Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France
Maria Josepha of Saxony | |||||
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Marie Victoire Jaquotot | |||||
Born | Dresden Castle, Dresden, Saxony | 4 November 1731||||
Died | 13 March 1767 Palace of Versailles, France | (aged 35)||||
Burial | 22 March 1767[1] , France | ||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue Detail | |||||
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House | Wettin | ||||
Father | Augustus III of Poland | ||||
Mother | Maria Josepha of Austria | ||||
Signature |
Maria Josepha Karolina Eleonore Franziska Xaveria of Saxony (4 November 1731 – 13 March 1767) was
Childhood
Other proposals came from Savoy in the form of Princess Eleonora of Savoy or her sister Maria Luisa of Savoy. Both were refused. Despite the disapproval of the Queen, Maria Josepha married the Dauphin on 9 February 1747.[2][13]
Dauphine
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2024) |
Prior to the marriage, tradition demanded that the bride wear a bracelet which had a picture of her father on it; the Queen seeing the Dauphine asked to see the bracelet. The clever Maria Josepha then revealed the bracelet to the Queen, which showed a portrait of the Queen's father.[14] The Dauphine said that the portrait represented the fact that the Duke of Lorraine was Maria Josepha's grandfather by marriage. The Queen and the court were strongly impressed by the tact of this girl of 15 years. The Dauphine was also very close to her father-in-law Louis XV.[12][15]
At the time of the marriage, the Dauphin was still grieving for his Spanish wife.[10][13] This grief was very public on the part of the Dauphin but Maria Josepha was praised greatly for conquering the heart of the Dauphin "bit by bit". Despite Maria Josepha being the patient wife, the Dauphin's grief worsened in April 1748 when his only child with the Infanta died at the age of two. The Dauphin was deeply affected by the child's death.[14] Maria Josepha later commissioned a painting (now lost) of her stepdaughter to be left over her cradle.[16]
The new Dauphine was very grateful to Madame de Pompadour for helping arrange her marriage,[17] and always maintained a good relationship with the royal mistress.[18]
Like the Dauphin, Maria Josepha was very devout.
The couple's first child was a daughter, born in 1750 on the
Thanks to Maria Josepha's close relationship with the King and the Dauphin, the relationship between father and son was soon repaired. The Dauphin was at the center of the Dévots,[30] a group of religious-minded men who hoped to gain power when he succeeded to the throne.[31][32] They were against the way Louis XV openly had affairs at court in blatant view of the Queen. Naturally they were not popular with Louis XV.
Her father-in-law named his loving daughter-in-law la triste Pepa; in 1756,
Later life
The death of her husband, on 20 December 1765, dealt Maria Josepha a devastating blow from which she never recovered, sinking into a deep depression which lasted till her own death 15 months later.[34]
Henriette Campan described the state of Maria Josepha during her widowhood:
- “The Dauphiness, his widow, was deeply afflicted; but the immoderate despair which characterised her grief induced many to suspect that the loss of the crown was an important part of the calamity she lamented. She long refused to eat enough to support life; she encouraged her tears to flow by placing portraits of the Dauphin in every retired part of her apartments. She had him represented pale, and ready to expire, in a picture placed at the foot of her bed, under draperies of gray cloth, with which the chambers of the Princesses were always hung in court mournings. Their grand cabinet was hung with black cloth, with an alcove, a canopy, and a throne, on which they received compliments of condolence after the first period of the deep mourning. The Dauphiness, some months before the end of her career, regretted her conduct in abridging it; but it was too late; the fatal blow had been struck. It may also be presumed that living with a consumptive man had contributed to her complaint. This Princess had no opportunity of displaying her qualities; living in a Court in which she was eclipsed by the King and Queen, the only characteristics that could be remarked in her were her extreme attachment to her husband, and her great piety."[35]
To save her the torment of remaining with memories of her dead husband, Louis XV re-arranged the allocation of apartments within Versailles, so that Maria Josepha moved out of the apartments that she had shared with her husband and into the apartments of Madame de Pompadour,
Maria Josepha's health declined.[38] She died on 13 March 1767 of tuberculosis,[39] and was buried in the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens.[34] The marriage of her son, the future Louis XVl, with Maria Theresa's daughter Marie Antoinette was celebrated three years later.[40]
Issue
- Stillborn son* (30 January 1748)
- Stillborn son* (10 May 1749)
- Marie Zéphyrine of France (26 August 1750 – 1 September 1755); died in childhood.
- Louis Joseph of France, Duke of Burgundy (13 September 1751 – 22 March 1761); died in childhood.
- Stillborn daughter* (9 March 1752)
- Xavier of France, Duke of Aquitaine (8 September 1753 – 22 February 1754); died in infancy.
- Louis XVI of France (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793); married Marie Antoinette of Austriaand had issue.
- Princess Marie Joséphine of Savoy, no issue.
- Stillborn son* (1756)
- Princess Maria Theresa of Savoyand had issue.
- Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, no issue.
- Stillborn son* (1762)
- Élisabeth of France(3 May 1764 – 10 May 1794); died unmarried.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick | | ||||||||||||
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15. Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate | |||||||||||||
References
- ^ Tarbé. Pierre Hardouin. (1767) Pompe funebre de l'inhumation de Madame la Dauphine faite a Sens, les 22 et 23 Mars 1767, Paris
- ^ a b "Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France", The British Museum
- ^ Algrant 2002, p. 59.
- ^ Mitford 1976, p. 57.
- ^ Haggard, Andrew (1906). The Real Louis the Fifteenth. London: Hutchinson. pp. 294–296. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Cronin 1975, p. 24.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, p. 13.
- ^ Algrant 2002, pp. 60–62.
- ^ Bernier 1984, p. 145.
- ^ a b Algrant 2002, p. 63.
- ^ Crosland, Margaret (2002). Madame de Pompadour: Sex, Culture and Power. Sutton Publishing Limited. p. 64. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ a b c Cronin 1975, p. 26.
- ^ a b Cronin 1975, p. 23.
- ^ a b Mitford 1976, p. 78.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, p. 5.
- ^ MARIE-THÉRÈSE, FILLE AÎNÉE DU DAUPHIN LOUIS-FERDINAND
- ^ Crosland, Margaret (2002). Madame de Pompadour: Sex, Culture and Power. Sutton Publishing Limited. p. 140. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ Algrant 2002, pp. 69–70.
- ^ Cronin 1975, p. 39.
- ^ Bernier 1984, p. 224.
- ^ Algrant 2002, p. 105.
- ^ Mitford 1976, p. 80.
- OCLC 213451442.
- ^ Algrant 2002, p. 127.
- ^ Broglie 1877, p. 130.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, p. 9.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, pp. 19–23.
- ^ Cronin 1975, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, pp. 22.
- ISBN 978-0140130935.
- ^ Haggard 1906, p. 175-177.
- ^ Broglie 1877, pp. 187.
- ^ Bernier 1984, pp. 184–195.
- ^ a b Cronin 1975, p. 40.
- ^ Campan, Henriette (1900). Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Boston: L.C. Page & Company.
- ^ Algrant 2002, p. 299.
- ^ Cronin 1975, p. 49.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, p. 48.
- ^ Faÿ 1968, p. 49.
- ^ Cronin 1975, pp. 47–54.
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 100.
Sources
- Algrant, Christine Pevitt (2002). Madame de Pompadour: Mistress of France. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0802140357.
- Bernier, Olivier (1984). Louis the Beloved: the Life of Louis XV. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385184021.
- Broglie, Emmanuel de (1877). Le fils de Louis XV, Louis, dauphin de France, 1729-1765. E. Plon.
- Cronin, Vincent (1975). Louis and Antoinette. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc.
- Faÿ, Bernard (1968). Louis XVI or The End of a World. Translated by Patrick O'Brian. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company.
- Mitford, Nancy (1976). Madame de Pompadour. London: Sphere Books. Retrieved 8 November 2023.