The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-08
GREAT LOVE
of HISTORY
Bv Albert Payson Terhune
Henry of Navarre and
Nar6uerite of ValoiS
Copyright, ~ the Author.1

one day in August, 1872. The girl was
slender and beautiful. The man was
TALL dark. homely, with a great hooked
beak of q nose. The young couple
were both under 20. All the nobility
of France had focked to Paris to wit
ness their marriage. Yet. now that
the two faced the archbishop, there
was most amazing hitch in the cere-
monies.
The bride refused to make her re-
sponses! The bridegroom (Henry.
king OF the subsidiary province Of
Navarre) answered II do" to the arch
bishops query as to whether he would
take Princess Marguerite de Valois as
his wife. But when the same question
was put to Marguerite she refused to
reply The spectators whispered ex-
citedly There was an awkward pause.
Then a pale, wild-eyed man. gaudily
dressed, stepped forward, caught Mar
guerites head roughly between his
hands and bent 1t forward by force
into a nod of assent. The man who
| thus overcame the brides obstinacy
was her brother, the half-crazy Charles
TX, king of France.
a
promising opening for a love" story
| and needs some explanation. France
for years had been rent by quarrels
between two great factions. the Hugue
e. nots (Protestants)
and Catholics. The
dispute was pol
litical, rather than religious, and led
to long series of wars. Catherine de
Medici, mother of Charles TX. and
| Marguerite de Valois, hated the HUI
guenots and made the following plan
for their destruction: She arranged
a marriage between Henry, king of
Navarro Qeader of the Huguenots)
| and her daughter Marguerite. All the
Huguenot leaders were invited to
Paris for the ceremony. While they
was to take place on ST. Bartholo-
| news day, and no Huguenot to be left
alive.
Marguerite was as clever as she
| was beautiful. She did not relish the
| idea of being made pawn in this
! game of murder. Hence her refusal
| to make the marriage responses. Yet,
| when the wedding was actually over,
she did all in her power to save her
young husband from the fate decreed
for him. So successful was she that
In spite of GATHERINGS plots Henry
was not killed in the ensuing "Massa-
ere of st. Bartholomew" But thou
sands of his fellow Huguenots were
! slaughtered in cold blood and his own
| life hung by thread. To Marguerite's
| tact and the frequent warnings she
! gave him he owed his safety. That
the strangely mated couple grew to
| care very much for each other, in
their own free-and-easy way. is GER
tain. Though it was not the sort of
love that endured. yet while it lasted
both Henry and Marguerite were the
gamers. BY saving Henry from death
his wife changed the whole history of
| France. For he was destined to be-
come that country's greatest king. In
cidentally, she won for herself the
title of Queen Of Navarro" and ruled
gay court of her own in her hus-
bands little kingdom. Henry was ex-
lied from Paris. Marguerite, against
her family's wish, insisted on follow
ing him to Navarro. There the two
!
strokes that strengthened the Hugue'
not cause and made Henry's name ia
nous throughout France.
Years passed by and the royal cou.
pie continued to govern their little
Navarraise court and to scheme for
greater power. In course of time
Henry was enabled by these plans to
| claim and win the throne of France
| u,s,. Then it was that
,..,..,.. Marguerite should
| have reaped the
result of her years of plotting. But
she did not. Henry, instead of making
her queen of France, divorced her
Having saved his life and then having
helped him to achieve the highest
| point of his ambition. she was cast OF
| Marguerite does not seem to have
mourned greatly over this ingratitude
She was allowed to keep her title OF
Queen OF Navarro" and received a
yearly income on which she maintain
ed little court of her own in Paris
Her palace became the resort Of learn
ing and fashion. She spent SO much
money in keeping up this private es
Establishment that Henry's misery SOU
was sorely vexed. Yet he and she al
ways remained good friends. He con
stantly came to her for advice and
aid in matters of diplomacy. She
lived to see Henry's wise rule lif,
France to the foremost place among
Europe's nations. The king, after di
vorcing Marguerite, married Marie de-
Medici. an Italian woman, and rela
tive to the Catherine de Medici who
had sought his death.
i Henry was assassinated while still
in the height of his career. Marie de-
Medici is thought by many historians
to have caused his murder. Thus the
change of wives prolited him little anl
Marguerite was (somewhat tardily)
avenged for his desertion.