The Rival Queens

by Nancy Goldstone

  Gabrielle d’Estrées (on the right), Henry of Navarre’s mistress, with her sister—a portrait that reflects the mores of the court and perhaps explains why Marguerite’s marriage was in difficulties from the beginning.

  Ball given by Henri III in honor of his brother François, one of a series of inducements intended to separate François from his Huguenot and Politique allies. Catherine and Henri are pictured standing to the left.

  Henri III on his deathbed, bestowing his kingdom on Marguerite’s husband, Henry, king of Navarre, later Henry IV.

  Acknowledgments

  It is not an overstatement to say that this book would not have been possible without Alan Samson, my editor and publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Mine was a work that needed a knight of rare courage and vision and from the beginning Alan brilliantly and steadfastly protected and championed the book. He is proof that publishing’s best days are not behind it. The same is true of my two wonderful agents, Michael Carlisle and Peter Robinson, and of Asya Muchnick, my editor at Little, Brown, whose enthusiasm and care for The Rival Queens was inspiring. I owe you all a great debt—thank you.

  Similarly, I am so very grateful for the help and encouragement I received from Jeannette Seaver, who took the time to read the book in manuscript and then so generously recommended it to others. A big thank you also to Christopher Mason for his kind promotion of my work.

  As I have done with two of my previous books, I relied for help with some of the original translations on my dear friends Marie-Paule de Valdivia and Christine Lamarche-Arène, two charming Frenchwomen who were never too busy to puzzle out a phrase or help me find a source in Paris. Merci beaucoup! I must also thank Jamie Nathan, Ayelet Rubin, and Zmira Reuveni at the National Library of Israel for their kind assistance in securing permission rights for the 1575 map of La Rochelle and to Joo Lee of the Leemage agency for the beautiful color images of Catherine, Marguerite, and the other members of the royal court.

  Lastly, to my husband, Larry, and my daughter, Lee, who put up with far too many conversations about people who have been dead for five hundred years, and without whose love and support I would be lost, thank you for your patience, advice, and understanding! None of this would be worth it without you.

  About the Author

  NANCY GOLDSTONE’s previous books include The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc; Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe; and The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily. She has also coauthored five books with her husband, Lawrence Goldstone. She lives in Sagaponack, New York.

  By Nancy Goldstone

  The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc

  The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily

  Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe

  Trading Up: Surviving Success as a Woman Trader on Wall Street

  By Nancy Goldstone and Lawrence Goldstone

  The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World

  Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

  Warmly Inscribed: The New England Forger and Other Book Tales

  Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore

  Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World

  Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading

  Notes

  Epigraphs

  Here “Dear native land!”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, xix. This is an English translation of the poem based on the Latin version published posthumously in 1686.

  Here “The lady left alone”: Lemesurier, Nostradamus, Bibliomancer, 200.

  Introduction

  Here “the greatest beauty”: Bourdeïlle and Saint-Beuve, Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings, 156.

  Here “On my return”: Ibid.

  Here “never was seen the like”: Ibid., 161.

  Here “The beauty of that queen”: Ibid., 154.

  Here “If he should ever”: Chamberlin, Marguerite of Navarre, 63.

  Here “I blazed in diamonds”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 55.

  Chapter 1. “The Queen, My Mother”

  Here “Fortune is the ruler”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 105.

  Here “I was then about four”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 31.

  Here “The King said, ‘Why so?’ ”: Ibid.

  Here Her mother, a French countess… with the same ailment: The rumor attributing Catherine’s mother’s death to her father’s syphilis came from their contemporary, the maréchal de Florange, who wrote about it in his memoirs. See Knecht, Catherine de’ Medici, 8.

  Here “She comes bearing the calamities”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 29.

  Here “so gentle and pleasant”: Frieda, Catherine de Medici, 26.

  Here “very obedient”: Héritier, Catherine de’ Medici, 35.

  Here “I have never seen anyone”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 31.

  Here “This man is the scourge of God”: Ibid., 34.

  Here “The girl has come to my court”: (“J’as reçu la fille toute nue”): Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 41.

  Here “I am a king again!”: Hackett, Francis the First, 324.

  Here “short and thin; her features”: Héritier, Catherine de’ Medici, 27.

  Here “She is a beautiful woman”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 24.

  Here A Welshman who saw him: For further descriptions of François I by his contemporaries, see Knecht, Renaissance Warrior and Patron, 105.

  Here His appetites… Caesar: For this anecdote, see Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon, 15.

  Here “battle of giants”: Knecht, Renaissance Warrior and Patron, 77.

  Here “my daughter”: Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon, 163.

  Here “beaucoup”: Cabanès, Le Cabinet Secret de L’Histoire, 36.

  Here “a beautiful, fair woman”: Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon, 202.

  Here “never used her so well”: Ibid.

  Here la levrette: Ibid., 201.

  Here “address her as Madame”: Ibid., 240.

  Here Even the pope… pearl necklace: Héritier, Catherine de Medici, 49.

  Here “the right of control”: Ibid., 51.

  Here “His Majesty… eight hours with her”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 67.

  Here “When the King has told her”: Ibid.

  Here “wise and prudent governesses”: Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon, 257.

  Here “my allies”: Ibid., 224.

  Here “Monsieur de Humyères… and recommend you to him”: Lettres de Catherine de Médicis. The full French text of the letter, dated December 21, 1546, can be found at: http://www.archive.org/stream/lettresdecatheri01cathuoft/lettresdecatheri01cathuoft_djvu.txt. I am indebted to Marie-Paule de Valdivia for the translation that appears in the text.

  Monsieur de Humyères, j’ay recue la lectre que m’avez escripte, el m’avez faict bien grand plaisir m’avoir mandé des nouvelles de mes enflans. Je suys bien ayse de quoy madame de Humyères est arrivée là pour le soulaigement qu’elle vous fera au gouvernement de mes dils enflans. Monsieur et moy ne les vous recommandons poinct, pour l’asseurance qu’avons du soing que vous et Madame de Humyères prenez à leurtraictement. Je vous prye, Monsieur de Humyères, continuer à me faire souvent sçavoir de leurs nouvelles, car plus grand plaisir ne sçauriez faire à Monsieur et à moy, qui sera l’endroict où je prieray le Créateur, Monsieur de Humyères, après m’esire recommandée à vous, qu’il vous doinct ce que désirez.

  Escript à Compiengne, le xxi c jour de décembre M V e∖LVI. La byen vostre, Caterine.

  Here “God will give a royal
line”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 38–39.

  Here “I feel for you in your trouble”: Roelker, Queen of Navarre, 72.

  Here “disguised as bourgeois ladies”: Ibid., 181–82.

  Here “I cannot refrain from thanking you”: Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon, 244.

  Here “not fit to call themselves our servants”: Héritier, Catherine de Medici, 67.

  Here “the daughter of merchants” (“Cette fille de marchands”): Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 81.

  Chapter 2. The King Is Dead, Long Live the King

  Here “However strong your armies”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 10.

  Here “She is still so troubled”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 169.

  Here “Up to this hour”: Ibid., 162.

  Here “this being the good pleasure”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 101.

  Here “the house of Guise ruleth”: Knecht, Catherine de’ Medici, 61.

  Here Tiger of France: Roelker, Queen of Navarre, 148.

  Here “Raked up from the gold”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 104.

  Here “A bold thief hides himself”: Ibid.

  Here “The court”: Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 78.

  Here “One is continually burning”: Ibid., 75.

  Here At this stage, Michele Suriano, ambassador from Venice, reported that there were about four hundred thousand Huguenots in the kingdom out of a total of sixteen million subjects at the time of Francis’s ascension. See Héritier, Catherine de’ Medici, 104–5.

  Here “Now is the time to spend money”: Ibid., 111.

  Here “are in such feare”: Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 82.

  Here “The Duke himself set out”: Castelnau, Memoirs of the Reigns of Francis II and Charles IX of France, 37.

  Here “I know nothing about disputations”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 110.

  Here In what would evolve: According to recent scholarship, Coligny wrote a letter to Catherine after the conspiracy of Amboise advising her that the Crown would be continually under attack if the Guises were not replaced and advocating that she take on the responsibility for the government of France herself. See Shimizu, Conflict of Loyalties, 38–39.

  Here “Till that is arranged”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 111.

  Here “would give his life”: Ibid.

  Here “If they see that affairs”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 222.

  Here “If he refuses to obey”: Ibid.

  Here “You cannot arrive”: Ibid., 223.

  Here “is the most cowardly” Roelker, Queen of Navarre, 148.

  Here “I have [come] back this morning”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 113.

  Here “The Queen was blyeth of the death”: Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 90.

  Here “She thought of herself”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 236.

  Here “No man has ever attacked”: Sichel, Catherine de’ Medici and the French Reformation, 114.

  Here “We are lost”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 126.

  Chapter 3. The Queen and the Colloquy

  Here “It must be considered”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 25.

  Here “Our Queen, then Dowager of France”: Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots, 119.

  Here “Adieu France!”: Ibid., 131. The exact quotation is “Adieu France! Adieu France! Adieu donc, ma chère France… Je pense ne vous revoir jamais plus.”

  Here “You are not to lose”: Waldman, Biography of a Family, 51. See also Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:208.

  Here “If the winds are favorable”: Ibid., 135.

  Here “Since it has pleased God”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 239.

  Here “he is not very strong” Héritier, Catherine de’ Medici, 266.

  Here “swollen and deformed”: Frieda, Catherine de Medici, 177.

  Here “one of the ugliest”: Ibid.

  Here “so strictly brought up”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 42.

  Here negated her claim: “Everything done… in the matter of the government should be revoked because done by persons who had no power to act,” was the ruling of the Estates General. This was a deliberate revocation of the powers assumed by the queen mother. See Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:198.

  Here “too heavy”: Ibid., 210.

  Here “In twenty cities”: Ibid., 203.

  Here “I want to tell you plainly”: Ibid., 200–201.

  Here “What would you do”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 280.

  Here “The whole Court was infected”: Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, 31–32.

  Here “My brother added threats”: Ibid., 32–33.

  Here “I do not believe”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:217.

  Here “You will find that I am not as black”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 150.

  Here “We say that His body”: Ibid., 151.

  Here “Blasphemy! Blasphemy!” (in Latin, “Blasphemavit!”): Ibid.

  Here “If they ask you what it is”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:224.

  Here “I hear that the Queen means”: Roeder, Catherine de’ Medici and the Lost Revolution, 296.

  Here “I do not think”: Ibid.

  Here “You will be carried off at midnight”: Ibid.

  Here “My talk is of nothing”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:224.

  Here Go do something about it!: For an in-depth examination of the duke of Guise’s mother’s influence and her role in precipitating the massacre at Vassy, see Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 5–12.

  Here “Kill! Kill! By God’s death”: Ibid., 18.

  Chapter 4. A Short War…

  Here “A prince should therefore have”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 63.

  Here “All the Chief Citizens went out”: Castelnau, Memoirs, 138.

  Here “save the children”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:242–43.

  Here “Burn this instantly!”: Ibid.

  Here “could no more fight Guise”: Ibid., 245–46.

  Here “I have been anxious”: Ibid., 251–52.

  Here “It would be impossible”: Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 117.

  Here shipped back to Italy: For more on the Catholic plan to force Catherine out of France, see Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 118, and Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:265.

  Here “one of the triumvirate”: Bourdeïlle and Saint-Beuve, Illustrious Dames at the Court of the Valois Kings, 61.

  Here “In that case we shall have to”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 165.

  Here “Now, friends, the day is ours!”: Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, 143.

  Here “Courage, my friends”: Ibid.

  Here “this death is the greatest good”: Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 170.

  Here “He had spoken lightly”: Macdowall, Henry of Guise and Other Portraits, 19.

  Here She had a long memory. The queen mother told Condé of her relief at the duke of Guise’s death: “by the forces he had about the King and her, she was no less a prisoner than Condé had been,” see Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:278. “To this hour, she [Catherine] is persuaded that M. de Guise wanted to take possession of the kingdom,” letter from Chantonnay, the Spanish ambassador, in Macdowall, Henry of Guise and Other Portraits, 18. To a diplomat from Savoy she was overheard to say, “Such are the works of God; those who sought to destroy me are dead.” Héritier, Catherine de Medici, 223.

  Here pile of human excrement: Translated from the memoirs of Brantôme, the cardinal found “a great stinking shit on the seat of his ceremonial chair.” See Carroll, Martyrs and Murderers, 173.

  Here “I have often heard your grandfather”: Van Dyke, Catherine de Médicis, 1:292.r />
  Chapter 5. … And a Long Trip

  Here “One who wishes to obtain”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 68.

  Here eight thousand horses: See Héritier, Catherine de Medici, 238.

  Here a hair-raising fifty million écus: Ibid., 231.

  Here “they perceived a large Inchanted Tower”: Castelnau, Memoirs, 272.

  Here “dispel the Magick”: Ibid.

  Here “You’ll see… she’ll convert you all”: Roelker, Queen of Navarre, 161.

  Here “It is not an unalloyed”: Ibid., 343.

  Here “He shows himself very firm”: Ibid., 399.

  Here “Write me to relieve my anxiety”: Ibid., 203.

  Here “more princes than Salon”: Hogue, Nostradamus, 282.

  Here “I have only come”: Ibid., 284.

  Here “Get out fast”: Lemesurier, Nostradamus, Bibliomancer, 12.

  Here “Near Geneva terror will be great”: Nostradamus, Almanach pour l’an 1565, at http://www.crystalinks.com/nostradamusalmanacs.html.

  Here “[I composed] in dark and cryptic sentences”: Hogue, Nostradamus, 167.

  Here “As a fine reward”: Ibid., 192.

  Here Moreover, Diane de Poitiers: Nostradamus himself contradicts the idea that he was sent on to Blois. In a letter to Jean Morel he very clearly states that just before he left Paris he was visited by “a very becoming great lady” who wanted to have his methods examined by officials from the Justice department. A government investigation being the last thing he wanted, Nostradamus told her not to bother—he was leaving for Provence in the morning! Nostradamus scholar Ian Wilson believes this “great lady” was Diane de Poitiers, and I agree with him. See Wilson, Nostradamus: The Man Behind the Prophesies, 95–96.