Laura Mancini
Laura Mancini ( * 1635/36 in Rome, † February 8, 1657 in Paris) was one of the so-called Mazarinetten (French: Mazarinettes ) and was by marriage to Louis I de Bourbon Duchess of Mercœur.
Life
Laura was in Rome as the eldest daughter Michele Barone di Lorenzo Mancini and his wife Geronima Mazarini, the youngest sister Jules Mazarin, was born. She was thus a niece of the powerful French First Minister, who had come to France in September 1647 together with her sister Olympia and her brother Paolo Michele and her cousin Anna Maria Martinozzi. At the behest of Queen Anne of Austria she grew up, under the supervision of Marie -Catherine de La Rochefoucauld, the widowed Marquise de Sennecey and former governess of Louis XIV, to the Palais Royal.
Even as she arrived 13 -year-old in Paris, Laura promised to be a beauty. When she was of marriageable age, her uncle pulled the hereditary prince of the house Épernon, Louis -Charles de Nogaret de La Valette, as a possible husband into consideration, but those plans were dashed. Therefore Mazarin marriage negotiations began with the then Duke of Mercœur, Louis de Bourbon, a grandson of King Henry IV of France. The impetus for this compound gave his father César, Duke of Vendôme, who had intrigued against the Cardinal during the cabal of importants and now sought a reconciliation with him. The negotiations were not yet ended when Mazarin was forced to flee in 1651 to Brühl because of the Fronde in February of this year. Laura told - like all his nieces - the fate of her uncle and went with him into exile. Although a connection with her for the 39 -year-old Duke of Mercœur now no longer seemed opportune, he stopped at the envisaged marriage with the niece of Cardinal firmly. He traveled secretly to Brühl to bring there the negotiations to conclude and sign the marriage contract. This was solemnly renewed in the presence of the king and his mother after the return of Mazarin to Paris on May 29, 1654. Laura's dowry amounted to 600,000 livres, Louis XIV gave the pair again 100,000 livres as a wedding gift. For Louis, it was on top of that the government of Provence, while Laura's father received the governor items of Brittany and was appointed Admiral of France.
The exact wedding date of the couple is unknown. Some publications call in 1651, but this is only the year in which the marriage contract was signed for the first time. Louis I de Bourbon was 1651 at a hearing before the Paris Parlement, he had his wife before fleeing her uncle married, but this is implausible because the marriage contract was demonstrably closed only during the exile in Brühl. As the agreement between Louis and Mazarin in France was known, the groom saw numerous slurs exposed that were spread through pamphlets. Laura has also been prohibited by the Parlement to enter French territory.
After returning to France in 1653 Laura lived modestly and piously mostly on Château d'Anet about 60 kilometers west of Paris and held rarely at court on. Together with her mother Françoise de Lorraine - Mercœur she devoted herself to charity. Madame de Motteville she described in her memoirs as beautiful and virtuous.
A few days after the birth of her third child, the Duchess suffered a stroke in January 1657, which is why she possessed in the left arm and in my left hand lost feeling. Shortly afterwards, the loss of language was added. The doctors prescribed a cupping, but only worse Laura's suffering. She died at age 21 on February 8 in the former Hôtel de Vendôme in Paris. Her husband retired in deep mourning in a Capuchin monastery and became a priest, without having married again. He died in 1669 as a cardinal.
Progeny
From the marriage with Louis I de Bourbon three sons were born, of which only two survived to adulthood:
- Louis II Joseph (* 1654, † 1712), Duke of Vendôme
- Philippe ( * 1655, † 1727), Duke of Vendôme
- Jules César ( * 1657, † 1660)