Maintenon… This name primarily evokes in memory the Marquise de Maintenon, the famous last favorite of the Sun King Louis XIV, who became his secret wife.
The daughter of a Protestant, born in prison, the widow of the scandalous poet and epigrammatist Scarron, this extraordinary woman achieved the highest position at court, winning the heart of the powerful king with her gentleness, tenderness, and strength of character.
The king gifts her this castle in 1674, and in 1675, he bestows upon her the title of Madame de Maintenon. This amazing woman remodels the estate, transforming the medieval castle into an exquisite manor – a small castle with turrets, a cozy inner courtyard, a high roof, and a park designed by the great landscape architect André Le Nôtre.
Madame de Maintenon was the governess of the king’s children and his mistress – Madame de Montespan. Two of Madame de Montespan’s children were even born in this castle.
The king often visits his children and pays more and more attention to the mistress of the estate.
In 1683, the queen dies, Madame de Maintenon moves to Versailles, secretly marries the king, and becomes his constant companion and advisor for the last 30 years of Louis XIV’s life…
It is known that in the last years of his life, the king would sometimes gather his council of ministers at his marital bed, behind the drawn curtains of which Madame de Maintenon awaited him. After listening to the opinions of his advisors, the king would bid them farewell, climb into bed, and ask his ever-listening wife: “Well, what shall we do?”
Madame de Maintenon had no children, and after her death, the castle passed to her niece, who married a young man from one of the most famous families in France.
The castle has preserved unique interiors from the era of the Sun King and interiors that tell the story of its mistress and her time.
Upon exiting the castle into the park, a grand panorama opens up to the ruins of the aqueduct, a truly pharaonic creation of Louis XIV, who envisioned drawing water from the park’s canal to the fountains of Versailles. The plan was not realized, but the majestic arcades fit so organically into the landscape that the Marquise de Maintenon decided to leave them for our admiration, the descendants…
Peter I also visited the now elderly Madame de Maintenon, as evidenced by one of the paintings…
