Lovely women dominated Seventeenth Century France. They enslaved kings by their beauty, hampered statesmen by their intrigues and destroyed the peace of Europe for an idle whim or a fleeting emotion. International treaties were casually arranged between kisses, and wars were lightly conceived between the perfumed sheets of beds not endowed with the blessing of the Church.<br><br>White hands pulled strings and entangled everything in an impalpable web of intrigue. Soft lips asked indiscreet questions. Rounded bodies blocked the sword of justice and lured men to conspiracy. It was a kaleidoscopic scene, shifting from boudoir to battlefield, from dungeon to throne-room. And through it, vivid and challenging, Goddess of Mischief and Queen of Hearts, moved Marie de Rohan, Duchesse de Chevreuse.<br><br>Connected by blood or marriage with the noblest houses of France, Marie de Rohan stepped naturally into the lime-light. She held it by her intrinsic verve and charm. Not content with being one of the acknowledged beauties of her day, she was possessed of a political acumen that made her an influential figure at three European courts.