Angélique de Montmorency, Duchess of CHÂTILLON (1627–1695), wife of Gaspard IV de Coligny, a schemer during the Fronde and mistress of Condé (among other affairs). Letter from the author [September 20, 1653, to Cardinal Mazarin]; 4 pages, in-4. She defends herself to Mazarin (she had been involved in the plot to assassinate the cardinal, in order to bring Condé back to France). She denounces “the malice of my enemies,” particularly that of the Abbé de Cambiac, who, out of malice, sought “to have me accused by the two men whom they later put to death—after having tried in vain to do so with several others—he took it upon himself to have Ricous and Berto [Christophe Berthault and Jean Ricous, convicted and executed for plotting to assassinate Mazarin] that I had contributed to their imprisonment […] advising them to take revenge by implicating me in their testimonies,” and other malicious acts… “I consider myself the most unfortunate person in the world for having to offer any sort of justification for something so far removed from and so unworthy of me. I am deeply distressed by the inconvenience this would cause Your Excellency”…