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The Mystery of the Black Nun of Moret

Was she the fruit of the queen’s affair with her African servant, or was Sister Louise Marie the illegitimate daughter of the Sun King himself? It is the mystery historians fail to solve to this day.

By GD MadsenPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
Top Story - August 2022
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King's sleeping quarters in the Palace of Versailles, Photo: GiedreM Photography

King Louis XIV is famous for various reasons - from his politics to the numerous affairs that resulted in him fathering quite a few children. But while the tales of the king’s romantic adventures were well known, none of them mentioned any woman of African origins.

Meanwhile, the reputation of the Queen Maria Theresa of Spain was the opposite - no affairs, no scandals, no gossip. That is, while she was still alive. Immediately after her death, one rumor swept across the palace like wildfire. Whispers all around insinuated that the queen gave birth to a black child who was then taken away and hidden from the world in a monastery of Moret.

Indeed, there was a black nun living there at the time, and due to her skin color, everybody referred to her as “Mauresse de Moret” (Mooress of Moret). She became so famous that even Voltaire, not having known the woman before, could not resist the temptation to visit her.

Quite a few royals visited the nun throughout her lifetime, in fact, only spiking the rumors of her royal origins. It is also said that she would address the dauphin prince as “my brother”. Madame de Maintenon, the former nanny of royal children, and, as a rumor (again) has it, the king’s second and secret wife, not only visited Sister Louise-Marie but also attended the ceremony of her giving vows.

“The trouble which a lady of your station takes to purposely come here in order to tell me that I am not a daughter of the king, persuades me that I am.”

Sister Louise-Marie’s portrait by Pierre Gobert, Public domain image

The young nun was equally convinced of her royal origins. During one of Madame de Maintenon’s visits, she allegedly told her: “The trouble which a lady of your station takes to purposely come here in order to tell me that I am not a daughter of the king, persuades me that I am.”

So, if Louise-Marie herself believed she was the king’s daughter, why did the early rumors center around the queen and the black little person Nabo who was her servant?

A royal scare and too much chocolate

Let’s begin with the facts first.

A servant, or rather a slave of small size was rather popular amongst high society ladies, and the fashion began in the queen’s court with Nabo. While it is not entirely known how young he was at the time of the alleged affair, Nabo, apparently was very close to the queen and was considered her loyal companion.

Also, there is no doubt that in 1664 the queen gave birth to a stillborn daughter. The baby, according to the eyewitnesses such as the Vicar of Saint Germaine du Auxerrois Laurent Bouchet, appeared a little dark (“un peu mauresque”).

It is not uncommon for a stillborn baby that had no oxygen for a while to appear much darker, and the queen herself was Spanish, so there could have been some moor heritage there too.

However, those few testimonies soon turned into “I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend” type of tales with new details emerging and reaching the peak when the queen passed away.

Some of those stories talked about the queen drinking too much chocolate, thus affecting the baby’s skin tone. Others spoke of how Queen Maria Theresa’s little companion would play tricks on her and scare her by jumping from behind furniture, and this was the reason behind her giving birth to a dark-skinned daughter.

Of course, the most obvious rumor was that of the affair between Maria Theresa and Nabo. He, allegedly mysteriously disappeared from the court, which again was not true as he was seen in the King’s court after the queen’s passing.

Queen's sleeping quarters in the Palace of Versailles, Photo: GiedreM Photography

But let’s leave Nabo’s story for another day and, for a moment, assume the affair was real. Without a doubt, the king would choose to conceal the alleged fruit of the affair by getting rid of the baby.

As I mentioned earlier, for the king to indulge in infidelity was acceptable, but he would have never allowed his wife to do the same. And a lover’s baby, especially a black one, would be a walking and talking proof, and a slap in the king’s face.

Another suspicious fact is that Louise Marie was taken to the monastery by a trusted advisor of Louis XIV, and he brought along a substantial sum of money to cover the girl’s living expenses.

Yet, this is where we encounter the first mismatch in the story of the alleged affair.

The queen gave birth in 1664, and Louise Marie-Therese arrived at the Moret monastery in 1665, but she was around five years old at the time. Certainly, not a newborn baby.

What’s in a name

Louise Marie-Therese’s exact year of birth is as much of a guess as to her origins, but most documents state it to be around 1658–1660. In other words — way before the queen gave birth to her daughter, and this alone should be enough to exclude Maria Theresa of Spain as the nun’s mother.

The possibility of the king being the biological father is substantially more credible.

First of all — the name. Louise-Marie Therese. Although there are plenty of speculations online about how the name resembles both the king’s and the queen’s names, the last part of the name has very little to do with the queen. The full name of the nun was as follows: Louise-Marie de Sainte Therese (Louise Marie of Saint Therese), and the last part was added to her name once she became a nun.

And no man, much less a king, would agree to have a child named after him if this child was the proof of his wife’s infidelity.

Not to mention, why would the Sun King who was famous for not bowing to anybody be interested in providing the girl with a substantial amount of money each year?

According to the research done by Serge Aroles in his paper “The enigma of the black daughter of Louis 14th solved by archives?”, if the girl was indeed the daughter of the queen, the money she was given yearly would have been listed in the financial books of the queen’s court.

However, the generous amount the nun was receiving yearly since 1685, and “for the rest of her life in this convent or everywhere she could be” was paid by the royal treasury of the king.

Aroles also mentions the curiosity of the name, stating that a double or triple name was only common in higher-class families. No poor African gardeners, who some sources (like the duke of Luynes, in his journal of 1756) suggest were the girl’s parents, would have named their child Louise-Marie — the name that directly resembles the king’s. Nor would they, probably, dare to.

The Portrait

Another clue of the nun being the daughter of the king is in her portrait found in the Vosges. It says “The Religious Black Princess in Moray” (“Princesse Noire Religieuse a Moray”) on the back, and it was painted in the monastery where the artist’s niece also resided.

Unfortunately, the painting is the only considerable proof, as other documents from the folder titled “Papiers concernants la Moresque fille de Louis 14” (Papers concerning the Moorish daughter of Louis 14) vanished from the priory, leaving the mystery unsolved to this day.

One more curious detail about the portrait is that it was made by Pierre Gobert — the artist who painted numerous royal portraits in his lifetime.

And while we’re discussing the portrait and the young nun’s looks, let’s return to Voltaire and his curiosity-driven visit. Later, he wrote in his work “The Age of Louis XIV” about the striking similarities between the nun and, no, not the queen, but the Sun King himself.

And, if all the above mentioned is still not proof enough… How about the second black nun?

There were two of them

Yes, that is correct. There was a second black Ursuline nun Dorothee (or Dorothy) that escaped all the attention and fame Louise-Marie received, and it is more than likely that she too was the daughter of Louis XIV.

The secret of Dorothee’s existence was most likely the result of the king’s efforts. Maybe he did not want another scandal, or perhaps he genuinely cared about the girl, as he visited her regularly in her Orleans monastery. When she had to travel somewhere, the nun would be accompanied by the royal army’s trusted senior soldiers.

And just like Louise-Marie, Dorothee also received a generous yearly pension paid by the king’s court.

The Palace of Versailles, Photo: GiedreM Photography

Two black nuns in the care of the Sun King is more than a mere concidence, and while we may never know the truth, both theories seem equally intriguing.

Note: This is an updated version of the article previously published on another platform: https://medium.com/curious-history-nook/the-mystery-of-the-black-nun-of-moret-c3f33bc2012f

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About the Creator

GD Madsen

A historian by education, a former journalist by profession, now living in the French countryside writing books and articles.

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Comments (7)

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  • Mark5 months ago

    Ми не просто розповідаємо про новини, ми допомагаємо вам крокувати в ногу із змінами. https://delo.ua/ru/news/world/ — це портал, де кожен день — новий розділ у світі подій, і ми завжди тут, щоб вам розповісти про нього.

  • Nikkiabout a year ago

    The Black Nun of Moret mystery is fascinating! Sister Louise Marie's possible illegitimacy as the Sun King's daughter or as the result of the queen's scandalous affair with her African servant is intriguing. It's amazing how history keeps revealing mysteries. I hope they make a film about this someday.I hope we can solve this historical mystery.

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  • Angela Shiflett2 years ago

    I do love a great mystery! Thank you so much for sharing! I gave you a heart, insights, and subscribed! Please DO share more - especially mysteries! I love those!

  • Thanks for sharing 😊 It was a great read. All the best and happy writing.

  • Robyn Clifford2 years ago

    Wow, two top stories in a row? Amazing

  • This is fascinating. I don't think I've ever heard of this before, and yet it is very interesting. Knowledge of affairs among the royals is not news, but of mixed race, is so interesting to me. How would they have managed to hide such a thing? Sending them to nunaries was apparently not the answer. A very good read!

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