Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles
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Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
or Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, the illustrious mistress of King Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
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A scion of a family of officials from Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
, his father was Hervé-Guillaume Le Normant du Fort, trésorier général des Monnaies. His uncle was the financier Le Normant de Tournehem
Charles François Paul Le Normant de Tournehem
Charles François Paul Le Normant de Tournehem was a French financier, a fermier-général, or tax-farmer.He is best known for his connection with Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson , future marquise de Pompadour. Her legal guardian from 1725, after her official father was forced to leave the country, he may...
in 1741, a tax farmer and legal guardian of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson. By arrangement of his uncle, Le Normant d'Étiolles married Madame de Pompadour in 1741. He also followed his uncle as a financier.
The couple had two children, a boy in 1741, who died the year following his birth, and a daughter, Alexandrine-Jeanne d'Étiolles
Alexandrine-Jeanne d'Étiolles
Alexandrine-Jeanne Le Normant d'Étiolles was born during the "Scenes of Metz", in which the public was scandalised to learn of the adultery of her stepfather-to-be, Louis XV of France....
, nicknamed "Fanfan", born August 10, 1744. She died in June 1754 at the age of 9 years old from a stomach ailment, possibly peritonitis
Peritonitis
Peritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, the serous membrane that lines part of the abdominal cavity and viscera. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and may result from infection or from a non-infectious process.-Abdominal pain and tenderness:The main manifestations of...
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In June 1745, Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
, who had taken a particular liking to the enigmatic and beautiful Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
, arranged for her to become his official mistress, a position she came by with the blessing of her husband's father. Louis XV offered Le Normant the position of ambassador to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, to remove him from the scene, but he refused. Louis then arranged a legal separation of Madame de Pompadour from her husband, who became the most famous cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
in France. He never forgave his wife for her treachery. He consoled himself with affairs with other women in Paris, having several children. After Pompadour's death, he discreetly married Marie-Aimée Maltha, formerly a dancer and the mother of his children, and they lived quietly at the manoir de Baillon, near the Abbey de Royaumont.
He and his new wife were detained for over a year in the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
. Later released, Charles-Guillaume died peacefully in his home on the rue du Sentier.