Chronique d’une soumission. Lecture historique de Cleopatre et Sophonisbe de Nicolas de Montreux

The tragedy of being a historical creature: Gender and history in Nicolas de Montreux’s La Sophonisbe (1601)

“…Much more work is of course needed to understand the broader generic perspectives, but in the present case of Montreux, Sophonisbe is framed as a highly complex historico‐philosophical figure who can make audiences reflect on the nature of history. As pointed out by scholars such as Charles Ricci (1904, 81–82), Donald Stone (in Montreux, 1976, 11) and Buron (2009, 29), Montreux lends Siphax a new prominence by being the first dramatist to give him a major speaking part. However, this does not devaluate Sophonisbe’s importance, but instead highlights her role as a figure reflecting on history.…”

“…Most recently, the French Renaissance scholar Emmanuel Buron has read Montreux’s La Sophonisbe in relation to its author’s association with Philippe‐Emmanuel de Lorraine, duke of Mercæur (1558–1602), who was one of the most important regional members of the Catholic League and one of the last aristocrats to pledge loyalty to Henri IV (Holt, 2005, 165). Montreux was engaged as the duke’s librarian around 1590 and fought alongside him for the Catholic League until he, like his patron, joined Henri IV in 1598 (Buron, 2009, 1). La Sophonisbe was probably written during Montreux’s time with the duke but for unknown reasons first published in 1601.…”

“… 8 8 See for example Buron on Montreux’s Paix au très‐chrestien et très victorieux roy de France et de Navarre Henry III (Buron, 2009, 1). …”

“… 9 9 For example the crushed dreams of sovereignty by the duke of Mercæur in the figure of Siphax (Buron, 2009, 36–37) or in the figure of Massinisse, the alienation of the nobility more generally in the face of the new absolute monarch, Henri IV (Buron, 2020a, 363, 376–379, 381). Following this, Richard Hillman has suggested that Montreux’s chaste heroines such as Sophonisbe be read a reflection on the duke’s wife, Marie de Luxembourg (Hillman, 2008, 74, 86).…”

What is a protagonist?

“…The same approach characterises Marilyn Williamson's monograph (1974) on Mark Antony and Cleopatra covering Italian, French and English material from the sixteenth century, while Mary Morrison's article (1974) focuses on the treatment of the love theme as well as the historical scenery. Emmanuel Buron is alone in having explored the contemporaneous political undertones in Montreux's La Sophonisbe and Cléopâtra (1595) in light of the French wars of religion (Buron, 2009, 16; 2020a).…”