Margaret de Valois

Alexandre Dumas, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (1802-1870) is one of the most widely read French novelists and authored The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. This novel is set in Paris 1572 during the reign of Charles IX and the French Wars of Religion, and follows Marguerite de Valois, daughter of the deceased Henry II and the infamous scheming Catholic power player Catherine de' Medici. Catherine makes an overture of goodwill by offering up Margot in marriage to prominent Huguenot and King of Navarre, Henri de Bourbon, although she also schemes to bring about the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, when thousands of Protestants are slaughtered. The marriage goes ahead but Margot, who does not love Henri, begins a passionate affair with the soldier La Mole, also a Protestant from a well-to-do family. Murders by poisoning follow, as court intrigues multiply and Queen Catherine's villainous plotting to place her son, the future Henry III on the throne threatens the lives of La Mole, Margot and Henri."