Bussy d'Amboise
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
king of Henri III
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
, a swordsman, dandy, and a lover of both sexes. He was one of the favorites, or "mignons
Les Mignons
Les Mignons was a term used by polemicists in the toxic atmosphere of the French Wars of Religion and taken up by the people of Paris, to designate the favourites of Henry III of France, from his return from Poland to reign in France in 1574, to his assassination in 1589, a disastrous end to which...
", of Monsieur, brother of the king. He was a cousin of François d'Amboise
François d'Amboise
François d'Amboise was a French jurist and writer. He was counseller to the Parlement of Brittany and advocate general to the Grand Conseil.- Biography :...
.
Of a noble family (high grand-uncle was a cardinal), he entered the service of prince François
François, Duke of Anjou
Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon was the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.-Early years:...
, Duke of Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, the younger brother and rival of Henri III. Bussy became well-known at court as Anjou's "favorite" and later became the lover of princess Marguerite de Valois
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois was Queen of France and of Navarre during the late sixteenth century...
.
Bussy made fun of the favorites of the king and frequently fought duels with them. He helped François d'Anjou flee from the court where Henri III held him prisoner.
He was a main participant in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
(1572), when he assassinated, among others, his relative Antoine de Clermont. While later attempting to seduce the wife of Charles de Chambes, Count of Montsoreau
Château de Montsoreau
The Château de Montsoreau, in the market town of Montsoreau, Maine-et-Loire, France, was constructed in 1455 by Jean de Chambes, a senior councillor to King Charles VII. Erected on the bank of the Loire river, it was a strategic fortress, controlling river traffic between Chinon and Saumur...
, he was trapped and killed by her husband.
Bussy d'Amboise is the hero of the play Bussy D'Ambois
Bussy D'Ambois
The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or "contemporary history," Bussy D'Ambois is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in...
(1607) by English playwright George Chapman
George Chapman
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
, written twenty years after D'Amboise's death. He is also the hero of the novel La Dame de Monsoreau
La Dame de Monsoreau
La Dame de Monsoreau is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. The novel is concerned with fraternal royal strife at the court of Henri III. Tragically caught between the millstones of history are the gallant Count de Bussy and the woman he adores, la Dame de Monsoreau....
by Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, also sometimes entitled "Chicot the Jester". The character of Bussy, as is frequently the case with Dumas, seems to be based in large part on historical fact. He is also one of main characters in the play Henri III et sa cour (1829) by the same author.