Surrounded by extensive woods the small town of Chimay is situated in the province of Hainaut, near the French border. Jean Froissart, chronicler of the Hundred Years' War, spent his last years in Chimay; another famous inhabitant of the town was Thérése Tallien (1773-1835), an enigmatic
personality, who went down in history as "Notre-Dame de Thermidor". As the wife of the proconsul of the French republic, Tallien, she encouraged him to resist the tyrant Robespierre, which later led to his downfall. Following her divorce from Tallien she married François-Joseph de Caraman, Prince of Chimay, and turned the château at Chimay into a meeting place for lovers of music and theater.