Love stories in the region (6/6): when Corisande, the lady of Hagetmau, was the favorite of Henri IV
In the life of Henry IV, where so many women passed through, the chatelaine of Hagetmau played a special role. With Corisande, who was also a friend of Montaigne, he maintained a rich correspondence, both political and romantic.
A favorite is someone to whom the king offers jewels that ruin him. Corisande is the opposite. At the feet of the chatelaine of Hagetmau , it is not diamonds, but flags that Henry IV lays down. It is October 1587, he has just won the Battle of Coutras, where he has captured these standards. She has sold her diamonds to pay the 23,000 Gascons enlisted under the banner of Henry, King of Navarre, heir to the throne of France and champion of the Protestants.
If Henry is a Huguenot, Corisande is a Catholic. This is not a detail, in this time of religious wars. Nor is it an obstacle. They share tolerance. The difference in faith did not prevent the woman whose real name was Diane d'Andouins, daughter of a baron of Béarn born in his castle in the Landes, from becoming the friend of Catherine, sister of the King of Navarre, through whom they became closer.
“Remember Petiot”Diane, an independent and cultured widow, mother of two children, is approaching 30. The Countess of Guiche has renamed herself Corisande, borrowing her name from a character in the most famous chivalric romance of the time, "Amadis de Gaule," the Renaissance bestseller mocked by Cervantes in his "Don Quixote." Montaigne is one of her friends, and greets her thus in a dedication: "There are few ladies in France who judge better and make more appropriate use of poetry than you."
To reach her in Hagetmau, in the Landes region, he braves the risk of ambush. Above all, they write to each other. Burning words—"I kiss your beautiful eyes a million times"—like lyrical descriptions of nature or military bulletins. "Don't forget anything that could serve your preservation and your greatness," worries Corisande. He begs her: "My love, always remember Petiot," the affectionate nickname she gives him. A correspondence preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale.
Of course, the fickle Henri will leave her. But without forgetting her: the day he baptizes his long-awaited son and heir in 1606, the chatelaine of Hagetmau will be in attendance.
