The Rival Queens

by Nancy Goldstone

  Here “I advised him”: Ibid.

  Here “It pleased God” Ibid.

  Here “Notwithstanding these precautions”: Ibid.

  Here “When the King my husband”: Ibid.

  Here “I told him I went according”: Ibid., 230.

  Here “He seemed to be greatly displeased”: Ibid.

  Here “The King and the Queen both wrote”: Ibid., 231.

  Here “The length of time I had been”: Ibid.

  Here “I had too long experience of”: Ibid., 231–32.

  Here “It was with some difficulty”: Ibid., 232.

  Chapter 18. A Royal Scandal

  Here “Whoever becomes the ruler of a free city”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 22.

  Here nicknamed him Narcissus: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 227.

  Here “I kiss a million times”: Williams, Queen Margot, 271.

  Here “beautiful angel, a beautiful miracle”: Viennot, Marguerite de Valois, 194.

  Here “I beg you very humbly, think what credit”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 135.

  Here “professed much in fine language”: Ibid., 137.

  Here “If you were here you would be”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 224.

  Here “I beg you very humbly to receive this”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 137–38.

  Here “You say that there will be”: Williams, Queen Margot, 285–86.

  Here “My Son, I was never so astonished”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:290–91.

  Here “The primary object of his visit”: Holt, The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle During the Wars of Religion, 158.

  Here “whatever it pleased the king”: Ibid., 168.

  Here “not wanting to drive his brother”: Ibid., 173.

  Here “Let it never be said”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 144.

  Here “There is no longer justice”: Ibid., 140.

  Here “Triumph, triumph over my too”: Williams, Queen Margot, 288.

  Here Brantôme noted that she: Viennot, Marguerite de Valois, 192–93.

  Here “two million in gold”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:279.

  Here “so covered with embroidery”: Ibid.

  Here “All those poor soldiers”: Holt, The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle During the Wars of Religion, 179.

  Here “Everything is falling apart”: Ibid.

  Here “I find that my expenses”: Ibid., 180.

  Here “in a bed lighted by”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 143.

  Here “so rapturous a game”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 144.

  Here “one on top of the other”: Holt, The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle During the Wars of Religion, 183.

  Here “My said brother… has gone”: Ibid., 188.

  Here “I have never seen this court”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:304.

  Here “The Queen of Navarre is pregnant”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 229.

  Here “Please God that on me alone”: Ibid., 230.

  Here “to turn him away from his promises”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 147.

  Here “naming so precisely”: Williams, Queen Margot, 293.

  Here “deliver the Court from her”: Ibid.

  Here “Miserable wretch, do you dare”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 232–33.

  Chapter 19. The Queen’s Revolt

  Here “It is necessary for a prince”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 43.

  Here “It is an affront which no princess”: Williams, Queen Margot, 297–98.

  Here “were it not for the meddlers”: Ibid., 302.

  Here “Madame, [I] implore you”: Ibid., 299–300.

  Here “I beg you do not abandon”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:293.

  Here “Kings are often liable”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 237.

  Here “love-affairs, which are carried on”: Williams, Queen Margot, 303.

  Here answering to the name of Corisande: The name comes from the fourteenth-century work Amadis de Gaule. Corisande was a romantic heroine in the story.

  Here “I see very clearly”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 159.

  Here “The day on which he [Épernon] arrives”: Williams, Queen Margot, 308–9.

  Here “A man’s religion could not be”: Ibid., 309.

  Here “fallen very ill”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 163.

  Here “many other designs”: Ibid.

  Here “A villain has endeavored”: Williams, Queen Margot, 313n.

  Here “I beg you, before you leave”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:294–95.

  Here “in order that she whom we have”: Williams, Queen Margot, 320.

  Here “having reason to mistrust the King”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 164.

  Here “I have not failed to speak”: Williams, Queen Margot, 315.

  Here “What a woman!”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 248.

  Here “she had been so troubled”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:327.

  Here “We are well advertised”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 261.

  Here “I hear now that our Majesties”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:326.

  Here “Nobody in the world”: Ibid., 327.

  Here “treat the Queen of Navarre”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 253.

  Here According to both Brantôme and Aubiac’s brother: For Brantôme’s version of this story, see Brantôme, Oeuvres Complètes, 8:69–71. For the letter written by Aubiac’s brother, see Viennot, Marguerite de Valois, 220.

  Chapter 20. Prisoner of War

  Here “Fortresses may or may not be useful”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 92.

  Here “Very few or no courtiers”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 262.

  Here “If I were to repeat”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 183.

  Here “tragic designs”: Ibid.

  Here “the most rigorous punishment”: Williams, Queen Margot, 329.

  Here “I hear it said”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 177.

  Here “d’Aubiac must leap the rock”: Ibid., 179.

  Here “She would rather go away”: Ibid.

  Here “certain that the King was the cause”: Ibid.

  Here “Tell Canillac not to budge”: Williams, Queen Margot, 331.

  Here “The more I examine the matter”: Ibid., 331–32.

  Here “treated like the poorest”: Ibid., 333.

  Here “threw herself at their feet”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:340.

  Here “who had brought her into”: Ibid.

  Here “would never consent to such”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 183.

  Here “The Marquis de Canillac”: Williams, Queen Margot, 333.

  Here “not to go about any more”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:339.

  Here “in consideration of the very signal”: Williams, Queen Margot, 335–36.

  Here “I do not intend to fail”: Ibid., 334–35.

  Here “the sun alone could enter”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 264.

  Chapter 21. Three Funerals and a Mass

  Here “How laudable it is for a prince”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 81.

  Here “The marquis swore”: Viennot, Marguerite de Valois, 233.

  Here “The hate of the people”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:346.

  Here “of the strange favors”: Carrol, Martyrs and Murderers, 271.

  Here “Long live Guise!”: Ibid., 274.

  Here “He who loves the master”: Ibid.

  Here “certain that the King of France”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:366.

  Here “put almost absolute authority”: Ibid., 375.

  Here “Seeing a thing of such importance”: Ibid., 380.

  Here “He would not dare”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 290.

  Here “Fool,” he said: Ibid., 291.

  Here �
�Traitor! You will die for it!”: Ibid.

  Here “Good day, Madame, I beg”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:394–95.

  Here “In spite of the great trouble”: Ibid., 396.

  Here “Fool! Knave! Puppet!” Freer, Henry III, King of France and Poland, 3:76.

  Here “Oh madame, madame!”: Ibid., 85.

  Here “O God, this is too much!”: Ibid.

  Here “condition of health in her”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 2:397.

  Here “Five months ago I was condemned”: Pitts, Henri IV of France, 141.

  Here “May my crown flourish”: Freer, Henry III, King of France and Poland, 3:109.

  Here “king of all France”: Pitts, Henri IV of France, 169.

  Here “in secret a Catholic”: Ibid., 170.

  Here “What a great king!”: Ibid., 182.

  Here “My respects to your master”: Ibid.

  Chapter 22. The Return of the Queen

  Here “In as much as the legitimate prince”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 8.

  Here “to kill the Queen of Navarre”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 193.

  Here “good favor and protection”: Ibid., 200.

  Here “the kindly disposition of the King”: Williams, Queen Margot, 347.

  Here “my extreme contentment… as can be desired”: Merki, La Reine Margot et la Fin de Valois, 391. Original quote: “ce m’a été un extreme contentement de la resolution que vous avez prise d’apporter au bien de nos affairs… touchant votre pesion et au payment de vos dettes, je vous ferai bailer telles et si sûres expéditions et assignations que le saurez desirer.” For all Marguerite’s correspondence to Henry concerning the divorce, see Marguerite de Valois, Mémoires et Lettres, 300–43.

  Here “Now that the world has abandoned”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 216.

  Here “Never does she miss”: Ibid.

  Here “Madame Marguerite of France”: Ibid., 224.

  Here “has as many men as she wishes”: Ibid., 217.

  Here “She is very anxious”: Ibid., 218.

  Here “I have been induced to undertake”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 29–30.

  Here “Never did I consent willingly”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 270–71.

  Here “to make her the most wretched”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 206.

  Here “Ah! The wretched woman!”: Williams, Queen Margot, 359.

  Here “both His Most Christian Majesty”: Ibid.

  Here “My Sister—The persons”: Williams, Queen Margot, 359–60.

  Here “good will dedicated”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 209.

  Here “The happy news”: Ibid.

  Here “that fat banker’s daughter”: Ibid.

  Here “The chief care that I have”: Ibid., 210.

  Here “my ark of refuge”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 274.

  Here “From your Majesty I received”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 228.

  Here “contained as much falseness”: Williams, Queen Margot, 367.

  Here “It is easy to see”: Ibid., 368–69.

  Here “If I ever were possessed”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 27–28.

  Here “There were many doors”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 244.

  Here even kidded her: For this anecdote, as related by L’Estoile, see Merki, La Reine Margot et la Fin de Valois, 413. Original quote: “disait qu’à son arrivée le roi l’avait requise de deux choses, l’une que pour mieux pourvoir à sa santé elle ne fît plus, comme elle avait coutume, la nuit dujour et le jour de la nuit; l’autre, qu’elle restreignît ses libéralités et devînt un peu ménagère de son bien. Du premier, elle promit au roi d’y apporter ce qu’elle pourrait pour contenter Sa Majesté, encore qu’il lui fût fort malaisé, pour la longue habitude et nourriture qu’elle en avait prise; mais qu’au regard de l’autre il lui était du tout impossible, ne pouvant jamais vivre autrement et tenant cette libéralité de sa race.”

  Here “Vous soyez la bien venue”: Williams, Queen Margot, 370.

  Here “How handsome you are!”: Ibid.

  Here A chronicler related: For the story of Marguerite playing with the dog, see Merki, La Reine Margot et la Fin de Valois, 414.

  Here “Monseigneur, an assassination”: Ibid., 374.

  Here “I also betook myself”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 236.

  Here “After these distinguished gentlemen”: Ibid., 236–37.

  Here “magnificent and sumptuous”: Ibid., 240.

  Here “It’s nothing”: Pitts, Henri IV of France, 329.

  Here “Queen Marguerite caused a beautiful”: Williams, Queen Margot, 382–83.

  Here “On March 27”: Ibid., 385.

  Epilogue

  Here “There is a crowd as great”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 246–47.

  Here “a prudent ruler ought not”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 75.

  Here “a great feigner and dissembler”: Ibid., 76.

  Here “I have no ambition”: Mariéjol, A Daughter of the Medicis, 247.

  Selected Bibliography

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  Baillon, Charles, Comte de. Histoire de Louise de Lorraine, Reine de France, 1553–1601. Paris: Chez Léon Techener, 1884.

  Beeching, Jack. The Galleys at Lepanto. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

  Bourbon, Antoine de, and Jeanne d’Albret. Lettres D’Antoine de Bourbon et De Jehanne D’Albret. Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1877. Full text at: http://archive.org/stream/lettresdantoined00antouoft#page/n5/mode/2up.

  Bourdeïlle, Pierre de, and C. A. Saint-Beuve. Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. New York: Lamb Publishing Co., 1912.

  Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeïlle, seigneur de. Oeuvres Complète, publiées D’après les Manuscrits avec variantes et fragments inédits pour la Société de l’histoire de France par Ludovic Lalanne. Vol. 8, Des Dames. Paris: Chez Mme. Ve. Jules Renouard, 1875.

  Brézol, Georges. Henri III et Ses Mignons. Paris: Les Éditions des Bibliophiles, n.d. [191–?].

  Brion, Marcel. The Medici: A Great Florentine Family. Translated by Giles and Heather Cremonesi. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1969.

  Cabanès, Augustin. Le Cabinet Secret de l’Histoire. Paris: Albin Michel, 1905.

  Cameron, Keith. Henri III, A Maligned or Malignant King? Aspects of the Satirical Iconography of Henri de Valois. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1978.

  Carroll, Stuart. Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

  Castelnau, Michel de. Memoirs of the Reigns of Francis II and Charles IX of France… Done into English by a Gentleman. Facsimile of the 1724 British Library edition. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale ECCO, 2005.

  Catherine de’ Medici. Lettres de Catherine des Médicis. Ed. Gustave Baguenault de Puchesse. 5 vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1880.

  ______. Lettres de Catherine des Médicis. Ed. Hector de la Ferrière. 5 vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1880.

  Chamberlin, E. R. Marguerite of Navarre. New York: Dial Press, 1974.

  Crawford, Katharine. “Catherine de Médicis and the Performance of Political Motherhood.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 31, no. 3 (Autumn 2000), 643–73.

  ______. “Love, Sodomy, and Scandal: Controlling the Sexual Reputation of Henry III,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 12, no. 4 (October 2003), 513–42.

  Crompton, Louis. Homosexuality and Civilization. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.

  Diefendorf, Barbara B. The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Series in History and Culture. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.

  Diggs, Sir Dudly, ed. The Compleat Ambassador, or, Two Treaties of the Intended Marriage of Qu.
Elizabeth of Glorious Memory Comprised in Letters of Negotiation of Sir Francis Walsingham, Her Resident in France (1655). London: Tho: Newcomb, 1655.

  Farge, James K. Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France: The Faculty of Theology of Paris, 1500–1543. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985.

  Fraser, Antonia. Mary Queen of Scots. New York: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1993.

  Freer, Martha Walker. Henry III, King of France and Poland: His Court and Times. 3 vols. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1888.

  Frieda, Leonie. Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. New York: HarperPerennial, 2006.

  Goulart, Simon. Mémoires de l’estat de France sous Charles IX, 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Geneva: Henry Wolf, 1578.

  Graham, Victor E., and W. McAllister Johnson. The Royal Tour of France by Charles IX and Catherine de’ Medici: Festivals and Entries, 1564–6. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979.

  Greengrass, Mark. France in the Age of Henri IV: The Struggle for Stability. London and New York: Longman, 1984.

  Hackett, Francis. Francis the First: First Gentleman of France. New York: Literary Guild, 1934.

  Héritier, Jean. Catherine de’ Medici. Translated by Charlotte Haldane. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1963.

  Hibbert, Christopher. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1975.

  Hogue, John. Nostradamus: A Life and Myth. London: Element Books, Ltd., 2003.

  Holt, Mack P. The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle During the Wars of Religion. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

  Hotman, François. A true and plaine report of the furious outrages of Fraunce, & the horrible and shameful slaughter of Chastillion the admirall, and diuers other noble and excellent men, and of the wicked and straunge murder of godlie persons, committed in many cities of Fraunce, without any respect of sorte, kinde, age, or degree. London: Henry Bynneman, 1573.

  Joubert, André. Un Mignon de la Cour de Henri III: Louis de Clermont, Sieur de Bussy d’Amboise, Gouverneur d’Anjou. Paris: Librairie E. Lechevalier, 1885.

  Knecht, R. J. Catherine de’ Medici. London and New York: Longman, 1999.