The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later

Did You Know?

• The seventh The Adventures of Wishbone book, The Mutt in the Iron Muzzle, is a retelling of The Man in the Iron Mask.
• The three-part fantasy novel The Viscount of Adrilankha (2002–2004) by Steven Brust is loosely based on The Vicomte de Bragelonne.
• A BBC serial titled The Man in the Iron Mask aired in 1968 in 9 installments and is now lost.

Plot

The narrative runs from 1660 to 1667, as Louis XIV transforms from a child monarch into the Sun King. D'Artagnan resigns as lieutenant of the Musketeers, believing the young king weak-willed, and aids the exiled Charles II in regaining the English throne, unaware that Athos is also working toward the same goal. Charles II is restored, and d'Artagnan is richly rewarded. In France, Cardinal Mazarin dies, and Louis assumes power with Jean-Baptiste Colbert as finance minister. Colbert, who hates his superior Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances, tells the king that Fouquet is secretly fortifying Belle Île. Louis persuades d'Artagnan to rejoin his service, promising a substantial salary and promotion to Captain of the King's Musketeers upon his return from investigating Belle Île. Louis also accepts an offer from Charles II, relayed by Athos, to marry Louis's brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans to Charles's sister Henrietta Anne Stuart. D'Artagnan confirms the fortifications, noting that Porthos is ostensibly in charge but the drawings show Aramis's handwriting. Aramis, suspicious, sends Porthos to warn Fouquet while tricking d'Artagnan into searching for Porthos around Vannes. Porthos warns Fouquet in time, and Fouquet cedes Belle Île to the king, humiliating Colbert. D'Artagnan is made Captain of the King's Musketeers anyway. Princess Henrietta arrives escorted by the second Duke of Buckingham, met by an embassy including Raoul de Bragelonne, his friend Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche, and the Comte de Wardes. Buckingham is madly in love with the princess, while Guiche also falls for her. Philippe, though little attracted to women, becomes jealous of Buckingham and has him exiled after the wedding.

Reception

Robert Louis Stevenson, in his essay A Gossip on a Novel of Dumas's, wrote that the character of D'Artagnan provides the spirit of morality, which he considered one of the chief merits of the book. Arthur F. Davidson, in Alexandre Dumas: His Life and Works, argued that The Vicomte is truly the story of Porthos, whose character was informed by Dumas's own experiences and his father's, and that readers who skip the pages describing Porthos's end miss the best part of the Musketeer cycle.