Marion Delorme Famous French courtesan Date of Birth: 05.03.1606 Country: France

Biography of Marion Delorme

Marion Delorme, a famous French courtesan, was the first woman to be called a cocotte. She was not a typical prostitute and libertine, although Paris was teeming with them during the reign of Louis XIII. Marion was a true "heroine of novels" - beautiful, intelligent, and popular. Her death is also associated with one of the most mysterious stories.

Marie-Anne Grappen, later known as Marion Delorme, was born in 1606 in the town of Châlons, located in Champagne. Her father was a modest bailiff. However, her godmother, Countess Saint-Evremond, who happened to be passing through the area, played a decisive role in the fate of the young beauty.

At the age of 16, she left her dull town forever and came to Paris at the invitation of the countess. In the capital of France, Marie-Anne felt at home under the protection of the countess. The visitors of the countess's salon were amazed by the charms of the young provincial, and soon one of the most persistent suitors, Jacques Vallée-Débarro, took her virginity. It is said that after that, Débarro secretly spent a whole week in the countess's house, hiding during the day in a firewood closet, where Marie-Anne secretly brought him food, and spending the night in the arms of his new lover. When he grew tired of spending time in the company of firewood, he took the girl to his own home. The countess did not object. Débarro gave Marie-Anne a new sonorous name, Marion Delorme, instead of her old, provincial one.

Marion became increasingly popular, and the number of her lovers grew. Among them were Cardinal Richelieu, the Duke of Buckingham (like something out of "The Three Musketeers"), and dozens of others, more modest ones. There is even a version that Buckingham paid with his life for stealing 19-year-old Marion from the all-powerful Richelieu during his visit to Paris in 1625. The "Red Man" never forgave an offense, and in 1628, the duke was killed in Portsmouth by John Felton.

It has been wittily noted that all of the courtesan's lovers could be divided into four categories: the first she gave herself to out of love, the second for money, the third for political reasons, and the fourth simply out of boredom. By 1635, Marion already owned her own house on Royal Square, where her salon was located. It was visited not only by nobles but also by writers and philosophers, including the poet Milton, the "father of philosophy" Descartes, and the young Poquelin, who later became famous under the pseudonym Molière. It was Descartes who introduced Marion to her fellow countryman, a young aristocrat better known as Saint-Mars. His career in Paris initially succeeded (he became a favorite of Louis XIII) but then collapsed dramatically - in 1642, Saint-Mars was executed by order of Richelieu.

At their first meeting, the 20-year-old Saint-Mars did not like the 35-year-old mocking brunette, and she did not like him either. But soon they fell in love with each other, and this love was perhaps the strongest in Marion's life.

After the deaths of Richelieu and Louis XIII, Delorme became involved in politics, plotting against Cardinal Mazarin on the side of the Fronde. As a result of the defeat of the Fronde, arrest and the Bastille threatened her. According to the official version, Marion died in 1650. During another pregnancy, she resorted to "too strong a measure," which led to her death. While dying, she confessed her sins ten times, remembering all her new transgressions. But the most interesting part begins after that.

It was claimed that the day before Marion's arrest, she spread a rumor about her death. The coffin, according to the presumed deceased's will, was not opened, and she, having admired her own funeral from the window, left for England, where she married a wealthy lord. After becoming a widow in 1661, Marion returned to France and remarried. She then traveled to Pomerania, on the outskirts of Europe, where her second husband, a former "criminal authority," perished. Marion made her way back to France and found a new spouse - the prosecutor F. Lebrun.

For the third time, Marion became a widow at the age of 99 in 1705, and by 1723, she was completely destitute. The ancient old woman decided to send a letter to Louis XV, claiming that she had seen his great-grandfather Henry, his grandfather Louis XIII, his father Louis XIV, and the great dauphin. The young king, surprised, even visited this rare "antiquity" and granted her a lifelong pension.

All of this could be dismissed as idle tales if it were not for some documentary evidence. In the "Annals of the Round Window," which contains contemporaries' notes, it can be read that "the death of Marion Delorme in 1741, two months before her 135th year of life, surprised the Parisians, who were used to seeing her as an unshakable monument, like the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral."

There is also evidence of the death of Marie-Anne Grappen, who died at the age of 134 years and 10 months. If all of this is a hoax, it is a very clever one...