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(In
the Bed of Queens / The Lovers)
Text translated from French by Linda,webmaster
From
Messalina to Marie-Louise, not forgetting
Isabeau of Bavaria, Marie-Antoinette and
Josephine, we look at the gallant destinies of
the queens who made history.
Whether queens or empresses, marriage was almost
always imposed on them by the state, and it was
through passion, eccentricity or debauchery that
they tried to live out their personal adventures.
Messalina became the empress of the brothels of
Rome, while Isabella of England and Marguerite
of Navarre were lavish with their favours. Most
of the time, these queens, whose office is
sacred, were found guilty of their crimes, and
the crimes of their accomplices were drowned in
blood. Under Bonaparte, 'love a la hussarde' was
in vogue, and our leading ladies of France knew
how to flirt with irresistible cavaliers. Yet it
was perhaps the last glimmerings of courtly love
that illuminated Marie-Antoinette's attraction
to Fersen, and that of Queen Hortense to the
Count of Flahaut.
Table of contents
Messaline: La dolce vita à Suburre,
Isabelle, reine
d'Angleterre: Un curieux ciel de lit:
Marguerite, Blanche et
Jeanne de Bourgogne, reines de
France: La maudite tour des reines maudites
Isabelle, reine
d'Angleterre :
On l'appelait la Louve...
Isabeau, reine de France:
Des sacs au fil de l'eau.
Marguerite, reine
d'Angleterre : La Marguerite et la
Rose écarlate Catherine, reine d'Angleterre: Le
dortoir des grandes,
Marguerite, reine de Navarre: Treize
à la douzaine, Les
épouses de Pierre le Grand: 1.
Eudoxie: la fille du boyard 2. « Katinka: la
servante du pasteur de Riga,
Sophie-Dorothée, reine
d'Angleterre : Le dernier rendez-vous
de Koenigsmark,
Caroline-Mathilde, reine de Danemark:
Les charmes de la médecine,
Marie-Antoinette, reine de France:
« Tout me
conduit vers toi...»
Joséphine et son
hussard: L'irrésistible Hippolyte
Charles, Hortense,
reine de Hollande: L'amant des
reines: Charles de Flahaut,
Les cavaliers de Pauline
Borghèse, princesse de Guastalla.
Marie-Louise et son
général borgne: Le comte de Neipperg.
À Henri Spade par qui se
réalisent les rêves... Affectueusement
ℐℬ
[To Henri Spade, through whom dreams come
true... Affectionately]
♣ On this photo we see
Henri Spade
Producer of the television Series
« Marianne, Catherine, Le Gerfaut
and
La Florentine
» in
Dijon
/ Bourgogne 1985
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The editions of France Loisirs in 1984 & 2017
The edition of Pocket in 1985
Synopsis : Édition
Pocket 1985
In the
Bed of Queens
In her previous book, Dans le lit des rois
(In the Bed of Kings), Juliette Benzoni,
historian and author of numerous best-selling
books and films, recounted the wedding
nights of princes from Alexander the Great
to Rudolf of Habsburg who adored, hated or
ignored their wives, whose essential role
was to perpetuate their race.
Now we
come to the empresses, queens or sovereigns,
who were usually forced into a royal
marriage and who, through passion,
eccentricity or the most absolute debauchery,
tried to live out their personal adventures,
often at the risk of their lives. Messalina,
for example, became the empress of the
brothels, and Isabella of England and
Marguerite of Navarre spread their favours
far and wide. Most of the time, these queens,
whose position is sacred, are confounded,
and their accomplices pay their tribute in
horror and blood.
Under
Bonaparte, love à la hussarde was in vogue
and our leading ladies of France knew how to
mount irresistible horsemen. Yet it was
perhaps the last glimmerings of courtly love
that illuminated Marie-Antoinette's love for
Fersen and Queen Hortense's for the Count of
Flahaut.
♣
In 2010, Publisher Perrin re-issued the
short collected stories from 1984
Perrins edition in 2011
♣ After
Dans le lit des Rois: Nuits des Noces 2010,
Perrin has also reissued Dans le lit des
Reines: Les amants in 2011. The chosen cover
is Anne of Austria's former bedroom at the
Château de Fontainbleau.. ©
Marc Deville/AKG - Images.
Libra Diffusio large Print edition 2012
The complete Pocket edition in 2013 with Dans le
lit des Rois et Des Reines (In the bed of Kings
and Queens)
Synopsis : In the bed of Kings and Queens
If, during the day, history is written with
cannon fire and the sound of cavalcades, it is
at night, between sighs and whispers, that the
most beautiful pages are turned. And the most
decisive.
Under the tent or the canopy, alliances are made
and broken... and the desire of one person
determines the future of a people. Frustrating
nights, wild nights, tactical or bewitching
nights... From Attila to Napoleon, via Messaline
and Queen Margot, pleasure and duty merge, for
the fate of the kingdom...
♣ The saga has also been translated in :
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia Republic, Czech
Republic, Russia
The foreign editions of : Russia, Portugal, Poland
♣ A pearl of inventiveness and tasty
anecdotes (...) A marvellous collection of
little stories with the great story unfolding in
the background...
~ Le Figaro Littéraire
2013 ~
♣
Dans le lit des reines : les amants, Perrin,June 2011, 289 pages
After 'Dans le lit des rois, les nuits de
noces', Juliette Benzoni turns her attention to
their wives. In this re-issue of 1984 (Plon),
the author looks at these queens and empresses
who, often badly married, nevertheless managed
to have a love affair, often at their own risk
and peril. From antiquity to the 19th century,
these sixteen " historical stories " plunge us
into the love affairs of those who often made us
dream when we were little girls.
Messaline, Isabeau,
Marguerite and the others...
Romance! And passion! And
tears too. Juliette Benzoni slips into the beds
of queens, where the lover is more often to be
found than the royal husband. Several queens'
fates have often ended up in duty-bound
marriages to old fogies or madmen. To escape
this dreary life, some, such as the daughters-in-law
of Philip the Fair, Isabeau of Bavaria and
Catherine Howard, took all the risks to live a
true love story, even if it meant dying or
jeopardising royalty. We rediscover the tragic
fate of Henry VIII's fourth wife and the turmoil
caused by Isabeau of Bavaria's love affairs at
the height of the Hundred Years' War. Told with
mischief, these stories touch us, move us and
sometimes shock us. Messalina, the young wife of
Emperor Claudius, collects lovers who are sent
ad patres immediately afterwards, and when that
no longer satisfies her, she decides to frequent
the brothels.
Juliette Benzoni's style is
piquant and full of flavour as she traces the
fate of these women, but it is regrettable that
the historiography has not been expanded and the
story put into perspective with the latest
research. This is all the more regrettable given
that the short narratives do not make it
possible to exploit the research carried out.
The portraits painted of certain queens are too
clear-cut in relation to historical reality,
which is often more nuanced than certain
passages suggest. Isabeau, for example, is
described as "cunning incarnate" and "rivals
Messalina as the most wanton ruler"...
~ l'article par
Julie Lecanu ~ 25/08/2011
[www.salon-de-littéraire.com]
Y A DE L'HISTOIRE
♣
Alcove secrets, hidden children, strange deaths,
feats of arms, power and tragedy... A truly
historic selection!
What was in the bed of Messaline,
Marie-Antoinette, Marguerite de Navarre or
Joséphine? Or rather: who? Lovers, often, as
Juliette Benzoni tells us. The author reveals
the fiery, passionate or libertine impulses of
those who were often sacrificed to the raison
d'Etat. Powdered pastels, sweet and compromising
words, secret rendezvous, hidden staircases,
stolen kisses, torrid nights, tears... and
punishment in store!
« You have
bewitched me," wrote Sophie-Dorothée, wife of
the heir of Hanover, to her lover, Philippe de
Koenigsmark. I don't care about the whole world,
as long as we love each other. Fiercely romantic,
isn't it??
~ article 2011, lorsque
édition Perrin a réédité l'ouvrage ~
Juliette Benzoni once recounted the
wedding nights of several princes. Dans le lit
des rois (In the bed of kings) showed young
sovereigns given over, by politics, to the
desires or harassments of men who had not always
chosen them, and whom they would rarely have
elected if they had. On the women's side, here
is the echo, on the women's side, of unions that
the reason of State had arranged: an echo that
was often tragic.
Disappointed kings had plenty of time to
compensate for their marital failures, but
queens had to resign themselves to their fate,
as the slightest indiscretion risked causing a
pregnancy that would make a Bastard the heir to
the crown. Some, who ignored this, fared badly,
ending up with an axe, prison or poison. Others,
more daring, more cunning, less in love or more
wanton, succeeded in leading a double life, but
their lovers, often unlucky, paid with a
premature end for having pleased for a moment or
for a few months.
Juliette Benzoni's writing is witty, emphasising
the comic side of adventures that are more or
less abominable. In this entertaining novel,
which brings certain historical events back to
mind, she sometimes moves far too fast, and the
style suffers as a result.
~ Ginette-Guitard-Auviste
~ [Le Monde, 20.4. 1984]
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