François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, prince de Marcillac (September 15, 1613 – March 17, 1680), was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs, as well as an example of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman. He was born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court oscillated between aiding the nobility and threatening it. Until 1650, he bore the title of prince de Marcillac.
La Rochefoucauld was somewhat neglected in t...
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François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, prince de Marcillac (September 15, 1613 – March 17, 1680), was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs, as well as an example of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman. He was born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court oscillated between aiding the nobility and threatening it. Until 1650, he bore the title of prince de Marcillac.
La Rochefoucauld was somewhat neglected in the matter of education, at least of the formal kind. He joined the army in 1629, and almost immediately established himself as a public figure. He had been married a year before to Andrée de Vivonne. For some years Marcillac continued to take part in the annual campaigns, where he displayed the utmost bravery, though he never obtained credit for much military skill. Then he met Madame de Chevreuse, the first of three celebrated women who influenced his life.
Through Madame de Chevreuse he became attached to the Queen, Anne of Austria, and in...
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