MARGUERITE DE VALOIS (1553-1615, 'la Reine Margot'), Queen of Henry IV of France . Autograph letter signed ('V[ost]re afectionnee et plus fidelle amie Marguerite') to Monsieur de Causac, 'a l'Usan' [Usson]. 10 September 1596, 3 pages, folio , integral address panel, fragment of small wax seal, contemporary endorsements (seal slits, small splits in centre folds, slightly browned). Written during her captivity, to a friend and sympathiser, with profuse assurances of her good will and loyalty and and abject apology that she cannot fulfil a promise to bestow upon him a vacancy which the King, in an affectionate letter, has commanded her to bestow elsewhere. 'Jam[ai]es personne qui vous soit plus amie et vous desire tant de bien que moy. J'eus[s]e desire le vous temoig[n]er an la vacquanse de [...] que je vous ai promis mes [mais] les premieres nouvelles que j'ai eus sent un Com[andeme]nt du Roi par une lettres tres affectionee par ou il me priait le ba[i]ller a M[onsieu]r de Montespan ...'. The letter refers also to other matters concerning the King and her wish to please him and give him no reason to refuse her demand, and to her advocate Monsieur de Chambaut and, repeatedly, to her friendly feelings towards her correspondent. The daughter of Catherine de Medicis, Marguerite de Valois, wife of Henry of Navarre from 1572, was noted for her beauty and learning, also for her loose living. She was first banished to the grim fortress of Usson in the Auvergne by her brother, Henry III, in 1586. When in 1594 her husband was finally crowned (as Henry IV) she remained there, while the King attempted to find a means of marrying Gabrielle d'Estrées, his latest and most captivating mistress. Margaret's chief concern in 1596 was to secure a good financial settlement, for which -- as the present letter suggests -- she had re-established a more friendly relationship with him. Her lavishness, generosity and guile secured her a considerable band of supporters at Usson, undeterred by reports of her increasingly tawdry succession of lovers.
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS (1553-1615, 'la Reine Margot'), Queen of Henry IV of France . Autograph letter signed ('V[ost]re afectionnee et plus fidelle amie Marguerite') to Monsieur de Causac, 'a l'Usan' [Usson]. 10 September 1596, 3 pages, folio , integral address panel, fragment of small wax seal, contemporary endorsements (seal slits, small splits in centre folds, slightly browned). Written during her captivity, to a friend and sympathiser, with profuse assurances of her good will and loyalty and and abject apology that she cannot fulfil a promise to bestow upon him a vacancy which the King, in an affectionate letter, has commanded her to bestow elsewhere. 'Jam[ai]es personne qui vous soit plus amie et vous desire tant de bien que moy. J'eus[s]e desire le vous temoig[n]er an la vacquanse de [...] que je vous ai promis mes [mais] les premieres nouvelles que j'ai eus sent un Com[andeme]nt du Roi par une lettres tres affectionee par ou il me priait le ba[i]ller a M[onsieu]r de Montespan ...'. The letter refers also to other matters concerning the King and her wish to please him and give him no reason to refuse her demand, and to her advocate Monsieur de Chambaut and, repeatedly, to her friendly feelings towards her correspondent. The daughter of Catherine de Medicis, Marguerite de Valois, wife of Henry of Navarre from 1572, was noted for her beauty and learning, also for her loose living. She was first banished to the grim fortress of Usson in the Auvergne by her brother, Henry III, in 1586. When in 1594 her husband was finally crowned (as Henry IV) she remained there, while the King attempted to find a means of marrying Gabrielle d'Estrées, his latest and most captivating mistress. Margaret's chief concern in 1596 was to secure a good financial settlement, for which -- as the present letter suggests -- she had re-established a more friendly relationship with him. Her lavishness, generosity and guile secured her a considerable band of supporters at Usson, undeterred by reports of her increasingly tawdry succession of lovers.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
