Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux

Born at La Rochelle, he belonged to a wealthy middle-class Huguenot family; the name des Réaux was derived from a small property he purchased in 1650.

Disliking his profession, he decided to seek an alternative income by marriage with his cousin Elisabeth de Rambouillet.

It has been said that the malicious intention of Tallemant's work may be partly attributed to his bourgeois extraction and that the slights he received are avenged in his pages, but independent testimony has established the substantial correctness of his statements.

It seems that the change was not entirely disinterested, for Tallemant, who had suffered considerable pecuniary losses, soon after received a pension of 2,000 livres.

Tallemant had begun Mémoires pour la régence d'Anne d'Autriche, but the manuscript has not been found.