#I feel that I'm gonna laugh my arse off the next time I watch 1.06 of the musketeers

[becumsh]

post for thoughts on marie de medici's bio

I mean, idk why I’m doing it instead of sleeping (2.56am) and it’s not like anyone’s particularly interested in her but still. As ever, I realise that even if I don’t like a historical figure, after reading their bio I always get theirs reasons behind their actions however idiotic they might be (scratch that, I’ll never get Gaston but every rule has exceptions)

I felt that bio wasn’t very full and immersive but still worth reading. I mean, it was unbiased (unlike Erlanger for instance, because that man knows no shame) and wasn’t boring (unlike Richelieu’s memoirs but they don’t qualify for bio but still) but many things were told with a lack of detail (day of the dupes wasn’t big on details, also Louis' coup of 1617 and the consequences, it's so fucming important and they missed all the fun bits) or with detail in wrong places (La Rochelle is so random and descriptive like it’s irrelevant give me the juice on important stuff). Also the bio was all over the place. One moment they talk about Luynes death the next moment they talk about a time period when he’s alive and kicking. I’d appreciate if the book was more structured Also loved the author’s frank opinion in Marie. Highlighted both of her virtues (however questionable) and downfalls (numerous)

- After reading it I felt a little bit sorry for her. A bit. Gaston was a massive egoistic dick and she put all she got in him and that dick betrayed his own mother at the very first opportunity. - Also she died forgotten by everyone. She was mother-in-law for 3 kings (French, Spanish and English) and died in desperate need nonetheless. Everyone tried to pass her to one another because she was a burden (not unreasonably so but still sad) - You gotta admire her stubbornness and resilience. Even when everything was lost she hoped to come back to France. - Pro-Spain. Understandably so (she was pro-Catholic and a Medici) but I still Disapprove. - Did she have a hand in Henri IV assassination???? I need to know!!!!111 my tin hat will never rest on this - You got admire that she was a worthy adversary even for a time being. She was doomed to lose because of political shortsightedness, ineptness and she was too emotionally attached to wrong people but still. Impressive that she managed to oppose despite these disadvantages - Her relationship with Richelieu is both complex and simple yet the bio doesn’t fully explain the whole of it. - Marie de Medici’s side of it is dead simple. He used to be her favourite and she expected that Richelieu would remember that and would always follow her lead and be her pet favourite like it was expected of him. But obviously this is Richelieu we are talking about. - When I thought Richelieu was Extra in his vindictiveness, Marie de Medici would give him a lengthy head start, jeez. - I guess this is the root of everything that followed the day of the dupes. Marie de Medici always saw Richelieu as a friend who betrayed her - I mean, you gotta be very naive if you believe that richelieu’s feelings for her, whatever they were, were completely genuine. - But Marie de Medici was like “all or nothing” and if you fall out of her favour, hooooooo boi, fucking run because she won’t stop until she ensures that you are a fucking corpse - Richelieu never understood why she put her personal feelings over political matters and he was literally the embodiment of “women, ew” lmao idk why I find it so funny. - can’t figure out Richelieu. I mean, surely Marie de Medici was his means to an end for his rise to power but he literally payed all of her debts (4 million livres by 1632 possibly more after her death) and all that jazz. - but let’s all admit we’ll never fully understand Richelieu because that dude is very extra and hot n cold. - also on unrelated note: for fucks sake, Richelieu!!!! The Cinq-Mars plot!!!!!!!!! How fucking dim you gotta be to so whole-heartedly think that that prissy twit was devoted to you, like!!!!! Literally this is how YOU rose to power and how your fucked Marie de Medici over, you can’t be that dim!!!! (I mean, I know the answer, it’s his man ego but still) - The bio doesn’t say it but I’m telling you: they did the do. I bet my ebook copy of this bio on it. The lute knows the truth. - after day of the dupes it gets very boring and pointless because she lost any of political influence the moment she left France but I still managed to get to the end. - Sadly, the infamous parrot wasn’t her idea, someone passed it to Richelieu a few weeks after her death. She didn’t leave him anything. She was advised to send him her portrait and an expensive bracelet but Marie de Medici was like “nope, that’s too much, fuck that titwit”. Still find the parrot business hilarious. - Sorry not sorry but over the course of that bio I said “that little shit!!!” about Richelieu a multiple times. - that little shit had a doctor to spy on Marie de Medici until her death, like, how extra you gotta be.

To sum up: she was greedy for power but didn’t really know how to rule, her way of ruling was to pay ridiculous amounts of money to princes so there would be no rebellions, she literally had no basic grasps of how economy works, she loved diamonds too much, couldn’t handle her finances, her credo was “Spain is always right” and she was kinda dim and shallow. Wasn’t very educated nor religious. She was always pro-Spain and pro-Catholic but you can’t say that she was pious.

I’ll probably add to this later.