Henri III et sa Cour
was Alexandre Dumas' first smash hit play, and is of
considerable interest, both as a landmark in the history of the French
theatre, and also because it bears the seed of many themes that Dumas would
explore in his later work.
Henri III was the last of the Valois monarchs, effeminate, weak, corrupt,
and treacherous. He surrounded himself with "mignons," perfumed young men
who flattered the King and did his bidding, while he maneuvered to maintain
his grip on the throne against equally powerful and unscrupulous rivals.
Henri's elderly mother, Catherine de Medici, helped introduce the
political techniques of the Borgias--poison, assassination, and
betrayal--into French politics.
Dumas assembled several incidents from Henri's reign into his play. As the
play opens, Henri's rule is threatened by his cousin Henri, Duc de Guise
and the ruler of then independent principality of Lorraine. The Duc de
Guise is the leader of the militant Catholic party, the Holy League, which
is conspiring to unseat Henri III and extirpate Protestants throughout
France.
Dumas successively introduces St. Megrin, a young knight in the King's
court and conveniently resurrects one of the greatest swordsmen of the era,
Bussy de Amboise, whose death some years before (!) Dumas describes in
La Dame de Monsoreau.
The Duc de Guise returns from the battlefield, and demands that Henri III
name the head of the Holy League. St. Megrin challenges the Duc to a duel,
and Henry outmaneuvers him by naming himself as head of the Holy League.
The Duc, however, has no wish to risk his life in a duel with St. Megrin.
The Duc visits his fiancée, Therine, Princess of Porcian, having appeared, of course, in
Le Comte de Monte Cristo.
Many of the characters in the play (including
Henri III, Catherine de Medici, the Duc de Guise, Bussy de Amboise,
Joyeuse, Crillon, and the duc d'Epernon) will reappear in Dumas' Valois
trilogy
La Reine Margot,
La Dame de Monsoreau, and
Les Quarante-Cinq.
