Patronage as family economy: The role of women in the patron-client network of the Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain family, 1670-1715

This article examines the role that three noblewomen from the Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain familyMarie de Maupeou, Suzanne Phelypeaux de Pontchartrain, and Eleonore de La Rochefoucauld-Royeplayed in the clan's political patron -client networks during the last decades of Louis XIV's reign. The Pontchar train women acted as crucial players in a family-based economy of informal political power at court, in Paris, and in the provinces. By collaborating closely with their husbands, brothers, and other male relatives, they furth ered the interests of their family. They acted as mediators for their husba nds, served as bridges linking their husbands' families to their birth fami lies, provided new "clients" for the Pontchartrain patron-client network, c ollected information for the family, and acted as close advisers to their h usbands and male relatives as they executed the duties of their royal offic es.