10. A Marriage Not for Love, But for Politics
French Queen Margaret of Valois (1553 – 1615) gained a reputation both for her licentiousness and as the first woman in history to pen her memoirs – a vivid depiction of the turbulent France of her lifetime. She was made even more famous o or infamous – by Alexander Dumas’ portrayal of her in his historical novel, Queen Margot. She was born to King Henry II of France and his formidable wife, Catherine de Medici. As she grew up, Margaret was quite close to her brother Henry – the future King Henry III, last of the Valois monarchs. So close that rumors arose of an incestuous relationship between the siblings.
Closeness turned into lifelong hatred, however, when Margaret had an affair with an aristocrat, Henry of Guise, and her brother Henry found out. He snitched on her to the family, and Margaret’s mother and her brother, King Charles IX, beat her up and banished Guise from court. That took place against a backdrop of serious religious tensions at the time between Catholics and Protestants. To calm troubled waters, Catherine di Medici sought to bring the Catholic Valois closer to their Bourbon relatives, a Protestant branch of the French royal family. Accordingly, Catherine arranged for Margaret to wed her Bourbon relative, the Protestant Henry of Navarre. There was no love involved, just a political alliance sealed by a marriage.