Original subtitles

Queen Margaret of Valois' false view of history

In the middle of the magical landscape of the Loire Valley

The Royal Castle of Amboise is one of the most attractive castles

for history lovers.

Margaret of Valois spent time in Amboise ,

which Alexandre Dumas immortalized in "Queen Margot",

Her childhood at the end of the 16th century .

As a daughter and sister

Their lives seemed to be predetermined by kings .

Her famous mother, Catherine de Medici

was a great personality.

Her father was Henry II.

Her brothers, including Heinrich Ill,

were all kings of France, the last Valois.

Margaret also became queen when she

Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV, married.

Nothing seemed to dissuade her from royal destiny,

in harmony with the peaceful landscape of the Touraine region.

But this was against Margarete's character,

who quickly found herself confronted with obstacles and drama.

She reacted to traps with strong character ,

Betrayal and passion that overcame her.

Which resulted in a long, lonely exile after she

had survived the St. Bartholomew's Night massacre .

Satisfied her need for freedom

Queen Margaret, no matter what the price was.

Her mother, Catherine de Medici, could hardly believe her eyes.

She even said:

"She's a nuisance.

God gave me this creature as punishment for my sins."

She was so beautiful

and liberal, so bold and intelligent,

that it seemed strange, even supernatural, for its time.

To this day it still excites people.

Author Alexandre Dumas dedicated a masterpiece to her.

Director Patrice Chereau shot with Isabelle Adjani

a great film portrait.

You will find that beyond fantasy and legend

the real Margaret of Valois, Queen Margaret,

will captivate you.

Early in the morning of August 24, 1572

is Margarete in her room.

She hears screams. There's a knock on her door.

People shout: "Navarra, Navarre!"

There was a Protestant named de Leran,

who begged for help. She hid him.

She managed to save the seriously injured man

as she also saved others.

That was a good deed. She saved Protestants.

She was in a panic.

She heard rumors around her.

“The massacre began. There was blood everywhere in the Louvre.

People were murdered.

The tragedy about Margarete was

that they were at the time of the religious wars between

Catholics and Protestants lived.

St. Bartholomew's Night denounced the rule

the Valois in France.

Margarete reported about it.

She is one of the few eyewitnesses who dared

to talk about the event.

We are here in the large council chamber of Amboise Castle,

one of the many royal residences in the Valois.

Margaret's father ruled from this throne ,

King Henry II when he stayed here.

Dominate the room

2 monumental fireplaces facing each other.

On the chimney of one you can see the lily,

Symbol of the Kingdom of France,

that can be found everywhere in room decoration:

on the pillars, but also on the window panes.

Two portraits can also be admired

by Francis I, Margarete's grandfather,

who often stayed here.

Catherine de' Medici brought her children to Amboise

in the pleasant climate of Touraine.

She even had a castle wing built for them.

In this environment, Margarete enjoyed court life

and the benefits associated with their rank.

This is King Henry II's room .

In a four-poster bed similar to this one

The king slept with wood carving in the Renaissance style .

The H was attached as his monogram.

The fabrics that cover the bed

are with those from the time of Henry II. identical.

At that time the farm was on the move and traveled frequently

with the furniture from castle to castle.

This wooden travel suitcase is a testament to this lifestyle .

I would like to show you something special about it.

It has a double bottom with a secret compartment.

A perfect deception.

Valuables could be hidden there.

The room has a touching aspect.

Margarete was deeply attached to her father .

She was physical to him

and very similar in character.

But their time together was only short.

In the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

came Margarete on 14. May 1553 in the West,

as a member of the royal family of Valois.

She is the king's daughter,

and 3 of their brothers also become kings.

Catherine and Henry II. had 10 children.

Margarete was the youngest daughter.

She had 2 older sisters.

Her father took her on his lap,

asked her questions and teased her.

He loved her.

He liked her grace, beauty

and kindness.

She also had a lot of humor.

But for Margarete the carefree years will soon be over.

When she is 6 years old,

her father falls victim to a terrible tournament accident.

Henry II. was sporty,

a handsome, strong man,

who loved tournaments.

He fought in 3 rounds

and continued the competition.

Is riding loose.

Such an accident had never happened.

A lance broke and entered his eye through his helmet,

in an unprecedented way.

The court doctors were desperate.

They didn't know how to remove the splinters.

The agony lasted 10 days.

The splinter penetrated the brain. When pulling out

the king died.

A terrible tragedy.

In France and in Europe.

People were talking about it everywhere.

His wife was shocked.

His children were probably shocked too.

Margarete commented:

"This was the greatest misfortune that struck our family."

Margarete's older brother Franz Il.

succeeds to the throne at the age of 15.

His reign marks a dramatic episode,

which confronts Margarete with the horrors of her time.

In February 1560

the court seeks refuge in Amboise Castle.

There are reports of the king being kidnapped

by the Protestant party to expose him to the influence of his

Guise's arch-Catholic in- laws.

The whole family, including little Margarete,

who was only 7 years old,

came here to Amboise.

Because Amboise is a fortress,

which was much easier to defend and arm.

On the morning of March 17, 1560

one learned from river boatmen,

that a group of horsemen were approaching Amboise.

200 cavalrymen of the Protestant party.

From then on, real danger was expected.

The reaction was as violent as the danger was perceived.

Francis of Guise takes over the defense.

Francis of Guise had the castle armed,

set up a troop

which the cavalry attacked.

The whole conspiracy

the entire military power of the Huguenots

dissolved. One by one everyone did it

Confusion wide.

This chaos

was with a systematic

Massacre linked.

The retribution corresponds

the crime against the French crown.

An attack on the person of the king,

to the royal power,

had to be punished, and very severely.

It is not known whether Margarete

was an eyewitness to this massacre.

What she must have felt

was probably fear.

She noticed that terrible things were happening around her.

An image that stuck in your mind

were those hanged on the balcony of the castle.

Apparently they no longer knew

Where should Protestants still be hanged?

so numerous were the victims of the retaliation.

With the conspiracy and the retaliation

began the religious wars,

which ran through the entire life of Margaret of Valois.

After the death of Franz Il.

He was followed by his brother Charles IX. on the throne.

Still a minor.

Therefore his mother became Catherine de Medici

Regent over the kingdom.

Of Catherine's 10 children with Henry II.

6 are still alive.

3 boys and 3 girls,

for whom she doesn't have the same level of affection.

Her relationship with Margarete is complicated from the start.

Margarete greatly admired her mother.

She loved her mother.

Unfortunately, Katharina had her favorite children.

Her favorite son

was Henry of Anjou,

which she called "my eyes" and "my everything".

Her favorite daughter was Elisabeth,

who later became Queen of Spain.

Margarete seems a bit neglectful of her mother

to have been treated.

Did Katharina love Margarete?

It's not known exactly.

It is known that she didn't see them that often when she was little.

Margarete wrote that she was afraid of her.

When her mother spoke to her,

she was stiff and rigid like a dead woman.

Because she only knew her a little.

Katharina was certainly a very impressive woman.

But in education

the regent makes no difference

between the children.

It is a matter of honor that Margarete

receives the same good education as her brothers.

Margarete underwent a thorough education.

She was very educated.

She spoke Spanish, Italian

and Latin.

It is known that she read Plato in the original.

At the same time

she learned to ride.

She was a very good rider.

She mastered dancing.

She played mandolin, guitar

and sounds.

She sang wonderfully.

Her mother encouraged her to take the lessons.

She planned to marry her off to high status.

So she perfected her disposition, which she called subtle

and recognized highly intelligently.

A first-class education that reflects Margarete's character

in the spirit of the brilliant House of Valois.

Margarete knew she was destined for a great fate.

As a future queen

she would have a position.

For them this included education,

erudition and an ideal of beauty,

as expected in the 16th century.

This particularly fascinated her in her youth.

Margaretes Mutter Katharina de Medici

takes control.

She places no less value on the well-being of her three youngest children,

who grow up far away from the farm.

She often receives news from the governess.

She regularly commissions portraits of her descendants.

The drawings are now in the Musee Conde

im Schloss Chantilly.

These are the drawings from de Medici's collection.

The most beautiful portrait drawings of the Renaissance.

Among other things, the portrait of the future

Queen Margaret.

The drawing shows the young princess

around the age of 8.

Hands in the foreground are in portraits

relatively rare in the 16th century .

The court costume is remarkable,

the jewelry, the extraordinary hairstyle.

A drawing technique with 3 pens: stylus, black crayon

and red chalk for the lips, for example.

The lifelike drawing

was subsequently watercolored in the 18th century .

The drawings by Francois Clouet around 1550

are perfect and extremely careful.

They are as lifelike as photographs are today.

This is Francis of Alencon.

The queen was concerned with the education and health of her children

very interested. They were interested

their childhood years, when they lived far away.

The farm was constantly on the move.

The royal children grew up in castles away from the court.

In the event of an epidemic

the dynasty should continue to exist.

This is the future Charles IX.

He wears a necklace for good luck,

which was supposed to protect him from epidemics .

The children are also depicted as sick. Well here

the future Heinrich Ill., lying in bed,

your head on the pillow,

apparently feverish and weakened.

The queen created such a collection.

The beginning of the art of drawing in France.

As an Italian princess, she was used to art

and promoted them.

She commissioned over 450 drawings.

Laid after the example of the queen

the nobles at court offered drawing collections.

As she grows up,

Margarete has a close relationship with a brother:

Henry, Duke

of Anjou and future Heinrich Ill.

They were so close

that they were one, as she reports.

There was some kind of sexual confusion.

Heinrich in particular longed for her.

The hypothesis of an incestuous relationship with her brothers

However, most historians categorically reject it.

You have to do that as an attack against them

watch to destroy their reputation.

To harm a woman,

they were called vicious.

Incest, which was absolutely taboo,

was supposed to show what a bad life she led from a young age.

You ca n't give that much credence.

Margaret of Valois' first love is undisputed

Henry of Guise.

He was about 3 years older than her.

A beautiful young man. They grew up together.

She was a beautiful woman.

She was 16 when he became her lover.

He climbed

on a rope on the side of the Seine to her room.

They spent nights of love.

He had to leave at dawn .

"Soon my mother will get up."

But the Louvre had eyes and ears.

As Katharina about the romance between her daughter

and Heinrich finds out about Guise, she becomes very angry.

She is said to have slapped her daughter .

Margarete had probably lost her virginity.

Catherine de Medici raised her children

as part of a royal dynasty.

Everyone had their role.

Margarete caused problems.

She should marry a virgin so that no one said:

"Your daughter is no longer a virgin."

But Catherine de Medici's anger has others,

political reasons.

Margarete's lover is a Guise.

He is unimaginable as a husband.

It was unthinkable

that Catherine's daughter

de Medici, who worked on religious tolerance,

married the Duke of Guise, the leader of the ultra-Catholics,

who rejected the presence of Protestants in the kingdom.

Katharina has for a long time

other marriage plans for Margarete.

She thinks of illustrious games abroad.

She would have liked to marry her to the King of Spain,

the greatest prince at the time.

Philip II was not interested.

They were looking for someone else.

People thought about marrying the son of Philip II,

Don Carlos,

who was epileptic and probably half insane.

A marriage to Rudolf von Habsburg was considered .

Prince Sebastian of Portugal is also being considered.

The negotiations are unsuccessful.

A man is hard to find.

The personality of the young woman

probably scares the candidates.

She was intellectually astute,

strong personality,

probably also biting and sometimes malicious.

It was not without controversy.

Therefore some princes did not want to marry her.

She had a bad reputation. She was too lively.

Catherine de Medici finds another match:

less glamorous, but in the spirit of their policy of religious peace.

Henry, Crown Prince of Protestant Navarre,

Kingdom in France's neighborhood.

It extends mainly in the southwest.

Margaret and Henry

are distant cousins ​​and know each other.

Margarete doesn't want the marriage.

They are opposites,

starting with what Margarete sees as very important

aspect of religion.

She was Catholic.

In her memoir, she emphasizes

this side of her identity.

French princesses did not marry heretics.

Heinrich was one.

But religion is not the only dividing element.

She was a woman of fine taste,

who attached great importance to her appearance.

She enjoyed reading literature.

That was n't the case with Heinrich .

He didn't have that education. He had a different intelligence.

He was not an educated person.

It was paradoxical, such different characters

to see married.

She didn't want to marry him but had no choice.

She had duties to fulfill.

Catherine de Medici forced this marriage on her.

Margarete was not allowed to refuse.

The only thing she says about it in her memoir is,

if she accepts Henry of Navarre,

only if he became a Catholic.

The marriage to Henry of Navarre now takes place.

A connection, that of France

and Margarete's fate is sealed.

When Margarete's family came to Amboise,

she went through the Heurtault Tower. The 40 meter high tower

served as a transition from the city,

the place where the “Hintersassen” lived,

to the living space of the nobility in the castle.

The ramped tower

allowed carriages, carts and horses access.

Back then they were running on the floor

courtiers made of beaten earth,

who went to see the king.

Also servants and craftsmen,

who worked at the farm.

Note the console figures,

on which the vault rests.

There are 120 in total.

They largely represent vices and sins.

In the lower tower

The characters are very vulgar, some even obscene.

Here, for example, is a figure, half human, half monkey,

her index finger in a very intimate area,

as you can see.

These figures show the bestiality in humans

and the obscene in the viewer. A provocation for the visitor.

The closer you get to the castle and the person of the king,

become more civilized

the small figures make all the difference

between the secular and the sacred.

We are here

in the cupbearer's room at Amboise Castle.

The cupbearer served the king the drinks.

At that time, new delights appeared on the royal table.

Especially candied fruits

like this work of art.

People increasingly appreciated sweets and desserts.

Margaret of Valois had a particularly sweet tooth.

She liked to eat Viennese almonds,

what troubled her at the end of her life .

Sugar was very precious and expensive.

Note this corner sideboard, still in the late Gothic style.

It was used to display and store dishes.

Internally

They also kept dishes before them

were served on the royal table .

This way they could be protected from possible poison.

Because the monarch feared everything

Conspiracies and poisonings.

I want you a gem

of the Amboise Castle:

the chapel of Saint Hubert,

the patron saint of hunters.

It was built at the end of the 15th century.

The royal chapel is

one of the last examples of the late Gothic flamboyant style.

The elegant building now stands separately from the castle.

But he used to be

attached to the royal apartments , which are now destroyed.

The fall over the portal

bears a sculptural decoration by Flemish artists.

It shows the conversion of Saint Hubert,

of Saint Christopher and Saint Anthony.

The interior of the chapel has been preserved over time.

Only the windows broken by bombs in World War II

were replaced by scenes from the life of Louis IX,

which were created in the 50s.

In contrast , a sculptural frieze has been preserved:

an ornamental band made of stone running around the interior

with vegetable decorative elements.

However, the Hubertus Chapel is famous

for Leonardo da Vinci's grave,

which can be seen here.

The Italian painter, engineer and architect King Francis I.

lived near Amboise for 3 years

in Clos Luce, until his death in 1519.

The king granted him the right to live in Amboise Castle

to be buried.

Young Margaret often prayed in this chapel.

She was very pious all her life .

Nevertheless, she took a lot of freedom in life,

especially in her love life.

The emotional life of Margaret of Valois

regularly shocks his contemporaries.

Starting with the wedding to Henry of Navarre

on August 18, 1572 in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The wedding with Henry of Navarre

caused a scandal.

The wedding seemed unnatural.

She married a Protestant and a Catholic.

The ceremony itself increased the scandal.

They married in front of the cathedral,

and the young king did not attend the wedding mass afterward .

Now husband and wife,

Margarete and Heinrich spend their wedding night.

You were only 19 years old in 1572.

Her love experiences were limited,

especially with Margarete.

The foundation was not good.

There was no love or sexual desire between them,

who were married for political reasons .

Margarete probably did it

and Heinrich their marriage on their wedding night,

as was the custom.

Simply because a child had to be conceived.

It was absolutely an heir to the throne

required for France.

Except marital duties

Henry of Navarre quickly loses interest in his wife,

which, however, has a pleasant appearance.

Margaret of Valois was in her time

consistent

known as a beautiful woman.

She had a very fair complexion and brunette hair,

different than in the paintings.

That's not real blonde. People wore wigs

and bleached, as was common around 1570.

She had radiant, hazel brown,

very smart eyes.

She was medium height but impressive in appearance.

Her sensuality was enhanced

- how should I say -

through a voluptuous breast,

which she highlighted with a deep cleavage.

As the future Henry IV she less

was well disposed, he called her "the lady with the humps".

Margaret of Valois made sure to please.

She wanted to please.

Margarete takes great care

that their physical assets come into their own.

Their beauty rituals differed

from those of their time.

She had ointments and creams prepared for her.

Margarete took two baths a day.

She had donkey milk put into the water,

to keep her skin fair.

She washed and perfumed herself.

What perfume did Margaret of Valois like to wear?

Through archival study

the main components could be identified.

Thanks to this information, the history enthusiast was able to...

Perfumer Nicolas de Barry

recompose Margarete's preferred scent.

Through contemporary writers like Brantöme or Ronsard

we know that the perfume was characterized by the scent of jasmine.

This is what the Jasmin Concrete looks like.

It is a wax-like paste.

Ambergris is a secretion

of sperm whales.

The stone is ground into powder and mixed with wax.

Musk deer in the Himalayas are protected.

You can only use synthetic musk.

For making the perfume

I take a few drops of jasmine with alcohol.

I add ambergris.

In smaller amounts because it is very intense.

And musk, which smells the strongest.

An animal touch,

which has a very sensual effect in perfume. So little of it.

I have now made the concentrate,

to which I add alcohol.

In modern perfumes

There are about 10% concentrate to 90% alcohol,

2.3% more or less.

This is the alcoholic version of the perfume

newly composed by Margarete.

People loved products like that back then.

You should also have the courage to wear a striking perfume.

It is a floral, sensual perfume,

whose scent dominates the environment.

Margarete wasn't just anyone. The perfume suited her.

She used it in solid form

as a perfume balm.

That doesn't mean it was medicinal.

So-called muskrat apples were also used ,

to surround yourself with a pleasant scent.

At that time there were epidemics of plague and cholera.

If you carried perfume with you,

it was hoped that plague and cholera would be kept away,

to drive away bad fumes .

It was supposed to keep the evil eye and the devil away.

Perfume thus acquired an esoteric, mystical function.

Like all women in their time

Margarete of Valois uses it to emphasize her fair complexion

on cosmetic aids.

Too much, says her strict mother-in-law Jeanne d'Albret.

Jeanne d'Albret, who was strictly Protestant

and was simply dressed in black, said:

“Madame is too conspicuous.

She is made up in white and red

like a street girl."

Margarete was heavily made up.

This was emphasized by all contemporaries.

Margarete wears various base cosmetics

of heavy metals to bleach your complexion.

Common practice at the time, but not without risk,

as an expert in the history of cosmetics explains.

Bleicarbonate

The faces look plastered.

That is amazing.

The women almost wear a mask.

Nobles hid their feelings.

This was very important at court,

because of emotions, weaknesses or vulnerabilities

could come to light.

Therefore, white complexion was important.

At the same time , fair complexions were in fashion.

White lead was the most commonly used.

This is lead carbonate from ore.

The extraction was quite well mastered back then.

It results in an intense white.

Mercury products were also used ,

that pull the surface of the skin together

and make it more radiant.

This is mercury

and that is caustic mercuric chloride.

Of course it is both

very risky.

Mercury chloride etches,

burns and dries out the skin.

It makes them crack.

It penetrates the skin and attacks the gums

and leads to periodontal disease.

Lead takes hold

digestion.

The known effect is lead poisoning.

The doctors knew that.

But the effect occurs relatively slowly.

A good example is the courtesan Franco from Venice,

who lived in London for 3 years

and returned to Venice.

She said: "I don't recognize the faces anymore.

They are destroyed."

The effect was visible.

The more noticeable the effect, the more cosmetics were used.

Apparently the risky cosmetics did harm

not the great beauty Margaret of Valois.

She made many lovers excited after her wedding.

Her free love life caused a lot of fantasy.

That Margarete has many adventures

and had many lovers,

wasn't normal at that time.

A woman was not allowed

indulge in repeated adultery.

That was male privilege.

In this area she was rebellious,

in terms of what a wife should be like.

The finger was pointed at her,

insulted her as a nymphomaniac, as sick and

devouring men, which was not the case.

She was a woman who followed her feelings.

She was always in love with the same type of nobleman,

who perfectly embodied the courtier .

Beautiful, splendid men and brave soldiers,

who met at court balls at the same time

and conversation excelled,

as educated as she is.

Her ardent admirer possesses these qualities

Bussy d'Amboise, a captain just 25 years old.

Margarete was 21 years old when she met him.

He was tall and well built,

a great fighter

and of course very pious.

An experienced soldier,

a brilliant, educated personality,

which apparently turned the heads of many at court .

He complimented her, cared about her.

A courtship ritual took place between them.

She gave in to the advances.

But Bussy d'Amboise dies violently:

murdered by the jealous husband of another lover.

A tragic fate shared by Margaret's other lovers,

including Joseph Boniface de La Möle, because of

is executed for a conspiracy against the king.

On the occasion of his death, Margarete

a ritual that is said to be at least morbid.

This execution affected her deeply.

Supposedly it's supposed to be around your head

of the beheaded lover ,

to give him one last kiss

and to bury him separately.

Rumor has it that Margarete has another macabre ritual

regarding their deceased loved ones.

diatribes

report that they have embalmed hearts

worn in their vertugadins,

that is, their crinolines,

which people wore under their clothes back then.

She was seen as a kind of black widow,

carried the remains of her companions with her.

As a woman with morbid sexuality

Margarete is said to have been a nymphomaniac,

which follows

no longer content with men of her class.

Her lovers now lost some of their rank.

She attracted quite a few local cavaliers.

Starting with the notables

until finally boilermakers,

stable hands or cooks.

It is known that it will be a long liaison

with the choir conductor Claude-Francois,

was the singer.

diatribes claim she took,

what she liked.

But the fiery Margaret was also able to

to have a relationship,

who gave preference to certain feelings.

So she fell in love with Jacques de Harlay,

Lord of Champvallon,

an extremely brilliant, beautiful man.

The intimate, passionate relationship lasted 3 years.

She was fascinated by this man.

He had the chivalrous spirit

that she was looking for in a man.

She wrote him passionate letters.

An unusual correspondence,

in which she conjures up ideal love .

"Please drive away, my beautiful sun,

the annoying clouds that stand between our bodies.

They can never separate our souls,

who are bound together by eternal fate ."

This view of love is not just physical,

but also a Neoplatonic one.

Love unites bodies and souls at the same time.

For this to happen, the beloved must be the same in every respect.

A mental and physical relationship,

which Margarete shows openly in the courtyard of the Louvre,

despite her status as wife of Henry of Navarre.

As long as their circumstances were discreet, they were tolerated.

When it passed the companion stage ,

there were problems.

An even more delicate situation

as there are rumors that Margarete is pregnant by Champvallon.

When she was accused of being pregnant,

she denied. Champvallon never touched her.

She was definitely in love with him.

She may have had intimate contact with him.

Perhaps she even had a child secretly in 1583.

That's what rumors at court claimed .

Margarete is banned from the Louvre.

The scandal is spreading at the courts

the round and continues to feed their demonic reputation.

1572, in the year

his marriage to Margaret of Valois,

Henry of Navarre inherited Cazeneuve Castle

bei Bordeaux.

Cazeneuve is the oldest property of his family, the Albrets.

This is where his ancestors spent most of their time.

By marriage, Margaret was Queen of Navarre,

which means they regularly engage in various activities

castles in southwest France .

Heinrich left around Cazeneuve

Plant umbrella pines.

This tree, a symbol of Protestantism,

is still growing today

on the premises of the property.

Heinrich chose this room for himself

to the south,

which offers the most beautiful view of the park.

The bed is Henry IV's original bed,

restored in the 18th century.

At the bottom you can see 3 letters:

H for Henry

and 2 connected Fs for small and large France.

They represent the alliance of France and Navarre

under Henry IV.

Proud of his homeland

The king said he was annexing Navarre to France

and not the other way around.

You can see that the bed only has 1 pillow.

You'll understand why in a moment.

Next to the king's room

lies that of Queen Margaret.

There are 2 pillows on the bed.

For the king always sought out the queen,

never the other way around.

The queen was forbidden to take this initiative,

Which probably didn't bother her much

given her distant relationship with her husband.

Also far from Paris and the court

Margarete continued to live a lavish lifestyle.

She showed herself and spent a lot,

to demonstrate their power.

She wanted to be a woman of influence.

You will see that she succeeded.

As the daughter, sister and wife of kings

Margarete of Valois was very conscious of her status throughout her life.

The pearl of the Valois. That's what she was called.

She was unique. There were other women next to her,

even from the nobility,

only chambermaids.

Each of their actions and gestures had a function,

a political meaning

and a cultural significance.

Her life was a production until the end .

She organizes this production

the servants,

which is available to her from an early age .

With 6 years

Margarete has 120 employees.

As a young woman, the number rises to 264.

At the time of greatest splendor

she is one of the family members

with the highest income: up to 200,000 livres tournois.

In comparison, a farm worker earns

barely 90 livres a year.

All your income and especially expenses

are recorded in their accounting books,

which are now in the National Archives.

Margarete's list of expenses

doesn't just affect you personally.

Their expenses also included the salaries of their civil servants,

their companions and servants.

The expenses covered the entire household:

Margarete's meals,

feeding the servants, officials,

Horses and grooms.

Various clothing for the minions

or the shareholders.

Because she paid for the clothing of the servants.

But Margarete uses a large part of her budget

for yourself,

especially during the most glamorous times of their lives.

In October 1576 Margaret gave

a complete riding costume commissioned.

The equipment for the mare is also recorded,

which matched Margarete's riding costume.

She ordered "2 cubits, 20 quarter cubits

black silk taffeta,

8 threads for lining the taffeta

with green Genoese velvet,

14 large silver buttons of Polish style."

She always spent more than she earned.

A single one of her clothes

mind you, cost the income

from 10 years in the life of a farming family.

But at the Valois court

Fashion is by no means insignificant.

She contributes to

to show the splendor of the ruling family .

Margarete learned this from her mother.

Katharina said to her daughter:

"You have to set an example.

Dress well, everyone will follow you.

You have this task.

Even if you live in Navarre

with a little king,

It is still up to you to set an example."

Margarete grew up with this culture.

As a princess of royal blood

she had the duty, the splendor

of the French court with their clothing.

Nothing is too noble to underline your rank.

Margarete leaves her clothes behind

made from the finest materials of their time.

Only a few Renaissance fabrics survive in France.

Einige im National Museum of the Renaissance

in Ecouen Castle,

especially the most popular material in Margarete's time.

Velvet was one of the most precious

and most expensive materials.

It was difficult to make.

Velvet making is a technical feat.

A lot of velvet was imported from Italy:

from Lucca, Florence, but mainly from Genoa.

Despite workshops in Tours or Lyon

preferred French princesses,

Princes and nobles Genoese velvets.

This beautiful velvet fabric

is an extraordinary fragment of material.

You can see it on a cream-colored background

2 Effects:

cut pile and closed loops.

An additional effect is achieved by gold threads,

which form small rings in the red silk pile.

Fabrics with gold threads

shimmer in the light much more than others.

The dress looks like a goldsmith's work,

that shines when worn.

One can imagine

that Margaret of Valois had such a relief velvet

worn with gold thread.

Margarete uses her clothes

to demonstrate their position .

She is also passionate about fashion

and introduces a new style.

Margarete did without neck braces.

These were high collars with a lot of lace,

that surrounded the face.

She set color trends. About a bright,

slightly orangey red that she loved.

In contrast to the clothing at court,

which was simpler.

Margarete gives her female figure a personal touch.

The costume at this time is complex.

The multi-layered structure can weigh up to 6 kilos.

Clothing in a kind of modular system.

This is a quilted bodice,

a main component of Renaissance women's costume.

Forerunner of the corset.

You didn't tighten your waist.

The goal was the female curves

to flatten as much as possible,

the chest and the stomach.

This is how the upper body was shaped into a V-silhouette.

The centerpiece of the bodice is at the front .

A central part, which is incorporated by

flexible rods

had greater thickness.

The staffs were made of willow, metal or ivory.

People dressed

not alone. The lacing was almost all the way in the back.

This is the "Vertugadin".

He watched over virtue.

At the same time a symbol of fertility and chastity.

This crinoline

was worn as an underskirt in the Renaissance.

In the lower part of the skirt

willow branches are incorporated,

which cause a serious fall and the rock

give it its typical conical shape.

Around the waist now

a stuffed horn placed, a bead,

which is filled with horsehair.

They wanted to give the back volume,

so that the overdress was on

and the folds fell beautifully over the back of the body.

The silhouette now receives

the 1st decorative element of the costume:

a lace cloth,

adorned with a small ruff on the collar.

You slip in with your arms.

Of course the fabric was finer and silkier

and sometimes with embroidery, beads and jewels

decorated.

And now the main item of clothing.

The whole dress goes on this base.

You have to know that back then the fashion

varied depending on the country or region .

You can find a wide variety of fabrics, shapes and colors,

also with jewelry.

The clothes were elaborate

with sewn on beads, jewels

and decorated with precious stones.

This added a lot to the elegance of the costume.

Fashion changed every 10 years

with further developments in the shape of the neck brace,

the shape of the clothes,

the structure, the sleeves

and lace scarves.

Female attributes were hidden.

Nothing was shown, just hinted at.

Except hands and face

no skin could be seen.

But Margarete takes it

freedom in clothing restrictions .

She was the first to wear dresses with cleavage,

with a fairly deep cleavage that highlighted her breasts.

This made her necklaces stand out.

Through her cleavage

She brought jewels and necklaces into fashion.

This was picked up all over Europe.

Margarete was a woman who surrounded herself befitting her status

and created a court at each of their residences.

Starting at Nerac, where she met her husband.

An island of tolerance on a Protestant level

Area in the middle of the religious wars.

Margarete stopped in Nerac

magnificent court when she came to the castle,

which competed with the Louvre of the Valois.

She gathered around her a brilliant literary court

and surrounded himself with the best artists in the region.

Poets, actors and humanists

brought this aura to the court of Nerac.

artists and intellectuals

moves to the small town of Nerac near Agen,

because the queen is considered to be extremely educated.

She discussed and read about all topics,

whether philosophy, mathematics, natural science

or medicine.

Medical books were dedicated to her .

She was witty, funny and learned.

So people came.

Among the important intellectuals in Nerac

is one of his encounters with Margarete

is particularly impressed.

Montaigne was invited and deeply impressed.

He read her

a large part of his essays.

He said to her:

"I'm not continuing. That's simple."

She answered:

"I beg you, Mr. de Montaigne, to continue.

The language is wonderfully simple. You learn a lot from it.

With your economical language you give us a lot."

The splendid courtyard

Margarete often meets in the park

can be moored along the baise,

the river at the foot of the castle.

Friendly and amorous understanding prevails here

between Catholics and Protestants.

The park was

primarily a place of distraction, walks,

of leisure and encounters.

Among numerous diversions there was the game of mail,

which was the forerunner of croquet.

The rules of the game allowed the courtiers,

Huguenots and Catholics who came to the park

to talk in peace.

This path, called the “Path of Sighs,”

made it possible for the courtiers to secretly hold theirs in the park

to pursue established love affairs .

It was sufficiently hidden so that everyone there would be discreet

could pursue his relationships .

At the court of Nerac

separates Huguenots and Catholics

just attending church services.

Margarete wrote: "They went to the sermon, we went to mass."

Afterwards there was a ball and a banquet.

Everything worked fine.

Ministers of Henry IV who wrote memoirs

remembered this time with wonder.

Margarete managed to do something that no one else could:

Protestants and Catholics with culture, beauty,

TO unite literature and philosophy .

What mattered was brilliance and love of life.

This is what distinguished the court of Nerac.

An aura of bliss,

which becomes known beyond the borders of France .

Nerac became legendary in Europe,

so that even Shakespeare,

when he wrote Love's Labour's Lost in 1595,

strongly influenced by Nerac and Margarete

was inspired.

As an educated woman

Margarete herself leaves for posterity

several fonts.

The most valuable are undoubtedly her memoirs.

Also thanks to her great admirer Brantöme

this report exists.

He dedicates a glorification to her,

a chronicle of her glorious life.

But a problem arises: the text is very inaccurate.

She was definitely flattered by that

and perhaps wanted to correct some aspects.

She picked up a pen to write a letter,

a long letter.

She showed him the errors and made up his mind

then to a chronological report.

So maybe she liked it

writing her memoirs, which took years.

At that time, no woman had ever written a memoir.

You are extraordinary,

because they are experienced snapshots.

She worked as a historian.

What is interesting about the report is that it justifies itself

with Brantöme, but also

with posterity.

As a princess, she wants to leave something unusual behind.

Margarete's memoirs, which have come down to us,

are incomplete and break off in 1582,

without knowing why.

But they remain a valuable testimony,

to better understand the life of this unusual woman.

We are in the queen's grand salon in Cazeneuve,

the reception room.

The room has been completely re-equipped and furnished.

Few evidence of her life in the castle has survived,

like this carpet from Flanders,

which shows her hunting with a cavalier ,

probably one of her admirers.

A portrait of Margarete hangs above the fireplace .

A small format portrait,

that was easy to take with you.

As heard, she was

not very faithful to her husband.

Neither does he.

Henry IV is said to have married her with a lover

surprised and blamed her.

Margarete felt like she was being watched in Cazeneuve

and answered: "Is it a crime to love always?

Is that a reason to punish me?

Unsightly amours are never more than beautiful prisons."

The last two sentences are

engraved above the fireplace.

Margarete met her lovers discreetly

just outside the castle.

Follow me.

She took these stairs and walked through the castle moats.

So she came to this secret passage,

behind which she crossed a wood,

which is called Bois de la Reine Mere.

The passage is now walled up.

In this grotto on the banks of the Ciron River

Margarete had her rendezvous.

There is still a stone bench here,

who must have witnessed many love games.

Probably not a very comfortable place,

but so romantic.

However, Margarete's life was not limited

on amorous escapades.

She tried at the time of the religious wars

to take on a political role .

Above all, she became a direct witness

one of the darkest chapters in French history.

Early on August 24, 1572, St. Bartholomew's Day,

the bell gives the signal.

Hundreds of Protestants are executed by Catholics.

It was St. Bartholomew's Night

the tragedy of the 16th century

and the history of France.

She was branding in a way

the rule of the Valois in the country.

There were several days of horrific massacres,

Screams and looting.

There were 3,000 deaths in Paris

and tens of thousands of deaths

throughout the country.

In Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rouen.

Murdered in Carcassonne

the executioner killed a Huguenot and ate his heart.

The Kingdom of France had never experienced anything like it.

It happens just 6 days after the wedding

Margaret of Valois and Henry of Navarre.

Princess Margaret of Valois.

And 6 years before the cordial agreement at the court of Nerac.

With the St. Bartholomew's Night massacre

the sectarian war reaches its climax.

The Protestants found

that the Catholic Church was misguided,

that they have problems with money

and had the customs.

Cardinals and bishops lived

at court, had mistresses and children.

Protestants in the 16th century wore black.

Men or even women

wore nothing noticeable.

The difference between Catholics

and Protestants also became attached to colors

and clothing style clearly.

Important princesses like Margarete

wore magnificent clothing decorated with gold and silver

and embroidered with precious stones.

Against it

Protestants stood out because of their very muted clothing.

They did not dance at court festivals .

Especially intellectuals and devout believers

wished that their religion, Christianity,

behave with dignity.

50 years after the emergence of Protestantism

2 million believers have already been converted

i.e. 10% of the French population at the time.

With the conversion of nobles

the new denomination begins to play a political role,

and threatens the Catholic authorities.

The situation degenerates into deadly conflicts.

In the imagination of Catholics

shouted these different, seceding people

bring forth the wrath of God.

When they massacred them,

they tried to bring the demonic to light.

Their eyes were gouged out,

slit her open, cut breasts

or nose, threw the corpses into the river, tore out the heart.

They were dehumanized as spawns of the devil,

who incited sin.

It was a terrible civil war

the religious and political division

to married couples,

reached into the families.

These were particularly confusing times

with complicated alliances. In southern France, for example

There were alliances between religions, although they

were not officially in the same political camp.

But there was no rapprochement between moderate Catholics

and devout Catholics.

At that time, not only France was involved, but

Whole europe.

The powers in the south

definitely didn't want to

that Protestantism came to them

and financed the civil war in France.

The powers in the north - England, Flanders, Germany -

financed him,

so that Protestantism spread.

Margarete was a fervent Catholic,

who were never attracted to Protestantism.

Hers from her mother Katharina

organized marriage with Henry of Navarre

should reconcile the two camps.

But an incident caused the ambitious project to fail.

Am 22. August 1572

became the most important Protestant

Admiral de Coligny, an important military leader

and captain of the Protestant party,

injured by an arquebus shot not far from the Louvre.

The Protestants demanded

Justice. They were many, armed and experienced.

They demanded from King Charles IX. and Catherine

de Medici Rache.

To prevent a reaction from Protestants,

should be the planned solution

simply be their destruction.

It is almost undisputed that the decision

to eliminate the Protestant leadership ,

was taken in the royal council,

within a small circle of people.

With Charles IX. as a French king

are his brother Henry of Anjou and Katharina

involved in the decision to eliminate about 50 leaders.

Everything happens at the center of power in the Louvre,

at the French royal court.

The large hall on the ground floor

The Louvre is called the Caryatid Hall:

after the 4 large female sculptures,

which have a balcony where musicians could play.

The center of the Louvre.

There were parties and balls here,

but on St. Bartholomew's Night

There was chaos and massacres here.

On the evening of August 23rd

There is a lot of tension in the corridors of the Louvre.

But Margarete doesn't know anything.

Before the massacre

Margarete was with her mother.

Her older sister Claudia, Duchess of Lorraine,

was there. She was informed about the massacre.

Katharina sent Margarete to her chambers.

Margaret of Valois, who had to obey her mother,

saw her sister very upset.

She grabbed her arm

and told her not to go.

Claudia cried violently and probably thought,

that Margarete her life

risked if she went into your chambers.

Margarete wanted to stay with her mother and sister.

Katharina ordered her to hers

man to go.

"Your place is in your marriage chamber."

It should not worry Protestants .

If she hadn't left, that would be suspicious.

She was not privy to state secrets.

She acted as an extra.

She served as an actress in a marriage.

That was all.

Margarete doesn't remain an extra for long.

She witnesses the attacks directly

and mass executions.

She reports about the night later

in her memoirs.

She heard shots and screams.

At her door someone shouted, "Navarra! Navarre!"

A nobleman rushed into her room.

It was the Protestant de Leran who asked for help.

She hid him.

She saved poor de Leran and bandaged his wounds.

That was a good deed.

She saved Protestants.

are early in the morning

not only murdered the leaders of the Protestant party,

but also hundreds of other men, women and children.

This staircase with hunting decor from the time of Henry II.

was built in honor of his mistress Diane de Poitiers.

Protestants were hunted on St. Bartholomew's Night .

In the hallways

and corpses were piled up on the steps.

Margarete saw her fall and roll over the steps.

There was constant murder in the hallways .

There were daggers and blood everywhere.

She writes that her dress was soaked with blood.

You can imagine the fear

which Margarete must have felt, as corpses

covered the corridors of the Louvre.

By morning, Paris had become a mass grave.

There were years in the population

suppressed anger and fear released,

which had accumulated since the beginning of the war.

3,000 people were killed and thrown into the Seine.

Margarete saw well

from her window the river with the corpses.

The river was red with blood, literally.

Beyond the trauma, the massacre triggers Margarete's feelings

a shock reaction.

She no longer wants to be her family's plaything.

It was a kind of baptism of fire.

A little later her mother suggested an annulment of her marriage,

because it has not been completed. She refused:

"No. That's over. I'm married."

This crown was important to Margarete .

She was proud to belong to the Valois family.

She felt proud of her royal house,

and it seemed natural to her

with their special properties

to rule over a kingdom.

From the year 1575

Margarete wanted to play a real political role.

But their statements quickly became confused

and turned out to be incomprehensible and incoherent.

After the death of Charles IX.

Henry Ill becomes King of France.

Margarete goes into opposition.

Margarete stood up for her younger brother Franz.

He was a Catholic prince of royal blood

and potential heir to the throne.

He gathered a colorful mixture around him

of both denominations: the party of the dissatisfied.

This movement was dissatisfied with the king.

They felt excluded from politics

and would not benefit from it

the favor, offices and provision received by others.

She sat down for this something strange

Connection of two camps.

But she really was

for religious peace? Nothing is known about that.

Margarete developed,

about their position, rank and influence

to preserve.

She probably thought if she

relies on the party to win.

But this party lost.

The adventure ends quickly,

when Margarete's youngest brother fell ill.

Franz fell ill with tuberculosis and died in 1584.

He is only 29 years old.

This death was a terrible blow.

Heinrich Ill had no children and would probably never have any.

The last Valois would die without an heir.

So would the crown under French constitutional law

to a distant 21st cousin:

Henry of Navarre, who was a Protestant.

It was unprecedented

in the history of France,

that a Protestant became heir to the throne.

Before the conflict began, the European

countries made a decision. A kind of summit meeting.

They met and decided that the people should adopt religion

should accept their prince.

If the prince was Protestant, so were the people.

Three quarters of the French were still Catholics

and definitely didn't want to convert.

Margarete's husband is now heir to the throne.

She can hope to one day become Queen of France.

However, she unexpectedly takes a stand.

According to moderate Catholics

it is now moving closer to the League, an ultra-Catholic movement.

She now not only opposes her brother Heinrich Ill.,

but also against her husband Henry of Navarre.

This commitment to the Catholic party

was the act of a desperate woman.

There were personal grudges and feelings of revenge

against the two Henrys,

that explain this tragic intervention.

A wrong decision.

Margarete wants herself

the leader of the radical Catholics

rise in the south.

She travels to Agen,

which is part of her dowry and where she is a countess.

She wanted to protect against attacks from outside

to be prepared.

So she increased taxes and had a citadel built.

They needed a fortress to have cannons

to shoot at enemies.

For this rampart

She had houses at the foot of the wall demolished.

This didn't make her many friends in Agen.

She ruled over the small territory

with a certain despotism,

which caused the residents of Agen to revolt.

She had to leave town.

It did not have the military strength for the ambitious goal,

To become the leader of the League in the south of France.

She no longer had any support . She openly revolted

against her brother Heinrich Ill.

and against her husband Henry of Navarre.

She became a kind of hunted animal,

that day after day from Castle

fled to the castle.

Margaret tries to escape the king's army.

On their escape

she stops at Saint-Projet Castle.

The residence holds a unique record of their transit.

It was September 26, 1585,

when Queen Margaret came to the castle.

She was injured after falling from a horse.

She is said to have tied her horse to this ring .

1990 the owner does

of the castle an incredible discovery.

4 centuries after Queen Margaret's passage.

This is Queen Margaret's anteroom.

It has been renovated.

At work

a door was discovered,

which led to Margarete's room.

It had been bricked up after she left .

It often happened that after a king passed through

bricked up the door through which the personality had passed.

There was period furniture in the room

Queen Margaret.

Underneath this four-poster bed.

This is the original fabric from Margarete's bed

with gold and silver threads

in the rust-red color that Margarete loved so much.

The queen was on the run.

On this escape

she forgot a suitcase in her room.

This is the chapel of the castle.

Margarete came here to remain reverent.

It was a very uncertain, hard time for her.

She prayed a lot

and wondered if she had this unfortunate phase

would survive her life.

Their escape ends in 1586.

Margarete is stopped in Auvergne.

Her brother Heinrich Ill. puts her aside

and has her imprisoned in Usson Fortress.

At first she was desperate

when she saw Usson.

It was a military fortress

with cold corridors and no furniture.

She was served bean soup and a piece of bread.

She was horrified.

There was a rumor that she would be beheaded.

She was afraid for her life.

But very quickly

she moved freely in the fortress.

Since they are so different from political

kept the environment away,

the two Heinrichs let them live there.

They were sure that they would be different from now on

would no longer interfere in French politics.

She tried to be political

stage to play a role.

You could say she always chose the wrong side.

She was always in opposition,

which brought her no political success.

Margarete's exile in Auvergne will last almost 20 years.

We are now in the kitchen of Cazeneuve Castle,

in which some contemporary furniture has been preserved.

This is a chest bank for salt

from the time of Henry IV.

Salt was stored in it.

The chest was near the fireplace,

to avoid moisture.

At that time it was a rare and therefore expensive commodity.

The owner sat on it

or let someone older sit on it,

to guard the salt and prevent theft.

Eating habits changed during the Renaissance.

The long-scorned vegetable came back into fashion at court.

Asparagus, cucumbers and artichokes were on trend.

Vegetables that were previously poor people's food,

now found its way onto royal tables.

For example carrots, green salad, chicory or even pickles.

Fruit, which was usually eaten as an appetizer,

now became a dessert.

Melons, oranges and strawberries were particularly valued .

Tomatoes also arrived in Europe at this time.

They were imported to Spain from Mexico in the 15th century .

In France they were suspected of being poisonous.

It took another two centuries

until you dared to eat them.

It is known that Margaret of Valois loved wine.

White wine was kept for them,

whereas their ladies-in-waiting and officials tended to drink red wine.

Old barrels have been preserved in the Cazeneuve wine cellar ,

called fodder barrels.

They have a special shape.

They are not completely round, but slightly oval.

This made them easier to transport

as they needed less space in a car .

The castle also has a very original collection.

Bordeaux bottles in different sizes.

Jeroboam is well known

or Nebuchadnezzar.

But the largest bottle with 27 liters content:

What's her name?

"Margot" nach Margarete.

You don't know if the name

has to do with the queen's love of wine

or whether at the end of their life

her body shape had increased so

that it was similar to a bottle shape.

After her exile in Auvergne

Margarete returned to Paris,

where she spent the last years of her life.

After the end of her life

the false image of Margaret of Valois arose,

that portrayed her as vicious and a nymphomaniac.

This demonic call that still haunts them today

inspired Alexandre Dumas and Patrice Chereau.

In 1593 Margaret celebrated her 40th birthday.

She has no children and probably never will.

Four years earlier, her husband converted to Catholicism

and became King of France as Henry IV .

Now he needs an heir.

He proposes a deal to his wife.

He wanted to get married.

But first he had to get a divorce.

Back then it was called dissolution of marriage.

At first he wanted to marry Gabrielle d'Estrees.

Margaret was against

by Gabrielle d'Estrees

was not a princess, but a noble daughter.

The king was to marry a princess of dynastic rank.

She wanted Henry IV to have royal descendants

and she would be replaced by a princess of her rank.

She even blackmailed him.

She persuaded him to marry Maria de Medici.

When her replacement has been chosen, Margarete agrees to the divorce

and puts forward arguments for it.

The file of her marriage dissolution

is now in the National Archives.

First she explains,

that she didn't agree to their wedding,

but from the brothers of King Charles IX. and Heinrich Ill.

and the late queen, her mother,

been forced to do so.

She makes a strong argument for the Catholic Church:

that of the spouses' relatives.

Marriage between cousins ​​was forbidden.

They were second cousins.

Margarete's grandfather, Francis I.

was the brother of Margaret of Navarre, Henry's grandmother.

To convince the Pope

She adds that Heinrich when he got married

was a Protestant and did not attend mass.

After examining the documents, the Vatican gives its approval.

We have the papal bull annulling marriage

by Heinrich and Margarete,

the marriage dissolution file.

She takes advantage of this when questioning Heinrich and Margarete

arguments put forward verbatim.

Negotiations about the financial conditions still remain.

Negotiations with her husband will take 6 years.

She had the keys in her hand.

Without her consent to dissolve the marriage

there was no marriage dissolution.

She stubbornly negotiated for income and tax revenue

and alimony,

which the king had to pay her annually.

The king took over

their debts.

She was in debt.

She spent much more than she earned.

Henry IV complied with Margarete's financial demands.

She bought a carriage.

It was like she was

would buy a luxury car today .

She also wanted to keep the title of queen.

There was only one queen:

the king's mother or wife ,

but not the king's ex-wife .

But she retained all her privileges

a royal majesty.

For Margarete, the separation from Henry IV.

almost a relief.

By breaking up, she escaped the situation as a wife.

A friendship developed

with Heinrich while in their marriage

were rarely friends.

The separation was very good for her.

She was an independent woman again .

Heinrich IV.

Margarete granted another favor.

The king allowed her to return to Paris.

In 1605 she moved

after 23 years of absence

back into the capital.

It was almost the return of a dinosaur.

She was something of an oddity.

She looked like someone from another planet.

She was no more

Margaret,

how the court sang about her, how Ronsard sang about her.

Her hair was gray,

the woman from before had disappeared.

She was dressed old-fashioned.

She was thought to be dead.

She remained flirtatious

and tried to find her youth again,

but wasn't 20 anymore.

She hid her thinning hair.

Apparently she has

from the hair of her pages

have a wig made.

She had lost her attractiveness,

but apparently still longed for love.

She owned

a mysterious sex appeal,

which is inexplicable.

Her intense love life

is the reason for an event that causes excitement in Paris.

The dramatic episode takes place in the Hötel de Sens,

where she goes after her return.

The Archbishop of Sens, Renaud de Beaune,

gave her his Paris city palace

available, a very nice residence.

Margarete furnished herself the way she does in castles

was used to.

She moved into the archbishops' honorary chambers.

She had her room,

her chapel and was close to the Louvre and the Seine.

She could easily move around with her court.

On April 15, 1606, Margarete returned

with her lover Julien Dat

back from the fair,

when he collapses after being shot in the head ,

which another one of her favorites delivers right in front of her.

She is said to have exclaimed:

"Strangle him with my garter."

She was beside herself.

She demanded the death of the murderer.

The following day

was in front of the Hötel de Sens

the murderer of her favorite beheaded before her eyes.

After the tragedy, Margarete leaves the palace

and settles in the palace

which she had built on the other bank of the Seine.

she bought

huge estates on the left bank of the Seine opposite

of the Louvre.

One has the impression here,

that Margarete always faces power,

she who could never take the throne of France.

She donated a lot.

She had hospitals and orphanages built.

She was very generous. The people began to love her.

She was very popular.

The king's ex-wife lived there for 10 years ,

maintained the best relationships,

received ambassadors and organized balls.

Margarete's table also attracts guests.

She doesn't lose her appetite as she gets older .

She liked to eat pastries.

She loved Vienna almonds

and nibbled them all day.

She loved filled or unfilled candies.

She also liked goose liver, poultry

and stuffed fish.

She ate well, but at least 10 courses.

To taste these dishes,

Margarete uses a fork like the royal court.

At that time, this piece of cutlery was a social distinguishing feature.

The fork complemented the knife when eating,

to eat with your hands as little as possible .

Your appearance

coincides with treatises on good behavior,

in which culture is mentioned as a characteristic,

that the upper class from the lower class

differs.

By using new cutlery

one showed oneself conscious of one's status, belonging to another world.

There were forks with 2 tines

like this silver fork.

Forks with 3 tines

like this one, which is less valuable

and has a twisted handle.

There are also original, changeable cutlery pieces

like this 3 pronged fork on a 4 eyed spoon.

You can slide the tines of the fork into the eyelets

and thus transform it into a spoon.

Personal hygiene also belongs to class consciousness .

Amazing things appeared in the Renaissance

Toiletries on.

This little object

is toothpicks and ear sticks. It has

both functions.

The pointed side served as a toothpick

and the other side with the small spoon

as an ear swab, precursor of the cotton swab,

that didn't exist in the 16th century.

You could use this functional piece of jewelry

wear as a pendant on your neck,

which was often the case.

New in Margarete's surroundings

are more women.

In her last years

the queen has a new hobby horse.

Gender equality has been an issue for two decades.

Everyone talked about the women's issue.

Margarete only became interested in this at the end of her life.

She didn't understand that she lived in a society

in which women did not have the same rights as men.

She needed time.

When she understood it, she wrote a feminist text.

The learned and subtle Discourse,

in which they clear

defended women's rights.

Because the men believed that the man

after God is the highest being.

She explained why women should be appreciated

and the men were wrong.

"As for the body,

it is well known that the woman's is more beautiful,

more delicate and better formed than the man's.

As far as the soul is concerned, God delights in tranquility,

clear and pious spirit like that of the woman,

not in a troubled mind like that of the man."

She understood that misogyny prevailed,

and fought him.

As the last of the Valois family

She also acts as a mediator

to the Bourbon dynasty founded by Henry IV .

As a sign of this handover

She bequeaths her goods to Ludwig, Henry IV and Mary's son.

She discovered little Louis XIII,

the heir to the throne, for himself.

She was delighted. It was the child she didn't have.

She played the role

an adoptive grandmother, an aunt.

Margarete had great affection for the heir to the throne.

Strangely, he called her “Mother, my girl”.

In addition, there was a familiarity with the one

who took the throne of France:

Maria de Medici.

When she was introduced to Maria de Medici,

Margarete talked to her very correctly and objectively.

Friendship developed between the two .

Margarete gave Maria a touch of the Renaissance,

a sense of luxury, celebrations

and refined taste,

which characterized the House of Valois .

The last Valois thus legitimized

the 1. Bourbon dynasty.

1614 deteriorated

Margarete's health.

She suffered from liver and kidney disease

and died on March 27th of the following year

in her Paris palace on Rue de Seine.

She was 61 years old.

The end of a stormy, passionate life

and the starting point of the legend Queen Margaret.

Le Divorce satyrique established the false image of Margarete.

The pamphlet published 50 years after her death

probably written by Agrippa d'Aubigne,

a Protestant author, Henry IV.

accused of favoring Catholics.

The writing should

actually trashing Henry IV .

But then as well as now

many considered it for this purpose

for easier to trash his wife.

She got a real beating in it.

"There is no way in all of France,

on which this vicious woman did not exert her lust."

Margarete is described as a lustful woman,

as a nymphomaniac, even if the word didn't exist.

They were also accused of having an incestuous relationship

to her brothers.

This reached the lowest point.

To borrow a well-known expression:

Margarete's honor was tarnished.

They wanted to defile this woman

probably because she was very attached to her freedom.

Quite a few later forgot for worse

Intention the pamphlet character of the writing

and used them as a source that they

is not.

Alexandre Dumas inspired this demonic depiction

to Queen Margot.

Since the end of 1844

The novel appears in the features section of the daily newspaper La Presse.

To sell,

the publishers let novelists

write for the features section.

The beginning of the sequel novel.

Readers bought the newspaper every day because of the sequel.

La Reine Margot immediately had enormous success.

The use of this representation is explained

also from the political context

of post-revolutionary France.

People in the country didn't understand why

Ideals such as freedom and equality were propagated

and these did not apply to women.

Why didn't they have the right to vote, to have a say ?

and to sit in the National Assembly?

They took the fine ladies of the Ancien Regime

and showed her shame.

They messed everything up

and did nonsense in love.

So women were dangerous.

If you gave them influence,

they used it badly.

Margarete almost became a prime example

this evidence.

Several actresses, such as Jeanne Moreau,

portray Queen Margaret in the film.

Isabelle Adjanis is influential for this character

Film representation directed by Patrice Chereau.

The director and his screenwriter Daniele Thompson

have to convince the actress of the role.

Everything takes place during a reading session.

Isabelle was irreplaceable.

It didn't work without her.

Not even without Claude Berry.

She was made for the role.

This was an extremely important meeting.

It was about our lives.

In order to give the figure the necessary appearance,

Great importance is placed on the production of the costumes .

Some are

preserved in the French film archive in Paris.

That's the wonderful thing

Wedding dress,

that Isabelle Adjani wore.

The costume makes Margaret of Valois appear strict.

It's high-necked,

majestic

and has a particularly long train:

5,70 Meter.

To show the boldness and arrogance of the character.

Beyond the female portrait

Patrice Chereau describes a violent era.

When the film came out in 1994,

finds the implementation of the religious wars

already has a special resonance in society.

We were influenced by world events.

It was the time of the Ayatollahs in Iran

and the Bosnian War.

It was found that you were always in a bloody place

Time lives.

You keep killing in the name of God. This never ends.

"Queen of majesty,

sublime spirit,

edie Blume: Margaret of France."

These words from her eulogy in 1615 show

that Margarete was a more complex personality,

as she was described in the story .

She used her fame and great education to

to deal with political, philosophical

and literary ideas and to promote them.

Ultimately a very modern woman,

who wasn't satisfied with supporting roles,

that they wanted to assign to her.

This is how our mission to Queen Margaret comes to an end.

Thank you for your loyalty. See you soon

To a new edition of Secrets of History.

Subtitle: ECLAIR