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Typos — p. 114: Halban und Seitz [= Halban and Seitz] - p. 111 - XVII The Bourbon Dynasty We need to concern ourselves with only sixteen of Louis XVI's forebears in order to know the sort of hereditary influences which, by making him what he was, determined his own, France's and to a large extent even Europe's fate. They were:         Antoine de Bourbon (1518–1562) married to Jeanne d'Albret (1527–1528); Henry IV (1555–1610) married to Marie de Médicis (1573–1649); Louis XIII (1601–1643) married to Anne d'Autriche (1601–1690); Louis XIV (1638–1715) married to Marie Thérèse (1638–1683); Louis, the Grand Dauphin (1661–1711) married to Marie-Anne de Bavière (1660–1690); Louis, Duc de Bourgogne (1682–1712) married to Marie Adélaide de Savoie (1685–1712); Louis XV (1710–1774) married to Marie Leszczynska (1703–1768): and the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI (1724–1765) married to Marie-Josephe de Saxe (1731–1767).         In the light of the present thesis, it is important to note that the only one among these royal spouses who did not introduce some foreign blood into the Royal line, was Jeanne d'Albret; and she and her son, Henry IV, happen to be without a doubt the most gifted and in every respect the best of the sixteen people with whom we are concerned. And Henry IV's outstanding merits and achievements are to be ascribed chiefly, if not wholly, to the qualities he inherited from his mother and to her influence on his upbringing.         Both contemporary memorialists and all historians are unanimous in considering Henry IV as France's greatest monarch and the highest example of her national type. Fontenay de Mareuil and Du Plessis Mornay regarded him as the greatest French Monarch since Charlemagne; and the modern French historian, Louis Battifol and most modern English historians, from Dr. Mandell Creighton to Stanley Leathes, concur.         Unfortunately, however, owing first of all to the less ad- - p. 112 - mirable characteristics which, though only latent in his blood, he inherited from his father, Antoine de Bourbon; and secondly to his unwise marriage with Marie de Médicis, his descendants inevitably inherited many weaknesses and defects of character which he himself did not display. Among a few minor and unenviable traits which, however, heredity did transmit to his descendants to the very end of the family line, were his unpleasant body odour and his gluttony. It is true that his grandson Louis XIV's gluttony was due less to hereditary influences than to his infestation with tape-worm — an affliction from which, owing to their imperfect knowledge of helminthics, his doctors were never able to rid him. But the Bourbon trait of sitomania certainly descended to Louis XVI, 170 years alter the birth of the celebrated founder of the dynasty; whilst, strange to say, both this famous ruler and his grandson, Louis XIV lived to be reviled in almost the same offensive terms for their unpleasant body odour by their respective mistresses.         Marie de Médicis introduced into the dynasty the blood of her Florentine family at a stage in their history when they had become a mongrel stock and were in full decline. She was destitute of all merit and is described by St. Simon as "imperious, jealous, and stupid to a degree". Boulenger speaks of her as "a grossly stupid lady" and Louis Battifol thought her principal trait was the imbecility she inherited from her mother Jeanne d'Autriche. Henry IV who "had the lowest opinion of her ability" regarded his marriage to her as exclusively politic and behaved accordingly. At the time of their union she was already 26 years old and "both fat and unattractive", and Battifol adds that she had "un tempérament froid" "was temperamentally cold", (La Vie Intime d'une Reine de France, Chap. III).         The only laudable action ever recorded of her was her rejection of Matthias, brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, as a suitor, because he was deformed and violent ("homme difforme et violent"), which at least shows her good taste. Battifol alludes to her mongrel stigmata, for he tells us "her face betrayed her dual origin: her mother an Austrian, the father a Medici. From her mother she inherited the lower part of her face and the prognathism of the Hapsburgs with everted lips, lacking in distinction; from her father she inherited her large brow and steady gaze." (L. Battifol: La Vie - p. 113 - Intime d'une Reine de France, Chap. I: "Sa figure trahisait sa double origine etc.").         Why then did Henry IV marry her?         — He was heavily indebted to the Medicis and was in urgent need of further financial help. His debt to his wife's family alone amounted to no less than 250,000 golden crowns (écus). In addition he had considerable political advantages to gain from union with the Florentine family; for besides France's need of acquiring some influence in Italy, then under Spanish and Austrian domination, an alliance with Tuscany promised to bring Savoy over to the French side.         So, overlooking the sinister brood which a former Medici queen had given to Henry II, who was by no means contemptible either as a monarch or a man; as Europe's luck would have it he made Marie his bride and thus scaled the fate of both France and England as we know them to-day, if not of all Europe and the rest of the world.         By adulterating the blood of France's greatest monarch, the match proved disastrous to Marie's adopted country and, through her relationship to the Stuarts, also to Great Britain; and by contributing an important share to the many undesirable traits which thenceforth, through further mongrelisation, began to pile up in the Bourbon Line, she helped to bring about the fall of the French monarchy.         Poor Louis XIII, the child of this wholly incompatible couple, is described as "unattractive", as "certainly not intelligent", and afflicted with "an habitual stammer" which in itself indicated some nervous instability. (J. Boulenger: Le Grand Siècle, Chap. II). Voltaire speaks of him as "a prince whose spirit was enervated by a feeble and sickly physique." (Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Chap. VII: "Ce prince dont un corps faible et malade énervait l'âme") Tallement des Réaux refers to his cruelty and heartlessness; lays stress on his prudery and unprecedented frigidity, and tells us that he rarely cohabited with his wife although he formed no illicit unions. Indeed, Anne of Austria is said to have felt so severely neglected that Spain, deeply offended, made her ambassador lodge a complaint. (J. Boulenger: Le Grand Siècle, Chap. II). Tallement assures us that it was not until 4 years after her marriage to Louis that Luynes was able to induce the King to consummate the marriage. (Historiettes, Vol. II). At all events, Anne's first child, - p. 114 - who became Louis XIV, was born in the twenty-third year of her marriage to the King; and there can be little doubt that her husband's frigid nature, especially noticeable in a seventeenth century man, was inherited from his mother. It is not therefore improbable that Louis XVI's marked neglect of Marie Antoinette may also have been due to a trait handed down from his Florentine ancestress.         According to Boulenger, Louis XIII was anything but prepossessing, "his mouth always open beneath his huge Bourbon nose and his pendulous underlip imparted as little intelligence to his long face as his stammer lent liveliness to his conversation." (J. Boulenger: Le Grand Siècle, Chap. IV). Only his lack of passion preserved him from suffering the wounding affronts which their respective mistresses hurled at his father and his son; for he happened to be afflicted with the same offensive body odour as they were. Tallement tells us in fact that he often boasted about it. "Je tiens de mon père moi", he was wont to say, "Je sens le gousset." (Historiettes, I: "I take after my father I do. I have the same axillary smell.")         Anne of Austria was "good-looking, healthy, fresh and buxom"; but when she died of cancer at the age of 65, she left behind her two sons, Louis and Philippe, who were as disparate as the siblings born of such ill-assorted parents might well be expected to be. The elder became Louis XIV, and his junior, known as the Duc d'Orléans, grew up to resemble in character our own Edward II and some of the later Valois kings — that is to say, he was as unpleasant as can be imagined. Even Voltaire, who disliked to dwell on the seamy side of Le Grand Siècle, speaks of him with contempt and implies that he had homosexual tendencies. And this is interesting because there is some evidence which indicates that in areas where much mixture of stocks and types has occurred, there is a tendency for people of "intermediate sex to multiply unduly". (See Halban und Seitz: Biologie und Pathologie des Weibes, 1st Edition, Vol. III, Section by Prof. Dr. P. Mathes). At all events the Duke of Orleans, although evidently bisexual (for he married twice and had several children), certainly made both of his wives very miserable, though neither had the power or inclination to avenge herself as Isabella of France did against our Edward II.

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