Antoinette de Pons-Ribérac, comtesse de La Roche-Guyon and marquise de Guercheville (1560 - 16 January 1632) was a French court official. She served as ''

Première dame d'honneur ''Première dame d'honneur'' ('first lady of honour'), or simply ''dame d'honneur'' ('lady of honour'), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post ...

'' to the queen of France,

Marie de' Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

, from 1600 until 1632. She was foremost known as Madame de Guercheville.

Life

Antoinette was the daughter of Antoine de Pons-Ribérac, comte de Marennes, and Marie de Montchenu, dame de Guercheville, and married firstly to Henri de Silly, comte de la Rocheguyon (d. 1586), and secondly, in 1594, to Charles du Plessis-Liancourt, comte de Beaumont. Antoinette de Pons was described as a virtuous and religious beauty. She was first introduced to

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

after the

Battle of Ivry The Battle of Ivry was fought on 14 March 1590, during the French Wars of Religion. The battle was a decisive victory for Henry IV of France, leading French royal and English forces against the Catholic League by the Duc de Mayenne and Spanis ...

in 1590, and it is known that he courted her, but it is not believed that he was successful, and she was thus never his mistress. In 1600, she was appointed to the office of ''Première dame d'honneur'' or chief lady-of-honour to the new queen of France, Marie de' Medici, and as such had the task of supervising the female courtiers and expenses of the queen's household. She acted as the protector of

Bernard Palissy Bernard Palissy (c. 1510c. 1589) was a French Huguenot potter, hydraulics engineer and craftsman, famous for having struggled for sixteen years to imitate Chinese porcelain. He is best known for his so-called "rusticware", typically highly decora ...

. She was known for her interest in the French colonization of North America, and supported both the French colony at

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

and

René Le Coq de La Saussaye René Le Coq de La Saussaye, (died some time after 1613), from Gaillon-sur-Seine ( Eure), in France, was appointed agent and lieutenant by Antoinette de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville, for the founding of the mission of Saint Sauveur on Mount Dese ...

as well as the colonial project of

Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just (Jean Biencourt, Baron of Poutrincourt and Saint-Just) (1557–1615) was a member of the French nobility best remembered as a commander of the French colonial empire, one of those responsible for ...

in Acadia financially, and used her influence and her office at court to gather support and collect donations for them.

References

* Agricol Hippolyte de Lapierre de Châteauneuf: Les favorites des rois de France, depuis Agnès Sorel, d’après les sources les plus authentiques. Band 1, 2. Auflage. Jenne, Paris 1826 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pons, Antoinette de 1560 births 1632 deaths 16th-century French people French ladies-in-waiting Court of Henry IV of France Household of Marie de' Medici House de Pons