The Choice: A Tragedy in Three Acts

This work is a dramatization of actual historical events. In 1590, during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the small city of Leucate, France, was under siege by allied French and Spanish Catholic forces. The event was part of more than a century of social change and upheaval brought about by the rise of Protestantism in Europe and the consequent challenge to the authority of the Holy Roman Church. Leucate’s governor at the time was Jean de Boursiez, seigneur de Pantnaut de Barri. His capture during the siege and the subsequent actions of his wife, Francoise de Cezelly (1558 - 1615), are the subject of this play. It was originally published in 1832, and has now been re-discovered and brought to you here.