Contrat de mariage...

Translated Print Title: 
[Marriage Contract]
Date(s): 
1710

On March 3, 1710, Louis-Antoine-Armand de Gramont (1688–1741) married Louise-Françoise d’Aumont (1691–1742). The day before the wedding, the two families signed a marriage contract fixing the financial terms of the union. Dozens of high-ranking witnesses also signed the contract, starting with Louis XIV. The king's signature is followed by those of his son Louis (the Grand Dauphin), his first grandson Louis and wife Marie-Adélaïde (duke and duchess of Burgundy), and his third grandson Charles (duke of Berry). Louis XIV would outlive all four.

The signatures continue with the king’s sister-in-law Elisabeth-Charlotte, several members of the house of Condé (a younger branch of the Bourbon family), and five legitimized children that Louis XIV had with his mistresses Mademoiselle de La Vallière and Madame de Montespan. In the middle of the second page, well below the signatures of the royal family but just above those of the bride and bridegroom, is the signature of Françoise d’Aubigné, better known as Madame de Maintenon.

Manuscripts Division. Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss