Louise Honorine Crozat (1734 – 1801) was the duchess of Choiseul as the wife of

Étienne François Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Scientists and inventors ...

. She was the heiress of the grand fortune left by her grandfather

Antoine Crozat Antoine Crozat, Marquis du Châtel (c. 1655 – 7 June 1738), French founder of an immense fortune, was the first proprietary owner of French Louisiana, from 1712 to 1717. Career Antoine Crozat and his brother Pierre Crozat were born in Toulou ...

Life

Louise Honorine Crozat was the daughter of Louis François Crozart—the son of proprietary owner

. At the age of 12, Louise-Honorine was betrothed to

, and the two married in 1750. The marriage was described as a happy one, despite Étienne's many liaisons. Louise Honorine was described as being tender-hearted and dignified, and as a devoted wife. Her kind demeanor caused

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

to claim:

"The most perfect being of either sex. Nothing that I ever saw anywhere was like the Duchess of Choiseul, who has more parts, reason and agreeableness than I ever met in such a delicate little creature. You would take her for the Queen of an Allegory."

During 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 conside ...

, Louise Honorine was held captive in 1794, awaiting her death by guillotine in the

Conciergerie The Conciergerie () ( en, Lodge) is a former courthouse and prison in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, below the Palais de Justice. It was originally part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which als ...

; before her execution, however, the party of

Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

fell and she was then let free. She would later die in 1801, aged 66–67, outliving her husband, whom had died in 1785, by nearly 16 years. She was buried in the Cimetière d'Amboise, in France.

References

{{Authority control 1734 births 1801 deaths 18th-century French people 18th-century French women Choiseul family French duchesses by marriage Crozat family