AN: Bonjour, I think the first thing I should mention here is that I am not a Catholic. I am writing this story from the 16th century mindset of a Catholic monarchy. Henri II was an actual person, and extremely devout. While many of his family and people in his intimate circle either embraced, or supported the Reformation, he opposed it. His father Francis I liked debating with the intellectuals of the Reformation and turned a blind eye to his intimates' leanings provided they publically supported his Divine Right. However, while he might have liked a good debate, toward the end of his life he began persecuting so-called heretics to ensure he would get into heaven. I personally do not support, believe, or in any way wish to promote the Catholic faith, so please keep in mind the context of this story. Also, please don't be concerned about the religious upheaval, it's not going to be a part of this tale.
Translations: le Grand Maitre- The Grand Master. This is the third highest position in the Royal Court.
Dauphin de France- Crown Prince of France
Que Dieu soit avec vous, mon Dauphin- May God be with you, my Crown Prince.
le Comte de La Tour d'Auvergne- The Count of… (Catherine de Medici's maternal Grandfather)
Le Famille de Lancret- The family of Lancret.
âme soeur bien-aimée- Beloved soulmate.
mon fils- My son.
Je t'aime mère- I love you, mother.
ma chère tante- my dear aunt.
Mon chéri- My dear.
Grande-tante-grand- Great Grandaunt.
arrière-grand-mère- Great Grandmother.
Dieu est de mon côté- God is with me.
AN2: The character of de Montmorency, actually existed. He was the third most powerful man at court until his fall from favor with Francis I. After Henri became king, he recalled Montmorency to court, and eventually his illegitimate daughter Diane de France married de Montmorency's heir.
Henri strode through the palace with a determination and confidence that neither the courtiers nor the servants of the palace had ever witnessed. Since his return from captivity in Spain he'd been famous for his surly temper, obstinate refusal to fully participate in court-life, and his detest for his future. The transformation from a boy most considered barely civilized to this man exuding regal authority shocked and confused those who watched his every move. As he approached the throne room Laurent approached with three folios in his arms. "I went to my dear cousin le Grand Maître de Montmorency while you attended to the ladies, and he kindly provided me with all the information about the family de Barbarac, as well as the de Lancrets and the de Ghents. He said that the information would be quite a revelation to you and their Majesties."
"Would this revelation be apocalyptic, or the opposite in nature?" Henri asked with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Marc shrugged off his prince's distrust, understanding that he had no love for any of the king's favorites and especially none of his advisors. "Just remember that he has been opposed to every match your father has given the most consideration to. He opposed Spain, and he would sooner follow Martin Luther than see a Dauphin de France, marry into a family of merchants. On this you have a powerful ally. Don't reject his hand in friendship only to spite the King."
A faint grin touched Henri's lips as he took the folios out of Marc's arms. "What would I do without you?" he chuckled. "Please, go to the King's late Mother's apartments and make sure all is well with Danielle and Jaqueline. This is something I must do entirely on my own."
"Que Dieu soit avec vous, mon Dauphin," Laurent murmured, crossing himself. Henri clasped his shoulder and then moved to be announced to his parents.
Queen Marie smiled as she heard her son being announced into the throne room. Seeing him happy and confident for the first time in his young life, healed years of guilt and sorrow in her heart. She had endured the heartache of sending two of her beloved children to Spain as hostages of Charles V, a tragedy for which she blamed both her husband and the Spanish Crown. Her beloved boys returned home irrevocably changed. Her dear little Francis, a very strong and healthy babe, returned to her a weak and sickly young man always in need of quiet and isolation. His early death had nearly sent her to her own grave, and even now she could not end a day without weeping for him. Her Henri had left her a stubborn but cheerful little soul, and returned to her full of anger, resentment, and hate. What horrors her sons had to endure she never discovered, but she felt that Almighty God had finally bestowed his forgiveness on her by giving her son a woman he could be happy with, not as a king, but as a man. She only hoped her husband would see beyond the fabulous dowry the de Medici Pope had promised for his niece, and for once, put his child before his ambition.
Henri approached his mother and bowed. "You're looking well, You Majesty," he complimented, meaning it for the first time in years.
"My dear son," she answered, blinking back tears of joy. "I gather from your countenance that your errand was successful."
"Indeed, God has blessed me, Mother," he assured. "Where is father?"
A profound expression of fear filled her eyes. "The Ambassador from Rome came with an urgent message," her voice trembled.
"Of course, there's an urgent message from Rome, mother. What the Pope wants is to take his family from the Holy See into every reigning house in Christendom," Henri scoffed. "Well, he's not getting there through me! I've got plenty of cousins and bastard brothers the King can sell. I will marry Danielle or a Bourbon will sit on the throne when he is gone."
"Henri!" The Queen cried out in horror. "You cannot mean that."
A flash of guilt appeared on his features and he set the folios down on the large table his father kept when court was not convened for the day. He took his dear mother's still white, still graceful hands and kissed them gently. "It won't happen mother, I'm sorry for saying that."
"You're not entirely wrong, my dear," she admitted. "If your father is so desperate for Catherine's dowry, there are several other grooms who can make that happen. The thought of you marrying into a common merchant family galls me, even if Catherine's grandfather is le Comte de La Tour d'Auvergne."
Henri smiled at his mother's polite distain. Even faced with the most dreadful people and situations she remained unfailingly polite. He only hoped that someday he would learn her secret. "According to Laurent, le Grand Maître de Montmorency says there will be some very interesting information in these folios that will help me in my endeavor. I admit I am not usually inclined to follow his advice, but I trust Marc completely. Mother, because of Danielle I now want to be a king. However, I can only be the king I am meant to be if she is by my side as my wife and my Queen."
"I still don't see why you refused to let me greet her when you arrived," the Queen chided.
"Mother, Danielle has been through a hell Dante himself could never dream of," Henry explained softly, his blue eyes darkening with righteous anger. "If she met you in the state I left her in, it would have been a blow to her self-worth. She would never accept pity from anyone, not even me. She only wishes to be loved for herself, not the tragedies she's endured. I intend to see that this court, this nation, the world, knows her for who she is. She is the bravest, most intelligent, most practical, compassionate, faithful, loyal, hardworking woman, I have ever met. Added to all that, she lives each moment purely and passionately with all her strength. I never dreamed a human being could possess such simple purity, or such unshakable conviction to live as they know to be right. If you saw her now you'd see only the physical, and she is so much more than that."
"I find it hard to believe such a woman is flesh and blood and not a Saint," the Queen admitted, completely overwhelmed by the depth of passion and sincerity in her son's voice. Never had she heard a man praise a woman so highly outside of poem and song.
Henri smiled. "She is very human mother, and right now she needs rest more than anything."
Marie embraced her son kissing his cheeks twice. "You have my blessing and my support, Henri. With God's Grace, France will prosper under you both."
The young prince kissed his mother without awkwardness for the first time since he had been sent to Spain. "Thank you, mother. Now, let us see what gifts le Grand Maître has for us within these pages."
For two hours the Queen and Dauphin poured over the records, studiously tracing both Danielle's bloodlines, and her family's acquisitions and losses. Le Grand Maître, proved his message sincere. The information they found not only proved Danielle de Barbarac to be of Noble Blood, but would also re-align France in ways nobody could have foreseen. The queen put down the volume of Le Famille de Lancret, with trembling hands. "Henri, do you know what this means?" she asked completely unable to keep her voice from quivering with terror.
Her son looked up from the volume of Le Famille de Barbarac, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It means that The King and his mother robbed Danielle's family of their rightful status and heritage, and that she could possibly have more right to the throne than I have myself!" he answered overwhelmed, yet relieved that nothing his father could do or say, and no threat from Rome could stop him from marrying his âme soeur bien-aimée. His only worry now hung on how to inform his beautiful bride of the injustices his family had committed against hers.
The Queen's face turned ashen at the blunt assessment of their discoveries, yet could not deny its veracity. "Henri, your father did not change my mother's will to leave the Duchy to my dear sister Renee. The late king did that," she offered weakly, not wanting yet another sin to poison the already tenuous truce between father and son.
Realizing the agony his mother would be feeling at being once more wounded by her husband and late mother-in-law, Henri conceded her point without argument. "I know mother, just as I know you had no choice in marrying father," he sighed. "However, you must admit it was the King's late Mother, and himself who swindled the rightful Duc de Bourbon out of land that should have belonged to Nicole de Lancret and now to her daughter Danielle."
"But, mon fils, how were we to know that Suzanne and Charles had a living child?" Marie cried out as tears began to fall from her faded blue eyes. "Not even Anne de France knew of her existence! Do you imagine if she knew she had a legitimate granddaughter she'd hide it?"
"Of course not, mother," Henri assured, reaching out to embrace her. "Obviously, Nicole de Lancret was taken out of France by her father when he made his unholy alliance. My question is how did she get the name de Lancret, and how did she come to be 'the daughter of a wealthy merchant' as Danielle believes?"
"Perhaps we'll find the answer with the de Ghents," the Queen sighed. "What have you discovered about her father?"
"Mother, as difficult as the history of Danielle's mother is, I'm afraid that her father's will hurt you more. I hate to see you hurt, especially after what I've put you through all these years," Henri confessed.
Although already disheartened about the information they had discovered the illusive Nicole de Lancret, the Queen would not allow her precious son to view himself as a burden to her. "Henri, I want you to listen to me," she instructed, taking his face in her hands so he could not avoid her eyes. "I will not deny that your past recklessness caused me many worries, but they were not about your character, neither were they in any way related to your love for me as a mother. I have always understood why you behaved as you did, and my only burden was that I could not give you what you needed. However, that is not your responsibility! My faith in our Heavenly Father and our Savior has kept me strong throughout every trial and moment of suffering throughout my life and will continue to do so until I draw my last breath. If you want to put away the past, my only wish is to see you, and your chosen bride happy."
"Je t'aime mère," Henri replied, and for the first time in his life the words didn't swell in his throat or tumble clumsily off his tongue. "It seems ma chère tante Renee has been keeping secrets from us," he began gently, wishing there were some way to be joyful over the good news for Danielle, and spare his mother pain. "It seems your nephew le Cardinal Luigi d'Este fathered a child with one of her Ladies-in-waiting, a Danielle de Barbarac. Tante arranged for the boy's christening after Danielle died in childbirth." His mother's cry of shock cut his heart but he bravely pressed on. "When tante returned to France, she brought Auguste de Barbarac with her and educated him. After he reached his majority he seems to have cut off their ties, or perhaps gone out of his way to hide who he is. That doesn't make any more sense than Nicole de Bourbon, becoming Nicole de Lancret daughter of wealthy merchants."
The devastation that assaulted the Queen caused a painful tightening in her chest and her breaths came out in shallow rapid pants. She sat, as still as a statue while the discoveries of the last two hours pieced themselves together in her mind, forming a tragic tapestry. "I will send for my sister at once!" she declared her voice hollow and rough. "Perhaps, she will have answers to the rest of our questions." She shook her head as if trying to wake up from an incomprehensible dream. "These revelations do explain why my sister is so drawn to that heretic Calvin. To think her own son could defy the sacred vows of The Church, the pain must have been unbearable!"
"I believe de Montmorency may have more information as well," Henri added. Noticing the position of the sun through the small, high windows he frowned. "His Holiness must have sweetened his offer significantly if the meeting has lasted this long," he remarked.
"I'm afraid you may be right, Mon chéri. How am I to face Danielle?" she wondered misery filling her eyes. "How can I explain to her that I her own Grande-tante-grand and her own arrière-grand-mère left her to be in servitude to that horrible woman?"
Henri rose from his chair and lifted his mother from her own to take her in his arms. "Do you think she will blame you or tante for this? Mother, her sense of justice wouldn't let her do so. How can she hold you responsible for something that you couldn't even know occurred? Even if tante knew she existed, which we are uncertain of, she would accept that it was her father who cut their ties. My only worry is how she will handle knowing her father cut her off from his own grandmother, and married the Baroness de Ghent."
"Perhaps we should go to her now," the Queen suggested.
"I want to go to her," Henri admitted, releasing her. "However, I'm sure Helene has got her scrubbed, fed, and in bed by now. It's more important to get father's consent and the marriage arrangements done. There's also the question on how to handle the fact that the former Constable's Boubon-Montpensier line hasn't died out as we thought. My dear Bourbon-Vendome cousins won't like hearing that they could lose their seniority in the family."
"But, Henri," the queen gasped, "her Grandfather is a traitor!"
Henri let out a bitter laugh. "Do you really think that Charles would have conspired with the Holy Roman Emperor if father had not betrayed him first? Besides, Anne de France and Suzanne were no traitors. The Constable inherited half of everything through Suzanne. Nicole and her daughter deserved their birthrights, and I will see justice done!"
"Henri, you know very well you might have to fight your father to marry Danielle if he decides the Pope's dowry for Catherine is rich enough," the Queen warned. "Do you really want to fight one of the most powerful families in court at the same time?"
Henri stood before his mother calm with the conviction he'd so often lamented he lacked, filling his entire being. "Mother, Dieu est de mon côté. If I have to, I'll fight Satan himself to protect my wife and my people. Father, the Pope's match-making, the Bourbon-Vendome, they are all nothing compared to what Danielle and I will become together."
As the tired, aging Marie stared at her transformed son she couldn't help but mourn the loss of the irresponsible, reckless, child he had once been. He'd accepted his destiny and entered the world of kings. The hairs of her body stood up, and she realized she that had seen him take his first steps toward greatness. Suddenly the tingle of anticipation sang through her blood, and she wanted very much to watch him do the impossible. "After we speak to your father, I am going to properly meet my daughter."