Crequy, Renée Caroline de Froulay, Marquise de (1714–1803)
Crequy, Renée Caroline de Froulay, Marquise de (1714–1803)
French letter writer. Name variations: Marquise de Créqui; Renee de Froulay. Born Renée-Caroline-Victoire Froullay in Oct 19, 1714, at Chateau of Monfleaux, Mayenne, France; orphaned at early age; died 1803; dau. of Lieutenant-General Charles François de Froullay; niece of M. de Bailli de Froullay, ambassador; m. Louis Marie, marquis de Criquy (died 4 years later, 1741); children: 1 son.
Once an intimate of D'Alembert and J.J. Rousseau, became extremely religious with inclinations to Jansenism; formed a great friendship with Sénac de Meilhan (1781); her Letters to Sénac de Meilhan (1782–89), which express conservative but tolerant views on women and religion, was published with preface by Sainte-Beuve (1856); was arrested (1793) and imprisoned in the convent of Les Oiseaux until the fall of Robespierre (July 1794). Souvenirs de la marquise de Créqui (1834–35) regarded as inauthentic and attributed to a Breton adventurer, Cousin de Courchamps.