Marie Touchet

Marie Touchet
Marie Touchet, mistress of Charles IX of France, etching by François Quesnel
Born	1549 Orléans, France
Died	28 March 1638 (aged 88 or 89) Paris, France
Spouse	Charles Balzac d'Entragues
Children	Charles de Valois Catherine Henriette de Balzac Marie-Charlotte de Balzac d’Entragues
Parent(s)	Jean Touchet Marie Mathy

Marie Touchet (French pronunciation: [maʁi tuʃɛ]; 1549 – 28 March 1638), Dame de Belleville, was the only mistress of Charles IX of France.

Life

Although born to a bourgeois family at Orléans, the daughter of Marie Mathy and a Huguenot lieutenant Jean Touchet, she "held her row at court as well as any of the first class ladies" (Le Laboureur, historian). Her anagrammed name was even Je Charme Tout meaning "I charm all." Henry III, King of Navarre was responsible for this clever wordplay.

By her late teens, she was mistress to Charles IX. In 1573 she bore the king a son, Charles de Valois. It would be his only son, for just one year later the king died, at which time his and Marie's son was entrusted to the care of his younger brother and successor, Henry III of France. The new king was faithful to his dead brother's wishes and raised little Charles dutifully. Marie Touchet received a pension for her services to Charles IX, and continued as a part of the royal circle.

Marie went on to marry the marquis d'Entragues, Charles Balzac d'Entragues, and had two daughters, Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues and Marie-Charlotte de Balzac d’Entragues. Both daughters would follow in their mother's footsteps, later becoming the mistresses of Henry IV of France. Marie died in Paris.

Children

With Charles IX, King of France, she had:

• Charles de Valois

With her husband Charles Balzac d'Entragues, she had:

• Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues
• Marie-Charlotte de Balzac d’Entragues

Sources

• Tapié, Victor L. (1988). France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu. Cambridge University Press.