Copyright, 1899.
By H. P. & Co.
——
All Rights Reserved.

Édition de Luxe
This edition is limited to two
hundred copies, of which this
is Number .............

CONTENTS.

PAGE
[INTRODUCTION] [1]
[DISCOURSE I. ]Anne de Bretagne, Queen of France[25]
Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her[40]
[DISCOURSE II.] Catherine de’ Medici, Queen, and mother of our last kings[44]
Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her[85]
[DISCOURSE III.] Marie Stuart, Queen of Scotland, formerly Queen of our France[89]
Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her[121]
[DISCOURSE IV.] Élisabeth of France, Queen of Spain[138]
[DISCOURSE V.] Marguerite, Queen of France and of Navarre, sole daughter now remaining of the Noble House of France [152]
Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her[193]
[DISCOURSE VI.] Mesdames, the Daughters of the Noble House of France:
Madame Yoland[214]
Madame Jeanne[215]
Madame Anne[216]
Madame Claude[219]
Madame Renée[220]
Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, Marguerite[223]
Mesdames Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite[229]
Madame Diane[231]
Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre[234]
Sainte-Beuve’s essay on the latter[243]
[DISCOURSE VII.] Of Various Illustrious Ladies:
Isabelle d’Autriche, wife of Charles IX[262]
Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of the Infante of Portugal[270]
Marie d’Autriche, wife of the King of Hungary[273]
Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III[280]
Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse[282]
Christine of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine[283]
Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II[291]
Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie[293]
Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise[297]
Madame de Bourdeille[297]
[APPENDIX][299]
[INDEX][305]

LIST OF
PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

Pierre de Bourdeille, Abbé and Seigneur de Brantôme[Frontispiece]
From an old engraving by I. Von Schley.
Page
François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise[8]
By François Clouet; in the Louvre.
Discourse
I.Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne[34]

By Jean Juste, in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. The king
and queen are carved as skeletons within the twelve columns;
above they kneel at their prie-dieus, and the tradition is
that the portraits are faithful. The cardinal virtues, Justice,
Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude, sit at the corners of
the monument: the twelve apostles between the pillars;
and round the base, between the virtues, are exquisite representations
(not visible in the reproduction) of the king’s
campaigns in Italy.
II.Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France[44]
School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre.
II.Henri II., King of France[52]
By François Clouet; in the Louvre.
II.Ball at the Court of Henri III., with Portraits[81]
Attributed to François Clouet; in the Louvre. See description in note to Discourse VII.
III.Marie Stuart, Queen of France and Scotland[90]
Painter unknown; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
III.The Same[120]
School of the sixteenth century; Versailles.
V.Henri IV., King of France[166]
By Franz Pourbus (le jeune); in the Louvre.
V.Élisabeth de France, Queen of Spain[185]
By Rubens; in the Louvre.
V.Coronation of Marie de’ Medici, With Portraits[211]
By Rubens (Peter Paul); in the Louvre. See description in note to the Discourse.
VI.François I., King of France[224]
By Jean Clouet; in the Louvre.
VI.Diane de France, Duchesse d’Angoulême[232]
School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre.
VII.Isabelle d’Autriche, Wife of Charles IX.[262]
By François Clouet; in the Louvre.
VII.Charles IX., King of France[271]
By François Clouet; in the Louvre.
VII.Louise de Lorraine, Wife of Henri III[280]
School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre.
VII.Henri III., King of France[286]
School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre.

INTRODUCTION.[1]

THE title, “Vie des Dames Illustres,” given habitually to one volume of Brantôme’s Works, is not that which was chosen by its author. It was given by his first editor fifty years after his death; Brantôme himself having called his work “The Book of the Ladies.”

One of his earliest commentators, Castelnaud, almost a cotemporary, says of him in his Memoirs:—