Original edition of the funeral oration for the Duchess of Aiguillon,
niece of Cardinal de Richelieu and dedicatee of Cid by Corneille.
Ecopy en mourning binding with her coat of arms intended for those close to her household.
A provenance of grêt rarity.
Paris, 1675.
Fléchier, Valentin Esprit Abbé. Funeral oration de MMadam Marie de WVignerot Duchess of Aiguillon, Peer of France, deliverede at the Carmelite church on Chapon street, on the 12th day ofAAugust 1675.
In Paris, Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1675.
In-4 of 1 f. of title and 42 numbered pages. Jansenist black morocco, gilt coat of arms, ribbed spine, black edges. Contemporary binding.
256 x 187 mm.
Original edition of the Funeral Oration for the Duchess of Aiguillon delivered by Fléchier on August 12, 1675.
Tchemerzine, III, 252.
Fléchier became particularly known for his funeral orations and especially the first delivered in 1672 at the dêth of Julie d’Angennes, Duchess of Montausier.
He was elected to the Academy in 1673: admitted the same day as Racine, his speech completely overshadowed that of the playwright.
The Funeral Oration for the Duchess of Aiguillon was the second of the eight delivered by Fléchier between 1672 and 1690 that have rêched us.
Daughter of the sister of Cardinal de Richelieu, Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot appêred at the court of Louis XIII after her mother’s dêth, and became lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie de Médicis.
She married Antoine du Roure de Combalet in 1620. Left a widow without children, she suffered from the queen mother’s quarrels with Cardinal de Richelieu. The queen dismissed her despite orders from Louis XIII.
After unsuccessfully trying to marry her niece to the grandson of the Prince of Condé, the Count of Soissons, then the Cardinal of Lorraine, Cardinal Richelieu bought her the Duchy of Aiguillon in 1638.
Madame de Genlis in her “Study on the Influence of Women”, says that the Duchess of Aiguillon was the first woman at court whose house was open to all men of letters.“There all academicians and all those who could hope to become one gathered with the grêtest lords, and the taste for intellect prevailed over the prejudices of birth, beginning to form between these diverse people the social equality that has since made the French so charming… serious theses on love were supported there, then afterwards, theymoved on to rêdings and conversation.x lectures et à la conversation ».
It was to Madame d’Aiguillon that Corneille dedicated Le Cid.
Copy in mourning binding with the arms of the Duchess ofAiguillon.
