Louise Marie-Therese (The Black Nun of Moret)
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Louise Marie-Therese also known as The Black Nun of Moret (16 November 1664 - 1732 in Moret-sur-Loing) is the object of a gossip story in the XVIIIth century. Her existence is mentioned in several different (and non-concordant) sources [1][2][3], but there is no factual evidence to underpin these stories.
[edit] Life
The Black Nun of Moret, Louise-Marie-Thérèse (1664-1732) was a Benedictine nun in the abbey of Moret-sur-Loing. She was called the 'Mauresse de Moret', 'Négresse de Moret' or 'Mulâtre de Moret' and a portrait of her exists in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève in Paris. No less than 5 memorialists have devoted paragraphs to her: she is mentioned in the memoirs of the Grande Mademoiselle, Madame de Montespan (whose so-called memoirs were written by Philippe Musoni years after Montespan's death), of Duke of Saint-Simon, Voltaire and Cardinal Dubois (who cannot have been a witness, and who is probably not the author of his own Memoirs).
Shortly after the death of the French Queen Maria Theresa of Spain in 1683), wife of Louis XIV a story circulated that the Queen once gave birth to a black girl. Courtiers made the link to this black nun, who received 300 pounds pension from the treasury. Saint-Simon mentions that her convent was visited sometimes by the Queen and later by Madame de Maintenon, but he also mentioned that they didn't come for her in particular. The nun however seemed convivced of her royal birth, and it is told by Saint-Simon that she once greeted the Dauphin as "my brother".
La Grande Mademoiselle tells that the child could be of the black page Nabo, of whom the Queen was very fond. The adultery thesis is very unlikely, as the Queen was a very pious woman, and there is no knowledge of even the slightest mistake of hers. It would be very difficult in Versailles to have a liaison and even to give birth in secret. Every royal birth happened in public, in the Queen's bedchambers, with all courtiers present as witnesses. Some say that the little princess Marie-Anne was born (16 November 1664) with a dark skin caused by cyanosis, and died shortly after birth (26 December 1664). Some say that the baby remained black, and had been changed with a dead girl, to avoid scandal.
According to Madame, wife of Louis XIV's brother, her husband said that the child was not black at all but very ugly. In any case, the idea had gotten into people's heads that the child was black and had survived when, in fact, the child died on 26 December 1664 and the courtiers at the time knew it.
Another story was that the black nun of Moret was the child of one of Louis XIV's coachman who was a Moor and a convert from Islam to Christianity. The king and queen had acted as the child's godparents. When the coachman and his wife died, Madame de Maintenon secured a place in the convent at Moret for Louise Marie-Thérèse.
All authors seem to avoid the most simple explanation, that the girl, excited by the interest others had in her (at that time in France, black nuns were uncommon) may have invented the story herself. The memorialists telling about her had an account to settle with Louis XIV: la Grande Mademoiselle had hoped to become Queen; madame de Montespan, once mistress of the King, was put away in a convent, Saint-Simon was an embittered courtier disliked by the King. Historians do not attach importance to the anecdote.
[edit] References
- ^ Mémoirs of the Duchess of Montpensier Vol. 2, VII ;
- ^ Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Ch. XL ;
- ^ Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon (1675-1755) Vol 2, Ch. XII
[edit] External links
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