Louise Elisabeth was one of nine kids born to an ambitious mother. When she was seventeen, “mom” suggested she marry “up” by enticing one of grandsons of a powerful man into an engagement, but Louise’s aunt wanted the grandson for her own daughter, and foiled the plans.

At twenty, Louise Elisabeth married her first cousin, Louis, three years younger than herself, but it would be a troubled marriage. While Louise Elisabeth was gentle and utterly charming, Louis was an ugly, bad tempered fool whom Louise Elisabeth didn’t love. She gave him five children, but several extramarital affairs turned Louis into a jealous and violent husband who battered Louise Elisabeth. Though it was not unusual for couples in those days to have separate bedrooms, visiting one’s wife in her bedchamber with one’s pistols charged and ready to fire certainly was. Louise Elisabeth would have none of it. She kept muskets and swords positioned near her bed, and assured Louis that if he came there again with his pistols charged, she would take the gun and shoot him, and if she missed, she’d use the sword. Louis wisely learned to keep his pistols out of her bedroom.

Louis’ jealousy, however, caused him to check on his wife frequently at night. Too frequently. Spunky Louise Elisabeth decided to teach Louis another lesson by getting a large Mastiff whom she trained to sleep with her at night and attack anyone who intruded into her room. Louis arrived one night, and instead of catching her with another man, he found the dog which promptly bit him. It’s said the Louis forgave the dog, but not his wife.

History is simply the stories of real people, and purebred dogs are a thread in the fabric of those stories. By now you’ve probably guessed that there is a bit more to this story, but only insofar as the names are concerned. The “powerful man” whose grandson Louise Élisabeth’s mother wanted her to marry was King Louis XV. The cousin that Louise Élisabeth married was Louis Armand de Bourbon, the Prince of Conti, and marrying him made her the Princess di Conti. She was more than just Louis’ wife,  however. It was Louise Élisabeth who presented Madame de Pompadour to the court of Louis XV, and it was Louise Élisabeth who had the Hôtel de Brienne built which is the present seat of the French Ministry of Defense.

Louise Élisabeth died at the age of eighty-one in her Parisian town house in 1775 and is buried at the Église Saint-Sulpice in Paris. Sadly, we don’t know what became of the Mastiff.

Boys With Mastiff by Goya