Madame de Longueville

Also known as: Duchess de Longueville / Duchess of Longueville / my sister / the duchess · Family: Frondeurs · Role: duchess · First appears: Chapter 8

Madame de Longueville was formerly suspected of an intimacy with Coligny, for whose sake Duc de Guise killed him in a duel. By chapter 8, she was politically connected with Prince de Marsillac and trying to turn him against her brother-in-law, Duc de Condé, whom she hated mortally; by chapter 9, Aramis was identified as her lover and a Frondeur: “now I have thee—thou art a Frondeur and the lover of Madame de Longueville.”

Through the following chapters, Prince de Marsillac recommended a young friend to her, and she joined Prince de Conti and others in supporting Broussel, later sending him fine fruit. She exchanged a letter with Prince de Condé, who had more than a brother’s affection for her and had confided in her. In Paris, she became a hostage for the Parisians, while Aramis suspected that D’Artagnan had seen him with her.

At the Hôtel de Ville, Madame de Longueville installed herself while expecting an heir of Duc de Beaufort. Her husband, Duc de Longueville, gained Pont-de-l’Arche, five hundred thousand francs for her, and royal baptismal honors for their son. A rival among the Frondeuses, Madame de Chevreuse, remained less open to persuasion, but in chapter 89 Madame de Longueville accepted the peace settlement after Aramis persuaded her.