Toivo David Rosvall

Interesting life of Hortense Mancini (1646-1699), one of the "Italian" nieces of Cardinal Mazarin, the effective regent of France during the adolescence of King Louis XIV. (Mazarin was the partner/lover of the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria.) Hortense was her uncle's favorite niece; he arranged for her to inherit the bulk of his vast wealth, and for a while she was indisputably the richest woman in Europe.

But at the age of 14, Hortense was forced to marry an older man who was besotted with her. After bearing him four children before she turned 20, she fled from him and his unending efforts to control every aspect of her life. She spent the next decade of her life as a scandalous "femme seul," wandering Europe and trying to escape the clutches of her jealous husband. Fortunately for her, she ultimately found refuge in the England of the "Merrie Monarch" Charles II, and for a while became one of his favored mistresses.

"The Mazarine Legacy" was published in 1969, and is written in a popular, romantic, and overblown idiom that is quite dated. But it's also very pleasurable in its own way.… (més)