East Baton Rouge Parish Library

La Duchesse, the life of Marie de Vignerot : Cardinal Richelieu's forgotten heiress who shaped the fate of France, Bronwen McShea

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 397-449) and index

individual biography

platesillustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

La Duchesse

bibliography

11371521789

Bronwen McShea

the life of Marie de Vignerot : Cardinal Richelieu's forgotten heiress who shaped the fate of France

"A rich portrait of a compelling, complex woman who emerged from a sheltered rural childhood into the fraught, often deadly world of the French royal court and Parisian high society--and who would come to rule them both"--, Provided by publisherMarie de Vignerot was intended to lead an ordinary aristocratic life, produce heirs, and quietly assist the men in her family rise to prominence. Instead she was married off at sixteen to a military officer she barely knew, became a widow at eighteen, and rose to become the indispensable and highly visible right-hand of the most powerful figure in French politics: the ruthless Cardinal Richelieu. As the Cardinal lay dying, he broke with tradition and entrusted her, above his male heirs, with his vast fortune. McShea shows how Marie would go on to shape her country's political, religious, and cultural life. As the unconventional and independent Duchesse d'Aiguillon, her life reverberated across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas-- yet she was all but forgotten in modern times. -- adapted from jacket

Prologue -- Princesse Nièce. A long journey ; Glénay ; Richelieu ; Uncle Armand's fortunes ; A political marriage ; Paris ; Antoine ; Carmel de l'Incarnation ; The young cardinal's ward ; Serving Marie de' Medici ; A pivotal year ; The blue room ; Uncle Armand's triumph ; The cardinal-minister's reluctant aide ; The coup d'état ; An abduction plot ; "Demi-vierge" ; A budding friendship ; A new kind of literary patroness ; Falling in love ; La valette ; Chosen ; The investiture ; Heartbreak ; A new relationship ; Across the Atlantic ; Childlessness ; Political storms ; Uncle Armand's death ; The will ; Burying the prime minister -- Pair de France. Uncle Armand's papers ; Rueil ; Patroness of a saint ; Tunis and Algiers ; Reforming the clergy ; Saint-Sulpice ; Inheritance disputes ; A wedding ; Civil war ; A tenuous peace ; The Duc de Richelieu's rebellion ; Cardinal Mazarin's "most dangerous enemy" ; The sun king rising ; Governor of Le Havre ; The petit Luxembourg ; A jesuit visitor ; Negotiating with the pope ; Saint Vincent ; Missions for France ; Madagascar ; Ventures in the near east ; "Précieuse ridicule" ; Uncle Armand's legacy ; Family tragedies ; Breast cancer ; Carmel once more ; A forgotte "femme forte" -- Author's afterword

DuchesseLife of Marie de Vignerot