Bussy                                       
and the Château de Bussy-Rabutin

Bussy-le-Grand is a complicated place. It consists of a series of hamlets with names like Rue du Vau, Rue du Château,
Rue de Pissot and Bussy-Rabutin. Confusingly, the castle is in the last of these, not the first.

The man to whom we owe the present shape of the castle was a distinctly odd character; well-born, brave, distinguished,
playful and indiscreet to the point of stupidity. Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, was born in 1618 and joined the army
at the age of sixteen. He soon succeeded his father as Colonel of a Regiment, but by 1641 his behaviour – especially his
pursuit of women – became such that he spent a few months in the Bastille.

During the civil wars of the 1640s and 1650s, Bussy-Rabutin at first joined the party of the Fronde against the King,
but after being told off by Condé, its leader, he went over to the King. Once in the royal army, he distinguished himself
by his courage and leadership, but made enemies of just about everybody by riotous behaviour, philandering and his habit
of writing amusing but libellous portraits of his contemporaries.

By 1659 the Nobility had gathered around Louis XIV and Bussy was among the brighter sparks at the court.
In that year, however, he got into real trouble by taking a prominent part in an orgy. Nothing unusual, really,
but it was during Holy Week. He was punished by the ultimate sentence of the day – banishment to his country estates.
Of course, he took his mistress, Madame de Montglat; and when she fell ill (as court ladies were inclined to do in the open air)
he composed for her a little book called Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules, a series of thinly-disguised and very rude slanders
on the ladies of the Court. This circulated clandestinely for a time, but inevitably it came to the attention of the King, and
Bussy-Rabutin was back in the Bastille. Paradoxically, in the same year his more sober writings got him elected to the
Académie Française.

After a year in the Bastille, it was back to exile – though without Madame de Montglat, whose concept of faithfulness did not
extend to a whole year. In the next seventeen years he returned to Court just once, and met a reception so frosty that he
decided exile was preferable. he wrote voluminous and amusing letters, and his Memoirs, which read like a historical romance
of the most frivolous type. And, which is more important, he set to work on Home Improvement. This was a family habit;
the 12th-century castle had been rebuilt in the 14th, and then added to many times between 1500 and 1640. Roger's talent,
though, was for interior decoration. There is a room filled with portraits of great soldiers – and if the King had known it
included Cromwell, the Bastille might have opened again; more characteristically, there is a room of Royal Mistresses,
and another lined with caricatures and comments on other noted beauties of the court For some reason, Madame de Montglat
comes in for especially severe criticism.

The château is now a National Monument, and well worth a visit.

Rue du Château

Bussy-le-Grand

Ferme de la Bretonnière