Letters from the Queen of Navarre with an Ample Declaration (Volume 43) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series) By Jeanne DAlbret
This edition presents in English for the first time Jeanne d Albret s Letters to the king his mother his brother her own brother in law and the queen of England together with her Ample Declaration 1568 defending her decampment to the Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle A historical biographical introduction situates these writings in the larger context of Reformation politics and examines in detail the specific literary characteristics of her memoir In her works Jeanne d Albret asserts her own position as legal sovereign of B arn and Navarre and situates herself at the nexus of overlapping political religious and familial tensions Letters from the Queen of Navarre with an Ample Declaration Volume 43 The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe The Toronto Series 
Jeanne d Albret Letters from the Queen of Navarre with an Ample Declaration begins with a fourteen page heavily annotated biographical introduction to Jeanne s world It begins with her birth on November 16 1528 and ends with a discussion of her surprisingly overshadowed legacy While this is useful to establish the context of the Ample Declaration readers familiar with Jeanne s life like me can skip over it However those who do read it will find it to be heavily researched and very fascinating I do wish however that the Protestant reformation and French Renaissance was discussed The next twenty one pages are a literary analysis of the Ample Declaration which examines the style tone and imagery in Jeanne s writing What follows that is a note on the translation which I deem useful as this is as far as I know the first English translation of the Ample Declaration. Preceding the Ample Declaration is four letters of Jeanne s they are addressed to Charles IX Catherine de Medici Henry III Charles de Bourbon the cardinal of Lorraine and Elizabeth I As it was interesting to read them I wish letters were included Finally there is the Ample Declaration itself that is to say Jeanne s memoirs which have also been published in French as Memoires et Po sis de Jeanne d Albret Written in 1568 it is a political memoir that justifies Jeanne s role as a Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion It speaks specifically about Jeanne s time in La Rochelle a place of refuge for the Huguenots Jeanne s conversion to Calvinism and her role was resented by some of her Navarrese subjects especially when she declared Calvinism to be the official religion of Navarre In 1568 she had to defeat a Catholic revolt against her. In the Ample Declaration Jeanne justifies her role and asserts herself as the legal queen of Navarre in her own right which was important as Charles IX had recently confiscated her French territories Navarre and B arn were all that she had and Navarre was threatened by the much larger kingdoms it shared a border with the Catholic kingdoms of Spain and France The Ample Declaration is successful in its role of excusing Jeanne s actions Its elegant translation featured here serves to enhance its effect and its readers understanding of Jeanne s life Not surprisingly she blames the Guises for her numerous troubles and vilifies and laments their actions Louis de Bourbon and Henry of Navarre also get numerous mentions in the text. The letters and Ample Declaration are heavily annotated too much for the knowledgeable reader but useful for those who come to this book with knowledge that consists of next to nothing Jeanne refers to persons rather informally and footnotes give us an explanation on who these persons are Sieur de Teligny Charles de T ligny Footnote 205. After the Ample Declaration several genealogical tables featuring Jeanne s family the French royal family and the Bourbons are included So is a map of Jeanne s territories and an extensive bibliography. Overall I have chosen to give this three and a half stars rounded up to four This rating is reflective of the editing translation and introduction not of Jeanne s letters and memoir The Ample Declaration itself was informative and succeeded in its goal as well as being very riveting during the last ten pages While the author may be long dead her words will be with us for a long time Jeanne DAlbret
| Letters from the Queen of Navarre with an Ample Declaration (Volume 43) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series) By Jeanne DAlbret |
| 086698545X |
| 9780866985451 |
| English |
| 116 |
| Paperback |