''La Reine Margot'' (English: ''Queen Margot'' is a

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

written in 1845 by

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

. Although it is based on real characters and events, certain aspects of ''La Reine Margot'' may be inconsistent with the historical record; historians have attributed that to artistic licence and the fact that Dumas might have been influenced by propaganda against certain historical figures, notably Catherine. Written in French, it was almost immediately translated into English, first anonymously and soon afterward publicly by David Bogue as ''Marguerite de Valois: An Historical Romance''.Coward, D. (1997). Note on the Text. In A. Dumas, ''La Reine Margot'' (p. xxv). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Plot

The story begins in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in August 1572, during the reign of the Valois King Charles IX, it is the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mil ...

. The protagonist is Marguerite de Valois, better known as Margot, the daughter of the deceased Henry II. The antagonist is the scheming

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

power player Catherine de Medici, Margot's mother. Although Margot herself is excluded from the throne by the

Salic Law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old D ...

, her marriage to a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

prince offers a chance for domestic reconciliation during the reign of the neurotic,

hypochondriac Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...

King Charles IX, while Catholics are vying for political control of France with the French Protestants, the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

. Catherine decides to make an overture of goodwill by offering up Margot in marriage to prominent Huguenot and King of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

, Henri de Bourbon, which is supposed to cement the hard-fought

Peace of Saint-Germain The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on 8 August 1570 by Charles IX of France, Gaspard II de Coligny and Jeanne d'Albret, and ended the 1568 to 1570 Third Civil War, part of the French Wars of Religion. The Peace went much further th ...

. At the same time, Catherine schemes to bring about the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 and assassinate many of the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots, who are in the largely-Catholic city of Paris to escort the Protestant prince to his wedding. The massacre begins four days after the wedding ceremony, and thousands of Protestants are slaughtered. The marriage goes ahead, but Margot, who does not love Henri, begins a passionate affair with the soldier La Môle, also a Protestant from a well-to-do family. Murders by poisoning follow, as court intrigues multiply and Catherine's villainous plotting to place her son, the future Henry III, on the throne threatens the lives of La Môle, Margot and Henri.

Adaptations

The plot of the novel was fully or partially included in adaptations for

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, which also drew on the historical facts: * ''

La Reine Margot (1910 film) Queen Margot or La Reine Margot may refer to: * Margaret of Valois Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre ...

'' * ''

La Reine Margot (1954 film) ''La Reine Margot'' (French: ''Queen Margot'') is a 1954 French-Italian adventure historical drama film directed by Jean Dréville, scripted by Abel Gance from the 1845 novel '' La Reine Margot'' by Alexandre Dumas.Klossner p.317 It stars Jeanne ...

'' * ''

La Reine Margot (1994 film) ''La Reine Margot'' is a 1994 historical romantic drama film directed by Patrice Chéreau, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Danièle Thompson, based on the 1845 historical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas. The film stars Isabelle Adj ...

'', a 1994 film starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design. * '' Koroleva Margo'' (''Королева Марго''), a 1996 TV Series directed by Aleksandr Muratov

References

External links

(French) (French) *
La Reine Margot
', English translation at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

(Oxford World's Classics, ) *
Google Library 1900 English language edition
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reine Margot 1845 French novels Novels by Alexandre Dumas Historical novels Novels set in Paris Novels set in the 16th century Novels about royalty Fiction set in the 1570s French novels adapted into films Cultural depictions of Catherine de' Medici Cultural depictions of Henry III of France