Histoire de Madame De Luz; anecdotte du règne d'Henri IV - Pinot Duclos, Charles 1704-1772 (The Hague Hondt, de, 1741)
Through a vivid portrait of a woman of sovereign innocence, Duclos denounces the hypocrisy of a prudish society. Madame de Luz is a sort of libertine Princess of Cleves, a moralist's novel that is also a praise of femininity.
Madame de Luz is one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom of Henry IV, virtuous and loyal to her husband. She is secretly in love with the Marquis de Saint-Geran, but tries to forget this passion.Her husband, the Baron de Luz, is involved in a plot led by the Maréchal de Biron, Governor of Burgundy, to overthrow Henry IV. Arrested, the Baron de Luz is threatened with the death penalty. Convinced of his innocence and determined to free him, Madame de Luz intervenes with one of the judges at the trial, Monsieur de Thurin, a suitor whom she had once spurned. Thurin is ready to clear the Baron's name if she accepts his advances. Madame de Luz resists and then gives in to the blackmail. Her life then turns upside down. She has committed a sin from which she will never recover.
Ex libris E. Jabel (manuscript)
Keywords: Henry IV -- King of France -- 1553-1610; 18th Century (1701-1800); Novel; France