Page "Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné" Paragraph 4

On 4 February 1651, Henri de Sévigné was mortally wounded in a duel with the Chevalier d ' Albret after a quarrel over his mistress, Mme de Gondran, and died two days later.

Though only twenty-four when her husband died, Mme de Sévigné never married again.

Instead, she devoted herself to her children.

She spent most of 1651 in retirement at Les Rochers, but returned to Paris that November.

Thereafter, she divided her time between the city and the countryside.

In Paris, she frequented salons, especially that of Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances to King Louis XIV.