Dame d'atours
Dame d'atour was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility. They were ranked between the Première dame d'honneur and the Dame du Palais.
History[edit]
At least from the Isabeau of Bavaria's tenure as queen, there had been a post named demoiselle d'atour or femme d'atour, but this had originally been the title of the queen's chambermaids and divided among several people.[1]
The office of dame d'atour, created in 1534, was one of the highest-ranking offices among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen and given only to members of the nobility.[2]
The dame d'atour had the responsibility of the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and supervised the dressing of the queen and the chamber staff of femme du chambre.[2]
When the dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour as the supervisor of the female personnel of the queen.[2]
List of dames d'atour to the queens and empresses of France[edit]
Catherine de' Medici, 1547–1589[edit]
- 1547–1549 : Marie-Catherine Gondi[3]
- 1549–1552 : Jacqueline de l'Hospital Dame d'Aisnay [4]
- 1552–1559 : Madeleine Buonaiuti, Madame Alamanni, Mme de Gondi [5][6]
Élisabeth d'Autriche[edit]
- 1570–1574: Marguerite de La Marck-Arenberg
Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601[edit]
- 1575–1590: Louise de la Béraudière
Marie de' Medici, 1600–1632[edit]
- 1600–1617: Leonora Dori[7]
- 1617–1619: Vacant
- 1619–1625: Nicole du Plessis de Mailly, marquise de Brezé
- 1625–1631: Duchesse d'Aiguillon
Anne of Austria, 1615–1666[edit]
- 1615–1619: Luisa de Osorio (jointly with de Vernet)
- 1615–1626: Antoinette d'Albert de Luynes, Dame de Vernet (jointly with de Osorio)
- 1626–1626: Marie-Catherine de Senecey
- 1626–1630: Madeleine du Fargis
- 1630–1657: Catherine le Voyer de Lignerolles, Baronne du Bellay, Dame de la Flotte
- 1637–1639: Marie de Hautefort, 'Madame de Hautefort' (deputy dame d'atour, first term)
- 1643–1644: Marie de Hautefort, duchesse de Schomberg (second term as deputy)
- 1657–1666: Louise Boyer, duchesse de Noailles
Maria Theresa of Spain, 1660–1683[edit]
Marie Leszczyńska, 1725–1768[edit]
- 1725–1731: Anne-Marie-Francoise de Sainte-Hermine, comtesse de Mailly
- 1731–1742: Francoise de Mailly, duchesse de Mazarin
- 1742–1768: Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, duchesse de Villars
Marie Antoinette, 1770–1791[edit]
- 1770–1771: Amable-Gabrielle de Villars
- 1771–1775: Adelaide-Diane-Hortense Mancini-Mazarin, duchesse de Cossé
- 1775–1775: Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, Princess de Chimay
- 1775–1781: Marie-Jeanne de Talleyrand-Périgord, duchesse de Mailly
- 1781–1791: Geneviève de Gramont, comtesse d'Ossun
Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1804–1809[edit]
- 1804–1809: Émilie de Beauharnais
Marie Louise, 1810–1814[edit]
- 1810–1814: Jeanne Charlotte du Luçay
See also[edit]
- First Lady of the Bedchamber, British equivalent
- Maid of the Bedchamber
References[edit]
- ^ Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian; vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
- ^ a b c Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe Leiden: Brill, 2013
- ^ Bonte, Pierre; Gené, Enric Porqueres I.; Wilgaux, Jérôme (4 July 2014). L'Argument de la filiation: Aux fondements des sociétés européennes et méditerranéennes. Les Editions de la MSH. ISBN 9782735116836.
- ^ "Les membres des maisons royales de la cour de France - Résultat de recherche".
- ^ Catherine de Médicis
- ^ Milstein, Joanna (9 March 2016). The Gondi: Family Strategy and Survival in Early Modern France. Routledge. ISBN 9781317030010.
- ^ Marie de Medicis and the French court in the XVIIth century
- Mathieu da Vinha & Raphaël Masson: Versailles: Histoire, Dictionnaire et Anthologie
- Anselme de Sainte-Marie & Ange de Sainte-Rosalie: Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France