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Glite Dictionary
Maintenon

Maintenon

1 9.9
A woman who secretly married King Louis XIV and influenced the French court
  • proper noun
: Maintenon
  • Madame de Maintenon, the secret wife of Louis XIV, was influential in the French court.

Examples

  • Lord Portland, when Ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV, was deemed highly honored to be so received, and it was from his throne that Louis announced ex cathedra his coming marriage to de Maintenon.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The none too savory ramifications by which Ella Kaye, the newspaper woman, played Madame de Maintenon to his weakness and sent him to sea in a yacht were common property of the gaudy journalism of 1902.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The history of Maintenon reveals her pivotal role in the reign of Louis XIV.

  • After Louis XIV married Maintenon in secret, she became a significant figure in his life.

Synonyms

Marquise de Maintenon
vsMaintenon
9.9

A woman who secretly married King Louis XIV of France after his first wife died

is the common form of address rather than the noble title
Francoise d'Aubigne
vsMaintenon
9.9

French noblewoman who became the secret second wife and adviser of King Louis XIV

is known by a formal title rather than her birth name

Surface Forms

Maintenon main

Etymology

Maintenon comes from a small French town and its castle called Maintenon. She was called Madame de Maintenon, where de means 'of' or 'from', so the name shows she was the woman 'from Maintenon' and is used as her title.