A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Montpensier, Jacquelin Longvic, Duchess de
MONTPENSIER, JACQUELIN LONG VIC, DUCHESS DE,
Was the youngest daughter of John de Longvic, lord of Guny, and was married, in 1588, to Louis de Bourbon, the second of the name, Duke de Montpensier. She was a lady of great merit, and a favourite of Catharine de Medicis; and had she lived, she might have, by her counsels, prevented many of the cruel deeds of this princess; but she died in 1561. She openly avowed, in her last illness, what her husband had long suspected, that she was a Protestant; and two of her daughters professed the same faith.
Thuanus praises this lady for her talents, prudence, and masculine understanding. She was intelligent and skilful in the affairs of government, and always solicitous for the public tranquillity. It was to her that the Archbishop of Vienna addressed himself, when, foreseeing the ruin of the princes of the blood, during the reign of Francis the Second, he told her that if she kept not her promise of opposing the house of Guise, all was lost. It was by her influence with Catharine de Medicis, that Michael de l'Hôpital was made Chancellor of France. "Had this been the only meritorious action of her life," says Bayle, "it ought to have consecrated her memory. No other person could have afforded, in so dangerous a conjuncture, an equal support to the monarchy." The duchess also contributed to the preservation of the life of the Prince de Condé.