Catherine de' Medici
1842
Balzac's defence of Catherine de' Medici, arguing across a long introduction and three linked narratives that she held France together rather than ruining it. The Calvinist Martyr follows a furrier's apprentice into the Amboise conspiracy of 1560, The Secrets of the Ruggieri takes up her astrologers under Charles IX, and The Two Dreams ends with Robespierre. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
- Dedication
- Introduction
- Part I The Calvinist Martyr
- Chapter I A House Which No Longer Exists
- Chapter II The Burghers
- Chapter III The Chateau De Blois
- Chapter IV The Queen-Mother
- Chapter V The Court
- Chapter VI The Little Lever of Francois II.
- Chapter VII A Drama in a Surcoat
- Chapter VIII Martyrdom
- Chapter IX The Tumult at Amboise
- Chapter X Cosmo Ruggiero
- Chapter XI Ambroise Pare
- Chapter XII Death of Francois II
- Chapter XIII Calvin
- Chapter XIV Catherine in Power
- Chapter XV Compensation
- Part II The Secrets of the Ruggieri
- Part III