The Vicomte de Bragelonne

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The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is the third and last of the d'Artagnan Romances following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. It appeared first in serial form between 1847 and 1850. In the English translations the 268 chapters of this large volume are usually subdivided into three, but sometimes four or even five individual books. In three-volume English editions, the three volumes are entitled "The Vicomte de Bragelonne", "Louise de la Vallière" and "The Man in the Iron Mask." Each of these volumes is roughly the length of the original The Three Musketeers. In four-volume editions, the names of the volumes are kept, except that "Louise de la Vallière" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" are pushed down from second and third to third and fourth, with "Ten Years Later" becoming the second volume. There are usually no volume-specific names in five-volume editions.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Though there are many digressions, the heroes of the novel remain d'Artagnan and the rest of the original musketeers who find adventure, perform fantastic feats, grow older, and - with one exception - come to the ends of their lives.

The action takes place between 1660 and 1673 and has as its thematic background the transformation of Louis XIV from a weak boy king dominated by his ministers and mother to the Sun King in absolute control of the French state. Near the beginning of the first part of the novel, "The Vicomte de Bragelonne," d'Artagnan resigns from the King's service in disgust over the young King's weakness. Louis would like to help Charles II retake the throne of England but allows one of his ministers to talk him out of giving such aid. The novel then shifts its focus to events in England as d'Artagnan - who is trying to make his fortune, and Athos - who is fulfilling the duty that he believes men owe to monarchs, restore Charles II to the English throne. Near the end of the novel, d'Artagnan resumes his role in the service of Louis XIV.

The first part of the novel also introduces the titular hero, young Raoul de Bragelonne. Raoul is the son of the Comte de la Fère, once known as Athos, one of the original musketeers. De Bragelonne is based on the real Raoul de Braguelongue who was in love with Louise de la Vallière. As in the novel, Louise de la Vallière preferred Louis XIV. Raoul plays a relatively small role in the novel. He spends a small part of his time fighting and much more of his time infatuated with Louise, absent in England, or depressed over being "betrayed" by Louise. Ultimately, he fails to recover from Louise's betrayal and ends his own life with rash behavior in battle.

"Louise de la Vallière", the middle section of the novel, is devoted in large part to romantic events at the court of Louis XIV. To a lesser degree, this portion of the novel shows the efforts of Louis to dominate the nobility by depicting the King's steps to impoverish the powerful superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet.

The last part of the novel is famous, in part, for building its plot around Dumas' hypothesis that the Man in the Iron Mask was Louis XIV's identical twin brother. Aramis plots to seize power and save Fouquet from being unfairly destroyed by Louis by replacing Louis with his twin. Aramis entangles the trusting Porthos in his scheme. Aramis and Porthos are forced to flee when Fouquet rescues Louis. Despite Fouquet's rescue, Louis ultimately orders d'Artagnan to arrest Fouquet and to arrest and execute Porthos and Aramis. D'Artagnan considers Fouquet an honorable and honest man and considers it dishonorable to be ordered to arrest his friends. Frustrated and dishonored, d'Artagnan again resigns from the King's service but, after Louis explains that it is he, the King, who holds power and must run the country, d'Artagnan stays.

Porthos suddenly loses the strength in his legs and dies after he and Aramis have stymied the King's forces, killing over a hundred men, and very nearly escaped. Aramis finds his way to Spain. Athos dies of grief over his separation from Raoul and Raoul's death. Aramis ultimately turns up as the Spanish ambassador to France. And, on March 23, 1673, at the Siege of Maastricht, d'Artagnan is killed just as he reads the letter making him Marshal of France.