Frank Hamel on Kristina, year 1909, part 3

Source:

Fair Women at Fontainebleau, pages 240 to 246, by Frank Hamel, 1909; original at the University of California

https://archive.org/details/fairwomenatfont00hamegoog/page/n244/mode/2up

WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE, SUFFERING AND DEATH.

The biography:

In October 1657 she arrived at Fontainebleau, where apartments had been assigned to her in the absence of the Court. Before a fortnight had passed[,] Christina, who had till then been regarded as a madcap and a nuisance, more amusing than dangerous, suddenly lost what reputation she possessed, and was looked at askance as a murderess and a tyrant.

It had been said of her that instead of making men die of love for her, she made them die of shame and despair, and that one favourite superseded another without warning or explanation. Both these traits appear in her attitude towards the two chief actors in the tragedy she arranged at Fontainebleau. The Marquis Monaldeschi, her grand equerry, was then the favourite of yesterday; Comte Sentinelli [sic], Captain of the Guard, was the favourite of the day.

The best and most reliable account of the affair, and that most frequently quoted, was written by Father Lebel.

On November 6, at a quarter past nine in the morning, the queen being at Fontainebleau, lodging in the conciergerie of the palace, sent a groom of the chambers with a message to the Father, requesting him to attend upon her immediately. He went alone and at once, fearful lest he should have kept Christina waiting. However, he was allowed to remain for some time in the anteroom. Presently he was ushered into the apartment in which the queen was sitting. She led him at once to the Galerie des Cerfs, and remarked that she felt certain she could speak to him in confidence, without fear of betrayal. Then she made him take an oath of secrecy. He responded that if need be he would remain both blind and dumb. She then placed in his hands a sealed packet of papers, and commanded him to return it to her when she claimed it, irrespective of whomsoever might be in her presence. She also asked him to remember the day, hour and place in which she had given the packet into his care, and then he was allowed to take his departure carrying the papers with him.

At one o'clock on Saturday, November 10, she sent for him again[,] and, thinking she might require him to return the packet, he took it with him. He was shown into the Galerie des Cerfs, and the door was firmly closed behind him. The queen was in the gallery[,] accompanied by two or three of her suite. Lebel advanced towards her. She then demanded him to give her the packet. Monaldeschi was one of those present. Lebel handed the packet to Christina, who opened it after a short pause, and[,] drawing forth some papers from the cover[,] requested her equerry to glance at them and tell her if he recognized them. She spoke in angry accents. The marquis, unable to disguise his fear, replied in a trembling voice that they were copies made out in her handwriting. Then the queen produced the originals, calling him "traitor", and the armed men drew their swords. Monaldeschi, thus brought to book, confessed to the authorship of the documents, but endeavoured to excuse his actions, casting blame on others. Eventually, however, he threw himself at the queen's feet, imploring her pardon. She refused to listen. He rose from his undignified position and followed the queen from one corner of the apartment to another in his effort to justify his conduct. She listened without showing any signs of perturbation, leaning the while on an ebony stick with a round handle, and then[,] turning to Lebel, she said, "Bear witness, Father, that I am not acting in haste, and that I am allowing this traitor as much time to justify his conduct as he could possibly expect from one whom he has injured." After further parleying[,] the marquis gave up certain papers and some keys, which he drew out of his pocket. The conference lasted for over an hour, but Monaldeschi was not able to offer any explanation which satisfied the queen. At length she approached the priest and, speaking very solemnly, committed the condemned man into his hands, with the words, "Father, I leave this sinner to you. Prepare him for death and have care for his soul." At this ominous sentence both Lebel and the marquis threw themselves at her feet, pleading for pardon, which she refused. She withdrew from the room, leaving her victim to the ministration of the priest and the less tender mercies of the men with drawn swords.

The marquis, in terrible fear of death, cast himself at the feet of Lebel, beseeching that he would go to the queen and intercede with her for his life. The guards pressed closer upon him with their naked swords, urging him to ask pardon of God. He went himself to appeal once more to Christina, whom he found obdurate. He pointed out to her that the French king, in whose palace she was residing, would hardly approve of her taking justice into her own hands as she was preparing to do. To this she had a ready answer: "I am neither an exile nor a prisoner; I have the right to punish my servants, and am only answerable to God for my actions." She persisted in the statement that the enormity of her equerry's crime justified the course she was about to take.

Seeing that all his appeals were fruitless, Lebel returned to the Galerie des Cerfs to prepare the victim of the queen's anger for death. Monaldeschi betrayed as much cowardice as he had previously shown perfidy. His confession was interrupted by shrieks and cries for mercy. Even Sentinelli, the chosen executioner, was moved to pity, and proceeded to the queen to intercede on behalf of her victim. All to no purpose, she refused to desist from her intention. The confession was continued in a jumble of French, Latin and Italian, interspersed with gasps and groans and intervals of silence. At length the chief guard, to cut short this horrible scene, drove the marquis against the wall at the sword's point, and thrust at him to hasten his speech. His weapon bent in his hand, having struck a coat of mail that Monaldeschi was wearing. The doomed man stammered through the remainder of his confession, and received absolution. Blows were rained upon him by the swordsmen to little purpose, owing to the protective coat of mail. After wounding him in the neck[,] Sentinelli at length thrust his sword through his victim's throat. Lebel stood over the dying man[,] uttering prayers for his soul. Monaldeschi breathed his last, the one word "Dieu" upon his lips. His body was at once removed, and buried in the church at Avon. Christina sent money to Father Lebel in order that masses might be said for the soul of the servant who had betrayed her.

Mme. de Motteville gave a long and by no means unbiased account of the affair in her Memoirs. She put into the queen's mouth the words, "He must die; and in order to make him confess, wound him." These sentiments are hardly in keeping with the humanity and compassion which Christina had shown on many previous occasions. Nor was the manner in which she summed up her story quite unprejudiced.

"This barbarous princess", she wrote, "after so cruel an action, remained in her room, laughing and talking as tranquilly as if she had done a mere commonplace thing, or a laudable one. Our queen, Christian that she was, who had had so many enemies whom she ought to have punished, but who had never received from her aught else than kindness, was scandalized. The king and Monsieur blamed this action; and the minister[,] who was not cruel[,] was shocked. In fact[,] the whole Court was horrified at so ugly a vengeance, and those who had esteemed this queen were ashamed at having lauded her; though this was not without scorn of the poor dead man, who had not courage either to escape or defend himself, and had worn against such an event so useless a precaution; for he ought at least to have had a dagger and used it valiantly."

The general opinion with regard to Christina's action was that she did not actually overstep her powers judicially, but that she should on no account have exerted them to the uttermost at Fontainebleau, where the feelings of her royal host should at least have been consulted. The French Court did not take exception from the point of view of the legality of the execution, but socially Christina was sternly ostracized. She remained in the palace for three months longer, having written an ill-considered letter to Mazarin in answer to his advice not to show herself in Paris. She sent a message to Cromwell, who calmly ignored her broad hint that she desired an invitation to England. After many entreaties[,] she was allowed to return to Paris, and was present at the Carnival Ballet of 1658. She particularly wished to see the king dance. She was lodged in Mazarin's apartment at the Louvre, but was given clearly to understand that her room was preferred to her company. Every one was offended by her want of decorum. "She went about to all the masked balls and to the theatre, accompanied by men only", wrote Mme. de Motteville; "taking the first carriages she met." Everybody felt relieved when she finally departed for Toulon and Rome, where she dwelt for thirty years longer, dropping more and more into oblivion [sic].

The Galerie des Cerfs, originally built in the reign of Henri IV, was restored under Napoleon I and Louis XVIII. An inscribed tablet marks the place where Monaldeschi fell in his last death-struggle. Close by is the coat of mail, torn by the swords which mortally wounded him. In the parish church the stone which covers his remains still bears the words, "Cy gist Monaldexi."

Above: Kristina condemns Monaldeschi to die, painted by Johan Fredrik Höckert.