kate braithwaite

This is a guest article by Kate Braithwaite. Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, the famously beautiful and witty maîtresse-en-titre of the Sun King Louis XIV, was born in Lussac in 1640. She was the third child of the Duc and Duchesse de Mortemart, one of France’s most noble families. Athénaïs (as she chose to be [read more]