Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon & the Marquis de Cavoye

Unlike most affairs in this section this particular one was mainly one-sided. Louis Oger de Cavoye was known as the Marquis de Cavoye and as such was a regular fixture at court. Here, he was remarked for his beauty - even the Duc de Saint-Simon admitted that he was "one of the best made men in France". Naturally, such an appearance was bound to attract admirers but in Cavoye's case his admirer was one he would rather be without.

Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon was a maid-of-honour to Queen Marie Thérèse when she first noticed the handsome Marquis. She fell so intensely in love with him that everyone at court soon new of her feelings; it would be odd if they did not considering that she never attempted to hide them. While Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon was swooning and could talk of little else the target of her affections was not particularly interested.
The Marquis considered the young woman's infatuation with him to be a nuisance that he sought to end sooner than later. His way of doing so was apparently to treat poor Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon with great "cruelty" by which should be understood that he was terribly rude to her. Nevertheless, her feelings remained unaltered. In the end the King was obliged to reprimand his Officer of the Crown since the King could not abide rudeness especially towards the fairer sex.

The Marquis de Cavoye

One reason why the Marquis might not be attracted to Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon could be related to just that. She was not very beautiful; on the contrary she was unfortunately described as being rather ugly. It is not impossible that her appearance caused the Marquis to turn away from her advances especially since he was said to be superficial on occasion.

The court was greatly amused at the young Coëtlogon yearning for Cavoye when things took a turn for the dramatic. Cavoye was imprisoned in the Bastille for having acted as a second in a duel. Distraught, Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon went to the King where she pleaded with him to let her darling go. The King refused and she went into an absolute fit of hysterics. First she even dared to scream at the Grand Monarch who attributed this offence to her passionate feelings and refrained from punishing her. However, it was soon clear that Mademoiselle would not give up so easily. Soon after she refused to perform her duties as maid-of-honour and dressed in as mean clothes as possible. Seeing that her tantrum had no effect on the King she grew virtually ill and was at last permitted to go see her beloved in the Bastille - how the Marquis felt can only be imagined.

Eventually, the Marquis was released and Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon once again adorned her dressed as befitted a court lady. By this point the apparently ceaseless admiration on behalf of Coëtlogon had begun to tire both the King and Queen. Knowing that the Marquis de Cavoye had always desired an office in the King's household Louis XIV sought to bring about the marriage using such an office as bait.

Recently, the post of Master of the Logis had become available so the King offered it to him - on condition that he would marry Mademoiselle de Coëtlogon. Finally, the Marquis relented and the couple was married in 1677.