Bibliography
Charlotte Duplessis-Mornay first gained notoriety as a writer when she wrote a first person account of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Charlotte was an avid letter writer but was best known for the Memories de Messier de Philippe de Mornay, which she wrote for her husband. The Memories de Messier de Philippe de Mornay were first published in 1824 and are now in the Sorbonne Library. She began writing the memoir in 1584, and in 1595, she gave the writing that she had so far written to her 16-year-old son because it was her wish that he would carry on the work and alliances of the Protestant cause, a cause that his mother and father began. With failing health and vision she continued to write the memoir for ten years.
During that time, she kept a record of all of her husband's writings declarations, and political activities. When she received the tragic news of the death of her son Philippe, who was killed fighting with the army of Prince Maurice at Gueldres on October 23, 1605, Charlotte gave up her Memoires, which she had been writing for him alone. She put down her pen on April 21, 1606.
