Elisabeth Charlotte von Bayern, duchesse d'Orléans

Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, Princess Palatine & Duchess-Consort of Orleans

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (German: Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz May 27, 1652 – October 9 /December 8, 1722) was a German princess by birth, wife of Philippe, duc d'Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Proud, blunt, opinionated and prolific, her vast correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of Louis XIV, her brother-in-law.

Early life
Born May 27, 1652 in the castle at Heidelberg, to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. In childhood she became known as Liselotte - a mixture of her names. Her parents were in an unhappy dynastic marriage and in 1653 her father began an affair with Marie Luise von Degenfeld, one of his wife's attendants. He purported to marry her without benefit of a judicial divorce, eventually prompting Liselotte's mother to return to her paternal home. Their daughter was five years old when she was sent to live with her father's sister, Sophia, wife of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover. She always remembered her time with her aunt as the happiest of her life, although she became close enough to her younger half-sisters to correspond with them at at least weekly after she married. In 1663 Liselotte had to move back to Heidelberg where she lived with her stepmother, fifteen half-siblings, and brother, the future Charles II, Elector Palatine. Several marriage alliances with German princes were considered, but all were declined prior to her engagement to the French king's widowed brother.

Names She is known by different names and styles in different languages with: Variations of her given names, such as Charlotte Elisabeth, Elisabeth Charlotte and Liselotte Variations of her titles and territorial designations, such as Electoral Princess, Princess Palatine, of the Palatinate, of the Rhine, etc (also in respective forms in French and German) At any rate, the dynastic titles she was entitled to were Countess Palatine of the Rhine and Duchess of Bavaria.

Marriage On November 16, 1671 she was married by proxy at Metz. By prearrangement, after leaving her father's realm but prior to arriving in France, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism. She never saw her homeland again. At the French court, her husband was known by the traditional honorific of Monsieur. As his wife, Elizabeth Charlotte assumed the style of Madame.

Monsieur The homosexual proclivities of her husband, Monsieur, were well known at court. Elisabeth Charlotte even confided that he needed "rosaries and holy medals draped in the appropriate places to perform the necessary act" with her.[1] Apparently she did not mind that her husband was homosexual, but objected to money spent on his favorites and the exercise of their influence with him to enrich themselves.[2] She said on the subject: I could put up with it if Monsieur only squandered his money in gaming, but sometimes he gives away as much as 100,000 francs at one swoop, and all the economies fall upon me and the children. That is not at all pleasant, besides putting me in a position where, as God is my witness, we would have to live entirely on the King's charity, which is a miserable thing.[3] Madame had apartments at Versailles, use of various châteaux around France, and use of the beautiful château de Saint-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris, which was the couple's main residence when not at the palace of Versailles. The marriage at first proved to be happy, with the birth of two male heirs. After the death of the couple's first son, the duc de Valois, she experienced depression and worried about her third pregnancy (with Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans). After this birth, the relationship between husband and wife was never as close as it had been. The couple had the following children: Alexandre Louis d'Orléans, styled duc de Valois (b. St.Cloud, 2 June 1673 – d. Paris, 16 March 1676). Philippe, duc II d'Orléans (b. St.Cloud, 2 August 1674 – d. Versailles, 2 December 1723) Married Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Regent of France for Louis XV on the death of his uncle Louis XIV in 1715 and served in that capacity until his own death in 1723. Ancestor of the House of Orléans, including the modern Orleanist pretender, Henri, comte de Paris, duc de France. Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (b. St.Cloud, 13 September 1676 – d. Commercy, 24 December 1744) Married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. Through Élisabeth Charlotte, she became grandmother of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, husband of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and father of Marie Antoinette. After the birth of their daughter, known as Mademoiselle de Chartres, the couple mutually agreed to cease conjugal relations.[4] Monsieur turned to his mignons, and Madame to her writing. Her letters to her aunt Sophia and others created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the Regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son and daughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Charlotte_of_the_Palatinate Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the wife of Elector George William of Brandenburg, see Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1597-1660). Mergefrom.svg It has been suggested that Alexandre Louis, Duke of Valois be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate Duchess of Orléans Spouse Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans Detail Issue Alexandre Louis, Duke of Valois Philippe Charles, Duke of Orléans Élisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Lorraine Father Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine Mother Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel Born 27 May 1652(1652-05-27) Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Died 8 December 1722 (aged 70) Château de Saint-Cloud near Paris, France Burial Basilica of Saint Denis, Saint-Denis, France Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans (German: Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz Heidelberg, 27 May 1652 – Saint-Cloud, 8 December 1722) was a German princess and the wife of Philippe de France, younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Her vast correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of her brother-in-law, Louis XIV. She and her husband, the Duke of Orléans, were the founders of the modern House of Orléans - their only surviving son, Philippe Charles d'Orléans, being the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV of France. She was also an ancestress of Francis I and Louis Philippe I and thus many royal houses in Europe such as the Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Austrian, Tuscan, and Neapolitan royal families are descended from her.

Contents

  * 1 Biography

        o 1.1 Marriage

        o 1.2 Court Life

  * 2 Issue

  * 3 Nature and Appearance

  * 4 Ancestry

  * 5 Titles and Styles

  * 6 Notes

  * 7 Further reading

  * 8 Titles

Biography Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz was born on 27 May 1652 in the Heidelberg Castle, to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.[1] In childhood she became known as Liselotte - a mixture of her names. Her parents were in an unhappy dynastic marriage and in 1653 her father began an affair with Marie Luise von Degenfeld, one of his wife's attendants. He purported to marry her without benefit of a judicial divorce, and claimed to have done so to legitimise the bastard children.[2] Their daughter was five years old when she was sent to live with her father's sister, Sophia, wife of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover. She always remembered her time with her aunt as the happiest of her life, although she became close enough to her younger half-sisters to correspond with them at least weekly after she married. In 1663, Liselotte had to move back to Heidelberg where she lived with her stepmother, fifteen half-siblings, and brother, the future Charles II, Elector Palatine. She had purportedly desired to marry her cousin William III of Orange, who would later become King of England, though her family believed that sacrifices needed to be made in order to make a more beneficial marriage with the recently widowed brother of the King of France, formerly married to her father's first cousin, Princess Henrietta Anne of England.[2]

Marriage On 16 November 1671, she was married by proxy at Metz. By prearrangement, after leaving her father's realm but prior to arriving in France, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism. At the French court, her husband Philippe was known by the traditional honorific of Monsieur. As his wife, Elizabeth Charlotte assumed the style of Madame. Elizabeth Charlotte was very close to her two stepdaughters Marie Louise and Anne Marie. When Marie Louise left France to marry Charles II of Spain in 1679, Liselotte accompanied her to Orléans. The homosexual proclivities of her husband were well known at court. Elisabeth Charlotte even confided that he needed "rosaries and holy medals draped in the appropriate places to perform the necessary act" with her.[3] Elizabeth Charlotte objected to money spent on his favourites and the exercise of their influence with him to enrich themselves.[4] She said on the subject:

I could put up with it if Monsieur only squandered his money in gaming, but sometimes he gives away as much as 100,000 francs at one swoop, and all the economies fall upon me and the children. That is not at all pleasant, besides putting me in a position where, as God is my witness, we would have to live entirely on the King's charity, which is a miserable thing.[5]

Elizabeth Charlotte had apartments at Versailles, use of the Palais-Royal in Paris, and her favourite residence, the beautiful Château de Saint-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris, which was the couple's main residence when not at the Palace of Versailles. Liselotte also had an apartment at the King's private residence, the Château de Marly. In her dowager years she would stay at the Grand Trianon built by her brother in law. The marriage at first proved to be happy, with the birth of two male heirs. After the death of the couple's first son, the Duke of Valois, she experienced depression and worried about her third pregnancy (with Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans). After this birth, the relationship between husband and wife was never as close as it had been. The couple had three children; Liselotte with her children, Philippe, Élisabeth Charlotte. After the birth of their daughter Élisabeth Charlotte, the couple mutually agreed to cease conjugal relations.[6] Philippe turned to his minions, and Elizabeth Charlotte to writing. Her letters to her aunt Sophia and others created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the Regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son, daughter and her two stepdaughters.

Court Life As the king's only brother and sister-in-law, the couple were expected to be in usual attendance at court, where her husband's rank as a fils de France ensured her precedence before all save the queen, and the wives of the king's son and grandsons — and his current maîtresse-en-titre. This last position rankled her, and she disliked the king's illegitimate children, especially Louis-Auguste, Duke of Maine. Madame de Montespan's youngest daughter, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, would eventually marry her son. No inducements ever reconciled Elizabeth Charlotte to the marriage. When she discovered that her son had agreed to it at the king's insistence, she slapped his face in front of the whole court, and turned her back on the king as he greeted her with a bow. Later, writing on the subject she put:

  If, by shedding my own blood, I could have prevented my son's marriage,  I would willingly have done so; but since the thing was done,  I have had no other wish than to preserve harmony[7]

After the king transferred his affections from La Montespan to La Maintenon, Elizabeth Charlotte became obsessively resentful toward and suspicious of the latter. In her correspondence, Elisabeth Charlotte refers to her as the "King's old drab", the "old witch", and the "old whore".[8] In addition to letters to her aunt Sophia and her morganatic half-sisters the Raugravines, she also corresponded with the former's courtier Gottfried Leibniz, although they never met. After he died, she insisted that the Académie des Sciences, of which he had been a member, honour his passing.[citation needed] The resulting eulogy to Leibniz, by Fontenelle, was the only one ever delivered anywhere. When the Simmern branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of her brother Karl II in 1685, Louis XIV sent troops to claim the Palatinate in his sister-in-law's name, launching the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697). On 9 June 1701, her husband of just under thirty years died of a stroke at the château de Saint-Cloud. Earlier, he had a heated argument with his brother at the Château de Marly about the conduct of his son — who was also the king's son-in-law. After her husband's death, Elizabeth Charlotte feared that the king would send her to a convent, as stipulated in her marriage contract. Instead she was confronted with secretly-made excerpts of her all-too-candid letters to correspondents abroad. She was warned to change her attitude toward Madame de Maintenon. Liselotte in later life, by Hyacinthe Rigaud. She remained welcome at court. She was allowed to keep her apartments at all the royal residences and retained her rank. From her husband, she inherited 40,000 livres a year. Louis XIV added 250,000 livres, and her son promised her another 200,000.[9] Some time after Philippe's death, she wrote: If those who are in the next world could know what was happening in this one, I think His Grace, the late Monsieur, would be most pleased with me, for I have gone through his boxes to find all the letters written to him by his boyfriends and have burnt them unread, so that they will not fall into other people's hands...then...I receive great comfort from the King, otherwise I could not endure my position. When the King speaks about Monsieur he is quite moved. [10] In 1715, Louis XIV died aged seventy-seven at the Palace of Versailles. In his will, he divided the regnal prerogatives among relatives and courtiers, allocating to his legitimised son, the Duke of Maine, guardianship of the new king, Louis XV, who was five years old. The Parlement of Paris overturned the will's provisions at the request of Elizabeth Charlotte's son, who thus became regent. In her memoirs, Elizabeth Charlotte describes the new era of the Regency. Although no longer outranked by any woman at court and freed from the imagined persecutions of Madame de Maintenon, she did not cease daily complaints to her correspondents about the antics of what she regarded as an increasingly decadent court, about which she wrote:

  I believe that the histories that will be written about this  court after we are gone will be better and more entertaining than any  novel, and I am afraid that those who come after us will not be able to  believe them and think they are just fairy tales. [10] Elizabeth Charlotte died at the age of seventy on 8 December 1722, at the château de Saint-Cloud. Her descendants by her son form the House of Orléans, which came to the French throne in the person of Louis-Philippe in 1830. Through her daughter, she was ancestress of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the great-grandmother of Marie Antoinette.

Issue Name Portrait Lifespan Notes Alexandre Louis d'Orléans Duke of Valois Blason duche fr Orleans (moderne).svg 2 July 1673 – 8 December 1676 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud and died at the Palais-Royal; Philippe Charles d'Orléans Duke of Orléans Philippe d'Orleans, regent, et Marie Madeleine de la Vieuville, Comtesse de Parabere (Jean-Baptiste Santerre).jpg 2 August 1674 -2 December 1723 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud he was titled the Duke of Chartres from birth becoming Duke of Orléans in 1701; Married his first cousin Françoise Marie de Bourbon and had issue; died at the Palace of Versailles; Regent of France and Navarre during the minority of Louis XV of France - the era was known as la Régence; Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans Duchess of Lorraine and Bar Princess of Commercy Élisabeth-Charlotte d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres, duchesse de Lorraine.jpg 13 September 1676 –23 December 1744 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud and married Leopold de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine in 1698 and had issue; became the Sovereign Princess of Commercy 1737; she died at Commercy; known as Mademoiselle de Chartres;

Nature and Appearance She was earthy, even vulgar at times, quoting folksy sayings such as "The snow falls as easily on a cowpat as it does a rose petal." She spoke with a noticeable German accent and disliked dancing, which put her at odds with the French fashion. Compared to her predecessor, Henrietta Anne Stuart, who was pretty and graceful, Elisabeth Charlotte was stolid and Amazonian. She possessed the stamina to hunt all day, refusing to wear the mask that Frenchwomen were accustomed to use to protect their skin while watching their men hunt. Her face developed a ruddy and weather-beaten look. She walked too rapidly for most courtiers to keep up, save the king. She had a "no-nonsense" attitude[clarification needed], and was not given to gallantry, but lacked the prudery to prevent her ladies-in-waiting from flirting with courtiers or royalty. Her hearty appetite caused her to gain weight as the years went by, and when describing herself she once commented that she would be as good to eat as a roasted suckling pig. Raised a Protestant, she was not fond of lengthy Latin masses. However she remained virtuous and at times outraged by the open infidelity practiced by the aristocracy. Her views were frequently the opposite of those prevalent at the French court.[11] She is known by different names and styles in different languages with:

  * Variations of her given names, such as Charlotte Elisabeth, Elisabeth Charlotte and Liselotte von der Pfalz

  * Variations of her titles and territorial designations, such as Electoral Princess, Princess Palatine, of the Palatinate, of the Rhine, etc (also in respective forms in French and German)

At any rate, the dynastic titles she was entitled to were Countess Palatine of the Rhine and Duchess of Bavaria. Titles and Styles

  * 27 May 1652 – 16 November 1671 Her Serene Highness Elizabeth Charlotte, Countess Palatine of Simmern;

  * 16 November 1671 – 9 June 1701 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Orléans;

        o Madame was her general style of address and reference;

  * 9 June 1701 – 8 December 1722 Her Royal Highness the Dowager Duchess of Orléans. [edit] Notes

 1. ^ Fraser, Antonia, Love and Louis XIV, Anchor Books, 2006, p. 134.

 2. ^ a b ib. Fraser, p. 137.

 3. ^ ib. Fraser, p. 140.

 4. ^ Crompton, Louis, Homosexuality and Civilization Belknap, Cambridge, MA, 2003, p. 348.

 5. ^ From translated memoirs of the duchesse d'Orléans by Elisabeth Charlotte, duchesse d'Orléans: [1]

 6. ^ ib. Fraser, p 140.

 7. ^ Memoirs of the duchesse d'Orléans

 8. ^ All from

 9. ^ Barker, Nancy Nicholas, Brother to the Sun king: Philippe, Duke of Orléans.[page needed]

10. ^ a b From translated memoirs

11. ^ .ib. Fraser, p.[page needed] Biography portal Europe portal [edit] Further reading Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

  * Life and letters of Charlotte Elizabeth, Princess Palatine and

mother of Philipp d'Orléans, régent de France 1652 - 1722, compiled,  translated, and gathered from various published and unpublished, Chapman

& Hall, London, 1889.

  * A woman's life in the court of the Sun King : letters of  Liselotte von der Pfalz, 1652–1722, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse  d'Orléans, translated by Elborg Forster, Johns Hopkins University Press,

1984. This page was last modified on 16 July 2010 at 00:39.

The marriage produced thirteen children, of which five survived into adulthood. Three of them died within a week in May 1711 due to a smallpox outbreak at the Château de Lunéville, the country seat of the Duke's of Lorraine. http://www.ebooklibrary.org/articles/%C3%89lisabeth_Charlotte_d'Orl%C3%A9ans

Seconde épouse de Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans, dit "Monsieur", frère du roi Louis XIV. Née le 27 mai 1652 à Heidelberg, morte le 8 décembre 1722 à Saint-Cloud.

Son titre exact, tel qu'il figure dans son contrat de mariage, est "Elisabeth-Charlotte, Princesse Électorale Palatine du Rhin". Toutefois, comme elle est issue de la branche aînée de la maison de Wittelsbach, dont la branche cadette règne alors sur la Bavière, une confusion s'établit chez ses contemporains, qui prennent l'habitude de la nommer assez inexactement Charlotte-Elisabeth de Bavière.

La tradition respecte cet usage, et c'est ainsi qu'elle est toujours communément appelée aujourd'hui. Elle est également très souvent appelée "la Princesse Palatine", mais cette appellation est postérieure, car pour ses contemporains, français du moins, ce titre désigne exclusivement Anne de Gonzague de Clèves (1616+1684), épouse de son oncle Edouard (1625+1663). Enfin, pour tous les membres de sa famille allemande, elle est simplement "Liselotte".

Sommaire

1 Biographie

2 Œuvres

3 Voir aussi

3.1 Bibliographie

3.2 Liens externes

4 Source partielle

Biographie

La Princesse Palatine peinte par Nicolas de Largillière (Château de Chantilly)Elle est issue du mariage en 1650 (suivi d'un divorce en 1657) de l'Electeur Palatin Charles Ier Louis , (1617-1680), comte palatin du Rhin et de Charlotte de Hesse-Cassel (1627-1686).

Elle épouse en 1671 le frère de Louis XIV, Philippe de France (« Monsieur »), ce qui fait d'elle la duchesse d'Orléans ou « Madame ». Leur fils aîné, Alexandre-Édouard meurt à 3 ans, l'affectant profondément(1676), leur second fils Philippe d'Orléans devient régent à la mort de Louis XIV. Leur fille Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (°1676 †1744) épouse le duc de Lorraine et de Bar Léopold Ier devient régente des duchés puis princesse souveraine de Commercy. Ces derniers sont les grands-parents paternels de la reine Marie-Antoinette (°1755 †1793) et les ancêtres de la famille de Habsbourg-Lorraine. Après cette troisième naissance, le couple décide d'un commun accord de faire chambre à part, pour le plus grand plaisir de chacun !

Originaire d'une petite cour allemande cultivée, elle est élevée dans la religion réformée à Heidelberg puis à partir du divorce de ses parents, par sa tante la duchesse de Hanovre. Celle-ci lui donne une éducation humaniste, sachant aimer la nature, Montaigne, Rabelais et la liberté, elle ne s'est jamais sentie très à son aise à la cour de Versailles régie par une étiquette rigoureuse, et où fleurissent des intrigues de toutes sortes, et où les relations humaines ne sont basées que sur l'intérêt et l'égoïsme. En outre, si, comme l'observe un historien, "dans la fraîcheur de ses vingt ans, Madame n'était pas désagréable à regarder", son physique est très rapidement compromis par un embonpoint considérable, dont elle parle elle-même en évoquant "sa taille monstrueuse de grosseur".

Son mari, de toute façon indifférent aux charmes féminins, ne lui montre que l'empressement strictement nécessaire pour assurer une descendance. Pétillante d'esprit, indépendante, la princesse se consacre alors à une correspondance très abondante. Ses lettres, au nombre de 60 000, rédigées dans un style savoureux, constituent une source d'informations précieuse sur la vie à la cour de France. La princesse reste allemande de cœur et elle abhore la cour et l'étiquette. Si on l'en croit ses lettres, la dépravation attribuée à la Régence règne déjà dans toute la seconde moitié du grand règne.

La princesse palatine présentant l'Electeur de Saxe à Louis XIV.Consciente de son rang et de ses devoirs, elle ne dissimule pas ses antipathies, en particulier contre sa deuxième belle-sœur, Madame de Maintenon, qu'elle surnomme (entre autres mille amabilités) « la vieille ripopée » (mélange de restes de vin), « l'ordure du roi », « la vieille sorcière », et même « la vieille touffe » ou «la vieille conne ». Elle ne recule pas, on le voit, devant le mot trivial. Méprisant la famille illégitime du roi, elle surnomme par exemple le comte de Toulouse (fils du roi et de madame de Montespan) « la chiure de souris », ou, à propos de la sœur de ce dernier, Mademoiselle de Blois, que son fils Philippe d'Orléans (1674-1723) a épousée, écrit : « Ma belle-fille ressemble à un cul comme deux gouttes d'eau ». Elle s'est d'ailleurs fortement indignée de ce mariage, Mademoiselle de Blois bien que fille légitimée du Roi, restant issue d'une union adultérine de ce dernier avec Mme de Montespan.

d'après le seul duc de Saint-Simon, elle serait allée jusqu'à gifler son fils sous les yeux de toute la Cour quand elle apprend qu'il a accepté ces épousailles qu'elle juge indignes de son rang. En revanche, elle montre toujours le plus grand respect envers le roi, tout en déplorant l'influence des gens qui l'entourent. Elle parle souvent de son fils en déplorant ses mauvaises fréquentations mais en admirant son intelligence et ses succès militaires. Par contre, elle se montre une mère attentive, et sa correspondance avec sa fille, la duchesse de Lorraine et de Bar, (détruite en grande partie en 1719) est pleine de conseils maternels.

La princesse suit les débats d'idées de son temps et entretient même une correspondance avec Leibniz, mais elle ne partage pas le penchant de plus en plus dévôt que suit le règne de Louis XIV. Elle partage dans ses lettres ses doutes sur de nombreux points de religion. Elle-même protestante convertie par devoir au catholicisme, à Metz, pour pouvoir épouser le frère du roi de France, elle reste fidèle dans son cœur à la foi de son enfance, et du reste, témoin de la révocation de l'Édit de Nantes, elle ne comprend pas pourquoi des peuples peuvent se dresser les uns contre les autres sur des points qui lui paraissent mineurs. Jamais elle ne se console de la détresse du Palatinat, sa région d'origine, ravagée par les armées du roi son beau-frère et tient Vauban pour responsable de la mort de son père et de son frère. Jusque dans les dernières années elle regrette sa jeunesse à Heidelberg. Elle souffre aussi des avanies et des intrigues de l'entourage de son mari.

Œuvres

Portrait de Charlotte-Elisabeth de BavièreOn a publié en 1788 des fragments des Lettres originales de Madame, etc., écrites de 1715 à 1720 au duc Ulric de Brunswick et à la princesse de Galles; réimprimés en 1823 sous le titre de Mémoires sur la cour de Louis XIV et de la Régence, extraits de la correspondance de Mme Elisabeth Charlotte, etc.

Sa Correspondance complète (sic) a été traduite de l'allemand et publiée en 1855 par G. Brunet. Les lettres sont le plus souvent assez mal traduites, voire forgées artificiellement en compilant des extraits de plusieurs lettres différentes en une seule, assortie d'une date de fantaisie. De plus, tous les passages jugés trop crus (et Dieu sait si Madame en était prodigue) sont naturellement censurés. Plusieurs autres éditions ont suivi. Toutes ne contiennent pas la lettre fameuse, citée par les frères Goncourt, dans laquelle la princesse décrit à sa tante Sophie de Hanovre, avec force détails scatologiques et sur un mode humoristique, la difficulté de déféquer à Fontainebleau (6 juin 1794). Elle a également écrit de nombreuses lettres en français, éditées par Dirk Van der Cruysse en 1989.

Il existe également un curieux livre, « Mélanges historiques, anecdotiques et critiques sur la fin du règne de Louis XIV et le commencement de celui de Louis XV par Madame la Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte de Bavière, seconde femme de Monsieur, frère de Louis-le-Grand : (souvenirs) précédés d'une NOTICE SUR LA VIE DE CETTE ILLUSTRE PRINCESSE rédigée par MAUBUY ». L'ensemble représentant une table des matières de 50 chapitres évoquant, et au passage étrillant, un grand nombre de personnages de la cour en commençant par le Roi lui-même, son caractère et ses mœurs, sa conduite à l'égard de son épouse, ses amours, sa mort. Puis vient l'évocation des favorites royales : Fontanges,La Vallière, Montespan, Maintenon etc... Nous connaissons une publication de cet ouvrage en 1807 "A PARIS chez LEOPOLD-COLLIN, libraire, rue Gît-le-Coeur N°4. (E.O. ?)

English:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Charlotte_of_the_Palatinate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Charlotte_of_the_Palatinate#...

Deutsch:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liselotte_von_der_Pfalz

Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (German: Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz May 27, 1652 – October 9 /December 8, 1722) was a German princess by birth, wife of Philippe, duc d'Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Proud, blunt, opinionated and prolific, her vast correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of Louis XIV, her brother-in-law.

Early life

Born May 27, 1652 in the castle at Heidelberg, to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. In childhood she became known as Liselotte - a mixture of her names. Her parents were in an unhappy dynastic marriage and in 1653 her father began an affair with Marie Luise von Degenfeld, one of his wife's attendants. He purported to marry her without benefit of a judicial divorce, eventually prompting Liselotte's mother to return to her paternal home. Their daughter was five years old when she was sent to live with her father's sister, Sophia, wife of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover.

She always remembered her time with her aunt as the happiest of her life, although she became close enough to her younger half-sisters to correspond with them at at least weekly after she married. In 1663 Liselotte had to move back to Heidelberg where she lived with her stepmother, fifteen half-siblings, and brother, the future Charles II, Elector Palatine.

. Several marriage alliances with German princes were considered, but all were declined prior to her engagement to the French king's widowed brother.

[edit]Names

She is known by different names and styles in different languages with:

Variations of her given names, such as Charlotte Elisabeth, Elisabeth Charlotte and Liselotte

Variations of her titles and territorial designations, such as Electoral Princess, Princess Palatine, of the Palatinate, of the Rhine, etc (also in respective forms in French and German)

At any rate, the dynastic titles she was entitled to were Countess Palatine of the Rhine and Duchess of Bavaria.

[edit]Marriage

On November 16, 1671 she was married by proxy at Metz. By prearrangement, after leaving her father's realm but prior to arriving in France, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism. She never saw her homeland again. At the French court, her husband was known by the traditional honorific of Monsieur. As his wife, Elizabeth Charlotte assumed the style of Madame.

[edit]Monsieur

The homosexual proclivities of her husband, Monsieur, were well known at court. Elisabeth Charlotte even confided that he needed "rosaries and holy medals draped in the appropriate places to perform the necessary act" with her.[1]

Apparently she did not mind that her husband was homosexual, but objected to money spent on his favorites and the exercise of their influence with him to enrich themselves.[2] She said on the subject:

I could put up with it if Monsieur only squandered his money in gaming, but sometimes he gives away as much as 100,000 francs at one swoop, and all the economies fall upon me and the children. That is not at all pleasant, besides putting me in a position where, as God is my witness, we would have to live entirely on the King's charity, which is a miserable thing.[3]

Madame had apartments at Versailles, use of various châteaux around France, and use of the beautiful château de Saint-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris, which was the couple's main residence when not at the palace of Versailles.

The marriage at first proved to be happy, with the birth of two male heirs. After the death of the couple's first son, the duc de Valois, she experienced depression and worried about her third pregnancy (with Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans). After this birth, the relationship between husband and wife was never as close as it had been. The couple had the following children:

Children

Alexandre Louis d'Orléans, styled duc de Valois (b. St.Cloud, 2 June 1673 – d. Paris, 16 March 1676).

Philippe, duc II d'Orléans (b. St.Cloud, 2 August 1674 – d. Versailles, 2 December 1723)

Married Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.

Regent of France for Louis XV on the death of his uncle Louis XIV in 1715 and served in that capacity until his own death in 1723.

Ancestor of the House of Orléans, including the modern Orleanist pretender, Henri, comte de Paris, duc de France.

Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (b. St.Cloud, 13 September 1676 – d. Commercy, 24 December 1744)

Married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine.

Through Élisabeth Charlotte, she became grandmother of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, husband of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and father of Marie Antoinette.

After the birth of their daughter, known as Mademoiselle de Chartres, the couple mutually agreed to cease conjugal relations.[4] Monsieur turned to his mignons, and Madame to her writing.

Her letters to her aunt Sophia and others created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the Regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son and daughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Charlotte_of_the_Palatinate

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate

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For the wife of Elector George William of Brandenburg, see Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1597-1660).

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Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate

Duchess of Orléans

Spouse Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans

Detail

Issue

Alexandre Louis, Duke of Valois

Philippe Charles, Duke of Orléans

Élisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Lorraine

Father Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine

Mother Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel

Born 27 May 1652(1652-05-27)

Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Died 8 December 1722 (aged 70)

Château de Saint-Cloud near Paris, France

Burial Basilica of Saint Denis, Saint-Denis, France

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans (German: Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz Heidelberg, 27 May 1652 – Saint-Cloud, 8 December 1722) was a German princess and the wife of Philippe de France, younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Her vast correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of her brother-in-law, Louis XIV.

She and her husband, the Duke of Orléans, were the founders of the modern House of Orléans - their only surviving son, Philippe Charles d'Orléans, being the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV of France. She was also an ancestress of Francis I and Louis Philippe I and thus many royal houses in Europe such as the Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Austrian, Tuscan, and Neapolitan royal families are descended from her.

Contents

[show]

   * 1 Biography

o 1.1 Marriage
o 1.2 Court Life
* 2 Issue
* 3 Nature and Appearance
* 4 Ancestry
* 5 Titles and Styles
* 6 Notes
* 7 Further reading
* 8 Titles
[edit] Biography

Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz was born on 27 May 1652 in the Heidelberg Castle, to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.[1]

In childhood she became known as Liselotte - a mixture of her names. Her parents were in an unhappy dynastic marriage and in 1653 her father began an affair with Marie Luise von Degenfeld, one of his wife's attendants. He purported to marry her without benefit of a judicial divorce, and claimed to have done so to legitimise the bastard children.[2] Their daughter was five years old when she was sent to live with her father's sister, Sophia, wife of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover.

She always remembered her time with her aunt as the happiest of her life, although she became close enough to her younger half-sisters to correspond with them at least weekly after she married. In 1663, Liselotte had to move back to Heidelberg where she lived with her stepmother, fifteen half-siblings, and brother, the future Charles II, Elector Palatine.

She had purportedly desired to marry her cousin William III of Orange, who would later become King of England, though her family believed that sacrifices needed to be made in order to make a more beneficial marriage with the recently widowed brother of the King of France, formerly married to her father's first cousin, Princess Henrietta Anne of England.[2]

[edit] Marriage

On 16 November 1671, she was married by proxy at Metz. By prearrangement, after leaving her father's realm but prior to arriving in France, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism. At the French court, her husband Philippe was known by the traditional honorific of Monsieur. As his wife, Elizabeth Charlotte assumed the style of Madame.

Elizabeth Charlotte was very close to her two stepdaughters Marie Louise and Anne Marie. When Marie Louise left France to marry Charles II of Spain in 1679, Liselotte accompanied her to Orléans.

The homosexual proclivities of her husband were well known at court. Elisabeth Charlotte even confided that he needed "rosaries and holy medals draped in the appropriate places to perform the necessary act" with her.[3]

Elizabeth Charlotte objected to money spent on his favourites and the exercise of their influence with him to enrich themselves.[4] She said on the subject:

   I could put up with it if Monsieur only squandered his money in gaming, but sometimes he gives away as much as 100,000 francs at one swoop, and all the economies fall upon me and the children. That is not at all pleasant, besides putting me in a position where, as God is my witness, we would have to live entirely on the King's charity, which is a miserable thing.[5]

Elizabeth Charlotte had apartments at Versailles, use of the Palais-Royal in Paris, and her favourite residence, the beautiful Château de Saint-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris, which was the couple's main residence when not at the Palace of Versailles. Liselotte also had an apartment at the King's private residence, the Château de Marly. In her dowager years she would stay at the Grand Trianon built by her brother in law.

The marriage at first proved to be happy, with the birth of two male heirs. After the death of the couple's first son, the Duke of Valois, she experienced depression and worried about her third pregnancy (with Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans). After this birth, the relationship between husband and wife was never as close as it had been. The couple had three children;

Liselotte with her children, Philippe and Élisabeth Charlotte.

After the birth of their daughter Élisabeth Charlotte, the couple mutually agreed to cease conjugal relations.[6] Philippe turned to his minions, and Elizabeth Charlotte to writing.

Her letters to her aunt Sophia and others created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the Regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son, daughter and her two stepdaughters.

[edit] Court Life

As the king's only brother and sister-in-law, the couple were expected to be in usual attendance at court, where her husband's rank as a fils de France ensured her precedence before all save the queen, and the wives of the king's son and grandsons — and his current maîtresse-en-titre. This last position rankled her, and she disliked the king's illegitimate children, especially Louis-Auguste, Duke of Maine.

Madame de Montespan's youngest daughter, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, would eventually marry her son. No inducements ever reconciled Elizabeth Charlotte to the marriage. When she discovered that her son had agreed to it at the king's insistence, she slapped his face in front of the whole court, and turned her back on the king as he greeted her with a bow. Later, writing on the subject she put:

   If, by shedding my own blood, I could have prevented my son's marriage, I would willingly have done so; but since the thing was done, I have had no other wish than to preserve harmony[7]

After the king transferred his affections from La Montespan to La Maintenon, Elizabeth Charlotte became obsessively resentful toward and suspicious of the latter. In her correspondence, Elisabeth Charlotte refers to her as the "King's old drab", the "old witch", and the "old whore".[8]

In addition to letters to her aunt Sophia and her morganatic half-sisters the Raugravines, she also corresponded with the former's courtier Gottfried Leibniz, although they never met. After he died, she insisted that the Académie des Sciences, of which he had been a member, honour his passing.[citation needed] The resulting eulogy to Leibniz, by Fontenelle, was the only one ever delivered anywhere.

When the Simmern branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of her brother Karl II in 1685, Louis XIV sent troops to claim the Palatinate in his sister-in-law's name, launching the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697).

On 9 June 1701, her husband of just under thirty years died of a stroke at the château de Saint-Cloud. Earlier, he had a heated argument with his brother at the Château de Marly about the conduct of his son — who was also the king's son-in-law.

After her husband's death, Elizabeth Charlotte feared that the king would send her to a convent, as stipulated in her marriage contract. Instead she was confronted with secretly-made excerpts of her all-too-candid letters to correspondents abroad. She was warned to change her attitude toward Madame de Maintenon.

Liselotte in later life, by Hyacinthe Rigaud.

She remained welcome at court. She was allowed to keep her apartments at all the royal residences and retained her rank. From her husband, she inherited 40,000 livres a year. Louis XIV added 250,000 livres, and her son promised her another 200,000.[9] Some time after Philippe's death, she wrote:

   If those who are in the next world could know what was happening in this one, I think His Grace, the late Monsieur, would be most pleased with me, for I have gone through his boxes to find all the letters written to him by his boyfriends and have burnt them unread, so that they will not fall into other people's hands...then...I receive great comfort from the King, otherwise I could not endure my position. When the King speaks about Monsieur he is quite moved

[10]

In 1715, Louis XIV died aged seventy-seven at the Palace of Versailles. In his will, he divided the regnal prerogatives among relatives and courtiers, allocating to his legitimised son, the Duke of Maine, guardianship of the new king, Louis XV, who was five years old. The Parlement of Paris overturned the will's provisions at the request of Elizabeth Charlotte's son, who thus became regent.

In her memoirs, Elizabeth Charlotte describes the new era of the Regency. Although no longer outranked by any woman at court and freed from the imagined persecutions of Madame de Maintenon, she did not cease daily complaints to her correspondents about the antics of what she regarded as an increasingly decadent court, about which she wrote:

   I believe that the histories that will be written about this court after we are gone will be better and more entertaining than any novel, and I am afraid that those who come after us will not be able to believe them and think they are just fairy tales. [10]

Elizabeth Charlotte died at the age of seventy on 8 December 1722, at the château de Saint-Cloud.

Her descendants by her son form the House of Orléans, which came to the French throne in the person of Louis-Philippe in 1830. Through her daughter, she was ancestress of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the great-grandmother of Marie Antoinette.

[edit] Issue

Name Portrait Lifespan Notes

Alexandre Louis d'Orléans

Duke of Valois Blason duche fr Orleans (moderne).svg 2 July 1673 –

8 December 1676 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud and died at the Palais-Royal;

Philippe Charles d'Orléans

Duke of Orléans Philippe d'Orleans, regent, et Marie Madeleine de la Vieuville, Comtesse de Parabere (Jean-Baptiste Santerre).jpg 2 August 1674 -

2 December 1723 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud he was titled the Duke of Chartres from birth becoming Duke of Orléans in 1701; Married his first cousin Françoise Marie de Bourbon and had issue; died at the Palace of Versailles; Regent of France and Navarre during the minority of Louis XV of France - the era was known as la Régence;

Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans

Duchess of Lorraine and Bar

Princess of Commercy Élisabeth-Charlotte d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres, duchesse de Lorraine.jpg 13 September 1676 –

23 December 1744 Born at the Château de Saint-Cloud and married Leopold de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine in 1698 and had issue; became the Sovereign Princess of Commercy 1737; she died at Commercy; known as Mademoiselle de Chartres;

[edit] Nature and Appearance

She was earthy, even vulgar at times, quoting folksy sayings such as "The snow falls as easily on a cowpat as it does a rose petal." She spoke with a noticeable German accent and disliked dancing, which put her at odds with the French fashion. Compared to her predecessor, Henrietta Anne Stuart, who was pretty and graceful, Elisabeth Charlotte was stolid and Amazonian. She possessed the stamina to hunt all day, refusing to wear the mask that Frenchwomen were accustomed to use to protect their skin while watching their men hunt. Her face developed a ruddy and weather-beaten look.

She walked too rapidly for most courtiers to keep up, save the king. She had a "no-nonsense" attitude[clarification needed], and was not given to gallantry, but lacked the prudery to prevent her ladies-in-waiting from flirting with courtiers or royalty. Her hearty appetite caused her to gain weight as the years went by, and when describing herself she once commented that she would be as good to eat as a roasted suckling pig.

Raised a Protestant, she was not fond of lengthy Latin masses. However she remained virtuous and at times outraged by the open infidelity practiced by the aristocracy. Her views were frequently the opposite of those prevalent at the French court.[11]

She is known by different names and styles in different languages with:

   * Variations of her given names, such as Charlotte Elisabeth, Elisabeth Charlotte and Liselotte von der Pfalz

* Variations of her titles and territorial designations, such as Electoral Princess, Princess Palatine, of the Palatinate, of the Rhine, etc (also in respective forms in French and German)
At any rate, the dynastic titles she was entitled to were Countess Palatine of the Rhine and Duchess of Bavaria.

Titles and Styles

   * 27 May 1652 – 16 November 1671 Her Serene Highness Elizabeth Charlotte, Countess Palatine of Simmern;

* 16 November 1671 – 9 June 1701 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Orléans;
o Madame was her general style of address and reference;
* 9 June 1701 – 8 December 1722 Her Royal Highness the Dowager Duchess of Orléans.
[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Fraser, Antonia, Love and Louis XIV, Anchor Books, 2006, p. 134.

2. ^ a b ib. Fraser, p. 137.
3. ^ ib. Fraser, p. 140.
4. ^ Crompton, Louis, Homosexuality and Civilization Belknap, Cambridge, MA, 2003, p. 348.
5. ^ From translated memoirs of the duchesse d'Orléans by Elisabeth Charlotte, duchesse d'Orléans: [1]
6. ^ ib. Fraser, p 140.
7. ^ Memoirs of the duchesse d'Orléans
8. ^ All from
9. ^ Barker, Nancy Nicholas, Brother to the Sun king: Philippe, Duke of Orléans.[page needed]
10. ^ a b From translated memoirs
11. ^ .ib. Fraser, p.[page needed]
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[edit] Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

   * Life and letters of Charlotte Elizabeth, Princess Palatine and mother of Philipp d'Orléans, régent de France 1652 - 1722, compiled, translated, and gathered from various published and unpublished, Chapman & Hall, London, 1889.

* A woman's life in the court of the Sun King : letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, 1652–1722, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orléans, translated by Elborg Forster, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.
This page was last modified on 16 July 2010 at 00:39.

The marriage produced thirteen children, of which five survived into adulthood. Three of them died within a week in May 1711 due to a smallpox outbreak at the Château de Lunéville, the country seat of the Duke's of Lorraine.

http://www.ebooklibrary.org/articles/%C3%89lisabeth_Charlotte_d'Orl%C3%A9ans