The youth of Madame de Longueville, or new revelations of court and convent in the seventeenth century

The portrait traces the formative years of a highborn seventeenth-century French noblewoman, following her religious education in a Carmelite convent, her social life in courtly salons and country retreats, and the intellectual exchanges of the précieuse circle. It draws on private letters and portraits to illuminate her wit, style, family ties—especially with a prominent military brother—and her political engagement during the Fronde. Chapters interweave personal correspondence, contemporary literary and artistic milieu, and episodes of love, patronage, and salon conversation to explain her character and public actions within the complex social and political fabric of the era.