Author and literary patroness whose intrigues and intimate association with celebrated writers and political personalities ensured her position as one of the prominent social figures of the 18th century.
She became a nun early in life but soon abandoned her vows in obscure circumstances around which many legends grew.
After the death of Louis XIV she sought her fortune at court and became the mistress of Cardinal Dubois (prime minister for a time), of the regent and other influential men.
By one of her lovers the chevalier Destouches she bore a son who became the philosopher Jean Le Rond d´Alembert.
Falsely charged with murder she was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1726 and released only after the intervention of her brother Pierre then an archbishop and later a cardinal.
Thereafter she sought less scandalous distinction as a hostess.
The writers Bernard de Fontenelle, Pierre de Marivaux and Jean-François Marmontel as well as the philosopher Montesquieu (whom she twice assisted in publication of his works) frequented her salon.
Her best known work is an autobiographically inspired novel Mémoires du Comte de Comminges (1735, Memoirs of the Count of Comminges).
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