The Forty-Five Guardsmen
The Forty-Five Guardsmen is a historical novel by French writer Alexandre Dumas, written between 1847 and 1848 in collaboration with Auguste Maquet. Set in 1585 and 1586 during the French Wars of Religion, it is the third and final work in his Valois trilogy, concluding the events of La Reine Margot and La Dame de Monsoreau, and again featuring Chicot the Jester.
It tells the story of Diane de Méridor's quest for revenge upon the Duke of Anjou – for his betrayal of Bussy d’Amboise. The novel features Forty-five guards - lesser nobility recruited by Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon, to provide Henry III of France with trusted protection in the midst of the War of the Three Henrys.
The story opens thirteen years after the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and ten years into the reign of Henry III as he tries to calm the religious and political intrigues dividing the kingdom. Dumas fictionalised the action, including Henry of Navarre's capture of Cahors and the attack on Antwerp and including William the Silent and the Duke of Anjou. He also makes Count Henri du Bouchage's retreat from the world to become a Capuchin friar a result of the coldness of Diane de Méridor, whereas historically he did so from grief for his wife's death.