Queen Margaret of Navarre. Medieval historical sources of the East and West

MEMOIRS OF MARGARET DE VALOIS

MEMOIRES DE MARGUERITE DE VALOIS

A WORD ABOUT QUEEN MARGO

The name of Marguerite of Valois, Queen of France and Navarre, went down in history along with the image of a beautiful lady of the Renaissance, sung by Ronsard and glorified by the brush of Clouet. Contemporaries called her Minerva, patroness of the arts and sciences. Descendants will call her one of the first feminists. Competing with men in science and art, she also defended women’s right to freedom of choice in love.

The private life of Marguerite Valois has always aroused great interest, as evidenced by her memoirs, diary entries and correspondence of contemporaries, as well as an abundance of her historical portraits created in different time. One of the most famous belongs to the pen of A. Dumas, who painted the image of an ardent lover and courageous defender of the Huguenots.

Unfortunately, of the creative heritage of the last Valois, only memoirs and partly correspondence have reached us. Margarita turned to writing memoirs in 1599-1600, during what she called the happiest period of her life in the Auvergne castle of Usson, far from Paris. At that time, she received a long-awaited divorce from Henry IV, who not only did not deprive her of the title of Queen of France and Navarre, but also retained other privileges for her. The French king was generous. In addition, the hassle and waiting for permission to divorce brought closer ex-spouses. And Marguerite Valois was seized by the desire to talk about the first years life together with Henry of Navarre, when serious tests, to which their relationship was subjected, contributed to the strengthening of good friendly feelings between them, which she now valued above simply marital ones.

The reason for writing the memoirs was an essay by Pierre Brantôme dedicated to Margarita - “Margarita is the Queen of France and Navarre, the only heiress of a noble French house at present.” A representative of an ancient family, the abbot of the Abbey de Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeil, was quite famous figure. He served at the court of Charles IX, Henry III and the Duke of Alençon (the younger Valois). His high position made him a witness to court life. As his contemporaries said about him, he was a supportive spectator and a third-rate person everywhere, allowing himself only occasionally discontent that was not dangerous to anyone. The favorite of kings and princes found satisfaction in thinking and describing everything he saw. The fruit of his creativity were portraits of French queens and princesses, including Margaret of Navarre, Catherine de Medici, Anne of Brittany, Elizabeth and Claude Valois. Breaking traditions and dooming himself to sarcasm, Brantôme dared to devote his work to women. At the same time, he showed great respect for the subject of his study, admiring his contemporaries and portraying all his heroines as highly virtuous.

The portrait of Marguerite Valois was in its nature a skillfully written panegyric. Brantome skillfully played up the most topical issue for late XVI V. (after the assassination of Henry III) the problem of succession to the French throne, raising, together with the question of the right of Margaret of Valois, the heiress of the reigning dynasty to the crown, the problem of succession to the throne in general. Unkind pagan law ( According to ancient law, the royal throne was inherited only through the male line), according to Brantôme, about the right of succession to the crown by princes ruling dynasties, who deprived the princesses of this right, was the talk of the town in French society, especially that neighboring states, including Spain and England, did not know such a custom.

The famous courtier created an attractive image of Margarita, generously endowed by nature with beauty and kindness, extraordinary intelligence, talents of eloquence and versification, and undeservedly enduring the blows of fate, to which he attributed, along with the ancient law of succession to the throne, court intrigues. Unlike the Roman emperors, who sought to amuse their people by organizing games and other spectacles, he wrote, the French kings, in order to please the people and win their favor, could only more often show the divine face of Queen Margaret.

The panegyric was presented to Margarita in the 90s of the 16th century. in the castle of Usson, where the omnipresent Brantome reached. The queen could not help but be touched by the courtier’s assurances that she was worthy not only of a small inch of land in Auvergne, where her castle was located, but also of the throne of all of France. Brantome's heartfelt words about her merits, as well as about the family discord with Henry of Navarre, which he considered typical for most nobles married couples, and the mention of the queen’s selflessness, who saved her husband on St. Bartholomew’s Night, were the limit of praise, pushing Margarita to answer.

The Queen begins her narrative by addressing Brantôme, mentally entering into a dialogue with the court flatterer. It introduces the reader to the world of base passions, intrigue and deception that dominated the French court during the reign of Charles IX and Henry III, presenting the life of the rulers with the destinies of their subjects during the most tragic period in the history of France. Not skimping on paint, Margarita paints portraits of her loved ones: the powerful and cruel Queen Mother Catherine de Medici, the weak-willed and kind Charles IX and the cynical Henry III, who used the services of wicked advisers. Of the last Valois, only Duke Francis of Alençon receives praise. She considered her younger brother, like herself, to be one of the victims of court intrigue.

TO goodies Margarita lists her memoirs as Henry IV. Driven by the desire to talk not only about the long history, but also about the strength of the friendly ties connecting her with her ex-husband, Margarita seeks to emphasize her role in his happy fate: whether it was patronage of the Louvre prisoner on the St. Bartholomew’s night of the massacre of the Huguenots or assistance at the time of aggravation of the king’s relations Navarre with the French monarch. She did not want to remember the insults inflicted on her by Henry of Navarre, blaming the French court for everything. Margarita refused to describe all the vicissitudes of her life. The memory probably retained everything, but the mind took away what was permitted. The memoirs suddenly end in 1582, leaving the reader with a desire to find out about the further fate of the heroine. More than 30 years of his life were not included in the memoirs, and probably not by chance. 1582 was followed by difficult years of struggle and wanderings of the queen without a king and a kingdom. The fate of the seductive Margarita of Valois, basking in the rays of universal admiration and love, was truly dramatic, as evidenced by facts from her biography, both those included in her memoirs and others that she kept silent about.

Margaret of Valois was born on May 14, 1553 in one of the royal residences of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She was the seventh child of the then reigning Henry II and Catherine de Medici. She was six years old when her father’s life was accidentally cut short during a knight’s tournament. The orphaned house, in which four young sons and a daughter remained at the time of the death of Henry II, had to shoulder the entire burden of state affairs and resist the forces that claimed political influence at court. According to ancient law, Margaret's elder brother, fifteen-year-old Francis II, became the heir to the throne. But the main concern for the family and preserving the crown for her sons was taken by the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici.

The serene world of a six-year-old girl was destroyed. Before her eyes, the most terrible performance that France had ever known was played out, attracting more and more new heroes to its stage - a civil fratricidal war that did not stop for almost half a century. Margarita witnessed changes in the character and behavior of her loved ones. The mother, usually reserved and silent, turned into an unyielding defender of the interests of the ruling dynasty, using all means to achieve her goal. Her menacing appearance and demanding tone instilled fear in Margarita. The elder brother Francis, having ascended the throne, became proud, revealing the most disgusting qualities of his sick nature. But his triumph did not last long. Without reigning for even a year, he died, plunging the royal court into new mourning.

The three remaining brothers - Karl-Maximilian, Eduard-Alexander (at confirmation Henry) and Hercule (at confirmation Francis) - were almost the same age as Margarita. But the throne went to the eldest of them, 11-year-old Charles Maximilian, Charles IX. The young king was completely under the influence of his mother. The princes of the blood, the same age as Charles IX, had to seek fortune outside the French house. Envy, hostility and mistrust have crept into the relationships between the closest people. Added to this was the enmity of the first princes of the Bourbon blood and the Lorraine nobles of the Dukes of Guise, who were once favored by Francis I, Margaret's grandfather, vying for political influence under the sovereign.

The conscious life of Margarita Valois began quite early. Family adversity accelerated her maturation. Naturally capable, with a lively mind and curiosity, the girl was introduced to reading from an early age. Catherine de' Medici encouraged her daughter's passion. Young Margarita was fluent in Italian and Spanish and easily read Latin. Monsieur Mignon, a professor at the College of Sens, taught her Latin, mathematics and physics. The girl began to write early; her idol was the court poet Pierre Ronsard. She tried to imitate him in her first poetic experiments. The Queen Mother instilled in her a taste for good music. The then famous musician Etienne de Roy taught her singing, and the court jester Paul de Rede taught her dancing.

Marguerite Valois became an enviable bride: her beauty and learning earned her fame not only in France, but also beyond its borders. Although she wanted the crown for her daughter, Catherine de Medici was nevertheless picky about the suitors for her hand. She made plans and sought to subordinate the resolution of the matrimonial issue to political interests.

Therefore, one marriage option (with Don Carlos, the eldest son of the Spanish King Philip II) was replaced by another (with Philip II himself), until a third appeared (with Prince Sebastian, the son of the Portuguese queen), etc. One of the first contenders for Margaret's hand was Duke Henry of Guise. However, the brave, handsome man, who enjoyed success in society and won Margarita’s favor, could not count on consent. The Queen Mother saw the Guises' ambitions in this party and, contrary to her daughter's wishes, rejected the Duke's proposal.

This was Margarita’s first tragedy: her feelings were not taken into account. Among other projects, the option of marriage with Heinrich Bourbon was discussed. As the court struggle intensified, Catherine de Medici became more and more inclined towards this option. The son of the first prince of the blood Antoine of Bourbon and Queen of Navarre Jeanne d'Albret was Margarita's cousin. A marriage with a Navarrese promised a softening of the court struggle and, in addition, a crown for the heiress of the French house. But the obstacle to this marriage was the difference in religion of the spouses. Henry of Navarre professed Protestantism. The Catholic Church did not gave sanctions for this union, despite the assurances of Catherine de Medici that the beauty of her daughter would return the Navarrese to the fold of Catholicism.

As for Margaret of Valois, although she did not have any feelings for Henry of Navarre, she still did not oppose the marriage: she was attracted by the position of the wife of the first prince of the blood and the prospect of becoming the queen of Navarre. It is possible that her decision was dictated by a sense of duty to the royal house at the time of the impending threat, and there was even some confidence in heroic self-sacrifice. Margarita was always ready to sacrifice herself, but at the same time she never compromised either her dignity or her convictions. “I agree and will obey my husband and his mother in reasonable things, but I will not change the faith in which I was raised, even if my husband becomes the monarch of the whole world,” she objected to her future mother-in-law, who wanted to convince her to accept the faith of Henry of Navarre. In family life, she will force her husband to respect another right of his - to feelings and desires, refusing to obey the will of her husband.

In April 1572, a contract was signed for the marriage of Margaret of Valois and Henry of Navarre. According to the contract, the then reigning Charles IX gave his sister 300 thousand gold crowns as a dowry, depriving her of all rights of inheritance to her father and mother. Catherine de Medici added 200 thousand livres to this, the younger brothers 25 thousand livres each. In addition, the contract provided for the right of the spouses to use part of the tax revenues in the royal treasury. Thus, one of the important family problems was decided: Margarita was excommunicated from the inheritance ( However, the issue of dividing the inheritance was not forgotten in the Valois family. They returned to him throughout Margarita’s court life. In family quarrels, wanting to win her sister over to her side, she will not only be promised, but will also be allocated lands in Southwestern France).

By the time of the wedding, scheduled for August 18, 1572, Henry of Navarre had already inherited the crown of Navarre: the sudden death of Jeanne d'Albret made him king, and Margarita was expected to become queen.

The wedding ceremony of a Catholic woman with a Protestant bore the features of a compromise. Henry of Navarre was supposed to accompany the bride to church, but not attend the mass, waiting for Margaret until the end of the service near the temple. On the wedding day, the Cardinal of Lorraine betrothed the newlyweds in the Louvre, and the next day solemnly married them at the entrance to Notre Dame. “Our wedding,” Margarita will write in her memoirs, “was celebrated with such triumph and splendor as no other, the king of Navarre and his retinue were in rich and beautiful attire, and I was royally in a diamond crown and an ermine cape, my tren blue dress carried by three princesses. The wedding took place according to the custom reserved for the daughters of France.” At this time, F. Clouet made a famous portrait of Margarita.

The court celebration of the wedding was a success. “But fate never allows people to fully experience happiness; she wanted to ruin my wedding,” Margarita would note bitterly, recalling the assassination attempt on the head of the Huguenot party, Admiral Caligny, and the subsequent events in the August days of 1572. Margarita Valois’s wedding was overshadowed by the tragedy that took place on the night of August 21 - the day St. Bartholomew. The holiday, which gathered in Paris the provincial nobility, Huguenots - like-minded people and co-religionists of Henry of Navarre, turned into a bloody massacre of those who arrived.

Moved by compassion for the unfortunate people who were trapped, Margarita hid the wounded man in her chambers and asked for mercy, worried for the life of Henry of Navarre and his entourage. In her memoirs, she will present herself as a defender of her husband, who managed to save his life. Years later, alone with pen and paper, she will want to talk only about her feat, keeping silent about the behavior of Henry of Navarre, that he paid for his salvation by renouncing his faith.

Margarita's married life, overshadowed from the first days by the events of St. Bartholomew's Night, presented the newlywed with other unpleasant surprises. The desired title of queen turned out to be purely nominal. In connection with the August events, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre became a prisoner of Charles IX and Catherine de Medici. In addition, Margarita’s physical hostility to her husband made marital duties impossible for her. Divorce as the only way out for the current situation at that time did not suit either party. Forced captivity fettered the independence of Henry of Navarre. Margarita, without admitting to anyone what had happened, tried to play the role of a wife. A marriage concluded without love immediately revealed its purely business essence. Without dramatizing the situation, the spouses did not embarrass each other. Margarita gained the desired freedom of choice in her love affairs. She shone at court. Masters of brush and words represented her enchanting image. Ronsard compared her to the beautiful Pasithea, admiring beautiful face, illuminated by the sparkle of large brown eyes, a smile of full lips and dark curly hair.

The first adversities of life could not pacify the ardor of young Margarita. Neglecting intimacy with her husband, she remained open to love, able to trust her feelings. This is how the first lover entered Margarita’s life. He was Joseph Boniface, Seigneur de La Mole, a handsome and stately Provencal, the best dancer at court and a ladies' man. The first free choice of a lover characterized Margarita's inclination to handsome men. Throughout her life she remained true to her ideal.

Biographers, following her contemporaries, considered Marguerite of Valois a slave to her passion. All her life she did not deny herself sensual pleasures. Lovers replaced one another, leaving a short memory of themselves. Margarita enjoyed freedom, not realizing her main purpose, which was difficult to compatible with free love - to be the mother of the king's heir. She understood the tragedy of her failure as a mother only when her rejected husband declared his desire to have an heir and insisted on a divorce. Margarita, unable to bear children, realized her defeat for the first time in her life, experiencing a feeling of jealousy towards her husband and hatred towards his mistresses, who were ready to make him happy with heirs. A barren fig tree, she realized that she had lost more than she had gained: her position as queen was at risk.

Margarita's personal drama played out against the backdrop of complicated relations in the Valois family and the civil war in France. As a member of the royal family and as the wife of a Huguenot, she was drawn into the struggle, taking an active position in it.

Envy and exorbitant ambitions turned her brothers - the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Alençon - into irreconcilable enemies. Fate was favorable to the Duke of Anjou, Henry, who began with a military career, endowing him first with the Polish crown, and after the untimely death of Charles IX with the French throne. The Duke of Alençon Francis, taking advantage of the authority of the prince, dreamed of establishing his political influence in the Dutch provinces. His intervention in the Spanish-Dutch War and his support of the Dutch princes were extremely dangerous, threatening France with being drawn into a military conflict with Spain. But the younger Valois considered only his own interests.

Margarita despised her older brother for his waywardness, intolerance for the weaknesses of others and sarcastic grins, which he was especially generous with. She treated the younger one with great warmth; she was impressed by his courage, bordering on insolence, and she even helped in the implementation of his Flemish plans.

Participation in court battles gave Margarita confidence in her abilities. But her political authority, in which she managed to believe, turned out to be an illusion. She was shown a very minor place in the royal family. After Henry of Navarre fled from the Louvre in Paris, Margarita was kept as a hostage, trying to get rid of her on favorable terms. In Nérac, the husband’s court did not wait for the queen’s arrival, bargaining with Paris for compensation for her reception. Margarita Valois was doomed to wander.

After a two-year separation from her husband, hoping for his gratitude, Margarita decides to go to him in Nerak. It seemed that the longed-for dream of finding your own yard was becoming a reality. In Neraka she manages to glorify the royal court of Henry of Navarre. It attracts the entire color of the Protestant intelligentsia there. In her salon, the poet Guillaume de Salusius and diplomats Duplessis - Mornay and Pibrak, the poet and philosopher Agrippa d'Aubigne and others gather. Pibrak even harbors the idea of opening an Academy similar to Paris with the help of the Neraki society. The Neraki salon of Marguerite Valois revives the traditions of the times of Margaret of Navarre. Far away from Paris, despite the war, the light of poetic and musical evenings does not go out and the spirit of love prevails, as the minister of Henry IV, Lord Sully, will write about this.

But it is in Neraka that Margarita receives a blow of such force that it turns her entire future life upside down. The friendly relations between the spouses that have developed in Paris do not stand the test of power. Henry of Navarre, as a king, allows himself to offer Margarita care for his favorite, who was expecting a child from him. This fact becomes known in Paris, and the royal court intervenes in the relationship between the spouses, prompting Marguerite to return to the Louvre.

It should be noted that, wise from life experience, the queen, whose position at the time of writing her memoirs depended entirely on the favor of Henry IV, outlined these events of the distant past, clearly setting out to rehabilitate her husband and blame the French court for all her misfortunes. And she manages to do this, because she refuses to further present her memories. Proud Margarita hid that leaving Nerak was the prelude to all her subsequent wanderings. She kept silent about the years of humiliation, bitter thoughts and resistance; she did not tell anyone about her happy days, given over to the joy of communicating with like-minded people and creativity.

After leaving Nérac, she returned to Paris, but despite the invitation of the king and queen mother, a cold reception awaited her. Henry III, having achieved the departure of his sister and the break with her husband, soon decided to return her to the Navarrese. Dependence on the will of her brother forced Margarita to obey, but the return to Nerak became torture for the queen. Henry of Navarre stopped his wife on the way and forced her to wait for the results of negotiations with Henry III. He demanded compensation for the reception of Margarita, bargaining for rights for his like-minded people. Negotiations and humiliating waiting lasted for seven months, until the king of Navarre deigned to allow the journey to continue. Nerak did not wait for his queen. In one of her letters, she spoke about this time: “My life is comparable to a slave position, I obey the strength and power of someone I cannot resist.”

And yet Margarita found the strength not to succumb to despondency. She challenged both sides - the king-brother and the king-husband, leaving Nerac and rushing to the city of Azhan, to the camp of the opponents of the king and Henry of Navarre. Her humiliated dignity made her hate and take revenge. With the help of her new allies, representatives of the Catholic League, she takes part in the strengthening of Azhan, showing remarkable abilities as a military leader. When Henry III forces the townspeople to surrender, Margaret hides in a Jacobin monastery in order to continue her journey and find refuge in the Auvergne fortress of Charles, granted to her by Henry III. The old dilapidated castle of the rebellious Armagnacs, who once fought with Louis XI, becomes the abode of a new rebel.

For a while, the Louvre loses sight of Margarita. Rumors even spread about her death. The reason for this was the queen's long illness. But Margarita does not give up, she becomes a defender of the interests of the Catholic opposition in Southern France. Together with the Catholic League, she is waging a desperate struggle against the defenders of the French throne, led by Henry III. The defeat of the opposition by the royal troops ends in capture for Margaret. Accompanied by a convoy, she is taken as a criminal to the Auvergne castle of Usson. Located in a remote area, high in the mountains, Usson once hid the most dangerous criminals.

Captivity allowed Margarita's loved ones to rush to decide her fate. Henry of Navarre wished to obtain a divorce. Anticipating this decision of her son-in-law, the Queen Mother proposed to enclose her daughter in a monastery, and Henry of Navarre to take Margaret's niece Christina of Lorraine as his wife. Henry III sees the best way out for his sister in death.

However, the seclusion in Usson ended with liberation for Margarita. The writers helped their accomplice by freeing her from captivity and obtaining for her the right to own the castle. The impregnable Usson became for Margarita not only a reliable refuge. Here in distant Auvergne she felt happy. After many years of turbulence social life and the humiliation of a rejected sister and wife, she finally knew happiness, realizing it in liberation from the conventions of high society and in harmony with nature. Later, in a letter to Henry IV, she would call Usson her cover, although the conditions of the old building and the scarcity of material resources deprived her of her usual comfort. In Usson, Margarita, with all the passion of her soul, indulges in reading and creativity. Her interests are varied: history and literature, theology, philosophy and natural science. The castle library is replenished with books by ancient authors - Plato, Herodotus, Plutarch, works by Italian humanists - Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino, French literature - from F. de Commines to Dubelle and Ronsard. Having experience in philanthropy and organizing a court salon in Neraka, Margarita turns Usson into a new Parnassus. She invites poets, philosophers and theologians to her salon, regardless of their religious beliefs. In the salon they listened to the poems of Antoine Le Puyade, Pierre Broche, the sermons of the Jesuit Father Gumblot and the reflections on the immortality of the soul of the philosophers J. de Champagnac and Dupleix. A favorite topic of conversation was the nature of love, which occupied Margarita all her life. Taking an active part in these conversations, the Usson recluse defended the unity of Cupid and Psyche. She did not accept innocent love, the passion of the soul as an ideal form in contrast to bodily pleasure. Defending the unity of soul and body and thus rehabilitating the carnal side of love, Margarita defended a woman’s right to freedom of choice in love relationships, rejecting any coercion. Reasoning on this topic will be reflected in letters where she will justify this woman’s right. “The Lord in his creation,” the queen will write, “began with less and imperfect, and ended with greater and more perfect. He created man after other creatures, and He created woman after man, therefore she is more perfect and has the right to freedom of choice in love relationships.”

In Usson, she learns of the death of the Queen Mother and the murder of her brother Henry III. The only heiress big house The Valois could not lay claim to the crown. Henry of Navarre, the first prince of the blood of the extinct Valois dynasty, confidently walked toward the French throne, pushing back his opponents. Having defeated the opposition in most of France, he approached Paris. To capture the last center of resistance, the cunning Huguenot prepared his most important trump card - apostasy. He helped him on St. Bartholomew's Night in 1572, saving his life, he brought him the crown in 1594. Paris cost a mass, and the Parisians accepted the first prince of the blood from the Bourbon dynasty, obeying him as their sovereign.

With the accession of Henry IV to the throne, Margaret realized the futility of resistance and admitted defeat, declaring herself from that time on a supporter of the new king. The relationship between the spouses entered a new phase. The king wanted to get a divorce and formalize his relationship with his next favorite: the position obligated him to take care of the heir. Margarita did not object. However, fate was willing to once again test the patience of the spouses, while promoting the renewal of their friendly affection. The divorce case of the French king acquired a confessional-political character: the permission of the Pope was required. The Holy See, trying to use this matter to strengthen its influence in the French church, was in no hurry to satisfy the mutual desire of the spouses. During the proceedings, the legality of a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant, as well as the motives for dissolving the union, were questioned. Consent for divorce was received only at the end of 1599, six years after the official declaration of Henry IX. But the king was unable to take advantage of the acquired right to enter into a new marriage: Henry IV’s favorite Gabrielle d’Este, who gave him sons, suddenly died.

Meanwhile, the fate of Margaret of Valois was decided benevolently. Henry IV expressed a desire to remain not only a cousin for her, but to become her real patron. In 1599, by a special royal charter, Margaret retained the title of Queen of Navarre and added a new title - Queen of France. In addition, she received the right to use lands in Southwestern France, which were donated to her by her brothers, and she was granted a pension. Thus, in exchange for illusory hopes for the position of queen under the living king, Margaret received material security and the dignity of a dowager queen. At the same time, she was awarded the right to return to Paris, acquire lands and houses, and also build her residence opposite the Louvre, in which she was destined to spend the last seven years of her life, making her new palace no less famous than the salon in Usson. Margarita's court began to attract poets and musicians, philosophers and statesmen, including the famous François Malherbe, Vital d'Audiguier and Théophile de Viau. Poets wrote odes in her honor, philosophers dedicated their works to her. Margarita's Paris Salon revived the old a tradition of court holidays that arose under Francis I.

Henry IV, for the sake of political interests, married Maria de Medici, niece of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand and cousin of Margaret. But the life of the king, who finally found a family and heirs, filled with plans for government reforms, was short-lived. In 1610 he was stabbed to death by the fanatic Ravaillac.

The death of the king forced Margarita to fight to maintain peace in France - a guarantee of the prosperity she had acquired. To this end, she participated in the last assembly of the Estates General in 1614, trying to bring the irreconcilable deputies of the estates to agreement with a reminder of the military threat to France. Confident in her ability to achieve what she wanted, Margarita made every effort to strengthen the new dynasty on the throne in the person of young Louis XIII.

The years have changed the appearance of the beautiful Margarita, turning her into an overweight old woman. Only the sly look of her brown eyes and her habit of wearing luxurious clothes in the old fashion, causing smiles among the courtiers, revealed her former beauty.

In recent years, Margarita fell into hypochondria, going to mass and receiving communion every day. The subjects of her special concern were the inhabitants of prisons and hospitals. She showed great generosity to all those in need of help. At the end of 1613, having returned from a short trip to her beloved Usson, Margarita fell ill with pneumonia and could no longer recover. A year and a half later - on May 27, 1615 - she was gone. She died consciously, having managed to receive unction from her confessor and thank the priest.

The coffin with the body of the deceased, installed in the monastery chapel, awaited burial for a whole year. The funeral was supposed to take place in May 1616. But there was no money in the treasury for ceremonial honors and the deceased was secretly transported at night, accompanied by two shooters from the royal guard, to the family tomb of Saint-Denis.

In her will, drawn up two days before her death, Margaret disposed of all her property in favor of Louis XIII and the Queen Mother Marie de' Medici, stipulating the payment of remuneration to court servants and a penalty under the contract for the construction of the Augustinian monastery, which she began in Bourges.

The last of the Valois dynasty passed away, wishing to remain in the memory of posterity as she presented herself in her memoirs - a victim of time, the daughter of a terrible era - the age of lead, as Montaigne put it. The goddess of happiness, Fortuna, whom the ancient Greeks depicted with a blindfold, barely touched her with her kind hand. Evil fate, by which Margarita meant court intrigue, turned her life into an eternal search for proof of her righteousness. Meanwhile, she deserved a better life.

For centuries, the self-esteem given by the author of the story and her analysis of the events that took place aroused great interest, which destined the memoirs for a long life. Published for the first time in the 17th century, they were reprinted several times, finally becoming accessible to a wide reader in the first Russian translation.

The translation of Marguerite Valois's memoirs is based on one of the first editions of the 17th century. This text, along with funny stories from the history of France in the 16th-17th centuries. included in the publication carried out by Louis Lalanne in Paris in 1858.

The text is reproduced from the publication: Memoirs of Queen Margot. M. MSU. 1995

Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois.

Fatal, incomparable,
Unexpected, angry.
So glorified for centuries,
But was she beautiful...AH!?

But we are grateful to Dumas,
I told the story a long time ago.
Arjani her in the cinema
She played so radiantly!

Well, listen to the story, without complications and without embellishment:

History in artistic images(Queen Margo)

It is generally accepted that the first manifestations of feminism were known to humanity somewhere at the end of the 18th century, when women wanted to vote and have equal rights with men. Most likely this is the version of the men themselves; everything is really not like that. And this can be confirmed by one aphoristic statement that belongs to Marguerite de Valois (the famous Queen Margot), daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici: “The Lord in his creation began with a smaller and imperfect one, and ended with a greater and more perfect one. He created man after other creatures , he created woman after man, therefore she is more perfect and she has the right to freedom of choice in love relationships"It was freedom of choice in love (and in those days, forced marriages, in accordance with the will of loved ones, were almost optional for women) most likely became the reason for feminism, which is so frightening for men today. Some historians confirm this version and directly Queen Margot is called one of the first feminists in the world. Well, her biography is quite consistent with the above - she loved whoever she wanted and when she wanted, although her circle did everything to prevent this from happening.
"She has a beauty more divine than human, but created for the destruction of men, and not for their salvation."
Don Juan of Austria, Governor of the Netherlands

Marguerite Valois was and is still considered one of the most beautiful women in France. And with light hand Alexandra Dumas her name has become immortal and legendary. Of course, the writer created a fairy tale, creating a certain ideal of a woman. Is this really so? Numerous portraits of Queen Margot, both as a child and as an adult, hardly for the most part present us with a real beauty. Most of the portraits and drawings depicting Margot belong to the brush of the artist François Clouet. Of course there is a certain charm in them, but still famous queen on them she appears as just an ordinary woman. So what is Queen Margot's secret? Most likely, it is hidden in her biography, environment, legends and the very time in which she happened to live.

After the girl was born, and she was born on May 24, 1553, she was given the name of her great-aunt - Margarita of Navarre, who was called “Margarita of all Margaritas,” or “the pearl of all pearls,” since the name “Margarita” is translated as “pearl.” She became a pearl in the history of France, which is written about in sufficient detail in numerous biographies of her. And love became the main thing in her life.

"Oh times, oh morals!" - so anyone can exclaim who consistently traces the entire life path Margaret of Valois. She has loved since childhood, having experienced her first carnal intimacy with a man at the age of 11. Margarita already had two lovers at once. At fifteen she became close to her brothers Charles, Heinrich and Francis. Incest? Alas, in those days this was commonplace and not at all shameful. And after eighteen years, her beauty began to attract men so much that she had big choice. And she chose: whoever was not in her bed - best men France, who often lost their lives for these love pleasures.

The list of Marguerite Valois's lovers is quite long. According to legend, in 1583, her brother, King Henry III, at one of the balls announced the list of all his sister’s lovers, which he pulled out from her night table. The list took up more than one page... But in our time, doctors would give Queen Margot a very specific diagnosis - nymphomania.

But nevertheless, Margarita Valois was one of the most educated women in France: she wrote poetry, read Homer and Plato in the original, played the lute very skillfully, sang charmingly, greeted guests in Latin at balls, spoke fluently in Spanish, Italian and Greek languages. You can even call her a diplomat, because... she often managed to emerge dry and, most importantly, alive, from the “water” of constant political conflicts, for which that time was so famous.

The young son of Antoine de Bourbon, Henry of Navarre, was chosen as Margaret's wife. Margarita was forced to walk down the aisle. The marriage was intended to cement peace between Catholics and Huguenots. However, instead of peace, the tragedy of St. Bartholomew's Night (massacre de la Saint-Barth;lemy) happened, when almost 10 thousand people died during the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris alone. Well, how can we not remember another aphorism of Queen Margot: “Never say that marriages are made in heaven. The gods cannot be so unfair.”

But despite all this, she continued to love: it was then that the famous La Molle, Saint-Luc and Bussy appeared in her life one after another, who soon paid with their lives for their relationship with the queen.

Alexandre Dumas described this whole story quite fascinatingly and excitingly and there is no point in retelling it here. Only perhaps one more aphorism of Marguerite Valois will be just right: “Love is blind, and it can blind a person so that the road that seems to him the most reliable turns out to be the most slippery.”

Queen Margot remained the most beautiful lady in France for many years, as evidenced by the tragedy that occurred in April 1606: Margarita was 53, her beloved Date de Saint Julien was 20. And he was killed out of jealousy by a rejected admirer of Margarita, who was 18 years old! Margot achieved the execution of the killer and was present at it.

She outlived almost all her friends and enemies. In the spring of 1615, Margot caught a cold in the ice hall of the Petit Bourbon Palace and died quietly in the arms of her next lover. The ashes rest in the necropolis of the French kings - the Cathedral of Saint-Denis, and we are left with her memoirs, yes beautiful legend invented by Alexandre Dumas. But whether she was really beautiful, everyone will decide for themselves...

Margaret de Valois (1553-1615). Memoirs. Selected letters. Documentation.

PREFACE

From the compiler

Preface to the Russian edition

Introduction. Part 1

Introduction. Part 2

I. MEMOIRS (1559-1581)

Dedication to Brantom

II. SELECTED LETTERS (1578-1606)

Preface

No. 1. Elizabeth I of England

No. 2. Henry III

No. 3. Louise de Clermont, Duchess of Uzès

No. 4. Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre

No. 5. Antoine de Serlan

No. 6. Henry of Lorraine, Duke of Guise

No. 7. Philip II, King of Spain

No. 8. Henry III

No. 9. Nicolas de Neufville, lord of Villeroy

No. 10. Diana de Valois, Duchess of Angoulême

No. 11. Maximilian de Bethune. Baron de Rosny

No. 12. Henry IV

III. UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS

introduction

No. 1. Letter from Margaret of France, Duchess of Savoy, to Charles IX

No. 2. Letter from Charles de Biraga to Catherine de Medici

No. 3. Letter from Charles de Biraga to Catherine de Medici

No. 4. Letter from Charles de Biraga to Henry III

No. 5. Cash receipt of Marguerite de Valois

IV. Letter from Margaret of Valois to Philip II (1587)

Introduction

Letter from Margaret of Valois to Philip II

V. Additional materials

1. Letters French Ambassador in Portugal Jean Nico Catherine de' Medici.

2. Portraits of Marguerite da Valois

3. L'ombre de la damoiselle de Gournay

4. Portraits of François Alençon

FROM THE COMPILER

The book offered to Russian and foreign readers contains the works of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of France and Navarre (1553-1615), better known as Queen Margot. It's about about her Memoirs and selected letters, political in content, - magnificent examples of late Renaissance literature in France, also of great historical interest.

In 1995, the publishing house of Moscow state university The first translation of “Memoirs” had already been published, made by I. V. Shevlyagina under the editorship of S. L. Pleshkova, which pursued literary and artistic goals and was not a strictly critical publication.

Presented now new translation was made from the best scientific edition of the Memoirs to date, prepared by Madame Eliane Vienneau, professor at the University of Saint-Etienne, and published by the Parisian publishing house Honoré Champion in 1999. In the process of translation and preparation of notes, we had to regularly, for several years, consult with E. Vienne, who was very responsive to the preparation of a new edition of the memoirs of Marguerite de Valois in Russia and patiently helped us in our work. Being the most famous biographer of Margaret and the publisher of her 1 1. Memoirs of Queen Margot / Trans. I. V. Shevlyagina, ed. S. L. Pleshkova. M., 1995.

2 2. Marguerite de Valois. Mémoires et autres écrits. 1574-1614 / Édition critique par Éliane Viennot, Paris, 1999.

correspondence, she also kindly agreed to write introduction for this book.

In addition to the “Memoirs” and letters, we considered it possible to include in this publication five unknown and unpublished documents relating to the queen, which are stored in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg in the collections of P. P. Dubrovsky and P. K. Sukhtelen. These materials are reproduced in French with appropriate explanations.

As an honorary participant in our project, we also invited our friend Laurent Angard from Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, a researcher of the literary heritage of Marguerite de Valois, who presented his article reflecting) modern ideas and debates in French literary criticism about memoirs and methods of studying them using the example of the Queen’s “Memoirs”.

The responsible editor of the book is D. E. Kharitonovich, senior researcher at the Institute of World History Russian Academy sciences, whose valuable instructions and comments made it possible to prepare this publication at the proper level

It remains for us to express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to all the translators who helped in translating the articles of Eliane Vienneau and Laurent Angard into Russian - M. Yu. Nekrasov (St. Petersburg), A. S. Larchikov (Vyborg), Marina Alidou and Michel Magniez (France).

3 3. See: Éliane Viennot. Histoire d'une femme. Histoire d'un mythe. Paris, 1993; Marguerite de Valois. Correspondance. 1569-1614/Éd. Eliane Viennot. Paris, 1998, See more detailed articles in sections I and II of this book. In addition, Madame Vienneau has headed the authoritative international association of researchers of French women of the Old Order - STEFAR - for many years. See: www.siefar.org.

V. V. Shishkin

PREFACE TO THE RUSSIAN EDITION

ÉLIAN VIENNAULT (JEAN MONNET UNIVERSITY, SAINT-ÉTIENNE)

PREFACE TO THE RUSSIAN EDITION OF “MEMOIRS” OF MARGARET DE VALOIS

Marguerite de Valois, of course, would be very flattered by the honor that was given to her now: her memoirs have been translated into Russian, with appropriate comments. She was born at the most brilliant court in Europe, attracted the attention of foreigners who passed through France, was a witness to the great tragedies of her era, so this great reader of Plutarch's Lives famous people“she also considered herself worthy to be known by enlightened people of all times and peoples. The works she wrote show that she was not mistaken in this.

Nevertheless, it is curious that she did not expect to leave a mark on history with her texts and cared very little about their becoming widely known. Many of her speeches - including those she made to Polish ambassadors in 1573 and to members of the Bordeaux municipality in 1578 - have not survived. Only the Huguenots (who published it a little later) probably knew about the “Note of Acquittal of Henry de Bourbon,” which she wrote for her husband in 1574, and in her “Memoirs” she devoted only a few lines to it. Only a dozen of her poems have reached us, as usually flashed in the publications of people who were close to her in recent years - poems signed in best case scenario transparent alias. During her lifetime, only a small treatise “On the Superiority of Women,” written a year before her death, was published under her name, and this publication was carried out by her opponent. Her “Memoirs” themselves do not seem to bear any traces of special care for the posthumous edition: the manuscript, published thirteen years after her death, was damaged in places (as evidenced by gaps), and it was missing the last notebooks (since the narrative ends abruptly) . As for her letters, Margarita, it seems, did not make copies of them: they were preserved only by the addressees. On the part of a woman who believed that she deserved to be known urbi et orbi [to the city and the world (lat.)], and heard the court poets repeat in every way that immortality is ensured only by texts, such negligence may seem surprising.

The explanation of this paradox can be read in her Memoirs. Indeed, when Marguerite de Valois declares at the very beginning that she does not intend to give them “a more glorious name, although they deserve to be called History, because they contain only the truth without any embellishment,” she does not name literary genre, which is familiar to us, but which has not yet existed. In 1594, when her husband became King of France and the prospect of their divorce began to loom, she intended only to make amendments to the Life of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, which she had just received from Brantôme and which did not satisfy her. Margarita always believed that heroes remain in History if any talented writer takes on their life story, as Plutarch did for the heroes of antiquity, therefore, based on these ideas, many years before she asked Brantome - her constant admirer - to become her biographer But not only did the new Plutarch make many factual errors, but the portrait he made of her seemed distorted to her. In fact, the "Biography ..." is largely imbued with memories of civil unrest in which the queen was forced to take an active part, and very often to her detriment, while years later she preferred " quiet life“, as she explained in a letter to the same Brant, just when she began writing “Memoirs”. So she took up the pen to correct his “Biography...” in some ways; from a life that was “chaos,” as she writes, he “has already drawn light”; she “had about five days of work left”—in other words, several hours of hard work. As for her, she will only write a few stories about individual stories, which will serve as material for the created “biography” - what was then called “memoirs” and what Margarita mockingly calls “bear cubs”; they will come to Brantome clumsily (because she writes “without embellishment”), 4 1. Cf. sonnet by Brantôme: “You once told me that I should write about you...” (Recueil d'aucunes rimes // Brantôme. Recueil des Dames, Poésies et Tombeaux / Éd. Etienne Vaucheret. Paris: Gallimard, Coll. “La Pléiade ", 1992. P. 906). On the dynamic connections between these different texts, see: Éliane Viennot. Les métamorphoses de Marguerite de Valois, ou les cadeaux de Brantôme // J.-P. Beaulieu & D. Desrosiers-Bonin (dir.). Dans les miroirs de l'écriture. La réflexivité chez les femmes écrivains d'Ancien Régime. Montréal: Paragraphes, 1998.

Margaret of Valois is the daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici. In 1572, she married the King of Navarre, who later took the French throne under the name Henry IV. When Henry fled Paris, she remained at court for a long time. At the initiative of the king, their marriage was dissolved. Last years Margarita spent her life in Paris, surrounding herself with scientists and writers. She left memoirs about her life.

At noon on May 24, 1553, the queen gave birth to a girl. “We will call her Margaret,” said King Henry II of France.

Already at the age of eleven, Margarita had two lovers - Antrag and Sharen. Which of them became the first? Apparently, we will never know which of them had the honor of being the pioneer. At fifteen she became the mistress of her brothers Charles, Henry and Francis. And when Margarita turned eighteen, her beauty began to attract men so much that she had a wide choice. A brunette with eyes the color of black amber, she was capable of igniting everything around her with one glance, and her skin was so milky white that Margarita, out of a desire to show off, and for fun, received her lovers in a bed covered with black muslin...

At this time, she fell in love with her cousin Duke Henry of Guise, a twenty-year-old blond handsome man. Both temperamental and devoid of any modesty, they gave themselves love games wherever desire overtook them, be it in the room, in the garden or on the stairs. Once they were even found in one of the Louvre corridors. At the mere thought that this fop from the House of Lorraine could seduce his sister, King Charles IX fell into real madness. And Margot convinced the Duke to marry Catherine of Cleves, the widow of Prince Porquin...

After this incident, the Queen Mother decided to marry her daughter to the son of Antoine de Bourbon, young Henry of Navarre, who did not yet have a reputation as a Don Juan. Henry's mother, Jeanne d'Albret, was proud that she could marry her son to the sister of the King of France, and quickly agreed on everything with Catherine. Naturally, many Protestants came to the wedding, but five days later, on St. Bartholomew’s Night, every single one of them was killed by Catholics. After the Night of St. Bartholomew, Henry of Navarre, who renounced Protestantism in order to preserve his life, was under the vigilant supervision of Catherine de Medici.

While Margarita was enjoying the caresses of her lovers, Henry of Navarre was plotting. He created a secret organization whose goal was to overthrow Charles IX from the throne, eliminate the Duke of Anjou, who became king of Poland in 1573, and place the Duke of Alençon on the throne of France, youngest son Catherine de Medici.

Among the favorites of the Duke of Alençon was Seigneur Boniface de la Mole, a brilliant dancer and favorite of the ladies. This God-fearing libertine was simply created for Margarita, who with extraordinary ease moved from church to alcove and went to bed with her lovers, while her hair was still fragrant with incense. When he saw her, dressed in a brocade dress with a deep neckline that allowed her to be seen tall and full breasts, he immediately fell in love with her... Margarita immediately rushed to him, grabbed his hand and dragged him into her room, where they made love, so noisily that two hours later the whole court knew that the Queen of Navarre had another one lover.

La Mole was Provençal. In bed, he blabbed to Margarita about the conspiracy that Henry of Navarre was plotting, and about the important role that he himself and one of his friends named Coconas, the lover of the Duchess of Nevers, were to play in this conspiracy. Margarita, after listening to the confession, was horrified. As the daughter of the king, she knew that conspiracies would harm the king, and therefore, despite her love for de la Mole, she told everything to Catherine de Medici.

On a May day in 1574, de la Mole and Kokonas were beheaded on the Place de Greve. Their bodies were quartered and hung on the city gates for the amusement of the mob. As night fell, the Duchess of Nevers and Marguerite sent one of their friends, Jacques d'Oradour, to ransom the heads of those executed from the executioner. Having kissed them on their cold lips, they then carefully placed their heads in boxes and ordered them to be embalmed the next day.

Within a week, Margarita began to feel some kind of unusual excitement, because of which she became taciturn and could not find a place for herself. She needed something to calm her down. And she found such a remedy in the person of a young courtier named Saint-Luc, who was famous for his inexhaustible male strength. Over the course of several meetings, he completely relieved Margot of her torment. After this, the young woman began to appear at court balls again. One evening she met a handsome man, whose name was Charles de Balzac d'Entragues, and became his mistress...

Catherine de Medici abandoned the idea of imprisoning both princes, rightly believing that this would cause violent unrest in the kingdom; however, she made the Dukes of Navarre and Alençon prisoners of the Louvre. They were forbidden to leave the palace unaccompanied, and many secret agents recorded literally every word they said.

The Duke of Anjou, after the death of his brother, Charles IX, returned from Poland in 1574 to take the throne. Under Henry III they resumed religious wars. In 1576, under the leadership of Heinrich Guise, a holy league was formed from strict Catholics, with the goal of the final extermination of Protestantism.

Henry of Navarre was known as a great cunning man. On February 3, 1576, having lulled the vigilance of Catherine and Henry III, he obtained permission from them to go hunting in the forest surrounding the city of Senlis. The next time the Parisians were destined to see him only twenty years later. Henry III, who had not been able to calm down since the escape of Navarre, refused to let Margot go, citing the fact that she was the most the best decoration his yard and that he is unable to part with her. In fact, he turned her into a prisoner. The unfortunate woman had no right to leave her room, at the door of which there were guards day and night, and all her letters were read.

Despite the constant surveillance under which Margarita was, she managed to send a note to the Duke of Alençon and report on the terrible conditions in which she was being held in the Louvre. The Duke was greatly agitated by this news and sent Catherine de Medici a letter of protest. The Queen Mother had long wanted to eliminate Francis, so she could not help but take advantage of the opportunity. Now she thought that in exchange for Margarita’s freedom, her rebellious son would leave the Protestants and give up his confrontation with the crown. She invited Henry III to enter into negotiations with the Duke through the mediation of Margaret and received consent.

The journey was painful for Margot, since their carriage was accompanied by beautiful and therefore seductive officers, each of whom would willingly calm her nerves. The next day in the evening, after the first negotiations, when everyone had gone to bed, she silently slipped out of her room and went to the Duke of Alençon, who with a fervor that was hardly appropriate in in this case, showed her more than brotherly feelings. After this night, which brought great relief to Margarita, negotiations resumed, and Francis, confident in his abilities, set his own conditions. And a few days later, Henry III, whose hypocrisy was no less than his vices, met his brother with honor and made peace with him in front of everyone. Margarita returned to Paris with Francis.

In the spring of 1577, Mondoucet, the king's agent in Flanders, who had gone into the service of the Duke of Anjou, reported that the Flemings were groaning under the yoke of the Spaniards and that Flanders could be easily conquered by sending an experienced man there. The Duke of Anjou immediately thought of Margaret.

Departure for Flanders took place on May 28, 1577. Margaret, accompanied by a large retinue, left Paris through the gates of Saint-Denis, sitting in a stretcher, “above which on pylons stood a canopy lined with purple Spanish velvet with gold and silk embroidery.”

In Namur, Don Juan of Austria, Philip II's illegitimate brother and governor of the Netherlands, received Margaret with special honor. Six months earlier, he had visited Paris incognito. Thanks to the help of the Spanish ambassador, he managed to penetrate into the French court, where a ball was being held that evening, and see Margaret of Navarre, about whom all of Europe was talking. It goes without saying that he fell in love with her, although the lightning that flashed in her gaze scared him a little. After the ball, don Juan admitted to his friends: “She has more divine than human beauty, but at the same time it was created for the destruction of men, and not for their salvation.”

Margarita hoped to use her charms to ensure Don Juan’s non-intervention during the coup in the country that the Duke of Anjou tried to carry out. “Rise a rebellion,” she told the local nobility in the meantime, “and call on the Duke of Anjou for help!” As a result of her propaganda, severe unrest soon began in the country. In Liege she was warmly received by the Flemish and German lords, who organized grand celebrations in her honor.

Everything was going according to plan when she learned from her brother’s letter that the king had been informed about her negotiations with the Flemings. Having become indescribably furious, he warned the Spaniards about the impending coup, hoping that they would arrest Margarita. Within two hours, Margarita and her entire retinue were rushing at full speed towards France. Margarita returned to the court. Oddly enough, she was well received there... Soon she turned to Henry III with a request to allow her to go to her husband in Nerac. And on December 15, 1578, she moved into her residence.

The old castle that belonged to the house of Albret, of course, could not be compared with the Louvre. There was no usual joy in it either. The Huguenot princes who surrounded Henry of Navarre were distinguished by their stern disposition, demonstrating super-virtue and contemptuous indifference to amusements. Margot adored luxury, pleasure, and balls. Under her “beneficial” influence, the castle in Neraka very soon turned into real home tolerance, and the Duke of Navarre’s co-religionists, having gotten rid of their complexes, began to taste a different life.

At this time, Margot was the mistress of the young and handsome Viscount de Turenne, Duke of Bouillon, devoted friend Henry of Navarre. Together with the ardent Viscount, she organized endless balls and masquerades. Of course, Margot had the tact not to demand money from her husband for entertainment, during which she cuckolded him. No, for money she turned to the good-natured Pibrak, who had long been in love with her and therefore was gradually going bankrupt without the slightest hope of reciprocity.

But one fine morning, offended by the fact that Marguerite and Turenne constantly made fun of him, Pibrak returned to the Louvre and told Henry III what outrages were happening at the court of Henry of Navarre. The king flew into a rage, called his sister a whore and immediately sent Béarnz a letter in which he informed him about the dissipation of his wife Margarita.

Henry of Navarre, who had the time to atone for his own sins, pretended that he did not believe anything that was written, but did not deny himself the pleasure of showing the letter of the French king to Turenne and Margaret. Margot, outraged by her brother’s latest prank, decided to take revenge on him by convincing her husband to declare war on the king. And a reason for war was quickly found: the cities of Azhan and Cahors, presented to her by her husband as a dowry, were illegally appropriated by Henry III. It was only necessary to slightly provoke the Duke of Navarre...

At the beginning of 1580, Navarre was ripe for war. They took military action immediately and fought fiercely throughout Guienne. It was not until November that the Duke of Anjou made several attempts to negotiate peace, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Flex. The lovers' war is over. She avenged the insulted honor of the flighty ladies of the Navarre Palace and took five thousand lives...

Margarita was then thirty years old. Her already volcanic temperament seemed to be only intensified by the overly spicy food that was the custom at the court in Neraka. The appearance of the handsome young Jacques Harlet de Chanvallon, who accompanied the Duke of Anjou, brought her into such a state that she lost peace. For the first time in her life, Margot truly fell in love. Transformed, radiating happiness, having forgotten everyone - her husband, lover, brother - she lived with only a feeling of adoration for the young, elegant lord, whom she called “her beautiful sun,” “her incomparable angel,” “her incomparable miracle of nature.”

This passion blinded her to such an extent that she lost the last drop of caution that she still had, and Chanvallon had to satisfy her desires on the stairs, and in the closets, and in the gardens, and in the fields, and on the threshing floor...

But Francois decided to leave Nérac and return to his place. A few days later he left and took with him the faithful Chanvallon. Margarita almost went crazy. She locked herself in her room to shed tears and at the same time compose stanzas for her lover’s departure. All her letters to him ended the same way: “My whole life is in you, my beautiful everything, my only and perfect beauty. I kiss this beautiful hair a million times, my priceless and sweet wealth; I kiss these beautiful and adored lips a million times.”

The Queen of Navarre decided to return to Paris, where she hoped to see Chanvallon. Margarita rented a house for meetings. Having the opportunity to do what she wanted, she surrounded the Viscount with care, decorated his room with mirrors, learned new refined caresses from an Italian astrologer and ordered the cook for her lover with spicy dishes.

The spicy dishes with which Queen Margaret treated the unfortunate Chanvallon prompted him to such excesses that one fine day, exhausted, emaciated and irritated, he secretly left Paris and took refuge in the village, where he soon married a girl of a calm disposition.

Margarita was distraught with grief. She wrote him letters that betrayed her despair. And her prayers were heard. On a fine June day in 1583, Chanvallon, exiled by the Duke of Anjou as punishment for talkativeness, came with his head down to seek refuge with Margaret. For several weeks, they retired to the Rue Couture-Sainte-Catherine and spent their time in such a haze that Margarita forgot about the need to appear at the Louvre.

Henry III, intrigued by the disappearance of his sister, asked the maid about her, and she told him about Margaret’s renewed relationship with Chanvallon, and then gave the king the names of all her lovers. On Sunday, August 7, a big ball was to take place at court. Henry III invited his sister to attend. Suddenly, in the midst of the holiday, the king approached Margarita and in a loud voice scolded her in front of everyone, calling her a “vile slut” and accusing her of shamelessness. Having recounted all the details of her intimate relationships, even the most obscene ones, he ordered his sister to immediately leave the capital.

Queen Margot spent the whole night destroying incriminating letters that careless lovers wrote to her, and at dawn she left Paris. In Nerac, for several months, Henry of Navarre and Margarita saw each other infrequently, each absorbed in their own affairs: while the wife received Nerac officers in her room, the husband generously bestowed carnal pleasures on his mistresses.

After the death of Francis of Alençon in 1584, Henry of Navarre became the heir of Henry III. He ascended the throne after the king's death in 1589 and became Henry IV. Soon, disagreements arose between the spouses, which developed into hostility. It was here that the king’s favorite, Countess de Gramont, who dreamed of marrying Béarnz to herself, began to behave provocatively with Margot and even tried to poison her. The Queen was warned in time, but this frightened her. Margot left Nérac a few days later under the pretext of spending Easter in Ajan, the main Catholic city of her domain.

As soon as Margot had settled down, an envoy from the Duke of Guise came to her, asking to help the Holy League in Languedoc and start a war against the Duke of Navarre. Terribly overjoyed at the opportunity to pay for all the insults inflicted on her in Nérac, Margot accepted the offer and instructed her new lover Lignérac to recruit from local residents soldiers and strengthen the city. Unfortunately, the campaign ended in disaster: Lignerac's ill-prepared and disorganized men were completely defeated by the army of Navarre. Margot had to recruit soldiers again and purchase weapons. To get money, she introduced new taxes. The residents of Azhan rebelled and killed most League soldiers and surrendered the city to the royal troops.

Margot, sitting on a horse behind Lignerac, traveled fifty leagues and, completely defeated and exhausted, arrived at the well-fortified castle of Charles, not far from Aurillac. Soon she chose her own horsemaster, the noble and charming Obiak, for her pleasures.

Less than a few days after her arrival, a detachment commanded by the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Husson, appeared at the secret entrance to the castle. Obiak was immediately handed over to the guards, who escorted him to Saint-Cirq. Canillac led Margot into a guarded carriage and, under a reliable escort, ordered her to be taken to the castle of Husson, built on an inaccessible peak of a rocky mountain. Margot was placed in the most remote chambers. Canillac then ordered Obiak's execution.

For some time no one knew what was happening in the fortress of Husson, and even a rumor spread that Henry IV had ordered the murder of his wife. One morning, Margot asked to tell Canillac that she would be happy to see him at her place. The Marquis found his captive in bed with almost no clothes. His gaze “lost its dignity, giving way to lust.” From that day on, the Queen of Navarre became the ruler of the fortified city and the mistress of the Marquis de Canillac.

At this time, Gabrielle d'Estrée, another favorite, insisted on the king's divorce from Margot, who was still living in exile. Eventually Henry IV sent an envoy to Husson to meet his wife. What did he offer Margarita in exchange for the crown? Two hundred and fifty thousand crowns to pay off the debts that the poor thing had accumulated in ten years, a life annuity and a secure existence. In return, he demanded from the queen a power of attorney and an oral statement in the presence of an ecclesiastical judge that “her marriage was concluded without mandatory permission and without voluntary consent,” and therefore she asks for it to be considered invalid.

The ambassador arrived in Husson after a week's travel. A strange picture opened before his eyes. Margot, who always loved making love, had a habit of lying on the bed naked, leaving open window, “so that anyone who, passing by, looks into it, will feel the desire to come in and have fun with her.” The thought of divorce did not upset her at all, her only desire was to escape from Husson. In addition, she was aware that Henry IV would never call her to him.

Surprisingly, Margot even felt affection for Gabrielle d’Estrae. Having learned that Henry IV had given his favorite the magnificent abbey that had once belonged to her, she wrote to the king: “It gave me pleasure to know that the thing that once belonged to me could testify to this noble woman how I always wanted to please her, as well as my determination in all love life and honor what you will love.”

After the divorce, Margot communicated with the king only in friendly and almost love correspondence. He wrote to her: “I would like to take care of everything that has to do with you more than ever, and also so that you always feel that from now on I want to be your brother not only in name, but also in spiritual affection." He ordered a good pension for her, paid off her debts, insisted that she be treated with respect, while she wished him happiness with new queen- Marie de Medici.

On the evening of July 18, 1605, Margot entered the Madrid Castle in Boulogne. On July 26, Henry IV visited her. Of course, he had difficulty recognizing her - the once charming Margot, who had a slender and flexible figure, had turned into a portly lady. The king kissed her hands, called her “his sister” and stayed with her for three whole hours.

The next day, Margarita went to visit Marie de Medici. At the Louvre, the king greeted her with honors and expressed his displeasure to Marie de Medici, who did not want to go beyond the main staircase. “My sister, my love has always been with you. Here you can feel like a sovereign mistress, as, indeed, everywhere where my power extends.”

At the end of August, Margarita left the Madrid Castle and settled in a mansion on Figier Street. Less than a few days later, a rumor spread throughout Paris that some young man was living with Queen Margot. Indeed, after six weeks of forced chastity, so as not to frighten the court, she summoned a twenty-year-old footman named Déa de Saint-Julien from Husson. But, to his misfortune, another page, eighteen-year-old Vermont, began to look at the fifty-year-old queen. In one of April days In 1606, jealousy pushed him to kill his favorite...

Margot moved to an estate that she had recently acquired on the left bank of the Seine, near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Her lover was a young Gascon named Bajomont, whom well-wishing friends sent her from Ajean. As a lover, he was distinguished by his strength and tirelessness, which forced Margarita to beg for mercy, but God offended him with his mind. Is it any wonder that Margaret’s confessor, the future Saint Vincent de Paul, feeling uncomfortable in this environment and, unable to overcome his disgust, left her house and went to live among the convicts, preferring to save their souls?..

While Catherine de' Medici devoted all her time and all her concerns to Concino Concini, the little king lived alone in his apartments. Only one person showed attention and tenderness to the abandoned child, and that person was Queen Margot. She came into his room, showered him with gifts, told him stories and funny stories. When she left, he immediately became sad and begged her to come again as soon as possible. At such moments, it seemed to Margot that her heart was breaking, and, completely upset, she showered the little king with kisses.

True, the old mistress warmed not only Louis XIII with her unspent maternal feelings. Together with him, a young singer named Villar enjoyed the bounty of this loving heart. Of course, in relation to the latter, she showed her feelings a little differently, because he was her lover.

In the spring of 1615, Margot caught a cold in the ice hall of the Petit Bourbon Palace. On March 27, the confessor warned Margot that her situation was bad. Then she called Villar, pressed a long kiss to his lips, as if she wanted to enjoy this last touch, and died a few hours later.

Little Louis XIII experienced great grief. He realized that the only creature in the world who truly loved him had passed away.

I’m debunking my personal myth...
Even though I'm a bookworm and read all the time, my head is—and always will be—filled with amazing gaps in knowledge. Here I am putting my next shame on display: the biography of Queen Margot, whom she knew only from films and novels.

As soon as I hear the name of Queen Margot, this is what comes to my mind:

But in fact, the queen had nothing in common with the beautiful Isabelle Adjani... the reality was different...

Francois Clouet. Young Margarita Valois. 1555

And with the light hand of Alexandre Dumas, her name truly became a legend - but Dumas created from many historical figures legends - so Margarita of Valois is just one of his bright chimeras. But what was it really like?
Numerous portraits of Queen Margot (and she, as a person of royal blood, was often painted in large quantities), both as a child and as an adult, show that she could hardly be called a real beauty. Most of the portraits and drawings depicting Margot belong to the brush of the artist François Clouet. They show a simple reddish girl without, as it is now fashionable to say, zest or charm. So what is Queen Margot's secret? Most likely, it is hidden in her biography, environment, legends and the very time in which she happened to live.

The girl was born on May 24, 1553, she was given the name of her great-aunt - Margarita of Navarre, who was called “Margarita of all Margaritas”, or “the pearl of all pearls”, because the name “Margarita” is translated as “pearl”. She became a pearl in the history of France, as all her biographies incessantly repeat.

“Oh times, oh morals!” – this is exactly what came to mind when I read about Margarita of Valois. She has loved since childhood, having experienced her first carnal intimacy with a man at the age of 11. Margarita already had two lovers at once. At fifteen she became close to her brothers Charles, Heinrich and Francis. Incest? Alas, it turns out that in those days this was a common thing and not at all shameful. And after eighteen years old she became just a magnet for men. Countless men have been in her bed, often paying with their lives for their relationship with her.

Francois Clouet. Portrait of Marguerite de Valois. 1572

The list of Marguerite Valois's lovers is quite long even by today's standards. According to legend, in 1583, her brother, King Henry III, at one of the balls announced the list of all his sister’s lovers, which he pulled out from her night table. The list took up more than one page... Perhaps in our time, doctors would have pleased the queen with a diagnosis of “nymphomania.”

Lifetime portrait of Marguerite Valois

But nevertheless, Margarita Valois was not a dull plug concerned with the problems of the horizontal plane - despite all her adventures, she was one of the most educated women in France: she wrote poetry, read Homer and Plato in the original languages, played the lute beautifully, had good voice and sang willingly, knew Latin like colloquial, spoke fluently in Spanish, Italian and Greek. You can even call her a diplomat, because she often managed to get out dry and, most importantly, alive. muddy water constant political conflicts for which that time was so famous.

Margaret and Henry of Navarre

Margaret - like almost all the royal daughters - became a victim of a dynastic marriage. The son of Antoine de Bourbon, Henry of Navarre, was chosen as her husband. Margarita was forced to marry him. The marriage was intended to cement peace between Catholics and Huguenots. However, instead of peace, the tragedy of St. Bartholomew's Night (massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy) happened, when almost 10 thousand people died during the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris alone.

But despite all this, she continued to meet with men: it was then that the famous La Molle, Saint-Luc and Bussy appeared in her life one after another, who soon paid with their lives for their relationship with the queen.

Nicholas Hilliard. Queen Margo. 1577 Miniature

Queen Margot was considered the most beautiful lady in France for many years, as evidenced by the tragedy that occurred in April 1606: Margarita was 53, her lover Dat de Saint Julien was 20. And he was killed out of jealousy by Margarita’s rejected admirer, who was 18 years old! Margot achieved the execution of the killer and was present at it.

This is the story - without embellishment and fabulous details... Honestly - now I understand why at Bulgakov’s Satan’s Ball Margarita Nikolaevna accepted the title of the bright Queen Margot... The details of the life of Margarita Valois really contribute...