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pubOne.info present you this new edition. There is a general cry of paradox when scholars, struck by some historical error, attempt to correct it; but, for whoever studies modern history to its depths, it is plain that historians are privileged liars, who lend their pen to popular beliefs precisely as the newspapers of the day, or most of them, express the opinions of their readers.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819935155
Langue	English

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CATHERINE DE' MEDICI
By Honore de Balzac
Translated by Katherine Prescott Wormeley
DEDICATION
To Monsieur le Marquis de Pastoret, Member of theAcademie des
Beaux-Arts.
When we think of the enormous number of volumes thathave been
published on the question as to where Hannibalcrossed the Alps,
without our being able to decide to-day whether itwas (according
to Whittaker and Rivaz) by Lyon, Geneva, the GreatSaint-Bernard,
and the valley of Aosta; or (according to Letronne,Follard,
Saint-Simon and Fortia d'Urbano) by the Isere,Grenoble,
Saint-Bonnet, Monte Genevra, Fenestrella, and theSusa passage;
or (according to Larauza) by the Mont Cenis and theSusa; or
(according to Strabo, Polybius and Lucanus) by theRhone, Vienne,
Yenne, and the Dent du Chat; or (according to someintelligent
minds) by Genoa, La Bochetta, and La Scrivia, — anopinion which I
share and which Napoleon adopted, — not to speak ofthe verjuice
with which the Alpine rocks have been bespattered byother learned
men, — is it surprising, Monsieur le marquis, to seemodern history
so bemuddled that many important points are stillobscure, and the
most odious calumnies still rest on names that oughtto be
respected?
And let me remark, in passing, that Hannibal'scrossing has been
made almost problematical by these veryelucidations. For
instance, Pere Menestrier thinks that the Scorasmentioned by
Polybius is the Saona; Letronne, Larauza andSchweighauser think
it is the Isere; Cochard, a learned Lyonnais, callsit the Drome,
and for all who have eyes to see there are betweenScoras and
Scrivia great geographical and linguisticalresemblances, — to say
nothing of the probability, amounting almost tocertainty, that
the Carthaginian fleet was moored in the Gulf ofSpezzia or the
roadstead of Genoa. I could understand these patientresearches if
there were any doubt as to the battle of Canna; butinasmuch as
the results of that great battle are known, whyblacken paper with
all these suppositions (which are, as it were, thearabesques of
hypothesis) while the history most important to thepresent day,
that of the Reformation, is full of such obscuritiesthat we are
ignorant of the real name of the man who navigated avessel by
steam to Barcelona at the period when Luther andCalvin were
inaugurating the insurrection of thought. [*]
You and I hold, I think, the same opinion, afterhaving made, each
in his own way, close researches as to the grand andsplendid
figure of Catherine de' Medici. Consequently, I havethought that
my historical studies upon that queen might properlybe dedicated
to an author who has written so much on the historyof the
Reformation; while at the same time I offer to thecharacter and
fidelity of a monarchical writer a public homagewhich may,
perhaps, be valuable on account of its rarity.
[*] The name of the man who triedthis experiment at Barcelona
should be given as Salomon de Caux, not Caus. Thatgreat man
has always been unfortunate; even after his deathhis name is
mangled. Salomon, whose portrait taken at the age offorty-six
was discovered by the author of the “Comedy of HumanLife” at
Heidelberg, was born at Caux in Normandy. He was theauthor of
a book entitled “The Causes of Moving Forces, ” inwhich he
gave the theory of the expansion and condensation ofsteam.
He died in 1635.
INTRODUCTION
There is a general cry of paradox when scholars,struck by some historical error, attempt to correct it; but, forwhoever studies modern history to its depths, it is plain thathistorians are privileged liars, who lend their pen to popularbeliefs precisely as the newspapers of the day, or most of them,express the opinions of their readers.
Historical independence has shown itself much lessamong lay writers than among those of the Church. It is from theBenedictines, one of the glories of France, that the purest lighthas come to us in the matter of history, — so long, of course, asthe interests of the order were not involved. About the middle ofthe eighteenth century great and learned controversialists, struckby the necessity of correcting popular errors endorsed byhistorians, made and published to the world very remarkable works.Thus Monsieur de Launoy, nicknamed the “Expeller of Saints, ” madecruel war upon the saints surreptitiously smuggled into the Church.Thus the emulators of the Benedictines, the members (too littlerecognized) of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres,began on many obscure historical points a series of monographs,which are admirable for patience, erudition, and logicalconsistency. Thus Voltaire, for a mistaken purpose and withill-judged passion, frequently cast the light of his mind onhistorical prejudices. Diderot undertook in this direction a book(much too long) on the era of imperial Rome. If it had not been forthe French Revolution, criticism applied to history mightthen have prepared the elements of a good and true history ofFrance, the proofs for which had long been gathered by theBenedictines. Louis XVI. , a just mind, himself translated theEnglish work in which Walpole endeavored to explain Richard III. ,— a work much talked of in the last century.
Why do personages so celebrated as kings and queens,so important as the generals of armies, become objects of horror orderision? Half the world hesitates between the famous song onMarlborough and the history of England, and it also hesitatesbetween history and popular tradition as to Charles IX. At allepochs when great struggles take place between the masses andauthority, the populace creates for itself an ogre-esque personage— if it is allowable to coin a word to convey a just idea.Thus, to take an example in our own time, if it had not been forthe “Memorial of Saint Helena, ” and the controversies between theRoyalists and the Bonapartists, there was every probability thatthe character of Napoleon would have been misunderstood. A few moreAbbe de Pradits, a few more newspaper articles, and from being anemperor, Napoleon would have turned into an ogre.
How does error propagate itself? The mystery isaccomplished under our very eyes without our perceiving it. No onesuspects how much solidity the art of printing has given both tothe envy which pursues greatness, and to the popular ridicule whichfastens a contrary sense on a grand historical act. Thus, the nameof the Prince de Polignac is given throughout the length andbreadth of France to all bad horses that require whipping; and whoknows how that will affect the opinion of the future as to the coup d'Etat of the Prince de Polignac himself? Inconsequence of a whim of Shakespeare— or perhaps it may have been arevenge, like that of Beaumarchais on Bergasse (Bergearss)—Falstaff is, in England, a type of the ridiculous; his very nameprovokes laughter; he is the king of clowns. Now, instead of beingenormously pot-bellied, absurdly amorous, vain, drunken, old, andcorrupted, Falstaff was one of the most distinguished men of histime, a Knight of the Garter, holding a high command in the army.At the accession of Henry V. Sir John Falstaff was only thirty-fouryears old. This general, who distinguished himself at the battle ofAgincourt, and there took prisoner the Duc d'Alencon, captured, in1420, the town of Montereau, which was vigorously defended.Moreover, under Henry VI. he defeated ten thousand French troopswith fifteen hundred weary and famished men.
So much for war. Now let us pass to literature, andsee our own Rabelais, a sober man who drank nothing but water, butis held to be, nevertheless, an extravagant lover of good cheer anda resolute drinker. A thousand ridiculous stories are told aboutthe author of one of the finest books in French literature, —“Pantagruel. ” Aretino, the friend of Titian, and the Voltaire ofhis century, has, in our day, a reputation the exact opposite ofhis works and of his character; a reputation which he owes to agrossness of wit in keeping with the writings of his age, whenbroad farce was held in honor, and queens and cardinals wrote taleswhich would be called, in these days, licentious. One might go onmultiplying such instances indefinitely.
In France, and that, too, during the most seriousepoch of modern history, no woman, unless it be Brunehaut orFredegonde, has suffered from popular error so much as Catherinede' Medici; whereas Marie de' Medici, all of whose actions wereprejudicial to France, has escaped the shame which ought to coverher name. Marie de' Medici wasted the wealth amassed by Henri IV. ;she never purged herself of the charge of having known of theking's assassination; her intimate was d'Epernon, who didnot ward off Ravaillac's blow, and who was proved to have known themurderer personally for a long time. Marie's conduct was such thatshe forced her son to banish her from France, where she wasencouraging her other son, Gaston, to rebel; and the victoryRichelieu at last won over her (on the Day of the Dupes) was duesolely to the discovery the cardinal made, and imparted to LouisXIII. , of secret documents relating to the death of Henri IV.
Catherine de' Medici, on the contrary, saved thecrown of France; she maintained the royal authority in the midst ofcircumstances under which more than one great prince would havesuccumbed. Having to make head against factions and ambitions likethose of the Guises and the house of Bourbon, against men such asthe two Cardinals of Lorraine, the two Balafres, and the twoCondes, against the queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri IV. , theConnetable de Montmorency, Calvin, the three Colignys, Theodore deBeze, she needed to possess and to display the rare qualities andprecious gifts of a statesman under the mocking fire of theCalvinist press.
Those facts are incontestable. Therefore, towhosoever burrows into the history of the sixteenth century inFrance, the figure of Catherine de' Medici will seem like that of agreat king. When calumny is once dissipated by facts, recoveredwith difficulty from among the contradi