When, after the queen’s death, and after having lived about the king for fifteen years, “she had succeeded in making the devotee take precedence of the lover, when piety had overcome passion, when religion had effected its change, then Louis the Great offered his hand in marriage to her who had only veneration, gratitude, and devotion for him, but no passion or love.”  Reasons of state demanded the secrecy of the marriage; for had he raised her to the throne, political complications would have arisen and disturbed his subsequent career; Mme. de Maintenon fully appreciated the intricacies of the situation, and was therefore content to remain what she was.

She came to the king when he was beginning to feel the effects of his former mode of life; he needed fidelity and friendship, and he saw these in her.  His feelings for her are well described in the following extract by M. Saint-Amand: 

“To sum up:  the king’s sentiment for her was of the most complex nature.  There was in it a mingling of religion and of physical love, a calculation of reason and an impulse of the heart, an aspiration after the mild joys of family life and a romantic inclination—­a sort of compact between French good sense, subjugated by the wit, tact, and wisdom of an eminent woman, and Spanish imagination allured by the fancy of having extricated this elect woman from poverty in order to make her almost a queen.  Finally, it must be noted that Louis XIV., always religiously inclined, was convinced that Mme. de Maintenon had been sent to him by Heaven for his salvation, and that the pious counsels of this saintly woman, who knew how to render devotion so agreeable and attractive, seemed to him to be so many inspirations from on High.”

It must not be inferred, however, that the feeling for Mme. de Maintenon was purely ideal.  “He was unwilling to remarry,” says the Abbe de Choisy, “because of tenderness for his people.  He had, already, three grandsons, and wisely judged that the princes of a second marriage might, in course of time, cause civil wars.  On the other hand, he could not dispense with a wife and Mme. de Maintenon pleased him greatly.  Her gentle and scintillating wit promised him an agreeable intercourse which would refresh him after the cares of royalty.  Her person was still engaging and her age prevented her from having children.”

As his wife, Mme. de Maintenon took more interest in the king and his family than she did in the affairs of the kingdom.  To be the wife of the hearth and home, to educate the princes, to rear the young Duchess of Bourgogne, granddaughter of Louis XIV., to calm and ease the old age of the king and to distract and amuse him, became her sole objects in life.  Her power, thus directed, became almost unbounded; she was the dispenser of favors and the real ruler, sitting in the cabinet of the king; and her counsels were so wise that they soon became invaluable.