Claudine Françoise Mignot

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Portrait of Claudine Françoise Mignot, Palace of Versailles.

Claudine Françoise Mignot (commonly called Marie; 20 January 1624 – 30 November 1711) was a French adventuress born near Grenoble, at Meylan.

At the age of sixteen she attracted the notice of the secretary of , treasurer of the province of Dauphiné, and Amblerieu promised to promote their marriage. Instead, he married her himself on 29 July 1640^[1] and left her his fortune.

His will was disputed by his family, and Claudine went to Paris in 1653 to secure its fulfilment. She sought the protection of  [Wikidata], marshal of France, then a man of seventy-five. He married her on 25 August 1653,^[1] within a week of their first meeting, and after seven years of marriage died on 20 April 1660^[1] leaving her part of his estate. They had one son (c. 1654 – c. 1657).

By a third and morganatic marriage on 14 September 1672 with John Casimir, former king of Poland, a few weeks before his sudden death, she received a third, enormous fortune. In the testament, written on 12 December 1672 in Nevers, John Casimir called himself her debtor.^[2] Immediately on her marriage with Ambérieux she had begun to educate herself, and her wealth and talents assured her a welcome in Paris. They had one daughter Marie Catherine (1670 - after 1672), to whom her father left fifteen thousand livres, and asked her to join the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.^[3]

She retired in her old age to a Carmelite convent in the city, where she died on 30 November 1711. Her history, very much modified, was the subject of a play by Bayard and Paul Duport, Marie Mignot (1829).

References[]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mignot, Claudine Françoise". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 427.