CLAUDINE FRANCOISE [commonly called

MARIE]

See also:

• CLAUDINE FRANCOISE [commonly called MARIE] MIGNOT (c. 1617-1711)

MIGNOT (c. 1617-1711)  , French adventuress, was born near Grenoble, at Meylan . At the age of sixteen she attracted the notice of the secretary of Pierre des Portes d'Amblerieux, treasurer of the province of Dauphiny, and Amblerieux promised to promote their marriage . He married the girl himself, however, and left her his fortune . His will was disputed by his family, and Claudine went to Paris in 1653 to secure its fulfilment . She sought the protection of Francois de 1'H8pital, marshal of France, then a man of seventy-five . He married her within a week of their first meeting, and after seven years of marriage died leaving her part of his estate . By a third and morganatic marriage in 1672 with John Casimir, ex-king of Poland, a few weeks before his death, she received a third fortune . Immediately on her marriage with Amblerieux she had begun to educate herself, and her wealth and talents assured her a welcome in Paris . She retired in her old age to a Carmelite convent in the city, where she died on the 3oth of November 1711 . Her history, very much modified, was the subject of a play by Bayard and Paul Duport, Marie Mignot (1829) .