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Letters from Catherine de’ Medici and her sons are placed in counterpoint to the Mémoires of Marguerite de Valois. These documents give a practical political framework to the Mémoires’ description of the demonstrations of jealousy between brothers, or with regard to Henry of Navarre. Concerned about the cohesion of the Royal House, Marguerite discerns the manipulations of the queen, but refrains from expressing the ordinary resentment of deceived wives. A reductive reading, focusing only on intimate affairs, was responsible for the initial success of the Mémoires, before a minor scholar showed that Marguerite’s real interlocutor was Brantôme, who hoped to see her claim the succession to the French crown.