The Duchess of Montpensier opposes her father.

Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (1627- 1693)

Autographed letter signed to his father, Gaston d'Orléans.

Seven quarto pages. Address "To Monsieur" on the eighth page. Black wax seals

Saint-Fargeau. January 3 [1654]

"God grant that this may never happen again and that I may receive from Your Royal Highness only tokens of your tenderness and friendship."

Long and important letter relating to the financial disputes which pitted him against his father, to recover the immense assets which his mother, Marie de Bourbon, had left him, and which his father, remarried to Marguerite de Lorraine, was managing.

Exiled to Saint-Fargeau after the Fronde, the Grande Mademoiselle put her immense inherited fortune in order and requested a full accounting of her guardianship. Fearing that her father might be misinformed of her intentions, the duchess asked him to read this letter.

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“I am so convinced that up to this hour VAR has been so poorly informed of my intentions that, in order to make them known to her in the respectful manner that they are and have always been, I have resolved to write them to her and send my letter by this messenger, who is a man of merit and will be able to deliver it himself to VAR […] Thus I hope and I earnestly ask her that she will take the trouble to read it in its entirety, as long and troublesome as it may be, for matters are always such […]”

VAR will remember, if he pleases her, that when I was in Blois in the month where she began to want to talk to me about matters, and immediately she left and left me with Madame, who ordered me to request that the disputes of our case be put in writing in order to bring things to a close by this means . I told her that if this was the most appropriate way to do it, I would gladly request it, but that if it could lead us into delays that would ultimately force us to plead, I would not do it .

When we arrived in Orleans, Mr. ^Goulas told me that it was necessary for his dealings to be seen by Mr. ^Renardeau and that this was essential. I strongly objected to this and we argued about it at length . He told me that this was a necessary thing before putting our affairs in the hands of Mr. ^de Cremont, and after much discussion, we concluded nothing except that it was a formality that could not be avoided and that this gave Mr. ^Renardeau to interfere in our affairs, which I could consent to .

But I learned that if this formality of examining our case before him is carried out, it will oblige us to appoint him as a third arbitrator, which I beg VAR to consider it good that I not do, for sir, all the members of parliament who have been Mazarins, as well as him, will always be highly suspect to me in my current state, and Your Royal Highness is too just to disapprove of such a ground for recusal[.]

Finally, sir, it is not necessary for our case to be examined before anyone other than our arbitrators. But as I am not qualified enough to tell you the reasons why, and which you may perhaps suspect, if VAR wishes to name some of his friends who are intelligent, well-known, or even consult with Mr. ^de Choisi and your council and mine on how we can use this to remove the matter from Mr. Menardeau's hands ^without telling him that it is a matter of fact that no one disavows the current state of affairs. This quality will not be long in the process, for going directly to our arbitrators will shorten all the time that would have been spent on Mr. ^Menardeau , which would have been useless, for on my side I will have done nothing.[.]

I do not know, sir, if I can be accused of prolonging matters, and if the people who proposed to you, in my opinion, to put you in a position where one could clarify what concerns you, will share the same sentiments. This would greatly anger me if VAR believed them, for it would cause me considerable pain if I were obliged to defend myself against her. But I hope, in her goodness, that she will not go that far, and I dare say to her that this would do us great harm, both in our current state and elsewhere. It is far better to describe the actions that the court has always made against her than to have them done. She so often assures me of the opposite. If I have enemies, I have not attracted them, for I have never harmed anyone on account of Your Royal Highness, and to my confusion, I can say that I have not done so. "All my life I have been in a state of receiving meaning, which honors her with her good graces. May God grant that this may no longer be the case and that I may receive from Your Royal Highness only marks of your tenderness and friendship. For me, she will never reserve anything but respect, obedience, veneration, and friendship, if I may say so, may they have the honor of being what I am to her: Anne Marie Louise Dorleans."

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The case between the father and his daughter caused a great stir, the sums of money involved being as considerable as the personalities involved.

Rare document.