Marthe-Marguerite Le Valois de Villette de Mursay, marquise de Caylus (1673–1729), was a French noblewoman and writer. Born in

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

, she was the daughter of vice-admiral Philippe, Marquis de Villette-Mursay, and Marie-Anne de Châteauneuf, who died in 1691. Her father was a cousin of

Madame de Maintenon Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

, who brought up Marthe-Marguerite like her own daughter. In 1686 she married Anne de Tubières, ''comte de Caylus'' (1666–1704), and had two sons. Her elder son, Anne-Claude-Philippe (1692–1765), was also a man of letters and an archaeologist. Madame de Caylus left piquant and valuable memoirs of the court of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

and the house of St. Cyr. These were edited by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

(1770), and by many later editors. They were translated into English by Elizabeth Griffith as ''Memoirs, anecdotes, and characters of the court of Lewis XIV. Translated from Les Souvenirs, or recollections of Madame de Caylus'' (1770).

Literature

* ''Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus'', in the Complete Works of Voltaire, vol. 71A,

Voltaire Foundation The Voltaire Foundation is a research department of the University of Oxford, founded by Theodore Besterman in the 1970s. It publishes the definitive edition of the ''Complete Works of Voltaire'' (''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire''), as well as ' ...

(2005), *''Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus'',

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...

(1986),

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caylus, Marquise De 1673 births 1729 deaths 18th-century French memoirists French women writers Marquesses of Caylus People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans French women memoirists 17th-century French women writers 18th-century French women writers