Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy--commonly known as "Bussy-Rabutin"--was a French memoirist. His political career ended with the scandal of his kiss-and tell memoir "Histoire amoureuse des Gaules" (1665), in which he had mercilessly slandered the women of the French court. The subsequent affair and secret marriage of his daughter, Madame de Coligny, with Henri-Francois de la Rivière in 1679 only served to exacerbate his problems. The affair generated considerable contemporary interest and was discussed by Madame de Sevigne among others. The previously married Madame de Coligny became pregnant by De la Riviere and a secret marriage was contracted without the consent of Bussy-Rabutin; the enraged father went to court to seek annulment, which served to reinforce his deep unpopularity in France and to generate an interesting culture of manuscript dissemination of the facts of the case and of copies of the lovers' letters, which were widely circulated in manuscripts such as this one.
Summary note
Manuscript on paper, 184 pp., in a single neat hand throughout, within red ruled borders. This is an early manuscript concerning the Bussy-Coligny-Rivière episode and the ensuing litigation, and also contains 36 love letters largely unpublished in print. The full contents are: "Factum de Mr. de la Rivière, pour soutenir son mariage avec la Marquise de Coligni, contre le comte de Bussy Rabutin, son pere" [including the proofs of madame de Colligny's pregnancy]; "Les Lettres de la Marquise de Coligni et celles de Mr. de la Riviere"; "Le Jugement rendu sur cette affaire au Parlement de Paris en 1684 qui confirme la validite du mariage"; "Une lettre de Mr. l'Abbe de St. Maixant contre le Sr. de Bussy Rabutin." The manuscript is undated but appears to be of the late seventeenth or very early eighteenth century. Bound in eighteenth-century diced russia, gilt, with panelled spine and black morocco label--probably English rather than French, but it is hard to tell whether the manuscript itself is of French or English origin.
Provenance
Bears the armorial bookplate of David Dundas (1749-1826), British royal surgeon and apothecary.
Source acquisition
Purchase, 2014. AM 2015-34.
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