SOURCE: Introduction to The Forty-Five, by Alexandre Dumas, J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1968, pp. v-xiii.

In the following essay, Girard outlines the historical setting of The Forty-Five.

The Forty-five is a sequel to Marguerite de Valois and Chicot the Jester, especially to the latter, and it is difficult to follow the plot or to understand the characters without bearing in mind the earlier episodes. The three novels together form a huge chronicle of the reigns of Charles IX and Henri III, from 1572 to 1585, that is to say from the Massacre of St Bartholomew to the death of the Duc d'Anjou; a terrible epoch, well suited to inspire a novelist.

Why did Alexandre Dumas break off at that date? Surely the assassination of Henri III, last of the Valois, in 1589 would have made a much better ending to a period of history. Those four years of struggle between...