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Celebrated Crimes (Complete)

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Title: Celebrated Crimes (Complete)

Author: Alexandre Dumas

 
Release date: September 22, 2004 [eBook #2760]
 Most recently updated: September 15, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2760

Credits: David Widger

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CELEBRATED CRIMES (COMPLETE) ***

 *CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE*

 _By_

 *Alexandre Dumas, Père*

 _In Eight Volumes_

 1910

CONTENTS

 NOTE:
 INTRODUCTION
 *THE BORGIAS*
 PROLOGUE
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 CHAPTER X
 CHAPTER XI
 CHAPTER XII
 CHAPTER XIII
 CHAPTER XIV
 CHAPTER XV
 CHAPTER XVI
 EPILOGUE
 *THE CENCI-1598*
 *MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH-1551-1815*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 *MARY STUART-1587*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 CHAPTER X
 *KARL-LUDWIG SAND-1819*
 *URBAIN GRANDIER-1634*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 CHAPTER X
 CHAPTER XI
 CHAPTER XII
 *NISIDA-1825*
 *DERUES*
 *LA CONSTANTIN-1660*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 *JOAN OF NAPLES-1343-1382*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 *THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK [An Essay]*
 *MARTIN GUERRE*
 *ALI PACHA*
 CHAPTER I
 CHAPTER II
 CHAPTER III
 CHAPTER IV
 CHAPTER V
 CHAPTER VI
 CHAPTER VII
 CHAPTER VIII
 CHAPTER IX
 CHAPTER X
 CHAPTER XI
 *THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN-1639*
 *MURAT-1815*
 I-TOULON
 II-CORSICA
 III-PIZZO
 *THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS*
 *VANINKA*
 *THE MARQUISE DE GANGES-1657*

NOTE:

Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist
has spared no language-has minced no words-to describe the violent
scenes of a violent time.

"In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective,
and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. It is not within our
province to edit the historical side of Dumas, any more than it would be
to correct the obvious errors in Dickens's Child's History of England.
The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will
recognize, and allow for, this fact.

INTRODUCTION

The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as the
motives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series of
stories based upon historical records, from the pen of Alexandre Dumas,
pere, when he was not "the elder," nor yet the author of D'Artagnan or
Monte Cristo, but was a rising young dramatist and a lion in the
literary set and world of fashion.

Dumas, in fact, wrote his 'Crimes Celebres' just prior to launching upon
his wonderful series of historical novels, and they may therefore be
considered as source books, whence he was to draw so much of that
far-reaching and intimate knowledge of inner history which has
perennially astonished his readers. The Crimes were published in Paris,
in 1839-40, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen titles-all of which
now appear in the present carefully translated text. The success of the
original work was instantaneous. Dumas laughingly said that he thought
he had exhausted the subject of famous crimes, until the work was off
the press, when he immediately became deluged with letters from every
province in France, supplying him with material upon other deeds of
violence! The subjects which he has chosen, however, are of both
historic and dramatic importance, and they have the added value of
giving the modern reader a clear picture of the state of
semi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, during the middle ages. "The
Borgias, the Cenci, Urbain Grandier, the Marchioness of Brinvilliers,
the Marchioness of Ganges, and the rest-what subjects for the pen of
Dumas!" exclaims Garnett.

Space does not permit us to consider in detail the material here
collected, although each title will be found to present points of
special interest. The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias
and the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has
become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have not
been without stanch defenders in history.

Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci. The beautiful
Beatrice Cenci-celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenth
century romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not to
mention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate-will
always remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos.

The second volume chronicles the sanguinary deeds in the south of
France, carried on in the name of religion, but drenching in blood the
fair country round about Avignon, for a long period of years.

The third volume is devoted to the story of Mary Queen of Scots, another
woman who suffered a violent death, and around whose name an endless
controversy has waged. Dumas goes carefully into the dubious episodes of
her stormy career, but does not allow these to blind his sympathy for
her fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was closely allied to France by
education and marriage, and the French never forgave Elizabeth the part
she played in the tragedy.

The fourth volume comprises three widely dissimilar tales. One of the
strangest stories is that of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim of a
cunning and relentless religious plot. His story was dramatised by
Dumas, in 1850. A famous German crime is that of Karl-Ludwig Sand, whose
murder of Kotzebue, Councillor of the Russian Legation, caused an
international upheaval which was not to subside for many years.

An especially interesting volume is number six, containing, among other
material, the famous "Man in the Iron Mask." This unsolved puzzle of
history was later incorporated by Dumas in one of the D'Artagnan
Romances a section of the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which it gave its
name. But in this later form, the true story of this singular man doomed
to wear an iron vizor over his features during his entire lifetime could
only be treated episodically. While as a special subject in the Crimes,
Dumas indulges his curiosity, and that of his reader, to the full.
Hugo's unfinished tragedy,'Les Jumeaux', is on the same subject; as also
are others by Fournier, in French, and Zschokke, in German.

Other stories can b

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