Louis de Lorraine-Guise (* 6 July 1555; † 24 December 1588) was the youngest brother of the Duke of Guise. In 1574 he became Archbishop of Reims, and four years later Cardinal. He was staying in Blois with his brother when he was murdered. Henri III immediately had the cardinal…
Louis de Maugiron (* 1560; † 27 April 1578) was first in the service of Alençon. In 1577 he lost an eye in a battle, which is why he was compared to Princess Eboli, the mistress of Philip II of Spain. In the same year he moved to the household…
Louis Gonzague (* 2 October 1539; † 23 October 1595) was a son of Federico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. He came to Paris at a young age on inheritance matters of his grandmother. He then joined the army of Henri II. In 1565 he married Henriette de Clèves, the eldest…
Marguerite de Valois (* 14 May 1553; † 27 March 1615 ) was the youngest surviving child of Henri II of France and Caterina de' Medici. She was a very educated, culturally versatile, self-confident person who knew how to inspire and horrify even during her lifetime. She was also famous…
The "Massacre leaf" (sometimes called the "Collier leaf") is a manuscript said to date from the 16th century containing an expanded version of [Scene 19] from The Massacre at Paris. It is not a quarto sheet, but the lower part of a folio (31.75×20.32 cm) and measures 18.1×20 cm. The…
Henri III introduced a strict etiquette at court, which he which he insisted on observing. Exceptions were only made for the mignons. While the word "mignon" already had a somewhat disreputable connotation in England, it had no negative connotation in France.1 It meant something like "favourite" and had been in…
is presumably Charles de Chambes, Count de Montsoreau (* 28 November 1549; † 29 September 1620), who was part of the entourage of Alençon. He was wounded in the battle of Coutras. In 1576 he married Françoise de Maridor, who had an affair with Louis de Bussy d’Amboise, whom Montsoreau…
Sancho III divided his kingdom among his three sons in 1035 into Aragon, Castile and Navarre. While the two neighbouring kingdoms grew steadily, Navarre became smaller and smaller until it just encompassed the territory of the present-day region of Navarre in Spain and the department of Pyréneés-Atlantiques in France. Navarre’s…
Omer Talon (~1510-1562) was probably a professor of rhetoric. Not much else is known about him. He was associated with Pierre de la Ramée and published as Audomarus Talaeus. The Massacre at Paris In [Scene 9] Talaeus tries in vain to persuade Ramus to flee. Retz recognises him as a…
Pierre de la Ramée (Latin: Petrus Ramus; * 1515; † 27 August 1572) was one of the most important philosophers of the 16th century. Although he came from a poor background, he had the opportunity to study in Paris. He opposed Aristotelian-Scholastic philosophy early on by orienting his logic towards…
