Introduction

On Sunday, 13 February 1564, dimanche gras, the queen mother of France, Catherine de Médicis, organized, with the help of the great lyric poet Pierre de Ronsard and a host of other artists and courtiers, a day of entertainments at the palace of Fontainebleau. Part of a Carnival festival that began with a supper given by Anne de Montmorency, the constable, on 6 February and ended with a tournament given by the king himself on 15 February, mardi gras, the Sunday that we term the Queen’s Day apparently featured the performance of two plays, one by Ronsard called simply Bergerie and the other an adaptation of the tale of Ginevra from Ludovico Ariosto’s celebrated Orlando furioso. Following the lead of the courtier and memoirist Pierre de Brantôme, who recorded its performance, we refer to the latter play as “la belle Genièvre.”