M. Bonacieux

Also known as: Bonacieux / Jacques Michel Bonacieux / Monsieur Bonacieux / the citizen / the ex-mercer / the mercer · Family: civilian · Role: landlord · First appears: Chapter 8

As the landlord of D’Artagnan and an ex-mercer, M. Bonacieux reminded his young tenant that three months’ rent was unpaid, while also having ventured funds in the voyage of Jean Moquet. In chapter 8, after Mme. Bonacieux was abducted, he told D’Artagnan of the plot involving the queen and Buckingham and recognized the suspected abductor as D’Artagnan’s man of Meung; fearing their encounter, he fled the lodging. The next day, D’Artagnan pushed the half-stupefied mercer among the Guards, and M. Bonacieux was taken to the Bastille, where he was accused of high treason.

At the Bastille, M. Bonacieux learned that Mme. Bonacieux had escaped through his actions, while he and Athos were ordered to be guarded more closely. Richelieu then revealed her meeting with Madame de Chevreuse and Buckingham, released M. Bonacieux with a purse of one hundred pistoles, and made him spy upon his wife. He served Richelieu openly, refusing Mme. Bonacieux’s request to carry a letter to London because “I acknowledge no other power but that of the great man whom I have the honor to serve.” He resolved instead to inform the Comte de Rochefort, who became his best friend, and planned to obtain the letter for Richelieu himself.

After discovering a missing moneybag, M. Bonacieux cried for help, and later secretly left home in the opposite direction after D’Artagnan departed. He described M. de Laffemas as the cardinal’s executioner, while D’Artagnan came to see him as an enemy who had presided over Mme. Bonacieux’s abduction. In 1627, after leaving for the Louvre at seven in the evening, M. Bonacieux never appeared again in the Rue des Fossoyeurs; Richelieu had him informed that he would provide for him so that he would never want for anything.