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French monarchy
Capetian dynasty, House of Valois (Valois-Angoulême branch)
Francis I
Children Francis, Dauphin of Viennois Henry II Magdalene, Queen of Scots Charles of Valois Margaret, Duchess of Savoy
Henry II
Children Francis II Elizabeth, Queen of Spain Claude, Duchess of Lorraine Louis, Duke of Orléans Charles IX Henry III Margaret, Queen of Navarre Francis, Duke of Anjou
Francis II
Charles IX
Children Marie Elisabeth of Valois
Henry III
v t e

For other women of the same name, see Marguerite de Valois (disambiguation)

Margaret of Valois (May 14, 1553 – May 27, 1615), "Queen Margot" (La reine Margot) was Queen of France and Navarre.

Early life

Born Marguerite de Valois at the Royal Château in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and nicknamed Margot by her brothers, she was the daughter of Henri II and Catherine de' Medici. Three of her brothers became kings of France: François II, Charles IX and Henri III. Her sister, Elisabeth de Valois, became the third wife of King Philip II of Spain.

Arranged marriage

Although Marguerite loved Henri, Duc de Guise, her ambitious mother would never allow the House of Guise any chance of controlling France. Instead, she offered to marry Marguerite to Philip II's son Don Carlos but that did not work out. Serious negotiations for Marguerite's marriage to Dom Sebastian of Portugal were also considered but abandoned.

Marguerite was made to marry Henri de Bourbon (later Henri de Navarre and eventually Henri IV), the son of the Protestant Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, a marriage that was designed to reunite family ties and create harmony between the Catholics and Huguenots. Although Henri's mother, Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, opposed the marriage, many of her nobles supported it, and the marriage was arranged. Jeanne d'Albret died before the marriage was concluded.

On August 18, 1572, the 19 year old Marguerite married Henri de Bourbon, who had become King of Navarre on the death of his mother. The groom, a Huguenot, remained outside the church for much of the wedding. It was reported that during the ceremony, the bride and groom stared straight ahead, never looking at each other. When the Cardinal asked Marguerite if she willingly took Henri to be her husband, she did not answer; so King Charles IX, placed a hand on his sister's head, compelling her to nod in agreement. Henri IV kept mistresses throughout their marriage, most notably Gabrielle d'Estrées from 1597 to 1599.

Just six days after the wedding, on St Bartholomew's Day, Catherine de' Medici orchestrated the slaughter by French Catholics of thousands of Huguenots, a massacre of such brutality that even Russia's Ivan the Terrible condemned it. This is not an accepted interpretation by all historians. See discussion page.

After the Hugeunot slaughter

After the marriage and turmoil, Henri escaped Paris back to Navarre, leaving his wife behind. Under the control of her brother, King Henri III, Queen Marguerite became a virtual prisoner in her own home. Finally granted permission to return to her husband, for the next three and a half years Queen Marguerite and her husband lived a scandalous life in Pau. Both openly kept other lovers, and they quarrelled frequently.

Seizing power of Agen

After an illness in 1582, Queen Marguerite returned to her brother's court in France. But Henri III soon scandalized her reputation and forced her to leave the court. After long negotiations, she was allowed to return to her husband's court in Navarre, but she received an icy reception. Determined to overcome her difficulties, Queen Marguerite master-minded a coup d'etat and seized power over Agen, one of her appenages.

After several months of fortifying the city, the citizens of Agen revolted and Queen Marguerite fled to the castle of Carlat. In 1586, she was imprisoned by her brother Henri III in the castle of Usson, in Auvergne, where she spent eighteen long years. In 1592 negotiations began to dissolve her marriage to Henri IV. It would take seven years, but they were concluded in 1599 with an agreement that allowed her to maintain the title of queen. Her ex-husband would become one of France's most beloved monarchs.

During this time Queen Marguerite wrote her memoirs, which were published in 1658, years after her death. These writings consisted of a succession of stories relating to the reigns of brothers Charles IX, Henri III and her former husband, Henri IV that scandalized the population. The beautiful and strong-minded Marguerite was promiscuous throughout her life, and took many extra-marital lovers during her marriage, and many during her lifetime after divorcing. Most notably were Joseph Boniface de La Môle, Jacques de Harlay, Seigneur de Chanvallon and Bussy d'Amboise.

In the end, her beauty fading, Queen Marguerite lived in near poverty hounded by creditors to the point of selling all of her jewels. Reconciled to her former husband and his second wife, Marie de' Medici, Queen Marguerite returned to Paris and established herself as a mentor of the arts and benefactor of the poor. She often helped plan events at court and nurtured Henri IV and Marie's children. Marguerite died in Paris on May 27, 1615, and is buried in the Chapel of the Valois. Thousands mourned the death of this beloved Queen and the last of the Valois dynasty.

Marguerite de Valois in fiction

Alexandre Dumas's novel Queen Margot ("La Reine Margot" in French) is a fictionalized account of the events surrounding Marguerite's marriage to Henri of Navarre. The novel was famously adapted into a 1994 French film, La Reine Margot. The role of Marguerite was played by the popular French actress Isabelle Adjani.

Margot: Modern Day Usage

Today, the name Margot is reserved for those individuals who possess a great ability to rock at life.

External link

• Full text of Memoirs Of Marguerite de Valois from Project Gutenberg

Another view of Marguerite from www.lib.virginia.edu

• 1553 births
• 1615 deaths
• Autobiographers
• French queen consorts
• House of Bourbon
• House of Valois
• Natives of Ile-de-France
• Nostradamus
• Princesses of France
• Women writers