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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Bathilde d'Orléans
| name = Bathilde d'Orléans
| title = [[List of Princesses of Condé|Princess of Condé]]
| title = [[List of Princesses of Condé|Princess of Condé]]
| image = Lepeintre, attributed to - Bathilde d’Orléans - Versailles.jpg
| image = (Narbonne) Louise Thérèse d'Orléans, Duchesse de Bourbon - Louis-Michel van Loo - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Narbonne.jpg
| caption = Portrait attributed to [[Charles Lepeintre]].
| caption = Portrait by [[Louis-Michel van Loo]], ca. 1770.
| full name = Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans
| full name = Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé]]|20 April 1770|1780|end=separated}}
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé]]|20 April 1770|1780|end=separated}}
| issue = [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]]
| issue = [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]]<br>Adélaïde-Victoire Dumassy (illeg.)
| house = [[House of Orléans|Orléans]]
| house = [[House of Orléans|Orléans]]
| father = [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]]
| father = [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]]
Line 19: Line 19:
| signature = Signature of the Duchess of Bourbon (L M T B d'Orléans) at the baptism of Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France, December 1778.png
| signature = Signature of the Duchess of Bourbon (L M T B d'Orléans) at the baptism of Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France, December 1778.png
}}
}}

'''Bathilde d'Orléans''' (Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde; 9 July 1750 &ndash; 10 January 1822) was a French princess of the blood of the [[House of Orléans]]. She was sister of [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|''Philippe Égalité'']], the mother of the [[Execution|executed]] [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien|Duke of Enghien]] and aunt of [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe I, King of the French]]. Married to the young [[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé|Duke of Enghien]], a distant cousin, she was always known as the '''Duchess of Bourbon''' following the birth of her son. She was known as ''Citoyenne Vérité'' during the [[French Revolution]].
'''Bathilde d'Orléans''' (Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde; 9 July 1750 &ndash; 10 January 1822) was a French princess of the blood of the [[House of Orléans]]. She was sister of [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|''Philippe Égalité'']], the mother of the [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien|Duke of Enghien]] and aunt of [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe I, King of the French]]. Married to the young [[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé|Duke of Enghien]], a distant cousin, she was known as the '''Duchess of Bourbon''' following the birth of her son. She was known as ''Citoyenne Vérité'' during the [[French Revolution]].


==Youth==
==Youth==
[[File:1762 oil painting Children of the Duke of Orléans by François-Hubert Drouais.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Children of the Duke of Orléans'' (c.1755); Bathilde holding an angel, with her brother, the young [[Duke of Chartres]], on the far right. Painted by [[François-Hubert Drouais]].]]
[[File:1762 oil painting Children of the Duke of Orléans by François-Hubert Drouais.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Children of the Duke of Orléans'' (c.1755); Bathilde holding an angel, with her brother, the young [[Duke of Chartres]], on the far right. Painted by [[François-Hubert Drouais]].]]
Descended from both [[Louis XIV of France]] and his younger brother, [[Philippe I, Duke of Orléans|Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans]], Bathilde was born a ''[[prince du Sang|princesse du sang]]'' and as such was addressed with the style of ''Serene Highness''. The daughter of the [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans|Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres]] and his wife, [[Louise Henriette de Bourbon]], Bathilde was born at the [[Château de Saint-Cloud]], some ten kilometers west of Paris, on 9 July 1750. She was known unofficially at court as [[Fils de France|''Mademoiselle'']] reflecting her rank as the most senior unmarried princess of the blood at the court. Her mother died in 1759 when Bathilde was just eight years old. Her father, pressured by his mistress, [[Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de la Haye de Riou, marquise de Montesson|Madame de Montesson]], sent her to a convent. During her time at the convent, she became a very religious person, a trait that would remain with her all her life.
Descended from both [[Louis XIV]] of France and his younger brother, [[Philippe I, Duke of Orléans|Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans]], Bathilde was born a ''[[prince du Sang|princesse du sang]]'' and as such was addressed with the style of ''Serene Highness''. The daughter of [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans|Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres]] and his wife, [[Louise Henriette de Bourbon]], Bathilde was born at the [[Château de Saint-Cloud]], some ten kilometres west of Paris, on 9 July 1750.


On March 12, 1756, Bathilde and her brother were amongst the first people in France to be inoculated against smallpox, a decision made by their father against the advice of both their mother and King Louis XV. The procedure was performed by physician [[Théodore Tronchin]], and a few days later, "the Duchess of Orleans, having appeared at the Opera with her two children, was greeted by endless applause and cheers, as if the two princes had miraculously escaped death."<ref>{{Citation |last=Lorandi |first=Giacomo |title=The European Catholic Dynasties and the Fight Against Smallpox: Bourbon Rulers Between Resilient and Resistant Actions |date=2023 |work=Resilience and Recovery at Royal Courts, 1200–1840 |pages=141–161 |editor-last=Persson |editor-first=Fabian |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-20123-3_9 |access-date=2024-12-10 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-20123-3_9 |isbn=978-3-031-20123-3 |last2=Recca |first2=Cinzia |editor2-last=Price |editor2-first=Munro |editor3-last=Recca |editor3-first=Cinzia}}</ref>
⚫
==Marriage==
⚫
[[File:Arms of Bathilde d'Orléans (known as the Duchess of Bourbon) as Princess of Condé.png|thumb|right|150px|Arms of Bathilde as Duchess of Bourbon, Princess of Condé]]
⚫
Initially, Bathilde was considered as a possible bride for a distant cousin, [[Ferdinand, Duke of Parma]], the favourite grandson of King [[Louis XV of France]]. However, that marriage never materialised. Finally, in early 1770, when she was nineteen-years-old, she was allowed to leave the convent and marry her younger cousin, the [[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé|Duke of Enghien]], the son and heir of the [[Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé|Prince of Condé]] and [[Charlotte de Rohan]]. The young duke also held the rank of prince of the blood, however he was descended from a younger branch of the [[House of Bourbon]]. The couple married on 20 April 1770 at the [[palace of Versailles]] in front of the court. From marriage, she was known as the Duchess of Enghien till the birth of her son two years later.


Her mother died in 1759 when Bathilde was just eight years old. Her father, pressured by his mistress, [[Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de la Haye de Riou, marquise de Montesson|Madame de Montesson]], sent her to be educated as a boarder at the [[Pentemont Abbey|Panthemont Covent in Paris]].<ref name="Maury">{{cite book |first=Emmanuel | last=Maury |title=Le dernier des Condé|date=2019 |publisher= Tallandier|location=Paris|isbn=979-1021027619}}</ref>{{rp|49–51}}
Bathilde was the Grand Mistress of the French [[Masonic Lodge]] of [[Rite of Adoption|Adoption]], in parallel to her brother Philippe being the Grand Master of the male Freemasons in France, which also gave them an international position within the Freemasons: on 8 May 1776, she and her brother approved of the creation of a female lodge of adoption in Sweden.<ref>Kjell Lekeby (2010). Gustaviansk mystik. Alkemister, kabbalister, magiker, andeskådare, astrologer och skattgrävare i den esoteriska kretsen kring G.A. Reuterholm, hertig Carl och hertiginnan Charlotta 1776-1803. (Gustavian Mysticism. Alchemists, Kabbalists, magicians, visionaries, astrologists and treasure hunters in the esoteric circle of G.A. Reuterholm, Duke Charles and Duchess Charlotte 1776-1803) Sala Södermalm: Vertigo Förlag. page 496 (in Swedish)</ref>


⚫
==Marriage==
Bathilde's husband was only fourteen at the time at the time of their marriage. Unfortunately, he tired of her rather quickly after only six months. Despite little contact, their periodic ''[[rapprochement]]s'' eventually allowed her to give birth to their only son named [[Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien|Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fremont-Barnes|first1=Gregory|title=Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760-1815: A-L|date=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0313334467|page=216|url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=30EEq8R2feIC&dq=Louis+Antoine+enghien&hl=nl&source=gbs_navlinks_s}}</ref> The scandal of her husband's [[adultery]] came out in 1778, and the consequences fell entirely on her shoulders.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} The couple separated in 1780. As a separated spouse, she was never received at court and was forced to reorganise her life in the gilded solitude of the [[Château de Chantilly]]. Later, she also lived for a time with her father and his second wife, Madame de Montesson, at their château at Saint-Assise. When her father died, in 1785, her brother [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe]], became the [[Duke of Orléans]]. It was around this time that Bathilde bought a house in Paris called the ''Hôtel de Clermont'' and the [[château de Petit-Bourg]].
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[[File:Arms of Bathilde d'Orléans (known as the Duchess of Bourbon) as Princess of Condé.png|thumb|left|200px|Arms of Bathilde as Duchess of Bourbon, Princess of Condé]]

⚫
Initially, Bathilde was considered as a possible bride for a distant cousin, [[Ferdinand, Duke of Parma]], the favourite grandson of King [[Louis XV]] of France and Queen Marie Leczinska. However, that marriage never materialised. She first met her future husband, the [[Louis Henri, Prince of Condé|Duke of Enghien]], the son and heir of the [[Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé|Prince of Condé]] and [[Charlotte de Rohan]], at the [[Palace of Versailles]] when attending the wedding of her brother in July 1769. The young duke also held the rank of prince of the blood, however he was descended from a younger branch of the [[House of Bourbon]]. His sister [[Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon (1757–1824)|Louise Adélaïde]] attended the same convent as Bathilde, which gave the Duke a pretext to visit the convent and see Bathilde. Still just thirteen years old, the Duke asked for her hand and their parents agreed to the marriage. Bathilde's reservations about marrying someone so young were overcome by her desire to leave the convent, return to the bosom of her family and marry into such a prestigious family.{{r|Maury|p=49-51}}
In her isolation, she discreetly had an illegitimate daughter (Adelaïde-Victoire) with a young navy officer named Chavalier Alexandre Amable de Roquefeuil.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} Later, she passed the child off as the daughter of her secretary, in order to keep the little girl close to her.
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[[File:Le Beau after Lenoir - Bathilde d’Orléans, Duchess of Bourbon.png|thumb|right|190px|Bathilde as Duchess of Bourbon by an unknown artist]]
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[[File:Louis-Antoine de Bourbon-Condé.png|thumb|right|190px|Louis-Antoine Duke of Enghien]]


The couple married on 20 April 1770 at the Palace of Versailles in front of the court. Bathilde was nineteen and her husband was fourteen. Due to the age of the groom the marriage was not consummated and Bathilde returned to her convent. Before long, her husband had carried her off from the convent.{{r|Maury|p=54}} After only six months he began to tire of marriage and turned his attention to other women.{{r|Maury|p=57}} The periodic reconciliations between Bathilde and her husband eventually allowed her to give birth to their only son, [[Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien|Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon]], in August 1772.{{r|Maury|p=58-59}} From marriage until the birth of her son, she was known as the Duchess of Enghien; after the birth she was known as the Duchess of Bourbon.
⚫
In 1787, she purchased the [[Élysée Palace]] from [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] and had a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] constructed there; inspired by the [[Hameau de Chantilly]] at her Château de Chantilly, it was itself called the "[[Hameau de Chantilly (Paris)|Hameau de Chantilly]]". She lapsed from Christianity and devoted herself to the [[occult]], studying the supernatural arts of [[chiromancy]], [[astrology]], [[dream interpretation]], and [[Magnetism|animal magnetism]]. She spent time raising her son and painting. Her ''[[Salon (gathering)|salon]]'' was renowned throughout Europe for its liberty of thought and the brilliant wits who frequented it.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}
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[[File:Le Beau after Lenoir - Bathilde d’Orléans, Duchess of Bourbon.png|thumb|right|200px|''Bathilde, Duchess of Bourbon'', engraving by [[:fr:Pierre Adrien Le Beau|Pierre Adrien Le Beau]], 1774.]]
Both husband and wife had lovers, and in 1778 Bathilde gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Adelaïde-Victoire, who was registered under the surname Dumassy (and not Damassy as was often mentioned in genealogical works).<ref name="Domínguez">{{cite book|author=Efrén Ortiz Domínguez|title=Jean Baptiste Louis, barón de Gros: Una vida entre cimas y abismos|language=es|publisher=Luna Libros, Laguna Libros, eLibros; 1st edition|year=2021|asin=B08VCLV8T7}}</ref> Her father was a young naval officer, Alexandre Amable de Roquefeuil. The relationship ended in tragedy in 1786 when Roquefeuil was drowned in [[Dunkirk]] harbour.{{r|Maury|p=71}}<ref name="Domínguez"/> The scandal of the duke's [[adultery]] came out in 1778, and the consequences fell entirely on Bathilde's shoulders; she was believed to have commissioned a play from [[Pierre Laujon]] which featured a thinly disguised Duke of Bourbon and his mistress. That same year, in March, the Duchess had an encounter with the [[Count of Artois]] (the future King [[Charles X of France|Charles X]]), younger brother of King [[Louis XVI]], who was escorting a "[[prostitute|lady of the town]]" while attending a masked ball. "After exchanging a few words, the irritated Duchess reached up and snatched off his mask whereupon he pulled her nose so hard and painfully that she wept."<ref>{{cite book |last=Seward |first=Desmond |author-link=Desmond Seward |date=2022 |title=The Bourbon Kings of France |location=London |publisher=Lume Books |page=282 |isbn=9798367430301}}</ref> Her husband subsequently challenged Charles to a [[duel]], during which he wounded him in the hand, though the two men were reconciled the next year. The couple formally separated in 1780.{{r|Maury|p=58-9}}


As a separated spouse, the duchess was never received at court, although she visited [[Marie Antoinette]] in the [[Petit Trianon]] at Versailles. She lived for a time with her father and his second wife, Madame de Montesson, at their château de Saint-Assise at [[Seine-Port]]. When her father died, in 1785, her brother [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe]] became the [[Duke of Orléans]]. It was around this time that Bathilde bought a house in Paris called the ''Hôtel de Clermont'' and the [[château de Petit-Bourg]]. She was able to see her son once a week, and kept her daughter with her.{{r|Maury|p=74-6}}
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==Revolution==


⚫
In 1787, she purchased the [[Élysée Palace]] from Louis XVI and had a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] constructed there; inspired by the [[Hameau de Chantilly]] at the [[Château de Chantilly]]. She became interested in the [[occult]], studying the supernatural arts of [[chiromancy]], [[astrology]], [[dream interpretation]], and [[Magnetism|animal magnetism]]. Her ''[[Salon (gathering)|salon]]'' was renowned throughout Europe for its liberty of thought and the brilliant wits who frequented it.{{r|Maury|p=90-1}} Bathilde was the Grand Mistress of the French [[Masonic Lodge]] of [[Rite of Adoption|Adoption]], in parallel to her brother Philippe being the Grand Master of the male Freemasons in France.{{r|Maury|p=90-1}}
⚫
During the [[French Revolution]], just like her brother [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe Égalité]], Bathilde discovered democracy.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} She fell out with her royalist husband and son, who both chose to leave France after the [[storming of the Bastille]]. As the ''[[Ancien Régime]]'' crumbled, she took the name, ''Citoyenne Vérité'' ''(Citizeness Truth)''. She offered her wealth to the [[First French Republic]] before it could be [[Confiscation|confiscated]]. In April 1793, her nephew, the young [[Louis Philippe of France|Duke of Chartres]] (future Louis Philippe, King of the French), fled France and sought [[Right of asylum|asylum]] with the Austrians. In retribution, the [[National Convention]] decreed the imprisonment of all Bourbons remaining in France.


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==French Revolution ==
⚫
While other members of the Orléans family still in France were kept under house arrest, Bathilde, Philippe Égalité and his sons were imprisoned in the Fort Saint-Jean in [[Marseille]]. Badly rewarded for her fidelity to the democratic ideals of the Revolution, she survived a year and a half in a prison cell. In November of the same year, her brother was [[guillotine]]d. Miraculously spared during the [[Reign of Terror]], Bathilde was liberated during the [[Thermidorian Reaction]] and returned to her Élysée residence in Paris. Poverty-stricken, she was forced to rent out most of the palace. {{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
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[[File:Louis-Antoine de Bourbon-Condé.png|thumb|right|200px|Louis-Antoine Duke of Enghien, by Jean-Michel Moreau, ca. 1800.]]
⚫
During the [[French Revolution]], just like her brother [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe Égalité]], Bathilde discovered democracy.{{r|Maury|p=135}} Her royalist husband and son both left France after the [[storming of the Bastille]]. As the ''[[Ancien Régime]]'' crumbled, she took the name ''Citoyenne Vérité'' ''(Citizeness Truth)'' and offered her wealth to the [[First French Republic]] before it could be [[Confiscation|confiscated]]. In April 1793, her nephew, the young [[Louis Philippe I|Duke of Chartres]] (future Louis Philippe, King of the French), fled France and sought [[Right of asylum|asylum]] with the Austrians. In retribution, the [[National Convention]] decreed the imprisonment of all Bourbons remaining in France.{{r|Maury|p=135-6}}


⚫
While other members of the Orléans family still in France were kept under house arrest, Bathilde, Philippe Égalité and his sons were imprisoned in the Fort Saint-Jean in [[Marseille]]. Badly rewarded for her fidelity to the democratic ideals of the Revolution, she survived a year and a half in a prison cell. In November of the same year, her brother was [[guillotine]]d. Miraculously spared during the [[Reign of Terror]], Bathilde was liberated during the [[Thermidorian Reaction]] and returned to her Élysée residence in Paris. Poverty-stricken, she was forced to rent out most of the palace.{{r|Maury|p=136}}
In 1797, the [[Directoire]] decided to [[exile]] the last of the Bourbons still living in France. With her sister-in-law, [[Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon|Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, ''duchesse d'Orléans'']], Bathilde was made to get into an old coach with all her remaining worldly goods and was sent to Spain with her illegitimate daughter. Despite being forty-seven years old at the time, during the months which this journey took, she had an amorous intrigue with a handsome twenty-seven-year-old police officer under whose responsibility she had been put. The two maintained a correspondence during her exile. Relegated to a home near [[Barcelona, Spain]], Bathilde founded, despite her small means, a pharmacy and dispensary for the poor, and her house became a gathering place for those who needed aid. {{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}


She became completely republican during this time period, despite her exile. In 1804, she learned that [[Napoleon I of France|Napoléon I]], whom she had admired, had had her son, [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]], [[kidnap]]ped, and executed by firing squad in the moat of the [[Château de Vincennes]]. For ten years, the emperor kept her from setting foot in France. But in 1814, Bathilde got some satisfaction when the people, seeing her as the mother of the "Martyr of Vincennes", cheered her as she travelled the route back to Paris. {{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
In 1797, the [[Directoire]] decided to [[exile]] the last of the Bourbons still living in France. With her sister-in-law, the [[Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans|Duchess of Orléans]], Bathilde was sent to Spain with her daughter. It was in [[Barcelona]] that she learnt of the death of her son, [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]], kidnapped and executed by firing squad in the moat of the [[Château de Vincennes]].{{r|Maury|p=169}}


==Return to France==
==Return to France==
In 1815, at the start of the [[Bourbon Restoration]], [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]] traded with her the [[Hôtel Matignon]] for the [[Élysée Palace]]. Bathilde promptly installed a community of [[nun]]s on the premises and charged them with praying for the souls of the victims of the Revolution. Her family, in the new moral order of the day, wanted to see her rejoin her husband after a separation of thirty-five years, but she refused. Instead, she resumed her affair with the police officer who had escorted her to Spain in 1797. Unfortunately, he was to die of an illness three years later. In 1818, upon the death of her estranged father-in-law, she became the last ''[[Princes of Condé|princesse de Condé]]''.
In 1815, at the start of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], [[Louis XVIII]] traded with her the [[Hôtel Matignon]] for the [[Élysée Palace]].{{r|Maury|p=228}} She promptly installed a community of [[nun]]s on the premises and charged them with praying for the souls of the victims of the Revolution. Bathilde saw her husband frequently; there was talk of divorce or of reconciliation but nothing came of either.{{r|Maury|p=193-4}} In 1818, upon the death of her estranged father-in-law, she became the last ''[[Princes of Condé|princesse de Condé]]''. That year she founded, in memory of her son, l'hospice d'Enghien at Reuilly near Paris, a home for the elderly and especially former servants of the d'Orléans family. [[Catherine Labouré]] worked at the home. Bathilde spent the rest of her life helping orphans, the poor and infirm.{{r|Maury|p=228-9}}


In 1822, while she was taking part in a march towards the [[Panthéon]], she lost consciousness, and drew her last breath in the home of a law professor who taught at the [[Sorbonne]]. After her death, her nephew, [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis-Philippe]], wanting to give an air of respectability to her [[bohemian]] lifestyle, burned the manuscript of her [[memoirs]] and a file on her young police officer located in the war archives. She was buried in the Orléans family chapel her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Orléans, who had died in 1821, had built in [[Chapelle royale de Dreux|Collégiale de Dreux]] in 1816, as the final resting place for the Orléans family.
In 1822, while Bathilde was taking part in a procession to the [[Panthéon]], she collapsed and lost consciousness. She was carried into the home of a professor who taught at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], where she died. After her death, her nephew, [[Louis Philippe I|Louis-Philippe]], wanting to give an air of respectability to her life, burned the manuscript of her [[memoirs]]. She was buried in the Orléans family chapel her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Orléans, who had died in 1821, had built in [[Chapelle royale de Dreux|Collégiale de Dreux]] in 1816, as the final resting place for the Orléans family.{{r|Maury|p=229}}


==Issue==
==Issue==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
#[[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien|Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien]] (2 August 1772 – 21 March 1804) married [[Charlotte Louise de Rohan]] but died without issue.
#[[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien|Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien]] (2 August 1772 – 21 March 1804) married [[Charlotte Louise de Rohan]] but died without issue.
#Adélaïde-Victoire Dumassy (1778 – 1846), married Joseph-Antoine Gros and had issue,<ref name="Domínguez"/> among them was Baron [[Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros]], a French [[diplomat]] and later [[senator]], as well as a notable pioneer of [[daguerrotype|photography]].<ref name="Domínguez"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senat.fr/senateur-2nd-empire/gros_jean_baptiste_louis0182e2.html|title=GROS Jean-Baptiste-Louis|website=www.senat.fr|access-date=7 December 2024|language=fr}}</ref> One of her descendants was the [[World War I]] [[fighter ace]] [[Georges Guynemer]].{{r|Maury|p=71}}
#Adelaide-Victorie de Roquefeuil, married and had issue


==Ancestors==
==Ancestors==
Line 70: Line 71:
| 2 = 2. [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]]
| 2 = 2. [[Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]]
| 3 = 3. [[Louise Henriette de Bourbon]]
| 3 = 3. [[Louise Henriette de Bourbon]]
| 4 = 4. [[Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans]]
| 4 = 4. [[Louis, Duke of Orléans (1703–1752)|Louis, Duke of Orléans]]
| 5 = 5. [[Margravine Auguste of Baden-Baden|Auguste of Baden-Baden]]
| 5 = 5. [[Auguste of Baden-Baden]]
| 6 = 6. [[Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti]]
| 6 = 6. [[Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti]]
| 7 = 7. [[Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon]]
| 7 = 7. [[Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon]]
Line 82: Line 83:
| 14 = 14. [[Louis, Prince of Condé (1668–1710)|Louis, Prince of Condé]]
| 14 = 14. [[Louis, Prince of Condé (1668–1710)|Louis, Prince of Condé]]
| 15 = 15. [[Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon|Louise Françoise de Bourbon]]
| 15 = 15. [[Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon|Louise Françoise de Bourbon]]
| 16 = 16. [[Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]]
| 17 = 17. [[Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate|Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate]]
| 18 = 18. [[Louis XIV of France]]
| 19 = 19. [[Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan|Madame de Montespan]]
| 20 = 20. [[Ferdinand Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Baden|Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden]]
| 21 = 21. [[Princess Louise of Savoy|Louise of Savoy]]
| 22 = 22. [[Julius Francis, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg]]
| 23 = 23. [[Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach]]
| 24 = 24. [[Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti|Armand, Prince of Conti]]
| 25 = 25. [[Anne Marie Martinozzi]]
| 26 = 26. [[Henri Jules, Prince of Condé]]
| 27 = 27. [[Anne Henriette of Bavaria]]
| 28 = 28. [[Henri Jules, Prince of Condé]] (= 26)
| 29 = 29. [[Anne Henriette of Bavaria]] (= 27)
| 30 = 30. [[Louis XIV of France]] (= 18)
| 31 = 31. [[Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan|Madame de Montespan]] (= 19)
}}
}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
*Translated from the French Wikipedia article of the same title, which lacks sources.
*Some of this information is found in the Memoires of [[Henriette Louise de Waldner de Freundstein]], the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Volume Two.
*[http://versailles.forumculture.net/ce-que-l-on-appelle-la-cour-de-france-mme-de-sevigne-f8/bathilde-d-orleans-duchesse-de-bourbon-t1604.htm?highlight=duchesse+de+bourbon]{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commonscat-inline|Bathilde d’Orléans}}
{{Commons category-inline|Bathilde d’Orléans}}


{{Princesses of France (House of Bourbon)}}
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{{Princess of the Blood by Marriage (House of Bourbon)}}
{{Princess of the Blood by Marriage (House of Bourbon)}}
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[[Category:19th-century French people]]
[[Category:Burials at the Chapelle royale de Dreux]]
[[Category:Burials at the Chapelle royale de Dreux]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in France]]
[[Category:Duchesses of Enghien|Bathilde]]
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[[Category:Daughters of dukes]]

Latest revision as of 04:14, 10 December 2024

Bathilde d'Orléans
Princess of Condé
Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo, ca. 1770.
Born(1750-07-09)9 July 1750
Château de Saint-Cloud, France
Died10 January 1822(1822-01-10) (aged 71)
Paris, France
Burial
Chapelle royale de Dreux
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1770; sep. 1780)​
IssueLouis Antoine, Duke of Enghien
Adélaïde-Victoire Dumassy (illeg.)
Names
Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans
HouseOrléans
FatherLouis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
MotherLouise Henriette de Bourbon
ReligionRoman Catholicism
SignatureBathilde d'Orléans's signature

Bathilde d'Orléans (Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde; 9 July 1750 – 10 January 1822) was a French princess of the blood of the House of Orléans. She was sister of Philippe Égalité, the mother of the Duke of Enghien and aunt of Louis Philippe I, King of the French. Married to the young Duke of Enghien, a distant cousin, she was known as the Duchess of Bourbon following the birth of her son. She was known as Citoyenne Vérité during the French Revolution.

Youth

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Children of the Duke of Orléans (c.1755); Bathilde holding an angel, with her brother, the young Duke of Chartres, on the far right. Painted by François-Hubert Drouais.

Descended from both Louis XIV of France and his younger brother, Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans, Bathilde was born a princesse du sang and as such was addressed with the style of Serene Highness. The daughter of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres and his wife, Louise Henriette de Bourbon, Bathilde was born at the Château de Saint-Cloud, some ten kilometres west of Paris, on 9 July 1750.

On March 12, 1756, Bathilde and her brother were amongst the first people in France to be inoculated against smallpox, a decision made by their father against the advice of both their mother and King Louis XV. The procedure was performed by physician Théodore Tronchin, and a few days later, "the Duchess of Orleans, having appeared at the Opera with her two children, was greeted by endless applause and cheers, as if the two princes had miraculously escaped death."[1]

Her mother died in 1759 when Bathilde was just eight years old. Her father, pressured by his mistress, Madame de Montesson, sent her to be educated as a boarder at the Panthemont Covent in Paris.[2]: 49–51 

Marriage

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Arms of Bathilde as Duchess of Bourbon, Princess of Condé

Initially, Bathilde was considered as a possible bride for a distant cousin, Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, the favourite grandson of King Louis XV of France and Queen Marie Leczinska. However, that marriage never materialised. She first met her future husband, the Duke of Enghien, the son and heir of the Prince of Condé and Charlotte de Rohan, at the Palace of Versailles when attending the wedding of her brother in July 1769. The young duke also held the rank of prince of the blood, however he was descended from a younger branch of the House of Bourbon. His sister Louise Adélaïde attended the same convent as Bathilde, which gave the Duke a pretext to visit the convent and see Bathilde. Still just thirteen years old, the Duke asked for her hand and their parents agreed to the marriage. Bathilde's reservations about marrying someone so young were overcome by her desire to leave the convent, return to the bosom of her family and marry into such a prestigious family.[2]: 49-51 

The couple married on 20 April 1770 at the Palace of Versailles in front of the court. Bathilde was nineteen and her husband was fourteen. Due to the age of the groom the marriage was not consummated and Bathilde returned to her convent. Before long, her husband had carried her off from the convent.[2]: 54  After only six months he began to tire of marriage and turned his attention to other women.[2]: 57  The periodic reconciliations between Bathilde and her husband eventually allowed her to give birth to their only son, Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, in August 1772.[2]: 58-59  From marriage until the birth of her son, she was known as the Duchess of Enghien; after the birth she was known as the Duchess of Bourbon.

Bathilde, Duchess of Bourbon, engraving by Pierre Adrien Le Beau, 1774.

Both husband and wife had lovers, and in 1778 Bathilde gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Adelaïde-Victoire, who was registered under the surname Dumassy (and not Damassy as was often mentioned in genealogical works).[3] Her father was a young naval officer, Alexandre Amable de Roquefeuil. The relationship ended in tragedy in 1786 when Roquefeuil was drowned in Dunkirk harbour.[2]: 71 [3] The scandal of the duke's adultery came out in 1778, and the consequences fell entirely on Bathilde's shoulders; she was believed to have commissioned a play from Pierre Laujon which featured a thinly disguised Duke of Bourbon and his mistress. That same year, in March, the Duchess had an encounter with the Count of Artois (the future King Charles X), younger brother of King Louis XVI, who was escorting a "lady of the town" while attending a masked ball. "After exchanging a few words, the irritated Duchess reached up and snatched off his mask whereupon he pulled her nose so hard and painfully that she wept."[4] Her husband subsequently challenged Charles to a duel, during which he wounded him in the hand, though the two men were reconciled the next year. The couple formally separated in 1780.[2]: 58-9 

As a separated spouse, the duchess was never received at court, although she visited Marie Antoinette in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. She lived for a time with her father and his second wife, Madame de Montesson, at their château de Saint-Assise at Seine-Port. When her father died, in 1785, her brother Philippe became the Duke of Orléans. It was around this time that Bathilde bought a house in Paris called the Hôtel de Clermont and the château de Petit-Bourg. She was able to see her son once a week, and kept her daughter with her.[2]: 74-6 

In 1787, she purchased the Élysée Palace from Louis XVI and had a hamlet constructed there; inspired by the Hameau de Chantilly at the Château de Chantilly. She became interested in the occult, studying the supernatural arts of chiromancy, astrology, dream interpretation, and animal magnetism. Her salon was renowned throughout Europe for its liberty of thought and the brilliant wits who frequented it.[2]: 90-1  Bathilde was the Grand Mistress of the French Masonic Lodge of Adoption, in parallel to her brother Philippe being the Grand Master of the male Freemasons in France.[2]: 90-1 

French Revolution

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Louis-Antoine Duke of Enghien, by Jean-Michel Moreau, ca. 1800.

During the French Revolution, just like her brother Philippe Égalité, Bathilde discovered democracy.[2]: 135  Her royalist husband and son both left France after the storming of the Bastille. As the Ancien Régime crumbled, she took the name Citoyenne Vérité (Citizeness Truth) and offered her wealth to the First French Republic before it could be confiscated. In April 1793, her nephew, the young Duke of Chartres (future Louis Philippe, King of the French), fled France and sought asylum with the Austrians. In retribution, the National Convention decreed the imprisonment of all Bourbons remaining in France.[2]: 135-6 

While other members of the Orléans family still in France were kept under house arrest, Bathilde, Philippe Égalité and his sons were imprisoned in the Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille. Badly rewarded for her fidelity to the democratic ideals of the Revolution, she survived a year and a half in a prison cell. In November of the same year, her brother was guillotined. Miraculously spared during the Reign of Terror, Bathilde was liberated during the Thermidorian Reaction and returned to her Élysée residence in Paris. Poverty-stricken, she was forced to rent out most of the palace.[2]: 136 

In 1797, the Directoire decided to exile the last of the Bourbons still living in France. With her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Orléans, Bathilde was sent to Spain with her daughter. It was in Barcelona that she learnt of the death of her son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien, kidnapped and executed by firing squad in the moat of the Château de Vincennes.[2]: 169 

Return to France

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In 1815, at the start of the Bourbon Restoration, Louis XVIII traded with her the Hôtel Matignon for the Élysée Palace.[2]: 228  She promptly installed a community of nuns on the premises and charged them with praying for the souls of the victims of the Revolution. Bathilde saw her husband frequently; there was talk of divorce or of reconciliation but nothing came of either.[2]: 193-4  In 1818, upon the death of her estranged father-in-law, she became the last princesse de Condé. That year she founded, in memory of her son, l'hospice d'Enghien at Reuilly near Paris, a home for the elderly and especially former servants of the d'Orléans family. Catherine Labouré worked at the home. Bathilde spent the rest of her life helping orphans, the poor and infirm.[2]: 228-9 

In 1822, while Bathilde was taking part in a procession to the Panthéon, she collapsed and lost consciousness. She was carried into the home of a professor who taught at the Sorbonne, where she died. After her death, her nephew, Louis-Philippe, wanting to give an air of respectability to her life, burned the manuscript of her memoirs. She was buried in the Orléans family chapel her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Orléans, who had died in 1821, had built in Collégiale de Dreux in 1816, as the final resting place for the Orléans family.[2]: 229 

Issue

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  1. Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien (2 August 1772 – 21 March 1804) married Charlotte Louise de Rohan but died without issue.
  2. Adélaïde-Victoire Dumassy (1778 – 1846), married Joseph-Antoine Gros and had issue,[3] among them was Baron Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros, a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography.[3][5] One of her descendants was the World War I fighter ace Georges Guynemer.[2]: 71 

Ancestors

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References

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  1. ^ Lorandi, Giacomo; Recca, Cinzia (2023), Persson, Fabian; Price, Munro; Recca, Cinzia (eds.), "The European Catholic Dynasties and the Fight Against Smallpox: Bourbon Rulers Between Resilient and Resistant Actions", Resilience and Recovery at Royal Courts, 1200–1840, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 141–161, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-20123-3_9, ISBN 978-3-031-20123-3, retrieved 10 December 2024
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Maury, Emmanuel (2019). Le dernier des Condé. Paris: Tallandier. ISBN 979-1021027619.
  3. ^ a b c d Efrén Ortiz Domínguez (2021). Jean Baptiste Louis, barón de Gros: Una vida entre cimas y abismos (in Spanish). Luna Libros, Laguna Libros, eLibros; 1st edition. ASIN B08VCLV8T7.
  4. ^ Seward, Desmond (2022). The Bourbon Kings of France. London: Lume Books. p. 282. ISBN 9798367430301.
  5. ^ "GROS Jean-Baptiste-Louis". www.senat.fr (in French). Retrieved 7 December 2024.
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Media related to Bathilde d’Orléans at Wikimedia Commons

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