Laura Mancini

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This article is about the 17th-century French duchess. For the 19th-century Italian poet, see Laura Beatrice Mancini.

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Laura Mancini, duchess of Mercoeur and Vendôme (1636 – 8 February 1657) was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Her husband was Louis of Mercoeur, grandson of King Henry IV, by whom she mothered the great general Louis Joseph of Bourbon-Vendôme.

She was born Laura Vittoria Mancini and known as Laure Victoire, or simply Victoire, in France. She was named for her paternal grandmother, Vittoria Capoccii. After the death of their father, Baron Michele Lorenzo Mancini, the sisters were brought from Italy to the French court by their mother's brother Mazarin in the hope of arranging good marriages for them. Their beauty and success with King Louis XIV soon made them the centre of attention.

Laura's four sisters were:

Olympe (1638 - 1708) married Eugène-Maurice of Savoy-Carignano,
Marie (1639 - 1715) married Lorenzo Colonna,
Hortense (1646 - 1699) married Armand-Charles de la Porte, duc de La Meilleraye,
Marie Anne (1649 - 1714) married Maurice Godefroy de la Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, a nephew of Turenne.

The Mancinis were not the only female family members that Cardinal Mazarin brought to the French court. The others were Olympia's first cousins, daughters of Mazarin's eldest sister. The elder, Laura Martinozzi, married Alfonso IV d'Este, duke of Modena and was the mother of Mary of Modena, second wife of James II of England. The younger, Anne Marie Martinozzi, married Armand, Prince de Conti. Altogether, the seven girls were referred to as the Mazarinettes.

The Mancini also had three brothers: Paul, Philippe, and Alphonse.

Laura married Louis II de Bourbon-Vendôme; they had three children.

Louis Joseph (1654 - 1712), duc de Vendôme
Philippe (1655 - 1727), called le prieur de Vendôme
Jules César (1657 - 1660)

She died of complications following the birth of her third child, at the age of 21. The child, Jules César, died three years later. Her husband never remarried; he entered the church and became cardinal. Her two surviving sons were raised by their aunt, Marie Anne Mancini, who was only a few years older than her nephews.