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Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné Biography

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné Image

SÉVIGNÉ, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de (1626–96). A French epistolary writer. She was born in Paris, Feb. 6, 1626. Her uncle and guardian, Christophe de Coulanges, Abbé de Livry, gave his niece an excellent education; among her tutors were Chapelain and Ménage. Her earliest letters are in response to Ménage’s professions of love. Among the close friends of her youth was the future Madame de la Fayette. The careful management of her guardian left her relatively rich at 18, when she married Henri, Marquis de Sévigné, a Breton gentleman, whom she loved better than he seems to have deserved. The Chevalier d’Albret mortally wounded him in a duel over Madame de Gondran, and he died in 1651. To her children Madame de Sévigné devoted the rest of her life, especially to the daughter, who did not worthily requite her affection.

Her social tact, good looks, vivacity, and charm made her very popular and brought her the homage of many distinguished friends, among them Turenne and the Prince de Conti. It was not till her daughter’s marriage (1669) that her letters became numerous. Count de Grignan was practically Governor of Provence, and Madame de Sévigné divided her time between Paris, Les Rochers, and visits, not always welcome, to her daughter. From 1677 to 1678 Madame de Grignan was chiefly in Paris, and the correspondence lagged. It was afterward resumed in quite its early volume. Mother and daughter were together also at Paris from 1691 to 1694, but it was at Grignan that Madame de Sévigné died, April 17, 1696.

The letters of Madame de Sévigné are unrivaled for their fresh charm, shrewd wit, and easy gayety of heart. They form an almost complete and familiar chronicle of the court and high society of the time (1669–1695). Their vivacity scarcely ever flags, whether she is telling of court life, of scenes at the baths of Vichy, or of country society and diversions. She writes spontaneously, sketches vivid pictures in a few rapid strokes, or gives in sparkling narrative the social happenings of the day, meanwhile unwittingly revealing her own character. Madame de Sévigné enjoyed some literary fame during her lifetime. Her letters, as edited by Regnier and others (Paris, 1862–68; 2d ed., 1887 et seq.), fill, with some other correspondence, 14 volumes, of which the first contains a Life, and two others (vols. xiii, xiv) a lexicon. This is supplemented by Capmas, Lettres inédites de madame de Sévigné (Paris, 1876). There are many other editions complete and partial, the first in 1726, the most noteworthy, by Monmerqué, in 10 volumes (ib., 1818–19).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 748.