Madame de Pompadour

Sex, Culture and Power

• Author(s): Margaret Crosland,
• Publisher: Sutton
• Pages: 186
• ISBN_10: 0750923385
  ISBN_13: 9780750923385
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Biography & Autobiography / General , Biography & Autobiography / Historical , Biography & Autobiography / Royalty , Biography & Autobiography / Women , History / Europe / France ,

Description:... The royal mistress was an institution in France during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) was the most impressive and creative of them all. This is the rags-to-riches story of how she used all she had to achieve independence at a time when women had no status or rights. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born into a bourgeoise family and was probably illegitimate. However, a fortune teller predicted that Jeanne would win the heart of a king. In 1741 she married Le normant d'Etoiles and, in 1745, found herself dancing with Louis XV at a masked ball. The affair that was to scandalize the aristocracy (Jeanne was the first royal mistress from the middle classes) began soon after.