Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prie

Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de - Pléneuf (* 1698 in Paris, † October 7, 1727 in Courbépine, Eure), also known as Madame de Prie or Marquise de Prie was the influential mistress of the French Prime Minister Louis IV Henri de Bourbon, prince de Condé and by marriage Marchioness of Plasnes.

Life

Jeanne- Agnes Berthelot was the daughter of the rich and as it is unscrupulous financier Étienne Berthelot de Pléneuf. At the age of 15 she was born on December 28, 1713 with Louis de Prie, marquis de Plasnes, called Marquis de Prie, married and went with him to the Savoy court in Turin, where he was the ambassador.

When she was 21 years old, she returned to France and shortly after became the mistress of the Duke of Bourbon. Their influence on the Duke was so great that it was the actual regent of France during his tenure as prime minister ( 1723-1726 ). Her greatest triumph was the threaded- of her marriage of Louis XV. with the Polish princess Maria Leszczyńska.

Their rise came to an abrupt end when they tried in 1725 to force the rival of the Duke of Bourbon, Bishop André- Hercule de Fleury into exile. After Fleury's return and the referral of the Duke to Chantilly she was banished to the estate of her husband in Courbépine, where she died the following year. It is believed today that she died of tetanus. Since she had fallen out of favor at court, was adopted in its time that it took his own life because she was suffering from depression and that she had taken opium. Already on November 15, 1726, she had written a will on September 17, 1727, she changed the will. Soon after, she fell ill. Showed symptoms similar to those of tetanus. The cause of this infection was still unknown and could not be cured. For the pain and cramping was administered to laudanum.

Reception

The life of the Marquise de Prie was repeatedly processed artistically. Best known are Stefan Zweig's narrative history of a fall and the TV film La dernière fête ( 1996 Engl The Fall of the Marquise de Prie. ) With Charlotte Rampling in the title role.