View source for Parc-aux-Cerfs

{{Short description|House in the park of the Palace of Versailles}}
[[File:Le Parc aux Cerfs.jpg|thumb|Women being led into the Parc-aux-Cerfs in a 19th-century engraving.]]

A '''Parc-aux-Cerfs''' ({{IPA|fr|paʁk.o.sɛʁ|}}; "[[park]] of [[deer|stags]]"), in France, was generally the name given to the [[Glade (geography)|clearings]] that provided [[hunting]] fields for the French [[aristocracy]] prior to the [[French Revolution]].<ref>{{Nuttall|inline=1|title=Parcs-aux-Cerfs}}</ref> The name is most notoriously known in history for an area in the grounds of the [[Palace of Versailles]] and a house there owned by [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]], where his secret mistresses were accommodated, being taken from there to the palace to visit the king. 

The house was small and discreet. According to the myth, the arrangement was supervised by the king's official mistress, [[Madame de Pompadour]], who remained close to him, but no longer had a physical relationship with him. [[Nancy Mitford]] states in the 1968 revised edition of her biography ''Madame de Pompadour'' that "[she] had nothing whatever to do with it".<ref>[https://thisisversaillesmadame.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-kings-birdcage.html "The King's Birdcage"], Versailles blog, 7 May 2013</ref>  The lovers were in fact recruited by the king's [[valet de chambre]], [[Dominique Guillaume Lebel]].<ref>Patrick Wald Lasowski, L'Amour au temps des libertins, Editions First-Gründ, 2011</ref>  

Between 1752 and 1768, many women and girls lived in the house, often more than one at a time, many of whom are unidentified. Among the famous lovers of the Parc-aux-Cerfs were [[Marie-Louise O'Murphy]] (in 1752–1755) with her sister [[Brigitte O'Murphy]] (1755–1757); [[Jeanne-Marguerite de Niquet]] "Mme Véron de Séranne" (1754); [[Marie Louise de Marny]], Madame de Giambone (1758); [[Marguerite-Catherine Haynault]] (1759–1762); [[Lucie-Madeleine d'Estaing]] (1760–1763); [[Louise-Jeanne de Tiercelin de La Colleterie]] (1762–1765); [[Marie-Thérèse Boisselet]] (1768); [[Jeanne-Marguerite Salvetat]] "Madame Mars" (1768) and, finally [[Madame du Barry]] (1768). The house was sold in 1771.
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File:Hertenpark Le Parc aux Cerfs (titel op object), RP-P-1944-520.jpg|18th-century engraving of a Parc-aux-Cerfs.
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==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:French nobility]]
[[Category:Louis XV]]
[[Category:Versailles]]

{{France-hist-stub}}