LA Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627-1693

Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans -- a cousin to Louis XIV and known in her time and to posterity as "la Grande Mademoiselle" -- is still remembered in France today for her unconventional life and heroic deeds. Her Memoires, first published in 1718 and initially suppressed in France, remains a major source of information on the period's political and social events as well as a page-turning melodrama of court intrigue. Mademoiselle also left behind a number of other works -- literary portraits of the prominent personalities of her day, letters, satirical short stories, and two essays on religion -- which, together with her memoirs, stand as an unusual achievement for any seventeenth-century woman, let alone one so high-born and wealthy.

In La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France, Vincent Pitts presents a comprehensive and engaging biography of this remarkable woman which draws upon Mademoiselle's writings and his own impressive command of her times. Viewed through her writings, the events of Mademoiselle's life offer a unique perspective on several aspects of