Mistress to Charles IX of France
Marie Touchet (French pronunciation: [maʁi tuʃɛ]; 1549 – 28 March 1638), Dame de Belleville, was the only mistress of Charles IX of France.
Life
Although born to a bourgeois family at Orléans, the daughter of Marie Mathy and a Huguenot lieutenant Jean Touchet, she "held her row at court as well as any of the first class ladies" (Le Laboureur, historian). Her anagrammed name was even Je Charme Tout meaning "I charm all." Henry III, King of Navarre was responsible for this clever wordplay.
By her late teens, she was mistress to Charles IX. In 1573 she bore the king a son, Charles de Valois. It would be his only son, for just one year later the king died, at which time his and Marie's son was entrusted to the care of his younger brother and successor, Henry III of France. The new king was faithful to his dead brother's wishes and raised little Charles dutifully. Marie Touchet received a pension for her services to Charles IX, and continued as a part of the royal circle.
Marie went on to marry the marquis d'Entragues, Charles Balzac d'Entragues, and had two daughters, Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues and Marie-Charlotte de Balzac d’Entragues. Both daughters would follow in their mother's footsteps, later becoming the mistresses of Henry IV of France. Marie died in Paris.
Children
With Charles IX, King of France, she had:
With her husband Charles Balzac d'Entragues, she had:
References
Sources
- Tapié, Victor L. (1988). France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu. Cambridge University Press.
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