The Princess de Montpensier
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The Princess de Montpensier
By Mme. de Lafayette.
Introduction. By Oliver.C.Colt.
This story was written by Madame de Lafayette and published
anonymously in 1662. It is set in a period almost 100 years
previously during the sanguinary wars of the counter-reformation,
when the Catholic rulers of Europe, with the encouragement of the
Papacy, were bent on extirpating the followers of the creeds of
Luther and Calvin. I am not qualified to embark on a historical
analysis, and shall do no more than say that many of the persons
who are involved in the tale actually existed, and the events
referred to actually took place. The weak and vicious King and
his malign and unscrupulous mother are real enough, as is a Duc
de Montpensier, a Prince of the Blood, who achieved some
notoriety for the cruelty with which he treated any Huguenots who
fell into his hands, and for the leadership he gave to the
assassins during the atrocious massacre of St. Bartholomew's day.
He was married and had progeny, but the woman to whom he was
married was not the heroine of this romance, who is a fictional
character, as is the Comte de Chabannes.
The Duc de Guise of the period whose father had been killed
fighting against the protestants, did marry the Princess de
Portein, but this was for political reasons and not to satisfy
the wishes of a Princess de Montpensier.
It will be noticed,I think, that women were traded in marriage
with little or no regard to their personal emotions, and no
doubt, as has been remarked by others, marriages without love
encouraged love outside marriage. Whatever the reality, the
literary conventions of the time seem to have dictated that we
should be treated only to ardent glances, fervent declarations,
swoonings and courtly gestures, we are not led even to the
bedroom door, let alone the amorous couch. I wonder, however, if
the reader might not think that this little tale written more
than three hundred years ago contains the elements of many of the
romantic novels and soap operas which have followed it.
At one level it is a cautionary tale about the consequences of
marital infidelity; at another it is a story of a woman betrayed,
treated as a pretty bauble for the gratification of men, and cast
aside when she has served her purpose, or a butterfly trapped in
a net woven by uncaring fate. Her end is rather too contrived for
modern taste, but, even today, characters who are about to be
written out of the plot in soap operas are sometimes smitten by
mysterious and fatal disorders of the brain.
The unfortunate Comte de Chabannes is the archtypical "decent
chap" The faithful but rejected swain who sacrifices himself for
the welfare of his beloved without expectation of reward. In the
hands of another writer, with some modification, he could have
provided a happy ending in the "Mills and Boon" tradition.
This translation is not a schoolroom exercise, for although I
have not altered the story, I have altered the exact way in which
it is told in the original, with the aim of making it more
acceptable to the modern reader. All translation must involve
paraphrase, for what sounds well in one language may sound
ridiculous if translated literally into another, and it is for
the translator to decide how far this process may be carried.
Whether I have succeeded in my task, only the reader can say.
The Princess de Montpensier
By Madame de Lafayette
Translated by Oliver.C.Colt.
It was while the civil war of religion was tearing France apart
that the only daughter of the Marquis of Mezieres, a very
considerable heiress, both because of her wealth and the
illustrious house of Anjou from which she was descended, was
promised in marriage to the Duc de Maine, the younger brother of
the Duc de Guise.
The marriage was delayed because of the youth of this heiress,
but the elder of the brothers, the Duc de Guise, who saw much of
her, and who saw also the burgeoning of what was to become a
great beauty, fell in love with her and was loved in return. They
concealed their feelings with great care; the Duc de Guise, who
had not yet become as ambitious as he was to become later, wanted
desperately to marry her, but fear of angering his uncle, the
Cardinal de Lorraine, who had taken the place of his dead father,
prevented him from making any declaraton.
This was how the matter stood when the ruling house of Bourbon,
who could not bear to see any benefit accruing to that of de
Guise, decided to step in and reap the profit themselves by
marrying this heiress to the Prince de Montpensier.
This project was pursued with such vigour that the parents of
Mlle. de Mezieres, despite the promises given to the Cardinal de
Lorraine, resolved to give her in marriage to the young Prince.
The house of de Guise was much displeased at this, but the Duc
himself was overcome by grief, and regarded this as an
insupportable affront. In spite of warnings from his uncles, the
Cardinal and the Duc de Aumale--who did not wish to stand in the
way of something which they could not prevent--he expressed
himself with so much violence, even in the presence of the Prince
de Montpensier, that a mutual enmity arose between them which
lasted all their lives.
Mlle. de Mezieres, urged by her parents to marry the Prince,
realised that it was impossible for her to marry the Duc de
Guise, and that if she married his brother, the Duc de Maine, she
would be in the dangerous position of having as a brother-in-law
a man whom she wished was her husband; so she agreed finally to
marry the Prince and begged the Duc de Guise not to continue to
place any obstacle in the way.
The marriage having taken place, the Prince de Montpensier took
her off to his estate of Champigny, which was where Princes of
his family usually lived, in order to remove her from Paris,
where it seemed that an outbreak of fighting was imminent: this
great city being under threat of siege by a Huguenot army led by
the Prince de Conde, who had once more declared war on the King.
The Prince de Montpensier had, when a very young man, formed a
close friendship with the Comte de Chabannes, a man considerably
older than himself and of exemplary character. The Comte in turn
had been so much influenced by the esteem and friendship of the
Prince that he had broken off influential connections which he
had with the Prince de Condee and had declared for the Catholics;
a change of sides which, having no other foundation, was regarded
with suspicion: so much so that the Queen Mother, Catherine de
Medici, on the declaration of war by the Huguenots, proposed to
have him imprisoned. The Prince de Montpensier prevented this and
carried him away to Champigny when he went there with his wife.
The Comte being a very pleasant, amiable man soon gained the
approbation of the Princess and before long she regarded him with
as much friendship and confidence as did her husband. Chabannes,
for his part, observed with admiration the beauty, sense and
modesty of the young Princess, and used what influence he had to
instill in her thoughts and behaviour suited to her elevated
position; so that under his guidance she became one of the most
accomplished women of her time.
The Prince having gone back to the Court, where he was needed
owing to the continuation of the war, the Comte lived alone with
the Princess and continued to treat her with the respect due to
her rank and position. The Princess took him so far into her
confidence as to tell him of the feelings she had once had for
the Duc de Guise, but she intimated that there remained only
enough of this emotion to prevent her heart from straying
elsewhere and that this remnant, together with her wifely virtue
made it impossible for her to respond, except with a rebuff, to
any possible suitor.
The Comte who recognised her sincerity and who saw in her a
character wholly opposed to flirtation and gallantry, did not
doubt the truth of her words; but nevertheless he was unable to
resist all the charms which he saw daily so close to him. He fell
deeply in love with the Princess, in spite of the shame he felt
at allowing himself to be overcome by this illicit passion.
However although not master of his heart, he was master of his
actions; the change in his emotions did not show at all in his
behaviour, and no one suspected him. He took, for a whole year,
scrupulous care to hide his feelings from the Princess and
believed that he would always be able to do so.
Love, however, had the same effect on him as it does on everyone,
he longed to speak of it, and after all the struggles which are
usually made on such occasions, he dared to tell her of his
devotion. He had been prepared to weather the storm of reproach
which this might arouse, but he was greeted with a calm and a
coolness which was a thousand times worse than the outburst which
he had expected. She did not take the trouble to be angry. She
pointed out in a few words the difference in their rank and ages,
she reminded him of what she had previously said about her
attitude to suitors and above all to the duty he owed to the
confidence and friendship of the Prince her husband. The Comte
was overwhelmed by shame and distress. She tried to console him
by assuring him that she would forget entirely what he had just
said to her and would always look on him as her best friend;
assurances which were small consolation to the Comte as one might
imagine. He felt the disdain which was implicit in all that the
Princess had said, and seeing her the next day with her customary
untroubled looks redoubled his misery.
The Princess continued to show him the same goodwill as before
and even discussed her former attachment to the Duc de Guise,
saying that she was pleased that his increasing fame showed that
he was worthy of the affection she had once had for him. These
demonstrations of confidence, which were once so dear to the
Comte, he now found insupportable, but he did not dare say as
much to the Princess, though he did sometimes remind her of what
he had so rashly confessed to her.
After an absence of two years, peace having been declared, the
Prince de Montpensier returned to his wife, his renown enhanced
by his behaviour at the siege of Paris and the battle of
St.Denis. He was surprised to find the beauty of the Princess
blooming in such perfection, and being of a naturally jealous
disposition he was a little put out of humour by the realisation
that this beauty would be displayed to others beside himself. He
was delighted to see once more the Comte, for whom his affection
was in no way diminished. He asked him for confidential details
about his wife's character and temperament, for she was almost a
stranger to him because of the little time during which they had
lived together. The Comte, with the utmost sincerity, as if he
himself were not enamoured, told the Prince everything he knew
about the Princess which would encourage her husband's love of
her, and he also suggested to Madame de Montpensier all the
measures she might take to win the heart and respect of her
spouse. The Comte's devotion led him to think of nothing but what
would increase the happiness and well-being of the Princess and
to forget without difficulty the interest which lovers usually
have in stirring up trouble between the objects of their
affection and their marital partners.
The peace was only shortlived. War soon broke out again by reason
of a plot by the King to arrest the Prince de Condee and Admiral
Chatillon at Noyers. As a result of the military preparations the
Prince de Montpensier was forced to leave his wife and report for
duty. Chabannes, who had been restored to the Queen's favour,
went with him. It was not without much sorrow that he left the
Princess, while she, for her part, was distressed to think of the
perils to which the war might expose her husband.
The leaders of the Huguenots retired to La Rochelle. They held
Poitou and Saintongne; the war flared up again and the King
assembled all his troops. His brother, the Duc d'Anjou, who later
became Henri III, distinguished himself by his deeds in various
actions, amongst others the battle of Jarnac, in which the Prince
de Condee was killed. It was during this fighting that the Duc de
Guise began to play a more important part and to display some of
the great qualities which had been expected of him. The Prince de
Montpensier, who hated him, not only as a personal enemy but as
an enemy of his family, the Bourbons, took no pleasure in his
successes nor in the friendliness shown toward him by the Duc
d'Anjou.
After the two armies had tired themselves out in a series of
minor actions, by common consent they were stood down for a time.
The Duc d'Anjou stayed at Loches to restore to order all the
places which had been attacked. The Duc de Guise stayed with him
and the Prince de Montpensier, accompanied by the Comte de
Chabannes, went back to Champigny, which was not far away.
The Duc d'Anjou frequently went to inspect places where
fortifications were being constructed. One day when he was
returning to Loches by a route which his staff did not know well,
the Duc de Guise, who claimed to know the way, went to the head
of the party to act as guide, but after a time he became lost and
arrived at the bank of a small river which he did not recognise.
The Duc d'Anjou had a few words to say to him for leading them
astray, but while they were held up there they saw a little boat
floating on the river, in which--the river not being very wide--
they could see the figures of three or four women, one of whom,
very pretty and sumptuously dressed, was watching with interest
the activities of two men who were fishing nearby.
This spectacle created something of a sensation amongst the
Princes and their suite. It seemed to them like an episode from a
romance. Some declared that it was fate that had led the Duc de
Guise to bring them there to see this lovely lady, and that they
should now pay court to her. The Duc d'Anjou maintained that it
was he who should be her suitor.
To push the matter a bit further, they made one of the horsemen
go into the river as far as he could and shout to the lady that
it was the Duc d'Anjou who wished to cross to the other bank and
who begged the lady to take him in her boat. The lady, who was of
course the Princess de Montpensier, hearing that it was the Duc
d'Anjou, and having no doubt when she saw the size of his suite
that it was indeed him, took her boat over to the bank where he
was. His fine figure made him easily distinguishable from the
others, she, however, distinguished even more easily the figure
of the Duc de Guise. This sight disturbed her and caused her to
blush a little which made her seem to the Princes to have an
almost supernatural beauty.
The Duc de Guise recognised her immediately in spite of the
changes which had taken place in her appearance in the three
years since he had last seen her. He told the Duc d'Anjou who she
was and the Duc was at first embarrassed at the liberty he had
taken, but then, struck by the Princess's beauty, he decided to
venture a little further, and after a thousand excuses and a
thousand compliments he invented a serious matter which required
his presence on the opposite bank, and accepted the offer which
she made of a passage in her boat. He got in, accompanied only by
the Duc de Guise, giving orders to his suite to cross the river
elsewhere and to join him at Champigny, which Madame de
Montpensier told him was not more than two leagues from there.
As soon as they were in the boat the Duc d'Anjou asked to what
they owed this so pleasant encounter. Madame de Montpensier
replied that having left Champigny with the Prince her husband
with the intention of following the hunt, she had become tired
and having reached the river bank she had gone out in the boat to
watch the landing of a salmon which had been caught in a net. The
Duc de Guise did not take part in this conversation, but he was
conscious of the re-awakening of all the emotions which the
Princess had once aroused in him, and thought to himself that he
would have difficulty in escaping from this meeting without
falling once more under her spell.
They arrived shortly at the bank where they found the Princess's
horses and her attendants who had been waiting for her. The two
noblemen helped her onto her horse where she sat with the
greatest elegance. During their journey back to Champigny they
talked agreeably about a number of subjects and her companions
were no less charmed by her conversation than they had been by
her beauty. They offered her a number of compliments to which she
replied with becoming modesty, but a little more coolly to those
from M.de Guise, for she wished to maintain a distance which
would prevent him from founding any expectations on the feelings
she had once had towards him.
When they arrived at the outer courtyard of Champigny they
encountered the Prince de Montpensier, who had just returned from
the hunt. He was greatly astonished to see two men in the company
of his wife, and he was even more astonished when, on coming
closer, he saw that these were the Duc d'Anjou and the Duc de
Guise. The hatred which he bore for the latter, combined with his
naturally jealous disposition made him find the sight of these
two Princes with his wife, without knowing how they came to be
there or why they had come to his house, so disagreeable that he
was unable to conceal his annoyance. He, however, adroitly put
this down to a fear that he could not receive so mighty a Prince
as the King's brother in a style befitting his rank. The Comte de
Chabannes was even more upset at seeing the Duc de Guise and
Madame de Montpensier together than was her husband, it seemed to
him a most evil chance which had brought the two of them together
again, an augury which foretold disturbing sequels to follow this
new beginning.
In the evening Madame de Montpensier acted as hostess with the
same grace with which she did everything. In fact she pleased her
guests a little too much. The Duc d'Anjou who was very handsome
and very much a ladies man, could not see a prize so much worth
winning without wishing ardently to make it his own. He had a
touch of the same sickness as the Duc de Guise, and continuing to
invent important reasons, he stayed for two days at Champigny,
without being obliged to do so by anything but the charms of
Madame de Montpensier, for her husband did not make any
noticeable effort to detain him. The Duc de Guise did not leave
without making it clear to Madame de Montpensier that he felt
towards her as he had done in the past. As nobody knew of this
former relationship he said to her several times, in front of
everybody, that his affections were in no way changed. A remark
which only she understood.
Both he and the Duc d'Anjou left Champigny with regret. For a
long time they went along in silence; but at last it occurred to
the Duc d'Anjou that the reflections which occupied his thoughts
might be echoed in the mind of the Duc de Guise, and he asked him
brusquely if he was thinking about the beauties of Madame de
Montpensier. This blunt question combined with what he had
already observed of the Prince's behaviour made the Duc realise
that he had a rival from whom it was essential that his own love
for the Princess should be concealed. In order to allay all
suspicion he answered with a laugh that the Prince himself had
seemed so preoccupied with the thoughts which he was accused of
having that he had deemed it inadvisable to interrupt him; the
beauty of Madame de Montpensier was, he said, nothing new to him,
he had been used to discounting its effect since the days when
she was destined to be his sister-in-law, but he saw that not
everyone was so little dazzled. The Duc d'Anjou admitted that he
had never seen anyone to compare with this young Princess and
that he was well aware that the vision might be dangerous if he
was exposed to it too often. He tried to get the Duc de Guise to
confess that he felt the same, but the Duc would admit to
nothing.
On their return to Loches they often recalled with pleasure the
events which had led to their meeting with the Princess de
Montpensier, a subject which did not give rise to the same
pleasure at Champigny. The Prince de Montpensier was dissatisfied
with all that had happened without being able to say precisely
why. He found fault with his wife for being in the boat. He
considered that she had welcomed the Princes too readily; and
what displeased him most was that he had noticed the attention
paid to her by the Duc de Guise. This had provoked in him a
furious bout of jealousy in which he recalled the anger displayed
by the Duc at the prospect of his marriage, which caused him to
suspect that even at that time the Duc was in love with his wife.
The Comte de Chabannes as usual made every effort to act as
peacemaker, hoping in this way to show the Princess that his
devotion to her was sincere and disinterested. He could not
resist asking her what effect the sight of the Duc de Guise had
produced. She replied that she had been somewhat upset and
embarrassed at the memory of the feelings she had once displayed
to him; she found him more handsome than he had been then and it
had seemed to her that he wished to persuade her that he still
loved her, but she assured the Comte that nothing would shake her
determination not to become involved in any intrigue. The Comte
was happy to hear of this resolve, but he was far from being sure
about the Duc de Guise. He earnestly warned the Princess of the
danger of a return to the previous situation should she have any
change of heart, though when he spoke of his devotion she adopted
her invariable attitude of looking on him as her closest friend
but in no way a possible suitor.
The armies were once more called up; all the Princes returned to
their posts and the Prince de Montpensier decided that his wife
should come with him to Paris so as to be further from the area
where it was expected that fighting would take place. The
Huguenots besieged Poitiers. The Duc de Guise went there to
organise the defence and, while there, enhanced his reputation by
his conduct. The Duc d'Anjou suffered from some illness, and left
the army either on account of the severity of this or because he
wanted to return to the comfort and security of Paris, where the
presence of the Princess de Montpensier was not the least of the
attractions. The command of the army was taken over by the Prince
de Montpensier, and shortly after this, a peace having been
arranged, the Court assembled in Paris. Here the beauty of the
Princess eclipsed that of all her rivals. She charmed everyone by
her looks and personality. The Duc d'Anjou did not abandon the
sentiments she had inspired in him at Champigny, he took great
care to make her aware of this by all sorts of delicate
considerations, being careful at the same time not to make his
attentions too obvious for fear of arousing the jealousy of her
husband. The Duc de Guise was now fervently in love with her, but
wishing, for a variety of reasons, to keep this secret, he
resolved to tell her so privately and avoid any preliminaries
which, as always, would give rise to talk and exposure. One day
when he was in the Queen's apartments where there were very few
people, the Queen having left to discuss affairs of state with
Cardinal de Lorraine, the Princess de Montpensier arrived. He
decided to take this opportunity to speak to her, and going up to
her he said, "Although it may surprise and displease you, I want
you to know that I have always felt for you that emotion which
you once knew so well, and that its power has been so greatly
increased by seeing you again that neither your disapproval, the
hatred of your husband, nor the rivalry of the first Prince in
the kingdom can in the least diminish it. It would perhaps have
been more tactful to have let you become aware of this by my
behaviour rather than by my words, but my behaviour would have
been evident to others as well as to yourself and I wanted you
alone to know of my love for you."
The Princess was so surprised and thrown into confusion by this
speech that she could not think of an answer, then, just when she
had collected her wits and begun to reply, the Prince de
Montpensier entered the room. The Princess's face displayed her
agitation, and her embarrassment was compounded by the sight of
her husband, to such an extent that he was left in no doubt about
what the Duc de Guise had been saying to her. Fortunately at that
moment the Queen re-entered the room and the Duc de Guise moved
away to avoid the jealous Prince.
That evening the Princess found her husband in the worst temper
imaginable. He berated her with the utmost violence and forbade
her ever to speak to the Duc de Guise again. She retired to her
room very sad and much preoccupied with the events of the day.
She saw the Duc the next day amid the company around the Queen,
but he did not come near her and left soon after she did,
indicating that he had no interest in remaining if she was not
there. Not a day passed without her receiving a thousand covert
marks of the Duc's passion though he did not attempt to speak to
her unless he was sure that they could be seen by nobody.