The Princess de Montpensier
by
Mme. de Lafayette
Introduction
By
Oliver C. Colt
This story was written by Madame de Lafayette and published anonymouslyin 1662. It is set in a period almost 100 years previously during thesanguinary wars of the counter-reformation, when the Catholic rulers ofEurope, with the encouragement of the Papacy, were bent on extirpatingthe followers of the creeds of Luther and Calvin. I am not qualified toembark on a historical analysis, and shall do no more than say thatmany of the persons who are involved in the tale actually existed, andthe events referred to actually took place. The weak and vicious Kingand his malign and unscrupulous mother are real enough, as is a Duc deMontpensier, a Prince of the Blood, who achieved some notoriety for thecruelty with which he treated any Huguenots who fell into his hands,and for the leadership he gave to the assassins during the atrociousmassacre of St. Bartholomew's day.
He was married and had progeny, but the woman to whom he was marriedwas not the heroine of this romance, who is a fictional character, asis the Comte de Chabannes.
The Duc de Guise of the period whose father had been killed fightingagainst the Protestants, did marry the Princess de Portein, but thiswas for political reasons and not to satisfy the wishes of a Princessde Montpensier.
It will be noticed, I think, that women were traded in marriage withlittle or no regard to their personal emotions, and no doubt, as hasbeen remarked by others, marriages without love encouraged love outsidemarriage. Whatever the reality, the literary conventions of the timeseem to have dictated that we should be treated only to ardent glances,fervent declarations, swoonings and courtly gestures; we are not ledeven to the bedroom door, let alone the amorous couch. I wonder,however, if the reader might not think that this little tale writtenmore than three hundred years ago contains the elements of many of theromantic novels and soap operas which have followed it.
At one level it is a cautionary tale about the consequences of maritalinfidelity; at another it is a story of a woman betrayed, treated as apretty bauble for the gratification of men, and cast aside when she hasserved her purpose, or a butterfly trapped in a net woven by uncaringfate. Her end is rather too contrived for modern taste, but, eventoday, characters who are about to be written out of the plot in soapoperas are sometimes smitten by mysterious and fatal disorders of thebrain.
The unfortunate Comte de Chabannes is the archetypical "decent chap,"the faithful but rejected swain who sacrifices himself for the welfareof his beloved without expectation of reward. In the hands of anotherwriter, with some modification, he could have provided a happy endingin the "Mills and Boon" tradition.
This translation is not a schoolroom exercise, for although I have notaltered the story, I have altered the exact way in which it is told inthe original, with the aim of making it more acceptable to the modernreader. All translation must involve paraphrase, for what sounds wellin one language may sound ridiculous if translated literally intoanother, and it is for the translator to decide how far this processmay be carried. Whether I have succeeded in my task, only the readercan say.
The Princess de Montpensier
By
Madame de Lafayette
Translated by Oliver C. Colt
Mezieres
It was while the civil war of religion was tearing France apart thatthe only daughter of the Marquis of Mezieres, a very considerableheiress, both because of her wealth and the illustrious house of Anjoufrom which she was descended, was promised in marriage to the Duc deMaine, the younger brother of the Duc de Guise.
The marriage was delayed because of the youth of this heiress, but theelder of the brothers, the Duc de Guise, who saw much of her, and whosaw also the burgeoning of what was to become a great beauty, fell inlove with her and was loved in return. They concealed their feelingswith great care; the Duc de Guise, who had not yet become as ambitiousas he was to become later, wanted desperately to marry her, but fear ofangering his uncle, the Cardinal de Lorraine, who had taken the placeof his dead father, prevented him from making any declaration.
This was how the matter stood when the ruling house of Bourbon, whocould not bear to see any benefit accruing to that of de Guise, decidedto step in and reap the profit themselves by marrying this heiress tothe Prince de Montpensier.
This project was pursued with such vigour that the parents of Mlle. deMezieres, despite the promises given to the Cardinal de Lorraine,resolved to give her in marriage to the young Prince. The house of deGuise was much displeased at this, but the Duc himself was overcome bygrief, and regarded this as an insupportable affront. In spite ofwarnings from his uncles, the Cardinal and the Duc de Aumale--who didnot wish to stand in the way of something which they could notprevent--he expressed himself with so much violence, even in thepresence of the Prince de Montpensier, that a mutual enmity arosebetween them which lasted all their lives.
Mlle. de Mezieres, urged by her parents to marry the Prince, realisedthat it was impossible for her to marry the Duc de Guise, and that ifshe married his brother, the Duc de Maine, she would be in thedangerous position of having as a brother-in-law a man whom she wishedwas her husband; so she agreed finally to marry the Prince and beggedthe Duc de Guise not to continue to place any obstacle in the way.
The marriage having taken place, the Prince de Montpensier took her offto his estate of Champigny, which was where Princes of his familyusually lived, in order to remove her from Paris, where it seemed thatan outbreak of fighting was imminent: this great city being underthreat of siege by a Huguenot army led by the Prince de Conde, who hadonce more declared war on the King.
The Prince de Montpensier had, when a very young man, formed a closefriendship with the Comte de Chabannes, a man considerably older thanhimself and of exemplary character. The Comte in turn had been so muchinfluenced by the esteem and friendship of the Prince that he hadbroken off influential connections which he had with the Prince deConde, and had declared for the Catholics; a change of sides which,having no other foundation, was regarded with suspicion: so much sothat the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, on the declaration of warby the Huguenots, proposed to have him imprisoned. The Prince deMontpensier prevented this and carried him away to Champigny when hewent there with his wife. The Comte being a very pleasant, amiable mansoon gained the approbation of the Princess and before long sheregarded him with as much friendship and confidence as did her husband.Chabannes, for his part, observed with admiration the beauty, sense andmodesty of the young Princess, and used what influence he had toinstill in her thoughts and behaviour suited to her elevated position;so that under his guidance she became one of the most accomplishedwomen of her time.
The Prince having gone back to the Court, where he was needed owing tothe continuation of the war, the Comte lived alone with the Princessand continued to treat her with the respect due to her rank andposition. The Princess took him so far into her confidence as to tellhim of the feelings she had once had for the Duc de Guise, but sheintimated that there remained only enough of this emotion to preventher heart from straying elsewhere and that this remnant, together withher wifely virtue made it impossible for her to respond, except with arebuff, to any possible suitor.
The Comte who recognised her sincerity and who saw in her a characterwholly opposed to flirtation and gallantry, did not doubt the truth ofher words; but nevertheless he was unable to resist all the charmswhich he saw daily so close to him. He fell deeply in love with thePrincess, in spite of the shame he felt at allowing himself to beovercome by this illicit passion. However although not master of hisheart, he was master of his actions; the change in his emotions did notshow at all in his behaviour, and no one suspect
ed him. He took, for awhole year, scrupulous care to hide his feelings from the Princess andbelieved that he would always be able to do so.
Love, however, had the same effect on him as it does on everyone, helonged to speak of it, and after all the struggles which are usuallymade on such occasions, he dared to tell her of his devotion. He hadbeen prepared to weather the storm of reproach which this might arouse,but he was greeted with a calm and a coolness which was a thousandtimes worse than the outburst which he had expected. She did not takethe trouble to be angry. She pointed out in a few words the differencein their rank and ages, she reminded him of what she had previouslysaid about her attitude to suitors and above all to the duty he owed tothe confidence and friendship of the Prince her husband. The Comte wasoverwhelmed by shame and distress. She tried to console him by assuringhim that she would forget entirely what he had just said to her andwould always look on him as her best friend; assurances which weresmall consolation to the Comte as one might imagine. He felt thedisdain which was implicit in all that the