The Shadow Queen A Novel (37 page)

Gabriel de Rochechouart, Duc de Vivonne-Mortemart, referred to here as the Duc de Mortemart—father of Athénaïs and member of the great Mortemart family of Lussac in Poitou. One of the four First Gentlemen of the King’s Bedchamber. Named Governor of Paris in 1669.

Louis-Victor de Rochechouart, Marquis de Vivonne—the Duc de Mortemart’s only son, and Athénaïs’s older brother, referred to here as Vivonne. A First Gentleman of the King’s Bedchamber and later General of the Galleys.

Françoise de Rochechouart-Mortemart, here Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente—one of the Mortemart daughters. Adopting the name Athénaïs, she marries and becomes known to history as Madame de Montespan. Two years younger than Claudette, she is eleven when the story opens.
During her first confinement, Athénaïs goes under the name Madame de Sconin.

Louis-Alexandre de La Trémoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier—Athénaïs’s ill-fated fiancé, forced to flee France in order to escape punishment for his involvement in a duel in which his good friend the Marquis d’Antin was killed.

Louis Henri de Gondrin de Pardaillan, Marquis de Montespan—younger brother of the Marquis d’Antin, in the wake of whose death (see above) he marries Athénaïs.

Louise de la Vallière—the King’s first mistress, referred to scornfully by Athénaïs as the “Limping One.” An extraordinary horsewoman, and profoundly pious, she eventually was able to fulfill her desire to become a Carmelite nun.

Marquise de Brinvilliers—although her case preceded the Affair of the Poisons by several years, her crimes (of poisoning her husband, her brothers and a sister, and even her father) sent a current of fear and suspicion through the world of the Court and set the stage for the rash of arrests, trials, and executions that followed.

Madame de Maintenon (“the Widow Scarron”)—caretaker of Athénaïs’s illegitimate children by the King … and, much later, secretly the King’s second wife.

Marquis de Louvois—Secretary of State for War and in charge of the Affair of the Poisons; a powerful man with a vendetta against Athénaïs.

THE WORLD OF THE THEATER

Playhouses

NOTE: The theaters are listed in the order of their appearance in the story, not according to their creation.

The Marais Theater (commonly called the Marais)—located in eastern Paris, in the area known as the Marais, meaning “marshland,” which it had been in former times. Originally a jeu de paume (indoor tennis court), it was Paris’s second public playhouse.

Theater of the Bourgogne—built in 1548 in what became Les Halles, the commercial center of Paris, the Bourgogne was Paris’s (and France’s) first public playhouse. During the mid-seventeenth century it was the home of neoclassical tragedy.

Theater of the Palais-Royal (Molière’s troupe)—known from 1660 for the comic performances given there by a troupe of Italians and that of Molière, who shared the space.

The Comédie-Française—in 1680, by royal decree, the two major theater companies were merged to create the Comédie-Française company.

Players

NOTE: The players’ names given are, for the most part, their adopted stage names, not their legal names.

Brécourt (Guillaume Marcoureau)—playwright and actor, excelling at comedy; initially with the Marais.

Étiennette, known as Mademoiselle—an actress and Brécourt’s wife, initially with the Marais.

Floridor (Josias de Soulas, Sieur de Prinefosse)—director, chef, and principal actor at the Bourgogne.

Denis Buffequin—in charge of special effects at the Marais, called Keeper of Secrets.

Monsieur la Roque (Monsieur Pierre Petitjean)—director with the Marais.

La Thorillière (François Le Noir)—a principal actor at the Marais, married to the director’s daughter.

Marie—an actress, initially with the Marais, La Thorillière’s wife and Monsieur la Roque’s daughter.

Marquise Thérèse du Parc—a popular actress who captured the heart of Jean Racine, as well as, it is claimed, those of Molière and Corneille. Initially with the Palais-Royal, she moved to the Bourgogne.

Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)—director, principal actor, and playwright of the Palais-Royal theater.

Madame Babette—a cleaning lady, noted for her wigs.

Zacharie Montfleury—a tragic actor with the Bourgogne, noted for his girth, whose studied dramatic style is ridiculed by Molière.

Playwrights and Composers

NOTE: It’s not always easy to separate players from playwrights. Quite a few, like Molière, both acted and wrote for the stage. Brécourt and Montfleury, players mentioned above, both wrote plays as well as acted.

Pierre Corneille—“the great and good Corneille,” famous author of
The Cid.
He is fifty-five years old when Claudette first meets him in Paris.

Thomas Corneille—Pierre Corneille’s brother; twenty years younger, Pierre regards him as a son. A prolific and successful popular playwright, the brothers often worked together.

Jean-Baptiste de Lully (Giovanni Battista di Lulli in his native Italy)—dancer, composer, proponent, and ultimate controller of opera in Paris.

Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)—director and principal actor, as well as playwright of the Theater of the Palais-Royal, excelling in comic satire. He is sixteen years younger than Pierre Corneille.

Jean Racine—a young, brilliant writer of tragedies, but an unethical person. He is thirty-three years younger than Pierre Corneille, his chief rival, and seventeen years younger than Molière, who gave him his start by staging his first two tragedies. Racine betrays them both.

OTHER FIGURES OF IMPORTANCE

Père d’Ossat—a priest attached to Athénaïs’s household.

Xavier Breton—one of the King’s valets and Claudette’s special friend.

Blucher—a male midwife, possibly the first, based on Julien Clément.

La Reynie—Lieutenant General of Police; considered to be the founder of the first modern police force.

Marie Angélique de Fontanges—the none-too-bright young woman who catches the eye of the King. At only twenty, she dies after the birth of a stillborn child, and was rumored to have been poisoned by Athénaïs.

Miguel—Athénaïs’s doorman.

Madame Audouin—midwife in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

The Church

Bishop Bossuet—a theologian and brilliant orator, renowned for his sermons. As Court preacher, he wielded a powerful religious influence.

Père La Chaise—the King’s confessor.

Père Lécuyer—a priest at Versailles who refuses to grant Athénaïs absolution.

La Voisin Household and the Criminal World

Madame Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin (“La Voisin”)—fortune-teller, palm-reader, abortionist, poisoner, witch.

Antoine Monvoisin—her husband, an unemployed drunk.

Marie Marguerite Monvoisin—their emotionally unstable teenage daughter.

Monsieur Lesage (also known as Monsieur du Buisson, Monsieur Adam Coeuret)—con man and poisoner.

Abbé Étienne Guibourg—priest who performs Black Masses; a poisoner.

Château de Suisnes

Louise de Maisonblanche (“Sweet Pea”)—Claudette’s daughter by the King.

Philippe de Maisonblanche—the girl’s foster father and caretaker of the Château de Suisnes.

Gabrielle de la Tour (“Gaby”)—Philippe’s wife and the girl’s foster mother.

François Pingré—owner of the château.

Christophe and Humbert—twin boys, Winter Swallows in the care of Gaston and Pilon.

Père Petit—the village priest.

ABOUT CURRENCY

Authorities differ regarding the value of the various coins of seventeenth-century France, complicated by the fact that coins minted in Paris were worth ten to twenty percent more than coins minted in Tours. But basically:

A denier was the smallest unit.

12 deniers = 1 sou (or sol).

20 sous (or sols) = 1 livre. (Note: there was no actual coin called a livre.)

3 livres = 1 silver écu, a large coin with the image of a shield on it.

6 livres = 1 gold écu; this coin was rare by the seventeenth century.

10 livres = 1 louis d’or (a gold louis). First minted in Paris in 1641, it had the image of the King on one side and a fleur-delis on the other.

In more general terms, one livre at this time would be worth approximately $40 U.S. A pichet of wine cost four sous, a meal of bread and meat with weak beer, five. The cost of one candle or a pair of wood sabots, one livre. Later in the century, it cost a gold louis for a seat in the first loge of a Molière play and thirty sous for the parterre.

∘   Wife

•  Official mistress

◊   Occasional liaison

⧫   Legitimate

★   Legitimated, officially recognized

⨯   Illegitimate, never officially recognized

GLOSSARY

Affair of the Poisons—the name given to the massive arrests, trials, and executions of people accused of poisoning and sacrilege (practicing black magic).

Alchemy—the study and craft of turning base metals into gold.

Amatory Mass—a Black Mass performed for the purpose of influencing a loved one.

Amphitheater—tiered benches opposite the stage, between the standing parterre and the front boxes. (Note, however, that the precise location of the amphitheater is debated.)

Angel Water (L’Eau d’Ange)—a fashionable seventeenth-century scent based on myrtle.

Assistants (or Helpers)—Viagra-like herbs believed to enhance sexual performance. (Also see
Blister beetle
and
Love powder.
)

Beignet—fried yeast dough, often sprinkled with sugar; similar to a doughnut, but shaped into a ball or square and without a hole.

Black Mass—a travesty of the Mass, celebrating Satan.

Blister beetle—a beetle that produced an irritating chemical that caused skin to blister (hence its name). The dried, crushed bodies of the beetle, when eaten, caused inflammation of the genital organs and was thus used as an aphrodisiac.

Burning Chamber (Chambre Ardente)—a basement room in which people suspected of poisoning and sacrilege during the Affair of the Poisons were tried. It was called the Burning Chamber because of all the candles needed to light it.

Burnt wine—spiced mulled wine, heated by plunging a hot poker into it.

Cachet—the royal seal, as in
lettre de cachet.

Canonical hours—official prayers of the Catholic Church. Bells calling for prayer served as a way of telling time throughout the day and night.

Lauds (Dawn Prayer)—3:00 a.m.

Prime (Early Morning Prayer)—6:00 a.m.

Terce (Morning Prayer)—9:00 a.m.

Sext (Midday Prayer)—noon

None (Mid-afternoon Prayer)—3:00 p.m.

Vespers (Evening Prayer)—6:00 p.m.

Compline (Night Prayer)—9:00 p.m.

Matins—(Midnight Prayer)

(Note that these times and patterns change from place to place and time to time.)

Claque—friends and family of a performer, who cheered and applauded; sometimes hired.

Clôture annuelle (recess)—a theater’s annual three-week recess around Easter. Although no plays were performed during this period, it was during this break that the next season was planned, new works prepared and changes made to the plays in a troupe’s extensive repertoire. It was also the period when players renegotiated their annual contracts, and new players were carefully considered.

Code of Chivalry—the Knights Code of Chivalry, developed during the Middle Ages, entailed valor, courtesy, sagacity, prudence, honor, honesty, faith, truth, charity, among a number of other virtues.

Deus ex machina—a Latin expression meaning “gods from the machine.” In Greek plays, a crane was used to raise or lower gods onto the stage. More figurative, now, it’s an improbable device used in a play to miraculously save the day.

The Dutch War—(1672–1678) a war which eventually pitted the Dutch Republic, Austrian Habsburgs, Brandenburg, and Spain against France, England, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne, and Sweden. Louis XIV considered the Dutch to be trading rivals, seditious, heretics, and an obstacle to French legal claims on the Spanish Netherlands.

Fanatics—those who applauded a particular actor or actress; this is the origin of the word
fan.

Farce—an endless variation on a theme, often involving sexual antics. The word is derived from the Latin
farsa,
which ironically means suffering.

Garçons de théâtre—theater servants, stagehands or errand boys who worked for a troupe, running errands for the actors.

Girdle book—a book tucked into a belt or hung at the waist.