Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine of France, (27 July 1734 – 2 March 1782) was a French princess, a ''
fille de France
''Fils de France'' (, ''Son of France'') was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France (, ''Daughter of France'').
The children of the dauphin (a title reserved for the ki ...
''. She was the sixth daughter and eighth child of King
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
and his
queen consort,
Marie Leszczyńska
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (; ; 23 June 1703 – 24 June 1768), also known as Marie Leczinska, was Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XV from their marriage on 4 September 1725 until her death in 1768. The daughter of Stanis ...
. First known as ''Madame Cinquième'' (an older sister,
Marie Louise Marie Louise or Marie-Louise may refer to:
People
*Marie Louise of Orléans (1662–1689), daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, queen consort of Charles II of Spain
*Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel (1688–1765), daughter of Charles I, Landgrave ...
, had died in 1733), she later became Madame Sophie. She and her sisters were collectively known as ''
Mesdames''.
Life
Sophie is less well known than many of her sisters. Her birth at the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
was relatively unremarked. Her second name, Philippine, was given in honour of her older brother
Philippe, who had died the previous year. Unlike the older children of Louis XV, she was not raised at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
but, in June 1738, sent to live at the
Abbey of Fontevraud
The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault (in French: ''abbaye de Fontevraud'') was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preache ...
with her older sister
Madame Victoire and younger sisters
Madame Thérèse
''Madame Thérèse'' is a novel jointly written by French authors Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian. It deals with the topics of the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal chan ...
(who died young) and
Madame Louise
''Madame Louise'' (also titled "The Madame Gambles"), is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and produced by Ernest G. Roy and starring Richard Hearne, Petula Clark, Garry Marsh and Richard Gale. It is loosely based on the 1945 ...
, because the cost of raising them in Versailles with all the status they were entitled to was deemed too expensive by
Cardinal Fleury
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, th ...
, Louis XV's chief minister.
According to
Madame Campan, the Mesdames had rather a traumatic upbringing in
Fontrevault, and was not given much education:
:"Cardinal Fleury, who in truth had the merit of reestablishing the finances, carried this system of economy so far as to obtain from the King the suppression of the household of the four younger Princesses. They were brought up as mere boarders in a convent eighty leagues distant from the Court. Saint Cyr would have been more suitable for the reception of the King’s daughters; but probably the Cardinal shared some of those prejudices which will always attach to even the most useful institutions, and which, since the death of Louis XIV., had been raised against the noble establishment 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'' ...
. Madame Louise often assured me that at twelve years of age she was not mistress of the whole alphabet, and never learnt to read fluently until after her return to Versailles. Madame Victoire attributed certain
paroxysms
Paroxysmal attacks or paroxysms (from Greek παροξυσμός) are a sudden recurrence or intensification of symptoms, such as a spasm or seizure. These short, frequent symptoms can be observed in various clinical conditions. They are usually ...
of terror, which she was never able to conquer, to the violent alarms she experienced at the Abbey of Fontevrault, whenever she was sent, by way of
penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...
, to pray alone in the vault where the sisters were interred. A gardener belonging to the abbey died raving mad. His habitation, without the walls, was near a chapel of the abbey, where ''Mesdames'' were taken to repeat the prayers for those in the agonies of death. Their prayers were more than once interrupted by the shrieks of the dying man."
[Madame Campan, ]
Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
', Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
Reign of Louis XV
![Jean Etienne Liotard - Prinzessin Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine de France (1734 - 1782) (Sammlung Rau)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Jean_Etienne_Liotard_-_Prinzessin_Sophie_Philippine_%C3%89lisabeth_Justine_de_France_%281734_-_1782%29_%28Sammlung_Rau%29.jpg)
Madame Sophie and her sister Louise were allowed to return to the court of Versailles in 1750, two years after Victoire. According to Madame Campan, while their education had been neglected in the convent, they compensated for this and studied extensively, after their return to court, encouraged by their brother,
Louis Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
, with whom they immediately formed a close attachment:
:"When Mesdames, still very young, returned to Court, they enjoyed the friendship of
Monseigneur the Dauphin, and profited by his advice. They devoted themselves ardently to study, and gave up almost the whole of their time to it; they enabled themselves to write French correctly, and acquired a good knowledge of history. Italian, English, the higher branches of mathematics, turning and dialing, filled up in succession their leisure moments."
The
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
referred to them by nicknames: he called Madame Adélaïde, ''
'Loque'
'' (Tatters/Rag/Rags/Scraggy); Madame Victoire, ''
'Coche'
'' (Pig/Piggy/Sow); Madame Sophie, ''
'Graille'
'' (Grub/Scrap/Carrion crow); and Madame Louise, ''
'Chiffe (Shoddy silk/Rags).
Madame Sophie never married, but became a member of the collective group of unmarried princesses known as ''Mesdames''. Being described as of a shy and reserved nature, she did not attract much attention. She did not exercise any influence at the court, but let herself be directed by her older sister Madame Adélaïde, following her in her antipathy against her father's mistresses,
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
and then
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being ...
.
In 1761, when her sister, Victoire, in the company of Adélaïde, visited the waters in
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
for medical purposes, Sophie and Louise visited Paris for the first time.
Madame Campan, who was employed as her reader in 1768, described her thusly:
:"Madame Sophie was remarkably ugly; never did I behold a person with so unprepossessing an appearance; she walked with the greatest rapidity; and, in order to recognise the people who placed themselves along her path without looking at them, she acquired the habit of leering on one side, like a hare. This Princess was so exceedingly diffident that a person might be with her daily for years together without hearing her utter a single word. It was asserted, however, that she displayed talent, and even amiability, in the society of some favourite ladies. She taught herself a great deal, but she studied alone; the presence of a reader would have disconcerted her very much. There were, however, occasions on which the Princess, generally so intractable, became all at once affable and condescending, and manifested the most communicative good-nature; this would happen during a storm; so great was her alarm on such an occasion that she then approached the most humble, and would ask them a thousand obliging questions; a flash of lightning made her squeeze their hands; a peal of thunder would drive her to embrace them, but with the return of the calm, the Princess resumed her stiffness, her reserve, and her repellent air, and passed all by without taking the slightest notice of any one, until a fresh storm restored to her at once her dread and her affability."
And the life of the sisters in the last years of the reign of their father was described as follows:
:"Louis XV. saw very little of his family. He came every morning by a private staircase into the apartment of Madame Adelaide. He often brought and drank their coffee that he had made himself. Madame Adelaide pulled a bell which apprised Madame Victoire of the King’s visit; Madame Victoire, on rising to go to her sister’s apartment, rang for Madame Sophie, who in her turn rang for Madame Louise. The apartments of Mesdames were of very large dimensions. Madame Louise occupied the farthest room. This latter lady was deformed and very short; the poor Princess used to run with all her might to join the daily meeting, but, having a number of rooms to cross, she frequently in spite of her haste, had only just time to embrace her father before he set out for the chase. Every evening, at six, Mesdames interrupted my reading to them to accompany the princes to Louis XV.; this visit was called the King’s 'debotter',—
ebotter, meaning the time of unbooting.and was marked by a kind of etiquette. Mesdames put on an enormous hoop, which set out a petticoat ornamented with gold or embroidery; they fastened a long train round their waists, and concealed the undress of the rest of their clothing by a long cloak of black taffety which enveloped them up to the chin. The chevaliers d’honneur, the ladies in waiting, the pages, the equerries, and the ushers bearing large flambeaux, accompanied them to the King. In a moment the whole palace, generally so still, was in motion; the King kissed each Princess on the forehead, and the visit was so short that the reading which it interrupted was frequently resumed at the end of a quarter of an hour; Mesdames returned to their apartments, and untied the strings of their petticoats and trains; they resumed their tapestry, and I my book."
In 1770, the fourteen-year-old
Marie-Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...
became Dauphine by marriage to Madame Adélaïde's nephew the Dauphin, the future
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
of France. Because of the close relationship between the Dauphin and his aunts, Marie-Antoinette also initially came close to the ''Mesdames'' her first years in France as the senior royal women at court. The ''Mesdames'' use to alternate with the
Countess of Provence
The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
in accompanying Marie Antoinette on official assignments. The close relationship between Marie-Antoinette and ''Mesdames'' was, however, discontinued in 1772, after the attempt to entice Marie Antoinette to humiliate
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being ...
was thwarted, a plan which had been led by Madame Adélaïde with support of Madame Victoire and Madame Sophie.
Reign of Louis XVI
![Lié-Louis Périn-Salbreux-La Petite Reine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Li%C3%A9-Louis_P%C3%A9rin-Salbreux-La_Petite_Reine.jpg)
From April 1774, Madame Sophie, along with her sisters—Adélaïde, Victoire and Louise—attended their father, Louis XV, on his deathbed until his death from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
on 10 May. Despite the fact that the sisters had never had smallpox, the ''Mesdames'' were allowed to attend him, even while other male members of the royal family, as well as the crown princess,
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
, were kept away due to the serious risk of catching the illness. Since the ''Mesdames'' were female, and therefore of no political importance because of the
Salic Law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
, they were not prevented from doing so.
After the death of Louis XV, he was succeeded by his grandson, Louis Auguste, as
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
. Louis XVI referred to his aunts as ''Mesdames Tantes''. The sisters did catch smallpox from their father's deathbed, and were kept in quarantine in a little house near the Palace of Choisy, to which the court evacuated after the death of the king, until they eventually recovered.
Their nephew, the king, allowed them to keep their apartments in the Palace of Versailles, and they continued attending court at special occasions. Such as for the visit of
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...
, who reportedly charmed Adélaïde.
[Joan Haslip (1991). Marie Antoinette. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag AB. ] However, they distanced themselves from court and often preferred to reside in their own
Château de Bellevue
The Château de Bellevue () was a small château built for Madame de Pompadour in 1750. It was constructed on a broad plateau in Meudon, above a slope overlooking the Seine to the east, but was demolished in 1823 and little remains.
History
...
in
Meudon
Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...
; they also traveled annually to
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...
, always with a
retinue
A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers.
Etymology
The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', it ...
of at least three hundred people, and made the waters there fashionable.
The ''Mesdames'' continued to be the confidants of Louis XVI, and they also maintained a good relationship with their niece,
Princess Élisabeth of France
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subst ...
, and often visited her in her retreat at .
[Maxwell-Scott, Mary Monica, ]
Madame Elizabeth de France, 1764-1794
', London : E. Arnold, 1908
In 1777, Sophie and her sister Adélaïde were both given the title of ''Duchess of Louvois'' by their nephew, the king, after having jointly acquired an estate of that name.
The ''Mesdames'' did not get along well with queen Marie-Antoinette. When the queen introduced the new custom of informal evening family suppers, as well as other informal habits which undermined the formal court etiquette, it resulted in an exodus of the old court nobility in opposition to the queen's reforms, which gathered in the salon of the ''Mesdames''.
They entertained extensively at Bellevue as well as Versailles; their salon was reportedly regularly frequented by minister Maurepas, whom Adélaïde had elevated to power through
Louis Joseph, prince of Condé
Louis Joseph de Bourbon (9 August 1736 – 13 May 1818) was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death. A member of the House of Bourbon, he held the prestigious rank of '' Prince du Sang''.
Youth
Born on 9 August 1736 at Chantilly, Louis Jos ...
, and
Louis François Joseph, prince of Conti
Louis François Joseph de Bourbon or Louis François II, Prince of Conti (1 September 1734 – 13 March 1814), was the last Prince of Conti, scion of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, whose senior branches ruled France until 1848. His titl ...
—both members of the Anti-Austrian party.
Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist ...
was also a frequent guest, who read aloud his satires of Austria and its power figures.
The Austrian Ambassador,
Count Florimond Claude de Mercy-Argenteau, reported that their salon was a center of intrigues against Marie Antoinette, where the ''Mesdames'' tolerated poems satirizing the queen.
The ''Mesdames'' gathered the extreme conservative
Dévots
Dévots (, ''Devout'') was the name given in France to a group, active in both politics and social welfare, in the first half of the 17th century, which took a decisive part in the Catholic reform. It represented a perspective rather than a party. ...
party of nobility opposed to the philosophers,
encyclopedists and economists.
When Sophie died, she was buried in the royal tomb at the
Royal Basilica of Saint Denis which was plundered and destroyed at the time of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
.
Her great-niece,
Sophie Beatrix, youngest daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was named after her.
In popular culture
In 2006, she was played by Scottish actress
Shirley Henderson
Shirley Henderson (born 24 November 1965) is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award ...
in the movie ''
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
.''
Ancestry
References
*''This article is based on a translation of the
equivalent article of the
French Wikipedia
The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...
on 3 November 2006''
Further reading
* Zieliński, Ryszard (1978). ''Polka na francuskim tronie.'' Czytelnik.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie-Philippine Of France, Princess
1734 births
1782 deaths
Peers created by Louis XVI
Princesses of France (Bourbon)
French duchesses
French people of Polish descent
People from Versailles
18th-century French nuns
Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis
Louvois, Duchess of, Princess Sophie
Children of Louis XV
Daughters of kings