Charles Merki

Queen Margot and the end of the Valois, 1553-1615 Charles Merki

Marguerite de Valois was the last of her line. Margot, used as a political weapon during her youth, by her own family, was turned into another one following her death. Pamphleteers and propagandists for the new Bourbon dynasty of Margot's husband, King Henri IV of Navarre, and then of France in 1589, sought to portray Queen Marguerite as a loose woman, a sexual libertine, to discredit the Valois line. This type of attack has always been used against women of political power, and of course it became the stuff of legend and common stereotype until about the time of Merki's volume. This author traces Margot as a political role player amidst a violent era and its clannish peculiarities, especially her entanglement with the fanatical religious element, always in the picture. Merki organized the story into three sections: 1.) era of the Valois in the 16th century: Catherine de Medici; Court life, and morals; youth of Marguerite; Protestants; negotiations for marriage; union with Henri de Navarre; marriage of Marguerite; St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre; Conspiracy of the Politiques; death of Charles IX; troubled relations with Henri III; 2.) Margot as Queen of Navarre: quarrels of the mignons; escape of the Duke of Anjou; the Flanders Expedition; War of the Lovers; rebellious Margot; she declares for League; refuge in Auvergne; prisoner of the Château d'Usson; 3.) final years: accession of Henri IV; negotiation with Margot and Divorce of 1599; Conspiracy of Auvergne; Margot leaves Usson for Paris; Margot builds the Hôtel des Augustins; Regency of Marie de Medici. This is the first and only translation of Merki into English. Every effort has been made to convey the spirit of the writing style of Merki while making it accessible to a modern English speaking audience. F. H. Wallis Translation continues to seek out and publish older works of the highest scholarship on the history of France.