Marguerite de Valois (1553 - 1615)
Known as Margot by her family, she was a daughter of a king, a sister of three kings, sister-in-law of another king and a wife of a king. She was among the most vilified women in French history. Accused of having an insatiable sexual appetite, also added to the list of accusations was incest, corruption, murders, treason, and the cause of the political disintegration of France.
Many lies were said about her. Protestant propaganda deemed her as a whore living a decadent life. Catholic propaganda cast her as a woman of dubious faith who committed unspeakable with her brothers in order to gain power. One of her brothers accused her of inappropriate behavior with a lady-in-waiting and later conspired against her. Her mother, Catherine de’ Medici, said she was born on an evil day.
It is difficult to know the real truth. Women were mere pawns in the royal game of power.
Chronicles document that she was one of the most beautiful women of her time; and most noted for her intelligence and learning. Unique, dynamic and daring, she enjoyed wearing various colored wigs -- pink, lilac, purple and red -- to dances and parties. When she was older and her natural color turned gray, she wore powdered wigs sprinkled real gold, the flecks catching in the sunlight.
She wrote a memoir and poetry. And even in an age where licentiousness ran mad, her morals were lax -- she was known for her string of lovers.
Known as Margot by her family, she was a daughter of a king, a sister of three kings, sister-in-law of another king and a wife of a king. She was among the most vilified women in French history. Accused of having an insatiable sexual appetite, also added to the list of accusations was incest, corruption, murders, treason, and the cause of the political disintegration of France.
Many lies were said about her. Protestant propaganda deemed her as a whore living a decadent life. Catholic propaganda cast her as a woman of dubious faith who committed unspeakable with her brothers in order to gain power. One of her brothers accused her of inappropriate behavior with a lady-in-waiting and later conspired against her. Her mother, Catherine de’ Medici, said she was born on an evil day.
It is difficult to know the real truth. Women were mere pawns in the royal game of power.
Chronicles document that she was one of the most beautiful women of her time; and most noted for her intelligence and learning. Unique, dynamic and daring, she enjoyed wearing various colored wigs -- pink, lilac, purple and red -- to dances and parties. When she was older and her natural color turned gray, she wore powdered wigs sprinkled real gold, the flecks catching in the sunlight.
She wrote a memoir and poetry. And even in an age where licentiousness ran mad, her morals were lax -- she was known for her string of lovers.
In an attempt to bring a peace between Catholics and Protestants, the 19 year old Catholic Margot married the French Hugenot, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, on August 18, 1572. A Catholic-Huguenot marriage was controversial and irregular. It was said the couple looked straight ahead during the ceremony, never looking at one another. Margot married him with a forced nod by an older brother's hand upon her head shaking it up and down. Henri spent most of his time outside the church during the mass. Just six days after the wedding, Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurred. The wedding offered an opportunity for the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots to attend and linger in Paris. Wedding celebrations would go on for days back then. The massacres spread throughout Paris, to other urban centres and then to the countryside. It lasted several weeks. Tens of thousands of Protestants were killed.
Margot hid several Hugenots in her rooms, including her new husband, not answering to her Catholic mother or any of the assassins. Henri's mother, Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, had opposed the marriage, but traveled to attend the wedding. She never got to see her son married dying under mysterious circumstances. Some say Margot's mother killed her with a gift of poisoned gloves.
Shortly after their marriage Henri took a mistress. He was known to neglect Margot. By 1575, the couple's relations were no longer physical: "I could not endure the pain that I felt," Margot wrote, "and I stopped sleeping with the King my husband". Then she took a lover too. Henri didn’t mind her love affairs as it allowed him ample opportunity to pursue his numerous mistresses.
Shortly after their marriage Henri took a mistress. He was known to neglect Margot. By 1575, the couple's relations were no longer physical: "I could not endure the pain that I felt," Margot wrote, "and I stopped sleeping with the King my husband". Then she took a lover too. Henri didn’t mind her love affairs as it allowed him ample opportunity to pursue his numerous mistresses.
But her brother Henri III did.Margot's lovers all died violent deaths. Beheaded, hanged, dismembered or wounded. It was said that Margot saved the heart of each lover and had them embalmed carefully storing them away in gold boxes which she would tuck in little pockets sewn on the inside of her hoop skirt. She spent much of her life apart from Henri in the castle of Cazeneuve, near Bordeaux. She would sneak off at night through a secret passage to a cave on the River Ciron where she would meet her young lovers. Henri IV, king for over a decade, divorced her in 1599 because she was unable to provide him a succession to the throne.
However, after 20 years of an estranged marriage followed by divorce, Margot and Henri became good friends. He let her keep her title after he remarried and gave her a large allowance. The Queen in her fifties never slowed down with her boyfriends.
Her famous words: Is it a crime to love? Is it right to punish me for it? There are no ugly loves, no more than there are beautiful prisons!