The Marchioness of Maintenon, la marquise de Maintenon, née Francoise d'Aubigne, was born in the prison of Niort on November 24 1635. To all intent, she was an orphan.

Her father was Constant d'Aubigne, seigneur d'Aubigny et de Surimeau. Her Mother was Jeanne de Cardilhac. She had chosen to stay with her husband in prison. Constant was in prison for counterfitting, but he was also a murderer.

Before Francoise, Constant and Jeanne had two sons:
Constant, born in 1628, died accidently in 1646. Charles, born in 1634, died in 1703

Francoise's Grand-Father was Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne (1552-1630), a well-known soldier, historian and poet, Calvinistic, whose life, filled with dangers and adventures in the Huguenot cause under Henri IV, ended in exile at Geneva and died a hero.
He is remembered for his Histoire Universelle and Histoire Secrete who were officially burned and he also wrote Les Aventures du baron de Foeneste and Les Tragiques, poemes satiriques

Her Father was persecuted for his Huguenot sympathies. In spite of her Protestant heritage she was baptized a Catholic.

When Constant came out of prison, sure of getting the post of Governor for La Martinique, he brings there all his family. Alas, the job is already taken. After two years he abandons them and goes to La Rochelle. The family spent some years in Martinique, but when they hear of Constant's death, Francoise and her Mother returned to France. They lived there in great poverty. At twelve, the girl and her two brothers were educated by a Protestant aunt, but the Mother of her GodMother, Madame de Neuillant, gets special permission from the Queen Anne d'Autriche to kidnap the child from this Calvinistic (Huguenot) home. At that point, Francoise is used as a servant, herding the turkeys. Eventually she is taken to the Ursulines Convent in Niort, until sixteen, but she still has not really adopted the Catholic faith so she is put in another convent, in Paris, where she decides to convert to get her freedom and becomes very devout.

She is still 16 years old when her Godmother decides to marry her and choses a man 25 years older, with serious rhumatism.

He his a poet, Paul SCARRON 1610-1660, a French Realistic Novelist and burlesque playwright remembered for Roman comique. His Nouvelles magi-comiques supplied Moliere, Beaumarchais and Sedaine with characters, plots, and titles.

He holds a "salon" in their home. There we can see: Benserade, Marigny, Mortemart, Villarceaux, la marquise de Sévigné.

Through Scarron's position she became a figure in the literary and intellectual world of Paris, being a fine writer herself.

In 1660 he died leaving her with some debts
and again she found herself penniless, but the Queen-Mother continued to his widow the poet's pension. Later Mme de Montespan official mistress of the King at the time, obtained a pension for her.