57.5 - Marguerite de Valois (Queen Margot), Part 1 Artwork

Battle Royale: French Monarchs

Passing judgement on all the Kings and Emperors of France from Clovis to Napoleon III. Each episode, Ben recounts the story of a monarch to Eliza, then together they decide on how to score them in 5 categories. But who will they select as the crème de la crème, and who will they send to the Guillotine? Proudly inspired by the Rex Factor podcast.

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Battle Royale: French Monarchs

57.5 - Marguerite de Valois (Queen Margot), Part 1

September 12, 2024 • Ben Clarke and Eliza Sommers • Season 1 • Episode 57

The last surviving of the Valois, this beautiful and intelligent princess is often seen as either a victim or a villain, but the memoirs she left behind and the reevaluation of modern historians show a different side to her story. She was a woman who struggled to find agency and self-determination in a world where the cards were stacked against her from the start.

Can Margot break free of her abusive, conniving family and help bring an end to the senseless violence that engulfs her country?

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we learn Margot's ultimate fate and her legacy.

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Special thanks to Ben's colleague Sarah, an Edinburgh tour guide originally from Bordeaux, for giving a voice to Margot.

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Music used in this episode:

"SCP-x6x (Hopes)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Interloper" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Battle Royale's intro/outro music is "Dansez" by Fasion. Thank you to them for making this track free to use and listen! Go check out more of their stuff here.

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CATEGORIES

Ben and Eliza each give a score out of 10 for the first 4 categories. The 5th is determined by maths! The result is a total score out of 100.

Enchanté: The shallow, first-impressions round: How fabulous and iconic an image have they passed down to us?
En Garde: (A.K.A. “Selfish Wins”) How well did they gain and increase their personal power, either through scheming, statesmanship or good old fashion battles?
Voulez-Vous: (A.K.A. “Selfless Wins”) How much would we want to live under their regime? How well did they better the world around them through law reforms and cultural projects?
Ouh-Là-Là: How pearl-clutchingly scandalous were the events of their life, both in their time and down through the ages? How mad, bad and dangerous were they to know?
La Vie en Throne: How many years did they reign, and how many of their children survived them?

For more details on the scores, how they are calculated and how our kings are ranking, visit our website.