Contents

Preface

PART 1  Mysteries: Remains of a Hidden Life

Words on Paper

In Search of a Person behind the Words

PART 2  A France of Broken Families

Families

Politiques

Breaking with His Father

Aristocratic Paris

Libertine Paris

A Political Education

PART 3  Gearing Up for War: Mathematical Inspirations

Breda

Military Engineering

Meeting Isaac Beeckman

The Holy Roman Empire

Anxious Dreams

Curious Meetings

PART 4  War and Diplomacy in Europe

Into Bohemia

To Hungary and Disaster

The Baltic and Return to The Netherlands

Again in France

Paris and the Rosicrucian Scare

The Valtellina and Rome

PART 5  The Struggle for France

Problems with the Cardinal

The Campaign for La Rochelle

Confrontation and Departure

The Meetings

Confrontation and Conversation

Becoming a Sectarian

Feeling Threatened

Exile

PART 6  Not Yet Concluded

Chronological Table

List of Early Correspondence and Publications

Acknowledgments

For Further Reading

Notes

Index