Catherine de Medici by Frieda Leonie

Author:Frieda, Leonie [Frieda, Leonie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781780222608
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2011-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

MARGOT’S MARRIAGE IS ARRANGED

I would prefer to see him become a Huguenot than to see him endanger his life in this way

1570–72

Once the Treaty of Saint-Germain had been signed, the Queen Mother could indulge in her favourite pastime, making grand matrimonial matches for her children. Despite Philip’s anger at what he considered the capitulation of Saint-Germain – which prompted the typically smug remark from him ‘The King and the Queen will finish by losing everything, but at least I shall have the satisfaction of having always assisted them with our advice’ – he no longer stood in the way of the marriage between Charles and the Emperor’s younger daughter Elisabeth. Now Philip blessed the proposed alliance between Margot and King Sebastian of Portugal, and encouraged the resurrection of the negotiations. Unfortunately, the Portuguese King, who had been brought up clinging to the skirts of his domineering grandmother, appeared to be more interested in reading Thomas Aquinas, a volume of which he carried attached to a belt round his slender waist.

Tall, slim and blond, the King never ventured anywhere without his two constant companions, monks of the Theatine order intent on preserving their King’s innocence. If anyone tried to approach him he would run and hide with these beloved clerics until the visitor had gone. To Catherine’s indignation this monk manqué declared himself unimpressed with the suppression of the Huguenots in France and preferred to wait and see how matters evolved before making any matrimonial decision. Philip hoped that two such alliances with Portugal and the Habsburgs might help keep the troublesome Catherine and her brood firmly in the ultra-Catholic camp. Unsurprisingly, these plans made the Protestants uneasy and they consequently put forward their own suggestions. A marriage between Henri of Navarre and Margot had already been briefly considered during the early stages of the recent peace negotiations; indeed, some said the union formed a secret clause in the treaty. As Margot’s nuptial future was considered she charmed the gentlemen at Court with her high spirits and youthful beauty, turning not only the head of the Duke of Guise, but also, inadvertently as she later claimed, those of her own brothers.1

A brilliant and tempting bride was now proposed for Anjou. The Cardinal de Châtillon and the Vidame of Chartres – a senior member of the Bourbon family and a Protestant – had fled France and were then living at the English Court. They confirmed that Queen Elizabeth of England would welcome discussions of a possible marriage with Catherine’s favourite son. Catherine feverishly brushed aside any talk of their age difference – Elizabeth was thirty-seven years old and Anjou nineteen at the time – and the prickly issue of religion. Marriage with a heretic (if she was the Queen of England) presented no problems that could not be easily overcome in Catherine’s ambitious maternal breast. The Queen Mother’s head buzzed with the possibilities the match afforded when Anjou put a rude end to his mother’s daydreams. Unaccustomedly perching himself on high moral

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