Catherine de Brassac née ''de Sainte-Maure de Montausier'' (1587–11 May 1648) was a French courtier. 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,
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...
, from 1638 until 1643.
Biography
She was the daughter of François de Sainte-Maure, baron de Montausier, and Louise Gillier, and married to Jean de Galard de Bearn, comte de Brassac (d. 1645), in 1602. In 1638, the king and
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
reorganized the household of the queen and replaced everyone considered disloyal to the king and the Cardinal with their own loyalists.
Consequently, Françoise de Lansac was appointed royal governess, and count de Brassac, and his spouse Catherine de Brassac was appointed superintendent of the household of the queen and ''Première dame d'honneur'' respectively in order to keep the queen and her household under control.
[Kleinman, Ruth: Anne of Austria. Queen of France. . Ohio State University Press (1985)]
When Queen Anne became regent in 1643, Catherine was replaced with
Marie-Claire de Fleix.
References
* Kleinman, Ruth: Anne of Austria. Queen of France. . Ohio State University Press (1985)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brassac, Catherine de
1648 deaths
17th-century French women
French ladies-in-waiting
1587 births
Court of Louis XIII
Household of Anne of Austria