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Claude de Bourdeille, comte de Montrésor

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Claude de Bourdeille, comte de Montrésor (c. 1606-1663) was a French aristocrat who played a role in the intrigues of the first half of the 17th century, and was also a memoir-writer. The comte de Montrésor was the grandnephew of Brantôme, the famous French writer. He became the second favorite of Gaston d'Orléans (younger brother of King Louis XIII) in 1635. Along with Gaston d'Orléans and the comte de Soissons, he planned the assassination of Richelieu at the camp of Amiens in 1636, a plan which eventually failed. The count de Montrésor was forced to spend the next six years on his estate, but in 1642 he entered into the plot of Cinq-Mars against Richelieu. On the failure of the plot, he escaped to England, and his estates were confiscated. Returning after Richelieu's death in 1643, he entered into the intrigues of the period just preceding the Fronde. He was exiled for his involvement in the cabale des Importants in 1643. He later returned from the safety of his exile in Holland to aid the duchesse de Chevreuse. He allied with the cardinal de Retz during the Fronde, and was eventually imprisoned in the Bastille, and then in Vincennes. Mazarin attempted to win him over in vain, but in 1653 he made his submission to the victorious minister, and from that time on played no part in public life. He left his Mémoires, published in 1663, which are written with candid frankness and are quite interesting for those interested in the period.

Mémoires

The Mémoires have been reprinted, following the original publication in 1663, by A. Petitot and Monmerque in the Collection des mémoires relatifs a l'histoire de France (Paris, 1876) and also by Michaud and Poujoulat in the Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France (Paris, 1836). The original Mémoires du Comte de Montrésor is available in the special collections of several libraries around the world.

Petitot, C. B., Petitot, A., Monmerqué, L.-J., & Delbare, F.-T. (1819). Collection complète des mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France, depuis le règne de Philippe-Auguste, jusqu'au commencement du dix-septième siècle; avec des notices sur chaque auteur, et des observations sur chaque ouvrage. Paris: Foucault.
Michaud, J. F., & Poujoulat, J. J. F. (1836). Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France, depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu'à la fin du XVIIIe; précédés de notices pour caractériser chaque auteur des mémoires et son époque; suivi de l'analyse des documents historiques qui s'y rapportent. Paris: L'Editeur du commentaire analytique du code civil.