Dame d'atours


Dame d'atour was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility. They were ranked between the Première dame d'honneur and the Dame du Palais.

History

At least from Isabeau of Bavaria's tenure as queen, there had been a post named demoiselle d'atour or femme d'atour, but this had originally been the title of the queen's chambermaids and shared by several people.
The office of dame d'atour, created in 1534, was one of the highest-ranking offices among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen and given only to members of the nobility.
The dame d'atour was responsible for the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and supervised the dressing of the queen and the chamber staff of femme du chambre.
When the dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour as the supervisor of the female personnel of the queen.

List of ''dames d'atour'' to the queens and empresses of France

[Catherine de' Medici], 1547–1589

[Mary, Queen of Scots], 1559–1561

[Elisabeth of [Austria, Queen of France|Élisabeth d'Autriche]], 1570–1575

Louise of Lorraine">Louise of Lorraine, Queen of France">Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601

[Marie de' Medici], 1600–1632

[Anne of Austria], 1615–1666

[Maria Theresa of Spain], 1660–1683

[Marie Leszczyńska], 1725–1768

[Marie Antoinette], 1770–1791

[Joséphine de Beauharnais], 1804–1809

[Marie [Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise]], 1810–1814