Madame de Pompadour: Sex, Culture, and Power

by Margaret Crosland

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
37	1	670,146	(3.3)	None
The royal mistress was an institution in France during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) was the most impressive and creative of them all. This is the rags-to-riches story of how she used all she had to achieve independence at a time when women had no status or rights. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born into a bourgeoise family and was probably illegitimate. However, a fortune teller predicted that Jeanne would win the heart of a king. In 1741 she married Le normant d'Etoiles and, in 1745, found herself dancing with Louis XV at a masked ball. The affair that was to scandalize the aristocracy (Jeanne was the first royal mistress from the middle classes) began soon after.… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

MikeJarosz, kamieberry, MichaelBarcelona, BMoreno79403, Alice.Hathaway, Abbe59, navygirl29, TonySteele

▾Tags

18th century (3) 2009 (1) biography (11) books read 2006 (1) courtesans (1) Enlightenment (1) France (5) French History (3) historical biography (2) history (5) Madame de Pompadour (4) monarchy (1) nobility (1) non-fiction (2) NR (1) politics (1) read but unowned (1) royalty (2) S (1) sexuality (1) to-read (1) women (1) women's history (1) women's studies (1)

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

00
The Road to Compiègne by Jean Plaidy (AdonisGuilfoyle)
AdonisGuilfoyle: Fictionalised account - although seemingly very true to fact - of the lives of Madame de Pompadour and King Louis XV.

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

▾Member reviews

Concise, accessible biography of Louis XV's Favourite, Madame Pompadour. Far more than just a mistress, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson took on the rigid etiquette and power play of Versailles to wield social and political influence even after she and the King were little more than good friends. Intelligent, beautiful, shrewd and creative, the Pompadour was a fascinating woman, and Margaret Crosland presents her to the reader with ease and admiration for her subject. Would have liked to see more portraits of Madame Pompadour, particularly those mentioned in the text, but a good introduction to her all the same. (

)

AdonisGuilfoyle | Jan 12, 2009 |

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Madame de Pompadour

Louis XV, King of France

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

The royal mistress was an institution in France during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) was the most impressive and creative of them all. This is the rags-to-riches story of how she used all she had to achieve independence at a time when women had no status or rights. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born into a bourgeoise family and was probably illegitimate. However, a fortune teller predicted that Jeanne would win the heart of a king. In 1741 she married Le normant d'Etoiles and, in 1745, found herself dancing with Louis XV at a masked ball. The affair that was to scandalize the aristocracy (Jeanne was the first royal mistress from the middle classes) began soon after.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary