146 - MAINTENON (Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de), 1635–1719.

MAINTENON (Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de), 1635–1719. Letter from “Maintenon,” Saint-Cyr, October 16, 1712, 2 pp., in-4, to the Bishop of Chartres (Charles-François des Monstiers de Mérinville, 1682–1746). (Small tears where the seal was broken, with paper losses without loss of text, one of which has been filled in). A very interesting letter devoted to the education of the Young Ladies of Saint-Cyr, in which Madame de Maintenon firmly defends the principles and regulations of the institution she had founded, while discussing their placement in various religious communities. Madame de Maintenon opens this letter with an ecclesiastical matter: she informs the bishop that Monsieur de Saint-Sulpice has convinced himself that the proposed method for the union of a benefice is better than the one the bishop had suggested. This disagreement between members of the same profession saddens her. She then turns to Mlle de Sailly, of whom she says she has “never heard anything but good,” and who, now more experienced, could head a priory. The passage becomes particularly interesting when she speaks of the Young Ladies of Saint-Cyr: she hopes they might enter religious houses where they would have companions, and is considering sending some to the Ursulines of Chartres, who “often ask us for them.” Above all, she vigorously defends her work: “It is not education that makes our girls unhealthy, Sir.” She even considers it “very dangerous” to change their rules. She then quotes a personal remark by Louis XIV: “I conveyed your regards to the King at Rambouillet; he replied that he would rather have you out on your visits than at Court.” Finally, against the backdrop of the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, she writes of the Dutch that “God has blinded them to punish them for their arrogance.” She concludes by noting the excellent health of the King and the Dauphin. A very beautiful letter, in which educational concerns, matters of financial gain, and direct allusions to the words of Louis XIV intertwine. Includes its original cultural property export certificate from the Ministry of Culture, noting the provenance from the Charavay catalog 816, October 1996, No. 45053, with the corresponding description).