known as Madame de Maintenon
(baptized Nov. 28, 1635, Niort, Poitou, France
died April 15, 1719, Saint-Cyr) Second wife of Louis XIV of France.
After enduring an impoverished childhood, she married the poet Paul Scarron , 25 years her senior, in 1652. She presided over Scarron's literary salon, where she was intellectually formed. Widowed in 1660, she was left penniless, but with the help of influential friends she became governess in 1668 to the king's children born to his mistress, the marchioness de Montespan (1641–1707). In 1675 Louis bestowed the title of the Château de Maintenon and lands on her, and after the queen's death in 1683 he secretly married her, either in 1683 or 1697. Although she was blamed for being a bad influence on Louis politically, she maintained a climate of decency, dignity, and piety around him.