Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-12-14
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For three centuries Catharine De
Medicis, the wife Of one and the moth
er Of three kings Of France, has been
execrated in poems dramas, roman
ces BY partisan pamphleseers and
schismatics a. the author and insti-
gator Of ali tue evil deeds which char
ssterized these four disastrous reigns
which bequeathed in later days 20 an
other generation that awful heritage
called the French Revolution Of mod
ern times. According to this class Of
writers, she appsars on the historic
stage as the Medea Of the Rennais-
anes with q eoignard 10 Der hand,
sxhaling the deadly poison rom she
aroma Of her bouquets. the perfumery
Of her gloves, the kiss Of death BY the
cosmetics on her cheeks. booming TO
death by glance Of her glittering
eyes aud by the eadences of her sill
very voice those royal children of hers,
one by one, on whose brows she had
placed the crown of France. But the
infallible logic Of Gacts renders diff
ferent verdict, and in favor Of the
queen mother, with whose career the
dynasty Of the Valois closed.
II is not on the page Of history we
read of those fearful acts charged
against her, but from those of cotem-
porary pampleteers. the organs Of fac
tious anarchy which her power crush
ed for the time, TO reappear in the
reign Of Louis XVI, in Mirabeau,
Danton, Marat and Rebespierre.
! have drawn my facts from histo-
ry, from public documents, treaties Of
peace, declarations Of war, acts of Par
Lament, municipal DEGREES, campaigns
of armies which distinguish the era of
the Valois, the reigns of Henry H.,
Francis H.. Henry Ill. and Charles
TX, gifted literary race whose lux
urious court, chivalrie pomps. gay
tournaments, grand hunts, paintings
and statuary we admire. but whose
disasters. civil wars, imbecilities and
false craftsmanship we deplore.
But not from Memoirs" those ego
tiStical biographies, wherein the wTi-
tiers view pass:ag events from the dead
level Of their own Municipalities and
within the narrow limits of their own
lives.
Not from polemical Zealots who
sought to change the dogmas and te-
nets of an established religion into
shallow philosophy, who taught the
Teople Of France their first lessons in
that progressive infidelity and scepti-
cism which in after years deluged
France with fraternal blood, scandal
lied Christianity and involved Europe
in one general conAagration.
Such were the enemies of Catharine
De Medecis. From the character of
her enemies let her own be judged.
The sixteenth century was one Of
fierce and deadly struggles between
the powers Of Europe. The third
great schism had invaded The Chris
tian church in the heart Of Europe, to
I've followed by long and desolating
wars. In those evil days Catharine
lived, reigned and died. From her
fifteenth year, her life is the history Of
France during the reigns Of her
husband, Henry H.. and Francis IL,
Henry III. and Charles TX, her chill
dren.
These reigns comprise what has
been called the Romantic Era of
French history, when chivalry. with
all its gorgeous panoply. won its goI-
den spurs in the tournament, the field
OF battle and the chase.
When the grand masters of paint
ing from Italy decorated the galleries
of Versailles, the Louvre aud Fon-
tainbleau with their inimitable con-
ceptions. and music, with all its in
SEPARATIONS, sent warriors to the field
aud devotees to the altar. Where
Mary Queen Of Scots loved her first
love in the bright morning Of her
youth, to weep away her after life in
bitter tears on the bleak hills Of Scot
land and to pour out her blood on the
scaffold at Fotheringay.
The early youth Of Catharine De
Medicis, from her cradle to her IF
teenth yesr. has been amply detailed
by Reumont, who folio xed her infan-
tile steps and early. girlhood TO that
year, and from him we learn that this
fatherless and motherless orphan when
only ten years old became the ward
Of her aunt, Clarissia de SpOrga, who
aided the revolutionary faction against
the De Medicis. Catharine, shut up in
a convent, became their hostage and
prisoner, and there she remained as
such until the restoration of her fam
lily to power, and then her uncle,
Pope Clement VII. presented her, the
most amply lowered bride Of Europe,
to the princes Of Christendom.
From this time, when she married
Henry. Duke Of Orleans, afterwards
Henry H., King Of France, her life
belongs TO the history Of that country.
From this event her political his
tory must be dated. The historian
of her long administration as Queen
and Queen mother, must state facts,
and those facts fatty contradict the
ideas popularized by fiction and that
perversion Of history called biography
and memoirs.
D'Aubigne's history Of the Refor-
nation amply details that portion of