Francois d'Aubigne aka Madame de Maintenon

Francois is one of the more controversial women in the life of Louis XIV. She is the last of his mistresses but she has spent more time with the King than either his Queen or his other mistresses. She seems like a true Cinderella story in many ways although that title was actually conferred upon Louise de la Valliere when Louis presented her with a bracelet at a party when favors were won as prizes. Francois had a troubled chldhood. She was born in a prison. When her father was released from prison, he took his family, wife and children, to Martinique, an island in the Atlantic far away from Fance to live. In Martinique, the young Francois suffered at the hands of her mother cruelly, was physically and emotionally mistreated, but survived long enough to return to France. When her father died, her mother was forced to take her children to France to live with relatives. In France, she suffers dreadfully at the hands of her relatives, and finally at age 16, is forced to marry a dysfunctional, malformed poet, Paul Scarron. She preferred to live as the wife of Paul than to enter the cruel world of the dreadful convents. At last she is free to meet with the many artists of the day who loved to visit with Paul at his home where he entertained them with his stories and poetry. She learned to banter freely with the elite of Paris, possessing a quick wit and sharpness of tongue that amused and delighted the patrons of Paul's community. She was a very beautiful young woman who Paul loved and protected but due to his own deformity could not fulfill his husbandly role. He was bent over in the form of the letter Z so that Francois was more nursemaid than actual wife. ***During the time that she lives with Paul she meets the most famous woman of the times, Ninon l'Enclos. Ninon is famous as a kind of Madame who had many lovers, but has remained single, avoiding marriage. She has her own home in which she entertains, and is rumored to have brought Francois to her home to meet with gentleman there. Ninon is probably one of the most fascinating single women of the time, second only to the first cousin of Louis XIV, La Grande Mademoiselle! ****So young that she is, Francois is becoming quite sophisticated and worldly known only to the Parisians as Mrs. Paul Scarron. When Paul dies, she is left bereft on her own, and has only the stipend of the Queen Mother to support her. But fortune being that it is, she has been known to have kept her mouth zipped despite her great conversational abilities, and for that reason, has come to the attention of our dear Athenais, Madame de Montespan. Athenais is in need, for while she has snared the young king away from his former mistress, she has made the worst possible error in her relationship with the king and has gotten pregnant. She needs someone to help her take care of her child, to care for it, and to be trustworthy and secretive. She needs Francois. So no sooner has Francois gotten her freedom due to the death of Paul but suddenly she is thrust into the world of the court due to Madame de Montespan, our dear Athenais. Athenais seeks her help and her secrecy for it must never be learned that she is pregnant with child, and Francois has little choice but to help her. Francois had managed with the Queen Mother's stipend to find herself a small home where she had sought privacy, but with the assignment from Athenais, she would no longer be free to do all that she had wanted.****Francois mothers the bastard children of the King and his mistress with a love and devotion that is truly admirable and tender. She is the true mother to the children in the sense of loving and protecting, but Athenais is the actual natural birth mother who neglects them totally and wantonly, interested only in her stature as the first mistress in the court. During this time, the women do become friends, but they are so close that they argue, fight, and bicker as if they were blood relatives. Soon the King comes to visit his children, watches and observes the loving and tender ways of the kindly caretaker, and while he does not like her immediately, he feels drawn to her. During the entire time of the long relationship between the King and Athenais, Francois is always in the background noting everything that is going on between the King and his beautiful mistress, caring for his children as though they were her own. She refused to take up with men who were interested in her as she had had enough of marriage since her long term relationship with Paul. She did not want to remarry for any reason. Marriage was the symbol of total unhappiness to this fragile minded woman who really had a backbone so strong and powerful that sustained her during all her misery.