Enville, Marie-Louise-Nicole-Elisabeth de La Rochefoucauld, duchesse d’ (1716-1797)

Prominent member of the French nobility and patroness of the arts and sciences.

Corresponded at length with Voltaire. Hosted a salon frequented by the philosophes, by various economists such as Turgot and Adam Smith, and by Franklin.

Promoted the cultivation of the potato on her vast estates and, like Franklin, attempted to improve the raising of silkworms.

Great-granddaughter of the author of the Maximes and mother of Louis-Alexandre, duc de La Rochefoucauld and de la Roche-Guyon. Oversaw the education of her son. She witnessed the death of her son, who was stoned by a mob at Gisors during the French Revolution (1792).

Married in 1732 to Jean-Baptiste-Louis- Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld de Roye, duc d’Enville.