Like Mother, Like Son? The Political Influence of Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, princesse de Conti (1693–1775)
The princesse de Conti, Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé (1693–1775), like other princesses of the blood, exerted significant political influence at the eighteenth-century French court, and played a central role in shaping the political orientation of the house of Conti. Due to the scarcity of sour...
שמור ב:
| הוצא לאור ב: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/crcv, |
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| מחבר ראשי: | |
| פורמט: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| שפה: | Anglais |
| יצא לאור: |
Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles
2026
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| נושאים: | |
| גישה מקוונת: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| סיכום: | The princesse de Conti, Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé (1693–1775), like other princesses of the blood, exerted significant political influence at the eighteenth-century French court, and played a central role in shaping the political orientation of the house of Conti. Due to the scarcity of sources, princesses of the blood are often absent from political analyses of the court. However, the use of documents preserved in the Archives Nationales and diplomatic correspondence exchanged between the Prussian ambassadors in Versailles and Frederick II offers new insight into the actions of the princesse de Conti. Although her power partly derived from the particular circumstances of the house of Conti, much of her influence was rooted in her own agency and in the networks she inherited and expanded. She lived a long life and remained a widow for nearly fifty years, a period during which no other princesse de Conti rivalled her position: the other dowager princesses had retired, her daughter-in-law died young and her granddaughter-in-law had no children. She inherited the Condé family’s alliance network and cultivated new alliances at court, most notably with the Richelieu family. Having long served as the guardian of the house of Conti, she later adopted a more supportive role towards her son. Yet, after his withdrawal from court in 1756, his rare appearances created a gendered division of space within the house of Conti, leaving the Princess as its principal representative at court while her son acted beyond it. |
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