Marie-Aurore de Saxe (20 September 1748 – 26 December 1821), known after her first marriage as Countess of Horn and after the second as Madame Dupin de Francueil, was an illegitimate daughter of Marshal Maurice de Saxe and a grandmother of George Sand.
A notable free-thinker, she was interested in philosophers like Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Buffon. Her life was marked by the vicissitudes of history and personal dramas.
Life
Origins and youth
Marie-Aurore was born on 20 September 1748. She was the illegitimate daughter of Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France,Gaston Maugras: Les demoiselles de Verrières, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1890, 276 p. online, chap. II: Origine des demoiselles de Verrières, p. 28. and Marie-Geneviève Rinteau, an actress.In biographies of George Sand can be well established the occupation of her great-grandmother Marie-Geneviève Rinteau, who become in a young debutante in the Opera. Thérèse Marix-Spire: Les romantiques et la musique : le cas George Sand, vol. I, Paris, Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 1954 (reprinted 20 January 2008), 714 p. online: George Sand et la musique, influences lointaines, p. 70. (Marshal Maurice de Saxe was himself the product of a love affair between Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Aurora von Königsmarck.)
Marie-Aurore was baptized a month after her birth, on 19 October in the Church of St-Gervais-et-St-Protais. The child was registered as a daughter of Jean-Baptiste La Rivière, in fact a non-existent person,Survey of the Parlement of Paris dated 15 May 1766. Source: National Archives, collection of 11 May to 28 May 1766, folios 110 verso and 112 recto. and was named after her paternal grandmother, the Countess von Königsmarck. Her godfather was the adjutant of the Marshal of Saxe, Antoine-Alexandre Colbert, marquis de Sourdis,Paris Archives: extract from the baptism certificate of 19 October 1748: Marie-Aurore, fille, présentée le dit jour à ce baptême par Antoine-Colbert, marquis de Sourdis, et par Geneviève Rinteau, parrain et marraine [...]. and the godmother was her maternal aunt Geneviève-Claude Rinteau. The Marshal de Saxe showed little interest in the fate of his illegitimate daughter and bequeathed her nothing.
Marie-Aurore's mother later had love affairs with Jean-François Marmontel and the fermier général, Denis Joseph Lalive d'Épinay. The latter spent generously on her, and installed her, along with her sister, in the Quartier d'Auteuil.Lucien Perey and Gaston Maugras: La jeunesse de madame d'Épinay : d'après des lettres et des documents inédits, Paris, ed. Calmann-Lévy, 1898, 588 p. online, chap. XII: "Les demoiselles Verrière à Épinay", p. 381.
One of the nephews of the Marshal de Saxe, the Count of Friesen, known in France under the name of Comte de Frise, who inherited property from the Marshal, provided financial help to Marie-Aurore, but his death in 1755 deprived her of all support. A petition was addressed to the Dauphine, Maria Josepha of Saxony, a niece of the Marshal, the same year in favor of Marie-Aurore, proving her existence and ensuring her education. King Louis XV granted her a pension of 800 livres.On this subject on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the aforementioned document: Pétition de Marie-Aurore de Saxe à Madame la Dauphine [retrieved 20 May 2015].Roger Pierrot, Jacques Lethève, Marie-Laure Prévost, Michel Brunet and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (dir.) (praface by Georges Le Rider): George Sand : visages du romantisme, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, coll. "Catalogue d'exposition", 20 January 1977, 208 p. (BnF nº FRBNF34702163), online), chap. 1: "Prélude XVIIIe siècle", p. 5.
Following the death of the Count of Friesen, Marie-Aurore (aged 7) was separated from her mother by command of the Dauphine. The Dauphine placed Marie-Aurore in an institution for young girls, firstly at the Ursuline convent in Saint-Cloud and later in the Maison royale de Saint-Louis in Saint-Cyr,Nathalie Desgrugillers: Ma grand-mère Marie Aurore de Saxe : Correspondence inédite et souvenirs, Clermont-Ferrand, Éditions Paleo, coll. "La collection de sable", 15 June 2011, 178 p., "Repères biographiques", p. 8. founded by Madame de Maintenon.
Recognition and marriages
The Dauphine also decided Marie-Aurore's future by organising her marriage to Comte Antoine de Horn. In order to perform this marriage and be considered valid, her baptismal certificate had to be amended so the name of her real father appeared. Marie-Aurore appealed to the Parlement of Paris and on 15 May 1766, after a serious investigation, the sentence established that Marie-Aurore was the natural daughter of Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal of the camps and armies of France and Marie Rinteau.Extract of the registers of the parish of Saint-Gervais dated 13 April 1779: L'année mil sept cent quarante-huit au mois d'octobre, le samedy dix-neuf du dit mois a été baptisée Marie-Aurore, fille naturelle de Maurice, comte de Saxe, maréchal des camps et armées de France, et de Marie Raintau, demeurant rue du Parc Royal, étant née du vingt septembre dernier.
Her marriage with the Comte de Horn took place on 9 June 1766 at Paris. Eight months later (20 February 1767), her husband was killed in a duel at Sélestat, aged 44. According to her granddaughter George Sand, this union was never consummated.George Sand: Histoire de ma vie, vol. I, Paris, ed. Calmann-Lévy, 15 April 1847 (1st. ed. 1856), 508 p. online, chap. II: "Aurore de Saxe", p. 35.
Maria Josepha of Saxony died on 13 March 1767 at Versailles. Deprived of her protector, the pension that Marie-Aurore received didn't cover her expenses. She turned initially to Voltaire, an admirer of her father, who recommended that she approach the Countess of Choiseul, but this was unsuccessful. Then, Marie-Aurore returned to live with her mother, Marie Rinteau.Nathalie Desgrugillers: Ma grand-mère Marie Aurore de Saxe : Correspondance inédite et souvenirs, Clermont-Ferrand, ed. Paleo, coll.: "La collection de sable", 15 June 2011, 178 p., "Repères biographiques", pp. 9-10. On 22 October 1775 at Paris, Marie Rinteau died aged 45. Marie-Aurore then retired with a servant to the English convent at Fossés Saint-Victor street in Paris.
She was frequently visited there by Louis-Claude Dupin de Francueil, a 62-year-old financier and friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Louis-Claude wasn't a stranger to Marie-Aurore; in fact, he was an old lover of her aunt Geneviève. Louis-Claude asked for the hand of Marie-Aurore. The wedding was celebrated in London on 14 January 1777 at the chapel of the French Embassy in England. Three months later, the newlyweds returned to France and validated their marriage at Paris on 15 April 1777Paris Archives: Marriage certificate. Document: V3E/M 344. Paris Archives, 18 boulevard Sérurier 75019. in the Church of St-Gervais-et-St-Protais. Years later, Marie-Aurore remembered her husband to their granddaughter:George Sand: Histoire de ma vie, vol. I, Paris, ed. Michel Lévy Frères, 15 April 1847 (1st. ed. 1856), 274 p. online, chap. II: "M. Dupin de Francueil", p. 58.
An old love more than a young man, she said, and it's impossible not to love who loves us perfectly. I called him my husband my old father. Thus he wanted and never called me her daughter, even in public. And then she added, is that we were never in the old days!...This is the revolution that brought the old age into the world. Your grandfather, my child, was beautiful, elegant, neat, graceful, fragrant, cheerful, kind, affectionate and even-tempered until the hour of his death.
Madame Dupin de Francueil
On 9 January 1778, Marie-Aurore gave birth to a son, Maurice-François-Élisabeth Dupin de Francueil, in Le Marais district of Paris;Paris Archives: Birth certificate. Document: V3E/N 812. Paris Archives, 18 boulevard Sérurier 75019. his baptism took place on 18 January, being his godfather the Marquis François de Polignac and his godmother Élisabeth Varanchan, by marriage Madame de Chalut. The only child of Marie-Aurore and Louis-Claude Dupin de Francueil, he was named after his maternal grandfather, the Marshal de Saxe, and both godparents.
The couple spent part of the year at Châteauroux in 1783, where Louis-Claude managed the inheritance from his father Claude Dupin. They settled at , the former home of the Princes of Chauvigny, and led a lavish lifestyle well above their means. They had a large service with a stable, a cavalry and kennels with several dogs. They also had receptions and concerts. Louis-Claude Dupin invested in cloth factories that enriched the Berry citizens without being profitable for the owner. They also had a Hôtel located at the nº 15 of the Rue du Roi-de-Sicile at the parish of Saint-Gervais. Louis-Claude Dupin de Francueil died in his house in Paris on 6 June 1786.Paris Archives: Death certificate. Document: V3E/D 508. Paris Archives, 18 boulevard Sérurier 75019.
After her husband's death, Marie-Aurore and her son left Châteauroux and moved to their house at the Rue du Roi-de-Sicile in Paris. During this time, she hired a young tutor to complete the education of her son, Jean-Louis-François Deschartres.
During the revolutionary period, Marie-Aurore decided to acquire a property far away from Paris. She bought a mansion in Nohant-Vic near La Châtre with the remains of her fortune. On 23 August 1793 she bought the property for 230,000 livresChristophe Grandemange: Le château de Nohant : Maison de George Sand, Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, ed. Alan Sutton, coll. "Provinces Mosaïques", 14 June 2010, 160 p., "Les jours heureux", p. 16. from Pierre Philippe Péarron de Serennes, an old infantry officer and Governor of Vierzon, cousin of the family Dupin de Francueil. The property was not limited to the château de Nohant, and also included residences like la Chicoterie and several farms. In all her new domain covered more than 240 hectares.Archives nationales (France): Étude notariale de Me Charles Denis de Villiers - notary act from 23 August 1793 - document MC/ET/XXIX/619 - Vente à Marie-Aurore de Saxe, veuve de Louis-Claude Dupin, de la terre de Nohant online
The revolution and the empire While still in Paris Marie-Aurore moved to the nº 12 of the Rue Saint-Nicolas, property of Monsieur Amonin. In the middle of the Reign of Terror, she hid her values and papers of nobility in the apartment of a gentleman, Monsieur de Villiers. Under a decree, it was forbidden to conceal wealth, especially gold, silver and jewelry. Following a denunciation, a search took place at night, on 25 November 1793. The goods were found and Marie-Aurore de Saxe was arrested the same day and imprisoned at the English convent. This religious establishment, where she had lived after the death of her first husband, was being used as a prison. If Marie-Aurore indeed had concealed valuables, she also hid papers that implicated her in the escape of several nobles, like the Comte d'Artois (future King Charles X). These papers weren't found but the risk of a second search was great. Her son and Deschartres forced their way into the apartment under seal to destroy the documents. The revolutionary government didn't survive the fall of Maximilien Robespierre and Marie-Aurore was released on 21 August 1794. In September 1794, Marie-Aurore returned to her estate of Nohant.
Maurice Dupin became a soldier during the general conscription of 5 September 1798. He began his military career with the coming of power of General Bonaparte. He participated in the Napoleonic Wars and became a lieutenant and head of the 1st Regiment of Hussars. Unbeknownst to his mother, he secretly married a commoner, Sophie-Victoire-Antoinette Delaborde, in Paris on 5 June 1804. This hasty marriage was due to Sophie's advanced state of pregnancy; one month later (1 July), she gave birth to a girl in Paris named Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, the future George Sand.
Family tragedies