Antoinette de Maignelais (; 1434–1474) was the chief mistress of Charles VII of France from 1450 until his death. The Baroness of

Villequier Villequier () is a former commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Rives-en-Seine.Agnès Sorel Agnès Sorel (; 1422 – 9 February 1450), known by the sobriquet ''Dame de beauté'' (Lady of Beauty), was a favourite and chief mistress of King Charles VII of France, by whom she bore four daughters. She is considered the first officially r ...

as the king's favourite

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

after Sorel's sudden death in 1450. Later in life she was the mistress of

Francis II, Duke of Brittany Francis II ( Breton: ''Frañsez II'', French: ''François II'') (23 June 1433 – 9 September 1488) was Duke of Brittany from 1458 to his death. He was the grandson of John IV, Duke of Brittany. A recurring theme in Francis' life would be ...

. She acted as the spy on Charles VII on behalf of his son, Louis XI.

Life

Antoinette was the daughter of Jean II de Maignelais and Marie de Jouy. Through her father she was a first cousin of

Agnès Sorel Agnès Sorel (; 1422 – 9 February 1450), known by the sobriquet ''Dame de beauté'' (Lady of Beauty), was a favourite and chief mistress of King Charles VII of France, by whom she bore four daughters. She is considered the first officially r ...

, who served Charles VII as his titular mistress from roughly 1441 until her sudden death in 1450. Even before her cousin's death, Antoinette had caught the king's eye. In 1448, when she was fourteen years old, he gave her the lands of Maignelais, which had been the object of a long lawsuit between her ancestor Raoul de Maignelais and the Duke de Bourbon. In the end, the estate had remained in the duke's possession. Chateau-de-la-guerche

Royal Mistress

In her sixteenth year, shortly after Agnès died, Antoinette became the royal mistress of Charles VII. In connection to this, Charles VII married Antoinette to his first gentleman of the bedchamber, André, Baron de Villequier (d. 1454), of Guerche in

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

. On this occasion the king presented Antoinette with the isles of Oleron, Marennes, and

Arvert Arvert () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Alvertons'' or ''Alvertonnes''. Geography Arvert is located some 14 km north-w ...

as a

marriage portion A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

, with a pension of 6,000 livres a year for life. The letters granting these advantages are dated October, 1450. For her and her husband, the king ordered the construction of the

Château de la Guerche Château de la Guerche is a castle in La Guerche, in Indre-et-Loire, a ''département'' in France. It was built during the reign of Charles VII of France, for Antoinette de Maignelais, young cousin of Charles's recently defunct mistress Agnès ...

. In 1458, Charles presented her daughter, Jeanne de Maignelais, with 8,250 francs upon her marriage to the Sire of Rochefort. Antoinette also had another daughter. Charles VII acknowledged neither daughter. During her tenure as royal mistress in France, Antoinette co-operated with the Dauphin (the future Louis XI of France) with whom the King was in a strained relationship, and informed the Dauphin about his father, thus in effect acting as the spy of the Dauphin upon the King.

Ducal mistress

When the king died in 1461, Antoinette became the mistress of

. She was given a great allowance from the Duke, and resided in the Castle of Cholet, where she hosted a cultural circle and made her court a center of culture in Brittany. She eventually had five children with Francis II. When becoming mistress of the Duke of Brittany, Louis XI of France expected her to continue to act as his spy, this time upon the Duke of Brittany. Initially, she did fulfil this expectation, but eventually, she changed her loyalties. During the war between France and Brittany, Antoinette de Maignelais sold her jewels to finance the army of Brittany against France. Upon hearing of this, Louis XI of France confiscated her property in France.Pierre Richard, « Antoinette de Maignelais », Bulletin de la Société Archéologique et Historique de Nantes, vol. Tome 131, 1996 She died peacefully at Francis II's court in 1474.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maignelais, Antoinette 1420 births 1474 deaths

Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of C ...

Mistresses of French royalty French baronesses French courtiers 15th-century French people 15th-century French women Medieval spies