and easily disposed of. She said to the Marquise de Maintenon that the king had three mistresses: herself in name, this girl in bed and Maintenon in his heart. In January 1680, Marie gave premature birth to a stillborn boy, and was said to have been "wounded in the service of the King." In April, Louis granted her the title Duchess of Fontanges and a pension of 80,000 livres, as was his usual habit on ending love affairs. Unwell after the birth, she retired to the Abbey of Chelles. Death In 1681, Marie suffered a high fever and was sent to the Abbey of Port-Royal, where, according to some sources, she gave birth prematurely to a stillborn girl in March. Realising she was going to die, she asked to see the king, who, touched by her suffering, wept while at her deathbed. Fontanges is reported to have said, "having seen tears in the eyes of my King, I can die happy". This story was deemed untrue by many at Versailles because according to them, the king had, in fact, already forgotten her. The duchess died on the night of 28 June 1681. She was not yet 20 years old. Louis XIV expressed the wish that there be no autopsy, however, at the request of her family, one was performed. The doctors found that her lungs were in appalling condition (with the right one in particular being full of "purulent matter") while her chest was flooded with fluid. All six doctors concurred that death was due to natural causes. Possible death by poisoning As Marie Angélique died during the Affair of the Poisons in France, poisoning was suspected. During interrogations, some of the accused had mentioned the name of Fontanges, and several other women of the court in connection to various schemes and plots. Marguerite Monvoisin, the daughter of sorceress La Voisin was the first to accuse accomplices of her late mother of poisoning the duchess. Monvoisin's lovers, Bertrand and Romani, were arrested in 1681 as suspects. Bertrand was accused of selling poisonous stuffs to Fontanges; while Romani was accused of delivering her gloves contaminated with poison. Françoise Filastre, a servant in the household of Fontanges was arrested, and when asked about what she knew about the duchess's death, under torture claimed that Montespan had hired her to murder Fontanges, so she could regain the love of the king. Before being