A Candlelit Evening on Castle Grounds

Vaux-le-Vicomte was once the site of a spectacular party, the story of which has lived on over the centuries not so much for the great wine or rocking string quartets, but rather for the fate the host suffered shortly after the party at the hands of one distinguished guest. The host was Nicolas Fouquet and this guest none other than Louis XIV. The party was held 350 years ago in 1661, on an August night probably very much like the one when I visited.

Backtrack a few years: the year was 1648 and, not terribly unlike today, the state treasury of France had collapsed. A few years later, in 1653, Cardinal Mazarin appointed Nicolas Fouquet financial secretary in response. The position suited Fouquet, who came from a wealthy family of political advisors and who was both ambitious and intelligent, very well. Unfortunately, Cardinal Mazarin, who was both First Minister and godfather of the king, was a greedy man in a powerful position, and made Fouquet's work difficult.

Upon Cardinal Mazarin's death in 1661, the year of the aforementioned party, the crown still laid in financial disarray. Mazarin's private secretary, Colbert, began planting seeds of suspicion about Fouquet with the king after being threatened by the financial secretary. By May, the king was determined to be rid of Fouquet. Slyly, the king masked his intentions and threw Fouquet off by announcing he would visit Fouquet's château, Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Here's where the party comes in. Of it, Voltaire wrote, "On August 17 at 6 in the evening, Fouquet was king of France; at 2 in the morning, he was nobody." In fact, Fouquet's arrest came three weeks later as the buzz about his party was likely just dulling down. His trial for embezzlement lasted three years; however, despite Colbert's scheming, he could not be proven guilty. The judges ruled for Fouquet to be banished, a ruling that effectively functioned as an acquittal.

In the only instance of interference of this kind in French history, the king stepped in to harshen his sentence—having urged the judges to give the death penalty—and ordered Fouquet jailed for life. Prison for the rich at the time operated differently than it does today, with each wealthy prisoner getting his own manservant. As Fouquet's manservant often fell ill (if life for the servants in the old days wasn't a tough deal already, imagine having to be a servant in jail), he received special permission to have an additional prisoner serve him: the legendary Man in the Iron Mask, who was housed in the same prison at the time. The identity of the Man in the Iron Mask is still unknown, although many intriguing theories abound, including the idea that he was the true father of Louis XIV. Fouquet remained in prison until his death in 1680.

Fouquet's castle, an inspiration for Versailles, stands to this day as a monument to his short-lived glory. These days, Vaux-le-Vicomte is open to the public, accessible by RER or train (RER D, station: Melun) followed by a bus to the château. On the first and third Saturdays of the month, the castle reopens at 8pm, lit by thousands of candles for an evening visit that concludes in a fireworks show at 11pm. One word: enchanting.