The World of Jesters
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First published in 1845, “Chicot the Jester” (AKA “La Dame de Monsoreau“) is a historical novel by French author Alexandre Dumas and the second volume of The Valois Trilogy, also composed by “Queen Margot” and “The Forty Five Guardsmen” in that order.
Bristling with political plots, secret assignations, daring escapes, duels, surprising alliances and betrayals, Dumas orchestrates two plotlines to come together in a very scene-driven, absolutely over-the-top novel.
The title character isn’t a jester in the way we use the term today; instead Chicot is King Henri III’s advisor with the advantage of being able to speak truth to power. And that power is in jeopardy from within his family and without. Chicot must use all his wiles to keep Henri out of trouble and himself in the position of the real King of France. Against him is the powerful house of de Guise whose head is also the leader of the Catholic League; the King’s brother the Duc d’Angou and the leader of the Huguenot faction, King Henry of Navarre.
The other principal player is the brave Bussy, or the Comte de Bussy who is allied with the Duc d’Anjou. He upsets the King’s minions and while escaping their trap he encounters a strange lady in a strange house and thinks it all a dream until he meets the real lady and falls in love. Tragically she’s been tricked into marrying the scheming Comte Monsoreau, chief huntsman to the King and who will do anything to keep his wife away from any man who so much as looks at her. Monsoreau isn’t his only worry though; the Duc d’Anjou also wants the lovely Diana.
Concerning one of Dumas’s most well-known and marvellously crafted characters, “Chicot the Jester” is a must-read for fans of Dumas’s seminal work, and is not to be missed by the discerning collector.