Laura Mancini

Laura Mancini (6 May 1636 – 8 February 1657) was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. She was the eldest of the five famous Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of Louis XIV of France as the Mazarinettes. She married Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, grandson of King Henry IV and was the mother of the great general the Duke of Vendôme.

Biography

Laura was the eldest daughter of Lorenzo Mancini, brother-in-law of Cardinal Mazarin through his wife Girolama Mazzarini. She received the name Vittoria honour of her paternal grandmother, Vittoria Capoccii. The eldest of ten children, through the influence of her uncle, the personal advisor of Louis XIII of France, Laura and her family were invited to France, leaving Rome in 1653 following the death of her father along with their cousins Laura and Anna Maria. The family resided in the Palais Royal in Paris, home of Queen Anne and her sons Louis XIV and Philippe, Duke of Orléans.

Laura's four sisters were: