successful. Before the king took La Valliere as his mistress, he was quite captivated by Henrietta, and it wasn't until the monarch's attentions shifted to La Valliere that she became receptive to De Guiche's advances. In 1670 she was sent to England to persuade Charles II to sign the Treaty of Dover, which he did, and was poisoned to death on her return.

Lambert: (1619-83) John Lambert, though trained as a lawyer, turned out to be one of the greatest soldiers of the English Civil War. He played a large roll in installing Cromwell as Lord Protector, but later turned against him. He led disgruntled soldiers against Richard Cromwell, and in October 1659 he dismissed the "Rump" Parliament, effectively taking control of the country himself. Monk defeated him in 1661 and he was sent to the Tower in 1662. He was later banished to Guernsey, where he lived out his life in confinement.

Laporte: (1603-80) Pierre de la Porte entered the queen's service in 1621. He helped her carry on correspondence with the Spanish court and was imprisoned for "treason" in 1637. When Anne of Austria assumed the Regency in 1643 he was returned to favor. He became Louis XIV's valet de chambre in 1645. His memoirs were one of Dumas's major sources of historical research.

La Valliere: (1644-1710) Francoise-Louise de la Baume le Blanc, later the Duchesse de la Valliere, was born near Amboise and became part of the entourage of the Duchesse d'Orleans at Blois. There it was rumored that a young man, later identified as Jean de Bragelonne, was in love with her. The affair did not progress far, but Dumas used it as his basis for the character of Raoul de Bragelonne. After the death of Gaston d'Orleans, she moved to Paris, where the Duchesse de Choisy proposed her as lady of honor to the new Madame (Henrietta). Soon afterwards the king took an interest in her, and she was his mistress from 1661-67. They had four children together. She was not considered terribly beautiful - she was slim, tall, and had blue eyes and bad teeth. She limped slightly, due to a badly set broken leg, but was reported to dance well. In 1670, after Madame de Montespan had replaced her, she retired from court life. She took the veil in 1674. The Oxford World's Classics edition of Louise de la Valliere, 1998, has her portrait on the cover. Many of the episodes between Louise and Louis, though perhaps chronologically displaced or condensed, were portrayed very accurately by Dumas, including the flight to the convent, the decision of the king and Madame to pretend that he was in love with her, and the king riding beside her carriage during the promenades.

Lorraine: (1643-1702) Philippe de Lorraine was called the Chevalier de Lorraine because he once intended to join the Order of Malta. He was the favorite of Philippe d'Orleans for many years, and he received military and ecclesiastical preference as a result. Like Philippe, he, too, was homosexual. He was heir to the Duchy of Lorraine, but stripped of his title in 1662. He protested, and was ordered to leave France. He assumed the title of Duke in 1675, and was recognized by every other European nation besides France.

Louis XIV: (1638-1715) Louis de Bourbon, "The Sun King," assumed the throne in 1643 after the death of Louis XIII. Anne of Austria ruled during his infancy, with Gaston d'Orleans as her Lieutenant-Governor and Mazarin as her first minister. Mazarin managed to not only preserve the monarchy through the Fronde, but also strengthen it considerably. Upon Mazarin's death in March, 1661, Louis determined to rule personally. With Colbert's assistance, he removed the corrupt Fouquet and declared himself the Sun King the following year. His rule of 72 years was the longest of any European monarch. Later in his reign, his wars threatened to bankrupt the state, as well as his legendary excesses, such as the great palace at Versailles. He is famous for the quote, "Je suis l'etat," meaning, "I am the State."

Madame: The title customarily given to the wife of the king's brother.
Until 1660 it was given to Gaston d'Orleans's wife, Marguerite. After
Gaston's death, it fell to Henrietta of England, and Marguerite was
referred to as the "Dowager Madame." See also "Monsieur."

Malicorne: (1626-94) Germain Texier was the Baron de Malicorne. Although
Dumas portrays him as the son of a syndic, he was in fact a squire of the
Duc de Guise by 1648. He was also the lover of Mademoiselle de Pons. He
married, in 1665, not Montalais, but a daughter from the first marriage of
Saint-Remy, Louise de la Valliere's step-father.

Mancini: (1640-1715) Marie de Mancini captured the young Louis XIV's heart in 1658, but he was forced to abandon her in favor of a political marriage to the Spanish Infanta Maria-Theresa. Her sister, Olympe (1639-1708), later became one of Louis's mistresses. Dumas misplaces the chronology slightly; Mazarin's nieces were removed from court in 1659. The meeting between Louis and Marie portrayed by Dumas was an amalgamation of two meetings, both of which occurred in 1659.

Manicamp: (1628?-1708) Louis de Madallan de Lesparre was the Seigneur of Manicamp, and later the Comte de Manicamp. He was a soldier, who fought with Conde at Lens, and a few other battles. He lost an arm at Charenton in 1652. Dumas took the name for one of his characters, but preserved nothing else.

Maria-Theresa: (1638-83) Maria-Theresa of Austria was the daughter of Philip IV of Spain. She married Louis XIV on June 6, 1660, to promote a French-Spanish alliance wrought by Mazarin. The king's constant infidelities caused her a great deal of anguish, as she was truly in love with Louis XIV. In real life she was quite pious and preferred to devote most of her life to good works. Dumas found her quite boring, and relegates her to a minor character.

Mazarin: (1602-61) Jules Mazarin was a diplomat in the service of the Pope when he was sent to negotiate with Richelieu in 1630. He became Richelieu's protege, and was naturalized French in 1639. In 1641 Richelieu had him named a cardinal as well as his own successor. It is generally accepted that he became Anne of Austria's lover, though not, as Dumas suggests, her secret husband. He was not, actually, an ordained priest. He raised taxes, aroused the jealousy of the nobles, and was an Italian - all of which made him extremely unpopular with nearly every class of the French people. Most considered him to be extremely self- serving and quite greedy. His private fortune is estimated at between 13 and 40 million livres. His diplomatic skills, however, were considerable. Abroad he furthered French interests in southern Germany by ending the Thirty Years War in 1648 and allied France with Cromwell in 1654. At home he maneuvered the monarchy through the Fronde, leaving it stronger as a result. The priest who attended him on his deathbed insisted that he died in the true faith, though he was reckoned during his life more of a philosopher than a Christian.

Michon, Marie: The pseudonym of the Duchesse de Chevreuse in The Three
Musketeers.

Monk: (1608-70) George Monk was a career soldier who served under Cromwell and, as a reward, was made governor of Scotland in 1654. In 1659, as disorder in England was rising steadily, he decided to step into the fray, and marched south in January, 1661, with 6,000 men. He arrived in London five weeks later, unopposed, but without revealing his motives. His decision to reinstate the Stuarts was probably influenced by popular opinion, though his true motives still baffle historians, and he met the returning King Charles II at Dover on May 23, 1661. Charles made him the Duke of Albermarle and gave him the highest offices in the state. Monk then retired to private life, but served as a naval commander in later wars with the