The Three Musketeers (Translated by Richard Pevear) - Alexandre Dumas [318]
5.the wars of religion: A series of conflicts between rival Catholic and Protestant factions that devastated France throughout the sixteenth century and was finally brought to an end by Henri IV with the Edict of Nantes (1598), though the rivalries continued on a smaller scale long afterwards.
6.Tarbes: A slight inaccuracy: Tarbes is the main town of the Bigorre in the Upper Pyrenees, not in d’Artagnan’s native Béarn.
7.the duke: George Villiers, first duke of Buckingham (1592–1628, came to Paris in May 1625 as the ambassador of Charles I, to complete negotiations for the marriage of the English king to Henrietta, daughter of Henri IV and sister of Louis XIII. He was one of the richest and most powerful men of his time, owing to his influence over Charles I, but he was disliked by the English people. He will play a major role in what follows.
8.last night’s snail: In his fable “The Heron” (Fables VII, 4), La Fontaine (1621–95) describes how a picky heron scorns various kinds of fish during the day, and when he finally feels hungry is glad to settle for a snail.
9.Father Joseph: The Capuchin priest François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), known as l’Éminence grise (“the gray Eminence”), was an influential confidant and adviser of Cardinal Richelieu.
10.Luxembourg: The Luxembourg Palace, on the left bank of the Seine, built in 1615–20 for Marie de Medicis under the direction of the architect Salomon de Brosse, and decorated with paintings by Rubens, Poussin, and Philippe de Champagne, gave its name to the whole quarter. It now houses the national senate.
11.the League: La Ligue, or la Sainte Ligue (“the Holy League”), was a Catholic confederation founded in 1576 by Henri, duc de Guise (1550–88), to defend the Catholic faith against the Calvinists, and also to put himself on the throne in the place of Henri III. Henri IV made the league obsolete when he renounced Calvinism on mounting the French throne.
12.a Besme, a Maurevers…: A list of famous assassins: Besme and Maurevers of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (1519–72), a chief of the Protestant party and one of the first victims of the Saint Bartholomew massacre; Poltrot de Méré of the Catholic chief François de Lorrain, duc de Guise (1519–63); Nicholas de l’Hôpital, duc de Vitry (1581–1644), of the Italian adventurer Concino Concini, to whom Marie de Medicis had given the title of maréchal d’Ancre.
13.Bassompierre: François de Bestein or de Bassompierre (1579–1646) commanded the Swiss guards and was made maréchal de France for his victories in the service of Henri IV. His successes with women are mentioned in his own memoirs as well as in the testimony of contemporaries.
14.pluribus impar: A play on nec pluribus impar (“not equaled by any”), the motto of Louis XIV, the “Sun King.”
15. where Gulliver went…: That is, the land of Brobdingnag, described in Part II of Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift (1667–1745). D’Artagnan has this precocious thought a century before Swift’s satire was published.
16.Mme d’Aiguillon…Mme de Combalet: Dumas makes two women out of one, Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot, dame de Combalet, duchesse d’Aiguillon (1604?–75). She was indeed Richelieu’s niece and possibly also his mistress.
17.Chalais’s equerry: Henri de Talleyrand, marquis de Chalais (1599–1626), grand master of the king’s wardrobe and one of Louis XIII’s favorites, was among the lovers of the duchesse de Chevreuse. He was convicted of conspiring against Richelieu and decapitated.
18.M. de Laigues: Probably a reference to Geoffrey, marquis de Laigues (1614–74), captain of the guards and another of Mme de Chevreuse’s lovers, though he was only a boy at the time. Rochefort, who has already appeared in the novel and will play an important role in it, is largely Dumas’s invention.
19.Monsieur: Starting in the sixteenth century, the title of “Monsieur” was customarily given to the king’s younger brother, in this case Jean-Baptiste Gaston