Dame d'atour (French pronunciation: [dam datuʁ] ) was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility. They were ranked between the Première dame d'honneur and the Dame du Palais.
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History
At least from Isabeau of Bavaria's tenure as queen, there had been a post named demoiselle d'atour or femme d'atour, but this had originally been the title of the queen's chambermaids and shared by several people.
The office of dame d'atour, created in 1534, was one of the highest-ranking offices among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen and given only to members of the nobility.
The dame d'atour was responsible for the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and supervised the dressing of the queen and the chamber staff of femme du chambre.
When the Première dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour as the supervisor of the female personnel of the queen.
List of dames d'atour to the queens and empresses of France
Catherine de' Medici, 1547–1589
1547–1549 : Marie-Catherine Gondi
1549–1552 : Jacqueline de l'Hospital Dame d'Aisnay
1552–1559 : Madeleine Buonaiuti, Madame Alamanni, Mme de Gondi
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1559–1561
1559–1561: Guyonne de Breüil
Élisabeth d'Autriche, 1570–1575
1570–1574: Marguerite de La Marck-Arenberg
Louise of Lorraine, 1575–1601
1575–1590: Louise de la Béraudière
Marie de' Medici, 1600–1632
1600–1617: Leonora Dori
1617–1619: Vacant
1619–1625: Nicole du Plessis de Mailly, marquise de Brezé
1625–1631: Duchesse d'Aiguillon
Anne of Austria, 1615–1666
1615–1619: Luisa de Osorio (jointly with de Vernet)
1615–1626: Antoinette d'Albert de Luynes, Dame de Vernet (jointly with de Osorio)
1626–1626: Marie-Catherine de Senecey
1626–1630: Madeleine du Fargis
1630–1657: Catherine le Voyer de Lignerolles, Baronne du Bellay, Dame de la Flotte
1637–1639: Marie de Hautefort, 'Madame de Hautefort' (deputy dame d'atour, first term)
1643–1644: Marie de Hautefort, duchesse de Schomberg (second term as deputy)
1657–1666: Louise Boyer, duchesse de Noailles
Maria Theresa of Spain, 1660–1683
1660–1683: Anne Marie de Beauvilliers, Countess of Bethune
Marie Leszczyńska, 1725–1768
1725–1731: Anne-Marie-Francoise de Sainte-Hermine, comtesse de Mailly
1731–1742: Francoise de Mailly, duchesse de Mazarin
1742–1768: Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, duchesse de Villars
Marie Antoinette, 1770–1791
1770–1771: Amable-Gabrielle de Villars
1771–1775: Adelaide-Diane-Hortense Mancini-Mazarin, duchesse de Cossé
1775–1775: Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, Princess de Chimay
1775–1781: Marie-Jeanne de Talleyrand-Périgord, duchesse de Mailly
1781–1791: Geneviève de Gramont, comtesse d'Ossun
Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1804–1809
1804–1809: Émilie de Beauharnais
Marie Louise, 1810–1814
1810–1814: Jeanne Charlotte du Luçay