Alexandre Dumas

The Man in the Iron Mask is the name given to an unidentified prisoner who was arrested in 1669 or 1670 and subsequently held in a number of French prisons, including the Bastille and the Fortress of Pignerol (modern Pinerolo, Italy). Recent research suggests that his name might have been "Eustache Dauger", but this still has not been completely proven. He was held in the custody of the same jailer, Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, for a period of...

The tulip craze of 17th century Holland has a dark side! Cornelius van Baerle, a wealthy but naïve tulip grower, finds himself entangled in the deadly politics of his time. Cornelius' one desire is to grow the perfect black tulip. But, after his godfather is murdered, he finds himself in prison, facing a death sentence. His jailer's lovely daughter holds the key to his survival, and his chance to produce the precious black blossom. Yet he has one...

D'Artagnan Romance III-B In March 1844 the French magazine _Le Sicle, _ printed the first installment of a story by Alexandre Dumas. It was based, Dumas claimed, on some manuscripts he had found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a history he planned to write on Louis XIV. The serial chronicled the adventures of D'Artagnan -- a young swordsman intent on joining the king's musketeers. Young D'Artagnan becomes embroiled in...

CELEBRATED CRIMES Vol I, Part 1: The Borgias There are dreadful - perhaps scurrilous - rumors about the Borgias of renaissance Italy, and here Dumas, author of such classics as THE THREE MUSKETEERS, in his Celebrated Crimes series, dishes up the dirt in all its ugly glory. This book was not written for children. Dumas has minced no words in describing the violent scenes of a violent time. In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true...

The Corsican Brothers (French: Les Frères corses) is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. It is the story of two conjoined brothers who, though separated at birth, can still feel each other's pains. It has been adapted many times on the stage and in film. The story starts in March 1841, when the narrator travels to Corsica and stays at the home of the widow Savilia de Franchi who lives near Olmeto and Sullacaro. She is the...

Queen Marguerite of Valois, sister of Charles IX and wife of Henry of Navarre, is surrounded by political and amorous intrigue during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The author, according to his custom, introduces a vast array of characters, for the most part historical, all spiritedly drawn and well sustained. M. Dumas may, in various respects, be held up as an example to our history spoilers, self-styled writers of historical romance, on this side...

A true sequel to "La Dame de Monsoreau", English "Chicot the Jester". It concerns the revenge of Diane de Méridor upon the Duc d'Anjou for his base betrayal of Bussy d'Amboise. Historically it commences with the execution of Salcède and the arrival of the Forty-Five at Paris, and deals with the Guise intrigues, the campaign of Anjou in Flanders and his death. Period 1584-85. Maquet was again the collaborator. During the fête held at Villers-Cotterets...

Set in Paris during the reign of Charles IX and the French Wars of Religion. The novel's protagonist Margot, daughter of the deceased Henry II and the infamous scheming Catholic power player Catherine de Medici. Although Margot herself is excluded from the throne by the Salic Law, her marriage to a Protestant prince offers a chance for domestic reconciliation during the late 16th century reign of the neurotic, hypochondriac King Charles IX, a time...

In this seventh volume of his Celebrated Crimes, Dumas tells the three tales: of the brutal excesses of Ali Pacha; the tale of the Countess of Saint Geran; and of Murat, whose courage became a legend in the days of the French revolution. Few men have understood themselves better or been on better terms with the orbit of their existence than Ali Pacha, and as the personality of an individual is all the more striking, in proportion as it reflects the...

There were two tables in the principal eating-room. The provost took possession of one, leaving the other to the soldiers, who went in turn to tether their horses under a shed in the back yard; then he pointed to a stool for the prisoner, and seated himself opposite to him, rapping the table with his thick cane. "Ouf!" he cried, with a fresh groan of weariness, "I heartily beg your pardon, marquis, for the bad wine I am giving you!" The young man...