The Marquise de Sévigné (Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, 1626-1696) was one of the most important society women of the 17th century. She became famous for the letters she wrote to her daughter, the Countess de Grignan (1646-1705).
These letters, written in a flowing and pleasant style, are still considered today an essential primary source for historians studying the reign of Louis XIV, thanks to their almost daily account of everything that happened at the king’s court (such as the death of the chef Vatel or the Affair of the Poisons, which shook Paris).
A Walking Tour of the Northern Marais in the Footsteps of the Marquise
This walking tour is a kind of companion route to the Marais walking tour I published earlier. While the previous route focused mainly on the central and southern Marais, this one will mostly take you through the lesser-known northern Marais, where we’ll visit places where Madame de Sévigné’s friends lived, and where she herself lived and worked.
Instead of a map: under each stop’s heading you’ll find its address, and every address is a link. Click it, and the place will open right away in Google Maps.
Église Saint-Élisabeth
To start the tour, head to the Temple metro station. After you exit the metro, walk along Rue du Temple and step into Église Saint-Élisabeth, at number 195. This is the only 17th-century church in the northern Marais that survived the French Revolution. The church is all that remains of a convent that once stood in the area, and it belongs to the Knights of Malta.
Madame de Sévigné certainly knew this church, not only because her noble friends sent their daughters there, but also because it was under the patronage of Cardinal de Retz (Jean-François Paul de Gondi, 1613-1679), one of her close friends and a relative of her husband.
During your visit, don’t miss the beautiful 17th-century Flemish panels, which were brought here in 1945 from Arras. The panels contain finely crafted wooden figures depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments, and they’re one of the lesser-known treasures of Paris.
The House of Mademoiselle de Scudéry
Leave Église Saint-Élisabeth and head south on Rue du Temple until you reach the intersection with Rue de Bretagne. Turn left and walk straight ahead, enjoying the beauty of the garden and the town hall of the 3rd arrondissement (both date from the Napoleon III era). Turn right onto rue de Beauce, and a few steps later turn left onto Rue des Oiseaux, where you’ll find a charming corner building with a tiny garden.
This is where Mademoiselle de Scudéry (Madeleine de Scudéry, 1607-1701) lived, a friend of Madame de Sévigné and the owner of one of the most famous literary salons of her time. Although the building was modest, every Saturday a group of high-ranking nobles and intellectuals would climb its stairs to take part in the famous evenings held in her home.
Although Madame de Scudéry’s home was quite modest compared to the noble residences around it, her small garden was famous for the acacia plants and the birds she kept there (including a parrot), which gave the street its name (Rue des Oiseaux, “Bird Street”). The birds became so well known that the famous philosopher Leibniz (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646-1706) wrote a poem about the parrot that lived there.
Madame de Scudéry wholeheartedly believed in platonic love and devoted her full energy to promoting it. In her novel Clélie, she created the Map of Love (Carte de Tendre), filled with villages, roads, mountains, and lakes, each one representing a feeling a person passes through on the way to love.
Ninon de Lenclos (Ninon de Lanclos, 1620-1705) mocked the salon’s regulars, calling them the “Précieuses” of love, since they talked about it endlessly but never actually did anything about it… Molière spotted the comic potential in this salon and based his famous comedy “Les Précieuses ridicules” on it. I really wanted to bring you a translated version of this comedy, but unfortunately I couldn’t find one. Still, if you understand French, I recommend watching this version:
Marché des Enfants-Rouges
From Rue des Oiseaux you can enter the Marché des Enfants-Rouges through its side entrance. This is the oldest market in Paris still in operation today, and it’s named after an orphanage that once stood at 90 Rue des Archives, whose children wore red coats (there was also an orphanage for girls, who wore blue coats, which is why this one was called Les Enfants Rouges, “The Red Children”). The market isn’t connected to Madame de Sévigné, but since you’ve made it this far, I highly recommend wandering among its stalls and eating at one of the restaurants there.
Pascal’s House and the Musée Picasso
rue Charlot, and 5 rue de Thorigny
After you finish visiting the Marché des Enfants-Rouges, head out to Rue Charlot, named after the 17th-century developer who built much of the streets in the area. Take a leisurely walk among the galleries and mansions from the 17th and 18th centuries (like the one at number 33, or the home of the Marquise de Polignac at number 28). Keep going straight until you reach Rue du Perche, to number 7bis, where the widow Scarron, later the Marquise de Maintenon, once lived.
Turn left onto Rue Saintonge, which also has quite a few houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. At number 13 lived the famous philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), whom Madame de Sévigné knew, and it was here that he worked on the problem of the vacuum (in 1651 his father died and the family had to leave the place because of debts). Turn right onto Rue Poitou, and then right again onto Rue Vieille du Temple.
Keep going straight until you reach the gardens of Hôtel Salé, home today to the Musée Picasso. Madame de Sévigné certainly knew the nouveau riche gentleman who built this splendid mansion, and like any good noblewoman, she looked down on him (which, of course, didn’t stop her from marrying her grandson off to the daughter of a wealthy merchant, while uttering the immortal line: “Sometimes one must fertilize the soil”).
By the way, if hunger strikes, feel free to stop at Breizh, at number 109, and eat one of the best crêpes you’ll ever have.
The House of the Poet Scarron
After you finish admiring the gardens of Hôtel Salé, go to Rue de la Perle and then to Rue de Thorigny so you can take in the beautiful courtyard of the mansion. Go back to Rue de la Perle and continue onto Rue du Parc Royal. Notice the beautiful estates on your left (I especially like the red one at number 6) and the small garden on your right, which contains remnants of statues from the 16th century (if you look closely, you’ll spot the salamander carved in stone, the emblem of King Francis I).
Turn left onto Rue de Turenne, named after Louis XIV’s most talented general, whose death in battle Madame de Sévigné described in her letters to her daughter. His estate once stood at number 66, but unfortunately only a small part of the original building has survived.
Continue to number 56 and you’ll find the home of the poet Scarron (Paul Scarron, 1610-1660), which you can identify by the statue of the Virgin at the corner of the building at number 58. The poet, whose illness left his body twisted into the shape of the letter Z, ran a famous literary salon here. Despite suffering constant pain, he managed to keep his sense of humor, write poetry, and invent the burlesque genre.
At 41, he married Françoise d’Aubigné, who was 15 at the time, and who served more as a caretaking nurse than as a wife. It was here that Françoise met Madame de Sévigné and became one of her close friends. After she was widowed in 1660, Françoise became the governess of Louis XIV’s children by Madame de Montespan, and years later she became his mistress and, finally, his wife. Today we know her as Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719).
Madame de Sévigné’s House
Retrace your steps to rue de Sévigné, named after the marquise. At number 29 you’ll see the Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, where the Le Peletier family lived for hundreds of years. The last member of the line, Louis-Michel (1760-1793), was a revolutionary who voted for the execution of Louis XVI. However, on the very day of Louis XVI’s execution, he was murdered by one of the king’s former bodyguards while drinking coffee at the Palais-Royal.
This building once housed the library of Paris, until it was moved in 1968 to the Hôtel Lamoignon, not far from here on rue Pavée. Today it’s part of the Musée Carnavalet, the museum of the history of Paris, and houses, among other things, exhibits on the French Revolution. And speaking of the Musée Carnavalet, walk a bit further and you’ll reach number 23, home to the Hôtel Carnavalet, where Madame de Sévigné lived for about 20 years.
I won’t go into detail about this house here, since I’ve already written about it at length, but if you’re lucky enough to be in Paris after the renovations are complete, you’ll be able to visit one of the rooms of the mansion dedicated to her memory.
Place des Vosges: The House Where Madame de Sévigné Was Born
After visiting the Musée Carnavalet, turn left onto Rue des Francs-Bourgeois and walk until you reach Place des Vosges. There, at number 1bis, Madame de Sévigné was born in 1626, and quite a few of her friends lived there at one point or another in their lives.
By the way, another event connected to Madame de Sévigné took place at Place des Vosges, or more precisely, to her grandfather, the Baron de Chantal. The baron, like quite a few nobles of his time, fought a duel at Place des Vosges, and had to flee Paris because Cardinal Richelieu had imposed the death penalty on anyone who fought a duel. Since the baron managed to escape, he was sentenced to death in absentia, and a doll bearing his name was hanged at Place de Grève (where the Hôtel de Ville stands today).
That same baron sent servants to take the body down from the rope, but he himself had to stay in hiding until 1642, when Cardinal Richelieu died.
The House of Ninon de Lenclos
After you finish visiting the square (and maybe eating chocolate mousse at Chez Janou, a few steps away), head east until you reach Rue des Tournelles. If you turn south, you’ll find the entrance to the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire of the Marais on your right. But I’ll ask you to continue a bit further south, until you reach number 36, where you’ll find a door with a mascaron (a sculpted head placed above windows or gates) shaped like a woman’s head.
This statue is of the famous courtesan Ninon de Lenclos, whom I mentioned earlier. This is where she lived, and where she hosted no small number of Paris’s high society, most of whom (including Madame de Sévigné’s husband and son) became her lovers.
Église Notre-Dame des Anges
Continue on Rue de Tournelles until you reach Rue Saint-Antoine. On the other side of the street, you’ll see the church of Sainte-Marie, founded, no less, by Madame de Sévigné’s own grandmother.
This church belonged to the Order of the Visitation, an order founded by the bishop of Geneva, Saint Francis de Sales (Saint François de la Sales), dedicated to educating poor girls and caring for the sick. In 1619, Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baroness de Chantal (Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot de Chantal, 1572-1641), Madame de Sévigné’s grandmother, arrived in Paris and decided to establish a branch of the order there.
The convent was first established in what is today the 13th arrondissement, but about two years later it “moved” to the Marais, spreading between the Bastille area and Rue du Petit Musc. The church you see today is all that remains of that convent, and it holds no small architectural importance: it was the first church in Paris built with a dome (a few years before the Val-de-Grâce church, about fifty years before Les Invalides, and more than a hundred years before the Panthéon).
The church became very popular thanks to the work of Jeanne Frémiot, which is why it’s no surprise that Nicolas Fouquet, the legendary finance minister and builder of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, asked to be buried there.
Madame de Sévigné’s grandmother, by the way, was canonized during the 18th century, making her the only married woman in history to receive that honor. This church now serves Paris’s Protestant community, so it’s closed most of the time. But if you happen to arrive during a service, you’ll be able to go inside.
Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis
After visiting Église Notre-Dame des Anges, feel free to continue west along Rue Saint-Antoine until you reach the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis.
Madame de Sévigné used to meet all of Paris’s high society at this church and catch up on the latest gossip. You can read more about this church in an article about Paris’s public restrooms, of all things (yes, there’s a connection :)).
Église Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais
Continue on Rue Saint-Antoine and from there onto Rue François-Miron. This street is full of fascinating places, which you can read about in my Marais walking tour, though they aren’t directly connected to Madame de Sévigné.
But if you continue to the end of the street, you’ll reach the church of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, where Madame de Sévigné got married, and where the poet Scarron, husband of her close friend who would later become Madame de Maintenon, is also buried. Since you’ve probably worn yourselves out by now, this is a good place to end the tour, with Scarron’s witty epitaph, which he wrote for himself:
He who now lies sleeping here
inspired more pity than envy,
and suffered death a thousand times
before he lost his life;
so, passerby, make no noise,
and take care not to wake him now;
for this is the first night
that Scarron can finally sleep.
Want to Visit Madame de Sévigné’s Château in Brittany?
Feel free to read Danny Ashkenazi’s fascinating and entertaining article, Madame de Sévigné’s Château, History’s First Blogger.
Did You Enjoy the Tour and Want More Information About the Marais?
I recommend reading my article about the Marais, where you’ll find more walking routes and recommendations for restaurants, hotels, and apartments.
Some of the streets on this route, like rue Charlot and rue de Saintonge, also appear in my walking tour of the northern Marais, with stops that weren’t included here.
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