A CHRONOLOGY OF FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

1613	15 September: in Paris, birth of François (VI), Prince de Marcillac (the future Duc de La Rochefoucauld; hereafter LR), son of François (V) de La Rochefoucauld and his wife, Gabrielle du Plessis-Liancourt.
1628	20 January: marriage to Andrée de Vivonne.
1629	First military campaign, in Italy.
1634	15 June: birth of his first child, François (VII).
1635	Temporarily banished from Paris for uncertain political reasons.
1637	November: imprisoned for a week in the Bastille and then banished to Verneuil for two years, as a result of his participation in a conspiracy led by the Duchesse de Chevreuse.
1642	4 December: death of Richelieu; Mazarin replaces him as chief minister.
1643	14 May: death of Louis XIII; the boy Louis XIV becomes king.
1646–51	Liaison with the Duchesse de Longueville, sister of the Great Condé.
1649–52	During the civil wars of the Fronde, LR sides with Condé, opposing Mazarin and Louis XIV.
1649	January–February: writes the Apologie de M. le prince de Marcillac, defending his opposition to Mazarin.
	19 February: seriously wounded at Lagny, during the siege of Paris.
1650	8 February: death of his father.
1652	2 July: severely wounded (and temporarily blinded) at the battle of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
21	October: Louis XIV returns to Paris and pardons the rebels.
1653	LR begins to write his Mémoires.
1655	April: birth of his last child, Alexandre.
1657–8	LR, Jacques Esprit, and Madame de Sablé begin to compose maxims.
1659	25 January: publication (anonymously) of his self-portrait.
	13 December: publication (anonymously) of 1: 1, the first of his maxims to appear in print.
1662	Two pirate editions of his Mémoires are issued in Holland; they provoke some public controversy, and LR disowns them.
1663–4	A pirate edition of his maxims is issued in Holland.
1664	27 October: publication of the first authorized edition (I) of LR’s Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes morales (hereafter Maxims).
1666	1 September: second authorized edition (II) of the Maxims.
1669	December: publication of the first part of Zayde, a collaborative novel written by Madame de La Fayette, Jean de Segrais, and LR.
1670	19 April: death of LR’s wife.
1671	January: publication of the second and final part of Zayde. After February: third authorized edition (III) of the Maxims.
1673–4	Begins to write the Réflexions diverses (Miscellaneous Reflections).
1674	17 December: fourth authorized edition (IV) of the Maxims.
1675	Early June: composes the portrait of Cardinal de Retz (RDA 3).
1677	12 October: publication of Jacques Esprit’s La Fausseté des vertus humaines (The Falsehood of Human Virtues).
1678	16 January: death of Madame de Sablé; her Maximes are first published a few months later.
	8 March: publication of Madame de La Fayette’s novel La Princesse de Cléves.
	6 July: death of Jacques Esprit.
	26 July: fifth and last authorized edition (V) of the Maxims.
1680	17 March: death of LR, in Paris.
1693	3 September: sixth edition (VI) of the Maxims.
1731	First publication of the Miscellaneous Reflections (in part).