Dumas probably intended this book as a comic novel, set near the end of
the reign of Louis XIV, in Paris, covering the period 1706-1717. It is
most interesting today because it shows Dumas' first attempt to grapple
with themes and plot devices employed with greater success two years
later, in the Comte de Monte Cristo.
Tancrede, the youthful Chevalier d'Augilhelm, impoverished provincial
aristocrat, is sent to Paris by his family to sue for the rights to an
immense fortune left by a distant relative. He learns that he can win
his case only by abandoning his true love, Constance, and by agreeing to
marry a woman unknown to him.
His new wife, Sylvandire, proves to have ambitions at court, and, when
thwarted by Tancrede, arranges with an influential courtier to have
Tancrede arrested and indefinitely imprisoned. Tancrede becomes #169 in
the Bastille, and continually dreams of escape and revenge on his
unfaithful wife and her powerful lover.
Tancrede is eventually released and gains his revenge through clever
strategems. He marries Constance, only to be confounded when
Sylvandire, now wealthy, powerful, and annoyed, returns to Paris.
Frequently very amusing, but marred by a misogynist streak and Dumas'
tendency to portray women as either saints (like Constance) or monsters
(like Sylvandire or Milady de Winter).
