La dette de jeu (1572)

In August 1572, about twenty gentlemen and Catholic captains gather in the Paris home of the Seigneur de Losse, a royal harquebusier. The night of Saint‑Barthélemy is meant for a relaxed supper and a game of cards, yet the air is heavy with the kingdom’s looming crisis. The convivial setting masks whispered rumors of the fierce religious and political struggles gripping France.

At the heart of the gathering lies the recent marriage of Marguerite, sister of King Charles IX, to Henry of Navarre, a union that once promised reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants. Behind the festive celebrations, queen mother Catherine de’ Medici and influential nobles quietly plot a drastic solution to the Protestant challenge. Their whispered schemes use the marriage as a façade while preparing for a decisive, perhaps violent, move.

As the evening unfolds, guests find themselves caught between the allure of courtly entertainments and the ominous whispers of impending bloodshed. Listeners are drawn into the tense atmosphere of a court on the brink, where loyalty, ambition, and fear intertwine.