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How Roger de Bussy-Rabutin shocked Louis XIV's repressed court

Roger portrait, Bussy castle | Arnaud 25 / CC-BY-SA
Castle Bussy-Rabutin castle

In 1602, when the Rabutin family owned the estate, they found a very old castle raised in 1380, a building surrounded by moats and flanked by 4 towers. Baron François de Rabutin immediately demolished these medieval vestiges and re-raised a brand new castle instead. The building work was completed in 1649, when his grandson Roger de Rabutin inherited the estate. Let's talk about this monsieur de Rabutin!

He was count of Bussy and cousin of the famous writer madame de Sévigné! Ha was also a libertine, an erudite who wrote Histoire amoureuse des Gaules ("The love story of Gaul"), a kind of satire which mocked at the sex cases of kings and noblemen... A "friend" of him printed some issues of this book. But the printer pinched a copy and made hundreds and hundreds copies... Oh my gosh! The Court heard about those books and was chocked: the satire was way too spicy! De Rabutin was locked up for 13 months... and exiled in his castle! The exile lasted 17 years... Meanwhile, he entirely redecorated his house, as the salle des Devises ("Mottos' room"), the salle des hommes de guerre ("Warriors' room", where we can see Du Guesclin and Turenne portraits)... Don't forget the "Golden tower", where Rabutin was painted as god Mars! King invited him in Versailles in 1682, but, Rabutin, still ashamed of his disgrace, stayed forever in his castle...

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!