Let's say we can convince ourselves Catherine Dometici was able to resist curiosity and

she never read one page of the prince, which is still published today, with Macchiveli's

dedication to her father, the recipient of the original manuscript.

What's reading a behind-the-scenes political expose compared to spending two decades

under the roof of the Valois dynasty in France?

France's father-in-law, King Francois, could probably have taught Old Macchiveli a

thing or two about relentless duplicity.

None of the treaties Francois signed with Charles V ever meant anything, more than,

all right, you win for a second while we take a break, but I'll be back as soon as I can.

Francois then used each of those breaks to go around forming new alliances in order to

attack Charles again.

As for politicking with religion, Francois tried everything short of switching sides and

the Reformation and declaring France a Protestant kingdom, which he couldn't well do without

severing shadowy ties to the Medici Popes.

And it's possible he would have considered an official national conversion when Pope

Clement died, cutting Francois ties to Rome, except the following month someone snuck

through the royal palace in the middle of the night, undetected or at least undeterred

by royal guards, and posted a pro-Protestant anti-Catholic pamphlet on Francois'

bedroom door while the king was asleep inside.

Francois interpreted this as a death threat and ended his previously tolerant acceptance

of the Protestant Reformation in France.

Thereafter all Protestants, that's Lutherans, Calvinists, and any others aligned with any

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