Anna Maria (Marie) Mancini (28 August 1639 – 8 May 1715) was the third of the five Mancini sisters; nieces to Cardinal Mazarin who were brought to France to marry advantageously. Along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, the Mancini sisters were known at the court of King

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

as the ''

Mazarinettes The Mazarinettes were the seven nieces of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, (1639–1661), chief minister to the Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France from 1642 until his death. They were the daughters of the cardinal's two sisters, Laura Margheri ...

''.

Early life and family

Mancini was born on 28 August 1639 and grew up in Rome. Her father was Baron Lorenzo Mancini, an Italian aristocrat who was also a necromancer and

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

. After his death in 1650, her mother, Geronima Mazzarini, brought her daughters from Rome to Paris in the hope of using the influence of her brother, Cardinal Mazarin, to gain them advantageous marriages. The other Mancini sisters were: * Laure (1636 - 1657), the eldest, who married Louis de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, the grandson of King Henry IV and his mistress,

Gabrielle d'Estrées Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux (; 157310 April 1599) was a mistress, confidante and adviser of Henry IV of France. She persuaded Henry to renounce Protestantism in favour of Catholicism in 1593. L ...

, and became the mother of the famous French general Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, *

Olympe Olympe ( grc, Ολύμπη) ( sq, Olimpi) was an ancient city located in the territory of the Amantes, between northern Epirus and southern Illyria in classical antiquity. It is located in modern day Mavrovë, Vlorë County, Albania. History ...

(1638 - 1708), who married Eugène-Maurice of Savoy-Carignano and became the mother of the famous Austrian general

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...

, * Hortense (1646 - 1699), the beauty of the family, escaped her abusive husband, Armand-Charles de la Porte, duc de La Meilleraye, and went to London, where she became the mistress of King Charles II. * Marie Anne (1649 - 1714) married Maurice Godefroy de la Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, a nephew of the famous field marshal Turenne. The Mancinis were not the only female family members that Cardinal Mazarin brought to the French court. The others were Marie's first cousins, daughters of Mazarin's eldest sister. The elder, Laura Martinozzi, married Alfonso IV d'Este, duke of Modena and was the mother of

Mary of Modena Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the younger ...

, second wife of

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

. The younger,

Anne Marie Martinozzi Anne Marie Martinozzi, Princess of Conti (1637 – 4 February 1672) was a French aristocrat and court official. She was a niece of King Louis XIV of France's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, and the wife of Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti ...

, married Armand, Prince de Conti. The Mancini also had three brothers: Paul, Philippe, and

Alphonse Alphonse may refer to: * Alphonse (given name) * Alphonse (surname) * Alphonse Atoll, one of two atolls in the Seychelles' Alphonse Group See also *Alphons Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given n ...

Youth

In France, Anna Maria's name was gallicized to Marie. "Dark, vivacious and beautiful,"Miller 1987 Marie captured the biggest prize of the French court: the romantic love of

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

. According to

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...

's biography ''Love and Louis XIV'', Marie's mother, Geronima, was told by a

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an as ...

that Marie would cause trouble and demanded on her deathbed that Cardinal Mazarin should, "shut Marie up in a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

and keep her there." Marie did not consummate her relationship with the Sun King. His love for her was a somewhat idealistic one, but he was so besotted that he wanted to marry her. Eventually, Cardinal Mazarin and the young king's mother,

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unt ...

, separated the couple, banishing Marie into exile and arranging for Louis' marriage to his cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain.

Exile and marriage

In 1661, Marie was sent away to marry an Italian prince,

Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna (1637–1689) was an Italian nobleman of the Colonna family. He was the 8th Duke and Prince of Paliano and hereditary Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples. He was also a Knight of the Golden Fleece. Biography Colonna ...

, who remarked after their wedding night that he was surprised to find her still a virgin. The bridegroom had not expected to find "innocence among the loves of kings" (from

's book ''Love and Louis XIV''). They had three children, all sons: *

Filippo Filippo is an Italian male given name, which is the equivalent of the English name Philip, from the Greek ''Philippos'', meaning "amante dei cavalli".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Philip" Retrieved on 23 January 2016. The female variant is Fil ...

, born in 1663 * Marcantonio, born in 1664 * Carlo, born in 1665

Escape and death

After the birth of her third child, relations between Marie and her husband deteriorated. On 29 May 1672, fearing that her husband would kill her, Marie left Rome accompanied by her sister Hortense. In 1667 a false memoir began circulating France about Marie, after her sister Hortense had written her own. Marie retorted by penning her own memoir. The Mancini sisters were some of the earliest women in France to publish their own memoirs. She did not return to Italy until her husband's death in 1689 and then spent a further decade travelling Europe. She died in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

in May 1715 aged 75, little over 3 months before the death of Louis XIV in September that year, and is buried in the church of the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

there.

In fiction and literature

Marie plays an active role in

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

's novel, ''Francesca Carrara'', although her life following her encounters with

is mainly fictional. The character of Marie Mancini appears in the French musical ''

Le Roi Soleil , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

'', where she was played by Anne-Laure Girbal. Her character appears also in the 2008 Italian novel ''Secretum'' by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti and is the main character of the 2015 novel ''The Enchantress of Paris'' by Marci Jefferson. Marie and her sister

Hortense Mancini Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin (6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699), was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, and a mistress of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She was the fourth of the five famous Mancini s ...

are the subjects of a dual biography, ''The King's Mistresses: The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister Hortense, Duchess Mazarin'', by Elizabeth C. Goldsmith (2012, PublicAffairs).

Notes

References

* Miller, John (1987). ''Bourbon and Stuart: Kings and Kingship in France and England in the Seventeenth Century''. .

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mancini, Marie 1639 births 1715 deaths Nobility from Rome Italian emigrants to France Mistresses of Louis XIV 17th-century French nobility Italian salon-holders French salon-holders