Baisemeaux

Family: Bastile · Role: governor · First appears: Chapter 1

In 1610, as governor of the Bastile, Baisemeaux regarded Aramis as a respected prelate and a friend to whom he owed a debt of gratitude. He paid Aramis the first third of the 150,000-livre sum, though their standing shifted: Baisemeaux came to feel himself inferior, while Aramis became his master.

By chapter 7, Baisemeaux received an urgent order to release a prisoner. He first decided to wait until dawn, but Aramis persuaded him to act that evening, while Francois attended them. Aramis then secretly replaced the paper. Baisemeaux held that “The king’s order is sacred;” and preferred D’Artagnan to Aramis, even as he acknowledged Aramis’s protection, friendship, authority, and future as a cardinal.

In chapter 8, Baisemeaux accepted the order as authorizing Philippe, or Marchiali, and brought him from the dungeon, declaring, “And now, monsieur, you are free.” In chapter 17, he followed Aramis’s commands to release Seldon and confined Louis XIV in the cell previously occupied by Philippe; two hours later, Louis XIV had been reduced to an apparently insane and isolated prisoner. By chapter 22, Baisemeaux capitulated to Fouquet and agreed to bring him to Marchiali, but Fouquet seized his keys and ordered him away from the prison staircase.