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.

His half-brother had married a d'Angennes, and this connection secured for Tallemant an introduction to the Hôtel 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.

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