FONTANES, fôN′tȧn′, Louis, Marquis de (1757-1821). A French poet and political orator. He was born at Niort, March 6, 1757, and was of an ancient Protestant family of Languedoc. He went to Paris while still a youth, and at twenty-one had attracted attention as poet by Le cri de mon cœur (1778) and La forêt de Navarre (1778). A little later he published a scholarly translation of Pope's Essay on Man (1783). During the early years of the Revolution he was active as a moderate Republican journalist, and before the fall of Robespierre was in hiding for a time. Later he was constrained to take refuge in Hamburg, whence he went to London, and became a close friend of Chateaubriand. While in England he published a much-admired imitation of Gray's “Elegy,” Le jour des morts (1796). He returned to France in 1799, was reinstated in the Institute, of which he had been made a member in 1795, and, warmly espousing the cause of Napoleon, was made member of the legislative body (1802-10), of which he became president in 1804. Here he developed great oratorical talent in praise of the First Consul and Emperor. He was advanced to the Senate (1810), but he adapted himself readily to the Restoration after Leipzig, drew up Napoleon's act of abdication (1814), and was made peer by Louis XVIII. He died in Paris, March 17, 1821. Fontane's works, edited by Sainte-Beuve in two volumes (1837), are models of elegant and correct diction, and show sound literary judgment.
FONTANGES, fôN′täNzh′, Marie Angélique de Scoraille de Roussille, Duchesse de (1661-81). A mistress of Louis XIV. She was born at the Château of Cropières in Auvergne, as the daughter of the Marquis de Roussille. Maid of honor to Madame, the Duchess of Orleans, she attracted the attention of the King, who made her Duchesse de Fontanges. She is said to have been beautiful, but most prodigal and extravagant, and her career was brief. She bore the King a son, and shortly afterwards died at the Abbey of Port Royal.
FON′TARA′BIA. See Fuenterrabia.
FONTENAY, fôNt′nā̇′ A small town near Auxerre, in Lower Burgundy. It is memorable for the battle fought there in 841, between the three sons of Louis the Pious, which decided the fate of the Carolingian Empire. The Emperor Lothair, who was defeated, was obliged in 843 to consent to divide the Empire with his two brothers by the Treaty of Verdun (q.v.). From this treaty the kingdoms of modern France and Germany arose.
FONTENAY-LE-COMTE, fôNt′nā̇′le-kôNt′. The capital of an arrondissement in the Department of Vendée, France, situated on both banks of the Vendée, 27 miles northeast of La Rochelle (Map: France, E 5). It is an old-fashioned town, with the two fine Gothic churches of Notre Dame and Saint Jean, and in the public square a fountain in Renaissance style, from which the town derives its name; there are also a college and a handsome theatre. There are linen and cloth and saw mills, and three important annual fairs are held. Population, in 1901, 10,512. The town suffered considerably during the religious wars, and was captured by the Royalists in 1793.
FONTENAY-MAREUIL, fôNt′nā̇′mȧ′rẽ′y’, François du Val, Marquis de (c.1594-1665) . A French soldier, diplomat, and historian. He was brought up at the Court of Louis XIII.; served with Mayenne in Spain; with Nevers at Ratisbon; under Boisdauphin at the siege of Soissons (1617); in 1619 in Normandy; at Saint-Jean d'Angély, Clérac, and Montauban (1621); at Saint-Antoine and Montpellier (1622); at the Ile de Ré (1627); and at the sieges of La Rochelle (1628), of Privas, and of Alais (1629). Then his diplomatic career began. He announced the capture of La Rochelle to the Duke of Savoy; escorted Montpensier to the Court; negotiated with Rohan; and from 1630 to 1633 was Ambassador to England. After taking part in various campaigns against the Imperialists and Spaniards, he was Ambassador at Rome from 1640 to 1650. His memoirs, published at Paris, 1826 (vol. i., of the first series of the Collection Pettitot), are both interesting and valuable.
FONTENELLE, fôNt′nĕl′, Bertrand le Bovier (1657-1757). A French scientist, philosopher, poet, and dramatist of acute wit and great power of popular presentation. He was born at Rouen, February 11, 1657, and was a nephew of Corneille. He was trained by the Jesuits, studied law, but abandoned it for literature and science, in which he soon earned distinction. He was secretary of the Academy of Sciences from 1699 to 1741, and edited its Mémoires and Eloges on deceased members with admirable care. His dramatic and poetic work is negligible, but his literary studies on the French stage before Corneille and the origin of fables are still of interest. His Histoire des oracles (1687), Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686), and the Dialogues des
