Anne-Charlotte de Crussol de Florensac
Anne-Charlotte de Crussol de Florensac, duchesse d'Aiguillon (1700–1772), was a lady of the court of Louis XV. Renowned for her wit, as a woman of letters and translator, she ran a literary salon and was associated with Montesquieu, the philosophers and the Encyclopédistes. It was to her that Montesquieu entrusted the manuscript of the Persian Letters (Lettres Persanes) for publication.
Early life and education
[edit]
Anne-Charlotte de Crussol de Florensac was the daughter of Louis de Crussol (c.1645-1716), marquis de Florensac, maréchal de camp, and Marie-Thérèse-Louise de Senneterre de Châteauneuf vicomtesse de L'Estrange et de Cheylane.[1]
Anne-Charlotte's youth was marked by a pronounced taste for the study of science; she spoke several languages fluently.[2]
Marriage
[edit]_duc_d%27Aiguillon.svg)
At the age of 18, on August 22, 1718,[1][3] she married Armand Louis de Vignerot du Plessis (1683-1750), Duke of Aiguillon, peer de France, man of letters, and member of the French Academy of Sciences. She was the mother of Emmanuel Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Aiguillon (1720-1788), future General and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In 1731, she became the third Duchesse d'Aiguillon.[4]
Career
[edit]Literary salon in Paris
[edit]The duchesse d'Aiguillon translated various English works, notably by Alexander Pope and James Macpherson. She held a literary salon in her hotel on Rue de l'Université, Paris, welcoming philosophers, economists and Encyclopédistes. She was renowned as a woman of wit, and became a fixture in Parisian literary circles.[5][4] She was a friend of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Elisabet Planström, and philosophers.[2] She was a guest at literary salons and the Grandes Nuits de Sceaux festivities of the Duchesse du Maine, in the Chevaliers de l'Ordre de la Mouche à Miel circle, at the Château de Sceaux.
Salon in Bordeaux; the Persian Letters
[edit]Mindful of her own interests, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon kept a watchful eye on her estates, making frequent visits to Aiguillon in Guyenne. In her husband's stead, she kept a close eye on the many lawsuits against the Duchy of Aiguillon, and encouraged the prosecutors and lawyers. She also took advantage of these occasions to hold evening salons in Bordeaux, or to visit her friend Montesquieu in La Brède.[4]
Shortly before his death, Montesquieu entrusted the Duchesse d'Aiguillon with the corrected manuscript of Lettres Persanes, telling her: "Consult with my friends, and judge whether this should appear".[2]
Later life
[edit]After her husband's death in 1750, she became dowager duchess and lost interest in the duchy, which reverted to her son, Emmanuel Armand. She spent the rest of her life at her home in Rueil and her hotel in the Faubourg Saint-Germain.[4]
She died of apoplexy in 1772 in a bath taken after indigestion.[6][4]
Selected works
[edit]Translations
[edit]- Translation of l'Épître d'Héloïse à Abélard, by Alexander Pope, Paris, Tilliard, 1758.
- Translation of Carthon, translated from Macpherson's English by Madame de *** [François-Louis-Claude Marin and Anne-Charlotte de Crussol-Florensac, duchesse d'Aiguillon], London, Paris, 1762.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Moreri, Louis (1759). Le grand dictionnaire historique ou Le melange curieux de l'Histoire sacrée et profane ... [The great historical dictionary or The curious mixture of sacred and profane history...] (in French). Chez les libraires associés [Le Mercier, Desaint & Saillant, Jean-Thomas Herissant, Boudet, Vincent, Le Prieur]. p. 304. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
- ^ a b c Briquet, Fortunée (1804). "Aiguillon, (Anne-Charlotte Crussol, duchesse d')". Dictionnaire historique, biographique et littéraire des Françaises et étrangères naturalisées en France [Historical, biographical and literary dictionary of French and foreign women naturalized in France] (in French). Paris: Treuttel et Würtz.
- ^ Revue héraldique, historique et nobiliaire, volume 12, 1875, p. 66. (in French) ISBN 1277588872
- ^ a b c d e Lauzun, Philippe (1914). "La vie au château d'Aiguillon, au couchant de la monarchie" [Life at the Château d’Aiguillon, at the end of the monarchy]. Revue de l'Agenais (in French). 41: 293, 298–303, 374- – via gallica.bnf.fr.
- ^ Cronk, Nicholas; Peeters, Kris (2004). Le comte de Caylus: les arts et les lettres : actes du colloque international Université d'Anvers (UFSIA) et Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, 26-27 mai 2000 [Count Caylus: Arts and Letters: Proceedings of the International Conference University of Antwerp (UFSIA) and Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, May 26-27, 2000] (in French). Rodopi. p. 234. ISBN 978-90-420-1139-7. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
- ^ "Aiguillon (Armand-Louis de Vignerot-Duplessis, duc d')". Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: ou histoire, par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous ls hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents [Universal biography, ancient and modern: or history, in alphabetical order, of the public and private lives of all the men who have made themselves noted by their writings, their actions, their talents] (in French). Vol. 1. Michaud. 1854. p. 270. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
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