[1] Born at Epiry, near Autun, he represented a family of distinction in Burgundy, and his father, Léonor de Rabutin, was lieutenant general of the province of Nivernais.

He fought with some distinction both in the civil war and on foreign service and, buying the commission of mestre de camp in 1655, he went on to serve under Turenne in Flanders.

He served there in several campaigns and distinguished himself at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) and elsewhere; but he did not get on well with his general, and his quarrelsome disposition, his overweening vanity and his habit of composing libellous chansons made him eventually the enemy of most persons of position both in the army and at court.

This book, a series of portraits and accounts of the intrigues of the chief ladies of the court, witty enough, but still more ill-natured, circulated freely in manuscript and had numerous spurious sequels.

In a letter of apology and explanation to the king Bussy claimed that a false friend who had asked to borrow it briefly (Madame de la Baume) had copied it and altered it without his knowledge.

His voluminous correspondence yields to few collections of the kind in variety and interest, except to that of Madame de Sévigné, who is indeed represented in it to a great extent, and whose letters first appeared in it.

[citation needed] Bussy wrote other things, of which the most important, his Genealogy of the Rabutin Family, remained in manuscript till 1867, while his Considerations sur la guerre was first published in Dresden in 1746.