Madame de Sévigné is well known in France as some of the letters she wrote to her daughter have been published, and used as a reference for historians. She was born Marie de Rabutin Chantal on the 5th of February 1626 in Paris. Her father died when she was only 18 months old, during a battle against the English. She lost her mother when she was 7. Fortunately, her uncle, Christophe de Coulanges, Priest of Livry, gave her a much more elaborated education than was customary. She married the Marquis de Sévigne on 6 August 1644. She referred to him as “the worst husband in the world”. He was killed during a duel in 1651; a consequence of a love affair. If we believe different notes, Madame de Sévigné was “neither a perfect beauty, neither perfectly beautiful”, but her spirit was remarkable. “When we listen to you, use to say Madame de la Fayette, we forget that something is missing in regularity of your features”. She was fully involved in the society gatherings, and an exceptional mother for her daughter, who in 1668, married the Comte de Grignan (nominated just after Lieutenant General of Provence). The departure of her daughter was, for Mme de Sévigné, a total desperation. She then had only one reason to be alive: writing, nearly everyday, long letters, as she had for her daughter a passion which exceed normal maternal love. Madame de Sévigné joined her daughter in Grignan, at the end of her life, and died there in April 1696: she was 70.
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