Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans
Louise Adélaïde | |||||
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Abbess of Chelles | |||||
![]() Portrait by Jean-Baptiste Santerre, 1725 | |||||
Born | (1698-08-13)13 August 1698 Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France | ||||
Died | 10 February 1743(1743-02-10) (aged 44) Convent de la Madeleine de Traisnel, Paris, Kingdom of France | ||||
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House | Orléans | ||||
Father | Philippe d'Orléans | ||||
Mother | Françoise Marie de Bourbon | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans (Marie Louise Adélaïde; 13 August 1698 – 10 February 1743) was the second daughter of Philippe d'Orléans and Françoise Marie de Bourbon, a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. She was an Abbess of Chelles.
Early years
Marie Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans was born at the Palace of Versailles on 13 August 1698. After the marriage of her aunt Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Louise Adélaïde was known at court as Mademoiselle de Chartres. She assumed the style of Mademoiselle d'Orléans in 1710 after her elder sister Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans married Charles, Duke of Berry.
Character
Very close to her sisters Marie Louise Élisabeth and Charlotte Aglaé, Louise Adélaïde was considered the most beautiful of the Orléans daughters. Her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, described her in the following manner:
...[She is] well made, and is the handsomest of my granddaughters. She has a fine skin, a superb complexion, very white teeth, good eyes, and a faultless shape. Her hands are extremely delicate, the red and white are beautifully and naturally mingled in her skin. I never saw finer teeth; they are like a row of pearls.[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Engraving_of_Louise_Ad%C3%A9la%C3%AFde_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans_by_Pierre_Drevet.jpg/200px-Engraving_of_Louise_Ad%C3%A9la%C3%AFde_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans_by_Pierre_Drevet.jpg)
Also according to her grandmother, Louise Adélaïde was very passionate about music and showed an interest in both theology and the sciences.[2] In particular, she was intrigued with the science of surgery which was then going through an era of change and improvement.
On her entrance into a convent, Louis Racine composed a verse about her:
- Plaisir, beauté, jeunesse, honneurs, gloire, puissance,
- Ambitieux espoir que permet la naissance,
- Tout au pied de l'Agneau fut par elle immolé.[3]
Louise Adélaïde and her sister Charlotte Aglaé were both placed in the Abbey of Chelles from a young age. Their education was briefly interrupted in 1710 for the wedding of their eldest sister Marie Louise Élisabeth. Louise Adélaïde and Charlotte Aglaé held her train.[4]
Initially, young Louise Adélaïde was considered as a possible bride for her cousin, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Prince of Dombes. He was the eldest son of her uncle, the Duke of Maine and his wife, Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon. As the eldest son, he was the heir to his father's immense fortune. Louise Adélaïde, very pious by nature, though, refused his hand in marriage. The young prince then turned to her younger sister, Charlotte Aglaé, who also refused his hand. Both the Prince of Dombes and Louise Adélaïde eventually died unmarried.
Another possible candidate was James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender" to the British throne.
In 1716, Louise Adélaïde wanted to marry the Chevalier de Saint-Maixent; he was one of the king's pages, who had saved her from an accident during a hunt at the cost of an injury which nearly proved fatal. Louise Adélaïde tried as much as she could to try to get her parents' permission to marry the young Chevalier but both refused. The duchess of Orléans was horrified at the suggestion of such a mesalliance and reportedly treated Louise Adélaïde so harshly on the subject that it caused her to "take the veil" and become a nun.[4]
It was on 31 March 1717 that she took the veil officially; the ceremony was held in front of her parents.
Abbesse de Chelles
As a result of the scandalous life led by her elder sister, the Duchess of Berry, who was notoriously promiscuous and concealed several pregnancies, Louise Adélaïde decided to become a nun. Her parents, as well as her paternal grandmother, were opposed to it, but she became a nun anyway. As a nun, she took the name of Sœur Sainte-Bathilde (Sister Saint Bathilde) in 1717. She held that name until the next year. While at Chelles, Louise Adélaïde showed a slight interest in Jansenism.[citation needed]
During the Regency of Louis XV, Louise Adélaïde was seen as the preeminent religious figure in the country.
In 1719, she became the Abbess of Chelles, a post she held until her death. She was also the Abbess of Val-de-Grâce, a church built under the auspices of her maternal and paternal great-grandmother Anne of Austria, the wife of King Louis XIII. Her elder sister, the Duchess of Berry, died on 21 July 1719 and was found to be pregnant again, just over three months after suffering a horrendous confinement during which she had been denied the Sacraments.[5]
In 1720, when Charlotte Aglaé had to leave France to meet her husband in Modena, she insisted on seeing her sister before she left. According to their grandmother, it was a sad scene.
While at Chelles Louise Adélaïde greatly embellished the Abbey: she ordered the repaving of the cloisters, the restoration of the Chapter Room, had an infirmary constructed, and had a system where drinkable water could be accessed by the Abbey members as well as the town. Louise Adélaïde also allowed the Sisters of the Abbey of Nevers to build a house in the town in order to help educate the local girls.[6]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Engraving_of_Louise_Ad%C3%A9la%C3%AFde_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans_by_Pierre_Drevet.jpg/200px-Engraving_of_Louise_Ad%C3%A9la%C3%AFde_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans_by_Pierre_Drevet.jpg)
She was known as Madame d'Orléans while at Chelles from 1719 until 1734.[7] She died at the age of forty-four from smallpox at the Convent de la Madeleine de Traisnel in Paris.[7]
Ancestors
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References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ Letters from Liselotte: Elizabeth-Charlotte, Princess Palatine and Duchess of Orléans
- ^ The Memoirs of Reign of Louis XIV: Elizabeth-Charlotte of The Palatinate
- ^ "Pleasure, beauty, youth, honors, glory, power; Ambitious hope allowed by birth; At the feet of the Lamb were by her offered in sacrifice."
- ^ a b Williams, Hugh Noel (1913). Unruly daughters; a romance of the house of Orléans. University of California Libraries. New York, G. P. Putnam's sons.
- ^ The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the reign of Louis XIV and the Regency, chapter XXIII, pp. 206-220.
- ^ "Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans". Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
- ^ a b "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
Sources
- Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World, Volume 1: Europe & Latin America. London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1977.
Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans Cadet branch of the House of Bourbon Born: 13 August 1698 Died: 10 February 1743 | ||
French nobility | ||
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Vacant Title last held by Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans | Mademoiselle de Chartres 1698-1710 | Vacant Title next held by Louise Diane d'Orléans |
Preceded by | Mademoiselle d'Orléans 1710-1719 | Vacant Title next held by Louise Marie d'Orléans |
Religious titles | ||
Preceded by Unknown | Abbess of Chelles 1719-1734 | Succeeded by Unknown |
- v
- t
- e
- Granddaughters of France : Anne Marie Louise, Duchess of Montpensier
- Marguerite Louise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
- Élisabeth Marguerite, Duchess of Guise
- Françoise Madeleine, Duchess of Savoy
- Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Chartres
- Princess of the Blood : Anne Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Longueville
- Daughters of France : Marie Therèse, Madame Royale
- Granddaughters of France : Marie Louise d'Orléans, Queen of Spain
- Anne Marie d'Orléans, Queen of Sardinia
- Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine
- Princesses of the Blood : Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry
- Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans
- Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, Duchess of Modena
- Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Queen of Spain
- Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans
- Louise Diane d'Orléans
- Marie Thérèse de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Conti
- Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Maine
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Vendôme
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti, Duchess of Bourbon
- Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon-Conti, mademoiselle de la Roche-sur-Yon
- Princesses of the Blood : Louise Marie d'Orléans
- Marie Anne Éléonore de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Conti
- Louise Anne de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Charolais
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Clermont
- Henriette Louise de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Vermandois
- Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Sens
- Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Duchess of Orléans
- Daughters of France : Louise Élisabeth, Duchess of Parma
- Madame Henriette
- Louise, Madame Troisième
- Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Louvois
- Madame Victoire
- Sophie, Duchess of Louvois
- Madame Thérèse
- Madame Louise
- Princess of the Blood : Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchess of Bourbon
- Daughters of France : Marie Zéphyrine, Madame Royale
- Marie Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia
- Madame Élisabeth
- Princesses of the Blood : Adélaïde of Orléans
- Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Daughters of France : Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême
- Granddaughter of France : Sophie, Mademoiselle d'Artois
- Louise d'Artois