Weave a Garland of my Vows: Isabella de Medici

Excerpt

The Garden of the Louvre, Paris - 27th September 1622
~
Letter from Louis to Anne
Madame- out of the affection I bear my cousin, the Duc de Chevreuse, I am very glad his wife should come back
Louis
~

The King, they told her, had vowed never to say her name again. She saw the letter Louis sent to his wife from the battlefield. It made her laugh.
On the day she returned to court she was still Marie de Rohan and everybody, including the absentees, knew that. She repaid all comments in kind and if she saw a mocking smile quickly hidden, she smiled too, knowing that she was watched. For various reasons.
Louise-Marguerite, widowed Princesse de Conti and sister to the man she had just married watched too, with eyes and fingers.
The touch on Marie’s cheek was scented and warm, even in the shade of the terrace.
‘How kindly the skin of the young absorbs life’s little challenges,’ the older woman said. ‘You are completely unmarked. I’m still deciding whether I hate you or not.’
‘You only hate me on cold days when age has stiffened your bones and the young men look to a more pliable body for dreams of carnal recreation.’
She carried her brother’s pale eyes and dark blond hair on a large and flamboyant frame. Those eyes almost disappeared under the rise of fleshy cheeks. Lips, even warmer than the fingers, touched Marie’s mouth.
‘You are right. My love rises with the temperature and today it’s hot enough to melt skin off bone. You said you would return and I love you even more for that. You’ve seen Anne?’
Marie nodded. ‘Last night.’
‘And what do you think?’
They both looked outwards across the garden to a cedar tree. Gay canopies wilted over the heads of several colourful figures. Marie’s eyes stayed with the quiet woman at their centre.
‘Six months and little has changed,’ Marie said. ‘Am I thankful or worried, that’s the question. Has she said anything to you?’
The sister in law leaned her grand figure against the mossy balustrade and studied her shaded companion. Pale blue shrewdness shone out.
‘It’s not like you to dance around with vague questions, Marie. Has your recent adventure scared you into vile diplomacy? What you’re really asking, unless old age has stolen all ability to judge, is... are you replaced, yes?’
Marie shook her head but not in denial. ‘I have been absent for six months and you are my closest link to Anne. I thought she may have spoken to you above anyone else.’
Louise-Marguerite stayed quiet. She gave the garden beyond a quick glance and turned back. ‘I’ve kept you informed of every detail, my young heart. Insecurity does not become you. Like a faithful lover, the Queen of France has stayed true to you throughout.’
Again Marie shook her head, in absolute denial now. ‘Forgive me,’ she said quietly. ‘But I know Anne as I know myself. She needs a wall to lean on and she’s surrounded by them. It’s not insecurity but experience. She may have been faithful in deed but not word. There are earwigs here that, once inside a person’s ear, are very hard to dislodge.’
Louise-Marguerite pushed herself away from the stones, face alight.
‘You’ve heard something.’
‘Who sent Louis that anonymous letter?’
Shoulders slumped, Louise-Marguerite frowned. ‘By definition, no one knows.’ She grinned suddenly. ‘Or do they? Take me to hell in a hand-basket. You do, don’t you?’

Friday 24 April 2009

Isabella de Medici

I finished Isabella de Medici: The Glorious Life and Tragic End of a Renaissance Princess by Caroline P Murphy a couple of months ago but the book has stayed with me.

Ms. Murphy has written an outstanding biography. It is full of first hand sources, contemporary letters, historical facts, educated theory and historical speculation yet it never once reads as dry or pontificating.

I enjoyed the book immensely and will read it again for many reasons.

One - Isabella herself is a truly fascinating character.
Two - The Medici need to be investigated properly in order to gain any kind of perspective on them. Their reputation precedes them.
Three - I've been caught, like a few others, by a Google images search for Marie de Medici. Type in Marie de Medici and you will find this beautiful image.....

Only it is not Louis XIII's mother. It is Leonora di Toledo de Medici, only daughter of Don Garzia di Toledo and Vittoria d’Ascanio Colonna and cousin to Isabella and her brother Francesco -- who was Marie de Medici's father.

Leonora and Isabella became close friends and both ended their lives at the hands of their husbands...one a Medici, one an Orsini.

Read the book. It is dark but enlightening.

Francesco eventually admits to his sister in law Leonora's honour killing...

'Although in the letter I had told you of Donna Eleonora’s accident, I have nevertheless to say to His Catholic Majesty that Lord Pietro our brother had taken her life himself because of the treason she had committed through behavior unbecoming to a lady...'

He also gave his tacit approval to Paolo Giordano I Orsini's murder of the glorious Isabella.

Marie de Medici married Henri IV of France and gave birth to Louis XIII, thereby securing the throne of France.But her French subjects never forgot who she really was.

By Blood and By Birth - Always A Medici.

Weave a Garland of my Vows