Testament

Will of Louise-Anne de Bourbon-Condé known as Mademoiselle de Charolais, copied by the hand of Jean-Baptiste-François-Joseph, Count de Sade (and father of the Marquis), in which the latter makes her nephew, Louis-François Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, her universal legatee. A second part concerns bequests to livery servants, to chambermaids and valets, to the wardrobe keeper, etc.
Footnote in the hand of the Marquis de Sade: "known as Mademoiselle de Charolais".
Attached is a note sheet, written in Sade's hand, with a view to publishing his father's correspondence.
This will was written five days before the death of Mademoiselle de Charolais, whose death occurred on Friday, April 7, 1758, following three months of illness. The second part of the will is dated Sunday, April 2, 1758, while the first bears the date of Sunday, April 12, 1758: this is obviously an erroneous date. The entirety of this copy was written by the hand of the Count de Sade who lived with Mademoiselle de Charolais at her château of Athis-Mons from 1750 until her death.
The young Count de Sade, sent by his father to Paris around 1720, had as protector Louis-Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, known as Monsieur le Duc. Upon his arrival, the young man appreciated court life and "Rare thing, he pleased women without making himself hated by men: hence the number of his friends, at least as high as that of his mistresses. [...] M. de Sade was not content with easy conquests; bourgeois women left him indifferent. Those he sought - and most often conquered - were court women, not only endowed with wit and beauty, but also adorned with an illustrious name, credit, influence or fortune, capable in a word of serving his interests and putting him in good standing at court." (Lever, Sade).
Among his conquests figured Mademoiselle de Charolais, seven years his senior, sister of his protector and then royal mistress. Little desirous of marrying, she preferred all her life to remain unmarried and multiplied adventures and prestigious lovers. She was notably the favorite of the Duke de Richelieu, but also of Louis XV for whom she recruited numerous mistresses, thus earning the sobriquet of "royal procuress". The carnal encounter between Mademoiselle de Charolais and the Count de Sade took place on November 24, 1725, while the latter was confined to bed because of a sprain. A letter from Louise-Anne attests to this nascent adventure: "November 24 is the most beautiful day of my life if I have regained possession of my kingdom and my sovereignty, by the rights of the bed where I swore you an oath of fidelity. I count on having received yours and I now live for the prettiest king in the world." (Papiers de famille, p.20). The passion was not reciprocal however, and the fickle Count de Sade soon met the Duchess de la Trémoïlle. Thus distancing himself from Mademoiselle de Charolais, he wrote to her by way of breaking up: "I regarded, Madam, the advances you made to me as provocation of your mind and not of your heart. I did not have the honor of knowing you, I owed you nothing, a sprain obliged me to keep to my room, I was idle there, your letters were pretty, they amused me, I flattered myself if it were true that I had made your conquest, that you might cure me of an unfortunate passion which occupies me entirely." (op. cit. p.23).
In 1752, the Count de Sade was ruined by his lifestyle, he had sent young Donatien to Louis-le-Grand college and lodged with his good friend Mademoiselle de Charolais at the château of Athis-Mons: "I have retired to Mademoiselle's, although it is cruel at my age to depend on someone, to reduce my expenses." (Letter from the Count de Sade to his uncle the provost of L'Isle-sur-Sorgue, November 11, 1752).
He remained with his friend, accompanying her in her numerous travels across Europe, until her death.
The correspondence between the Count de Sade and Mademoiselle de Charolais continued, as attested by the letters recorded by the Marquis de Sade who, with great piety, played an important role as conservator with the aim of one day publishing his father's works. This will in the hand of the Count de Sade was preserved in this spirit. The Marquis, admiring his father's history, kept all his life the portrait in Franciscan habit that Mademoiselle de Charolais had given to the Count de Sade and hung it in his room at Charenton.
Rare testimony to the great friendship of the Count de Sade and Mademoiselle de Charolais, preciously preserved by the Marquis de Sade.
Provenance: family archives.