Agnes-Françoise Le Louchier (1660-1717), was the royal mistress of

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II (11 July 1662 – 26 February 1726), also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Electorate of Bavaria, Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last governor of the Spani ...

from 1694 until 1717. She also served as the spy of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

at the French court.

Early life

Agnès-Françoise Le Louchier was born in 1660 into the

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

nobility. She was the daughter of Jean François Le Louchier, Lord of Popuelles and, his wife, Charlotte d'Aubermont.Werner Sombart: ''Liebe, Luxus und Kapitalismus. Über die Entstehung der modernen Welt aus dem Geist der Verschwendung'', Heidelberg 1913.

Personal life

She became the lover of

Maximilian II Emanuel Maximilian II (11 July 1662 – 26 February 1726), also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last governor of the Spanish Netherlands and Duke ...

when he was the governor of the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

.Peter Claus Hartmann: ''Der Chevalier De Baviére''. ZBLB, Band 31, 1968 pp. 286-297. She accompanied him to Bavaria in 1694, when he married his second spouse,

Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska Theresa Kunegunda (, , ) (4 March 1676 – 27 March 1730) was a Polish people, Polish princess, Electress of Bavaria and of the Electorate of the Palatinate. By birth, she was a member of the House of Sobieski and by marriage, she is also a membe ...

, while she herself married the Bavarian officer Count Ferdinand von

Arco Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

. After the wedding, they returned to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. She had a son with Maximilian, named Emanuel-François-Joseph (1695-1747), who was later legitimized by his father.Karl Eduard Vehse: ''Bayerische Hofgeschichten. Bearbeitet, eingeleitet und mit Anmerkungen herausgegeben von Joachim Delbrück.'' München 1922.

Work as a spy

In 1700, the Electress wished to separate from the Elector because of this affair but managed to reconcile.Richard Paulus: ''Max Emanuel und die französische Kunst, Altbayerische Monatsschrift,'' p. 11, München 1913. The same year, the Elector and Electress returned to Bavaria. Le Louchier was given an assignment as a spy by the Elector and sent to Paris to make use of political connections in favour of Bavarian interests. She succeeded with her task and was rewarded with a life pension. She lived with Maximilian during his exile from 1704 to 1715 until he met his wife again on 8 April 1715.Ludwig Hüttl: ''Max Emanuel – der Blaue Kurfürst, 1679–1726. Eine politische Biographie.'' Süddeutscher Verlag, München 1976, .

Sources

1660 births 1717 deaths Mistresses of Bavarian royalty 18th-century spies {{Espionage-bio-stub