Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans

Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans (13 October 1648 – 14 January 1664) was born a Princess of France and was the Duchess of Savoy as the first wife of Charles Emmanuel II.[1] She was a first cousin of Louis XIV as well of her husband. She was the shortest-serving Savoyard consort, dying at the age of fifteen, childless.

Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans
Duchess of Savoy
Consort	4 March 1663 – 14 January 1664
Born	13 October 1648 Saint Germain en Laye, France
Died	14 January 1664 (aged 15) Royal Palace of Turin, Savoy
Burial	Turin Cathedral
Spouse	Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy
House	Orléans
Father	Gaston d'Orléans
Mother	Marguerite of Lorraine

Biography

Arms of Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans while Duchess of Savoy

Orléans was born at the Château de Saint Germain en Laye outside Paris in 1648. She was the youngest surviving daughter of Gaston d'Orléans and his second wife Marguerite of Lorraine. From birth, she was styled Mademoiselle de Valois, derived from one of her father's subsidiary titles. She was the favourite sister of La Grande Mademoiselle, the famous heiress.[2] She grew up in the company of her sisters and Mademoiselle de La Vallière, future mistress of Louis XIV. She resided at the Château de Blois. Her father died in 1660 and her mother remained unmarried.

As French court etiquette dictated, she held the status of a Granddaughter of France as a male line descendant of the late king Henry IV of France. She was styled as a petite-fille de France.

Under the influence of her paternal aunt Christine Marie, Dowager Duchess of Savoy, she was engaged to her first cousin Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy.[1][3] Christine Marie had chosen her as she had wanted to maintain her power and influence in government having previously been regent for her son since 1637. The match was approved of by Cardinal Mazarin who had previously rejected Marie Jeanne of Savoy, another candidate for Charles Emmanuel II.[3] Orléans proved suitably docile and was chosen over Marie Jeanne.[4]

Orléans married the Duke of Savoy by proxy at the Palais du Louvre on 4 March 1663. The couple met for the first time at Annecy on 3 April 1663 where they were married officially.[5][3] The couple travelled to Turin, capital of Savoy, where they arrived on 15 June 1663. She was known as Francesca Maddalena d'Orléans in her adopted Savoy.

The duchess soon died on 14 Jan 1664 at the Royal Palace of Turin, leaving her husband without an heir.[6] She was buried at Turin Cathedral where she rests today. Her husband, inconsolable at her death, ordered a lavish funeral. After Orléans' death, Louis XIV tried to engage La Grande Mademoiselle to Charles Emmanuel II who refused the match.[1] He later married again to Marie Jeanne of Savoy by whom he had a son.[7]

Ancestors

Ancestors of Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans

16. Charles, Duke of Vendôme[8] 8. Antoine of Navarre[9] 17. Françoise of Alençon[8] 4. Henry IV of France[10] 18. Henry II of Navarre[11] 9. Jeanne III of Navarre[9] 19. Marguerite of Angoulême[11] 2. Gaston, Duke of Orléans 20. Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany[12] 10. Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany[13] 21. Eleanor of Toledo[12] 5. Marie de' Medici[10] 22. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor[14] 11. Joanna of Austria[13] 23. Anne of Bohemia and Hungary[14] 1. Françoise Madeleine of Orléans 24. Francis I, Duke of Lorraine[15] 12. Charles III, Duke of Lorraine[15] 25. Christina of Denmark[15] 6. Francis II, Duke of Lorraine[16] 26. Henry II of France[17] 13. Claude of Valois[15] 27. Catherine de' Medici[17] 3. Marguerite of Lorraine 28. John VII, Count of Salm-Badenweiler[18] 14. Paul of Salm-Brandenburg[19] 29. Louise de Stainville[18] 7. Christina of Salm[16] 30. Tanneguy Le Veneur, Comte de Tillières[19] 15. Marie Le Veneur de Tillières[19] 31. Madeleine Hélie de Pompadour de Comborn[19]

Notes

1. Fraser 2006, p. 58.
2. Sackville-West 1959, p. 354.
3. Oresko 2004, p. 20.
4. Williams 1909, p. 7.
5. Sackville-West 1959, p. 355.
6. Oresko 2004, p. 21.
7. Oresko 2004, p. 18.
8. Anselme 1726, pp. 328–329.
9. Anselme 1726, pp. 143–144.
10. Anselme 1726, pp. 145–147.
11. Anselme 1726, p. 211.
12. "The Medici Granducal Archive and the Medici Archive Project" (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2006.
13. Leonie Frieda (14 March 2006). Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. HarperCollins. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-06-074493-9. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
14. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Johanna von Oesterreich (Tochter des Kaisers Ferdinand I.)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 6. p. 290 – via Wikisource.
15. Cartwright, Julia Mary (1913). Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590. New York: E. P. Dutton. p. 538.
16. Anselme 1726, pp. 147–148.
17. Anselme 1726, pp. 133–135.
18. Bertholet, Jean (1742). Histoire ecclesiastique et civile du Duche de Luxembourg et Comte de Chiny (in French). 3. A. Chevalier. p. 39. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
19. "Un administrateur au temps de Louis XIV". Messager des sciences historiques (in French). Ghent: 256. 1883.

Sources

• Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Père (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
• Fraser, Antonia (2006). Love and Louis XIV; The Women in the Life of the Sun King. London: Anchor Books.
• Oresko, Robert (2004). "Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours (1644–1724): daughter, consort, and Regent of Savoy". In Campbell Orr, Clarissa (ed.). Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–55. ISBN 0-521-81422-7.
• Sackville-West, Vita (1959). Daughter of France: The life of Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier 1627-1693. London: Michael Joseph.
• Williams, H. Noel (1909). A Rose of Savoy, Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, Mother of Louis XV. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Media related to Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans at Wikimedia Commons