Dame d'atour

Leonora Dori Galigaï
Marie d'Hautefort

Dame d'atour was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.

History

At least from the tenure of Isabeau of Bavaria as queen, there had been a post named demoiselle d'atour or femme d'atour, but this had originally been the title of the queen's chamber maids and divided to several people.[1]

The office of Dame d'atour was created in 1534, and was one of the highest ranked offices among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen and given only to members of the nobility.[2]

The dame d'atour had the responsibility of the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and supervised the dressing of the queen and the chamber staff of femme du chambre.[2]

When the dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour as the supervisor of the female personnel of the queen.[2]

List of Dames d'atour to the queen of France

Dame d'atour to Catherine de' Medici 1547-1589

  • Madeleine Buonaiuti Alamanni de Gondi

Dame d'atour to Louise of Lorraine 1575-1601

Dame d'atour to Marie de' Medici 1600-1632

  • 1600-1601: Madame de Richelieu
  • 1601-1617: Leonora Dori
  • 1617-1619: Vacant
  • 1619-1625: Nicole du Plessis de Mailly, marquise de Brezé
  • 1625-1631: Duchesse d'Aiguillon

Dame d'atour to Anne of Austria 1615-1666

Dame d'atour to Maria Theresa of Spain 1660-1683

  • 1660-1683: Anne-Marie de Beauvilliers, comtesse de Bethune

Dame d'atour to Marie Leszczyńska 1725-1768

  • 1725-1731: Anne-Marie-Francoise de Sainte-Hermine, comtesse de Mailly
  • 1731-1742: Francoise de Mailly, duchesse de Mazarin
  • 1742-1768: Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, duchesse de Villars

Dame d'atour to Marie Antoinette 1774-1792

Dame d'atour to Joséphine de Beauharnais 1804-1809

Dame d'atour to Marie Louise 1810-1814

See also

References

  1. ↑ Caroline zum Kolk, "The Household of the Queen of France in the Sixteenth Century", in: The Court Historian; vol. 14, number 1, June 2009
  2. 1 2 3 Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe Leiden: Brill, 2013
  • Mathieu da Vinha & Raphaël Masson: Versailles: Histoire, Dictionnaire et Anthologie
  • Anselme de Sainte-Marie & Ange de Sainte-Rosalie: Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France
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