Daughter of Silk (3 page)
Chatillon—
Cardinal de Chatillon, (Odet Coligny) brother of Gaspard and Francis Coligny
Coligny—
Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, protected Huguenot provinces
Condé—
Princesse Eleonore Condé, a niece of Admiral Gaspard Coligny
Condé
— Prince Louis de Condé
Este
— Cardinal d’Este, from Ferrara, Italy
Este
— Anne d’Este, wife of the Duc de Guise (Francis)
Guise—
Charles de Guise, the Cardinal de Lorraine, younger brother of Duc Francis de Guise
Guise
— Duc Francis de Guise, of the infamous Borgias family from Florence, Italy
Guise
— Monsieur Henry de Guise, later a duc, younger son of Duc Francis de Guise
Lefevre
— M. Jacques Lefevre, translated first Bible into French
Machiavelli
— Niccolo Machiavelli, a cunning and cruel man; he was associated with corrupt, totalitarian government because of a small pamphlet he wrote called “The Prince” to gain influence with the ruling Medici family in Florence.
Madalenna
— Italian serving girl of Catherine de Medici
Medici
— Catherine de Medici, Queen and Regent of France over Francis II and Charles II Valois
Montpensier
— Charles de Montpensier (the Duc de Bourbon), had rights to the throne that equaled or exceeded those of the Valois
Montpensier
— Duchesse Montpensier, of the House of Bourbon, a Huguenot
Navarre
— Prince Henry of Navarre, son of Antoine and Jeanne of Navarre
Nostradamus
— a soothsayer in the Roman Catholic Church
Paré —
Ambroise le Paré, physician and surgeon to kings, a Huguenot
Poitiers
— Mme. Diane de ’Poitiers, mistress of King Henry
Renaudie
— Messire de la Renaudie, a leader of the Huguenots, a retainer of Prince Louis de Condé
Ruggerio
— Cosmo and Lorenzo Ruggerio, brothers from Florence, Catherine’s astrologers and poison makers
Rene
— Perfumer, also Catherine’s poisoner
Ronsard
— Poet who served the Valois Court, Chatelard
Sadeleto
— Jacopo Sadeleto, Archbishop of Carpentras
Stuart
— Mary Stuart (la petite reinette), married Francis Valois, King Francis II
Tasso
— Poet from Italy
Valois
— Princesse Elisabeth Valois, daughter of Catherine and Henry Valois, married Philip II of Spain
Valois
— Princesse Marguerite Valois
Valois
— Hercule Valois, the fourth and youngest son of Catherine and Henry Valois, little is known of him
Writers who enjoy researching history generally accumulate far more
information than can normally be incorporated into a novel of this size. In this series I have occasionally found it practical to compress a decade or more of significant historical events into a manageable time period for my characters. In
Daughter of Silk
, I was therefore able to include more of the key events that portray the Huguenots’ great struggle under perse- cution in France, Spain, and Rome. Indeed, the half has not been told, and the history I have incorporated is accurate and representative, and the characterization of historical individuals is based on careful research. As always, I have created fictional characters who are representative of the time in which this history takes place.
As to particulars, the majority of historians agree with the view that Catherine de Medici did use poison to rid herself of enemies, and that the Duc de Guise and the Cardinal de Lorraine were lecherous in their deeds (which they always claimed to be doing in the name of Christian- ity) in order to maintain the power of the House of Guise.
Let me also say that I have nothing but regard for those with a Roman Catholic background, and in fact, my husband’s family on his mother’s side is such, and is also French from those who migrated to Quebec at a later time in French history.
You may contact me through my website at
www.lindachaikinbooks.
com
.
Thank you for your correspondence, and may our wonderful Savior continue to give you His joy and peace in the darkening times in which we live.
Linda Chaikin
that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Revelation 2:8, 10
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M
M
arquis Fabien de Vendôme stood on the open balustrade of the royal palais chateau at Chambord, resting his muscled shoulder against the broad marble embrasure. He fixed his attention below in the courtyard where voices shouted and horse hooves clattered over stone.
Another burst of activity erupted near the gate. The king’s
cuirra- siers,
garbed in black and crimson, sporting brass and steel, threw open the double gate. Riders thundered into the courtyard as though pursued by fiendish gargoyles.
Fabien recognized le Duc de Guise mounted on a black charger with a jeweled harness and gold velvet housing edged in green braid. Guise’s men-at-arms followed, bearing the f lag of the House of Guise from the duchy of Lorraine.
Fabien straightened from the embrasure, clamping his jaw. The secret rumblings of hatred smoldered in the rocky caverns of his soul at the sight of the duc.
Le Duc de Guise looked up toward the balcony. His gaze appeared to search, as if he could sense a burning pit of hellish emotions attacking him from somewhere, as if he was a jackal smelling a rotting carcass to feed upon.
Then le Duc de Guise locked gazes with Marquis Fabien.
Guise’s lips turned into a hard, faintly mocking smile. Fabien smiled in return and offered a bow.
Guise turned his head away and peered over his shoulder toward the gate. He raised a gloved hand whereupon a masked, black-cowled rider burst through the turret gates, dusty, his horse sweating. Fabien tensed.
Who was this?
A moment later the duc’s men-at-arms tightened their escort around the mysterious rider, encircling him within their midst.
Is Guise protecting the masked figure or confining him? Why the cowl
and mask?
Fabien narrowed his gaze, as if by staring he could bore through the mask to identify the
messire.
He was here at Chambord at the invitation of the boy-king Francis and his
petite reinette
, Mary of Scotland, but not to become ensnared in whatever ongoing intrigue the House of Guise was presently hatching.
Fabien left the balcony. Patience, he reminded himself. The long- awaited hour to apportion revenge upon the head of le Duc de Guise would eventually dawn.
The marquis pulled his brows together as he walked along the gilded
salle
in the direction of his chambers. If anyone at court understood the reasons behind the unexpected arrival of Guise, it would be Comte Sebastien Dangeau, a member of Catherine de Medici’s privy council and Fabien’s relative through marriage.
Sebastien’s position was a precarious one since the House of Guise might discover he was of the Huguenot faith. There were other Calvinists at court, and they too walked the edge of a precipice. One
faux pas
and they would slip from the slope into the bloodied clutches of the Guise brothers’ inquisitional penchant.
Comte Sebastien Dangeau, upon hearing that le Duc de Guise had rid- den into the courtyard with a masked rider, joined other esteemed court- iers on one of the balconies. He held back, keeping behind the others so as to not be seen, as he managed a survey of the courtyard.
Sebastien’s gaze stumbled over a masked figure cowled in black, being escorted by some dozen men-at-arms under the proud f lag of le Duc de Guise. The duc himself led the way into the palais.
No doubt on his way to see the king. Ah but yes, there is something familiar about the hesitant gait of that hooded figure—
Footsteps pattered up behind him, the scampering feet reminding him of a mouse — or a rat?
Sebastien turned sharply. His gaze lowered to rest upon an expres- sionless face with brown eyes. The Italian
demoiselle
stared up at him. She
was Madalenna, the young servant girl in bondage to the queen regent, Catherine de Medici. The Queen Mother had brought Madalenna with her from Florence, Italy, when Catherine first came to France to marry Henry Valois II. Madalenna, secretive, spying; Madalenna, always approached in a whisper of movement, emerging from some shadowy corner where one least expected to see her. Madalenna the spy.
Madalenna curtsied. “Monsieur le Comte, my mistress, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, bids you come to her state chambers
tout de suite
.”
Sebastien glanced again toward the courtyard, then turned and departed for the chambers of the Queen Mother, known by those who knew her best as
Madame le Serpent
.
Mademoiselle Rachelle Macquinet felt her heart thump and a trickle of perspiration ran down her rib cage. This was to be the telling moment. All she had labored for these many weeks, sometimes working twelve hours a day, would be held to the crucible of scrutiny. For this day Princesse Marguerite Valois, the youngest daughter of the Queen Mother, would try on the unfinished gown. The cut and f low, the stitch- ing, all must be exact. Rachelle would measure and tack the hem with a steady but feathery hand and bring the gown back to her chamber to complete tomorrow. The gown was but one of several in various degrees of completion, however this particular gown was mostly Rachelle’s work, and her future as a
couturière
depended on the princesse’s pleasure.