MEMOIRS AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLES OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE

THE CHILD MOZART, INVITED BY MADAME DE POMPADOUR TO PLAY AT HER COURT.
From the painting by V. de Paredes.

MEMOIRS OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS

Queen of France, Wife of Henri IV

OF MADAME DE POMPADOUR

Of the Court of Louis XV

AND OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI

Queen of France, Wife of Henri II

CONTENTS

LETTER I

Introduction.--Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy.--Endeavours Used to Convert Her to the New Religion.--She Is Confirmed in Catholicism.--The Court on a Progress.--A Grand Festivity Suddenly Interrupted.--The Confusion in Consequence

LETTER II

Message from the Duc d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., to King Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother.--Her Fondness for Her Children.--Their Interview.--Anjou's Eloquent Harangue.--The Queen-mother's Character.--Discourse of the Duc d'Anjou with Marguerite.--She Discovers Her Own Importance.--Engages to Serve Her Brother Anjou.--Is in High Favour with the Queen-mother

LETTER III

Le Guast.--His Character.--Anjou Affects to Be Jealous of the Guises.--Dissuades the Queen-mother from Reposing Confidence in Marguerite.--She Loses the Favour of the Queen-mother and Falls Sick.--Anjou's Hypocrisy.--He Introduces De Guise into Marguerite's Sick Chamber.--Marguerite Demanded in Marriage by the King of Portugal.--Made Uneasy on That Account.--Contrives to Relieve Herself.--The Match with Portugal Broken off

LETTER IV

Death of the Queen of Navarre.--Marguerite's Marriage with Her Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri IV. of France.--The Preparations for That Solemnisation Described.--The Circumstances Which Led to the Massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's Day

LETTER V

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day

LETTER VI

Henri, Duc d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves France.--Huguenot Plots to Withdraw the Duc d'Alençon and the King of Navarre from Court.--Discovered and Defeated by Marguerite's Vigilance.--She Draws Up an Eloquent Defence, Which Her Husband Delivers before a Committee from the Court of Parliament.--Alençon and Her Husband, under a Close Arrest, Regain Their Liberty by the Death of Charles IX

LETTER VII

Accession of Henri III.--A Journey to Lyons.--Marguerite's Faith in Supernatural Intelligence

LETTER VIII

What Happened at Lyons

LETTER IX

Fresh Intrigues.--Marriage of Henri III.--Bussi Arrives at Court and Narrowly Escapes Assassination

LETTER X

Bussi Is Sent from Court.--Marguerite's Husband Attacked with a Fit of Epilepsy.--Her Great Care of Him.--Torigni Dismissed from Marguerite's Service.--The King of Navarre and the Duc d'Alençon Secretly Leave the Court

LETTER XI

Queen Marguerite under Arrest.--Attempt on Torigni's Life.--Her Fortunate Deliverance

LETTER XII

The Peace of Sens betwixt Henri III. and the Huguenots

LETTER XIII

The League.--War Declared against the Huguenots.--Queen Marguerite Sets out for Spa

LETTER XIV

Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage.--Her Journey to Liège Described.--She Enters with Success upon Her Mission.--Striking Instance of Maternal Duty and Affection in a Great Lady.--Disasters near the Close of the Journey

LETTER XV

The City of Liège Described.--Affecting Story of Mademoiselle de Tournon.--Fatal Effects of Suppressed Anguish of Mind

LETTER XVI

Queen Marguerite, on Her Return from Liège, Is In Danger of Being Made a Prisoner.--She Arrives, after Some Narrow Escapes, at La Fère

LETTER XVII

Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flanders.--She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed.--Court Intrigues and Plots.--The Duc d'Alençon Again Put under Arrest

LETTER XVIII

The Brothers Reconciled.--Alençon Restored to His Liberty

LETTER XIX

The Duc d'Alençon Makes His Escape from Court.--Queen Marguerite's Fidelity Put to a Severe Trial

LETTER XX

Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Husband.--Is Accompanied by the Queen-mother.--Marguerite Insulted by Her Husband's Secretary.--She Harbours Jealousy.--Her Attention to the King Her Husband during an Indisposition.--Their Reconciliation.--The War Breaks Out Afresh.--Affront Received from Maréchal de Biron

LETTER XXI

Situation of Affairs in Flanders.--Peace Brought About by Duc d'Alençon's Negotiation.--Maréchal de Biron Apologises for Firing on Nérac.--Henri Desperately in Love with Fosseuse.--Queen Marguerite Discovers Fosseuse to Be Pregnant, Which She Denies.--Fosseuse in Labour.--Marguerite's Generous Behavior to Her.--Marguerite's Return to Paris

INTRODUCTION

The Secret Memoirs of Henry of Navarre's famous queen possess a value which the passage of time seems but to heighten. Emanating as they undoubtedly do from one of the chief actors in a momentous crisis in French history, and in the religious history of Europe as well, their importance as first-hand documents can hardly be overestimated. While the interest which attaches to their intimate discussions of people and manners of the day will appeal to the reader at the outset.

Marguerite de Valois was the French contemporary of Queen Elizabeth of England, and their careers furnish several curious points of parallel. Marguerite was the daughter of the famous Catherine de Médicis, and was given in marriage by her scheming mother to Henry of Navarre, whose ascendant Bourbon star threatened to eclipse (as afterwards it did) the waning house of Valois. Catherine had four sons, three of whom successively mounted the throne of France, but all were childless. Although the king of the petty state of Navarre was a Protestant, and Catherine was the most fanatical of Catholics, she made this marriage a pretext for welding the two houses; but actually it seems to have been a snare to lure him to Paris, for it was at this precise time that the bloody Massacre of St. Bartholomew's day was ordered. Henry himself escaped--it is said, through the protection of Marguerite, his bride,--but his adherents in the Protestant party were slain by the thousands. A wedded life begun under such sanguinary auspices was not destined to end happily. Indeed, their marriage resembled nothing so much as an armed truce, peaceable, and allowing both to pursue their several paths, and finally dissolved by mutual consent, in 1598, when Queen Marguerite was forty-five. The closing years of her life were spent in strict seclusion, at the Castle of Usson, in Auvergne, and it was at this time that she probably wrote her Memoirs.

In the original, the Memoirs are written in a clear vigorous French, and in epistolary form. Their first editor divided them into