to, *"O mother! Look at me from heaven as I make my legacy. Look at me marry a man I do not like. Look at me, because I must answer my father's last wish."*

She wrote another poem about her marriage in her journal, but the page was teared.

## Life in Court

Marie-Olympe finally felt what her mother did. By the time she had her first child, she didn't have time to visit her. She felt so depressed after birth, she felt like visiting nobody.

In 1752, Marie-Olympe describes the year as pure bad luck. The queen had died and her old friend, the *Princesse de Conti,* fell ill with Influenza. The queen had also fell ill and died shortly afterwards.

That didn't affect Marie-Olympe. When the Dauphine announced her pregnancy, Marie-Olympe suggested her favorite tailor who made pregnancy stays. The stays had whale bone in them, which flexed as the stomach grew, sort of like a fingernail. The stays were also wide, to hide the stomach. This also came with a catch, to wear wide hoops to not make it look strange.

She presented the stays to the Dauphine, in which the Dauphine went ballistic, and happily wore it. In 1753, the Dauphine sadly died in childbirth, which devastated Marie-Olympe. She never felt that a best friend of her would pass away so suddenly.

## Children

A year after her marriage with the Duke of Sully, she became ill. She called in the physician, and she soon found out she was 14 weeks pregnant with child.

She wrote a poem in her journal, which described her fear of pregnancy.

*"Le monstre se cache dans ma chambre, attendant que le jour vienne. Il attend le jour où il emmènera mon bébé pour toujours. Le monstre se nourrit de ma peur, attendant que le jour vienne. La journée il enlèvera mon bonheur."* Or, *"The monster is hiding in my room, waiting for the day to come. He is waiting for the day he will take my baby away forever. The monster feeds on my fear, waiting for the day to come. The day he will take away my happiness."*

On June 22, 1750, Marie-Olympe gave birth to a female, who she named after her mother.

## Death

Following the pregnancy of her second child, she sat in her chambers for 2 weeks awaiting her labor. She wrote in her journal about how bored she was.

One day, the *Duchess of Fitz-James*