Historical portrait of Madame de Sévigné for the 400th anniversary of her birth, through the châteaux of Brittany, Burgundy and Provence linked to her life
Madame de Sévigné, 400 years: six châteaux to follow the letter-writer, from Les Rochers to Grignan
Born 400 years ago, Madame de Sévigné wrote her letters between Brittany, Burgundy and Provence. Six châteaux to follow her, from the manor of Les Rochers to Grignan, where an exhibition on 17th-century fashion is open until 31 March 2027.
Editorial journal · Carte des Châteaux ·
Année Sévigné 2026
On 6 February 1671, two days after her daughter left for Provence, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal took up her pen. She would rarely put it down again: two or three letters a week for twenty-five years, over a thousand preserved, published after her death and now among the great texts of the French language. One imagines her in Paris, in the salons of the Marais. Yet much of this correspondence was written far from the capital, in châteaux in Brittany, Burgundy and Provence. In this year marking the 400th anniversary of her birth, and as Grignan Château opens an exhibition on 17th-century fashion, here are six estates to follow the marchioness, from the land of her ancestors to the collegiate church where she rests.
“I am going to tell you the most astonishing, most surprising, most marvellous, most wonderful, most triumphant, most staggering, most unheard-of, most singular, most extraordinary, most incredible… thing…”
The Marchioness’s Circle
Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, comtesse de Grignan
1646 - 1705
Eldest daughter of the marchioness, renowned as one of the most beautiful women at court, she married the comte de Grignan in 1669 and followed him to Provence in 1671. The main recipient of her mother’s letters, she was also the mother of Pauline de Simiane, through whom much of this correspondence would later be preserved.
Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy
1618 - 1693
Born at the château d’Épiry, an officer and member of the Académie française, he was the marchioness’s first cousin and correspondent. His *Histoire amoureuse des Gaules* earned him the Bastille and a long exile in Burgundy, where he covered the walls of his château de Bussy-le-Grand with over three hundred annotated portraits.
Jeanne Frémyot, baronne de Chantal
1572 - 1641
Paternal grandmother of the marchioness, married in 1592 to Christophe de Rabutin-Chantal, she lived at Bourbilly until her widowhood in 1601. A disciple of François de Sales, she co-founded the Order of the Visitation in 1610; she was canonised in 1767.
Christophe de Coulanges, abbé de Livry
mort en 1687
Maternal uncle and guardian of the marchioness after her grandfather’s death in 1636, he managed her affairs and accompanied her on her stays. She nicknamed him ‘le Bien Bon’ and had the octagonal chapel at Les Rochers built for him in 1671.
Planning your autumn on the marchioness’s footsteps
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