On 9th May 1588 Henry Duke of Guise entered Paris, in defiance of King Henry III. He had founded the Catholic League twelve years earlier, and was one of the Henrys in the War of the Three Henrys. This war began when Henry III’s brother, and heir presumptive, Francis Duke of Anjou died in 1584. Henry III was childless, so when his brother Francis died the heir became the Protestant, Henry of Navarre.
Of course the year 1588 is also known for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. When I was writing The Spy who Sank the Armada I was joining the dots in the known life of Sir Anthony Standen. At the time I didn’t know that he was my 11th great-uncle. But I did know that he was Francis Walsingham’s spy feeding him detailed intelligence on the armada.
Once the armada had sailed, I wondered how Sir Anthony would next turn up as a prisoner in Bordeaux Castle (sorry, spoiler alert!). That’s when my research brought me to the War of the Three Henrys. When Anthony gets out of Bordeaux Castle his new controller is Anthony Bacon. There was another spy working for Bacon who was also an Anthony. History was thrusting three Henrys and three Anthonys at me. I suppose I could have chosen a different path, or changed some names. Instead I decided to make a feature out of it. It was the only criticism in an otherwise fine review by Kirkus.
I suppose what I couldn’t resist about the War of the Three Henrys was the role of Catherine de Medici and her Flying Squadron. This was a band of eighty young and seductive women who Catherine used as spies. The flying is a reference to ballet in which Catherine’s ladies danced as though they were flying. One member of the squadron was Charlotte de Sauve who was used to seduce Henry Duke of Guise and lure him to his assassins. Saint Saëns wrote Dance Macabre as the score for a 1908 motion picture film The Assassination of the Duke of Guise.