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July 2010 BOTM: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

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boswellbaxter
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July 2010 BOTM: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

Post by boswellbaxter » Thu July 1st, 2010, 2:51 am

Discuss C. W. Gortner's The Confessions of Catherine de Medici in this thread.

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Post by Margaret » Fri July 2nd, 2010, 4:44 am

This novel has inspired me to look up some biographies of Catherine de Medici. She really does seem to have precognitive dreams - for example, her dream about her husband's death as the result of a jousting injury and her pleas to him not to joust that day are part of the historical record.

History has done Catherine's reputation a terrible disservice, which Confessions goes a long way to restoring. I vividly remember her portrayal in the French film La Reine Margot, where she is a truly sinister presence. Watching that movie, one would never imagine Catherine had struggled so hard to end the religious strife between Catholics and Huguenots and gain a level of tolerance for the Huguenots. (Also, she was overweight, not the gaunt, hollow-eyed crone portrayed in La Reine Margot.) Confessions shows how complicated religious conflicts can be, and how the violence in this case was not simply a one-sided persecution against the Huguenots, but stemmed from rash actions on both sides.

Generally, I prefer novels in which the characters are complex human beings, neither saintly nor evil, and there is so much psychological complexity in this novel, which keeps my sympathy for Catherine even when she gives the order for an assassination. But the men of the Guise family behaved so villainously, it makes me wonder if my taste for psychological complexity may be at least partly misguided. There may have been some people throughout the course of history who simply behaved so badly that no amount of understanding can garner sympathy for them. I wonder if anyone could ever write a novel about the Guises showing them in a sympathetic light? Perhaps they were abused children?
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Post by boswellbaxter » Fri July 2nd, 2010, 6:35 pm

C. W., are there nonfiction books you would recommend on Margot and the Guises?
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Post by Margaret » Sat July 3rd, 2010, 7:30 am

I'm currently reading Leonie Frieda's 2003 biography, Catherine de Medici, which is one of the books C.W. recommends in his Author's Afterword. I haven't gotten very far yet -- too much else to do -- but the opening chapter is quite interesting.

The memoirs of Catherine's daughter, Marguerite de Valois (Margot), are available at Project Gutenberg. I haven't read them, but I'll bet they're really interesting. Margot was essentially imprisoned for most of her adult life, and she seems to have devoted the time to writing her memoirs.
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Post by cw gortner » Mon July 5th, 2010, 4:04 am

On Margot, I can recommend Marguerite of Navarre by E.R. Chamberlain. For the Guises, I consulted Sedgwick's The Guises. Both are unfortunately out of print. There is a newer book about the Guises called Martyrs and Murderers by Stuart Carroll, published in 2009, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet.
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Post by cw gortner » Mon July 5th, 2010, 4:07 am

[quote=""Margaret""]I'm currently reading Leonie Frieda's 2003 biography, Catherine de Medici, which is one of the books C.W. recommends in his Author's Afterword. I haven't gotten very far yet -- too much else to do -- but the opening chapter is quite interesting.

The memoirs of Catherine's daughter, Marguerite de Valois (Margot), are available at Project Gutenberg. I haven't read them, but I'll bet they're really interesting. Margot was essentially imprisoned for most of her adult life, and she seems to have devoted the time to writing her memoirs.[/quote]

I read both while researching my book. Leonie Frieda's biography was very helpful, though I ended up consulting it during revisions, rather than construction of the novel itself (it wasn't published yet). I also really enjoyed and relied on Irene Mahoney's Madame Catherine, which presents an unbiased, accessible portrayal of Catherine similiar to Frieda's work.

Margot's memoirs are fascinating and very insightful, though I read them with a healthy dose of skepticism :)

Likewise, I read, but did not entirely believe, Princess Michael of Kent's The Serpent and the Moon, about Catherine and Diane's relationship.
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
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THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
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Post by Elizabeth » Mon July 5th, 2010, 12:41 pm

[quote=""Margaret""]There may have been some people throughout the course of history who simply behaved so badly that no amount of understanding can garner sympathy for them. I wonder if anyone could ever write a novel about the Guises showing them in a sympathetic light? Perhaps they were abused children?[/quote]

In the context of their time, to Catholics at least, the Guises--particularly Francois ("le Balafre") the second duke and his son Henri (also confusingly called "le Balafre"--all these scars must be indicative of the violence of life in France at the time!)--were considered heroes. (As an aside, Francois was married to Anne d'Este, the sister of "my" Alfonso II d'Este.) I suppose context is everything. I haven't read C.W.'s book yet (although it's working its way to the top of my stack) but there was certainly good and evil on both sides of the Valois/Guise conflict, particularly when you factor in the religious mindsets of the time, and I hope he hasn't painted the Guises in unrelieved black.

Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchess of Guise (mother of Francois de Guise and Marie de Guise wife of James V of Scotland, plus ten more) was far from an abusive parent. She was a remarkable woman with intense family pride and a dry sense of humor who lived to be eighty-nine and sadly outlived all but one of her children. Antoine de Bourbon, the king of Navarre, was her nephew, and Henri IV was her great-nephew, so she was connected with both sides in the wars of religion.

Duchess Antoinette is a secondary character in the book I'm working on now, and although she will be presented as a woman of her times I also think she's very interesting and ultimately sympathetic.
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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Mon July 5th, 2010, 6:18 pm

I suppose from the perspective of Catherine, who was struggling to prevent what essentially amounted to a small civil war, the Guises' efforts to stamp out Protestantism would seem pretty evil, especially if they manipulated her into agreeing to the assassination attempt that set off the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Of course, the Huguenots were not purely innocent victims, and one of the things I appreciated about Confessions is that it didn't make them out to be. I've read articles about the Huguenots that paint them as heroic martyrs - maybe some were, but when an article about a historical topic has a pious tone, I've learned to immediately question its accuracy!

It sounds like your novel-in-progress would make a great companion read to Confessions, Elizabeth. I always enjoy reading two well-researched novels that offer completely different perspectives on some of the same historical figures.
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Post by cw gortner » Tue July 6th, 2010, 1:59 am

In Confessions, I depict Catherine's experiences with the Guises and her relationship with them was not edifying, starting with the fact that they supported Diane de Poitiers openly at court, treating Catherine as someone of no importance even while she was queen. And though there was certainly violence and intolerance on both sides, the Guises proved particularly virulent in both their fanaticism and disrespect for the authority of their soveriegn. In fact, the elder Balafre set off the conflict that would haunt the rest of Catherine's life when he torched a barn full of Huguenots at worship in Vassy. With that single act, he turned an already extremely tense situation into outright war - and I believe he knew exactly what he was doing.

I've studied the Guises extensively; the book I've cited here is one of several I consulted. I even read letters in the Archives of Simancas between younger Guise and Philip II of Spain. And of course their later history is threaded intrinsically with Catherine's. From the 16th century Catholic point of view, they were indeed regarded as heroic avengers of the faith, but I don't believe Catherine shared this admiration; indeed, evidence suggests she worked actively against them.
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THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
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Post by Elizabeth » Tue July 6th, 2010, 2:34 am

I absolutely agree that Catherine worked against the Guises (she would have been crazy not to), and they certainly scorned and worked against her from the very beginning. I suppose since the book is from Catherine's point of view, painting them in unrelieved black is a legitimate choice.

There are various versions of the ghastly incident at Vassy, although Duke Francois was certainly in the thick of it.

I'm afraid I'm just going to have to put some other books aside so Confessions will reach the top of my stack! :)
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