Dame d'atours

Leonora Dori Galigaï
Marie d'Hautefort

Dame d'atour (French pronunciation: [dam datuʁ] ⓘ) was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility. They were ranked between the Première dame d'honneur and the Dame du Palais.

History

At least from Isabeau of Bavaria's tenure as queen, there had been a post named demoiselle d'atour or femme d'atour, but this had originally been the title of the queen's chambermaids and shared by several people.[1]

The office of dame d'atour, created in 1534, was one of the highest-ranking offices among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen and given only to members of the nobility.[2]

The dame d'atour was responsible for the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and supervised the dressing of the queen and the chamber staff of femme du chambre.[2]

When the dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour as the supervisor of the female personnel of the queen.[2]

List of dames d'atour to the queens and empresses of France

Catherine de' Medici, 1547–1589

Élisabeth d'Autriche

Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601

Marie de' Medici, 1600–1632

Anne of Austria, 1615–1666

Maria Theresa of Spain, 1660–1683

Marie Leszczyńska, 1725–1768

Marie Antoinette, 1770–1791

Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1804–1809

Marie Louise, 1810–1814

See also

References

  1. ^ Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian; vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
  2. ^ a b c Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe Leiden: Brill, 2013
  3. ^ Bonte, Pierre; Gené, Enric Porqueres I.; Wilgaux, Jérôme (4 July 2014). L'Argument de la filiation: Aux fondements des sociétés européennes et méditerranéennes. Les Editions de la MSH. ISBN 9782735116836.
  4. ^ "Les membres des maisons royales de la cour de France - Résultat de recherche".
  5. ^ Catherine de Médicis
  6. ^ Milstein, Joanna (9 March 2016). The Gondi: Family Strategy and Survival in Early Modern France. Routledge. ISBN 9781317030010.
  7. ^ Marie de Medicis and the French court in the XVIIth century
  • Mathieu da Vinha & Raphaël Masson: Versailles: Histoire, Dictionnaire et Anthologie
  • Anselme de Sainte-Marie & Ange de Sainte-Rosalie: Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France