The Two Dianas

The House of Valois Romances. The Valois were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589, therefore, many of Dumas romances cover their Reign. Traditionally, the so called "Valois Romances" are the three that portrait the Reign of Queen Marguerite, the last of the Valois (Marguerite de Valois; Chicot the Jester and The Forty-Five). However, another four novels cover the Reign of the Valois, and we have incorporated them to this series: Ascanio, a Romance of Francis I (1515–1547), but the main character is italian artist Benvenuto Cellin; The Two Dianas, about Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, who mortally wounded king Henry II; and was lover to his daughter, Diana de Castro; The Page of the Duke of Savoy, a sequel to the Two Dianas (1846), it covers the struggle for supremacy between the Guises and Catherine de Médicis, the Florentine mother of the last three Valois Kings of France (and wife of Henry II). The main character in this novel is Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. The seventh novel is The Horoscope: a romance of the reign of François II (1858), who reigned for only one year (1559-1560).