Scandalous Review: The Kings' Mistresses by Elizabeth Goldsmith

Title:  The Kings' Mistresses: The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister Hortense, Duchess Mazarin

Author:  Elizabeth C. Goldsmith
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 4/3/2012

Pages: 288

From the inside cover: The Mancini Sisters, Marie and Hortense, were born in Rome, brought to the court of Louis XIV of France, and strategically married off by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, to secure his political power base. Such was the life of many young women of the age: they had no independent status under the law and were entirely a part of their husband’s property once married.

Marie and Hortense, however, had other ambitions in mind altogether. Miserable in their marriages and determined to live independently, they abandoned their husbands in secret and began lives of extraordinary daring on the run and in the public eye. The beguiling sisters quickly won the affections of noblemen and kings alike. Their flight became popular fodder for salon conversation and tabloids, and was closely followed by seventeenth-century European society. The Countess of Grignan remarked that they were traveling “like two heroines out of a novel.” Others gossiped that they “were roaming the countryside in pursuit of wandering lovers.”

My thoughts:  I've been waiting for a long time for someone to write a biography of two of the Mancini sisters, so I was excited to get a copy of Elizabeth Goldsmith's new book The Kings' Mistresses which will be published this Tuesday.  The book's title is a bit misleading, there is no evidence that Marie Mancini was Louis XIV's mistress, although he contemplated marrying her before being convinced by Mazarin, her uncle, that he needed to make a dynastic marriage to his cousin the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa.

The book is a more than just a biography of the lives of these two Scandalous Women. It is also a fascinating look at the realities of marriage for women in the 17th century.  Although both Marie and Hortense were well born, they had very little rights when it came to marriage. Both marriages were not successful. She was married off at the age of 15 just before her uncle died. Hortense's husband was obsessed with her to the point of madness, he forced her to travel with him up and down the country visiting his various properties, he restricted her movements,  and who she could see.  While keeping her a virtual prisoner, he then systematically began spending all the money that her uncle had left to them. In 6 years, Hortense had given birth to 4 children, and she had enough of her husband. She attempted to seperate from him using the courts, but she found herself thwarted and frustrated at every opportunity by her husband to the point that she felt that she had no choice but to flee the country.

Meanwhile Marie married an Italian prince. In the beginning her marriage seemed to be going better than Hortense's. Marie scandalized Roman society by freely roaming around the city, and taking part in theatrical productions. After giving birth to 3 sons, Marie wanted seperate bedrooms, but her husband , like Hortense's wasn't used to being thwarted. When Marie began to suspect that he was trying to kill her, she too fled first to France and then to Spain.

Both women spent years leading nomadic lives, trying to stay one step of their husbands and the courts.  They published their memoirs to share their stories.  This was highly unusual, very few aristocratic women published their memoirs, if they wrote them at all, they were privately published or circulated amongst their friends and family.  It was an incredibly bold move for the time, and helped to engender public sympathy for the women. It also served to strengthen the attitudes of those men and women who feared independent women. In an age before newspapers, it is incredible how the story of the Mancini sisters spread across Europe. Their memoirs were translated into many languages, leaving a remarkable record of women's lives. It is not hard to sympathize with the sisters, particularly given just how awful their husband's were. It is shocking the lengths that both men went to try and bring their wives to heel, everything from keeping their children from them to keeping them impoverished. Hortense's in particular was just insane, even his children later took him to court to try and recover their inheritances that he had squandered.

Goldsmith's book is incredibly well-researched and written, if a little too academic at times. The book is filled with details from previously unpublished letters, it is most effective when Goldsmith allows the women to tell their stories in their own words.  The sisters come across as bold, witty, and highly intelligent, larger than life characters but also women who in the end paid a high price for their need for independence. There are a few typos in the galley that I read, which will hopefully be corrected when the book is published.  For example Goldsmith states that Henrietta Maria was Louis XIV's cousin when she was actually his aunt, James I was Charles II's grandfather not his father, at one point she states that it is 1665 and then 1675.  And there were some strange omissions, not once does she discuss Cardinal Mazarin's relationship to Anne of Austria nor does she mention that one of the reason's that Louis XIV became more religious as he got older and revoked the Edict of Nantes was his relationship with Madame de Maintenon. Despite these flaws, the book is well worth reading.

Verdict:  Highly recommended

Scandalous Places - Vaux-le-Vicomte

Kaleen Koen's new novel BEFORE VERSAILLES, is as much about Nicolas Fouquet as it is about Louis XIV.  One of the places mentioned in the book is Vaux-le-Vicomte (the chateau that Nicolas Fouquet is building during the novel).

Vaux-le-Vicomte still exists and you can visit it either n the flesh or online. The chateau was built between 1658 and 1661 for Fouquet who was Louis XIV's superintendent of finances. It was supposed to be a  monument to his oversized ego and ambition. Fouquet never got to enjoy his chateau for long because Louis XIV had him arrested and imprisoned for life in August of 1661. He was arrested at the chateau shortly after a fete where Moliere's play 'Les Facheaux' debuted.  The King had been suspicious about Fouquet's actions for months and the chateau just served to verify them.  It was too large and too impressive for the King's liking. Fouquet  had actually built a special section of the chateau for the King but it was too late. Fouquet had to go. His enemy Jean-Baptiste Colbert led the King to believe that Fouquet had misappropriated funds to pay for his lavish lifestyle. He spent the rest of his life in prison. Louis XIV then hired the team of artists (Le Vau, Le Notre, and Le Brun) to design what is now known as Versailles.

In this picture you can see the moat that Karleen Koen describes in the book. It looks exactly as she described it.  Looking at the photos, you can see why Louis would have been so jealous and angry.

17th century engraving of the chateau

The chateau changed hands several times over the years after Madame Fouquet sold it. The chateau at one time was owned by the Duke of Praslin who was implicated in the murder of his wife in the 19th century (the 1940 movie starring Betty Davis and Charles Boyer All This and Heaven Too is based on the case).  It was believed that the chateau was where the murder took place but it was actually at their Paris residence. In 1875, it was sold at auction to Alfred Sommier who restored it to its original appearance after years of neglect.  Today his descendants still own the chateau and it remains private property but it is open to visitors, otherwise I bet it would be a huge money pit.

I think someone should put together a Louis XIV tour of France.  One could visit the Louvre, Fontainebleau, Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomtes amongst other places.

Scandalous Book Review: Before Versailles

• Title:  Before Versailles
• Author:  Karleen Koen
• Pub. Date: June 28, 2011
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
• Format: Hardcover, 480pp
• Verdict:  Run Don't Walk to the Bookstore to buy this book!

Synopsis: 
Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man—the man before Versailles?



After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.


But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought—a man who could make a great ally or become a dangerous foe . . . Meticulously researched and vividly brought to life by the gorgeous prose of Karleen Koen, Before Versailles dares to explore the forces that shaped an iconic king and determined the fate of an empire.

My thoughts:  I first read Karleen Koen's first book THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY when it first came out back in 1986, which I still have.  I think it was the first novel that I ever bought in hardcover, with my hard-earned money from my first grown-up job.  I remember loving the rich detail of the book, although I was furious with several of the main characters for what I thought was their mistreatment of the heroine, Barbara. I read her other two books, but it's been a long wait for her new one.

Koen's new book, BEFORE VERSAILLES,  is released in bookstores today and it was well worth the wait. It is a sumptuous confection of a novel filled with rich details of the court of the young Louis XIV.  Koen focuses on a four months in Louis' life when the reader gets a glimpse of what he was like before he became the powerful, absolute monarch who became known as the Sun King.  This Louis is still finding his feet as King after the death of his mentor (and possibly his mother's lover) Cardinal Mazarin who had guided Louis from his childhood. Now Louis must learn who he can trust and who he can't, who has his best interests and those of France at heart, and those who seek solely to enrich to themselves.  He also has to contend with his younger brother Philippe who alternates between hero-worship and resentment, and his burgeoning, illicit love for his cousin and sister-in-law Henriette also known as Madame.

I have always had a bit of a crush on the royal cousins, Louis XIV and Charles II, particularly in the early years of their reign, so I was interested to hear at the Historical Novel Society conference that this was the first time that Koen had featured a real life historical person at the center of her book, and it is easy to see why Louis grabbed her imagination, and why this particular period in time.  This Louis alternates between confidence in his own abilities and seeking the wisdom of others. It is fascinating to watch him grow over the course of the novel as he realizes his own strengths as a monarch. There was a part of me as I was reading the book that wished that Minette (Henriette) and Louis could have had their happy ending (I've always felt this way) but the Minette in Koen's hands, while she loves the King is torn between that love, and realizing that as a woman, she has much farther to fall than her beloved. Anne of Austria, in Koen's hands, is woman who is tired after years of trying to hold onto power and to the kingdom for her son, but still wily and manipulative when she needs to be. It's such a contrast to the Anne that Dumas portrays in The Three Muskateers. I would love to see how Koen would treat the earlier Anne in the court of Louis XIII, who comes across as a 17th century version of Richard Nixon.

Koen is such a skilled storyteller that I have the time I was in awe while I was reading the book, the way she weaves the story of the Man in the Iron Mask, which the court intrigues, and the human drama, made me want to genuflect at her feet. Not once I was I lost or confused in the maze of characters that populate the court at Fontainebleau. Her ability to make such a vast group of inviduals come alive, and to get into each characters head is truly remarkable. From La Grande Mademoiselle down to the musketeer Cinq Mars, the reader knows exactly who they are, what they stand for and what they feel at any given moment. Louise de la Valliere, who I've normally thought of as the least interesting of the Sun King's many mistresses, comes alive in this novel. She manages to hold onto her moral compass while everyone around is losing theirs, as they jockey for position at court. Her innocence and naivete aren't cloying in Koen's hands. Minette, on the other, comes across at times as drunk on her own power over Louis, less in love with him and more in love with the idea of her power over him, which seems like a fresh approach. She's always been one of my favorite historical figures, but I've always found it her one of the saddest. It's understandable after years of being the poor, orphaned princess without a father or a country that she would revel a bit in her power. Koen comes up with a plausible interpretation of the myth of The Man in the Iron Mask which makes more sense than the one that Dumas came up with in his novel of the same name.

Her prose is stunning and evocative.  This is what Louis thinks about the Viscomte Nicholas Fouquet, "He was going to have to break the Viscount in half and hold the pieces up like trophies to paralyze his court with aw and under the awe, real fear." I couldn't put this book down and when it was over I wanted more, which is the sign of an amazing storyteller.

Interested in reading more about Karleen Koen?  Check out these interviews at Madame Guillotine and Passages to the Past.

Scandalous Book of the Month: Mistress of the Sun

I'm very pleased to be featuring Sandra Gulland's latest novel Mistress of the Sun, as the book on the month here on Scandalous Women. Sandra is well known for her trilogy about the Empress Josephine, but Mistress of the Sun tells the story of Louis XIV's first official mistress, Louise de la Valliere.

I've always been fascinated by Louis XIV ever since I read the Angelique series as a teenager. There's something about the Sun King and life at Versailles that is just so delicious. Sandra Gulland's book did not disappoint me. If you love historical fiction, then you must pick up a copy of this book.

The book opens when Louise, called Petite, is four years old, and precocious beyond her years, already reading, and obsessed with animals. She sees a wild white horse that she names Diablo, that she convinces her fahter to buy. Petite wants to tame him but she uses measures that are forbidden by the Church. Although Diablo is successfully tamed, bad things happen, she falls from the horse while in the woods, threatened by a boar and breaks her leg, which leads to a limp, and then later on her father dies, leaving the family with no money. Petite's mother sticks her in a convent while she goes off to find a new husband. Petite is happy at the convent, and wishes the religious life but fate and circumstances have other ideas. Her mother's new husband, a marquis, secures her a post to the daughter of Gaston, the Duc D'Orleans, brother of Louis XIII and uncle of the new king. Although Louise is beautiful and shy, she has a limp and no dowery, which makes her prospects of marriage dismal.

When Princess Marguerite is sent off to marry Cosimo Medici, the Duke of Tuscany instead of her cousin Louis XIV as planned, Louise finds herself in the household of Princess Henriette, called Madame, the wife of the King's brother Philippe. Henriette and the King share a close friendship, and rumors abound that they are lovers. Henriette encourages the King to flirt with Louise, which ultimately ends up with the two involved in a passionate love affair.

Louise is shocked that the King would fall in love with her, when there are so many other women at court who are more high-born than she is, including her good friend Athenais. Although one of Louise's ancestors fought along side Jeanne D'Arc, the de la Valliere's family can't trace their ancestry back to Charlemagne which makes them minor nobility. But Louise is an excellent horsewoman and huntress, two interests that she and Louis have in common. Louise struggles with her decision to become the King's mistress, committing adultery is a sin, but she is convinced that she is doing a service to the monarchy. Still the relationship is kept secret initially and Louise's children sent out to be fostered by others. She must also suffer the disapproval of her family until Louis officially recognizes her as his mistress.

Louise must cope with loss of many kinds throughout the book, along with her many illnesses. She also learns a harsh lesson, one that many royal mistresses have learned throughout the centuries, that the love of a King can be inconstant. Yet her saving grace is always her goodness, along with her yearning for spiritual peace.

This is a fascinating look at life in 17th century France, and Sandra Gulland doesn't spare the reader details of the less savory side of life back then, along with the richness and magnificence of palace life. Reading the descriptions of the often barbaric medical treatments, the filthiness of the palaces, as well as the superstitions that ruled at the time, it made me glad to live in the 21st century. Although I would happily time travel again. This was the first book that I have read by Gulland and it won't be the last. I found it hard to put Mistress of the Sun down, although I knew how the story ended. Here's hoping that Gulland gives us more books from this period. I would love to read her take on Louis XIV's relationship with Madame de Maintenon, his morganatic wife.