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

The life and achievements of magnanimous French duchess and governor Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot du Pont de Courlay are finally explored in intimate detail after centuries of being overlooked. Already married and widowed by 18, Marie would grow to become the head of the Richelieu family, inheriting the land and wealth of her uncle, the famed Cardinal Richelieu. Her skill, cleverness, and foresight allowed her to go toe to toe with political opponents such as Marie de Medici, play pivotal roles in the French civil war, reform the Catholic Church in France, and gain then-unheard-of power for a woman in being granted both a duchy and a governorship. This biography transports readers to seventeenth-century France, absolutely immersing them in the enmeshment of royal politics, religion, and gender roles as Marie masters and changes each one of them forever, cementing her place in French history. Perfect for readers of French, women's, and religious history as well as biography.

Historian McShea (Apostles of Empire) paints a fine-grained portrait of Cardinal Richelieu's niece and protégé, Marie de Vignerot (1604--1675). Married at age 16 to a military officer "she barely knew and did not love," Marie was widowed at 18 and gained "a degree of independence rare for a woman so young." She initially sought to join a convent of cloistered nuns in Paris, but was dissuaded by her uncle, who was well on his way to becoming one of France's most feared and powerful men. Drawing on Marie's letters and other primary sources, McShea portrays a softer, more caring side of Richelieu than most accounts, noting that he encouraged his "self-punishing" niece to grow "more comfortable with an ordinary, worldly life," and that he "instructed her on how to behave in courtly company." Before his death in 1642, Richelieu made Marie his "major heiress and administrator of his staggering fortune," and McShea highlights how the duchess's religious devotion informed her patronage, including her support for Saint Vincent de Paul and his "intensive service to the poor," her promotion of women writers and historical accounts of female Catholic saints, and her nurturing of Richelieu's legacy. Well-researched and accessible, this is an enlightening look at a remarkable woman and a pivotal period in French history. (Mar.)

Much has been written about the French clergyman and statesman Cardinal Richelieu, but McShea (Apostles of Empire) focuses on his favored niece, Marie de Vignerot, the daughter of Richelieu's sister Françoise. Always interested in advancing his family's standing in the French court, Richelieu arranged an advantageous marriage for his niece. But Marie was widowed and childless after only two years. She was 18. Retreating to a nunnery, she planned to take religious vows, but was brought back to the French court by Richelieu, who convinced her to leave the religious order behind. Appointed a lady-in-waiting to French King Louis XIII's mother, Marie de Medici, Marie de Vignerot began to make her mark in French society, eventually becoming highly influential both at court and as a patron of the arts and literature. This book is a meticulously researched work that reads like a novel. It is exceptionally well-written with rich details of 17th-century France. VERDICT This is a fine work that sheds light on the nearly forgotten story of a consequential figure in French history.--Rebecca Mugridge