Madame de Pompadour

I was born Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson in Paris in December 29th 1721, the daughter of Francesco and Luisa Maddalena De La Motte, a bourgouisie. As a small child there was a fortune told of me that I would be beloved by a King one day, and after that my nickname was 'Reinette.'When I was twenty, I married Guglielmo Lenormand de Tournehem (the grandson of my mother’s lover) and received as a wedding present, the Etioles Castle. My husband took care of her education, wanting me to study like a princess. A few short years later, at a ball at Hotel de Ville in honour of the Dauphin’s wedding, I met Louis XV for the first time, and we were in love. Within the year, I, little Jeanne Lenormand-Poisson became Marquise de Pompadour (a title formerly belonging to the Prince of Conti who inherited it from an ancient Limoges family), and, as Queen’s Lady of Honour I had the right to live at Choisy Royal Castle with an annual income. My apartment was just below the King’s own apartment, in the north wing of the Castle, the same as the last King’s mistress, Madame de Maintenon.Far from being merely a pampered and supported plaything, I assisted Louis in the running of France, and made sure to protect her cultural heritage by taking many prominent men of arts and sciences under my wing: Voltaire, Diderot, Charles Duclos, Montesquieu, Bernard Pierre, Guillaume Coustou, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Jean-Marie Falconet, and Bernard Fontanelle. I built two new theatres at Versailles, and sponsored the publication of the first Encyclopaedia.