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''Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine'' (, ), or only ''Surintendante'', was the senior
''Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine'' (, ), or only ''Surintendante'', was the senior lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...
at the royal court of France from 1619 until the French revolution. The ''Surintendante'' was selected from the members of the highest French nobility
The French nobility () was an Aristocracy, aristocratic social class in France from the France in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages until its abolition on 23 June 1790 during the French Revolution.
From 1808 to 1815 during the First French Empire, ...
.
History
The office was created in 1619. Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. ''The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe''. Leiden: Brill, 2013 The Surintendante and the ''Governess of the Children of France
The governess of the children of France (sometimes the Governess of the Royal Children) was an office at the royal French court during pre-Revolutionary France and the Bourbon Restoration. As the head of the royal nursery, she was charged with the ...
'' were the only female office holders in France to give an oath of loyalty to the King himself.Jeroen Frans Jozef Duindam: ''Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780''.
The surintendante had about the same tasks as the ''Première dame d'honneur
''Première dame d'honneur'' (, ), or simply ''dame d'honneur'' (), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post shifted, the dame d'honneur was norm ...
'': receiving the oath of the female personnel before they took office and supervising them and the queen's daily routine, as well as organizing the accounts and staff list, but she was placed in rank above the première dame d'honneur. Whenever the surintendante was absent, she was replaced by the première dame d'honneur. The post of surintendante could be left vacant for long periods, and was abolished between the death of Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, ''Légitimée de France'', born Marie Anne de La Blaume Le Blanc, by her marriage Princess of Conti then Princess Dowager of Conti, ''suo jure'' Duchess of La Vallière and of Vaujours (; 2 October 1666 – 3 May 1739) was ...
in 1741 and the appointment of the Princesse de Lamballe Princesse (French 'princess') may refer to:
*"Princesse", single hit for Julie Zenatti
* Princesse (Nekfeu song)
* La Princesse 15-metre (50-foot) mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Machine.
See also
*Pr ...
in 1775.
During the Second French Empire
The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...
, the ''Grande-Maitresse'' of Empress Eugénie de Montijo
Eugénie de Montijo (; born María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920) was Second French Empire, Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until he was overthrown on 4 ...
was the equivalent of the Surintendante, being formally the highest female official at court but in practice with the same tasks as the dame d'honneur; this position was held by Anne d'Essling
Anne Debelle, Princesse d'Essling (28 July 1802 – 28 January 1887), was a French courtier. She served as ''Grand-Maitresse'' (senior lady-in-waiting) to Empress Eugénie de Montijo in 1853–1870.
Life
She was the daughter of Jean-François ...
during that entire period (1853–1870).Seward, Desmond: ''Eugénie. An empress and her empire''. (2004)
List of ''surintendante'' to the queen of France
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (; ; born Ana María Mauricia; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown ...
, 1619–1666
* 1619–1637: Marie de Rohan
Marie Aimée de Rohan (; December 1600 – 12 August 1679) was a French courtier and political activist, famed for being the center of many of the intrigues of the first half of the 17th century in France. In various sources, she is often kno ...
* 1657–1666: Anne Marie Martinozzi, Princess of Conti
Maria Theresa of Spain
Maria Theresa of Spain (; ; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen consort of France, Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infante, Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV ...
, 1660–1683
* 1660–1661: Anne Gonzaga
Anna Gonzaga (Anna Marie; 1616 – 6 July 1684) was an Italian French noblewoman and salonist. The youngest daughter of Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, Charles Gonzaga, Duchy of Mantua, Duke of Mantua Duke of Montferrat, and Montf ...
* 1661–1679: Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons
Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons (French: ''Olympe Mancini''; 11 July 1638 – 9 October 1708) was the second-eldest of the five celebrated Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of Kin ...
* 1679–1683: Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan (5 October 1640 – 27 May 1707), commonly known as Madame de Montespan (), was a French noblewoman and the most celebrated royal mistress of King Louis XIV. During their ...
Marie Leszczyńska
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (; 23 June 1703 – 24 June 1768), also known as Marie Leczinska (), was Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XV from their marriage on 4 September 1725 until her death in 1768. The daughter of St ...
, 1725–1768
* 1725–1741: Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, ''Légitimée de France'', born Marie Anne de La Blaume Le Blanc, by her marriage Princess of Conti then Princess Dowager of Conti, ''suo jure'' Duchess of La Vallière and of Vaujours (; 2 October 1666 – 3 May 1739) was ...
* 1741–1768: ''Abolished''
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
, 1775–1792
* 1775–1792: Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe
Marie-Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe (; 8 September 1749 – 3 September 1792) was an Italian noblewoman and member of the Savoy-Carignano cadet branch of the House of Savoy. She was married at the age of 17 to Louis Alexandre ...
See also
*Mistress of the Robes
The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, who would, by appointment, attend on the Queen (whether queen regnant or a queen consort). Queens dowager retained their own mistresses of the robes. In ...
, British equivalent
* Camarera mayor de Palacio {{Short description, Spanish court official
The Camarera mayor de Palacio (First Lady of the Bedchamber) was a court official of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain, who was in charge of the person and the rooms of the Queen of ...
, Spanish equivalent
* Chief Court Mistress
Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts.
Chief c ...
, Dutch, German, Scandinavian and Russian equivalent
References
{{Reflist Ancien Régime Ancien Régime office-holders Government of France French monarchy Court titles in the Ancien Régime Gendered occupations