Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre — Volume 3

Marguerite de ValoisProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.7

Word count: 124K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre — Volume 3 by MargueriteAuthor: Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry IV, King of France, 1553-1615,Language: English, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Dec 2, 2004

Editor's review

This is the third volume of the Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. Its value lies first in its documentary quality: through the first-hand narrative of this Queen of France, readers enter the historical scene of the sixteenth-century French court and the Wars of Religion and see how a participant explained her own situation, marriage and political entanglements. As part of the whole memoir, this third volume suits readers who have finished the first two and wish to follow the narrative further; read on its own, it still conveys the epistolary, recollective character of the writing. Note that this is a public-domain English electronic text with plain formatting and no modern scholarly introduction or detailed footnotes, so readers must supply their own historical background. Overall it is better used as primary material for research or interested reading than as an introductory work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General history readers interested in sixteenth-century France and court politics
Researchers who need Marguerite de Valois's first-hand account
Continuing readers who have read the first two volumes and wish to finish the memoir
Readers used to public-domain English eBooks who are comfortable filling in background themselves

Not a good fit for

Beginners who want a Chinese translation or detailed annotation
Readers expecting a smooth modern biographical narrative with developed plotting

Reading tips

Read Volumes 1 and 2 before this one, so that threads of people and events are not broken.
Consult a basic chronology of the Wars of Religion and the Valois dynasty as you read.
Treat the volume as historical source rather than fiction; slow down at epistolary passages and sort out relationships paragraph by paragraph.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this volume be read on its own?

Yes, but it is the third volume of the whole memoir, and its people and events connect to the first two. Read alone, it conveys the original tone and manner of narration, but the threads of relationships and causes of events are easily lost. If time is short, at least skim a summary or table of contents of the first two volumes before beginning this one.

Does this edition have a Chinese translation or annotations?

According to the information, this is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with the text in English; no Chinese translation or modern scholarly annotation is mentioned. Readers need to prepare historical background material themselves or read alongside other works on French history.

What historical grounding is needed to read this book?

It is best to have some basic knowledge of sixteenth-century France under the Valois, the Wars of Religion and the Kingdom of Navarre. If all of this is unfamiliar, read a concise general history of France first, clarify the relationships among Henry III, Henry IV and Marguerite, and then return to the original text; reading will be much smoother.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Marguerite de Valois Author · French · 1553–1615

Marguerite de Valois (1553–1615) was a princess of the French Valois dynasty and Queen of Navarre, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. Born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and died in Paris, she married the future Henry IV in 1572. During her confinement she wrote her Memoirs, recounting court life and her personal experiences around the Wars of Religion in a vivid style that combines historical value with literary quality, making them an important source for the study of sixteenth-century French politics and court life. Seven of her works are held here, including the volumes of her Memoirs, Memoirs and Historical Chronicles of the Courts of Europe, La ruelle mal assortie, and a collection of quotes and images from her Memoirs. Her writing is chiefly autobiographical and chronicles court life, and its influence lies mainly in the first-hand historical testimony it offers to later generations.