Who was Nicolas Fouquet? The superintendent of finances, a creation of Richelieu and Mazarin, became the most powerful figure in the kingdom. Vaux le Vicomte, probably his political mistake, the squirrel wanting to shine, yet in France and especially with Louis XIV there is only one sun. He would pay very dearly for it.
He had enemies like Chancellor Séguier and especially Colbert. The struggle between the squirrel and the snake would have its outcome in a trial where Fouquet would save his head. He also had his friends, men and women of letters, his mother, his wife, and the queen mother Anne of Austria. If Louis XIV sought his downfall so eagerly, it was due to his desire to govern alone, to be the absolute sovereign.
Absolutism would be one of the causes of Fouquet’s fall, and it would also affirm royal power and contribute to its decline. We are not there yet; Fouquet is judged and defends himself. It is his trial that is described in this work: La fête Royale.
Alain Duménil offers us with this first novel a beautiful page of our history, whose protagonists strangely resemble the political players of our time. A book to read to understand both the grand century and the intricacies of power and justice in the old regime where defense rights were limited.
Thierry Jan, writer
