Marie Adélaïde of Savoy

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Marie Adélaïde of Savoy
Basilica of St Denis
Spouse
Louis, Dauphin of France
​
​
(m. 1697)​
Issue
Detail
Names
Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy
MotherAnne Marie d'Orléans

Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (6 December 1685 – 12 February 1712) was the wife of

Le Grand Dauphin, in 1711. She died of measles
in 1712, followed by her husband a week later.

Early life and background

Born at the

Maria Luisa frequented the Vigno di Madama outside Turin, and paid weekly visits to their grandmother at the Palazzo Madama in Turin.[4]

Marie Adelaide was tiny, even described as "doll-sized." Her hair was chestnut in her youth, and darkened as she grew up. Her eyes were large and black, surrounded by long eyelashes.[6]

Betrothal and marriage

Bust of Marie Adelaide de Bourgogne by Coysevox. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

The marriage of Marie Adélaïde came as a result of the Treaty of Turin signed on 29 August 1696. This treaty between her father and Louis XIV agreed that her father would support France in the Nine Years' War.[7] Her father's dominions had been ravaged during the war.

Victor Amadeus had first proposed Marie Adélaïde as a candidate for marriage with the

Maréchal de Tessé, who suggested that Marie Adelaïde be sent to France to perfect her education before marrying the French prince.[9]

Upon her arrival in France, Louis XIV, who had come to greet her, met her in

Versailles
.

On 6 December 1697, on her twelfth birthday, Marie Adelaïde was formally married to the Duke of Burgundy in the

Treaty of Ryswick which ended the Nine Years' War. Her husband was the eldest son of Le Grand Dauphin and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria.[12]

Duchess of Burgundy

Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, by Pierre Gobert, 1710

The new Duchess of Burgundy had a close relationship with the king and with

Madame de Maintenon. Her arrival in Versailles was described "like a breath of fresh air," reviving the dull court.[13]
She also maintained an ongoing correspondence with her parents and grandmother back in Savoy.

Louis de Rouvroy in his memoirs, depicts the dauphine as an accomplished woman at court, full of spirit and energy.[14]

She used her influence over the aging king to prevent her political enemies from furthering their causes. This group, known as the cabale de Meudon, devoted themselves to her father-in-law, hoping to secure themselves in his expected reign upon the death of Louis XIV. Her great enemy was the

Madame de Montespan. The Duchess of Bourbon wanted her daughter Mademoiselle de Bourbon to wed Charles, Duke of Berry, youngest son of the Grand Dauphin. To maintain her influence over her grandfather-in-law, the Duchess of Burgundy organized Berry's marriage to Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, the eldest daughter of Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and of his wife Françoise Marie de Bourbon.[15] The influential Marie Adélaïde also brought about the disgrace of Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, the great military man of the era.[16]

The Duchess of Burgundy

The Duchess of Burgundy gave birth to her first child in 1704. The child, a short-lived boy, was given the title

Louis XV of France
.

Dauphine of France

Arms of Marie Adélaïde as Dauphine of France

In early April 1711, her father-in-law Le Grand Dauphin caught smallpox and died on 14 April at the Château de Meudon.[18] Upon the death of Le Grand Dauphin, Marie Adélaïde's husband became Dauphin of France and she Dauphine of France.

The mourning court traveled to

Madame later said that Marie Adélaïde was one of only two persons Louis XIV had ever truly loved in his life, the other being Anne of Austria, the king's mother. After the Dauphine's death, the royal family moved to Marly to avoid the spread of infection. It was at Marly that the Dauphin himself died six days later, having caught the measles from his wife.[20]

The couple was buried together at the

Marie Adélaïde in his mother's honour.[21]

The Dauphine was the subject of a statue held at the Louvre in which she posed as the Roman goddess Diana which was crafted by Antoine Coysevox in 1710.

Issue

  1. Louis of France, Duke of Brittany (25 June 1704 – 13 April 1705) died of convulsions;[22]
  2. Louis of France, Duke of Brittany (8 January 1707 – 8 March 1712) died of measles
    ;
  3. Louis of France, Duke of Anjou then Dauphin of France, future King Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774) first engaged to Mariana Victoria of Spain; married Marie Leszczyńska and had issue; died of smallpox
    .

In fiction

  • Today Dauphine Tomorrow Nothing

Novel by Saga Hillbom (2019)

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 244.
  2. ^ Symcox 1983, p. 79.
  3. ^ Williams 1909, p. 34.
  4. ^ a b Williams 1909, p. 35.
  5. ^ Williams 1909, p. 37.
  6. OCLC 148996524
    .
  7. ^ Symcox 1983, p. 116.
  8. ^ Williams 1909, p. 59.
  9. ^ Williams 1909, p. 55.
  10. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 192.
  11. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 248.
  12. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 295.
  13. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 210.
  14. ISBN 978-2-07-038234-7
    .
  15. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 238.
  16. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 219.
  17. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 209.
  18. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 226.
  19. ^ Williams 1909, p. 452.
  20. ^ Mitford 1966, p. 231.
  21. ^ a b Williams 1909, p. 465.
  22. ^ Anselm de Gibours (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires. pp. 179–180.
  23. ^ 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. 24.

Sources

External links

Media related to Marie Adélaïde of Savoy at Wikimedia Commons

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