Dame d'atours explained

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. They were ranked between the Première dame d'honneur and the Dame du Palais.

History

At least from Isabeau of Bavaria's tenure 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 chambermaids and shared by several people.^[1]

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

The dame d'atour was responsible for 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.

List of dames d'atour to the queens and empresses of France

Catherine de' Medici, 1547–1589

• 1547–1549 : Marie-Catherine Gondi^[3]
• 1549–1552 : Jacqueline de l'Hospital Dame d'Aisnay ^[4]
• 1552–1559 : Madeleine Buonaiuti, Madame Alamanni, Mme de Gondi ^{[5] [6]}

• 1570–1574: Marguerite de La Marck-Arenberg

Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601

• 1575–1590: Louise de la Béraudière

Marie de' Medici, 1600–1632

• 1600–1617: Leonora Dori^[7]
• 1617–1619: Vacant
• 1619–1625: Nicole du Plessis de Mailly, marquise de Brezé
• 1625–1631: Duchesse d'Aiguillon

Anne of Austria, 1615–1666

• 1615–1619: Luisa de Osorio (jointly with de Vernet)
• 1615–1626: Antoinette d'Albert de Luynes, Dame de Vernet (jointly with de Osorio)
• 1626–1626: Marie-Catherine de Senecey
• 1626–1630: Madeleine du Fargis
• 1630–1657: Catherine le Voyer de Lignerolles, Baronne du Bellay, Dame de la Flotte
  • 1637–1639: Marie de Hautefort, 'Madame de Hautefort' (deputy dame d'atour, first term)
  • 1643–1644: Marie de Hautefort, duchesse de Schomberg (second term as deputy)
• 1657–1666: Louise Boyer, duchesse de Noailles

Maria Theresa of Spain, 1660–1683

• 1660–1683: Anne Marie de Beauvilliers, Countess of Bethune

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

Marie Antoinette, 1770–1791

• 1770–1771: Amable-Gabrielle de Villars
• 1771–1775: Adelaide-Diane-Hortense Mancini-Mazarin, duchesse de Cossé
  • 1775–1775: Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, Princess de Chimay 1775–1781: Marie-Jeanne de Talleyrand-Périgord, duchesse de Mailly
• 1781–1791: Geneviève de Gramont, comtesse d'Ossun

Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1804–1809

• 1804–1809: Émilie de Beauharnais

Marie Louise, 1810–1814

• 1810–1814: Jeanne Charlotte du Luçay

See also

• First Lady of the Bedchamber, British equivalent
• Maid of the Bedchamber

References

• 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

Notes and 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. Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, eds. The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe Leiden: Brill, 2013
3. Book: L'Argument de la filiation: Aux fondements des sociétés européennes et méditerranéennes. 9782735116836. Bonte. Pierre. Gené. Enric Porqueres I.. Wilgaux. Jérôme. 4 July 2014. Les Editions de la MSH .
4. Web site: Les membres des maisons royales de la cour de France - Résultat de recherche.
5. Catherine de Médicis
6. Book: The Gondi: Family Strategy and Survival in Early Modern France. 9781317030010. Milstein. Joanna. 9 March 2016. Routledge .
7. Marie de Medicis and the French court in the XVIIth century