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“Catherine’s principal concern was to restore peace to the kingdom. As she explained to her envoy in Spain, religious persecution over two or three decades had merely served to fuel religious division. She was being advised to try to win back those who had erred by ‘honest remonstrances, exhortations and preaching’, while punishing severely those who were guilty of ‘scandals and seditions’. On 28 January 1561 Catherine issued lettres de cachet, confirming, but also modifying the Edict of Romorantin. She ordered the release of all religious prisoners and suspended all cases of heresy, even those involving people who had taken up arms or contributed funds to the recent commotion. In other words, she pardoned those who had taken part in the Tumult of Amboise, except the leaders. (..)

On 19 April a new edict banned the use of the words ‘huguenot’ and ‘papist’, thereby echoing sentiments which L'Hôpital had voiced in his opening address to the Estates-General. The right to enter houses in search of assemblies was restricted to magistrates, and the edict of 28 February was confirmed. This measure, however, far from pouring oil on troubled waters, caused more trouble, for it was sent to the local authorities without first being submitted to the parlements for registration. Catholics feared that Catherine was becoming a Protestant. Philip II warned her not to allow the ‘new ideas’ which had arisen in France to make further progress, while his ambassador, Chantonnay, watched her every move like a hawk, bombarding her with reproaches. She justified her policy of ‘clemency for past deeds’ by pointing to the need to bring peace to the kingdom and to assure it of a better future. She blamed the Guises for spreading lies about her in Spain and condemned their effort to marry their widowed niece, Mary Stuart, to Philip II’s son, Don Carlos. Such an alliance would threaten all that she was trying to achieve. She suggested her own daughter, Marguerite, as a possible bride for Carlos. Catherine also proposed a way of detaching Navarre from the Huguenot cause: let Philip give him back Spanish Navarre or some other territory in Italy, perhaps Siena or Sardinia.”

“Catherine was undoubtedly victimized by propagandists in the late sixteenth century. Propaganda is seldom more effective than when it blames a single individual for all the ills of this world. In sixteenth-century France, Catherine offered the perfect target to a hate campaign fuelled by xenophobia, social snobbery and misogyny. As a Florentine, she was seen as deceitful by nature and a skilled poisoner; as the scion of a family deemed to be upstart (the Medici had risen socially through trade and banking), she was regarded as jealous of France’s ancient nobility; and, as a woman, she exemplified the ‘monstrous regiment’ denounced by John Knox and other male preachers and political theorists as unfit to rule.”

• i just miss you sometimes. 
• what did you do to your poor knee? 
• there’s nothing like hot chocolate and a hug for making the nightmares go away.
• get some sleep. you have a long day ahead of you. 
• i love you. i will always love you. 
• dinner in fifteen minutes. don’t forget to wash your hands. 
• you’re up a bit after your bedtime, aren’t you? 
• i’m going outside to explore. 
• you will always be safe here with me. 
• what was that for? 
• let’s talk about it. 
• almost there. 
• be wise. be brave. 
• you’re lying. 
• i’m sorry. i fell asleep.
• how much better would a world be built just like that, and all for you?
• we will listen to you and play with you and laugh with you. 
• i’ll make us a midnight snack.
• well, can’t you give me a clue?

• do you carry the words around like a key or change?
• i said, ‘’love is waiting and better days.‘’
• sons are like birds flying upwards over the mountain.
• you’re an angry blade and you’re brave. but you’re all alone.
• and the earth is warmer when you laugh.
• we’re both looking for a light in the window of a house. 
• i’ll love you that way. 
• but those sad souvenirs, they end at the fence line and disappear.
• leave me alone, but just don’t leave me here, alright?
• some call it talking blues. some call it bitter truth.
• with only hope in your pocket and hell to pay.
• you never tussle with a giant till you can hit him right between the eyes.  
• where we break when our hearts are strong enough.    
• mine are sinning hands on a broken windowpane.
• when you dream, you’re back home.
• daddy’s ghost behind you.
• sing me the softest heart i’ve ever heard.  
• and cold water for my swollen black eye.
• tell me where all this love fits in the world.
• let’s say it like the sunrise when it’s talking to the fog.
• that sound is loud inside us.
• it’s a cold, cold place in the arms of a thief.
• time isn’t kind or unkind, you liked to say.     
• papa died smiling.
• where the faces of our family and friends go on and on.
• for all the love you’ve left behind, you can have mine.      
• we can weep and call it singing.
• who the hell can see forever? 
• it’s just too heavy for a superman to lift.
• you’re the prayer inside me.
• some paradises are a bridge too far.

i will die lonely, won’t i? i can feel it in my chest. i will die painfully alone.