Editing Madame de La Fayette

{{Short description|French writer (1634–1693)}}
{{for|the French marquise born 1759|Adrienne de La Fayette}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix = Comtesse de La Fayette
| pseudonym = Madame de La Fayette <br /> Monsieur de Segrais
| image = Madame de La Fayette.jpg
| birth_name = Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1634|3|18}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1693|5|25|1634|3|18}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| resting_place    = [[Église Saint-Sulpice]], Paris
| occupation = Novelist
| notableworks = ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]''
| language = French
| nationality = French
| period = 17th century
| genre =
| movement = [[Classicism]], [[Précieuses]]
| spouse = François Motier, comte de La Fayette
| children = {{plainlist|
* René-Armand Motier de La Fayette
* Louis Motier de La Fayette
}}
}}

'''Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette''' ([[baptism|baptized]] 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as '''Madame de La Fayette''', was a French writer; she authored ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'', France's first [[historical novel]] and one of the earliest [[novel]]s in literature.

== Life ==
Christened Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, she was born in Paris to a family of minor but wealthy nobility. At 16, de la Vergne became the [[maid of honour]] to [[Anne of Austria|Queen Anne of Austria]] and began also to acquire a literary education from [[Gilles Ménage]], who gave her lessons in Italian and [[Latin]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Ménage led her to join the fashionable [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] of [[Madame de Rambouillet]] and [[Madeleine de Scudéry]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} Her father, Marc Pioche de la Vergne, had died a year before, and the same year her mother married Renaud de Sévigné, uncle of [[Madame de Sévigné]], who remained her lifelong intimate friend.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1655, de la Vergne married François Motier, comte de La Fayette, a widowed nobleman some eighteen years her senior, with whom she had two sons.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} She accompanied him to country estates in [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]] and [[Bourbonnais]] although she made frequent trips back to Paris, where she began to mix with court society and formed her own successful salon. Her sister-in-law was [[Louise de La Fayette]] (1618–1665), [[favourite]] of [[Louis XIII of France]]. Some of her acquaintances included [[Henrietta Anne Stuart|Henrietta of England]], future Duchess of Orleans, who asked La Fayette to write her biography; [[Antoine Arnauld]]; and the leading French writers [[Jean Renaud de Segrais|Segrais]] and [[Pierre Daniel Huet|Huet]]. Earlier on, during the [[Fronde]], La Fayette had also befriended the [[Cardinal de Retz]] with whom her stepfather was associated.

[[Image:Laprincessedecleves1678.jpeg|thumb|206x206px|left|Marie de LaFayette's ''La Princesse de Clèves'' (1678)]]

Settling permanently in Paris in 1659, La Fayette published, anonymously, ''[[The Princess of Montpensier (novella)|La Princesse de Montpensier]]'' in 1662. From 1665 onwards she formed a close relationship with [[François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)|François de La Rochefoucauld]], author of ''Maximes'',{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} who introduced her to many literary luminaries of the time, including [[Jean Racine|Racine]] and [[Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux|Boileau]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} 1669 saw the publication of the first volume of ''Zaïde'', a Hispano-Moorish [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] which was signed by Segrais but is almost certainly attributable to La Fayette.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The second volume appeared in 1671. The title ran through reprints and translations mostly thanks to the preface Huet had offered.

La Fayette's most famous novel was ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'', first published anonymously in March 1678. An immense success, the work is often taken to be the first true French novel and a prototype of the early [[psychological novel]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Her correspondence showed her as the acute diplomatic agent of [[Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours]], duchess of [[Savoy]], at the court of Louis XIV.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The death of La Rochefoucauld in 1680 and her husband in 1683 led La Fayette to lead a less active social life in her later years. Three works were published posthumously: ''La Comtesse de Tende'' (1718), ''Histoire d'Henriette d'Angleterre'' (1720), and ''Memoires de la Cour de France'' (1731).

== Family ==
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne was the eldest daughter of Marc Pioche (–1649), Esquire to the King, Sieur de La Vergne and the tutor to [[Cardinal Richelieu]]'s nephew, [[Jean Armand de Maille-Breze]], and Isabella Pena (–1656) daughter of François Pena, physician of the King, and his wife, Michelle Coupe.

Her baptism took place March 18, 1634 in the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Church of Saint-Sulpice]]. Her godfather was [[Urbain de Maillé-Brézé]], [[Marshal of France]], and her godmother was [[Duchess of Aiguillon|Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot]], lady Combalet, later Duchess of Aiguillon, a niece of Richelieu.

Her marriage took place in the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Church of Saint-Sulpice]].

She is buried in the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Church of Saint-Sulpice]].

Marie-Madeleine had two younger sisters:
* Eléonore-Armande, baptized 1635
* Isabelle Louise, born 1636

Her mother, Isabella Pena, remarried in 1650 to René Renaud de Sévigné (–1656), uncle of the [[Marquise de Sévigné]].

She married on February 15, 1655 François Motier, comte de La Fayette (brother of [[Louise de La Fayette]]) (1616–1683). He held several lands in the Auvergne region such as de La Fayette, de Goutenoutouse, de Médat and de Forest. They had two sons:
* Louis de Lafayette (1658–1729), baptized March 7, 1658, [[commendatory abbot]] of [[Valmont Abbey|Notre-Dame de Valmont]];
* Armand Renaud de La Fayette (1659–1694), [[Brigadier|''Brigadier des armées'']], [[count]] and [[marquis]] de La Fayette.
After the birth of her two sons, her husband disappeared from her life so effectively that it was long supposed that he died about 1660.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

== Works ==
* ''[[The Princess of Montpensier (novella)|La Princesse de Montpensier]]'', 1662, 2nd edition 1674 and 1675.
* ''Zaïde, histoire espagnole'', [http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N057594 vol. 1], [http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N058119 vol 2], Paris, Claude Barbin, 1671.
* ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'', Paris, Claude Barbin, 16 mai 1678 [anonymous]. (English translation 1689, London).
* ''[http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N101453 Romans et Nouvelles]'', Paris, Classiques Garnier, 1989, {{ISSN|0750-2176}}.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000304114605/http://www.bmlisieux.com/archives/comtesse.htm ''La Comtesse de Tende'']}}, 1718.
* ''[http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N111091 Histoire de madame Henriette d'Angleterre, première femme de Philippe de France, Duc d'Orléans]'', Amsterdam, M.-C. Le Cène, 1720.
* ''[http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N036341 Mémoires de la cour de France pour les années 1688 et 1689]'', Paris, Foucault, 1828.
[[Image:Lafayette zayde-1670.gif|thumb|185x185px|left|Marie de LaFayette's ''Zayde'' (1670)]] [[File:Laprincessedemontpensier1662.jpg|thumb|Marie de LaFayette's ''La Princess de Montpensier'' (1662)|227x227px]]

== See also ==
* [[House of La Fayette]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|Madame de La Fayette}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{Commons category|Marie-Madeleine de la Fayette}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=La Fayette, Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne|volume=16|page=67}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=249| name=Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne La Fayette}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("La Fayette, Madame de" OR "Madame de La Fayette" OR "Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne")}}
* {{Librivox author | id=1491}}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08738b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia entry]
* [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Madeleine-Pioche-de-la-Vergne-comtesse-de-La-Fayette Encyclopædia Britannica entry]
* [https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/la-fayette-marie-madeleine-de-1634-1693 Encyclopedia.com entry]
* [[Chawton House]] has a [https://chawtonhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/The-Princess-of-Cleves.-An-Historical-Novel.pdf PDF] of the English translation ''The Princess of Cleves. An Historical Novel'' (1777).

{{La Princesse de Clèves}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fayette, Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la}}
[[Category:1634 births]]
[[Category:1693 deaths]]
[[Category:French historical fiction writers]]
[[Category:French psychological fiction writers]]
[[Category:French nobility]]
[[Category:French women novelists]]
[[Category:17th-century French women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette| ]]
[[Category:17th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:French countesses]]
[[Category:French ladies-in-waiting]]
[[Category:French maids of honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Saint-Sulpice, Paris]]
[[Category:17th-century French letter writers]]
[[Category:French salon-holders]]