Queen Margaret of Navarre: life story and interesting facts. The Real Life of Queen Margo
Margarita Valois
(born in 1553 - died in 1615)
Daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici.
From 1572. - wife of the king of Navarre. The most temperamental and shameless queen of France with a huge "track record" of lovers.
“The Lord in His creation began with the lesser and imperfect, and ended with the greater and more perfect. He created a man after other creatures, but he created a woman after a man, therefore she is more perfect and she has the right to freedom of choice in love relationships”, - so Queen Margot wrote in one of her letters, justifying the rights of the beautiful half of humanity to free love and self-expression. She was considered one of the first feminists, because no matter how the queen's life developed, she always stood up for the independence of women and remained true to her principles and passions. The role of a slave, unquestioningly fulfilling the will of her husband-master, was disgusting to Margarita. Follow the dictates of your soul and body - only in this way, in her opinion, you can reveal your essence.
Undoubtedly talented, beautiful and charming, this woman with one look could inflame anyone. Margo was said to have more divine than human beauty, and was made for the doom of men who were maddened by her dark hair, black amber eyes, and dazzling white skin. The queen herself was quite aware of her attractiveness and skillfully used it in achieving desired goal, bewitching and subduing men, and often leading to madness and death.
Numerous lovers, having once known the caresses of the passionate queen, could never forget her. Dukes, princes, ambassadors, poets, officers dreamed of meeting her, but Margarita gave preference only to the most brilliant gentlemen, the most beautiful and tender admirers, as temperamental and insatiable in lovemaking as she herself.
Marguerite Valois was born on May 14, 1553 in one of the royal residences of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. At the age of six, the girl was left without a father - he died during a jousting tournament. The entire burden of worries about state affairs and the fate of the family fell on the shoulders of the Dowager Queen Catherine de Medici, who was a fairly domineering and cruel woman, an adamant defender of the interests of the dynasty. Occupied with state problems, she nevertheless made sure that her four sons and her only daughter received upbringing and education appropriate to their position. The best teachers of that time worked with Margarita. She was taught Latin, mathematics and physics by the professor of the College of Sens, Monsieur Mignon. The outstanding poet Pierre Ronsard skillfully guided the first experiments of the princess in the field of versification. No less famous musician Etienne de Roy taught her to sing, and the court jester Paul de Redet taught her to dance. And I must say, their labors were not in vain. The girl enjoyed reading and playing music, solving problems and singing. And the addition of poetry gave her special pleasure. Many years later, Margarita will create beautiful stanzas and dedicate them to her beloved. She will become a real pearl of the French crown, because her beauty, intelligence, elegance and talents will delight not only ardent young men, but also experienced men. But this is in the future. In the meantime, the girl conquered only strict teachers with her lively mind and curiosity, grasping their explanations on the fly.
Catherine de Medici strongly encouraged and supported all her daughter's hobbies. But Margarita's childhood was by no means cloudless. Before her eyes, a terrible civil war was being played out, into which almost the entire population of France was drawn - a war between Catholics and Protestants, which shook the country for almost half a century. Under the influence of these events, the people surrounding the young princess became more and more envious and distrustful from year to year. Suspicion and hostility reigned in the circle of the royal family.
After the death of his father, the elder brother of Margarita, Francis, ascended the French throne. But an early death cut short his reign. Francis was succeeded by Charles Maximilian, while the other two brothers and Margarita herself had to seek their fortune outside the French royal house. As for the princess, she initially did not have the right to the throne - after all, he was inherited only by male line. Family adversity, constant intrigues, in which she became an unwitting participant, accelerated her growing up. Margo thought a lot about the events taking place around her and drew her own conclusions. The enmity between the brothers plunged her into deep despair. Catherine de Medici either pushed away or drew closer to her daughter, who often had to play the role of a court diplomat trying to improve relationships in the family.
Meanwhile, the beauty of Margarita manifested itself very early. She was combined with an extraordinary temperament, which is why evil tongues often accused her of having her first lover at the age of eleven. In addition, they talked about the love affairs of the princess with her brothers - Charles, Henry and Francis, which was the height of shamelessness and led to incest. But whether it really happened is hard to say. It is only known that the first true love came to Margarita when she was eighteen. The young girl's lover was her cousin, Duke Heinrich de Guise, a twenty-year-old handsome man and a brilliant gentleman. Young people fell in love with each other with all their hearts and did not hide their feelings, completely surrendering to their passion. Having completely lost any modesty, forgetting about the need to observe decency, they enjoyed their love, indulging in love pleasures in the most unexpected places - in the garden, on the stairs, and even in the corridors of the Louvre, where they were repeatedly found by the courtiers. Margarita was happy and dreamed of a wedding with Guise, who became the first contender for her hand. However, this state of affairs did not suit Catherine de Medici. In the proposal of her daughter's ardent lover, she saw the ambitions of the house of Guise and answered with a decisive refusal. Closing her eyes to Margarita's love affairs, the dowager queen understood that there was a huge gap between entertainment in the garden and state affairs. The marriage of Marguerite was an extremely important issue that could solve many political problems of the French court. The beauty and mind of the princess made her an enviable bride, a kind of commodity that had to be sold at the best price for France. Therefore, Catherine de Medici was picky in choosing a husband for her daughter. She didn't want to make a hasty wrong decision. The refusal of her mother became a real tragedy for Margarita - her opinion was not taken into account, the world of her first love was rudely destroyed, separated from Guise. Catherine de Medici had to spend long hours in her daughter's room, calming and persuading her to agree to separation from her beloved, arguing that for a member of the royal family, state interests should be above personal ones. Finally, Margarita agreed. But she firmly decided for herself that, sacrificing her happiness, she would not allow anyone to take away her right to freedom of feelings and desires. From now on, she will always be guided by this principle.
One variant of marriage was replaced by another. Among the contenders for the hand of the princess were: don Carlos - the eldest son of the Spanish king Philip II, Philip II himself, Prince Sebastian - the son of the Portuguese queen and many others. But Catherine de Medici chose Henry of Navarre, the son of Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre and cousin of Marguerite. Marriage with a Protestant was like a compromise in the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, in addition, it promised the crown to the heiress of the French house. Margarita did not have any feelings for the Navarrese, but the duty required self-sacrifice, and she agreed to the marriage, while retaining the right to freedom of feelings, desires and religion. “I agree and will obey my husband and his mother in reasonable things, but I will not change the faith in which I was brought up, even if my husband becomes the monarch of the whole world,” Margarita answered the future mother-in-law, who attempted to convince the princess to accept her husband’s faith.
The union of Margo and Henry of Navarre was a real event for France. “Our wedding,” the bride wrote in her memoirs, “was performed with such triumph and splendor like no other, the king of Navarre and his retinue were in rich and beautiful robes, and I, royally, in a diamond crown and an ermine cape, tren my blue dress was carried by three princesses. The wedding was performed according to the custom provided for the daughters of France. The court feast on this occasion was a success. It seemed that nothing could overshadow the general rejoicing and the state of some kind of hope for the future, the end civil war and strife among the members of the ruling dynasty. But on the night of August 20-21, 1572, a terrible tragedy broke out, which went down in history under the name of St. Bartholomew's Night - the massacre of Catholics over the Huguenots who arrived at the wedding with Henry of Navarre. Margarita hid her husband and his entourage in the chambers and thereby saved their lives.
The family life of Queen Margot from the first days was unsuccessful. Political intrigue made her title purely nominal. “A queen without a kingdom,” Margarita often thought bitterly, realizing that Catherine de Medici had lost this game and marriage would not bring any political benefits. This only depressed the young queen - a marriage of convenience did not give any satisfaction and did not justify itself. The absence of love and any attraction to her husband made the performance of marital duties a torture. Margarita did not admit her suffering to anyone and, in the conditions of the impossibility of a divorce, tried to play the role of a spouse as best as possible. With each passing day, this fruitless relationship between Henry and his young wife worsened. No, there was no hatred between them, but the feeling of hopelessness and the feeling that there was an absolutely stranger nearby, who would never become close and loved, did not leave the spouses. They decided to put an end to their suffering and not to embarrass each other in choosing lovers. Every evening, the couple went together to the royal bedchamber and went to bed in different beds, thinking about their own. Finally, business and even friendly relations were established between them. The spouses were united by the interests of the country and the people, they could discuss political issues for hours, but their hearts belonged to others. Henry had numerous favorites, and Margarita continued to shine at court, participate in numerous balls and masquerades. They admired her, admired her beauty and manners. Men sought to win her favor, so choosing a new lover was not difficult for the queen. She gave preference to Joseph Bonifacio Señor de la Mole, a handsome and stately Provençal, a brilliant admirer and ladies man. When he first saw her at the ball in an elegant dress, he immediately fell in love. To his passionate look, Margarita replied dazzling smile came over and took her hand. After some time, the courtiers had another reason for gossip - the queen's new love affair. The lovers were not shy in expressing their feelings, and often Catherine de Medici, passing by Margaret's room, from where the noise came, only shook her head accusingly.
Love brought Margo tremendous satisfaction. She was quite inventive and showed all her skills in bed, depriving her fans of their minds. The queen studied refined caresses from astrologers, studied ancient books. For all her lovers, she ordered spicy dishes from the court cook, which kindled desire and increased male power. Wanting to show off her white skin, the Queen ordered the maid to cover the bed with black muslin. La Mole was so intoxicated by her caresses that he completely lost his head and once told his mistress about a conspiracy, in the preparation of which he helped Henry of Navarre. Margarita, mindful of her duty, told Catherine de Medici about everything. After some time, La Mole was executed and Margot was left alone.
But the ardent queen did not even think about spending her days in bitter thoughts. More and more new lovers appeared in her life, as a rule, brave handsome men, famous for their inexhaustible male strength. In their arms, she forgot about the difficult relationships in the family - new problems arose with Henry of Navarre. The rejected husband, who spent time no worse than Margarita and seemed to compete with her in the number of extramarital affairs, suddenly started talking about the need to have an heir. The free love that the queen professed was in no way compatible with motherhood. But Margarita seriously thought about the child - her position as queen was under threat. However, the verdict of the court doctors was inexorable: Margarita is barren and will never give the king an heir. Having previously encouraged her husband for love affairs, Margarita began to hate all his mistresses who could give birth and pushed Henry to divorce his barren wife. The queen not only began to participate in court intrigues, but she herself often fomented new palace wars. But fate was already preparing a new blow - Henry of Navarre fled from the Louvre, leaving his wife as a hostage in his own family. After spending two years in such a precarious position and having enjoyed her admirers to the full, Margarita went to her husband in Nerak.
The old castle of Henry of Navarre was not distinguished by the comfort and luxury that Margo loved so much, so she enthusiastically set about landscaping her monastery. The queen attracted the entire color of the Protestant intelligentsia to the castle. Famous poets and philosophers, diplomats and singers gathered in her salon. Very soon, the people who surrounded Henry of Navarre, once strict and severe in the manifestations of their feelings, entered the taste of cheerful balls and free love preached by Margarita. Masquerades, picnics and literary evenings have become commonplace in the castle of the King of Navarre, and the queen has a new lover - the Duke of Boulogne. The entertainment that the young couple arranged required a lot of money, but Margarita was not going to apply for funds to her husband, preferring to borrow the necessary amounts from countless admirers, some of whom, due to their unattractive appearance or because of their age, were not suitable for the role of lovers. While the queen had fun with young men, older fans had to go broke, secretly hoping for reciprocity and realizing that this dream was not destined to come true. One of them, completely offended by this state of affairs, went to the Louvre and told the queen's brother, Henry III, about the debauchery reigning in the Navarrese castle.
Marguerite was ordered to urgently return to Paris. The queen, not without regret, parted with her lovers and went home. She was greeted coldly and, after some time, they again decided to send her to her husband. However, Henry of Navarre tried to make the most of this situation: he demanded compensation for the reception of Margarita, forcing her to stay in the humiliating expectation of the end of the negotiations. But she did not succumb to despondency and, having challenged the opposing sides, rushed to Azhan, to the camp of the opponents of both kings. From that moment began a new stage in the life of Margarita Valois - the stage of long wanderings from one castle to another. Henry III defeated the rebels, and brought his sister, like a criminal, to the castle in Usson.
Numerous intrigues were woven behind Margarita's back at that time, Henry of Navarre, incited by his favorites, sought to file a divorce, Catherine de Medici was thinking about imprisoning her daughter in a monastery. But fate decreed otherwise - Margarita turned her imprisonment in Usson Castle into a real holiday. One morning she asked to be told to the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Usson, that she wished to speak to him. Arriving at the queen's chambers, de Canillac found her almost naked in bed. The marquis was struck on the spot by such a daring trick of the charming captive, fell in love with her and became for Margo not only a lover, but also a devoted slave. He fulfilled the slightest whims of his beloved. Margarita devoted herself to love amusements with all her passion, not forgetting about creativity. In a short period, she managed to transform the gloomy castle. Loving reading, she replenished the library with the works of famous writers and turned her abode into a new Parnassus, inviting poets, philosophers and artists to the salon she created. A favorite topic of conversation was the nature of love, which has always interested the Queen. She actively defended the unity of soul and body, completely denying innocent love.
In Usson, Margarita learned of the death of her mother and the murder of her brother, Henry III. Her husband confidently walked to the throne, who, in order to achieve his goal, did not disdain even apostasy. Margarita, wiser from her life experience, realized that the fight was over and there was no point in fighting a stronger opponent. She immediately agreed to a divorce and declared herself a supporter of the new king. In gratitude for this, Henry IV expressed a desire to become a real patron for ex-wife- she was left all the titles and lands, and also granted a decent pension. In addition, Marguerite was given the right to build her residence opposite the Louvre. Her court continued to attract poets and musicians, as well as philosophers who dedicated their works to the queen. But, carried away by the sciences and art, she did not forget, however, about carnal pleasures. In the arms of the aging queen, there were either passionate pages or singers in love.
The years have changed Margarita, turning this once beautiful woman into an overweight lady. Only beautiful Brown eyes and the habit of dressing luxuriously betrayed in her a former beauty.
In the last years of her life, Margarita Valois paid much attention to church attendance and charity. The inhabitants of prisons and hospitals became the subject of her special concern. She never refused people who needed help, remaining a gracious and kind queen for everyone.
At the end of 1613, Margarita fell ill with pneumonia and could not recover. A year and a half later, on May 27, 1615, the queen died.
The last of the Valois dynasty remained in the memory of the descendants as she was during her lifetime - loving, cheerful and sad, passionately loving and hating to the depths of her soul. The patroness of science and art, she always remained true to herself and her philosophy of carnal love.
5 2. Marguerite de Valois. Correspondence. 1569-1614 / Ed. Eliane Viennot. Letter 248. P. 338.
but reliable (because she writes the truth). Indeed, according to the cultural tradition adopted by the queen, writing history is not the work of a hero, he creates history! Some editor must process it: build a narrative, saturate it with portraits, maxims, historical references ... in short, make it brilliant.
Many pages later, reporting on the return of her brother Henry III from Poland, Margarita seems to speak in the same vein: she recalls that her intentions are “not to decorate these Memoirs, but the only true story and a speedy end to my memoirs so that You got them faster." But this energetic reminder of the original task here arises precisely because the queen has just completely violated her obligation by digressing a few pages (though not so much to flourish the prose, but to hide her transition to another political camp, because she cheated on her older brother for her younger brother). In fact, Margarita had been writing for a long time not at all about what she intended to do at first. In fact, she did not limit herself to “isolated remarks”. The promised "bears" were never born, and nothing came to Brantom. The Queen took the story of her story into her own hands.
Not without difficulty, however! The beginning of her work is marked by "false promises" and testifies to internal conflicts: she does not want to talk about her childhood, but talks about it; she does not want to "waste energy" on "unnecessary" memories, but includes them in her story; she wants to move quickly, but is delayed ... So she made a decision - a fundamental one - to establish a "connection between the events of the past and the present", that is, to build a narrative linearly. This connection, she writes, "forces" her to start from the beginning: "from the time I was able to remember anything significant in my life." After this initial choice is made, neither Margarita's will nor her cultural stereotypes are able to prevent the undertaking from developing according to its own logic: then memories of more early period, then the queen will be seized by bliss when she relives the happiest events again, then all other feelings are crowded in her soul when it comes to the most terrible episodes. Nothing prevents Margarita from changing her position, from the customer of the future work (who gives advice to her historian without hesitation) to become a woman who retells her life to an old friend, jokes with him about common acquaintances, describes to him the lands where he has not been, explains the cases that he was not touched.
Thus, she creates a new genre - the genre of aristocratic memoirs. She obviously does not realize this, why she does not advertise her text and cares so little about its distribution. In any case, she clearly understands that her work is not just “material” for transmission to the writer, no matter how true it may be. She gives up the idea of getting her life story, but keeps her "memoirs". To the greatest joy of future generations.
INTRODUCTION PART 1
WHAT THE QUEEN OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE DID NOT REMEMBER
"She is - real queen in everything"
"Lead", in the words of Michel de Montaigne, the 16th century gave birth to two Marguerites - queens of Navarre, the youngest of whom would later become the nominal queen of France. Both left an outstanding literary and epistolary heritage and entered the history of French and world culture. The first was called Margaret of Angouleme, or Navarre (1492-1549), and she was the sister of the French king Francis I of Valois, a representative of the Angouleme branch of the royal house, the second was Margaret de Valois, or Margaret of France (1553-1615), who was the granddaughter of this king and is better known as Queen Margot.
However, the contemporaries of Marguerite de Valois would probably be very surprised to learn that after four hundred years their queen turned into "Margo", and her image firmly merged with the name of the character invented by the writer Alexandre Dumas. Meanwhile, in the era of the last Valois, Margarita was called "Madame" - it was the official title of the king's sister, then, in marriage, she turned into the "Queen of Navarre", and after her divorce from Henry IV she became known as "Queen Margaret, Duchess de Valois". Only Charles IX, her older brother, sometimes jokingly referred to her by the common name of Margot. Obviously, A. Dumas, who once met a mention of this, decided to give the queen a new name, forever (unfortunately?) Established in the mass consciousness.
In general, this consciousness was largely shaped, of course, not by the great French novelist: in his portrayal of Marguerite is a fair, proud and courageous princess, sacrificing her personal feelings and love in the name of higher political interests. However, the name of Margo became, at the suggestion of A. Dumas, a convenient screen for numerous myths and legends about the queen, which were already born during her extraordinary life. Multiplying, over time, they firmly distorted the real image of Margaret de Valois, and so much so that even in the works of famous and authoritative modern historians there are striking differences in assessing her role in the political and literary history of France, not to mention all sorts of print and online publications. , where you can read fantastic things about Margarita: she was the mistress of her brothers, led the life of Messalina, had illegitimate children and was involved in the murder of her ex-husband. Leaving such fabrications to the conscience of the authors, we would like to present a brief look at the latest serious works about the queen, her writings and her era.
LITERATURE ABOUT MARGARITE
In a modern French textbook for students of higher educational institutions there is not a word about the history of French literature about Marguerite and her Memoirs and other writings. Actually, this is not surprising, since there is still an opinion that her Memoirs are apocryphal, and there is no serious evidence to the contrary. And this is despite the extraordinary surge of “margarite studies” in the 1990-2000s and, in general, the growing interest in the history of women.
Patrice Chereau's historical film "Queen Margot" with the brilliant Isabelle Adjani in leading role, which was released in 1994 and became the winner of the Cannes Film Festival, only fueled interest in the figure of Marguerite de Valois. The young queen, mysterious and loving, brave and sensual, at the risk of her life in the desperate hours of St. Bartholomew's night, saved the lives of her Huguenot subjects and her honor as the Queen of Navarre ... Despite the fact that the audience saw a magnificent adaptation based on the novel by A. Dumas, the director could not abandon the traditional stereotype - his Margarita remained just Margot. And this despite the fact that a year earlier, in 1993, the best critical biography of Marguerite, written by Eliane Vienno - “Marguerite de Valois. The story of one woman. The history of one myth,” where this French researcher, step by step, consistently and inexorably, debunks everything that exists6 D. Berger. M., 2007 (Paris: Nathan, 2002).
72. J.-L. Bourgeon. Pour une histoire, enfin, de la Saint-Barthélemy // Revue historique. No. 282, 1989. P. 105-106.
8 3. Let us refer only to Eliane Viennenot's thorough two-volume study “France, Women and Power. The Invention of the Salic Law (V-XVIII centuries)": Éliane Viennot. La France, les femmes et le pouvoir. L'invention de la loi salique (V-XVIII siècle). Paris, 2006-2008.
myths, legends and conjectures about the queen, as well as about her writings, existing in the mass representation. We will touch on this book later, stating, alas, that to this day Margot wins Margarita.
History knows many famous and great women. Among them are rulers, scientists, actresses, writers and amazing beauties. Margarita of Navarre did not accomplish great deeds, but many people know about her. In history, several representatives of the fair sex are known under this name. Today we will talk about the first wife of King Henry IV.
Childhood and youth
Margarita of Navarre belonged to Was the most youngest child in family. Her mother is the famous Queen of France and one of the most influential women in Europe of the 16th century - Catherine de Medici. Father - Henry II of Valois.
Since childhood, Margarita was distinguished by beauty and charm. For this, she was called the pearl of France. She captivated not only with her good looks, but also with her wit. Clever beyond her years, the future queen studied literature, philosophy, medicine and spoke several languages: ancient Greek, Italian, Spanish.
Marriage
Parents predicted one of several applicants as husbands for Margarita: the Spanish heir and future King of Navarre. Rumors about the windiness of the bride destroyed the matrimonial plans with Spain and Portugal, and Margarita was married to Henry of Bourbon. The marriage was a forced political union, and there was no talk of any feelings of the newlyweds.
The 16th century in France is a time of struggle between Protestants and Catholics. Two years before her marriage, Marguerite de Valois began a serious affair with Duke Henry de Guise. She was ready to marry him, but her parents forbade even thinking about this marriage. This marriage could upset the delicate balance between the two opposing groups, since the duke was the unspoken head of the Catholics in France.
In 1572, nineteen-year-old Margaret became the wife of Henry of Navarre, one of the leaders of the Protestants (Huguenots). He was 18 years old at that time.
"Bloody Wedding"
Many Huguenots, including their leaders, arrived in Paris for the celebration. This was taken advantage of by Heinrich de Guise and his supporters. The event that took place on August 24, 1572, went down in history as St. Bartholomew's night, when Catholics attacked and killed Protestants who had come to the wedding. Historians believe that Catherine de Medici was the inspirer and organizer of this massacre. Apparently, Margarita of Navarre, whose biography is full of tragic and terrible events, was unaware of the plans of her mother and de Guise. Some researchers are even sure that the Queen of France hoped that her daughter would die with Henry, and this would give her additional trump cards in the fight against the hated Huguenots. But Margarita showed amazing courage and composure. She did not allow her husband to be killed, refusing to divorce him, as the family insisted. The Queen of Navarre also saved some of his people. Whatever their relationship was later, Henry IV never forgot to whom he owed salvation on that terrible night.
Margherita - Queen of Navarre: life under supervision
After the events of August 24, Henry was forced to flee Paris. Margarita remained virtually a hostage to her own family. She was suspected of helping her husband escape. And it was true. Only after 6 years she was able to reunite with her husband, when a temporary peace was concluded between Protestants and Catholics. Until 1582 she lived in Navarre, where she created a brilliant court. At the insistence of her mother, she returned to Paris, but after a quarrel with King Henry III, who believed that she was busy with herself and did little to help her family in political affairs, Margaret went to Navarre to her husband. But Henry was already carried away by another, and the queen was out of work.
She went to her county, to Agen. Margaret of Navarre re-started a relationship with and took part in intrigues against her husband and brother, King Henry III. She spent the next 18 years in the castle of Usson, in which at first she was a prisoner for a short time. With the help of the Duke of Guise, she gained freedom and became the mistress of the fortress.
Divorce from Henry IV and the last years of his life
In 1584, Henry IV was crowned at Chartres Cathedral. After a quarrel with Margarita in 1585, their relationship was effectively broken off. A childless king had to take care of an heir. For a large compensation, he achieved a divorce in 1599. Despite the fact that the relationship between Margarita and Henry in marriage was difficult, after his death, the Queen of Navarre (this title was left to her) supported the second wife of her ex-husband,
Marguerite of Navarre, whose biography is extremely interesting, died in 1615. She spent her last years in Paris and remained an active participant in the political life of France until the end.
Margarita of Navarre and her image in art
During her lifetime, she captivated with her beauty and wit; after her death, the biography of an amazing woman became an inspiration for many works of art. Marguerite of Navarre (Margot) became the central character in the novel by Alexandre Dumas Sr. Her appearance here is strongly romanticized, many facts of the biography are distorted to please the writer's creative intention or are simply invented. But the image turned out to be unusually whole and alive. "Queen Margot" is rightfully considered one of the best novels by Dumas.
On May 14, 1553, an important state event took place in the Saint-Germain Palace - Catherine de Medici, the wife of King Henry II, was safely resolved with her tenth child. It turned out to be their daughter (the third in their family) - the future Queen Margaret of Navarre, who became the prototype of the heroine of the immortal novel by Alexandre Dumas, whose real life not much inferior to the imagination of the famous writer.
The young heiress of the Valois family
It is known that from an early age she was distinguished by rare beauty, a sharp mind and an independent disposition. Having been born in the heyday of the Renaissance, Margarita received an education that corresponded to the spirit of the times - she studied Spanish, Italian and Ancient Greek, knew Latin, philosophy, literature very well, and also tried to write herself.
Sensuality woke up early in her, as evidenced by the stormy romance experienced by the sixteen-year-old princess with the Duke of Guise. However, their relationship was not destined to end in marriage - the hand of the heiress of the Valois family was too important a trump card in political game European thrones.
Ruined wedding
At first, they wanted to marry her off to a Spanish heir, then to a Portuguese one, but in the end, the leader of the French Huguenots (Protestants) and King of Navarre, Henry de Bourbon, became the princess' fiancé. With this marriage, the parents tried to establish at least a semblance of peace in a country constantly torn apart by religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.
The wedding took place, but did not bring the desired peace. On the contrary, its culmination was the terrible and bloody St. Bartholomew's Night, in which the Catholics destroyed more than 30 thousand Huguenots - coreligionists and political allies of the young spouse. As a result, to save his life, he had to flee straight from the marriage bed, leaving Paris, to the ancestral Navarre castle.
Margarita of Navarre, who in every possible way assisted her husband in organizing the escape, refused, nevertheless, to follow his example and even, putting herself in danger, saved several Protestant nobles from death. She showed firmness of spirit and opposed the demands of numerous relatives who insisted on the dissolution of the marriage.
Spouses and political partners
Separated from Henry literally on the day of her wedding, but legally granted the rights and title of Queen of Navarre, Margarita, after staying in Paris for almost a year and waiting for the passions to subside, left for the Navarre residence of Nerache, where her husband had been hiding all this time. There, surrounded by a brilliant court, Margaret of Navarre served as a political mediator between her brother, who by that time had occupied the French throne under the name of Henry III, and her own husband.
The success of the mission entrusted to her largely depended on how trusting and warm the relationship between the spouses was, but it was here that the queen's excessive sensuality spoiled the matter, pushing her into the arms of one or the other lover. The husband, who also did not have a puritanical disposition, looked at his wife's adventures through his fingers, but this could not help alienating their relationship, and therefore, weakened her influence as a political mediator.
Humiliating reprimand
One of these adventures - a stormy romance with the Marquis de Chanvallon - became known to Henry III. For this, Margarita received a reprimand from him during her next visit to Paris in 1583. Her brother reproached her for neglecting her duty towards her family and not fulfilling the political tasks assigned to her. He said that she preferred love affairs to all this, compromising the Valois family in the eyes of all Europe.
After listening to her brother's moralizing and bowing, Margarita of Navarre silently withdrew. She herself was a queen and did not need anyone's instructions, even sounded from the height of the throne. This was followed by her temporary break with the Parisian court, which, however, did not entail any political complications.
Rejected spouse
Returning to Navarre, Margarita found with displeasure that during her absence the situation at court had changed significantly, and in an extremely unfavorable way for her. If before, for her frivolous husband, love affairs were only a momentary fun, now another favorite - the Countess de Guiche - has succeeded so much that she has taken her place not only in the marital bed, but, most annoyingly, in the eyes of the courtiers. Proud by nature, Marguerite of Navarre (Margot, as Alexandre Dumas dubbed her) could not put up with such humiliation.
The situation was aggravated by the sudden death of another contender for the French throne, Francois of Alencon, as a result of which her husband became the legitimate heir. Given the childlessness of Henry III, who was then ruling, he had every reason to receive the crown in the future. Thus, the role of Margarita as an intermediary between the two courts was losing relevance, and as a woman she had long ceased to interest him.
Duke of Guise and Marguerite of Navarre
The portrait of the queen, painted during her lifetime (he is the first in the article), conveys features full of dignity and hidden strength - qualities that are evidenced by her behavior at the most difficult moment of her life. Finding herself out of work, rejected by her husband, but not losing her royal dignity, Margarita retired to Angen, her own county, located in the south of France.
There, giving vent to the resentment accumulated in her, she declared her support for the Catholic League - religious organization, the purpose of which, among other things, was to limit royal power. Thus, she became in opposition to both her husband and her brother, Henry III.
Immediately, the Duke of Guise appeared in her palace, who headed this organization, and who, as mentioned above, was Margarita's first lover. Their romance, interrupted for more than 15 years, resumed with renewed vigor. However, this time it was not destined to last long.
Upon learning of his sister's entry into the Catholic League, the French king was furious and ordered to take her into custody, placing her in Usson Castle, located in Auvergne. However, she had to stay in the role of a prisoner for a very short time - the gallant de Guise returned her freedom. But for this, he did not storm the walls of the castle, but simply took and bought it, while making his lady of the heart the mistress of her former prison. He forced the guards to swear allegiance to her.
Years spent in Usson
Very soon, de Guise was killed in a fight with the royal troops sent by Henry III to suppress the religious and political movement that he did not like. The French king himself, who was killed in 1589 by the Dominican monk Jacques Clement, did not survive much. His death created confusion in the state.
Paris was captured by Spanish troops, with the help of which Madrid tried to push its protege to the throne. The legitimate heir to the crown, the husband of Margaret of Navarre, Henry de Bourbon, at the head of forces loyal to him, tried to resist this intervention.
In this extremely aggravated situation, it made no sense for the queen to appear either in Paris or in Navarre. For the next 18 years, she lived in the castle of Usson, the owner of which she became under such unusual circumstances. In 1589, her husband succeeded, having overcome the resistance of the opposition and suppressed the intervention, to ascend the French throne, becoming King Henry IV, but fate did not prepare a place for Margaret next to him. A year later, citing the childlessness of his wife, the newly-made monarch got Pope Clement VIII to dissolve the marriage.
Back in Paris
After the divorce, Henry and Margarita of Navarre ceased to be spouses, but each of them remained a representative of the royal family, he is Bourbon, she is Valois, and therefore together they were perceived by contemporaries as members of the same family. The ex-husband continued to maintain relations with her and constantly attracted Margarita to participate in various ceremonial events.
For greater convenience, and also to be in the thick of court life, she moved to Paris, where she spent the rest of her life, surrounded by the best writers and scientists of her time. Here she herself often took up the pen. Many works created in those years by Margarita of Navarre are widely popular even today.
"Heptameron" - a collection of 72 short stories, and which is undoubtedly an imitation of Boccaccio's "Decameron", is perhaps the most famous among them. A special piquancy is given to it by the documentary nature of the narrative, which is present in the writer's story about the love adventures she actually experienced. Her memoirs, which were repeatedly published and translated into different languages, have always enjoyed great success with readers.
last years of life
From the memoirs of contemporaries it is known that Margarita of Navarre remained true to herself until the end of her days in the main hobby of her life. Even in her old age, she had numerous love affairs, and her favorites were often so young that the uninitiated could mistake them for grandchildren gathered around their beloved grandmother.
In March 1615 she fell ill. It all started with a mild cold, which then gave rise to a complication that resulted in pneumonia. This illness became the cause of death, which cut short the bright and eventful life that Margaret of Navarre lived. The biography of this woman subsequently formed the basis of the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, with the light hand of which she went down in history under the name of Queen Margot.
Name: Queen Margot
Age: 61 years old
Place of Birth: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Place of death: Paris
Activity: french princess
Family status: was married
Queen Margot - Biography
With light hand the whole turbulent era of the French religious wars of the 16th century is embodied for us in the name of one person - Queen Margot. Perhaps the novelist is right - this frivolous beauty best of all expressed the spirit of her time with its piety and depravity, naivety and cruelty.
Childhood, family
The daughter of a king, the sister of three more kings and the wife of a fourth, Margarita of Valois, born in May 1553, was doomed by fate to a role in history. Margo's upbringing was not bothered. Her father, Henry II, spent all his time with his mistress, the beautiful Diane de Poitiers. Mother, Florentine Catherine de Medici, also did not pay attention to the children, intriguing against a hated rival. And if teachers were engaged with her brothers-princes, then for Margo education was considered unnecessary. She was taught only reading, sewing, music and dancing - this was quite enough to marry some heir to a foreign throne.
From an early age, Margot shone at balls in the Louvre and in the castle in Amboise, where the family left in the summer. The pretty dark-faced princess aroused general delight not only with the beauty of the stitched latest fashion dresses, but also by the fact that she read poems she herself composed and greeted guests in Latin. She proved to be extremely capable in learning, and especially in languages. Like her grandmother, the most learned Margherita of Navarre, she spoke Spanish, Italian and Greek, and read a lot in these languages.
Carefree childhood ended quickly and sadly. In June 1559, the forty-year-old King Henry was mortally wounded at a tournament organized by
in honor of peace with Spain. The spear of the Scot Montgomery hit him in the eye. The eldest of the sons, fifteen-year-old Francis, ascended the throne, a sluggish and sickly youth, now and then fainting.
To match him were the rest of the princes, whose poor health was combined with the violent temper of the Valois family. They were also the first connoisseurs of the charms of the grown-up Margot. Incest was considered a terrible sin, but the French kings learned long ago that the law was not written to them.
When Margot turned fifteen, she became a real beauty. The only thing that spoiled her was dark skin, it was considered unfashionable. Therefore, she heavily powdered her face and wore a white wig sprinkled with gold or blue powder. Everything else in her was impeccable - both graceful features, and large brown eyes, and magnificent breasts, which the court poet Ronsard, in a fit of inspiration, called "two voluptuous hills."
Another contemporary writer, Pierre de Brantome, wrote: "No other woman knew how to emphasize her charms so gracefully." If her mother brought into fashion ladies' panties, called "pants", then Margo was the first to think of going out in public, barely hiding behind a veil. It was said that the ladies-in-waiting, admiring the beauty of the mistress, publicly kissed her chest.
After the death of Francis II, who had been on the throne for only a year, his underage brother Charles IX became king, and Catherine de Medici got real power. Finally, she could take revenge on her enemies, especially the "damned" Huguenots, whose number grew day by day. Almost the entire south of France went over to the supporters of the teachings of Calvin.
Many noble lords also joined their ranks, including royal relatives - Antoine of Bourbon, King of Navarre. The wife of Antoine of Bourbon, Jeanne d'Albret, was an ardent supporter of Calvinism, and Navarre soon became the center of all the disaffected. Soon the Protestants approached the Loire and threatened Paris.
He distinguished himself in battles with the Huguenots. Duke Heinrich of Guise is a handsome and brave man who, at the age of twenty, has conquered many women's hearts. Margo could not resist him. Their romance alarmed Catherine de Medici. Giza, who were not inferior in nobility to the Valois family, had long been targeted for the French throne, and marriage with a princess opened a direct path to the crown for them. Having intercepted Margot's letter to her lover, the queen gave her daughter a huge scandal. With the full support of her sons, whose indignation was mixed with jealousy, Catherine, having beaten Margot to the blood, took an oath from her to forget about Guise. The princess was locked up in her chambers, and the duke was told to leave Paris under threat of death.
To secure the throne, King Charles was urgently married to an Austrian princess, but he never managed to have an heir. They were looking for a groom and Margo. The contenders for her hand were the Spanish Infante Don Carlos and Prince Sebastian, the son of the Portuguese queen. But both of them were pushed aside by the third applicant - 19-year-old Henry of Navarre, the son of the recently deceased leader of the French Huguenots, Antoine of Bourbon.
Catherine decided that marriage with him would help unite the country, which threatened to fall apart. As for Margot, she was seething with anger: it would be better if she, a devout Catholic, were married to a crazy Spanish prince than to a Protestant Henry. But Catherine de Medici was no longer going to endure the whims of her daughter. She set a tough condition for Margo: a wedding or a monastery.
Marriage of two religions" did not cause reconciliation of opponents. The bride and groom from the first meeting disliked each other, although both were young and beautiful. Seeing this, the Huguenot leaders who came to the wedding in Paris behaved arrogantly, causing the hostility of the population. In addition, under dubious circumstances, the groom's mother, Queen Jeanne d'Albret, died the day before - it was whispered that Catherine de Medici had poisoned her. And yet, on August 18, 1572, the wedding took place.
The bride, as the court memoirist Pierre Branthom wrote, was “so beautiful that there is simply nothing to compare with ... white face framed with so many pearls and precious stones that it could be mistaken for the moon surrounded by stars. A thick layer of powder reliably concealed traces of tears. As it turned out, Margo was mourning not only her freedom - her wedding became the prologue of the terrible St. Bartholomew's night.
Convinced that the Protestants could not be pacified, Catherine de Medici and the king decided to destroy them. Loyal nobles were divided into detachments, and local officials were ordered to identify the houses where the Huguenots live and mark them with a cross. On the night of Sunday, August 24, the bell of the church of Saint-Germain l "Auxerrois announced the beginning of the battle. The Protestant leader, Admiral Coligny, was the first to be killed. He, wounded the day before, was stabbed right in bed and thrown out the window.
Henry of Navarre was arrested and taken to Charles IX. Under threat of death, he agreed to convert to Catholicism. Margo also witnessed how her brother, King Charles, personally fired from the bedroom window at the fleeing people from the arquebus, who non-stop reloaded the servants. Then Karl confessed to her that the massacre was planned in advance and that he personally gave the order to start the massacre.
Huguenots - men, women, children - were killed all day in Paris. The most humane spared the babies, "christening" them in the blood of their murdered parents. Those caught in crowds were driven to the Seine and thrown into the water with stones around their necks. Only in Paris the number of those killed reached 2,500 people. On this occasion, Pope Gregory XIII ordered fireworks to be arranged in Rome, and prayers of thanksgiving were served in churches. On August 27, the royal family in full force went to Montmartre, where the disfigured corpse of Admiral Coligny was hung by the legs. Margot fainted. Her husband, who escaped the fate of the admiral, was calm and even cheerful.
Gradually, the couple became attached to each other. Heinrich appreciated the mind of his young wife and more than once turned to her for advice. She liked his blunt wit. In addition, they were young and could not be sad for a long time. Yet both had other heartfelt attachments. Margot fell in love with the officer Hyacinthe de La Mole, who almost every night made his way to her boudoir on a rope ladder. Henry became infatuated with the lady-in-waiting Charlotte de Sauve, although he knew that she was a spy for the Queen Mother.
Meanwhile, the Huguenots, having recovered from the blow, gathered new forces in the south and called for Henry to join them. Margot persuaded La Mole to help him escape, but the plot was exposed. In April 1574, La Mole and his friend Coconnas went up to the chopping block. In the evening of the same day, Margo appeared in a mask to the executioner and. bought the head of her lover from him in order to bury it with honor. Legend has it that she also acquired a heart, the ashes of which she wore in a special bag sewn to the inside of her dress. It was said, however, that she had accumulated a whole collection of the hearts of her dead lovers.
Charles IX died a month later. Henry of Anjou, the third son of Catherine de Medici, hastily returned from Poland, whose throne had just taken. He literally fled from the Krakow Palace - the palace marshal Tenchinsky was chasing him for three days, but the king managed to elude "his servant". On February 13, 1575, he was crowned Henry III, but he was not destined to become a king capable of reconciling the warring clans and restoring order in the country. Too petty and narcissistic, he quickly squandered the "last pennies" of royal authority.
The Catholic nobility, alarmed by the successes of the Huguenots, relied on his younger brother Francis, Duke of Alon, who soon concluded the so-called peace of the King's brother with the Protestants. Upon learning that Margot was helping Francis, and one of the closest people of the Duke of Alon, Louis de Bussy, became Margot's lover, Henry III ordered to relentlessly spy on the "worst intriguer."
Margot hired an assassin who stabbed to death the most stubborn of spies, a certain du Gast. Realizing that this open challenge to the king threatened her husband as well, she helped Henry of Navarre to escape from Paris. They parted for many years, which Henry, who again led the Huguenots, regretted more than once. He called his wife "the embodiment of intelligence, caution and experience", said that her courage gave courage to him.
Margot had no time to be bored - having entered into an alliance with her brother Francis, she sealed him in bed. She despised her older brother to such an extent for waywardness and rudeness that she was ready to help her younger brother, who fought for the throne, in everything. At the request of Francis, who decided to prove that he was a strong politician, she went to the Netherlands, where an uprising broke out against the Spanish crown. Margot had to convince the incredulous Flemings to accept the patronage of France, which she successfully coped with.
At twenty-five years of age, she, according to Brantome, "possessed a figure so regal that she was mistaken more for a heavenly goddess than an earthly princess." Let us add that she had already begun to gain weight and take on Rubensian forms, but the Flemings just loved them. She impressed her interlocutors not only with the splendor of her outfits, but also with her intelligence, erudition and friendliness. The fascinated leaders of the Geuses agreed to accept the help of the Duke of Alone, and in January 1578 Margot returned to Paris in triumph.
She was met with new troubles. Peace was made with the Protestants, but the brothers, Henry III and Francis, could clash with each other at any moment. Almost every day there were skirmishes between the courtiers of the king and the duke. Fuel was added to the fire by the Duke of Guise, who became the leader of the Catholic Party. Accusing both brothers of leniency towards heretics, he more and more clearly laid claim to the throne. To weaken him, the cunning Catherine de Medici made a new reconciliation with the Protestants and in the autumn of that year went south with Margot to Henry of Navarre. After peace was concluded in the Nerac castle, Margot and her husband indulged in the joys of love - she is with Bussy, he is with the young maid of honor de Fosseuse.
The handsome Bussy soon died at the hands of the Comte de Monsoro, whose wife he had seduced. Margot did not grieve for long and began an affair with the young courtier Jean de Chanvallon. In separation, she wrote him letters full of passion: “I kiss your beautiful eyes and marvelous hair a million times. For me, there is nothing dearer and sweeter than the bonds that bind us.”
All these hobbies did not prevent Margot from doing the main thing - to annoy Henry III. To Nerac? she managed to gather the entire color of the Protestant nobility and revive the salon traditions of the time of Margaret of Navarre. Nérac was increasingly compared to the Louvre, and the jealous Henry III demanded Margot's return to Paris.
Together with Margot, de Chanvallon also came to Paris. The lover was carried into the strictly guarded chambers of Margot in a large chest under the guise of laundry from the wash - everyone knew that the queen of Navarre, unusually clean for her time, not only changed her linen daily, but also regularly took a bath, anointing herself with a cream of fat with rose oil. In the morning, the same chest was taken back - and so on until someone informed the king. In August 1583, in front of the courtiers, Henry III attacked his sister with abuse and ordered her to get out to her husband in Navarre. Before leaving, her luggage was turned upside down, trying to find Shanwallon in one of the chests and deal with him. But he, warned by Margot, had already taken refuge in a safe place.
The King of Navarre was not at all happy about the arrival of his wife. He was in the midst of an affair with Corisanda de Grammont. She was expecting a child from him, and Henry of Navarre suggested that Margo, if she wants to stay in Navarre, become a friend of his favorite and take care of her. Margo left for her castle of Ajan, where she was caught by the news that her brother Francis, whom she counted on in the fight against Henry III, had died of a fever. She had no choice but to join the opponent of the king and Henry of Navarre de Guise. He created the Catholic League and began to prepare an uprising in Paris.
Margo, having joined the ranks of the Leaguers, hired soldiers and attacked the Protestants of Henry of Navarre, creating cruelties that were not inferior to Bartholomew's night. But soon she had nothing to pay the soldiers, and the army rebelled. She was rescued by a young stableman Obi-ak. In gratitude, Margot made him her lover and settled with him in the castle of Carlat, where she was carried away by the commandant of the castle of Linerac. This jealous man did not tolerate rivals and once stabbed a young servant, whom Margot took it into his head to caress. On another occasion, finding Margo with Obiak, he threatened to throw them both off a cliff. The lovers had to flee to the royal fortress of Ibua, where they, as accomplices of de Guise, were arrested.
The unfortunate Obiak was hung up on the gallows, and Marguerite of Valois in November 1586 was imprisoned in the impregnable castle of Usson in Auvergne. Although she was a prisoner of Henry III, his opponent Henry of Navarre did not sympathize with his wife at all: “I can’t wait for someone to strangle this dangerous creature, the Queen of Navarre!” he wrote. Margot, meanwhile, captured her jailer, the Marquis de Canillac, turned Usson into a safe haven and found happiness in liberation from the conventions of high society.
The events in Paris left her indifferent. She did not leave the Auvergne when the Duke of Guise raised the Parisians in May 1588, and Henry III barely managed to escape. In December, the king struck back - his guards, sung by Dumas in the novel Forty-five, waylaid Guise in the Louvre and stabbed him with swords. She did not show up at Blois, where her mother Catherine de' Medici died early the following year. And even more so, she didn’t budge when, on August 1, 1589, Henry III was killed by the fanatical monk Jacques Clement in revenge for the death of de Guise in Plais-si-les-Tours.
The French throne went to Henry of Navarre, but because of the ongoing religious wars, he was only five years later able to enter his capital and, having changed his faith for the sixth time, say his famous phrase: "Paris is worth a mass." All this time, Margo remained in Usson, where she created a real court that attracted wandering musicians and handsome young men. Everyone knew that any young nobleman had a chance to become the queen's page, and then her lover. Margo looked after herself more and more carefully. Her friend the Duchess d'Uzès wrote that the queen "spends her life in water and smells like a balm, but rubs herself with ointments again and again." In the morning, two maids pulled her into a corset with all their might to hide her plump waist.
Margot took up literature, composed many mediocre poems and wonderful, albeit very vague memoirs. She also wrote treatises in which she resented the neglect of the “strong sex” towards women. Margot wittily argued that the Lord created his creations more and more perfect. If a woman was created after a man, then she is above him. The conclusion was very original for the 16th century: "A man must honor a woman and obey her." So the Queen of Navarre can be considered the first feminist.
However, in reality, she still depended on men - or rather, on the one with whom she was in love at the moment. She wrote to the singer François: “Oh, how sweet your kisses are, what passion they awaken in me! I tremble all over, sparks of voluptuousness run through me from head to toe. You can just die from it; I’m so excited that I must have blushed to the ends of my hair.” In the end, the young François confessed in tears that he could no longer endure the exorbitant demands of his mistress. Margot was not offended, but married one of her ladies-in-waiting to him, giving him a good dowry.
Henry of Navarre remembered his wife in 1599, when he decided to marry his longtime mistress Gabrieli d'Estre. For marriage, Margo had to be divorced, for which she was promised forgiveness. Gabrielle died suddenly, but the king quickly found another bride - ironically, she turned out to be Marie de Medici, a close relative of Catherine. A year later, their wedding took place. A special royal charter left the title of Queen of Navarre for Margot and added a new title - Queen of France.
In July 1605, Margot left Usson with her new lover, the young footman Saint-Julien, and returned to Paris. Seeing his ex-wife, Henry IV was probably amazed - the former dazzling beauty turned into a heavy old woman. Her face, once "like the moon", was covered with red spots from the abuse of cosmetics. Her hair thinned, and she wore a huge white wig, which caused laughter from court fashionistas.
Heinrich asked her to take care of her health and even agreed to increase her allowance. In addition, he allowed her to visit the Louvre and communicate with the heir to the throne. Later, Louis XIII, son of Henry IV and Marie de Medici, remembered Margot as the only person at court, who paid attention to him and was really kind to him.
In Paris, Margot built her revision in front of the Louvre. Her new palace became no less fashionable than the salon in Usson.
Despite her age, Margarita could still inspire love and jealousy in men. Her lover Saint-Julien was shot dead by his rival, a certain Vermont. The queen insisted that Vermont's execution take place right at the gates of her palace. The next object of her passion, the footman Bajemont, died of exhaustion. He was replaced by the poet Villars, who sang of his mistress in mediocre verse.
In May 1610, the nobleman Ravaillac, sent by the Jesuits, stabbed Henry IV to death on Rue Ferronri. After the death of her ex-husband, at whose coffin Margot sobbed for a long time, she hid in her palace in Issy. There she died of a cold in March 1615.
There was no money in the treasury for a solemn funeral. The coffin with the body of Margaret of Valois stood in the monastery chapel for a whole year. In May 1616, he was secretly, accompanied by only two shooters from the royal guard, transported to the family tomb of Saint-Denis.