Gerry's Collection
of Antique Wax Seal Stamps
House of Maillé
An ancient and illustrious French noble house of military leaders and courtiers
Jeanne de Maillé, daughter of Hardouin VI de Maillé.
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Arms of Urbain de Maillé, marquis de Brézé (1633)
Hardouin IX de Maillé accompanied by St Jean-Baptiste.
Adèle de Maillé La Tour Landry, Countess of Hautefort, Lady-in-waiting of the Duchess of Berry.
The House of Maillé: An influential family since the 12th century.
The House of de Maillé is one of the most ancient noble families of France, with roots deep in the soil of Touraine. Their name comes from the seigneury of Maillé, near Chinon, which was their original stronghold. The earliest traceable ancestor is traditionally identified as Hardouin de Maillé, a knight active in the mid-11th century, who held lands under the Counts of Anjou. From this feudal base, the family’s prestige grew steadily through loyal service to successive kings of France.
By the 12th and 13th centuries, the de Maillé were firmly established among the local aristocracy, their nobility recognized as “d’ancienne extraction”—a status predating the formal letters of ennoblement that other families would later require. Their influence was secured through feudal rights, control of fortified domains, and strategic marriages into neighbouring seigneurial houses.
Jeanne-Marie de Maillé.
The Hundred Years’ War brought the family wider prominence. Several de Maillé knights fought alongside the French royal forces, defending their lands against English incursions. The most famous figure of this era was Blessed Jeanne-Marie de Maillé (1331–1414). eanne-Marie was born in 1331 at the Château de La Roche-Milon, near Tours. She was the daughter of Hardouin de Maillé, seigneur of Maillé, and Jeanne de Montbazon. Raised in privilege, Jeanne-Marie was deeply religious from childhood. Around the age of 16, she married Bartholomew de Montmorency-Laval, a knight of another great French family. This was during the height of the Hundred Years’ War, when the French countryside was ravaged by English invasions and internal strife. Her married life was short and marked by misfortune: her husband was severely wounded in battle and eventually died young, leaving Jeanne-Marie a widow before she was 25. She had no children, and her widowhood became the turning point of her life. After her husband’s death, Jeanne-Marie felt called to a life of complete renunciation. She took the habit of a Franciscan tertiary (Third Order of St. Francis), dedicating herself to a life of poverty, chastity, and charity.
Renunciation, Poverty, and Beatification.
Rejecting her noble privileges, she distributed her wealth to the poor and chose to live simply in Tours. Her choice scandalized some relatives, who expected her to remarry and continue her family’s alliances. In some versions of her biography, she was even disinherited for refusing to abandon her austere lifestyle. For the rest of her life, Jeanne-Marie devoted herself to caring for the sick, aiding the destitute, and consoling prisoners and the dying. She was known for her gentleness and the serene patience with which she bore insults and mistreatment. Jeanne-Marie died in 1414 in Tours, aged about 83. Her reputation for holiness spread quickly, and miracles were reported at her tomb.
She was beatified in 1871 by Pope Pius IX, and her feast day is celebrated on March 28. She is especially honored in the Touraine region and among members of the Franciscan Third Order.
A Family of Leaders.
From the 15th to 17th centuries, the family produced military leaders, diplomats, and high court officers. By the Renaissance, they were not only lords of Maillé but also linked by marriage to the powerful houses of La Tour-Landry, Brézé, Cossé-Brissac, Choiseul, Noailles, and La Trémoille. These alliances brought them extensive estates, including the Château de La Tour-Landry in Anjou, Château de Brézé, and Château de Carman, alongside their ancestral lands in Touraine.
Hardouin IX de Maillé (c. 1400–1480) was a prominent member of the family at that time. He fought during the final phases of the Hundred Years’ War on the French side, supporting King Charles VII in campaigns to reclaim territories from the English. He was part of the generation of provincial lords who restored royal authority in the Loire Valley after decades of conflict. His leadership helped the family retain and consolidate its estates in the turbulent postwar years. Through strategic marriages and feudal diplomacy, he strengthened the family’s alliances, laying the groundwork for their later expansion.​
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Louis de Maillé, Marquis de Brézé (1612–1646), another important family member, was Grand Master of Navigation of France, effectively Admiral of the French Navy. Married to Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, niece of Cardinal Richelieu, Louis became one of France’s most important naval commanders under Louis XIII. He led major operations during the Franco-Spanish War, including victories in the Mediterranean against Spanish forces. His career marked the de Maillé family’s entry into the highest ranks of royal military command, showing their reach beyond land-based service into maritime strategy. His marriage into Richelieu’s powerful network also brought the family closer to the political heart of the kingdom.
Alliance with La Tour-Landry.
A pivotal moment came when the de Maillé line merged with that of the La Tour-Landry family. This union created the powerful de Maillé de La Tour-Landry branch, combining names, arms, and titles. The family’s power extended into the royal court, with members serving as chamberlains, ambassadors, and generals. The branch was created by Hardouin X de Maillé (seigneur de Maillé, baron de Rochecorbon) marrying Françoise de La Tour-Landry in the late 16th century. Françoise was a member, and in practice an heiress, of the La Tour-Landry family, one of the old noble houses of Anjou. Through this marriage the Maillé family inherited La Tour-Landry lands and titles. he combined name de Maillé de La Tour-Landry began to be used by their descendants.
During the Ancien Régime, the family held a range of titles, seigneurs, marquises, and counts, culminating in the creation of the Dukedom of Maillé (duc de Maillé) in 1816 under King Louis XVIII during the Bourbon Restoration. This elevation recognized centuries of service and loyalty to the crown, especially during the turbulent revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, when several family members remained staunch royalists.
Throughout their history, the de Maillé exemplified the strategies of survival and prominence in the French aristocracy: careful land management, military distinction, service at court, and, above all, marriage alliances that tied them to the great families of France. Their members moved in the highest circles of the realm, balancing their provincial roots with a presence in Parisian high society.
Though the original seigneurial line of Maillé became extinct in the male line in the 16th century, the name and titles endured through the La Tour-Landry merger and cadet branches tied to specific estates. Today, the history of the de Maillé family remains preserved in the châteaux they inhabited, the heraldic arms they bore, and the enduring memory of their place in the nobility of France.
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Gerry's Collection of Antique Seal Stamps.