Early Life, Family and Marriage
One of five sisters noted for their great beauty, she was born Ortensia in Rome to Baron Lorenzo Mancini, an Italian aristocrat. After his death in 1650, her mother, Girolama Mazzarini, brought her daughters from Rome to Paris in the hope of using the influence of her brother, Cardinal Mazarin, to gain them advantageous marriages. Hortense's four famous sisters were:
- Laure (1636–1657), who married Louis de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and became the mother of the famous French general Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme,
- Olympe (1638–1708), who married Eugène-Maurice of Savoy-Carignano and became the mother of the famous Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy,
- Marie (1639–1715), who married Lorenzo Colonna and was the first romantic love of King Louis XIV of France,
- Marie Anne (1649–1714), who married Maurice Godefroy de la Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, a nephew of the famous field marshal Turenne.
The sisters' cousins, the Martinozzis, also moved to France at the same time, for the same goal (to marry well). The elder, Laura, married Alfonso IV d'Este, duke of Modena and became the mother of Mary of Modena, second wife of James II of England. The younger, Anne Marie Martinozzi, married Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti.
The Mancini also had three brothers: Paul, Philippe, and Alphonse.
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