Thus, in the present tale, though it would have been far more
convenient not to have spread the story over such a length of time,
and to have made the catastrophe depend upon the heroes and heroines,
instead of keeping them mere ineffective spectators, or only engaged
in imaginary adventures for which a precedent can be found, it has
been necessary to stretch out their narrative, so as to be at least
consistent with the real history, at the entire sacrifice of the
plot. And it may be feared that thus the story may partake of the
confusion that really reigned over the tangled thread of events.
There is no portion of history better illustrated by memoirs of the
actors therein than is the Fronde; but, perhaps, for that very reason
none so confusing.

Perhaps it may be an assistance to the reader to lay out the bare
historical outline like a map, showing to what incidents the memoirs
of the Sisters of Ribaumont have to conform themselves.

When Henry IV. succeeded in obtaining the throne of France, he found
the feudal nobility depressed by the long civil war, and his
exchequer exhausted. He and his minister Sully returned to the
policy of Louis XI., by which the nobles were to be kept down and
prevented from threatening the royal power. This was seldom done by
violence, but by giving them employment in the Army and Court,
attaching them to the person of the King, and giving them offices
with pensions attached to them.

The whole cost of these pensions and all the other expenses of
Government fell on the townspeople and peasantry, since the clergy
and the nobles to all generations were exempt from taxation. The
trade and all the resources of the country were taking such a spring