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  .., 2026.



Alexandre Dumas  

Queen Margot  



Part One  



I

Duke of Guise's Latin    

August 18, 1572 was a Monday, but a great celebration was being held at the Louvre.   1572   ,      .

The usually dark windows of the ancient royal residence were brightly lit, and the neighboring streets and squares, usually empty as soon as the bell at the church of Saint-Germer-l'Ozeroy struck nine o'clock in the evening, were now teeming with people even at midnight.        ,     ,   ,      --˒    ,      .

The dense, menacing, noisy crowd resembled a dark, surging sea, from which came the roar of the incoming surf; the human waves, breaking through the rue Foss-Saint-Germer and the rue Astrus, flooded the embankment, flowed against the walls of the Louvre and flowed back to the base of the Palais Bourbon, which stood opposite. , ,      ,     ;  ,    --   ,  ,          ,  .

Despite the royal celebration, or perhaps because of it, something ominous was felt in the crowd of people who were present as outside spectators, but firmly believed that this celebration was only a prologue to another celebration, postponed for a week, where the people themselves would be welcome guests and would revel in full force.    ,   ,    , -     ,       ,  ,       ,    ,         .

The royal court celebrated the wedding of Margaret of Valois, daughter of the late King Henry II and sister of the reigning King Charles IX, with Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre.      ,     II      IX,   ,  . In the morning, the Cardinal of Bourbon, having performed the marriage ceremony established for the heirs of the French royal house, married the newlyweds on a platform erected in front of the gates of Notre Dame Cathedral.   ,   ,      ,    ,      .

This marriage amazed everyone, and made people who were able to see deeper think hard; the rapprochement of two parties so hated by each other as the Protestant and Catholic parties were at that time seemed impossible.    ,  ,   ,   ;       ,         ,  . It was asked how the young Prince of Conde could forgive the king's brother, the Duke of Anjou, for the death of his father, killed at Jarnac by Captain Montesquiou, or how the young Duke of Guise could forgive Admiral Coligny for the death of his father, killed at Orleans by the Huguenot nobleman Poltrot de Mr. ,        ,  ,   ,     ,           ,    -   . Moreover, Queen Joan of Navarre, the courageous wife of the weak-willed Antoine of Navarre, who had betrothed her son to Margaret of Valois, had died some two months ago, and suspicious rumors were circulating about the cause of her sudden death.  :   ,     ,      ,  -    ,         . Everywhere they were whispering, and in some places even loudly, that Queen Joan had learned some terrible secret and that Catherine de Medici, fearing revelations, poisoned Queen Joan with poisonous scented gloves, which a certain Florentine named Ren, a great master of such things, had made for her.   ,  -    ,      -      ,  ,      ,        ,      . The spread and confirmation of all these rumors was facilitated by the fact that after the death of the queen, two doctors, including the famous Ambroise Par, were instructed, at the request of her son, to dissect and examine the body of the queen, but not to touch the brain.         ,      ,       ,  ,    ,     ,    . And since Joan was poisoned by means of smell, only in the brain of the deceased could traces of the crime committed be found.       ,           . Precisely a crime, since no one doubted that a crime had taken place here.  ,    ,     .

In the morning, Cardinal Bourbon, having performed the marriage ceremony, married the newlyweds on a platform erected in front of the gates of Notre Dame Cathedral   ,   ,    ,      

But that is not all: King Charles himself was relentlessly, almost persistently, striving to arrange this marriage, which was not only supposed to establish peace in the kingdom, but also to attract all the prominent Protestant leaders to Paris.     :    ,  ,    ,         ,         . Since the groom was a Protestant and the bride a Catholic, it was necessary to ask permission for the marriage from Gregory XIII, who occupied the papal throne at that time.     ,   ,         XIII,      . The permission was delayed, and this greatly worried Jeanne d'Albret, who once, in a conversation with Charles, expressed fear that the permission might not come at all; but the king replied:  ,      ,          ,  , ,   ;   :

- Dear aunt, dont worry, I respect you more than papa, and I love my sister more than I fear him.   ,  ,    ,  ,    ,   . Im not a Huguenot, but Im not a fool either, and if Mister Papa starts acting up, Ill take Margot by the hand myself and lead her to marry your son in a Protestant ceremony.   ,    ,     ,                 .

From the Louvre these words spread throughout the city, greatly delighting the Huguenots, greatly perplexing the Catholics and causing secret conversations among the latter about whether the king was really betraying them or playing out a comedy that would one fine day or fine night end with an unexpected denouement.       ,   ,           ,          ,           .

What was especially incomprehensible was the attitude of Charles IX towards Admiral Coligny, who had been waging a bitter war against the King for five or six years: before this rapprochement, the King had appointed a reward of fifty thousand crowns in gold for the Admiral's head, but now he practically swore by his name, called him his father, and declared publicly that he alone would be entrusted with the conduct of the coming war in Flanders; even Catherine de Medici herself, who had hitherto directed the will, actions, even the intentions of the young King, began to be truly alarmed, and not without reason: the fact is that Charles IX, in a conversation with the Admiral about the Flanders War, declared to him in a fit of frankness:         IX   ,            :              ,       ,     ,          ;    ,     , ,    ,   -,    :   ,   IX -            :

"Father, there is one circumstance here that requires great caution: as you know, the Queen Mother sticks her nose into everything, but she knows nothing about this matter yet; therefore, we will have to conduct it secretly - so that the Queen does not even suspect it, otherwise, with her quarrelsomeness, she will ruin everything for us.  ,    ,    :   , -     ,        ;         ,        ,         .

Coligny, with all his intelligence and experience, could not yet completely hide the confidence placed in him by the king. ,      ,          . He arrived in Paris with extreme suspicion, and when he left Ch?tillon, a peasant woman begged him on her knees: Oh, our good lord, do not go to Paris; death awaits you there, and everyone who goes with you!       ,      ,      :    ,     ;  ,  ,    ,   ! But little by little, all suspicions dissipated, both in him and in his son-in-law de Tligny, to whom the king showed the most friendly feelings, calling him brother, as he called the admiral father, and addressed him as thou, which he used only for his closest friends.   -      ,      ,       ,  ,   ,  ,       .

As a result, all the Huguenots, with the exception of a few sullen and distrustful people, were completely calmed down: the death of the Navarre queen was attributed to pneumonia, and the spacious halls of the Louvre were crowded with courageous Huguenots, to whom the marriage of Henry, their young leader, promised an unexpectedly happy turn of fate.    ,       ,  :       ,        ,   ,   ,     . Admiral Coligny, La Rochefoucauld, the Prince of Cond-junior, de Tligny - in a word, all the leaders of the party rejoiced, seeing how they were received, what enormous weight acquired in the Louvre by those very people whom three months ago the king and Catherine de Medici were going to hang on special gallows, higher than ordinary murderers.  , ,  -,    ,    , ,   ,         ,             , ,   . Only Marshal de Montmorency alone would have been sought in vain among his comrades - he could neither be lured by promises nor deceived by ostentatious feelings, and he sat down in his castle d'Isle-Adam, excusing his seclusion by grief for his father, Constable Anne de Montmorency, who had been killed with a pistol by Robert Stewart at the Battle of Saint-Denis.                   ,    ,        -,      ,    ,          -. But since more than three years had passed since this event, and sensitivity was not in the spirit of the time, everyone could think whatever they wanted about such an excessively long period of mourning.           ,        ,            .

Moreover, everything spoke against Marshal de Montmorency: the queen, the king, the Duke of Anjou, and the Duke of Alen?on all received their guests with remarkable hospitality at this royal celebration.         :  ,  ,   ,              .

The Huguenots themselves praised the Duke of Anjou, quite deservedly, for the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour, which he won at the age of not yet eighteen years old, before Caesar and Alexander the Great began their victories, and indeed it turned out that he was superior to those victors at Issus and Pharsalus.     ,  ,      ,   ,      ,  ,        ,    ,         . The Duke of Alen?on looked on everything with a kind and false glance; Queen Catherine beamed with joy and with cloying politeness congratulated Henry of Cond on his recent marriage with Marie of Cleves; even the Guises smiled at the terrible enemies of their house, and the Duke of Mainz discussed with Tavans and Admiral Coligny the coming war, which they were ready to declare against Philip II, King of Spain.         ;                  ;       ,           ,      II,  .

Among the guests, who had broken up into groups, a young dark-haired man of about nineteen wandered about, his head slightly bowed and listening to the conversations going on around him, with an intelligent look, a sly smile, an aquiline nose, short-cropped hair, bushy eyebrows, and a barely visible mustache and beard.  ,   , ,       ,  ,    ,   ,  ,   ,   ,  ,     . This young man, who had so far distinguished himself only in the battle of Arnay-le-Duc, where he had fought bravely, without sparing himself, and who now accepted congratulations from all sides, was the favorite pupil of Admiral Coligny and the hero of the day; quite recently, during the lifetime of his mother, he was called Prince of Barn, and after her death he inherited the title of King of Navarre, until he became King of France - Henry IV.   ,        --,   ,   ,       ,         ;  ,    ,    ,         ,        IV.

At times a dark cloud would suddenly darken his brow: he was obviously remembering the death of his mother, who had died some two months before, and he was more certain than anyone else that her death was due to poison.       : ,    ,  -    ,       ,      . But this cloud only passed like a light shadow, quickly dissipating; it came from the fact that the people who were now crowding around Henry, talking to him and congratulating him, were all the murderers of the courageous Jeanne d'Albret.       ,  ;   ,  ,     ,     ,      .

While the King of Navarre was trying to pretend to be cordial and cheerful, the young Duke of Guise stood nearby, thoughtful, almost anxious, and engaged in conversation with Tligny.           ,     ,  ,        . The Duke had been luckier in life than the Barnian: at twenty-two years old, he enjoyed almost the same fame as his father, the powerful Fran?ois de Guise.     ,  :          ,    ,    . In appearance, he was also an elegant nobleman, tall in stature, with an arrogant, proud look, with such natural majesty that, in the opinion of many, all the other nobles seemed like peasants in his presence.       ,  ,  ,  ,    , ,   ,        . Despite his youth, the entire Catholic party saw him as their leader, just as the Protestant party saw their leader in the young King of Navarre.    ,        ,           .

The Duke of Guise originally bore the title of Duke of Joinville and received his first baptism of fire during the siege of Orleans under the command of his father, who died in his arms, blaming Admiral Coligny as his murderer.                    ,      ,        .

Then the young duke, like Hannibal, solemnly swore an oath: he swore to take revenge on the admiral and his entire family for the death of his father, to mercilessly and tirelessly pursue the enemies of his religion, and promised God to become his warrior angel on earth until the day the last heretic was exterminated.    ,  ,   :     ,       ,       ,     -     ,      . Now everyone watched with great amazement as this prince, usually true to his word, shook hands forever with his sworn enemies and, having given his dying father a vow to punish the admiral with death, now had a friendly conversation with his son-in-law.       ,   ,     ,       ,       ,       .

But we have already said that it was an evening full of surprises.    ,    ,  .

Indeed, if a particularly gifted observer, capable of seeing the future, which fortunately is not given to people, and capable of reading souls, which, unfortunately, is given only to God, were to suddenly find himself at this celebration, then he would, of course, enjoy the most curious spectacle that the entire chronicle of the sad human comedy can present to us. ,     ,   ,  ,  ,  ,     , ,  ,   ,     ,  , ,     ,          .

But if such an observer was not to be found in the galleries of the Louvre, he was there in the street, where his murmur resounded menacingly and his eyes sparkled with anger: it was the people, with their instincts sharpened to the utmost by hatred; they looked from afar at the silhouettes of their implacable enemies and interpreted their feelings as simply as a passer-by does, gazing into the closed windows of a dancing hall.         ,     ,          :   ,   ,   ;               ,    ,     ,  . The music captivates and guides the dancers, and the passer-by sees only the movements and, not hearing the music, laughs at how these puppets jump and fuss without any apparent reason.     ,      ,   ,   ,         .

The music that carried the Huguenots away was the voice of their satisfied pride, and the eyes of the Parisians, sparkling in the darkness of the night, were lightning bolts of hatred illuminating the events to come. ,  ,     ,   ,    ,   ,   .

In the palace, however, everything was as joyful as before, and even more so; throughout the Louvre, a particularly caressing and soft voice echoed, accompanying the appearance of the newlywed: having removed her wedding dress, long veil and mantle, she entered the hall together with the Duchess of Nevers, her closest friend, and with her brother, Charles IX, who led her by the hand and presented her as the most honored of the guests.       -   ;         ,   :   ,    ,        ,    ,   ,  IX,           .

This newlywed, the daughter of Henry II, Margaret of Valois, was the pearl in the crown of France, and Charles IX, who had a special affection for her, usually called her "little sister Margot."      II,        ,   IX,     ,     .

The young Navarrese queen truly deserved an enthusiastic welcome.        . Margaret was barely twenty years old, but all the poets wrote laudatory verses to her, comparing her sometimes to Aurora, sometimes to Cythera.      ,       ,     ,   . She had no rivals in beauty, even here, at a court where Catherine de Medici tried to select the most beautiful women she could find for the role of her sirens.        ,   ,            ,     . Black-haired, with a wonderful complexion, a sensual expression in her eyes framed by long eyelashes, with an elegant scarlet mouth and a slender neck, with a luxurious flexible figure and small, childish feet in satin slippers - this is how Margaret of Valois appeared. ,    ,   ,   ,       ,       ,          . The French were proud that their native soil had grown this amazing flower, and foreigners, having visited France, returned to their homeland dazzled by the beauty of Margaret, if they had only seen her, and amazed by her education, if they had the opportunity to talk with her.   ,        ,  ,   ,        ,      ,    ,      . And in fact, Margaret was not only the most beautiful, but also the most educated of modern women; that is why they often recalled the phrase of an Italian scholar who was introduced to her, talked with her for a whole hour in Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin and, leaving her, said enthusiastically: To visit the court without having seen Margaret of Valois means not having seen either France or the French court.    ,      ,       ;        ,    ,      -, -, -  - ,   ,  :   ,    ,      ,   .




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   ,     (https://www.litres.ru/book/aleksandr-diuma-34045403/koroleva-margo-anglo-russkaia-bilingva-74488903/)  .

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