The Court of Marguerite de Valois in Rebellion, 1585–87

What is it about?

This article examines the phenomenon of the marginal, then rebellious and simultaneously fleeing court of Marguerite de Valois, queen of Navarre, from 1585 to 1587. It takes a fresh look at her household, her courtiers, her finances, and how the Queen relied on families with local connections in the regions of exile as a means of maintaining her status as a royal figure. By acquiring the nature of a political phenomenon, in the conditions of the decisive phases of the Civil Wars in France, her flight was, undoubtedly, a destructive factor for the Valois monarchy. In these circumstances King Henry III, the Guise family, Philip II of Spain, and later Henry IV, all recognized the political importance of the figure of Queen Marguerite (and her court) in the processes of preserving cohesion for the country and the legitimacy of royal power.

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