THE PEARL OF PRINCESSES
THE
PEARL OF PRINCESSES
THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE
D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE
BY
H. NOEL WILLIAMS
AUTHOR OF "FIVE FAIR SUTERS," BTC.
LONDON
EVELEIGH NASH COMPANY
LIMITED
1916
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Charles d'Angouleme Louise of Savoy Birth of Marguerite
d'Angouleme The prediction of Frai^ois de Paule Death
of Charles d'Angouleme ....... 1-12
CHAPTER II
An attractive widow The Court of Cognac An episcopal poet
Character of Louise of Savoy Death of Charles VIII . . 13-21
CHAPTER III
Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne Louise and her children at
Chinon The Marechal de Gie Birth of Claude de France
The companions of the Due de Valois The Due de Valois
goes to Court Education of the Due de Valois . . 22-35
CHAPTER IV
A matrimonial project A talented princess Louise and the Mare*-
chal de Gi6 . . . . 36-44
CHAPTER V
Question of Louise's remarriage Marguerite refuses Henry VII
Marguerite and Gaston de Foix Passion of Bonnivet for Mar-
guerite A tender conversation The Due d'Alencon Mar-
guerite marries the Due d'Alencon Betrothal of the Due de
Valois Misgivings of Anne de Bretagne .... 45-61
CHAPTER VI
Reunion of Marguerite and Bonnivet Marguerite's honour in
danger Stratagem of a virtuous princess Morals of Louise
of Savoy .... ..... 62-69
CHAPTER VII
First campaign of the Due de Valois Loss of TheYouanne and
Tournai The Brunette of Amboise The Due de Valois and
Madame Disomme ........ Jo-8o
CHAPTER VIII
Death of Anne de Bretagne A lengthy funeral oration A
luxurious Prince Marriage of the Due de Valois . . 81-88
CHAPTER IX
A remarkable phenomenon Arrival of Mary Tudor An em-
barrassing situation A fatal marriage Accession of Francois I 89-98
CHAPTER X
Louise created Duchesse d'Angouleme Marguerite directs the
King's patronage Clement Marot An atrocious accusation
An audacious gallant ....... 99-114
358302
Contents
CHAPTER XI
The campaign of Marignano The Concordat Charles of Austria
" The Field of the Cloth of Gold ". ... . 115-122
CHAPTER XII
Lefevre d'Etaples Religious views of Marguerite d'Angouleme
Guillaume Bri9onnet, Bishop of Meaux The Mystics of
Meaux Marguerite and Briconnet A mystical correspond-
ence Bri9onnet prosecuted for heresy . . . 123-138
CHAPTER XIII
First war between Francois I and Charles V Fraud of Louise of
Savoy The Conne"table de Bourbon Louise of Savoy and
Bourbon Treason of the Constable Reverses of the French
Death of Queen Claude Illness of Madame Charlotte
Death of Madame Charlotte i39-*57
CHAPTER XIV
Invasion of Provence Louise and Marguerite at Lyons The
disaster of Pa via Anguish of Marguerite .... 158-168
CHAPTER XV
Francois I a prisoner Marguerite's letter to the King Mar-
guerite's letter to Montmorency Disgrace of the Due
d'Alen^on "The King fasts upon turtles" Marguerite a
widow ... 169-179
CHAPTER XVI
Persecution of the Reformers Pusillanimous conduct of Briconnet
Fran9ois I is transferred to Spain Fra^ois arrives in
Spain Fran9ois at Venyssolo Marguerite Ambassadress
Extraordinary Fran9ois in the Alcazar Fran9ois falls dan-
gerously ill Marguerite reaches Madrid Recovery of the
King . . 180-199
CHAPTER XVII
Marguerite and Charles V Marguerite plans her brother's escape
Fran9ois resolves to abdicate Letter of Erasmus to Mar-
guerite Marguerite sets out for France The Emperor
schemes to arrest Marguerite Marguerite is warned A
hurried journey ......... 200-216
CHAPTER XVIII
The Treaty of Madrid Duplicity of Fran9ois I Illness of the
King's children Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre A romantic
escape from prison Marguerite and the King of Navarre
Fran9ois sets out for France The King exchanged for his sons 217-232
CHAPTER XIX
Clement Marot and Berquin imprisoned The tables turned on the
bigots The King repudiates his engagements A new
Sultana Madame de Chateaubriand discarded Policy versus
sentiment The second marriage of Marguerite A pretty
allegory .... . . . 233-247
vi
Contents
CHAPTER XX
Bourbon in Italy The sack of Rome Birth of Jeanne d'Albret
The Virgin of the rue des Rosiers The fate of Berquin . . 248-258
CHAPTER XXI
Siege of Naples Captivity of the Princes Fra^ois marries
Eleanor of Austria Liberation of the French Princes An
interesting event at Blois The new Queen Marguerite loses
her son Failing health of Louise of Savoy Louise's last
journey Death of Louise ....... 259-277
CHAPTER XXII
Francois I and Jeanne d'Albret "La Messe a sept points" Mar-
guerite and A her husband Marguerite's life in Barn " Le
Miroir de 1'Ame p^cheresse" An outrageous affront Mar-
guerite and the Franciscans of Issoudun . . . 278-293
CHAPTER XXIII
Isabeau d'Albret Melanchthon invited to Paris The affair of the
placards Marguerite attacked by the bigots An expiatory
procession The fires of persecution . . 294-305
CHAPTER XXIV
War breaks out again Marguerite visits the army Retreat of the
Imperialists Death of the Dauphin Francois Marguerite in
Picardy Illness of Jeanne d'Albret Generosity of Marguerite
The Aigues-Mortes interview .... . 306-321
CHAPTER XXV
Diane de Poitiers Rival Sultanas Marguerite and Montmorency
Policy of Montmorency Francois the dupe of the Emperor
Mother and daughter Jeanne d'Albret in revolt An abject
epistle Protest of Jeanne d'Albret Intrigues against Mont-
morency Disgrace of the Constable . . 322-344
CHAPTER XXVI
Marguerite's literary prot^g^s Bonaventure des PeViers Etienne
Dolet Marguerite's poetical work The HeptameVon . . 345-371
CHAPTER XXVII
Marguerite and the Bishop of Condom Marguerite at Cauterets
Marguerite's advice disregarded Marguerite intercedes for
the Rochellois An ill-timed pleasantry A critical situation
Panic in Paris Peace of Cr^py . . . 372-390
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Vaudois Marguerite eulogises the peace Death of the Due
d'Orleans Gloomy presentiments A warning dream Mar-
guerite learns of the King's death ..... 391-401
CHAPTER XXIX
Marguerite voices her grief Marguerite appeals to Henri II An
unwelcome proposition Second marriage of Jeanne d'Albret
Last days of Marguerite d'Angouleme ..... 402-414
INDEX . . 415-423
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE . . Frontispiece
To face page
ANNE OF BRITTANY . . . . 24
MARY TUDOR . . . . . . 90
EMPEROR CHARLES V . . . . . ,, ,,140
LOUISE OF SAVOY, COUNTESS D'ANGOULEME . ,, IQO
HENRI D'ALBRET, KING OF NAVARRE ...,, 227
MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND . . . . ,, ,, 242
JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN OF NAVARRE . . ,, 280
MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE 316
Vlll
THE PEARL OF PRINCESSES
MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE
CHAPTER I
.
BY his marriage with Valentina of Milan, Louis,
Due d'Orleans, the hapless brother of Charles VI, who,
in November 1407, was so barbarously murdered in the
streets of Paris, at the instigation of Jean-sans-Peur,
Duke of Burgundy, had three sons ; Louis, who succeeded
to his father's title and the bulk of his parents' vast
wealth, Philippe, Comte de Vertus, and Jean, Comte
d'Angouleme. Jean's patrimony was very considerable,
including as it did both the counties of Angouleme
and Perigord ; but having, when civil war broke out
a few years later, joined his elder brothers in summon-
ing the English to their aid, he found himself, after
the Peace of v Bourges, a hostage in the hands of the
English Government for the subsidies which had been
promised them by the Armagnac party. He remained
in captivity for thirty-two years, seven years longer than
his eldest brother, the Due d'Orleans, whom the battle
of Agincourt consigned to a similar fate ; and, to obtain
the sum demanded for his ransom, he was obliged to sell
his county of Perigord to Jean de Bretagne, Comte de
Penthievre, and to mortgage other portions of his inherit-
ance. On his return to France, the Comte d'Angouleme,
who during his captivity had become exceedingly devout,
wisely determined to take no further part in politics, but
The Pearl of Princesses
to return to his estates and endeavour to repair his fallen
fortunes. In this, however, he was only very partially
successful, for though he received a considerable dowry
with his wife, Marguerite de Rohan, 1 the greater portion
of this appears to have been absorbed by the necessity of
purchasing immunity from the predatory attacks of his
English neighbours. He died in 1467, leaving behind
him a reputation for sanctity which, we are assured,
caused his memory to be revered like that of a saint,
but comparatively little wherewith to enable his only son,
Charles, to support the dignity of his rank.
At the time of his father's death, Charles d'Angouleme
was only in his eighth year. He received his education
under the august direction of Louis XI, and the more
immediate supervision of Arnault du Refuge, who, while
paying all due attention to its intellectual side, would
appear to have been somewhat neglectful of the moral.
When, in the summer of 1476, the lad emerged from the
hands of his tutors, and, in token of his emancipation,
did homage to the King, he had become a young prince
of wide learning and elegant and refined tastes, amiable
and courteous towards his equals, kind and considerate to-
wards his inferiors, but far too much addicted to pleasure,
and with very little strength of character.
Fully alive to the necessity of restoring the fortunes of
his house by a wealthy marriage, the Comte d'Angouleme
cast his eyes upon Marie of Burgundy, the richest heiress
in Christendom. But Louis XI was by no means minded
to allow a younger branch of the Royal House to be thus
aggrandized and raised to an importance which in time to
come might even overshadow that of the Crown, and
1 Daughter of Alain IX, Vicomte de Rohan, and of Marie de
Bretagne, daughter of Fra^ois I, Duke of Brittany.
2
Charles d'Angouleme
promptly extinguished his youthful kinsman's hopes in
that direction by affiancing him, much against his will, to
Louise of Savoy, the two-year-old daughter of Philip,
Comte de Bresse, a poor cadet of the House of Savoy.
The count, however, derived some consolation for his
disappointment from the reflection that a good many
years must elapse before the bride chosen for him would
attain a marriageable age, and that long before that time
arrived the project, like so many other marriages arranged
by that confirmed matchmaker, Louis XI, might very
well have ended in smoke. And so he supported with
what patience he possessed the monotonous and shabby
existence to which his poverty condemned him in his little
Court of Cognac, and kept his eyes continually fixed on
the horizon where was to appear the heiress, so ardently
dreamed of, who was to restore the splendours of his
House.
While awaiting this longed-for vision, he embarked
upon a romance with a young lady of noble family
in the service of his widowed mother, Mile. Jeanne
de Polignac, daughter of Henri de Polignac, Governor
of Angouleme. To this damsel, we are informed, the
count, in the course of the year 1477, ma de "a present
of chemises," an article of feminine attire which in those
days was often of a peculiar sumptuousness, being em-
broidered with gold and silver lace in the most prodigal
manner. Such a gift naturally implied a certain tender
intimacy between the parties ; and it is therefore not
altogether surprising to learn that the sequel was that
not very long afterwards Mile, de Polignac, in her turn,
made the gallant donor a present of a daughter, who
was named after her mother, " Jeanne, bastard of M. le
Comte 1 ' ; for the count recognized her.
3
The Pearl of Princesses
Several years passed ; Louis XI died and was succeeded
by his son Charles VIII, a boy thirteen years old. But the
death of Louis did not affect the matrimonial arrangement
which that monarch had made, since the new king's master-
ful sister, Anne de Beaujeu, who, under her father's will,
assumed the government of the kingdom during Charles's
minority, had recently adopted the little Louise of Savoy,
and was determined to hold the Comte d'Angouleme to
his engagement. Anne, however, did not immediately
call upon the count to fulfil it, since for some time
matters of greater importance demanded her attention.
But in 1485, when the political situation seemed more
settled and her protegee had attained her tenth year, she
charged the Bishop of Angouleme, Robert de Luxem-
bourg, to refresh the memory of her flighty cousin.
The. fiance y it is only just to observe, neglected nothing
to escape from his obligations ; and, though ordinarily the
most peaceable of men, even went so far as to join the
insurrection of 1487. He assembled his troops near
Saintes, and elaborated a plan of campaign which, how-
ever, he had no opportunity of executing, as the royal
army suddenly swooped down upon him, surprised and
routed his forces and chased them as far as Blaye, where
they surrendered. The count, who had taken refuge
at Montlieu, retired sadly to Cognac, where, prudently
rejecting all attempts of the rebel nobles to lure him
again into the field, he proceeded to make his peace
with the Court, and on February 16, 1488, he sealed his
submission to the royal authority, by signing before a
notary of Paris his marriage contract with Louise of Savoy.
It was not a document which made very pleasant
reading for the prospective bridegroom, for the dowry
which he received with the young lady was the exceed-
Louise of Savoy
ingly modest one of 35,000 livres, payable in three
years ; 1 while, on his side, he was obliged to settle upon
her an income of 3000 livres, which absorbed no
inconsiderable part of his scanty revenues. However,
having achieved her object, the Regent took pity upon
him, and on her advice, Charles VIII conferred upon
the count the seigneurie of Melle, worth 20,000 livres.
Thus it was that at the age of twelve the little
Louise of Savoy, destined to become one of the most
interesting figures of her time, was wedded to a prince
sixteen years her senior, who approached the altar about
as cheerfully as does a criminal the scaffold.
The marriage, nevertheless, turned out happily enough.
Charles d'Angouleme was too good-hearted a man and
too courteous a gentleman to visit his chagrin upon an
innocent child, who had had no voice in the disposal of
her hand. It was not, indeed, in his nature to show
anything but kindness to those about him. "There
existed," writes de Saint-Gelais, " not one individual to
whom he had done displeasure ; but, on the contrary,
he bestowed succour and courteous words on all who
sought his aid ; of which good deeds, the love and
veneration of his servants, subjects, and neighbours
afford sufficient testimony." 2 Moreover, he was soon
obliged to recognize that, if Louise's dot was but a
poor one, in other respects he had made by no means
a bad bargain. For not only did his young wife possess
considerable personal attraction, but, mere child though
she was in years, she already gave promise of combining
1 In point of fact, in five years the Comte d'Angouleme only received
22,000 livres, and perhaps the balance would never have been paid
at all, if Anne de Beaujeu and her husband had not taken upon
themselves to discharge it.
2 Histoire de Louis XII'.
5
The Pearl of Princesses
with them an intelligence of an unusually high order,
which in time to come was to make her the most
accomplished woman in France, until she voluntarily
yielded the palm for learning to her daughter Marguerite,
whose education she so carefully supervised.
What, however, perhaps served as much as anything
to reconcile the count to the marriage, was the girl's
gentle and submissive ways, and the readiness with
which she accommodated herself to his irregularities
irregularities which would surely have provoked even
the most complaisant consort of our own time to
rebellion. Not only did she accept without demur Mile.
de Polignac as maid-of-honour, and that lady's elder
brother as one of her maitres d' hotel ; not only did she
permit the little Jeanne to take her place at her husband's
court, but when the amorous prince, as the result of
adventures concerning which history is silent, found
himself the father of two other little girls, called
respectively Souveraine and Madeleine, she gave them an
apparently cordial welcome, and had the first brought
up under her own supervision.
These intimate details, as one of Louise's historians
has pointed out, 1 have their importance in the psycho-
logical appreciation of the character of that princess.
The situation of Louise was not without example,
notably in the House of Orleans, where Dunois, the
celebrated <c Bastard of Orleans," was brought up by
Valentina of Milan. However that may be, Charles
d'Angouleme would certainly appear to have been a
little too negligent in the consideration due to a wife
of such tender years ; while his ideas of the degree of
tolerance which he had the right to expect from the
1 M. de Maulde la Clavire, Louise de Savoie et Francois I er .
6
Birth of Marguerite d'Angouleme
partner of his joys and sorrows were somewhat in
advance of his time, at least so far as France was
concerned. For these ideas had not yet found any
general acceptance in France ; it was not until a quarter
of a century later that they acquired the rights of
citizenship there, and Louise of Savoy and her children
were perhaps not strangers to their diffusion. In Italy,
on the other hand, they had long been firmly rooted,
and many singular instances of conjugal resignation are
recorded by contemporary writers, the most striking of
which is perhaps the anecdote related of the celebrated
Vittoria Colonna, who, seeing one night the nuptial
chamber invaded by one of her own maids-of-honour,
violently enamoured of her mistress's fascinating husband,
instead of creating a " scene," promptly turned her face
to the wall and feigned sleep.
Four years after her marriage, Louise of Savoy gave
birth to a daughter at the Chateau of Angouleme, who
received the name of Marguerite, a name which had been
borne by both her grandmothers, Marguerite de Rohan,
Comtesse d'Angouleme, and Marguerite de Bourbon,
Comtesse de Bresse.
c ' My daughter Marguerite," writes Louise of Savoy,
in that curious diary in which she afterwards recorded the
chief events of her life, "was born in the year 1492, on
the eleventh day of April, at two o'clock in the morning,
or, counting after the manner of astronomers, on the
tenth day of April, at ten minutes past its fourteenth
hour." i
Louise, though naturally somewhat disappointed that
her first-born was not a boy, was very proud of the little
girl, who was not only a pretty and affectionate child, but
1 Journal de Louise de Savoie.
The Pearl of Princesses
very early began to show a remarkably sensitive intelli-
gence. But when Marguerite was little more than a babe,
a more important person arrived upon the scene one
who was henceforth to be the very centre of existence
both to Marguerite and her mother.
u Francois, by the grace of God, King of France, and
my pacific Caesar," so triumphantly runs Louise's Journal^
"underwent his first experience of worldly light at
Cognac, about the tenth hour after noon 1494, the
twelfth day of September."
At the time of Francois's birth never did the Crown of
France seem less likely to become the heritage of a prince
of the House of Angouleme. By his marriage with
Anne de Bretagne, Charles VIII already had two sons,
the younger of whom had been born only two days
before Francois ; while even if the succession should fail
in the direct line, the Crown would devolve upon Louis,
Due d'Orleans. That prince, it is true, was childless
after nearly twenty years of marriage ; but his wife,
Jeanne de France, might die, or a complaisant Pope
might assent to annul their union, and enable him to
marry some young woman who would soon give him an
heir. Altogether, it is doubtful whether in all the ghettos
of Europe a usurer could have been found bold enough
to advance a hundred livres on the chance of the infant
prince at Cognac one day becoming King of France.
Louise of Savoy, however, was firmly convinced that a
great destinv awaited her son. There was living at this
time at Plessis-les-Tours a very holy monk, named
Francois de Paule, whom Louis XI had installed there,
with the object of acquiring thus an influence over
Heaven for the furtherance of his political schemes.
Although, apparently quite unknown to himself, a the
8
The Prediction of Frai^ois de Paule
good man/' as he was generally called, inspired an extra-
ordinary enthusiasm, particularly among women who
desired to have children. Anne de Beaujeu attributed
to him the birth of her daughter Suzanne ; Anne de
Bretagne the birth of Claude de France, the first wife of
Francois I and Claude herself the birth of Francois II.
Attracted by the fame of the holy man, Louise of
Savoy, a year after her marriage, made a pilgrimage to
Plessis-les-Tours. The monk received her very kindly,
and inquired in what way he could serve her. She re-
plied that the desire of her heart was to have a son, and
a son who should have a great future, and begged him
to assist her by his prayers ; upon which he promised
her a son, and announced that that son should be King.
The monk's words awakened the dormant ambition
which had hitherto lain quite unsuspected beneath the
gentle and submissive demeanour of Charles d'Angou-
leme's young wife. They became for her a dogma upon
which she nourished her life ; and when on that September
night, five years later, the first part of the prediction was
fulfilled, and a son was born to her, her joy knew no
bounds, and from the child's earliest infancy she devoted
all her energies to fit him for the great position which she
never doubted that he was one day to occupy.
And a little more than a year brought the object of
Louise's ambitious hopes, which at the time of her boy's
birth had seemed so remote, appreciably nearer. The
son born to Charles VIII and Anne de Bretagne in the
autumn of 1494 only lived a few weeks, and on December
6 of the following year the Dauphin followed him to the
grave. For the moment, the Due d'Orleans alone stood
between the Comte d'Angouleme and the throne.
The question whether that prince would ever become
9
The Pearl of Princesses
King was, however, soon decided. On learning of th
death of the Dauphin, the count, accompanied by his wife
left Cognac with the twofold object of presenting thei
condolences to their Majesties at Amboise, and offering
their felicitations to the Due d'Orleans at Blois on re
covering his position as heir presumptive to the crown
The duke, it may be mentioned, had recently beer
obliged to retire from Court, having had the misfortune
to give dire offence to the queen by his well-meaning
efforts to divert the King from the melancholy conditior
into which the Dauphin's death had thrown him, bu
which Anne had construed into an insulting display o
joy at the removal of her son from his path. 1
The day upon which the Comte and Comtess<
d'Angouleme quitted Cognac was bitterly cold, and ir
consequence of the severity of the weather and th
condition of the roads, they journeyed only so far a;
Chateauneuf, where they stopped for the night. Shortlj
after their arrival, Charles d'Angouleme complained o
feeling unwell, and during the night he became so ill that
the countess, in great alarm, despatched messengers to
summon all the physicians and surgeons of note in the
neighbourhood to her aid. Soon half-a-dozen learnec
1 " After the death of the Dauphin, King Charles and his queen
were full of such desolate grief that the doctors, fearing the weaknes
and feeble constitution of the King, were of opinion that excess o
sorrow might be prejudicial to his health. They therefore advised a.
many distractions as possible, and suggested that the princes at Court
should invent new pastimes, dances, and mummeries to give pleasure to
the King and Queen, which being done, Monseigneur d'Orleans devised
a masquerade with dances, in which he danced with such gaiety and
played the fool so much that the Queen thought he was making merry
because he was nearer the throne of France, seeing that the Dauphin
was dead. She was extremely displeased, and looked on him with such
aversion that he was obliged to leave Amboise, where the Court then
was, and go to his Chateau of Blois." BRANT6ME.
10
Death of Charles d'Angouleme
practitioners of the healing art were gathered round the
sick-bed, who, after a lengthy consultation, pronounced
the patient to be suffering from intermittent fever in a
very aggravated form, which, in their opinion, rendered
his recovery hopeless. In point of fact, after lingering
until New Year's Day 1496, Charles d'Angouleme died,
though whether from his malady or the remedies
employed by the posse of doctors who attended him it
would be difficult to say. People in those days died
almost as often from one cause as the other ; and perhaps
the count's physician-in-ordinary, whom Louise promptly
disgraced for incompetence, was less deserving of
sympathy than one might suppose.
Jean de Saint-Gelais, Louise's chamberlain and intimate
perhaps too intimate friend, represents the countess
as displaying the most touching devotion during her
husband's illness, refusing to quit his side, even to take
needful refreshment, and when all was over, having to be
lifted fainting from the bed and carried to her own room ; 1
while the historian Jaligny, attached to the Due and
Duchesse de Bourbon, asserts that it was reported at
Moulins that, but for the presence of her children, the
young widow would have died of grief, so terrible was her
despair.
We are inclined, however, to doubt whether this by no
means unprejudiced testimony is to be taken literally,
readily as it has been accepted by certain modern writers.
That so haughty a woman as Louise of Savoy subse-
quently showed herself to be could have entertained
much affection, leave alone " an impassioned reverence," 2
for a husband who expected her to receive his mistress as
1 Histoire de Louis XIP.
2 Madame Darmesteter, Margaret of Navarre.
II
The Pearl of Princesses
one of her maids-of-honour and to superintend the bring-
ing up of his illegitimate children seems highly improbable,
nor must it be forgotten that in her Journal, in which
something of the true sentiments of the writer is revealed
to us, she speaks of " the adversities and inconveniences
which befell her in her early years " ; and records the
death of Charles d'Angouleme in the following laconic
form: "The first day of the year 1496 I lost my
husband."
12
CHAPTER II
THUS, in her twentieth year, Louise of Savoy found
herself a widow, with a daughter three years old and a son
fifteen months. From an attractive girl she had grown
into a very pretty woman, somewhat thin, it is true, but
very graceful, with light chestnut hair, grey eyes under
delicately arched eyebrows, a small rosy mouth, and a
clear complexion. It was tolerably certain that she would
not lack consolation in her bereavement, if she were
disposed to accept it.
Shortly before his death, Charles d'Angouleme had
made a will, by which, after various charitable donations
and a legacy of 2000 ecus to his natural daughter Jeanne,
the whole of his property was bequeathed to his legitimate
children, though Louise was to enjoy the revenues of his
estates during her lifetime. He also appointed her
guardian of the children, and nominated a council of
eight executors, including Elie de Polignac, a younger
brother of his former inamorata, and the countess's
chamberlain, Jean de Saint-Gelais, seigneur de Montlieu,
to assist her. Solemnly, in the presence of all her House-
hold, Louise swore to observe the provisions of the will
which she had very evidently inspired. But very soon
after the count's death, Louis d'Orleans, as head of the
family, supported by Pierre de Rohan, Marechal de Gie,
cousin of the countess-dowager, Marguerite de Rohan,
claimed the guardianship, on the ground that Louise
could not legally undertake such duties until she had
attained the age of twenty-five. Louise replied that, if
The Pearl of Princesses
she were deprived of the guardianship of her children, she
would feel obliged to demand the restoration of her
dowry, which would place the already straitened finances
of the House of Angouleme in an almost desperate condi-
tion. Finally, the Royal Council intervened and regulated
the difficulty by a compromise : the Due d'Orleans re-
ceived the title of honorary guardian ; the young countess
was to submit her accounts to him and obtain his consent
to the sale or mortgage of any portion of the estates, and
to any changes in her Household, the officers of which
were to take an oath of allegiance to both. This arrange-
ment was altogether in favour of Louise, and assured to
her, for the time being, both the direction of her children's
education and of her little court.
A few months after Charles d'Angouleme's death,
Louise's father, Philippe, Comte de Bresse, became Duke
of Savoy, through the death of his great-nephew
Charles II. This event added not a little to his
daughter's importance, though nothing to the revenues of
the Court of Cognac, for the new sovereign, with half-a-
dozen children to provide for by his second marriage
with Claude de Brosses de Bretagne, and a throne con-
tinually threatened by his powerful neighbours, had many
uses for his money. Early in 1497 Louise lost her
mother-in-law, Marguerite de Rohan. The countess-
dowager had, however, long since ceased to live, so to
speak, her mind having given way many years before,
and she had never interfered in any way with her son's
wife. An inventory of the deceased's effects which
Louise caused to be taken illustrates the poverty to which
the House of Angouleme had been reduced. Apart from
twenty pipes of wine and a quantity of linen, the countess-
dowager left nothing worth taking into account, with the
The Court of Cognac
exception of a gold cup, a few pieces of silver plate in a
more or less bad condition, five tapestries and some velvet
cushions. It was certainly not a luxurious nest in which
the magnificent Francois I and " the Marguerite of
Marguerites " were reared.
Accustomed to poverty from early childhood, for
Anne de Beaujeu had led her the hard life of a poor
relation and confined her generosity to a gift of eighty
livres on New Year's Day, with which to buy herself a
crimson satin gown for state occasions, Louise had learned
to appreciate and to love money. But she loved also art
and literature, as her husband had done, and painters,
poets, and romancers found at Cognac a cordial welcome.
She herself was already one of the most accomplished
princesses in Europe ; she was well grounded in Latin,
and was fond of quoting it ; she was well and widely
read in French literature, and could speak several modern
languages. Her excellent taste in art is shown by her
patronage of Robinet Testard, the delightful illuminator
of manuscripts, who remained in her service until an
advanced age, and has so frequently reproduced the
features of his protectress ; and she appears to have
shared the passion of her contemporaries for music. She
had also a passion for flowers : myosotis, carnations, roses,
and pansies were her favourites, but flowers of all kinds
found a place in the gardens at Cognac, which were a
kind of floral paradise. Fruit she cultivated too, and
strawberries in particular, though more, it would seem, to
delight the eye than to please the palate. She had a
garden specially reserved for them, and caused them to be
painted, together with her favourite flowers, in the margin
of a manuscript which she purchased.
Louise's literary tastes account in a great measure for
The Pearl of Princesses
the strange ascendency exercised over her by two men
whose influence was the very reverse of beneficial.
These two men were Jean de Saint-Gelais, who, as we
have mentioned, had been nominated by Charles
d'Angouleme as one of his executors, and his younger
brother, Octavien, Bishop of Angouleme,
The family of Saint-Gelais, which claimed descent
from the ancient counts of Lusignan, was a very prolific
one, but all its members seem to have possessed the gift
of making their way in the world, and securing, by the
aid of their good looks, their abilities, or their ingrati-
ating manners, a rich heiress, a lucrative court office, or
a fat benefice. Quite a number of them had descended
upon Cognac, which, however, as a rule, merely served
them as a stepping-stone ; but Jean de Saint-Gelais, who
had arrived there when quite a boy, had remained to
become, under Charles d'Angouleme, the very pivot of
the little court. It was at his chateau of Montlieu that
the count took refuge after his abortive attempt at insur-
rection in 1487, and it was he who in all probability
negotiated his master's submission to the royal authority
and his marriage with Louise of Savoy. Appointed
chamberlain to the young countess, the intimacy to which
she admitted him gave rise to a good deal of gossip, and
he was very generally regarded as the pendant of Mile.
Jeanne de Polignac. At the time when Louise became a
widow, he was approaching his fortieth year, a handsome,
frivolous, witty man, of charming manners and amazing
versatility, and quite untrammelled by any scruple. The
variety of his tastes and the suppleness of his character
are well illustrated by his Histoire de Louis XII, which a
political motive induced him to write in later years, a work
of undeniable literary merit, but in which he suppresses
16
An Episcopal Poet
or distorts a truth which does not happen to please him
as coolly as though to do so was the most natural thing in
the world for an historian.
His brother Octavien, his junior by eleven years, had
been " destined from his cradle for ecclesiastical benefices,"
and, thanks to the good offices of the Comte d'Angouleme,
had shortly before the count's death been appointed bishop
of the diocese. But the bent of his mind was towards
literature rather than theology, and he was more skilled
in the winning of hearts than the saving of souls. In
the rivalry between the old classical and the new Boccaccian
influences in literature which enlivened the closing years
of the fifteenth century, Octavien posed as the champion
of the new school, and his poetical effusions, which are
a tolerably good index of his character, enjoyed an im-
mense vogue. He had made his dtbut by the translation
into the vernacular of an erotic poem by Pope Pius II,
written, of course, during the pleasure-loving youth A 1
which had preceded his eminent pontificate. It was
certainly not the type of work which might be safely
placed in the hands of seminarists, for the licentiousness
of the original had lost nothing by translation. Never-
theless, since the former was from the pen of one who in
after years became the head of the Church, and contained
besides an official ingredient of devotion, Octavien deemed
himself justified in dedicating his book to the King
and placing it under the aegis of the Holy Trinity. 1
1 Lystoire de Eurialus et Lucresse vrays amoureux selon pape pie, ed. goth.
petit in f, suivie de la traduction, par " Johannis Floridi," de I'Histoire
de Guisgard et Sigismonde, de 1'Aretin. Imprime le 6 Mai 1493, par
Ant. Verard. The dedication was as follows
En lonneur de la saincte Trinit6,
Louenge de vous, Charles roy tres chrestien,
De latin en Francois j'ay translate
Lystoire du tres fort amoureux lien
17 c
The Pearl of Princesses
Encouraged by the flattering reception which this poem met
with, the young ecclesiastic embarked upon an allegory,
the Sejour dhonneur^ which appears to have been inspired
by Dante, or rather by Virgil. The author is alone in
his study, sad, lonely, unloved, when " Sensuality " ap-
pears to him, in the shape of a blonde and buxom
goddess, who beckons him to follow her. He does so,
and meets with many adventures, including a visit to
Hades, but eventually reaches a magnificent palace, the
Paradise, essentially terrestrial, of which the Court holds
the keys.
Octavien became the rage ; the ladies idolized him as
an immortal poet, and at the age of twenty-seven he
found himself a bishop. His promotion to high eccle-
siastical office did not serve to restrain his poetical activity,
and he continued to enrich the literature of his country
with verse of all kinds, some of which is certainly difficult
to reconcile with an episcopal signature. 1
Such were the men to whom the young widow of
Charles d'Angouleme so readily submitted herself. Jean
de Saint-Gelais guided the body, and boasted that he had
made of the little court of Cognac " a second Paradise " ;
Octavien guided the mind. With them at her right
hand, it would have been surprising if Louise of Savoy,
D'Eurialus et de Lucresse, le maintien
Qui en amours ont eu durent leur vie,
Ainsi que la descript, ou temps ancien,
Aeneas Silvius, nomine pape pie.
1 Notably, a very scurrilous ballad directed against the Bernardine
monks of Moulins, in which he describes the grief of the ladies of that
town at the departure of the holy men, and the extremely coarse pieces
on the satisfaction of the ladies of Florence and Tours at the arrival of
the French army. Octavien had a natural son, Mellin de Saint-Gelais,
to whom he transmitted his literary tastes, and who was to achieve a
considerable reputation as an effeminate and licentious poet.
18
Character of Louise of Savoy
thrown as she had been while still hardly more than a
child, without transition and perhaps without sufficient
preparation, from the austere circle of Anne de Beaujeu
into one dominated wholly by pleasure, should have been
other than she was : a woman refined and accomplished,
a lover of literature and the arts, it is true, but a woman
who cared only for the material side of life, though she
was amazingly superstitious and combined with her
Boccaccian morals a pedantry in the observance of re-
ligious ceremonies worthy of the most saintly of dfootes.
She would almost as soon have given up a gallant as have
missed a Mass.
The true religion of Louise was ambition, and it was
one which did not serve to make her beloved. Egotis-
tical, haughty, jealous, avaricious, and crafty, and
shrinking from nothing that might secure her domina-
tion, she has, indeed, left a detestable reputation.
She serves in history as the pendant to the figure, far
more delicate, of Catherine de' Medici, princess of the
school of Macchiavelli, who combined the virile qualities
of the French with Italian suppleness. But Catherine,
more pure as a wife, more intelligent as a mother, more
amiable as a woman, who would have been an illustrious
queen, if the greatness of the end had not rendered her
so little scrupulous in her choice of means, was infinitely
the superior of Louise. They were both vindictive and
corrupt, and dowered with a genius for intrigue. But
violence and passion diminished the influence of Louise ;
while Catherine's powers of self-control and dissimulation
seldom failed her, and her irreproachable private life gave
to her actions the appearance of disinterestedness.
Nevertheless, Louise of Savoy was a woman of un-
questioned ability, and her regency, during the captivity
The Pearl of Princesses
of Francois I at Madrid, would have entitled her to the
nation's gratitude, had she not by her fatal avarice, the
one passion of her later years, and of which the hapless
Semblan^ai was the scapegoat, brought about more
misfortune than she repaired.
With many vices, Louise must be credited with one
great virtue maternal tenderness. She was the most
devoted of mothers ; her children were her idols, the
pride and joy of her life ; she had them always with her ;
they slept in her room ; she watched their every moment
with tender solicitude. Yet this devotion was far from
being entirely disinterested, for through them alone
could her ambition be gratified : Francois she intended
to become the most accomplished gentleman of his age, a
model for all contemporary princes to form themselves
upon ; Marguerite, the most learned and the most
charming of princesses ; and their renown and glory
would reflect upon herself. But, while devoting so
much time and care to fitting them to adorn and grace
the lofty stations which she intended them to fill, she
troubled very little about their moral principles. Her
idea of moral training appears to have been to win their
childish affections for herself.
Eighteen months after he had ascended the ducal
throne of Savoy, Louise's father died at the Chateau of
Moulins, where he was staying with his brother-in-law,
the Due de Bourbon (November 1497). He was
accorded a magnificent funeral, the church being hung in
black and decorated with two hundred escutcheons painted
by Etienne Lenain, while the Dues d'Orleans and de
Bourbon, wearing long mantles, the trains of which were
carried by chamberlains, escorted the coffin, followed by
20
Death of Charles VIII
a number of great nobles. Neither Louise nor her
children, however, attended the ceremony. -
In the spring of the following year, another death
occurred, which was of infinitely more importance for the
little Court of Cognac, the whole existence of which it was
to change. On April 6, Charles VIII, whose health had
been for some time declining, died in a few hours from
an attack of apoplexy, brought on by accidentally striking
his head against the low archway of the Galerie Hocquele-
bac at the Chateau of Amboise. Of the four children which
Anne de Bretagne had borne him none had survived, and
the Due d'Orleans, in consequence, succeeded him under
the title of Louis XII, and the little Comte d'Angouleme
became heir presumptive to the Crown of France. % 1 1 1
21
CHAPTER III
AT the time of the event which brought her brother
so near the throne, Marguerite d'Angouleme was within
a few days of completing her sixth year. The promise
of a quite unusual intelligence which she had shown
almost from her cradle had been more than confirmed ;
and Louise of Savoy was almost as proud of her as
she was of her son.
Hitherto she had taught her little daughter herself,
but now, finding that her time was too much occupied
by the care of Francois's estates to allow her to con-
tinue to do so, she resolved to secure the assistance of
a suitable gouvernante.
Ever since the abortive attempt at insurrection in 1487
the late Comte d'Angouleme had been relegated to a
kind of semi-disgrace ; and the time-serving courtiers,
taking their cue from their Sovereign, had almost
ignored the existence of his widow and children.
But, now that the little Francois had become so im-
portant a personage, their attitude underwent a sudden
change ; and, as soon as Louise's intentions were made
known, quite a number of noble dames proffered her
their services. It must have afforded the countess not
a little cynical amusement to observe the solicitude
with which the post of gouvernante to her little girl was
sought by ladies who had until then found it convenient
to forget the existence of both mother and daughter,
and the professions of attachment to herself which
accompanied some of the applications. But she was
22
Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne
not the woman to be won by flattery, and deliberated
for some time before finally deciding in favour of
Madame de Chatillon, wife of Jacques de Chatillon,
who had been chamberlain to the late King, and had
been continued in that office by his successor ; and
whom Brantome describes as u a wise and virtuous
dame, of unblemished virtue and descent." Louis XII,
of whom the countess solicited the confirmation of this
appointment, at once signified his approval, stating that
he considered Madame de Chatillon " eminently quali-
fied to discharge the arduous duties of gouvernante to
his cousin, the Princess Marguerite."
It is probable that the anxiety of the ladies of the
Court to secure the post in question would not have
been nearly so great could they have foreseen the
matrimonial intentions of their new Sovereign, which
cast a cloud over the prospects of the little Comte
d'Angouleme, and seemed likely to render the glorious
vision of her son as King, and herself the mother of
a king, which had brought so much joy to the ambitious
heart of Louise of Savoy, a mere chimera. Within a
few weeks of his ascending the throne, Louis XII, now
master of his own actions, resolved to secure the dis-
solution of his childless marriage with Jeanne de France,
in order to marry Anne de Bretagne, the young widow
of his predecessor, and secure to France the duchy of
Brittany, the sovereignty of which had reverted to Anne
on her husband's death.
Louise, it is true, derived no small consolation from
the prediction of Francois de Paule, and from the fact
that the children whom Anne de Bretagne had had by
Charles VIII had been so sickly that none of them had
survived its infancy. Since Louis XII, though still a
2 3
The Pearl of Princesses
comparatively young man, was continually ailing, it
seemed doubtful whether, even if Anne bore him sons,
they would live to grow up.
But the effect which it might have upon the prospects
of her idolized son was not the only reason which
caused Louise to regard his Majesty's proposed marriage
with disfavour. Except in physical attractions, in which
the countess had to yield the palm to the Queen, she
and Anne de Bretagne were the exact antithesis of one
another : Anne, the epitome of all the domestic virtues,
modest, chaste, 1 charitable, honourable, sincerely pious,
and, it must be added, a little dull and provincial,
cordially detested the cultured, egotistical, immoral widow
of Charles d'Angouleme, who had a fine and healthy
boy who might one day succeed to the throne, while
her own sons were lying in the cold vaults of the
cathedral of Tours. This dislike, this jealousy, which
was ere long to develop into a blind hatred, she had
been at no pains to conceal during the last years of
the late King's life. Hence, the mortifying neglect
with which Louise had been treated by the Court,
and which that lady foresaw would continue to be her
fate if Anne for the second time became Queen of
France.
It was, therefore, in a very uneasy frame of mind that
Louise repaired to Paris to pay her respects to the new
King, who received her very cordially. She demanded
for her son the estates of the eldest branch of the House
of Orleans, which were united to the Crown by the fact
of Louis XI Fs accession. The King, notwithstanding
the difficulty of alienating them, would probably have
acceded to this request but for the intervention of Queen
1 " Another Vesta, another Diana," says Pere Hilarion de Coste.
2 4
ANNE OF BRITTANY.
Louise and her Children at Chinon
Anne, who wished him to preserve his private fortune
for the benefit of their future children, as she intended
to preserve the duchy of Brittany. However, he did
what he could for Louise ; ceded to her the domains of
Saint-Maixent, Civray, and Usson ; accorded to Francois
a pension of 8000 livres, and gave her a verbal promise
of complete liberty in the management of her children.
At the same time, he intimated his desire that she should
take up her residence for a time at Chinon, whither
he intended to go to await the result of his divorce
proceedings, and bring her children with her.
Louise left Paris very dissatisfied, for she felt con-
vinced that the King's refusal to transfer the estates of
the House of Orleans to her son was due to the influence
of Anne de Bretagne, and she feared that her removal to
Chinon was but a preliminary step to depriving her of
the independence she had enjoyed at Cognac. At first,
however, nothing occurred to confirm these suspicions.
"My lord, the King," writes Jean de Saint-Gelais, who
had accompanied the countess to Chinon, as he had to
Paris, " received the party benignly and graciously, with
honour befitting his nearest relatives on the paternal side.
He gave Madame d'Angouleme lodgings in his Chateau
of Chinon, over his own chamber, where he visited her
frequently in most familiar fashion. As for the children,
he knew not how to show them favour enough, for had
he been their father he could not have made more of
them. And, certes, there were few children to equal
them in any rank of life ; since, for their years, they were
so accomplished that it was pleasant and delightsome
even to look at them."
But this pleasant state of affairs did not last long. In
a few days his Majesty's mood changed altogether ; he
25
The Pearl of Princesses
became suspicious of Louise cold, tyrannical, and even
wished to deprive her of her children. The reason of
this sudden and most unwelcome change is uncertain ;
but, in the light of subsequent events, the most probable
explanation would appear to be that the King had learned
of the too intimate relations existing between the countess
and Jean de Saint-Gelais.
The Marchal de Gie intervened on her behalf, and
persuaded the King to allow Louise to keep her children
with her, on condition of her going to reside at the
Chateau of Blois, in the midst of the Scottish Guard. To
this she very reluctantly consented, and the marshal
charged himself with the mission of installing her there,
and of reducing, at the same time, her entourage. Louise,
who attributed already to the marshal her enforced
departure from Cognac, received this new intervention
on his part very badly ; and when she learned that fore-
most among the attendants upon whose dismissal he
insisted was her beloved Saint-Gelais, her indignation
knew no bounds, and she conceived for him from that
moment a rancorous hatred, which, however, she was
careful to dissimulate.
Louis XII experienced little difficulty in obtaining
from the Pope the nullity of his marriage with Jeanne de
France. For the then occupant of the Papal See, the
famous Roderigo Borgia (Alexander VI), was not the
kind of man to hesitate where his interests were con-
cerned, and the friendship of the King of France was a
valuable asset. A mock trial was held before three
Papal commissioners, and on December 19, 1498, the
decree annulling the marriage was placed in Louis's eager
hands at Chinon by his Holiness's natural son, Caesar
Borgia, who arrived clad in cloth-of-gold and covered
26
The Marshal de
with jewels, on a horse shod with silver, at the head of
an immense retinue. The grateful monarch overwhelmed
him with gifts and honours. He conferred upon him the
title of " de France" gave him the duchy of Valentinois,
in Dauphine, a splendid gratification^ a large pension,
and a thing more difficult a wife, to wit, the beautiful
and virtuous Charlotte d'Albret, sister of the King of
Navarre. Seven weeks later, and nine months after the
death of Charles VIII, Louis married Anne de Bretagne
in the chapel of the Chateau of Nantes.
Meanwhile, Louise of Savoy was experiencing a far
from pleasant time, since residence at Blois placed her in
an almost intolerable subjection. The Marechal de Gie,
aware of this, took advantage of the fact that the chateau
was then in process of reconstruction and delivered over
to the masons to represent to the King that the countess
was not in sufficient security there, and, under this
pretext, obtained authority to transfer her to Amboise, a
place too full of memories of Charles VIII for Louis and
his bride to have any desire to reside there. At the same
time, Gie did not abandon his self-imposed task of sur-
veillance, but reappeared with the title of Captain of
Amboise. It was a singularly modest post for a marshal
of France ; nevertheless, he had had considerable difficulty
in securing it ; for its holder, a shrewd Scotsman named
Carr, had only consented to surrender it on condition of
receiving a pension equal to the emoluments of his office,
a lucrative post at Milan, and a good round sum for his
wife. The marshal's anxiety to be Captain of Amboise
was due to his desire to obtain influence over the young
Francois d'Angouleme, while, at the same time, ingratiat-
ing himself with Louise, for he believed that there was
little likelihood of Louis XII having a son who would
27
The Pearl of Princesses
grow up, and that he saw in the little heir presumptive
his future sovereign.
To placate Louise, Gie took advantage of a visit
which their Majesties paid him at his Chateau of Le
Verger, in Anjou, to persuade the King, notwithstanding
the opposition of his consort, to constitute a duchy of
Valois with a portion of the ancient patrimony of the House
of Orleans, and confer it upon the Comte d'Angouleme,
whom we must henceforth call Francois de Valois.
But great as was the service which he had thus rendered
her son, it does not seem to have diminished to any
appreciable degree the hatred which Louise had vowed
against him. She could not forgive him the dismissal
of Jean de Saint-Gelais, nor his subsequent treatment of
that personage.
In consenting to the dismissal of her chamberlain,
Louise had naturally interested herself in his fate, and had
obtained for him, by way of compensation, the promise
of the office of seneschal at Agen. However, a sort of
fatality caused this post to be given to some one else,
and, in consequence, Saint-Gelais continued to roam
about the town of Amboise and to appear at the chateau.
He even took to spending the night there, in the lodging
of one of his friends, and his comings and goings
became the talk of the town. The Marechal de Gie,
like a good courtier, appeared to ignore M. de Saint-
Gelais's visits to the chateau ; but one day the latter
received an order direct from the King, which, without
specifying any reason, forbade him to present himself
there again, under any pretext whatsoever.
At the beginning of the summer of 1499, the plague
broke out in the valley of the Loire and raged with
great virulence. Every one who was able to do so took
28
Birth of Claude de France
to flight, and Louise of Savoy obtained permission to
remove her children to the Chateau of Romorantin, one
of her dower-houses, situated about thirty miles south
of Amboise. The King and Queen had taken up their
residence at Blois early in April, but in July, the
latter, driven away in her turn by the plague, sought
an asylum with Louise at Romorantin, while Louis XII
set out for the war in Italy. Anne was enceinte, and
on October 13 she gave birth to a daughter, 1 to the
great relief of her hostess, who had, of course, been in
mortal fear lest the child should be a son. The little
girl, who, though slightly deformed, appeared to be
healthy enough, was called Claude, because the Queen
had dedicated her to the saint of that name, usually
invoked in perilous circumstances and at the approach
of death. The King, who received the news near Milan,
consoled himself for his disappointment by remarking
that "there was good hope of having a son, since he
had a daughter."
It might be supposed that the sojourn of these two
women under the same roof, in circumstances so touching,
would have served to bring about a better understanding
between them. Unfortunately, it did nothing of the
kind, and they separated at the beginning of December
more hostile towards one another than ever. The Queen
proceeded to Blois, while Louise returned to what she
regarded as her imprisonment at Amboise.
It was not that the Marechal de Gie was a very severe
gaoler. He came but little to Amboise, since, being
1 " My daughter [/. e. daughter-in-law] Claude, united to my son by
marriage, was born at my house at Romorantin the thirteenth day of
October at eight hours fifty-four minutes after midday, 1499."
Journal de Louise de Savoie.
2 9
The Pearl of Princesses
high in the favour and confidence of the King, his
presence was generally required at Court, and he dele-
gated, in fact, the command of the chateau to a lieutenant
named Ploret. But Louise resented any kind of re-
striction on her liberty of action, and she credited him
with the design of taking her children away from her.
Thus, when the marshal, who considered that it was
unfitting that Francois, then seven years old, should
sleep in the room of his late father's mistress, Jeanne
de Polignac, and had obtained an order from the King
withdrawing the little prince altogether from the charge
of women, wished to give him one of his own sons as
a companion, Louise refused absolutely and took the
boy into her own room, where Marguerite still slept.
As time went on, she grew still more suspicious, so
much so that she would hardly allow the children out
of her sight. It was the universal usage in courts
for the maids-of-honour to enter the bedchamber of
princesses every morning, to wait upon them at their
rising. But at Amboise it was not so ; Louise and her
children dispensed with all attendance when they rose.
The Marechal de Gie's deputy, Ploret, was in the habit
of coming to the door to conduct Francois to Mass.
Louise determined to put an end to this simple pro-
ceeding, fearful apparently lest some day her son might
not be allowed to return. Accordingly, one morning,
when Ploret, being absent, his place had been taken by
one of his officers, the Sire de Durtal, she refused to
allow the little prince to leave the room. Durtal, after
waiting some considerable time, knocked and demanded
admission, but was informed by the valets de chambre
that they had orders not to open the door. Durtal, who
was, after all, only a soldier, and bound to obey the orders
30
The Companions of the Due de Valois
of his superior officer, insisted and ended by forcing
the door. Thereupon Louise flew into a terrible passion.
" Since when," cried she, " do soldiers assist at the lever
of the princes ? " She wrote a furiously indignant letter
to the Marechal de Gie, who hastened to disavow his
subordinate's action ; but this did not serve to appease
the anger of the exasperated countess, who went in
person to appeal to the King. But she got little enough
satisfaction in that quarter, for Louis XII was persuaded
that to allow her to exercise such unbounded influence
over her son was certainly not for the boy's good ; and
Louise was obliged to give her consent to Francois's
having some young companions of his own age, who
were to share his studies and recreations. Among these
young nobles, who were entitled his pages of honour,
were Gaston de Foix, the future hero of Ravenna ;
Henri d'Albret, afterwards King of Navarre ; Charles de
Bourbon, Comte de Montpensier, better known as the
Constable de Bourbon ; Anne de Montmorency, also a
future Constable of France ; Philippe de Chabot, Sieur
de Brion, afterwards Admiral of France ; and the Sieur
de Fleuranges le Jeune Aventureux who appears to
have been Francois's favourite playmate.
Louis XII was meditating a still more radical change
at Amboise. He wished to remarry Louise and settle
her children's future. From the year 1500, the question
of marrying Marguerite d'Angouleme to Arthur, Prince
of Wales, elder son of Henry VII, was discussed. The
suggestion came from the Duchesse de Bourbon, who
maintained an active correspondence with the King of
England, and Louis XII threw himself heartily into the
scheme and offered to give Marguerite a dowry of
200,000 ecus. But the English Government, then on
31
The Pearl of Princesses
rather cold terms with France, preferred Catherine of
Aragon.
As for Louise, the king suggested as a husband for
her Alfonso d'Este, the son and heir of Hercule d'Este,
Duke of Ferrara ; and the lady, notwithstanding her
reluctance to be separated from her children, appeared
not unwilling to exchange the regime of Amboise for
one of the most brilliant little courts in Europe, and
to find herself once more the centre of a select artistic
and literary circle. However, Pope Alexander VI had
also cast his eye on Alfonso, whom he decided would be
a very suitable husband for his daughter, the celebrated
Lucretia Borgia, and he had the fatal idea of communi-
cating his desire to the French Government and soliciting
their good offices at Ferrara. Louis XII was officially
obliged to consent, and sent a special embassy to Italy ;
but, with characteristic duplicity, he, at the same time,
caused the Duke of Ferrara to be informed, through his
Ambassador in France, that he should not at all resent
a refusal, advised him to postpone giving his Holiness
a definite answer until he should see him a few months
hence ; and renewed his proposals in regard to Louise
of Savoy. The Duke, following Louis's advice, sought
to gain time by stipulating for a dowry which he never
for a moment believed his Holiness would be willing
to give his daughter. But, to his astonishment and
chagrin, Alexander VI raised no difficulty at all ; after
which it was, of course, impossible for the Duke to
refuse to conclude the matter.
And so Alfonso d'Este married the fair Lucretia, by
which marriage he came ere long to a tragic end, and
Louise remained in France, which would certainly have
been well rid of her.
32
The Due de Valois goes to Court
At the beginning of the year 1501 she experienced
a terrible fright.
" The day of the Conversion of St. Paul, the twenty-
fifth of January 1501, about two hours after noon," she
writes in her Journal, " my King, my Lord, my Caesar
and my son, was run away with across the fields, near
Amboise, on a palfrey which had been given him by the
Marechal de Gie, and so great was the danger that those
who were present thought it irreparable. But God, the
Protector of widows and the Defender of orphans, fore-
seeing the future, would not forsake me, knowing that if
an accident had so suddenly robbed me of my love, I
should have been too miserable to endure it."
The following year she suffered another term of painful
suspense, the Queen being again pregnant ; but, as she
records with almost savage joy, although the child was a
son, " he was unable to retard the elevation of my Caesar,
for he had no life." And the man who hastened to
Amboise to be the first to bring her the news was " the
poor gentleman who served my son and myself with
very humble and loyal perseverance " ; presumably Jean
de Saint-Gelais.
The preceding entry in this curious diary records the
death of Francois's little dog Hapeguai, " de bon amour et
loyal a son maistre" It is worthy of note that she consecrates
to the dog a longer funeral oration than to her husband.
Towards the end of the year 1502 the little Due de
Valois, who was now eight years old, began to make a
figure in the world. He paid occasional visits to the
Court, and the Ambassadors sometimes mentioned him
in their despatches. " My son," writes Louise in her
Journal, " went away from Amboise to become a courtier,
and left me all alone." When at home he practised
33 D
The Pearl of Princesses
every kind of manly exercise with the young com-
panions whom the King had chosen for him : riding,
escaigne a kind of lawn-tennis and "/a grosse boule" two
games lately imported from Italy, archery, fencing, tilt-
ing, and so forth. Thanks to these exercises, in which he
soon attained great proficiency, the young prince became
a strong, active, and " very noble " lad ; generous, high-
spirited, and good-humoured.
The intellectual part of his education was subordinate
to the physical, and was entirely under the maternal
direction. We do not know what it embraced during
his early years. " It is probable," writes M. de Maulde
la Claviere, u that, in teaching him to read, .she nourished
him on the histories of Priam and Hector. We find
among her manuscripts a Recueil des Histoires de Troye y of
Raoul le Feuvre, with miniatures representing Hercules,
in his cradle, strangling the serpents ; Hercules, when
young, struggling with the lions ; and we should not be
surprised if in buying this interesting manuscript Louise
thought of her son." None of his first tutors appear to
have been in any way remarkable, if we except Christo-
pher Longueil, a Parisian lawyer, who taught him history.
His history copybook, when he was just ten, has been pre-
served, full of badly- scrawled jumbles of stray facts about
miscellaneous people, with a list of the French kings.
In a panegyric of Saint-Louis delivered at Poitiers in
1510, and dedicated to the Due de Valois, Longueil de-
livered a pompous eulogy of the Due de Valois, whom
he described as "conversant with the annals of the
nations and very skilled in geography." Like a true
courtier, however, he disclaimed all credit for this, and
attributed the progress which the prince had made in his
studies to Louise of Savoy.
34
Education of the Due de Valois
The person, however, who had the most influence in
shaping Francois's intellectual tastes at this early period
of his life appears to have been Artus Gouffier^Sieur
de Boisy, an elder brother of Bonnivet, who had been
appointed the young duke's preceptor in 1505. Boisy
had served for a long time in Italy, and had there formed
literary and artistic tastes which he endeavoured to make
his pupil share. He succeeded the more easily since the
love of culture was for Francois a family tradition, which
could be traced back to his great-grandmother, the noble
and gracious Valentina Visconti, and his great-uncle
Charles d'Orleans, the most elegant poet of the fifteenth
century. But if the boy learned from his tutor to speak
of the erudite with respect and to regard them as persons
deserving of his distinguished protection and encourage-
ment, he did not profit much by their knowledge, and
drew almost all his instruction from the romances of
chivalry, which he read with avidity and in which he
sought his models. It was from the same source rather
than from the Instructions sur les devoirs d'un roi y written
by the worthy Jean de la Mare, Bishop of Condom, by
order of Louis XII, presumably for the benefit of the
heir presumptive, that he drew his notions of the rights
and duties of royalty. He conceived the idea of a " roi
chevalier" gracious and magnificent for his courtiers,
gallant for the ladies, terrible for his enemies, distinguish-
ing himself by sweeping blows with the sword after the
style of the Rolands and Amadis, without knowing or
caring much about the art of war. Such was the ideal
which he kept before him from his boyhood, and which
appears to have commanded the warm approval both of
his mother and of his youthful companions.
35
CHAPTER IV
IN the spring of 1502^ the project of marrying Mar-
guerite, now eleven years old, to an English prince was
resumed. Arthur, Prince of Wales, the husband of
Catherine of Aragon, had just died, and his brother
Henry, Duke of York (the future Henry VIII), had
become heir to the throne. He was a year older than
the French princess. Louis XII despatched the Comte
d'Entremont, one of the gentlemen of his chamber, to
England, to convey his condolences to Henry VII, and at
the same ti'me to propose a marriage between Marguerite
and the new Prince of Wales. The Ambassador, in ex-
plaining the second part of his mission, observed that,
" although it became not a demoiselle to make the first
overtures of marriage, nor for her relatives so to do, yet
that King Louis, out of regard for the King of England,
and for his cousin Marguerite, had been pleased so to
act."
The wary and avaricious Henry VII was sadly em-
barrassed what reply to make to these overtures. He did
not wish to offend the French King, for the growth of the
French monarchy in extent and power, through the ex-
tinction of the great feudatories by Louis XI, had raised
France to a height far above that of her European rivals ;
and he would probably have accepted the proposal gladly
enough had Marguerite been the King's daughter. But
neither her rank at this time nor her dowry appeared to
him sufficient to make her a suitable match for the Prince
of Wales ; and he was, besides, considering the possibility
36
A Matrimonial Project
of obtaining a Papal dispensation to marry Prince Henry
to his brothers widow, in order to retain possession of
the rich dowry in money and jewels which Catherine of
Aragon had brought with her from Spain. He therefore
courteously excused himself from giving an immediate
answer, and promised to send a special embassy to France
to convey his decision to Louis XII.
On June 25, 1502, an Ambassador Extraordinary, in the
person of Matthew Bacquier, arrived at Grenoble, whither
Louis XII had proceeded on his way to Italy, and was
received by the First Minister, the Cardinal d'Amboise,
who spoke with unction of the affection of his master for
Marguerite d'Angouleme, "whom he loved as his own
child." To which the Ambassador answered that, doubt-
less this offer of marriage was an honourable one for the
Prince of Wales, particularly as the count, brother of the
princess, might perchance- succeed to the Crown of France.
Nevertheless, it appeared probable to the King his master,
and to the lords of the Council, that the King of France,
his good brother and cousin, and the Queen his con-
sort, being yet young, might have a numerous progeny,
both of sons and daughters, which the King his master
hoped and desired above all things ; it therefore appeared
to the said noble personages that the proposal made by the
King of France was neither suitable nor to be desired,
although had the said lady been the daughter of King
Louis, the King his master would have accepted the offer
with joy. Since the departure of the Comte d'Entremont,
the King had received overtures of marriage for his son
from the Ambassadors of Spain and Hungary ; but, before
making any reply, he desired to express to the King of
France his profound regrets, and to thank him for the
very courteous proposal he had made him.
37
The Pear] of Princesses
The cardinal expressed his regret that the King of
France had only one daughter, and that that daughter
was no longer free, and assured the Ambassador that,
if it should please God to give him other daughters, the
King of England should have the preference before any
living prince.
The Ambassador was then ushered into the presence of
Louis, who, having been apprised by his Minister of the
rejection of his proposal, was not in the best of humours,
and promised Bacquier somewhat sarcastically that," should
God give him other daughters, his good brother and cousin
should receive the earliest notification of that event."
Bacquier was next received by the Queen, and subse-
quently entertained to a grand banquet, at which he had a
conversation with the Marechal de Gie, who spoke in high
terms of Marguerite and her brother, and described Mile.
d'Angouleme as " trh belle et bien sage de son age."
Marguerite was probably spared much unhappiness by the
failure of the project to marry her to the heir to the
throne of England. Nevertheless, it was afterwards a
subject of deep regret to her brother Francois, and also,
at one time, to Henry VIII, that the scheme had not
materialized.
Louis XII, without allowing himself to be discouraged
by this rebuff, began to seek for a prince of less impor-
tance, and offered the Duke of Calabria, son of the ex-
King of Naples, the choice of his own niece, Mile, de
Foix, or of Marguerite, whom he decorated with the title
of " the Dauphin's sister." But he failed again, for the
Duke of Calabria had cast his eye upon Catherine of
Aragon, in the hope that the Pope would refuse the
dispensation necessary to allow her to marry her late
husband's brother.
38
A Talented Princess
The Marechal de Gie was right when he described
Marguerite as u bien sage de son dge" Her aptitude for
learning and the keenness of her comprehension astonished
her tutors, and the progress she was making in her
studies was extraordinary. She was already well grounded
in the Italian, Spanish, and Latin languages, knew a little
Greek, spoke and wrote her own tongue with ease and
elegance, had made considerable progress in philosophy
and divinity under the tuition of the learned Robert
Hurault, Abbe of Saint- Mar tin d'Autun, and was study-
ing Hebrew with the great teacher Paul Paradis. Know-
ledge, indeed, as one of her biographers has well observed,
was as necessary to her mind as sustenance to her body,
and she applied herself to its attainment with an energy
and an enthusiasm beyond all praise. " She was a
princess of enlarged mind/' writes Brantome, "being
very able both as to her natural and acquired endowments."
But remarkable as were her intellectual qualities, her
chief attraction lay in the sweetness of her disposition.
She was born smiling, we are told, and held out her little
hand to each comer " a sure and certain sign of a
generous nature." Sensible, modest, kind-hearted and
affectionate, she endeared herself to all about her, and
" showed in her eyes, her countenance, her deportment,
her speech, and, indeed, in all her actions that the Spirit
of God had been vouchsafed to her." 1 Though amiable
to all, her affection in her early years was mainly concen-
trated on her mother and brother Notre Trinite 1 , as she
liked to call the group, ct of which I pray that I may
become the smallest angle of an angle."
With the opening of the year 1504 came disastrous
news from Italy ; not only was the kingdom of Naples
1 Sainte Marthe, Oraison funcbre de Marguerite, Reine de Navarre.
39
The Pearl of Princesses
irrevocably lost to Louis XII, but the remnant of the
French army, which had taken refuge in Gaeta, had been
forced to capitulate. The King, who was at Lyons, took
the misfortune which had befallen the French arms so
much to heart that he could neither sleep nor eat, and at
length fell so seriously ill that his physicians pronounced
his recovery hopeless. Their verdict threw the whole
realm into the utmost consternation, for Louis's popularity
was unbounded. The people crowded to the churches to
pray for the King's recovery ; solemn processions were
spontaneously organized everywhere ; France became one
vast camp of pilgrims.
The Queen, believing her husband's death inevitable,
and aware of the bitter hatred which Louise of Savoy
entertained for her, made preparations for a hasty retreat
into Brittany as soon as the King should have ceased to
exist. She therefore gave orders to the officers of her
Household to load two or three barges with her most
valuable effects : plate, jewels, furniture, and so forth, and
to send them by the Loire to Nantes. Anne's marriage-
contracts guaranteed her possession of her personal
property, although it was an open question whether she
was justified in removing it during the King's lifetime.
But the Marechal de Gie caused the barges to be stopped
between Saumur and Nantes, and laid an embargo on their
freightage, on the ground that, since Louis XII still lived,
the Queen had no right to act thus. 1 He also caused the
banks of the Loire to be guarded by 10,000 archers, to
prevent Madame Claude, who was at Blois, being carried
off by her mother.
1 Martha Walker Frere, in her Life of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre,
attributes the marshal's action to the " secret orders " of Louise of
Savoy, but this is quite incorrect.
4 o
Louise and the Marechal de Gi6
Louis XII did not die. A few days later his illness
took a turn for the better, and in a month's time he was
sufficiently recovered to return to Blois with the Queen.
As soon as he learned that the King was out of danger,
the marshal, in great alarm, hastened to Amboise, where
he informed Louise of the situation, and to secure her
support against the vengeance of the Queen, offered to do
everything in his power to bring about the marriage of
the Due de Valois with Madame Claude. No greater
marriage than this could be desired for Francois, since
Madame Claude was heiress to her mother's duchy of
Brittany ; but though Louis XII was favourable to the
project, the Queen was strongly opposed to it, having set
her heart on marrying her daughter to the young Charles
of Austria, afterwards the Emperor Charles V. Louise,
however, though she received the marshal very graciously,
declined to commit herself. She recognized that the
hour for her revenge had come, since she was well aware
that Anne de Bretagne detested the Marshal de Gie and
regarded him as a dangerous enemy. He had been one
of the first of the great Breton nobles to transfer his
services to France, and he had consistently thwarted her
in the design she had cherished since her marriage with
Louis XII, of leaving Brittany independent after her
death.
Louise's revenge was typical of her character and of
her century. Three brothers of the name of Pontbriant,
creatures of Gie, were suborned by her, and, taking ad-
vantage of the King's weak condition, which left him for
the time being completely under the influence of the
Queen, charges of lese-majeste and malversation were
launched against the marshal. The Sieur Alain d'Albret,
a kinsman of the King of Navarre and a bitter
The Pearl of Princesses
enemy of Gie, who had been his successful rival for the
hand and immense fortune of Marguerite d'Armagnac,
daughter of the late Due de Nemours, joined in the
attack ; and the Queen, forgetting for the nonce her
hatred of Louise in her desire for the ruin of a more
redoubtable enemy, threw the whole weight of her in-
fluence into the same scale. The marshal defended
himself valiantly and reproached Louise with her ingrati-
tude in language which bears a strong resemblance to
that subsequently used by Cardinal Wolsey on a similar
occasion. <c If," said he, " I had always served God as I
have served you, Madame, I should not have a great
account to render him at the hour of death." And he
declared his conviction that the principal motive of the
countess's animosity towards him was " his dismissal of a
man whom it was superfluous to mention, since all France
knew his name/' And when called upon by the judges
to give the name of this person, he, of course, named
Jean de Saint-Gelais.
In the midst of this scandalous affair, at the beginning
of April 1505, Louis XII had a dangerous relapse. The
physicians again declared that the case was hopeless, and
again consternation seized the realm. The Queen, in
despair, vowed pilgrimages to all the principal shrines in
Brittany ; the whole kingdom wept and spent its days
in processions. " One would have said," writes one
of Louis XIFs historians, c< that every one had lost his
own child." l
The King, in the belief that his end was at hand, made
known his last wishes. He gave orders, in a manner so
peremptory and determined that his consort dared raise
no objection, for the marriage of his daughter with the
1 Seyssel, Histoire du roy Lays XII e t cited by Maulde la Clavire,
Louise and the Marechal de
Due de Valois ; forbade Madame Claude to leave the
kingdom before her marriage, under any pretext ; sent for
the Due de Valois, and received him as a son and heir ;
and nominated a council of regency, in which the Queen
and Louise of Savoy were relegated to a very subordinate
role. Then, on a sudden, his Majesty, just as he had
done the previous year, falsified all the predictions of his
physicians by taking a turn for the better, and gradually
began to recover a result which he probably owed to
his good sense in obliging the Queen to swear to observe
the provisions of his will, whereby he delivered himself,
for a time at least, from her obsessions. His unhoped-
for convalescence was hailed by his subjects as a miracle,
and compared to the u miracle " which had saved Trajan
from the earthquake at Antioch.
As soon as her husband was declared to be out of
danger, the Queen set out for Brittany, under the pretext
of discharging her vows, where she remained for several
months, being everywhere received with fetes and cere-
monies without end, as though to advertise her sovereignty
and her determination to preserve the independence of
the duchy. From Brittany she superintended the resump-
tion of the proceedings against the Marechal de Gie, and
mobilized a whole army of lawyers to support the fabrica-
tions of Louise of Savoy and her friends. While the
countess suborned witnesses, the Queen attempted to
influence the judges through their relatives, to whom she
sent cases of costly wine and other acceptable presents.
Happily for the marshal, the King appears to have
intimated to the Parlement of Toulouse, before which
the case was being tried, that he did not desire that too
severe a sentence should be imposed ; and when at length
the Parlement pronounced its decree (February 9, 1506),
43
The Pearl of Princesses
the accused was merely deprived of his post at Amboise
and various other charges, suspended for five years from
his office of marshal of France, and banished from the
Court for a like period.
This decree was a mere form, and when the marshal
appealed to the King, it was the general opinion that the
royal prerogative would be exercised in his favour. But
Anne de Bretagne opposed so fiercely any suggestion of
pardon that Louis XII refrained from intervention, and
the decree was allowed to stand. The disgraced Minister
accepted his fate with dignity and retired to his Chateau
of Le Verger, where he died some years later, leaving to
his sons a great fortune.
Thus, Louise of Savoy, after originating a political trial
which had set the whole Court and half France by the
ears, and compromised the Queen and a number of other
personages who had imprudently mixed themselves up in
the affair, recovered her liberty and avenged the humilia-
tions, real or imaginary, which she had suffered. Never-
theless, she herself did not emerge scathless, and her
recollection of the trial appears to have been so un-
pleasant that in her Journal she omits all mention of it.
44
CHAPTER V
LOUISE OF SAVOY showed a commendable moderation
in her hour of triumph. Beyond recalling Jean de Saint-
Gelais to Amboise, where he occupied a very modest
lodging in an obscure corner of the chateau, " as a simple
friend," without apparently being restored to favour, and
increasing to some extent her Household, which in 1506
numbered over one hundred persons, she made little use
of her victory. She no doubt acted wisely, for the Court
testified even less benevolence towards her than in the past ;
and the Queen, now that the common enemy was disposed
of, showed herself more hostile than ever. Nothing was
too insignificant to serve as an excuse for a quarrel
between the two ladies ; and thus matters continued until
the death of Anne de Bretagne.
Under the pretext of initiating Francois into affairs of
State, but really to counteract Louise's influence over her
son, Louis XII gave him . for gouverneur the Cardinal
d' Amboise, "a*vec la totalle administration de lapersonne" and
" commanded " the young prince's presence at Court
more and more frequently. Then, finding that the
countess had secured a stronger hold over Francois's
affections than he had supposed, he reverted to his former
project of getting rid of Louise by remarrying her.
In September 1505 his Majesty invited the countess to
pass some days at Madon, where he informed her that
she had been asked in marriage by Ferdinand the Catholic.
Louise began to raise objections ; the prince in question
was too mature a bridegroom. Louis XII did not press
45
The Pearl of Princesses
her, the reason being that he had another suitor in
reserve ; and, a day or two later, an Ambassador Extra-
ordinary from Henry VII, who had now been a widower
for two years and was on the look out for a young and,
needless to say, a well-dowered wife, presented himself
and formally demanded her hand on behalf of his master.
Again Louise hesitated, Henry being even less to her
taste than Ferdinand, and finally declined the proposition ;
she could not, she declared, bring herself to forsake her
children. Repulsed by the mother, the English Ambas-
sador, with perfect composure, demanded the daughter.
This time, Louise raised no objection, while the King
seemed highly gratified. Neither of them appeared to
consider that there was anything very unusual in marrying
a child of fourteen to a man almost on the threshold of
old age, austere and morose. Marguerite would be Queen
of England, and that ought to compensate her for
everything.
The negotiations began forthwith, and, on leaving
Madon, Lord Herbert carried away with him a diplomatic
note, in which, to enhance the value of the alliance,
Louis XII affected to treat Marguerite as his own child,
and promised to dower her according to the way of
Daughters of France. Shortly afterwards, a new Ambassa-
dor, the Duke of Somerset, brought back the King of
England's reply. It was very favourable, though, like a
practical man, Henry VII desired to be informed as to
the amount of the dot which the young lady was to receive,
insinuating that he had received from Spain an offer of a
princess with a large dowry. Louis XII offered 175,000
livres and a trousseau ; his brother of England, after
some hesitation, came to the conclusion that this was as
much as he could reasonably demand, and, since everything
Marguerite refuses Henry VII
appeared to be satisfactorily settled, as a last formality,
Marguerite was informed of the honour which awaited
her. The King and Louise of Savoy, of course, expected
her to bow to their wishes, as every young princess had
done since the time of Pharamond.
But Marguerite was an independent young lady, the
representative of a new world, of new ideas. She had
already planned out her life, and it was one in which
residence as the consort of an avaricious old potentate,
in a land which knew nothing of French elegance and
Italian culture, and in which, she was credibly informed,
the sun was sometimes invisible for days together, found
no part. And so, to their surprise and mortification, she
flatly declined to accept the illustrious monarch whom
they, in their wisdom, had selected for her, and shed
tears enough to melt the sternest of hearts. What !
They wished to carry her away into a far country where
a strange tongue was spoken ! to marry her to a king
it is true, but to what a king ! old, decrepit ! And
her brother himself was going to be a king one day !
Was it not possible for her to find a young, rich, and
noble husband without crossing the sea ?
She was allowed to have her way ; perhaps, the more
readily because her protestations were supported by the
entreaties of Francois, who naturally did not wish to be
separated from his sister, and to whom Louise of Savoy
could refuse nothing.
Since Marguerite had now attained what, in those days,
was considered a marriageable age, it is time to say some-
thing of her personal appearance. Beautiful she was
not, despite all that the poets have written about her ;
but she possessed, nevertheless, sufficient attractions to
47
The Pearl of Princesses
command numerous admirers, and, in one instance at
least, as we shall presently see, to inspire a most violent
passion. She was tall and slender, and very graceful in
her carriage and all her movements. Her hair, which
was very abundant and of a lightish brown colour, is con-
cealed in the only authentic portraits which we possess
of her under a close-fitting black coif a fashion which
imparts a certain severity to her countenance. Her eyes
were of a violet hue and remarkably expressive ; her
eyebrows slightly arched, like her mother's ; her fore-
head broad and straight, and she had the long nose
which both she and her brother Francois had inherited
from Charles d'Angouleme, and which she was to
bequeath to her daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, and Jeanne,
in her turn, to Henri Quatre. Her chin was small and
round ; while her mouth, " the lower lip rather full and
sensitive, restrained by the upper, which is critical and
austere," 1 is that of a woman at once firm and kindly.
Young though she was, she was already a practised
coquette in a strictly decorous kind of way, and cultivated
the art of bewitching men and eluding their pursuit. In
the resolution she had shown in refusing to share Henry
VII's throne, she had been no doubt strengthened by the
fact that for the last three years her heart was no longer
hers to bestow. We have the whole history of this
romance at first hand, since Marguerite has been pleased
to relate it herself, in full detail, in the tenth Nouvelle
of the Heptameron, in which she figures under the name
of Florida.
Two young princes, friends of her brother, she tells us,
were particularly attentive to Florida ; one, the " Due de
Cordone," whom M. de Maulde la Claviere has identified
1 Miss Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance.
Marguerite and Gaston de Foix
with Marguerite's first husband, the Due d'Alen^on, found
but little favour in her sight ; but the other, the Infant
fortun^ inspired in her very tender sentiments. Some
have supposed this young man to be the Infant of
Navarre, Jacques de Foix, but Jacques de Foix, as the
above-mentioned writer points out, died in 1501, and
there can be no doubt that the Infant fortune is identical
with the Infant of Fouez, the brave and chivalrous Gaston
de Foix, " who merits excellently the epithet of ' Child
of Fortune/ since, during his short life, up to his heroic
death, which he found at the age of twenty-three on the
battle-field of Ravenna, everything smiled upon him." 1
Little wonder that Marguerite should have smiled upon
him, too, for Gaston de Foix possessed the gift of winning
hearts as well as of gaining battles ; and in later years
the women adored him as well as his soldiers, whom he
inspired with his own dashing courage. Louis XII was
as fond of Gaston as if he were his own son, and perhaps
in consequence of this Louise of Savoy made the lad very
welcome at Amboise. As for Marguerite, she lost her
heart to him entirely, while he, on his side, appeared
to be far from insensible. She even seems to have
cherished the idea of marrying him when they were both
a little older. a We shall have," says one of her maids-
of-honour in the Nouvelle, " the handsomest couple in
Christendom. . . . He is one of the handsomest and
most perfect young princes in existence."
While, however, this love-affair was still in the bud,
there entered upon the scene a dashing cavalier of nineteen,
who bears the name of Amadour in the Nouvelle, but who is
easily recognized as Guillaume Gouffier, Sire de Bonnivet,
the professional lover par excellence of his time. A kinsman
1 Louise de Savoie et Franfots l tr .
49 E
The Pearl of Princesses
of the Cardinal d'Amboise, Bonnivet had begun his career
as one of Charles VIII's pages, and was now serving
under the Marquis of Mantua in Italy, where he had
already distinguished himself by his courage in the field,
and still more by the havoc he had wrought with the
hearts of the fair, since " he joined to an excellent under-
standing a rare and winsome comeliness that none could
look upon without pleasure."
Bonnivet first saw Marguerite at Chaumont, whither,
having returned on furlough from Italy, he had come to
wait upon the King, and, " after gazing upon her for a
time," found her so attractive that he " resolved to love
her." However, as her age did not as yet permit her to
understand any amorous discourse, he was obliged to
defer his suit for the present, u fortifying himself with
the hope and reflection that time and patience might
bring the affair to a happy issue."
Meanwhile, he cast about him for a means of obtaining
a footing at Amboise, since otherwise his opportunities
of seeing the damsel might be but few ; and was so
fortunate as to discover in the neighbourhood a young
girl, Bonaventure du Puy du Fou the " Aventurada "
of the tale who was one of Marguerite's most intimate
friends and passed a great deal of her time at the chateau.
Her he resolved to wed, since, though she was unat-
tractive in person, her father, the Sire d'Amaillou, was
very rich.
To win the heart of Bonaventure was, for so accom-
plished a gallant, the simplest thing in the world ; but
the paternal consent was not so easy to obtain, for M.
Bonnivet, being a younger son, had but a slender patri-
mony. Indeed, it was not until he had enlisted the good
offices of Louise of Savoy and Marguerite that the Sire
5
Passion of Bonnivet for Marguerite
d'Amaillou allowed himself to be persuaded that the
merits of his daughter's suitor might conceivably out-
weigh his lack of fortune. When, however, that had
been accomplished, the old gentleman behaved very
handsomely, and poor Bonaventure's dowry enabled her
husband to vie in the splendour of his apparel with any
gentleman at the Court.
This marriage furnished the enterprising Bonnivet with
a very convenient cloak for the prosecution of his
designs upon Marguerite, and cc afforded him a pretext
for resorting to the place where his spirit ever dwelt."
His good looks and his agreeable manners made him a
welcome guest at Amboise ; Louise of Savoy received
him very graciously, and encouraged his intimacy with
her children, and Marguerite quite innocently admitted
him to her friendship, and confided to him her attach-
ment for Gaston de Foix. Bonnivet artfully pretended
to sympathize with the girl's hopes in that direction,
made it his business to cultivate Gaston's friendship, and
talked to Marguerite incessantly about him, professing to
entertain for him the warmest admiration. However,
not long after his marriage, war broke out again in Italy,
and he was obliged to take his departure.
Five years passed, during which Bonnivet paid several
visits to France ; but so short was his stay on each
occasion that he was able to see very little of Marguerite.
However, he maintained an active correspondence with
his wife, and asked continually for news of the young
princess ; and the latter, flattered by his interest in her,
frequently added a few lines in her own handwriting to
Madame de Bonnivet's letters. This served to keep the
flame of his passion burning brightly.
At length, peace being concluded, he obtained a long
5 1
The Pearl of Princesses
leave of absence from his military duties and returned to
France, with the intention of prosecuting another kind of
campaign to that in which he had been engaged in Italy.
He received a warm welcome at Amboise, where he was
treated as one of the family ; but, rinding that Marguerite's
heart was still occupied by Gaston de Foix, he decided
that the time had not yet come to lay siege to it in
earnest, and endeavoured to disguise his passion. " He
had, however, a difficult task to escape the observation
of those who knew by experience how to distinguish a
lover's looks from another man's ; for when Florida,
thinking no evil, came and spoke familiarly to him, the
fire that was hidden in his heart so consumed him that
he could not keep the colour from mounting to his face
or the sparks of flame from darting from his eyes." In
order to divert suspicion in regard to his real sentiments,
he began to pay court to a beautiful lady of the chateau,
whose identity is concealed under the name of Paulina,
and who appeared only too anxious to console him for
his misfortune in being married to so unattractive a wife.
But this lady, " being proud and experienced in love,"
soon arrived at the conclusion that he was not sincere in
his professions of devotion, and that he was merely
making use of her as a cloak for some other affair of the
heart, and began to watch him very closely. " Her
observation sorely troubled Amadour, for Florida, who
was ignorant of all these wiles, often spoke to him before
Paulina in such a familiar fashion that he was obliged to
make wondrous efforts to compel his eyes to belie his
heart." To avoid unpleasant consequences, he decided to
take a bold step, and one day, when he and Marguerite
were leaning out of one of the windows of the chateau,
engaged in an agreeable tete-h-tite^ he inquired whether
A Tender Conversation
she would counsel a man in love to confess his passion
or die. The princess replied that she should counsel any
friend of hers to speak rather than to die, adding
sententiously that, though there were few words that
could not be mended, life once lost could never be
regained.
Thus encouraged, Bonnivet begged her to promise
him not to be displeased or alarmed at what he was
about to say, until she had heard him to the end. Then,
after a good deal of circumlocution, he declared, in
burning words, that, from the time that she was a girl, he
had striven to win her favour ; that he had married the
unsuspecting Bonaventure solely to secure opportunities
of sunning himself in her presence ; that he had cultivated
the friendship of Gaston de Foix in order to please her ;
in short, that all his efforts had no other end than that of
spending his whole life near her. At the same time, he
implored her to believe that " he was not one of those
who would by such means seek to obtain from her any
favour or pleasure otherwise than virtuous, and that he
would rather see her dead than less worthy of being
loved, or that her virtue had diminished for the sake of
any pleasure to himself." The only boon that he craved
of her was the honour of being allowed to serve
her.
Marguerite lowered her eyes, blushed a little, and then
gently reproved her admirer, observing that she could
not understand why he should consider it necessary to
employ so much eloquence in demanding a favour which
he had already been accorded. " She feared lest beneath
his honeyed words there lurked some hidden guile to
deceive her ignorance and youth."
Bonnivet indignantly rejoined that, since she appeared
53
The Pearl of Princesses
to doubt the purity of his intentions, he felt that nothing
remained for him but to go away. Marguerite declared
that that was not necessary ; she trusted entirely to his
honour to his virtue she did not wish him to do
anything of the kind. Certainly, she did not wish it !
What damsel ever yet denied herself a flirtation because
of its potential danger ? She admits, indeed, that her
heart experienced a new sensation. But, from that
moment, it was impossible for her not to betray a certain
embarrassment and reserve in her manner towards Bon-
nivet, so that the latter, affecting to believe that he had
had the misfortune to displease her, ended by voluntarily
exiling himself.
She wrote and begged him to return. He came.
Possibly, Marguerite was beginning to forget Gaston,
whom she had not seen for some time, and who was
reported to be contemplating marriage with Jeanne la
Folle, widow of Philippe le Beau, and mother of the
future Emperor, Charles V. Any way, she now con-
sidered herself entitled to the exclusive devotion of
Bonnivet, and showed herself so jealous of his atten-
tion to the fair Paulina, that it was necessary for him
to assure her that Ct he found it an intolerable martyrdom
to speak either to Paulina or to any one else, save to do
her honour and service." Louise of Savoy, so far from
warning her daughter, regarded the progress of the affair
with a benevolent eye ; and Bonnivet had almost decided
that the time had come when he might safely seek the
reward of all his patient stratagem, when war again
claimed him, and he was obliged to tear himself away.
Naturally very brave, he accomplished divers deeds of
valour ; but at length had the misfortune to be taken
prisoner, to the great distress of Marguerite, who was
54
The Due d'Alencon
confronted with the prospect of an indefinite separation
from her admirer.
Before they met again, indeed, a very important change
had taken place in Marguerite's life, for in the autumn
of 1509, when she had half completed her eighteenth
year, the young lady found herself under the necessity
of having done, for the time being, with romance and
duly taking a husband.
Among the French nobles of sufficiently high birth
to justify them aspiring to Marguerite's hand the Due
d'Alencon, already mentioned, held the first place. He
was descended from the youngest brother of Philippe VI,
and was the grandson of Jean, fourth Due d'Alencon,
condemned to death for high treason during the reign
of Louis XI, but whose sentence was subsequently com-
muted to imprisonment at Loches, where he died in
1476. Rene d'Alencon, the son of the rebellious Jean,
was fortunate enough to find favour with Louis XI, and
was re-established in the duchy of which his father had
been deprived. He married Marguerite de Lorraine,
daughter of the Comte de Vaudemont, and Charles, born
in 1489, was his eldest son.
Louis XII, who spent a considerable part of his life
in unavailing attempts to reconcile the conflicting claims
of various members of the Royal House, had conceived
the idea of a marriage between Charles d'Alencon and
Marguerite, as a means of terminating a long and vexa-
tious lawsuit between the reigning branch and that of
Alen^on relative to the succession to the county of
Armagnac, into the particulars of which we need not
enter here. The King proposed to reconcile his dislike
of litigation with his obligation to maintain the rights of
the Crown by marrying Marguerite to the Due d'Alengon,
55
The Pearl of Princesses
and, as a free act of the royal bounty, ceding to her by
way of a dowry all his rights, real and pretended, on the
county of Armagnac.
Charles d'Alen^on was then in his twentieth year. He
had been affianced when a lad to Suzanne de Bourbon,
only child of Anne de Beaujeu and Pierre II, Due de
Bourbon ; but the match had been arranged by Louis XII,
and neither party was particularly anxious for it ; and,
after the death of the Due de Bourbon, it had been
broken off, in order that the conflicting claims of
Suzanne and her cousin, the Comte de Montpensier,
to the inheritance of Bourbon might be adjusted by
their union. Apart from his exalted birth, he had little
enough to recommend him. Plain and insignificant in
appearance, without capacity, without culture, without
any taste for those intellectual pursuits which Marguerite
followed with so much enthusiasm, of a jealous and
morose temperament, reserved and unsociable both from
habit and inclination, and possessed of an ambition which
caused him to aspire to all kinds of offices which he was
quite unfitted to fill, he presented the most complete
contrast to the young princess for whom he was intended
that could well be imagined.
Marguerite does not seem to have been consulted in
the matter at all ; the King, Anne de Bretagne, and
Madame d'Angouleme settled it between themselves,
without any reference to her inclinations. When at
length, everything being satisfactorily arranged, they
condescended to inform her of how they had disposed
of her hand, she experienced at first a violent shock.
But this time there was no escape, since she could
advance no reason for refusing to accept a French prince,
only two years older than herself, except the fact that
56
Marguerite marries the Due d'Alengon
she was altogether indifferent to him. And so she
resigned herself to her fate, observing that " God was
to be praised for all things." Nevertheless, this sub-
mission, she tells us, was only accomplished by a mighty
effort of will. " So strongly did she constrain herself,
that her tears, driven perforce back into her head, caused
so great a loss of blood from the nose that her life was
endangered ; and, that she might be restored to health,
she espoused him whom she would willingly have
exchanged for death."
The marriage contract was signed at Blois on Octo-
ber 9, 1509. Marguerite's dowry amounted to the sum
of 60,000 livres, 1 in addition to the county of Armagnac,
which Louis XII ceded to her. The nuptial ceremony
was performed the same evening, " at fifteen minutes
past six o'clock," 2 the Cardinal de Nantes officiating, 3 in
the presence of the King and Queen and the whole
court. His Majesty conducted the bride to the altar,
and gave her, we are told, so many tokens of his con-
sideration and affection that the Comtesse d'Angouleme
wept for very joy. After the ceremony, Anne de
1 " This sum, the contract stipulated, was to be paid by instalments.
The first portion of his sister's dowry, a sum of 6000 livres, Franjois
delivered to the Due d'Alen9on on the day the contract was signed. A
document preserved in the Bibliotheque Royale, signed by Marguerite
and Charles in acknowledgment of an advance of 7000 livres made by
Franois I in liquidation of his sister's dowry in the year 1510, states
that no further sums were received by the Due d'Alen9on until
1518. In this, and in the following year, the King paid 40,000 livres ;
and again, in 1520, Fra^ois made a further advance of 7000. There
still remained of the original sum of 60,000 livres, an arrear of 7000,
which probably Marguerite never received, as from the period of the
last instalment dates the commencement of the King's ruinous wars."
Frere, The Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre.
2 Journal de Louise de Savoie.
3 Robert de Guibe, Bishop of Nantes, created Cardinal in 1505.
57
The Pearl of Princesses
Bretagne, who had undertaken to defray all the expenses
of the nuptials, gave a state banquet in honour of the
occasion, and, on the following day, a tournament was
held in the grand court of the chateau, at which the
Queen and the young bride sat beneath a canopy of state
in the midst of the gallery reserved for the ladies of the
Court, and distributed the prizes to the victors.
Marguerite's marriage had been preceded by arrange-
ments for the matrimonial future of her brother, the
little Due de Valois.
We have seen how, when lying on what he firmly
believed to be his death-bed in the spring of 1505,
Louis XII had given positive orders for the marriage
of his elder daughter, Madame Claude, with Francois, and
had obliged the Queen to swear to observe this and the
other prescriptions of his will. But, on the King's
recovery, Anne de Bretagne resumed her opposition to
the marriage, and Louis, aware that the whole kingdom
desired it, and, on the other hand, regarded with
profound alarm the Queen's ruinous project of marrying
the heiress of Brittany to the son of Philippe le Beau,
resolved to overrule his consort's objections by a decisive
manifestation of popular feeling ; and accordingly con-
voked the States-General.
The States-General was never summoned save in
altogether exceptional circumstances, when the Sovereign
desired to ascertain the opinion of his subjects in regard
to some question which affected the future of the whole
kingdom. They had last been convened during the
troubled minority of Charles VIII, when the session
had been a stormy one, and they had been abruptly
dissolved. But, on this occasion, the King had no fear
of allowing the country to voice its demands.
58
Betrothal of the Due de Valois
The States assembled at Tours in the second week
of May 1506. They presented a singular spectacle,
for never before had such perfect unanimity, so complete
an absence of dissentient voices, been witnessed. On
the 1 3th, under the form of a verbal address, their votes
were presented to the King in the grande salle of the
chateau of Plessis-les-Tours, so full of memories of
Louis XI, in the presence of the Due de Valois, the
princes, and the high dignitaries of the kingdom. The
orator of the States, in a speech full of expressions of
affection and gratitude, harangued the King, vaunted the
justice and good order which reigned throughout the
land, declared that the kingdom had never been so
happy and so prosperous as under the beneficent rule
of the monarch who so well deserved the name of
" Father of the People," and ended by announcing that
his Majesty's loving subjects were so perfectly contented
that they had only one desire to express : that of the
marriage of Madame Claude with " Monsieur Franfoys,
id present, qui est tout Franpoys."
The King shed tears ; the whole assembly did likewise.
" It was, indeed, a solemn and touching occasion. A
king so profoundly good, so beloved, with the sign of
approaching death on his forehead, already reduced to
the condition of a spectre, and outliving himself, so to
speak, by a miracle, and by love for his people, was
bidding adieu to the people of France/* The Chan-
cellor, in the King's name, made a suitable response and
assured the States that his Majesty would at once take
their request into consideration ; and on the I9th the
deputies were informed that the marriage they desired
would take place as soon as possible, and requested to
cause an oath to be administered to the inhabitants of
59
The Pearl of Princesses
every town throughout the kingdom that, in the event of
the King's death, they would immediately recognize the
Due de Valois as his heir and son-in-law. After an
enthusiastic response from the States and the thanks of
the Chancellor, each deputy took a similar oath on his
own account, and then dispersed with loud cries of
" Vive le Roi ! "
Two days later, a brilliant company which included
the King and Queen, the Due de Valois and his mother
and sister, the Duchesse de Bourbon, the grand officers
of the Crown, the principal personages of the Court, and
the deputies, assembled once more in the grande salle
of the chateau. Gaston de Foix held in his arms
Madame Claude, who was now six years old. The
Chancellor read to the assembly the marriage-contract,
by which the King conferred upon his daughter in full
ownership his own patrimony (Blois, Soissons, Coucy and
Asti) ; and the Queen, a dowry of one hundred thou-
sand ecus and the succession to her duchy of Brit-
tany ; provided nevertheless that, in the event of the
birth of a son, the princess would receive a pension
of twenty thousand livres and the title of Duchess of
Brittany, in lieu of the duchy itself and her father's
estates.
Every one then took an oath to observe the contract,
which was subsequently countersigned by the various
distinguished persons of France and Brittany.
The betrothal of her son to Madame Claude was a
fresh triumph for Louise of Savoy, and her satisfaction
was not diminished by the reflection that it had taken
place notwithstanding the persistent opposition of the
Queen, who could with difficulty conceal her disgust.
The attitude taken up by Anne de Bretagne on this
60
Misgivings of Anne de Bretagne
question was not due simply to political motives.
Whatever may have been her repugnances or her
preferences, as Queen she might in time have reconciled
herself to the match, but never as wife and mother.
The little Madame Claude had been very carefully
brought up in the old notions of religion and duty
which were, unfortunately, rapidly going out of fashion.
She was not pretty, but simple, sweet-tempered, truthful,
and very pious, in short, possessed of all the virtues
useless to the Comtesse d'Angouleme, whose ideas of
education and life were altogether different to those
of Anne de Bretagne. And there was only too much
reason to believe that the Due de Valois, over whom
the countess possessed so much influence, would prove
to be a worthy son of his mother. How then could
Claude expect to find anything but unhappiness in such
a marriage ?
And so, although for reasons of State, Anne had been
obliged to yield and allow the betrothal to take place,
she employed all the influence she possessed over her
husband to defer the celebration of the marriage itself,
in the hope that if a son the object of her most ardent
desires were born to her, her daughter might escape
an alliance which she had so much cause to dread. It
was only, indeed, after the Queen's death, eight years
later, that the ceremony was performed.
61
CHAPTER VI
AT the conclusion of the wedding festivities, which
lasted four days, Marguerite accompanied her husband
to his Chateau of Alen^on in Normandy. This separation
from her family and friends, and from the brilliant circle
of scholars and men of letters which she had begun to
gather about her, and in intercourse with whom she
found so much pleasure, was a great trial to the young
princess, and did not tend to reconcile her to a marriage
which had been so contrary to her inclinations. She
felt deserted and solitary, and but for the consolation
she found in the society of her faithful friend Madame
de Chatillon, who had exchanged the post of gouvernante
for that of dame d'honneur^ she would have been very
unhappy indeed. However, to her great relief, her exile
only lasted a few weeks, and at the beginning of the
following year she and the Due d'Alen^on returned to
Blois, where a new experience awaited her.
One day, not long after her arrival, she was in the com-
pany of her mother and her mother-in-law, Marguerite
de Lorraine, Duchesse d'Alen^on, when she was informed
that Bonnivet, who had recently recovered his liberty,
was expected almost immediately. With difficulty dis-
sembling her joy at the prospect of again meeting her
admirer, she stationed herself at a window overlooking
the courtyard of the chateau, to watch for his coming ;
and, "as soon as she caught sight of him, she went
down by a dark staircase, in order that none might
perceive her change countenance."
62
Reunion of Marguerite and Bonnivet
The reunion of the lovers was naturally a very tender
one ; the situation, indeed, had become what a cynic
would have called idyllic, both being now legally bound
to an uncongenial third party. Marguerite confesses
to have thrown herself into Bonnivet's arms and em-
braced him ; while, as she told him of the marriage to
which she had been constrained and the faithlessness
of Gaston de Foix, who had had the bad taste to transfer
his attentions to another lady, her tears fell fast. How-
ever, she soon recovered her self-possession, and, while
deriving all the consolation she could for her misfortunes
from the devotion of the young cavalier, gave him to
understand that she regarded him " not as a lover, but
as a true and perfect friend." M. de Bonnivet, of course,
hastened to repeat the assurances that he had given her
on a former occasion, that the only boon he craved at
her hands was that of being permitted to serve her ;
and the princess would appear to have believed them.
She was soon to be disillusioned.
Like a bolt from the blue, a double tragedy descended
upon the loving pair. Bonnivet received orders from the
King to return to his military duties in Italy, and his
wife, whom Marguerite, on her marriage, had, for obvious
reasons, taken into her service, was so overcome on learn-
ing the news that she swooned away, fell down a flight
of steps on which she happened to be standing at the
time, and received such injuries that she died the same
day. Thus, not only was he obliged, in deference to the
royal command, to leave his inamorata, but he lost, by
the death of his wife, his only plausible pretext for
enjoying the princess's society either at the Court or
at Alen^on, when he should again find himself at leisure.
Such was his despair that he was "like to lose his
63
The Pearl of Princesses
reason," and, after his wife's funeral, in default of any
other excuse for delaying his departure, he feigned
illness and took to his bed.
Marguerite, aware that she herself was the cause, was
assiduous in her attentions to her stricken admirer. " She
spent a whole afternoon in the most gracious conversation
with him, in order to mitigate his grief," and assured him
that she would find means to see him as frequently as
possible. Finally, on the day before his departure for
Italy, whither urgent orders from his unsympathetic
sovereign obliged him to proceed, although he assured
the princess that he was so weak that he could scarce stir
from his bed, she consented, in response to his piteous
entreaties, to come late that evening, after every one else
had left, to bid him a last farewell. " This she promised
to do, not knowing that love in extremity is void of reason."
Her conduct was certainly sadly lacking in circumspec-
tion, for Bonnivet, " racked by secret passion and in
despair of losing all means of seeing her in the future,
had resolved to play at double or quits, and either lose
her altogether or else wholly win her, and so pay him-
self in an hour the reward to which he considered himself
entitled. Accordingly, he gave directions for his bed-
curtains to be arranged in such a way that those who
entered the room could not see him ; and he complained
so much more than he had done previously that all about
him thought that he had not twenty-four hours to live."
That evening, when every one else had left the room,
the princess, with the knowledge and consent of her hus-
band, we are told the Due d'Alen^on must have been
of a singularly unsuspicious nature arrived according to
promise, and, seating herself by her hapless gallant's side,
sought to comfort him, " by declaring her affection and by
Marguerite's Honour in Danger
telling him that, so far as honour permitted, she was
willing to love him." But, to her astonishment and dis-
may, the supposed moribund suddenly rose up, and
exclaiming : " Must I then lose sight of you for ever ? "
seized her in his arms, and " strove to obtain that which
the honour of ladies forbids."
More fortunate than that other princess, for whom, the
second Book of Samuel tells us, a similar trap was laid, Mar-
guerite, " who thought that he had lost his senses rather
than that he was really bent on her dishonour," retained her
presence of mind and called out to a gentleman whom
she knew to be near at hand, whereupon the disappointed
Bonnivet threw himself back on the bed, and lay so still that
the gentleman imagined for a moment that he was dead.
The princess despatched the newcomer for restoratives,
and when these had had the desired effect, instead of
leaving the room, began to reproach her admirer. Was
this, she demanded, the conduct of one who had professed
for her so pure a devotion ; who had over and over again
declared that he desired nothing from her but the honour of
being permitted to serve her ? The culprit, seemingly not
one whit abashed, protested that no one could have held her
honour more dear than himself. Before she was married,
he said, he had been able to keep his passion in subjec-
tion, so that she had known nothing of his desires ; but,
now that she had a husband, " her honour was shielded."
" What wrong do I do you," cried he, " to ask for what
is mine ? By force of love I have won you. He who
first possessed your heart had so little desire for your
person that he deserved to lose both. He who now
possesses your person is not worthy to have your heart,
and hence even your person does not properly belong to
him." And so forth.
65
The Pearl of Princesses
Marguerite replied to this specious reasoning gently
but firmly. It was unfortunately true that she was unable
to endure her husband, and that M. de Foix loved
another. But, when she had sought consolation for her
unhappiness in his society, she had done so in all inno-
cence, expecting to find only a true and devoted friend.
But alas ! she had found something altogether different.
Never would she trust in man's honour again !
Bonnivet, recognizing that the day was lost, and that
nothing remained for him but to endeavour to avoid such
a defeat as would render a resumption of the campaign
altogether hopeless, affected penitence and implored her
forgiveness ; but Marguerite remained sceptical, and they
separated. No sooner had she left him, however, than
her fortitude gave way, and " so long as the night lasted
she did naught but weep." Reason, she. tells us, dictated
that she should love him no more ; but her heart refused
to be guided by reason. " Thus, she was unable to love
him less than before, and, aware that love had been the
cause of his offence, she decided to satisfy love, by con-
tinuing to love him with her whole heart, and to obey
honour, by never giving any sign of her affection either
to him or to any one else."
On his way to Italy, the disconsolate gallant passed a
night at Amboise, whither Louise of Savoy had lately
returned, and confessed to her his love for Marguerite.
Probably, that lady was already aware of the fact ; at any
rate, being much less severe in these matters than her
daughter, she expressed her sympathy with him, and
promised that she would make Marguerite write to him.
The princess, we are told, unwilling to acquaint her
mother, " who was so discreet and virtuous," with the
truth, lest some harm should befall Bonnivet, consented
66
Stratagem of a Virtuous Princess
to do so ; but her letters were such cold and formal
epistles that they drove him to despair, and he became,
in consequence, " so sad and so changed that ladies,
captains, and acquaintances alike could scarcely recognize
him."
At the end of two or three years he contrived to get
sent on a mission to Louis XII, and set out for France,
determined to make another effort to overcome Mar-
guerite's scruples. Learning that she was staying with
her mother at Amboise, he sent a messenger to Louise of
Savoy to announce his intention of visiting the chateau
on his way to the Court, at the same time begging her
to receive him at nightfall, without any one's knowledge.
The countess, whose conduct on this occasion is certainly
very difficult to reconcile with either the discretion or
virtue which her daughter attributes to her, hastened to
inform Marguerite, and " sent her to undress in her
husband's room, in order that she might be ready when
she sent for her and every one had retired to rest."
Marguerite pretended to obey ; but, instead of doing so,
she repaired to her oratory, " to pray that her heart might
be preserved from an evil affection," and, " being more
willing to spoil her beauty than to allow it to kindle an
unhallowed flame in the heart of an honourable gentle-
man, she took up a stone which lay there, and struck
herself so grievous a blow on the face, that her mouth,
nose, and eyes were quite disfigured." Then, in order
that no one might suspect this to be of her own doing,
she let herself fall on her face on leaving the oratory,
when summoned by the countess, and cried out loudly.
Louise of Savoy, finding her in this state, wasted no time
in comment, but caused her face to be dressed and
bandaged, and then bade her go to her apartments and
The Pearl of Princesses
entertain Bonnivet until she herself should be at liberty.
Marguerite obeyed, thinking that there were others with
him, but when she found that he was alone, " she was as
greatly troubled as he was pleased."
Bonnivet, notwithstanding her disfigurement, which
she had counted upon to allay his passion, at once began
to urge his suit, and, when he found that she gave him
the same reply as before, " his countenance, usually so
gentle and pleasant, became so horrible and furious as
though fiery flames were blazing in his heart and face " ;
and seizing her little hands in his strong ones, he drew
her roughly to him, vowing that no scruples on her part
should rob him of the fruits of all his patience. She
resisted, she entreated, she reminded him of the past; he
would listen to nothing ; and, as a last resource, she was
obliged to call her mother, which she did with all the
strength of her lungs. Louise had no alternative but to
appear and demand an explanation of so imperative a
summons. Marguerite merely replied that " she had
felt afraid," and beyond that would say nothing. But,
when questioned in his turn, Bonnivet, who was never at
a loss for an answer, proceeded to explain that, having
flattered himself that, notwithstanding his long absence,
he still retained a place in the princess's good graces, he
had asked to be allowed to kiss her hand ; which favour
being, to his astonishment, refused him, he had, in a
moment of irritation, for which he now humbly asked
pardon, taken her hand, as it were by force, and kissed it.
He had asked nothing more of her, and could not
understand why she should have been so alarmed.
He then took his departure, but, before doing so,
drew Marguerite aside, and, having thanked her for not
telling her mother the truth, begged her that, " since she
68
Morals of Louise of Savoy
had expelled him from her heart, she would allow no one
else to take his place." To which the lady replied that
he need have no fear on that score, as, " having failed to
find the qualities she sought in the heart that she had
believed to be the most virtuous in the world, she could
have no hope of finding them elsewhere."
When he had gone, Louise of Savoy scolded her
daughter severely for her ridiculous prudery, for her
unreasonableness, for her inconsistency, in " hating all
things that she loved. In fact, so angry was she that for
some days afterwards she would hardly condescend to
speak to her."
" Morals have greatly changed," observes M. de
Maulde la Claviere, " and we do not always understand
very well those of that period. We must not measure
them by our own standard. Probably, Louise of Savoy
believed, in all sincerity, that she ought not to show
herself more severe towards her children than towards
herself. Certain of her contemporaries, who were not
much better than herself, have, however, blamed her for
it, and Cornelius Agrippa, although no saint, launched
against her this coarse invective : c // y a des meres qui se
font les proxenetes de leurs fls' " *
1 Louise de Savoie et Francois l er .
6 9
CHAPTER VII
THE Due de Valois, meanwhile, was approaching man-
hood. Without being handsome, his face was one which
pleased, for if his features were too strongly marked to
satisfy connoisseurs of masculine beauty, he had a frank
and good-humoured expression the expression of one
who found life very enjoyable and was on the best of
terms with himself and all the world. In stature, he was
tall and very strongly built, and carried himself with grace
and dignity ; and altogether appears to have been re-
garded by the people, who attach so much importance to
outward appearances, as " ung beau et grant prince " full of
spirit, courage, and generosity.
Francois was a signal instance of a man too much sur-
rounded by affectionate and admiring women. Both
Louise of Savoy and Marguerite adored him ; in their
eyes he could do no wrong ; they called him their Caesar ;
and though, as he grew older, he began to lord it over
them, they only loved him the better for it. Little wonder
then that, almost from boyhood, he entertained the most
exalted idea of his own importance. When he went to
visit his mother at Amboise, he expected to be received in
the towns through which he passed with almost as much
ceremony as if he had been already King ; he established
his Household on a royal footing : 58 chamberlains and
superior officers, 129 other officers ; 10 secretaries and
clerks ; 6 huntsmen, 7 musicians, and so forth ; and his
expenditure on clothes, jewels and amusements must have
far exceeded that of Louis XII, who, like a true father of
70
First Campaign of the Due de Valois
his people, economized in these directions as much as
possible, even to the length of sometimes denying him-
self personal comforts in order that he might have more
money to spend in relieving distress.
He took himself very seriously, too, and sharing the
maternal antipathy to Anne de Bretagne, refused to be
persuaded that any of the Queen's personal friends " could
be truly his servant." Thus, Robert de la Marck, who,
having been compromised by his friendship with the
Marechal de Gie, had thought it policy to endeavour to
ingratiate himself with her Majesty, found, in after years,
that this circumstance was remembered against him.
Francois had taken his place at the Court at a moment
when the victories of Genoa and Agnadello had given rise
to a great wave of military enthusiasm, and his imagina-
tion, nourished on the romances of chivalry, had been
fired by the exploits of the brave captains whom France
then possessed the bravest since the time of Charle-
magne, says Brantome. Naturally, therefore, he burned
to emulate the deeds of the Bayards and the La Tre-
moilles, and pestered the King to give him an opportunity
of distinguishing himself. For some time Louis XII
refused, but in August 1511 he obtained permission to
join the army of observation under the young Due de
Bourbon on the Spanish frontier, and set out gaily for
the Pyrenees, although he had barely recovered from a
severe attack of fever, and was still very weak. But,
to his intense disappointment, the Spaniards showed no
inclination to take the offensive, and in November he
returned to Blois with Bourbon, without having struck
a blow.
In the following September, to the great joy of himself
and his fond mother, Francois received the nominal
7 1
The Pearl of Princesses
command of the army of Guienne, Odet de Foix, Seigneur
de Lautrec, brother of the Comtesse de Chateaubriand,
a lady of whom we shall have occasion to speak hereafter,
being appointed chief of the general staff. A Spanish
army under the Duke of Alva had crossed the mountains
and overrun the country up to Saint-Jean Pied-de-Port ;
but at the approach of the French, whom Francois, with
youthful ardour, had at once ordered to advance, Alva
repassed the Pyrenees and nimbly avoided the turning
movement which the young prince had decided on. The
latter did not follow him ; and the result of his inaction,
which appears to have been due to ill-health, was that the
Spaniards were able to complete at their leisure the con-
quest of the Spanish dominions of Jean d'Albret, King of
Navarre. However, as they had quitted French soil, and
an English army which had landed at Fontarabia, with the
view of attacking Guienne, had mutinied and sailed home
again without effecting anything, Francois's flatterers
appeared to consider themselves justified in hailing him
as a victor ; and one Guillaume Piellei composed a long
poem in Latin in praise of his supposed exploits. In
point of fact, however, it was a very inglorious kind of
campaign, and not at all an auspicious opening to a
military career.
In the spring of 1513 an English army, commanded by
Henry VIII in person, landed in the North of France and
laid siege to Therouanne. A French force advanced to
its relief, but the cavalry allowed itself to be surprised
and routed by the English near Guinegate, in an engage-
ment which received in derision the name of " la Journee
des Eperons " (" Battle of the Spurs "), and in which Mar-
guerite d'Angouleme's too persistent admirer Bonnivet and
a number of other nobles were taken prisoners. Contrary
72
Loss of Thdrouanne and Tournai
to what some historians have stated, Francois was not
present on this occasion, which was perhaps a fortunate
circumstance for him. He was at Amiens at the time,
and, on learning of the disaster, started at the head of
four hundred men-at-arms to endeavour to rally the
fugitives, which he succeeded in doing ; but it was
impossible to save Therouanne, which shortly afterwards
capitulated. Nor was he able to save Tournai, to which
the invading army next directed its attentions. The
ancient privileges of this town exempted it from a gar-
rison, and when the Due de Valois offered to install one
there, the citizens replied valiantly : " Tournay riavoit
iamais tourne et encore ne tournera " ; adding that, if the
English came, they would soon learn the kind of men
with whom they had to deal. The English duly arrived,
and so soon learned to appreciate the valour of the
burgesses of Tournai that in three days they had per-
suaded them to capitulate, to the profound mortification
of Francois.
If, however, opportunities for military distinction
hesitated to present themselves, the young prince doubt-
less derived some consolation from his successes in another
direction. A French proverb says : " Une cour sans dames est
une cour sans court" or as Francois himself once expressed
it : "A court without ladies is like a summer without
roses " ; and, notwithstanding the severity of Anne de
Bretagne, 1 the Court of France was as fertile in romances
1 Anne was terribly strict with her maids-of-honour, who were treated
like schoolgirls. They were placed under the direction of a gouvernante,
who was supposed never to allow them out of her sight, and no man,*
except their confessors, was ever allowed to approach them, unless it was
in the royal presence. This caution defeated its own ends, for, having
no one else to flirt with, they sometimes flirted with the confessors. One
holy man became so enamoured of Mile, de Bourdeille, a relative of
73
The Pearl of Princesses
as any other. The King himself had a little one, strictly
under the rose, of course, with a certain Madame Spinola,
who, Jean d'Autun assures us, was so passionately devoted
to his Majesty that she actually died of a broken heart in
1505, when a false report of his death reached her, though
truth compels us to observe that the lady postponed her
demise until some years later.
Francois was as precocious in love as in other things,
and at fourteen or fifteen he became sentimental over a
Mile. Anne de Graville, daughter of the Amiral de
Graville, and one of the Queen's maids-of-honour. Mile,
de Graville, who, it may be mentioned, was about double
the age of her illustrious admirer, was a very pretty young
woman, with laughing dark eyes, rosy cheeks, and " a
figure which permitted one to form the most agreeable
conjectures." She had literary and artistic tastes ; trans-
lated one of the romances of Boccaccio into French verse,
and had some skill in painting. Probably Francois's
intimacy with her was not without a certain influence on
the intellectual side of his character. Not that it lasted very
long or went very far, however, since, after sending several
more or less eligible pretenders for her hand about their
business, one fine morning in 1 509, Mile, de Graville, to
the intense indignation of her family, eloped with an im-
pecunious cousin of hers, Pierre de Balzac d'Entragues
a name which was to become only too well known in the
reign of Henry IV whom she subsequently presented
with eleven children.
The Due de Valois, though perhaps a little chagrined
at this abrupt termination to his romance with Anne de
Brantome, that he lost his head and preached on the tender passion,
much to the scandal of the Queen and the congregation. Her Majesty
caused him to be whipped and expelled the Court.
74
The Brunette of Amboise
Graville, wasted no time in regrets, but promptly began to
pay attention to another of the Queen's maids-of-honour,
Fran^oise de Foix, a sister of the Sire de Lautrec already
mentioned. Mile, de Foix, who was a very pretty girl
about the prince's own age, would not appear to have taken
his admiration very seriously, or perhaps she was of
opinion that, since she had no dowry except what her
royal mistress might be pleased to provide her with, it
would be imprudent to give him any encouragement.
Nor would the prince seem at this time to have any
great desire to carry the affair beyond the bounds of
flirtation ; but, a few years later, when he had become King,
and the lady's somewhat voluptuous type of beauty had
attained its full development, she was to subjugate him
entirely.
But if, at the Court, Francois was satisfied with mere
flirtation, outside of it he sought amours of a less innocent
description. The first known of these had Amboise as
its scene. One day he perceived in church a young and
attractive brunette, who, he learned on inquiry, was a
daughter of a former officer of Louise of Savoy's House-
hold, and had, when a child, been often permitted to play
with Marguerite. She was now on a visit to her sister,
who had married one of the butlers of the chateau. At
the prince's request, Marguerite sent for her old playmate,
made much of her and encouraged her to continue her
visits, and took care that whenever there were any fetes
at the chateau an invitation should be sent to her. In this
way Francois contrived to see a good deal of the damsel,
and becoming more and more enamoured, finally deputed
one of his gentlemen to propose to her terms of surrender.
But the girl's virtue was proof against temptation, and the
negotiation failed completely.
75
The Pearl of Princesses
The prince's pursuit became only the more tenacious
after this refusal, and even bordered upon persecution.
He attended Mass with unfailing regularity, installed
himself behind his quarry, and obliged her constantly to
change her place. Then, having succeeded in enlisting
the sympathies of the butler and his wife, by means of
generous gifts and still more generous promises, he had
recourse to stratagem to gain his end. One day he went
out riding, and, in passing the butler's house, he contrived
to fall off into the gutter. His attendants hastened to his
aid, and as he complained of being in pain and his clothes
were covered with mud and worse the gutter being in those
days the receptacle for every kind of refuse what more
natural than that they should carry him into the nearest
house and put him to bed ? He despatched his people to
the chateau for clothes to replace those which he had
spoiled, and then asked the butler's wife to send her sister
to him. The girl at first refused, but finally yielded to
her relative's persuasions, and presented herself before
him, pale and trembling. The pseudo-invalid begged
her to take courage. "Do you regard me," he asked
plaintively, "as so wicked a man, so strange and cruel,
that I devour women by merely looking at them ? " And
he spoke with eloquence of his love, of the risk of serious
injury he had run in order to procure this t$te-A-tete, and,
by way of a peroration, endeavoured to draw her to him
and embrace her.
She, however, resisted, and inquired why so noble a
prince should condescend to one so humble as herself, to
such an " earthworm," when there must be so many
beautiful and high-born ladies only too willing to accord
him their favours. Why did he not make his choice
among them ? Did he fear their refusal, that he was
trying to take advantage of her poverty ? She reminded
The Due de Valois and Mme. Disomme
him, too, of the faithful services which her parents had
rendered his family, and which surely merited some better
return than that he should wish to "place her in the
ranks of the poor unfortunates." The prince protested
that he loved her alone, and never had and never could
love any one else, and entreated her to have pity upon
him ; but she remained immovable, and presently his
attendants arrived with his clothes, and he was obliged to
take his departure.
A. day or two later, Francois sent his belle a present of
five hundred ecus, which she promptly returned to him ;
and, not long afterwards, an officer of the chateau, who
had learned the facts of the case and was struck with
admiration at a fortitude so unusual, solicited her hand.
Francois, who was too generous to bear any malice for
the rebuff he had sustained, proved a good friend to both
husband and wife.
After this abortive adventure, the young prince plunged
into a series of promiscuous gallantries. " // aime fort et
trop" observes Brantome ; " il embrassait qui Fune, qui
lautre" ; and the ill-health which would appear to have
prevented him from prosecuting the campaign of 1512
was undoubtedly due to these excesses. Recognizing the
folly of his conduct, he decided to reform and seek some
object upon whom he might concentrate his affections.
Nor had he far to seek.
There ircas at this time in Paris a rich and elderly
advocate named Jacques Disomme, who had recently
indulged in the luxury of a young wife, "one of the
fairest maidens in the city, very handsome both in features
and complexion, and still more handsome in figure."
Francois made the acquaintance of this pearl of beauty,
who up to then appears to have given the worthy advocate
no cause to repent of his somewhat hazardous experiment,
77
The Pearl of Princesses
at a wedding in Paris which he had honoured with his
presence ; and " having, by the artlessness of love, so
promptly gained what was worth the pains of being gained
only by time, the young prince thanked God for his
favour, and forthwith contrived matters so well that they
agreed together and devised means for seeing one another
in private."
At the appointed hour, Francois repaired to the
advocate's house "in order that he might not injure
the lady's honour, he went in disguise " and found the
door left ajar, as had been arranged. He entered and
began to ascend the stairs, but had not taken many steps
when whom should he meet but the husband, a candle in
his hand ? To retreat was impossible, for he perceived
that Maitre Disomme, whom he had had frequent occasions
to consult on business matters, had recognized him, not-
withstanding his disguise ; and for a moment he was at a
loss what to do. However, Love, " which provides wit and
boldness to contend with the difficulties he creates," came
to his aid, and, advancing resolutely, he saluted the advo-
cate very courteously, and told him that he had come to
seek his professional services on a matter of great impor-
tance, and, incidentally, to ask for some refreshment, as he
was perishing with thirst. At the same time, he explained
his incognito by saying that he had a visit to pay on
leaving the house, and begged Maitre Disomme to
respect his confidence.
The unsuspecting advocate, highly flattered, protested
that he was indeed deeply sensible of the honour which
the prince was doing him, and conducting him to the
salon, summoned his wife, and bade her prepare a colla-
tion of the best fruits and sweetmeats that she had. The
lady hastened to obey, and while her husband was engaged
in decantering a bottle of choice wine, she approached their
78
The Due de Valois and Mme. Disomme
guest with a plate of sweetmeats in her hand, and whispered
to him that, on leaving the room, he must enter another,
which he would find on his right hand, where she would
join him as soon as possible.
Francois, although, we are told, the lady seemed to
him more beautiful than ever, was careful to take no
more notice of her than courtesy demanded, but addressed
most of his conversation to her husband, and spoke for
some time about the business matters which were sup-
posed to account for his visit at so late an hour. At
length, he rose to take his leave, begging Maitre
Disomme, who wished to escort him to the door, not
to do so, on account of his incognito. Then, bowing
low to the lady, he added : " Moreover, I am unwilling
to wrong you by depriving you for one moment of this
good husband. Well may you render thanks to God that
you have such a husband ! Well may you render him
service and obedience ! If you did otherwise, you would
be blameworthy indeed ! "
" With these virtuous words," continues the chronicler,
" the prince took his departure, and, closing the door
behind him, so that he might not be followed to the
staircase, he entered the room aforementioned, whither
also came the fair lady so soon as her husband had fallen
asleep."
This affair lasted some little time, and, since Francois
came always unattended, he chose a short cut to the
advocate's house, which led him through an adjoining
monastery; 1 and so well did he contrive matters with the
prior that the porter received orders to open the gate for
1 If the Disommes were then living in the Rue de la Pauhominerie,
where Francis's inamorata is known to have died some years later,
this monastery must have been that of the Blancs Manteaux, in the
Marais district of Paris.
79
The Pearl of Princesses
him about midnight, and to do the same on his return. He
made no pause on his way to the rendezvous, but a never
failed, when returning, to continue for a long time praying
in the chapel. And the monks who, when going to and fro
at the hour of matins, used to see him there on his knees,
were thereby led to consider him the holiest man alive."
Meanwhile, the Duchesse d'Alen^on, who was becoming
somewhat uneasy about the life her beloved brother was
leading, had conceived the idea of recommending him to
the prayers of all the devout persons of her acquaintance,
and, amongst others, addressed herself to the prior of
the monastery. "Ah, Madame!" exclaimed the good
father, " whom are you recommending to me ? You are
speaking to me of one in whose prayers, above all others,
I myself would fain be remembered ! For if he be not a
holy man and a just " here he cited a passage of Scrip-
ture " I cannot hope to be held for such ! "
Marguerite, not a little astonished, pressed him for an
explanation, and, at length, under the seal of the most
profound secrecy, he told her of Francois's nocturnal
visits to his convent. " Nor comes he," added the prior,
" like a prince seeking honour of men, but hides himself
in one of our chapels. Truly, such piety puts both the
monks and myself to shame, so that we do not deem our-
selves worthy to be called men of religion in comparison
with him ! "
Without taking her brother absolutely for an infidel,
the princess could not bring herself to believe that he was
accustomed to pass his nights in church. Accordingly,
she told him when they next met of her satisfaction at
learning that he was now regarded as a saint ; and the
merriment with which her congratulations were received
put an end to the mystery.
80
CHAPTER VIII
FRANCOIS'S lax morals did not affect his filial relations,
and he was almost as devoted a son as Louise of Savoy
was a mother. At the end of December 1513, he posted
to Cognac, to spend New Year's Day, according to custom,
with Louise, only breaking his journey for an hour or
two at Chatelherault. At Cognac he found Marguerite
and the Due d'Alen^on, whose presence, however, did not
disturb the harmony of this family gathering, since he had
had the good taste to fall from his horse and dislocate his
shoulder on the very day of Francois's arrival, an accident
which necessitated his keeping his room. The party was
a very merry one, for both Louise and Marguerite were
naturally delighted to have their common idol back safe
and sound after his campaign in Picardy. But their joy
knew no bounds, when, on January 10, news arrived
that Anne de Bretagne had died somewhat suddenly the
previous day at Blois, at the early age of thirty-six. Nor
did they make the smallest attempt to disguise their
delight that there was no longer any chance of some
inconvenient little boy coming into the world to interpose
himself between Francois and the object of their most
ardent desires ; but, on the contrary, proceeded to adver-
tise it to all the country round and to summon it to
rejoice with them. On the nth, the little court set
out gaily for Angouleme, into which town it made a
formal entry, Louise reclining in a litter, while Francois
walked by her side. At Angouleme they remained until
the 1 4th, presumably to receive the homage of the
municipality and the neighbouring gentry, and then
81 G
The Pearl of Princesses
returned to Cognac, where Francois held a solemn
reception, regardless of the fact that such unusual and
almost puerile demonstrations were positively indecent
at a time of public mourning. Louise remained at the
chateau to assist her son to receive his vassals, while
Marguerite, accompanied by one of her ladies, went into
the town and mixed with the crowd, in order to give the
signal for applause. Singularly enough, none of them
appears to have considered the possibility of the widowed
King contracting a third marriage, which might ruin all
their hopes.
Their conduct appeared the more unseemly, inasmuch
as the poor Queen, on recognizing that she was about
to die, had resolved on a truly magnanimous action.
Convinced that nothing could now prevent the marriage
of her dearly-loved elder daughter to the Due de Valois,
she added a codicil to her will, by which she appointed
Louise of Savoy trustee for both Madame Claude and
her infant sister, Madame Renee, afterwards Duchess of
Ferrara.
Anne de Bretagne was deeply regretted by the nation,
if not by the Court, for her blameless life and sincere
piety had commanded the respect of all, while the
munificence of her charity had ensured her a wide
popularity ; and the pen even of the dullest of chroniclers
grows eloquent in her praise.
As for the unhappy King, broken in health and in
spirit by the military disasters of the previous year,
he demanded only to die. " Go," said he, " and make
the place where my wife is to be buried large enough
both for her and for myself, since, before a year has
passed, 1 shall be with her to keep her company." His
condition justified the prediction.
82
A Lengthy Funeral Oration
The obsequies began at Blois on February 14, when
the embalmed remains of the Queen were transported in
solemn state to the chapel. Francois, draped in the grand
official mantle, with a train three ells in length, occupied
the place of chief mourner and walked immediately behind
the coffin, with his brother-in-law, the Due d'Alen^on.
The Due and Duchesse de Bourbon organized the long
procession from Blois to Saint-Denis, where the funeral
oration was delivered by Guillaume Parvi, the King's
confessor, a divine of wondrous erudition and seemingly
inexhaustible eloquence, who, since the deceased princess
had attained the age of thirty-six, composed his discourse
under thirty-six heads, each of which was devoted to
some grace pre-eminent in her character. In conclusion,
the preacher assured his audience that the thirty-six
virtues, when united, formed a triumphal car to bear
their possessor triumphantly to the gates of Heaven.
" He then recapitulated the genealogy of the house of
Brittany, beginning at the siege of Troy, and laboured in
magnificent periods to prove the Queen's parentage with
Brutus." 1
The death of Anne de Bretagne produced a great
commotion around Francois and his relatives. All the
courtiers hastened to pay homage to the young prince,
and those who, speculating on the chance of the late
Queen giving birth to a son, had been so ill-advised as
to neglect Louise of Savoy, were now feverishly eager to
make their peace with that haughty dame. The poets,
and their name was legion, since " any literate man of
that day could, at a pinch, rank himself among them," 2
exhausted all the vocabulary of eulogy in order to chant
1 M. W. Frere, The Life of Marguerite d" 1 Angouleme, Queen of Navarre.
2 Sainte-Beuve.
83
The Pearl of Princesses
her perfections and the noble deeds of the House of
Savoy. Jean Marot, father of the celebrated Clement,
who had been poet-in-ordinary to Anne de Bretagne,
now that his patroness was no more, did not hesitate
to join the general chorus, and, in return for his flattering
verses, received a pension.
As for Francois, he began forthwith to play the
sovereign, received the Ambassadors in private audience,
and sent to Pope Leo X his assurances of devotion for
the day when he should succeed " to the rank to which he
was able to attain." His splendid prospects seemed to
have turned his head, and he no longer placed the least
restraint on his extravagance. His immense pensions
not sufficing him, he proceeded to discount the future,
and persuaded the generals of the finances to advance him
large sums of money, to be repaid when he should ascend
the throne. " The luxury and magnificence with which he
surrounded himself were without parallel at this epoch,
and probably also in that which followed, for Brantome
himself is retrospectively scandalized. . . . All was either
gold or silver on his person or about him. He wore
only spurs of gold or of silver ; he made use only of
silver mirrors ; his fingers were covered with diamond or
ruby rings, his clothes bedecked with buttons of gold,
with clasps of gold or enamel ; he rode upon a mule
covered with a fillet of gold and trappings adorned with
gold of Cyprus, with a silken bridle plated with gold and
gold buttons on the tassels. As a matter of course, his
chandeliers, his plate, even that used in the kitchen, the
little bottles of his medicine-chest, the rebec on which he
played and the case of this rebec, his seals, his inkhorn,
were of silver at the least. The most delicate perfumes
impregnated his bed and his linen ; he used only the
A Luxurious Prince
most costly hosiery, and handkerchiefs and shirts of the
finest Dutch linen. A case of morocco leather preserved
respectfully his shirts, embroidered with black silk. His
wardrobe, although hung with dark curtains, contained a
splendid assortment of garments, some in the fashion of
Germany, others in that of Italy, all kinds of suits of gold
and silver, embroidered or lined with the fur of martens
or sables, here a cap of cloth of silver with fringes of silk,
or a sword in a white velvet sheath ; there a hunting-
cape of morocco." l
The sums paid to tailors in the course of the year 1514
alone amounted to 15,600 livres, and this, we are told,
did not include his tournament equipment, nor the expense
of his mourning for the Queen, but was simply his budget
de r&Ugance. In one respect only did the prince adhere
to the traditions of chivalry : he slept on the bare floor,
on a camp-bed or on a simple mattress.
The gentlemen of his Household were expected to
adorn themselves in a manner worthy of so magnificent
a master, and all wore sumptuous costumes of satin or
velvet. Among his chamberlains were Bonnivet, his old
tutor Artus Gouffier, and several famous captains, such
as Bayard, Gamaches, and the Bastard Rene of Savoy.
In imitation of the King, he had for his personal guard
a company of twenty-five gentlemen, among whom were
his old companions Montmorency and M. de Bourdeille,
the father of Brantome ; the number of his pages, which
varied like those of Louis XII, rose in January 1514
to twenty-four. The prince supplied them with shoes
and shirts.
During that year, the expenses of the Due de Valois
exceeded 140,000 livres, about 3,600,000 francs in money
1 M. de Maulde la Clavire, Louise de Savoie et Francis I tr .
85
The Pearl of Princesses
of to-day, and that prodigious sum did not include the
charge for the administration of his estates, nor the debts
with which he was already overwhelmed. Cloth-of-gold
and silver accounted for almost half of the amount, and
jewellery for a considerable portion of the remainder
(17,500 livres). Such lavish expenditure, if only by the
contrast it presented to the parsimony of Louis XII, was
bound to make Francois popular, and soon his praises
were on every one's lips.
The King did not share the general admiration. The
senseless extravagance of the heir presumptive scandal-
ized and pained the good man profoundly. u Ce gros
gar$on gdtira tout ! " he observed, meaning that, when
Francois ascended the throne, he would undo all that
he himself had accomplished for the benefit of his
people. When he learned of the loans which the young
prince had raised with the complicity of the Treasury
officials, he was still more alarmed, and, sending for him,
admonished him pretty severely. And, in conferring
upon him an additional pension of 45,000 livres, in
order that he might have no excuse for such transactions
in the future, together with a promise that his debts
should be paid, he recounted to him a little fable, by
way of a gentle hint that his accession to the throne
might not be so sure as he imagined.
This interview decided Francois to make sure of at
least Madame Claude's dowry, and he began to press
for the celebration of his marriage, for which he had
until then been well content to wait. The King, on
the contrary, notwithstanding that he had formerly
promoted this arrangement, even at the expense of
considerable domestic disquietude, was, now that his eyes
were beginning to be opened to his prospective son-in-
law's real character, by no means so anxious for the
86
Marriage of the Due de Valois
match. However, he had no legitimate excuse to offer
for any further delay, and accordingly on May 18, 1514,
the marriage was celebrated at Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
in the strictest privacy, on account of the mourning for
the Queen. Francois's only gifts to his bride were a
four-post bed, a bolster, and a counterpane ; the lady
supplied a canopy and a pair of white damask curtains.
The young prince presented himself at the altar in a
simple suit of black damask, bordered with velvet ;
Claude did not abandon her deep mourning, nor did
the Duchesse d'Alen^on and the few other guests who
were present. There were " no trumpets, no clarions, no
fiddlers, neither jousts nor tournaments, not a shadow
either of cloth-of-gold or silk." Altogether, a wedding-
day which foreshadowed the unhappy life which the
poor little bride was to lead.
A few days after his marriage, Francois, who had
immediately assumed the title of Due de Bretagne,
though he had not yet been put in effective possession
of the duchy, went off to Paris, presumably to continue
the Disomme romance, while Claude meekly returned
to Blois. They did not meet again until July was well
advanced, when, Francois's friends having represented to
him the necessity of living now and again with his wife,
he condescended to pay her a short visit.
Since his marriage he had become more extravagant
than ever, and, notwithstanding the splendid addition
to his revenues which Louis XII had recently accorded
him, he had again had recourse to the Treasury officials
to raise money on his present and future possessions.
He head, too, was full of ambitious schemes. He was
determined on the conquest of the Milanese, which
formed part of Claude's dowry, and the recovery of
which he regarded as a point of honour, and had long
8?
The Pearl of Princesses
conferences with the Venetian Ambassador, Dandolo, on
the subject.
In the midst of his life of pleasures and his dreams
of conquest, he received a rude shock. The desertion
of Ferdinand of Spain and the dissolution of the
League of Cambrai had left Henry VIII to face France
alone ; and, being in sore straits for money to continue
the war, he was anxious for peace. France was no less
willing, and for some months negotiations had been
in progress between the two countries. The Due de
Longueville, who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of
the Spurs, conducted them on behalf of France, and pro-
posed, as a basis for a satisfactory settlement, a marriage
between Louis XII and the King of England's eighteen-
year-old sister, Mary Tudor, of whom he drew a most
engaging portrait. In ordinary circumstances, Louis,
who was still so inconsolable for the death of the
Queen that he refused to receive an Ambassador unless
he were habited in the deepest black, would probably have
declined to entertain the suggestion ; but the conduct
of the heir presumptive had caused him so much
irritation that he had begun to conceive for him a
positive antipathy. To endeavour to prevent the u gros
garfon " from succeeding to the throne and <c ruining
everything " appeared to him as a duty which he owed
his people ; and amongst all the marriageable princesses
of Europe it would have been difficult to find one more
likely to bear him a son than this young English girl.
And so, to the unspeakable indignation and alarm of
Francois and his relatives, on August 7, 1514 exactly
seven months after the death of Anne de Bretagne the
Due de Longueville signed the treaty of peace with England
and, in the name of his sovereign, married Mary Tudor.
88
CHAPTER IX
ONE can well imagine the effect which this news had
upon Louise of Savoy, and her disappointment, com-
plicated by the indifference to her waning charms shown
by the young Due de Bourbon, for whom she had con-
ceived a violent passion, seems to have deprived her
temporarily of her reason. Any way, it is difficult to
account otherwise for the following incident, related by
her in her Journal:
"On the twenty-eighth of August, 1514, I began to
predict by Divine prevision that my son would one day
have great affairs against the Swiss ; for, as I was supping
in my wood at Romorantin between seven and eight
o'clock, a terrible apparition, in form like a comet,
appeared in the heavens towards the west. 1 was the
first of my party to perceive it ; but it was not without
fear, for I cried out loudly, exclaiming : ( Suisses ! les
Suisses ! les Suisses ! ' My women were with me, but
the only men in attendance were Regnault du Refuge
and my poor miserable servant Rochefort, 1 sitting upon
his grey mule, for to go on foot was an impossibility to
this poor man."
As for Francois, though he admitted in private that
the King's approaching marriage "pierced him to the
1 Fran9ois de Rochefort, who had been left as a hostage in the hands
of the Swiss for the execution of the Treaty of Dijon, had been put to
the question by them in a barbarous manner. Very possibly, the
countess's exclamation about the Swiss may have been due to the fact
that Rochefort may have been speaking to her about his experiences
amongst them.
8 9
The Pearl of Princesses
heart," he had sufficient self-control to conceal his morti-
fication from the world, and talked only of the splendid
fetes which were to be given in honour of the royal
wedding, and at which he, of course, intended to make a
brilliant appearance. Perhaps, too, he was not without
hope that his father-in-law's new matrimonial venture
might, so far from depriving him of the throne, only
hasten his accession, since, according to the Venetian
Ambassador, Dandolo, it was the general opinion that
"to amuse himself with a woman of eighteen, one of
the most beautiful princesses in Europe, was a notable
change for the King, and a very dangerous one in his
state of health."
What is somewhat rare for a woman of such exalted
rank, Mary Tudor appears to have deserved her reputa-
tion. She was a blonde, without anything insipid about
her, with regular features, a beautiful complexion, and a
graceful figure. A more unsuitable consort, however, for
a valetudinarian monarch like Louis XII it would have
been impossible to find, since she cared for nothing but
dress and amusement and was a born coquette.
The young princess embarked at Dover on October 2,
accompanied by an immense suite, which comprised cc four
of the chief lords of England, four hundred barons and
knights, and a train of eighty ladies," and after a very
rough passage, in which one of the vessels actually
foundered with some loss of life and valuables, landed
safely at Boulogne. 1 Here she was met by the Dues
de Valois, d'Alen^on, and de Bourbon, and other great
nobles, who escorted her to Abbeville, where she arrived
on October 8.
1 But in somewhat undignified fashion, as her ship having run
aground on entering the harbour, she had to be carried on shore in the
arms of a certain Sir Christopher Cornish.
90
MARY TUDOR.
Arrival of Mary Tudor
About a league from the town she was met by
Louis XII, accompanied by a gallant cavalcade of nobles
and ladies. " The King, very antique and decrepit, left
Paris to go to meet his young wife/' wrote Louise of
Savoy, with concentrated irony, a propos of these
"amorous nuptials," which were celebrated on the
morrow with the utmost magnificence. Louis's wedding-
present to his bride was " a marvellous great pointed
diamond, with a ruby almost two inches long " ; while on
the following day he bestowed upon her " a ruby two
inches and a half long and as big as a man's finger,
hanging by two chains of gold at every end without any
foil the value thereof few men could esteem." 1
From Abbeville the Court proceeded to Saint-Denis,
where on November 5 the new Queen's coronation took
place, and on the 6th Mary Tudor, u wearing a robe of
cloth-of-gold covered with precious stones, her fingers
loaded with diamonds, and her neck adorned with a jewelled
collar of inestimable value," made her entry into Paris in
a magnificent litter, by the side of which rode Francois,
almost as resplendent as the bride herself, and a brilliant
company.
The Duchesse d'Alen^on had accompanied the Court
to Abbeville, but Louise of Savoy had, presumably under
the pretext of ill-health, remained at Romorantin until
the end of October, when she set out for Paris, and,
1 Letter of the Earl of Worcester to Cardinal Wolsey, cited by Frere.
In an earlier letter, Worcester, who had been sent as Ambassador to the
French Court some weeks before, informs the cardinal that Louis had
shown him " the goodliest and richest sight of jewels that ever I saw,"
some of which were reputed to be worth 100,000 ducats. " After the
King had shown me these jewels," adds the Ambassador, " he observed :
* My wife will not have all these jewels at once ; I shall give them to
her one by one, that I may receive in turn more abundant thanks and
tokens of her affection.' "
91
The Pearl of Princesses
yielding to the urgent representations of her friends,
constrained herself so far as to go to Saint-Denis and
pay her respects to the Queen (November 3). Louise's
interview with her Majesty must have afforded not a
little curiosity to the courtiers, but the countess was, of
course, careful to dissimulate her sentiments.
Almost at the same time, there arrived at Saint-Denis
a personage whose presence was to occasion Louise con-
siderable uneasiness. This was Charles Brandon, the
recently created Duke of Suffolk, the foster-brother and
favourite of Henry VIII, to whom he bore some resem-
blance both in person and character. 1 Gossip averred
that more than friendly relations had existed between this
nobleman and Mary Tudor, and, however that may have
been, it is certain that the latter was deeply in love with
Brandon, and had only consented to sacrifice herself to
"reasons of State," on receiving a promise from her
royal brother that, in the event of her becoming a widow,
she should be at liberty to marry whom she pleased.
Louise was quick to perceive the danger which the
arrival of Suffolk threatened to her son's prospects. The
infirm King might be unable to make the Queen the mother
of a Dauphin, but a Dauphin might be born, nevertheless.
She imparted her fears to Francois, and the two of them
immediately proceeded to organize a draconian surveil-
lance. They enjoined upon Madame Claude that, on no
pretext whatsoever, was she to leave the Queen alone
1 He was the son of William Brandon, who was Henry VII's standard-
bearer at Bosworth Field, and was, on that account, singled out and
slain by Richard III in personal combat. Some writers state that
Charles Brandon had accompanied Mary to France, but this is incorrect.
He came two or three weeks later, ostensibly to attend the coronation
of the young Queen, but really to arrange for a meeting between
Henry VIII and Louis XII in the following spring and to make secret
proposals for expelling Ferdinand of Aragon from Navarre.
92
An Embarrassing Situation
during the day ; while at night Mary's dame d'honneur,
Madame d'Aumont, who was devoted to Louise's
interests, slept in her mistress's room.
The countess was just beginning to congratulate
herself on the success of the measures which she had
adopted for the preservation of her Majesty's virtue,
when, on a sudden, matters took a surprising turn. The
young Queen, to whom admiration was as the breath of
life, finding herself debarred from enjoying the society
of the man of her choice, cast about her for consolation,
and, having decided that her time might be very agree-
ably employed in a flirtation with the brilliant young
Due de Valois, began to treat that prince with the most
marked graciousness. It was enough ; Francois's in-
flammable heart took fire at once ; and he fell so
desperately in love with his young mother-in-law that
he felt ready to hazard, not only the Crown, but the
entire world to win her. " How great is the ardour of
love and of a sensual pleasure," exclaims Brantome, " for
which men abandon kingdoms and empires and lose them,
as histories abundantly testify ! "
Louise, who had begun by being delighted at the
preference shown by the Queen for Francois, believing
that it constituted an additional safeguard against any
indiscretion with her Majesty's English admirer, ended
by becoming terribly alarmed. Her situation was indeed
a singular one : striving as she was in the interests of her
son to keep the Queen and Suffolk apart, while that son
seemed bent upon becoming the agent of his own undoing !
However, she prudently forbore from remonstrating with
him personally, and deputed the task of recalling him to
his senses to an old servant of Louis XI, named Grignols,
who, on account of his age and long experience of the
93
The Pearl of Princesses
Court, was permitted to speak pretty freely to the young
prince.
One fine day, when Francois was on his way to the
Queen's apartments, Grignols met him, and, drawing
him aside, said : " What do you intend to do ? Do you
not see that this young woman, who is shrewd and
cunning, is setting a trap for you ? And, if she happens
to have a son, you will remain as you are now, and will
never be King of France." And he asked him bluntly
whether he preferred to have to bow the knee one
day before a natural son of his own to being King
himself.
At first, the enamoured prince refused to listen to the
voice of reason ; nevertheless, Grignols perceived that his
words had not been without effect. He went to find
Louise of Savoy, and her tears and entreaties at length
succeeded in persuading Francois to renounce his con-
quest. Soon after this, mother and son came to an
understanding with Suffolk, lately appointed English
Ambassador to the Court of France, whereby, in return
for a promise, that in the event of the Queen becoming
a widow he should be authorized to marry her, he
engaged to respect her virtue.
Mary Tudor, young, beautiful, gay, frivolous, and
worldly, revolutionized the life of the Court, which now
spent its time in a continual whirl of pleasure. As for
the King, she had so bewitched him that the poor man
was no longer recognizable. He was transformed into a
gay and gallant cavalier. For years past he had observed
the most severe regimen, the most infinite precautions, to
preserve his feeble health, rising at dawn, dining at eight
o'clock in the morning and going to bed at six in the
evening. Now he dined at the fashionable hour of noon,
94
A Fatal Marriage
retired to rest at midnight and "fit gentil compagnon avec
safemme" until the next day was far advanced,
Soubz le drap d'or couvert d'orfebvrerie
Qui reluysoit en fine pierrerie. 1
And the result of this sudden revolution in all his habits,
of this excess of conjugal devotion, was that people
perceived their uxorious monarch wasting away before
their very eyes, and declared bitterly that the King of
England had given him " une haquenee pour le porter plus
vite et plus doucement en Enfer ou au Paradis"
In less than a week after his marriage his Majesty was
taken ill and obliged to keep to his bed for some days,
while the Queen sat by his side, singing romances to her
guitar, to the great delight of the poor invalid. The
royal physicians remonstrated, and spoke to him very
seriously of the danger which he was running. It was
to no purpose ; so soon as Louis was on his feet again, he
disregarded all their counsels and " rushed to his doom
with the fervour of a neophyte."
At the jousts which followed Mary's coronation, he
was so feeble that he was compelled to witness them
reclining on a couch ; while the Queen stood by his side,
" so that all men might see her and wonder at her
beautie." 2 A month later, towards the end of December,
he was obliged to take to his bed again. His illness
does not appear to have caused much anxiety amongst
the public, the general belief being that it was merely a
passing indisposition. The King, on the contrary, was
convinced that his end was near, and, sending for Francois,
gave him his last instructions with regard to the Queen
and his younger daughter, Madame Renee. The prince,
1 Bouchet, Epftre XIV, cited by M. de Maulde la Claviere.
2 Hall's Chronicle.
95
The Pearl of Princesses
however, did not believe that there was any danger, and
assured him that he was needlessly alarmed ; but Louis
repeated : " I am dying ; I commend my subjects to
your care." He confessed and communicated, and,
according to his prediction, a few days later, his illness
suddenly took a turn for the worse ; and in the evening
of New Year's Day 1515, in the midst of a violent hurri-
cane, which razed several houses in Paris to the ground,
he died, having survived his marriage with Mary Tudor
less than three months.
In the middle of the night, Francois found his apart-
ments invaded by a great crowd of courtiers, all eager to
pay homage to the new monarch, before whom he made
no attempt to conceal his joy. The Crown of France, as
his friend Fleuranges observes in his Memoires, was indeed
a splendid New Year's gift !
Mary Tudor learned of her widowhood the following
morning. She affected to swoon away so well that
restoratives had to be sent for.
Louise of Savoy, who, after negotiating with Suffolk
the treaty of which we have spoken, had retired to
Romorantin with Marguerite, learned the news the same
day. Intoxicated with joy, she and her daughter started
at once for Paris. At last, after so many years of
anxious suspense, their ambition was realized ! At last,
Louise was about to reap the fruit of her labours !
The economical Louis XII had disbursed 52,000 livres
for the obsequies of his cousin Charles VIII, with whom
his relations had never been particularly cordial ; the
sumptuous Francois I considered a fourth of that sum
sufficient for the interment of his father-in-law, who had
treated him with the greatest kindness and generosity.
No time was lost. On January 3, the body of the
Accession of Francois I
deceased king was transported from the Palais des
Tournelles to Notre-Dame, and to Saint-Denis on the
4th. Francois announced his accession by letters dated
the 2nd.
For a moment, however, it seemed as though he had
been a little premature. Mary Tudor declared that she
was enceinte. But Louise, who had had experience
in such matters, summoned the Queen's physicians and
demanded evidence of her Majesty's assertions, which was
not forthcoming. According to Brantome, Mary, who
had found her exalted position so much to her taste that
she was ready to do anything to preserve it, intended to
trick Francois out of his rights by means of a supposi-
titious child. Du Bellay, however, acquits the young
Queen of any such sinister design, and declares that she
was herself mistaken. His version of the affair is no
doubt the correct one.
Mary received a handsome dowry, composed of
Saintonge, with La Rochelle and Saint-Jean d'Angely,
Rochefort, Chinon, Loudun and the county of Pezenas,
the revenues of which amounted to over 55,000 livres.
Moreover, Francois kept his word to Suffolk, and author-
ized the duke to marry his lady-love, who was permitted
to preserve the title of Queen-Dowager. This union,
it may be observed, was by no means pleasing to
Henry VIII, who was willing enough to see a Brandon
in possession of his sister's favours, but not of her hand
(It was the taste of the time) ; besides which, the lovers
had not even gone through the formality of soliciting his
royal permission. However, the jingling of the guineas
or rather the livres tournois of Mary's dowry
eventually healed the wound which his dignity had
received ; and they obtained his forgiveness.
97 H
The Pearl of Princesses
On January 25, the Sacre took place at Rheims, in the
presence of the whole Court and a brilliant assemblage of
Ambassadors Extraordinary, who had been despatched
from every state in Europe to offer their felicitations to
the new monarch. " The day of the Conversion of
St. Paul, 1515," writes Louise of Savoy, in her Journal,
"my son was anointed and crowned in the cathedral of
Rheims. For this event I am much beholden and grateful
to the Divine mercy ; as by it I have been recompensed
for all the adversities and reverses which befell me in my
early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility
was then my constant companion ; nevertheless, patience
never forsook me."
On February 13 Francois made his state entry into
Paris, with all the pomp and circumstance imaginable.
Nothing, we are told, could surpass the splendour of his
Majesty's attire. His dress was of cloth-of-silver, em-
broidered in the most sumptuous manner with his device
and motto ; while on his head he wore a cap of white
velvet, covered with jewels of priceless value, and adorned
with a plume of feathers. The trappings of his horse
were of cloth-of-silver, ornamented with a fringe of pure
silver, and embroidered with his arms and motto. The
Dues d'Alen^on and de Bourbon and the other princes
and great nobles were only less sumptuously arrayed
than their sovereign. Louise of Savoy, Marguerite, and
Queen Claude witnessed the pageant from a gallery,
surmounted by a del royal y spangled with stars and
golden fleurs-de-lis, which had been erected near the Port
Saint-Denis.
CHAPTER X
THUS began the reign of Francois I, or rather of what
Marguerite d'Angouleme styled " Notre Trinite," for the
new king repaid the love and service of his two devout
worshippers by his full confidence, and, in a way, they
were scarcely less powerful than himself. No sooner was
the Sacre and the fetes which followed it over, than he
created Louise of Savoy Duchesse d'Angouleme and
d'Anjou, ceded to her his hereditary estates, and decreed
that she should hold equal rank in the kingdom with him-
self. In an edict, dated from Compiegne, February 4,
1515, his Majesty thus expresses himself
" Desiring to show respect to our very dear and very
loved lady and mother, the Duchesse d'Angouleme and
d'Anjou ; considering that while we remained under
her care, government, and administration, she carefully
and affectionately brought us up, and caused us to be
well and diligently instructed in all good and virtuous
morals, for which cause we therefore hold ourselves
bound in honour and duty to impart and bestow upon
her the highest honours and privilges of our realm."
The King then proceeded to decree that the Duchesse
d'Angouleme, on her first entry into any town or city in
the kingdom, should enjoy the royal prerogatives of
granting full and free pardon to criminals confined in the
prisons of that town, whatever may have been their
crimes, and that pardons and letters of abolition so granted
were to remain valid.
99
The Pearl of Princesses
Honours and pensions were showered upon Louise's
favourites. Du Prat, First President of the Parlement of
Paris, banished from the court of Louis XII for having
too faithfully served his patroness's interests, was recalled
and made Chancellor of France ; Bourbon received a
number of governments, which formed, together with his
vast estates, a second France, and the baton of Constable,
which a traitor had left forty years before at the foot of
the scaffold, and which a traitor was thus to inherit ; Artus
Gouffier, Seigneur de Boisy, Francois's former gouverneur,
was appointed Grand Master, and given the county of
fitampes for life and the estate and seigneurie of Ville-
dieu, to which Louise added that of Maulevrier, in
Anjou ; Bonnivet that prince of gallants was created
Admiral of France.
As for Marguerite, indifferent herself to honours and
riches, she did not fail to use her influence with her
brother to promote her husband's interests, notwithstand-
ing the little affection which she entertained for him.
She caused the Due d'Alenc/m to be nominated Governor
of Normandy, and obtained from the King a formal
acknowledgment of his claim to the precedence and pre-
rogatives appertaining to the first Prince of the Blood a
dignity which the Due de Vendome disputed with the
House of Alen^on ; while Francois also surrendered to the
duke and duchess the lucrative privilege enjoyed by every
monarch on his accession of creating a master in each
commercial guild throughout the realm. Nor did she
neglect the interests of her friends and proteges and, in
particular, the illustrious savants whom she desired to
defend from the attacks of the Sorbonne, which denounced
Greek as the language of heresy, Hebrew of Judaism.
It was doubtless through her influence that Guillaume
Petit, afterwards Bishop of Senlis, one of the most tole-
100
Marguerite directs the King's Patronage
rant and enlightened men of his age, received the appoint-
ment of confessor to the King ; that Guillaume Cop, the
first translator of Hippocrates, was made first physician ;
that Pierre Duchatel, " the only man," Frangoise after-
wards declared, <c whose scientific knowledge he had not
exhausted in two years," became the King's Reader, and
the celebrated Greek scholar, Guillaume Bude, after being
sent on a diplomatic mission to Rome, was made a maitre
des requetes, and royal librarian.
If Francois I merits the title of " Father of Letters,"
Marguerite d'Angouleme may well be called their
" Mother." It was she who fostered her brother's love
of literature and art the love, by the way, of the
amateur rather than of the student ; for though there
were few forms of knowledge which did not appeal to
him, he much preferred to talk with experts upon all sub-
jects, whether classics or philosophy, science or theology,
painting or sculpture, than to attempt to master any one
of them.
It was she who directed his patronage of learning,
who chose the right person for the right place, without,
however, wounding his vanity by allowing him to suspect
that she was taking the lead. Inspired by her, he estab-
lished the College de France ; he favoured, for a time at
least, reform, and those who wished to purge the Church
of the gross abuses which degraded it ; he assisted needy
talent with a bountiful hand ; encouraged all that could
interest the mind or charm the eye ; and gathered to his
Court the choicest intellects of every civilized country.
In her great scheme of founding a college in Paris for
the study of the learned languages, which, appeared to
her the easiest and most certain mode of combating the
ignorance and prejudices of the schoolmen with their
subtleties and arid philosophy, Marguerite had, as her
101
The Pearl of Princesses
principal colleague, Guillaume Bude, though Cop, Petit,
Duchatel, and Etienne Poncher, Archbishop of Sens, were
all warmly interested in the project. As originally
designed, the college was to rise on a truly royal scale,
on the site of the ancient Hotel de Nesle. Within its
precincts six hundred students were to be accommodated ;
the professors were to be selected from among the most
eminent scholars in Europe, as befitted a foundation
which was to appeal to students of every country. The
principal professorships were to be those of the Greek,
Hebrew, and Latin languages. The King proposed to
endow the college with an annual revenue of no less than
50,000 cus an enormous sum in those days.
That nothing might be wanting to ensure success,
Marguerite and the King determined to invite Erasmus
to undertake the supreme direction of their college.
During the years 1517-18 Bude was charged with this
negotiation, and so great was Francois's desire to draw
the illustrious scholar to his Court that the affair became
invested with the importance of a State embassy.
Erasmus, however, cared nothing either for courts or
colleges, and much preferred to pursue his studies in
tranquillity at Basle than to engage in controversy with
the Sorbonne, which was already beginning to fulminate
against the proposal to found what it regarded as a
nursery for heretics. And so the King of France fared
no better than the other sovereigns who had endeavoured
to lure the great man from his retirement.
The failure of the negotiations with Erasmus was a sore
disappointment to Francois and his sister ; nevertheless,
the organization of the College de France was proceeding
steadily when, in 1521, the breaking out of the disastrous
war with the Emperor Charles V put a stop to the
scheme. It was not, however, abandoned, and some
102
Clement Marot
years later, when tranquillity was once more restored, it
was resumed, though on a much more modest scale.
If Marguerite showed so much interest in serious
studies, lighter forms of literature appealed also to her.
A writer of graceful verse herself, she was as much the
patroness of the poets as she was of the savants, and
a beautiful sonnet laid at her feet was as sure a passport
to her favour as a profound philosophical dissertation.
It was during the first years of her brother's reign,
probably in 1519, that she took into her service a young
poet whose name will always be associated with hers.
Clement Marot " k gentil Maitre Cttment" as he was
called was the son of that facile rhymester, Jean Marot,
already mentioned. His career was that of a typical
French poet in the sixteenth century, <c combining all that
was piquant in his generation the valour of a soldier,
the manners of a courtier, brilliant gallantries, literary
feuds, quarrels with the Sorbonne, and visits to the
prison of the Chatelet." Born at Cahors, about 1495,
his father brought him to Paris when he was ten years
old, and, while still very young, sent him to the
University, where he studied when the humour took him
which does not appear to have been very often and
conceived a hatred of ecclesiastical authority which lasted
all his life. On leaving the University, he appears to
have been associated for a time with the " Enfants de
Sans-Souci," a company of players who regaled the
public with farces and a kind of satirical drama known as
soties ; then, abandoning the boards, he became a Baso-
chien, or student of the law, a class of young gentlemen
whose idea of qualifying for a learned profession was to
wander about the streets, hobnobbing with all the dis-
reputable characters in the city, drinking a great deal
more wine than was good for them, indulging in pro-
103
The Pearl of Princesses
miscuous gallantries, fighting with the watch, and other-
wise misconducting themselves. The future translator of
the Psalms, we regret to say, was no better than the rest ;
indeed, he was, if anything, rather worse, and " divided
his time between love and debauchery." Growing, after
a time, a little weary of this kind of life, he decided that
the law was not his metier, and resolved to try the
profession of arms. Accordingly, he attached himself as
page to Nicolas de Neufville, Seigneur de Villeroi, and
took part in more than one campaign in the war against
the League of Cambrai. In the midst of the tumult of
camps, his taste for poetry awakened, stimulated perhaps
by the success which his father had achieved. He
resumed his interrupted studies, and began to read
Virgil, the old French poets, Guillaume de Lorris, Jean
de Meung, Charles d'Orleans, Coquillart, Villon, the
troubadours, and the romances of chivalry. In perceiv-
ing this variety of tastes and enterprises, one will recog-
nize that he has described himself with much truth, when
he writes :
Sur le printemps de ma jeunesse folle
Je ressemblais a Phirondelle qui vole
Puis 93, puis la ; Page me conduisait
Sans peur ni soin au le coeur me defait.
His first poetical effort was a poem in the allegorical
vein, which had then so prodigious a vogue, entitled
le 'Temple de Cupidon, and dedicated to Francois I. The
King took a fancy to Marot, whose wit and lively store
of anecdote made him very agreeable company, and
appointed him one of his valets de chambre. After the
birth of the first Dauphin, an event which Marot had
celebrated in some very charming verses, the poet was
presented to Marguerite, who took so much pleasure in
his society that not long afterwards Francois arranged
104
Cldment Marot
that his services should be transferred to her, the princess
conferring upon him the same post in her Household as
he had held in that of the King. Marot, in his poem
rEnfer, which he wrote when a prisoner in the Chatelet
on a charge of heresy, thus refers to his entry into
Marguerite's service :
Rien n'y acquis des valeurs de ce monde,
Qu'une maistresse, en qui gist, et abonde
Plus de scavoir, parlant, et escrivant,
Qu'en autre femme en ce monde vivant.
C'est du franc lys Tissue, Marguerite,
Grande sur terre, envers le ciel petite :
C'est la princesse a Tesprit inspire
Au coeur esleu, qui de Dieu est tire
Mieulx (et m'en croy) que le festu de Pambre ;
Et d'elle suis Phumble valet de chambre.
C'est mon tat. O juge Plutonique !
Le Roy des Francs, dont elle est soeur unique
M'ha fait ce bien : et quelque jour viendra,
Que le sceur meme au frere me rendra.
For his patroness Marot would appear to have enter-
tained a boundless devotion, which finds expression in
the most passionate declarations of attachment and
fidelity. In one sonnet he tells the princess that, Cc in
adoring her, she will see him hated by those who have
power to harm ; but that the privilege of loving her is
dearer to him, with all the evil it entailed, than all the
honours his enemies had the power to bestow, provided
that she knew his weakness, and rewarded it by one
glance of pity " ; while in another he thus describes her
manifold graces of mind and person :
Ma maistresse est de si haulte valeur,
Qu'elle a la corps droit, beau, chaste et pudique ;
Son cceur constant n'est, pour heur, ou malheur,
Jamais trop gay, ne trop melancolique ;
105
The Pearl of Princesses
Ellc a au chef un esprit angelique,
Le plus subtil qui oncq'aux cieulx vola.
O grand merveille ! on peut voir par cela,
Que je suis serf d'ung monstre fort estrange ;
Monstre, je dy, car, pour tout vray, elle a
Corps feminin, coeur d'homme, et teste d'ange.
The Abbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy, in his edition of Marot's
works, 1 maintains that the numerous poems composed
by Marot in Marguerite's honour supply proof of an
amorous intrigue between the pair, and some later writers
have endorsed this view. But in those directly addressed
to the princess the writer does not appear to have
exceeded the licence permitted to Court poets, and to
give some likelihood to his conjecture,, Lenglet-Dufresnoy
had to suppose that Marot addressed Marguerite in
certain verses which there is no reason whatever to
suppose were intended for her/ Of course, it is quite
possible that the princess may have captivated the heart
of the susceptible poet ; but, even if such were the case,
it is very improbable that ' she reciprocated his passion.
Had there really been any grounds for believing that a
liaison existed between her and Marot, we may be sure
that contemporary chroniclers would not have been silent
upon the subject ; whereas it was not until nearly a
century and a half after they were both dead that the
charge was made. 2
1 (Euvres de Clement Marot, accompagnees d'une preface historique, par
FAbbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy (Paris, 1731).
2 Lenglet-Dufresnoy, who was very little scrupulous as to the use he
made of the knowledge which he gained, and " fell into gross errors,
which certain critics attribute to interested bad faith rather than to
ignorance" (Article Lenglet-Dufresnoy, Nouvelle Biographie Generale),
also charges Marot with a liaison with Diane de Poitiers, the famous
mistress of Henri II, previous to the beginning of her intimacy with
that prince. But, as we have shown in our work on Henri II : his
Court and Timts, the so-called proofs which he adduces in support of
this story will not for a moment stand the test of examination.
106
An Atrocious Accusation
It is a singular and very regrettable fact that the moral
reputation of Marguerite d'Angouleme, respected by
contemporary writers, even by those who were the least
inclined to reticence in such matters, has not been free
from attacks by modern historians. Genin, in his notes
to les Nouvelles Lettres de Marguerite d'Angouleme , brings
against the princess an odious charge, claiming to fiave
discovered evidence that u the affection of Marguerite
for her brother was of a criminal nature, and that mis
absolute devotion which impelled her to journey to Spain
[during Francois's imprisonment at Madrid] and of which
she did not cease to give the King proofs up to the^ehd
of his life, instead of exciting our sympathy anct our
admiration, ought rather to revolt us." f
The evidence in question consists of "a document
unique, but unexceptionable : a letter in Marguerite's own
hand, filled with veiled allusions and obscure expressions,
and the first half of which would be unintelligible, if the
end did not help us to understand the beginning." This
letter bears no date, but Genin expresses the opinion
that it was written during the winter of 1521-2. Here
it is :
c< To the King my Sovereign Lord.
" That which it has pleased you to write, saying that
you would tell me further, causes me to continue to hope,
and to hope still more, that you will not abandon your
direct road to shun those who, for all their happiness,
so greatly desire to see you, although worse off than
before. Let my will, however, be prescribed by yours, if
you ever need the honest and ancient service which I have
borne and bear to merit your gracious favour. And if
the perfect imperfection of a hundred thousand faults
makes you disdain my obedience then, at least, Sire, do
107
The Pearl of Princesses
me so much honour and kindness as not to increase my
lamentable misery, en demandant I" experience pour defaite ; 1
knowing my impatience without your aid, as you will
learn by a token 2 I am sending you ; only requiring
from you for the end of my misfortunes, and to assure
me a happy beginning to the new year, that it may
please you to have for me in some small degree that
which you are infinitely to me and will be, without
ceasing, in my thoughts. While awaiting the joy of
seeing you and of speaking with you, Sire, my desire
of meeting you presses me very humbly to entreat
you, if it be no trouble to you, to let me know the
answer by this messenger. And I will forthwith set out,
feigning another occasion. And there is no stress of
weather nor roughness of the roads that will not be
changed for me into a very pleasant and agreeable repose.
And I shall be most grateful to you ; and yet more
grateful, if it please you to bury my letters in the fire
and my words in silence. Else you, will render :
Pis que morte ma douleureuse vie
Vivant en vous de la seule esperance
Dont le savoir me cause 1'assurance,
Sans que jamais de vous je me defie,
Et si ma main trop foiblement supplie,
Vostre bonte excusera 1'ignorance
Pis que morte.
1 Michelet understands these words to mean : " By requiring the
material experience of my moral defeat " ; Madame Darmesteter(then Miss
Robinson), who believes this letter to have been written during
Marguerite's return journey from Madrid in 1526, and interprets it
in a totally different sense from Genin and Michelet, translates them :
" By demanding experience in addition to defeat " ; Martha Frere :
" By requiring me to conquer by experience that which you know my
utter helplessness to do without your aid," and describes the epistle as
"a curious and mysterious letter," which "nothing serves to elucidate."
2 Without doubt, the verses with which Marguerite terminates this
letter.
108
An Atrocious Accusation
Par quoy a vous seul je desdie
Ma voulente et ma toute puissance
Recevez la, car la perseverance,
Sera sans fin, ou tost sera finie,
Pis que morte.
" Your very humble and very obedient more than
subject and servant." l
Genin is very severe upon Marguerite, whom he assumes
without hesitation to have been the guilty party. Michelet,
while placing, in the main, a similar interpretation upon
the letter it was an axiom of this inimitable embroiderer
of historical fact that what is evil must of necessity be
true exonerates from blame Marguerite, for whom he
entertains a great admiration, and makes Francois
" who under the appearance of a man conceals the soul of
a satyr " the culprit. 2 " Taking pity upon his state of
mind (It was a time of disaster abroad and of popular
discontent at home, and Francois was in a state of
profound depression), his sister redoubled her maternal
caresses, her religious tenderness and her sweet appeals to
the love of God. His [Francois's] heart was so debased
by vulgar pleasures, that he conceived the shameful idea
of ascertaining how far his power over this uniquely
devoted woman extended. He affected to doubt her
affection so tender ; he dared to say that he would not
believe it, at least until he had had the c proof ' and the
definite * experience/ '
Michelet adds that Marguerite repulsed with horror
this monstrous suggestion and quitted the Court for a
time ; and he admits that " nothing proves that Francois
ever exacted from her this sacrifice."
1 The knife of the binder of the MS. has severed the signature to this
letter : the only one of one hundred and thirty-eight so defaced.
There is no question, however, as to its authenticity.
2 Michelet mentions in a footnote that Genin had informed him
that he himself was now of this opinion.
109
The Pearl of Princesses
Another eminent French historian, Henri Martin, less
eloquent, but more judicial, than Michelet, takes much
the same view of the matter, though, as might be expected,
he writes with more reserve.
" It is impossible," he remarks, " not to say a word
here concerning a sad mystery which has cast sombre
shadows over Marguerite's memory. Brought up amidst
surroundings in which everything tended to excite the
heart and the imagination without regulating the mind,
Marguerite had received from her mother nothing but
examples of unrestrained passion. She allowed herself to
be invaded very early, and without knowing it, by a
sentiment strong and fatal. She had loved her young
brother with an affection so exclusive, so ardent, that she
had ceased to love him as a brother. Fatal passion,
which was the secret of her indifference, not only for a
husband, little worthy of love or even of esteem, but
also for the homage of the most brilliant cavalier of the
Court, and which, in this naturally honourable as well as
tender soul, remained a misfortune and did not become a
crime. It did not remain thus with Francois, at a certain
moment of their lives. At least, that is what seems to
result from a strange, correspondence of the winter of
1521-2. M. Michelet's version, though perhaps a little
highly coloured, is much more probable than that of the
lamented editor of Marguerite's letters, M. Genin. If
there were either on the part of the brother or of the sister
a culpable intention, it was certainly not on Marguerite's."
Now the conclusion arrived at by these distinguished
writers is really the purest conjecture, for the letter which
forms the sole basis of this horrible accusation bears no
date, and may be interpreted in a variety of different
ways. The Comte de la Ferriere, in his introduction
to le Livre des Depenser de Marguerite d * Angouleme^ is of
no
An Atrocious Accusation
opinion that it was penned in 1525, prior to Marguerite's
hasty departure for Madrid, where her brother was a
prisoner in the Alcazar ; while Le Roux de Linc^y, in
his edition of the Heptameron, assigns it to a later date,
remarking that it was probably written during one of
the frequent quarrels that arose between Francois I and
Marguerite's second husband, Henri d'Albret, King of
Navarre. Finally, Lescure, in his les Maitresses du
Francois I er , a work which, notwithstanding its somewhat
frivolous title, is a valuable contribution to the history
of the period, marked by wide knowledge and judicious
criticism, repudiates the aspersions cast upon Francois
and Marguerite, and points out the error of judging the
metaphorical and hyperbolical expressions with which the
correspondence of that time abounds with mathematical
eyes, " under the penalty of arriving at conclusions
equally odious and absurd, for instance, in seeing an
incestuous passion in that which is merely an exaggera-
tion of familiar affection, or an artifice of coquetry or
of feminine cleverness. M. Michelet," he continues,
" allows himself to be seduced too easily by these
unworthy romances of history, and is too ready to
invest heroes of a superior rank with unnatural vices.
There is nothing astonishing in his having fallen, to
begin with, into the same snare of appearances in regard
to Francois I and his sister as he will choose successively
in regard to the Regent and Louis XV." *
What seems to us a convincing argument that Mar-
guerite's affection for her brother, however exaggerated,
was entirely innocent, is the complaisance which she
showed for his mistresses, with whom she appears to
1 Michelet supposes the existence of similar relations between
Philippe d'Orleans and his eldest daughter, the notorious Duchesse de
Barry, and between Louis XV and his daughters.
I II
V
The Pearl of Princesses
have been on the best of terms. In the case of his
Majesty's early flame, Franchise de Foix, who had
married in 1509 Jean de Montmorency-Laval, Seigneur
de Chateaubriand, and whom Francois not long after his
accession had raised to the rank of maltresse en titre^ she
actually carried this complaisance to the length of com-
posing amorous devices for the jewels which the King
presented to the lady.
Madame de Chateaubriand, it may be mentioned, ob-
tained a considerable influence over Francois, which she
used to secure for her three brothers, Thomas, Seigneur de
Lescun, Odet, Seigneur de Lautrec, and Andre, Seigneur
de Lesparre, not only the highest dignities, but important
military commands for which they were quite unfitted.
She appears to have been much attached to her royal
lover, but this did not prevent her from indulging in
gallantries with both Bourbon and Bonnivet. Brantome
relates how, one fine day, when she had accorded the latter
gentleman a rendezvous in her chamber, the King arrived
unexpectedly, and Bonnivet had only just time to con-
ceal himself under the green branches and ferns with
which, as it was summer, the fire-place was filled, and
which the lady piled on top of him, before his Majesty
entered. In this cramped position, afraid to move and
scarcely to breathe, the adventurous gallant was obliged
to remain until the King took his departure.
Notwithstanding the rebuffs he had received, the
audacious Bonnivet had not yet abandoned his pursuit
of Marguerite ; but, despairing of compassing his end
by any other means, he determined to have recourse to
stratagem. He accordingly persuaded the King to honour
one of his country-seats, which was noted for the excel-
lence of the hunting to be obtained in the neighbouring
forests, with a visit, and so contrived matters that the
112
An Audacious Gallant
room assigned to Marguerite was one situated imme-
diately above that of his mother, and communicating
with it by a trap-door, which, however, was concealed
beneath the mats with which, according to the custom
of the time, the floor was covered, in such manner that
there was no chance of the princess perceiving it, while,
at the same time, it would be easy to open from below
without making any noise. Then, on the pretext that
his mother had a cough which might disturb their illus-
trious guest, he induced the old lady to change rooms
with him, and prepared to take by storm the fortress he
had failed to reduce. One night, having waited until
he was sure that Marguerite had fallen asleep, he let
down the trap-door and ascended into her chamber.
The princess, though taken entirely by surprise, offered
a vigorous resistance, biting and scratching furiously,
and, finally, having baffled his attempts to stifle her
cries with the bedclothes, began to scream lustily. Her
dame d'honneur^ Madame de Chatillon, came hurrying in,
upon which Bonnivet promptly fled by the way he had
come, " his face all bleeding from the lady's scratches
and bites, and his despair at finding himself in such an
evil plight being no less than his desire and assurance
of a gracious reception had previously been."
Marguerite was so indignant that, at first, she declared
her resolve to report the matter to the King, and make
Bonnivet pay for his attempt upon her virtue with his
head. But the prudent Madame de Chatillon sought
to dissuade her from such a step.
c< If," said she, " you desire to be revenged on him,
let love and shame do their work ; they will torment
him more grievously than could you. And if you
would speak out for your honour's sake, beware, Madame,
lest you fall into a mistake like to his own. He, instead
113 i
The Pearl of Princesses
of obtaining the greatest delight he could imagine, has
encountered the greatest vexation a gentleman could
endure. So you, Madame, thinking to exalt your
honour, may perhaps diminish it. If you make com-
plaint, you will bring to light that which is known to
none, for you may be sure that the gentleman, on his
side, will never reveal aught of the matter. And even
if my lord, your brother, should do justice to him at
your request, and the poor gentleman should die, yet
would it everywhere be noised abroad that he had had
his will of you ; and most people would say that it was
unlikely that a gentleman would make such an attempt
unless the lady had given him great encouragement.
You are young, fair ; you live gaily with all ; there is
no one belonging to the Court who has not been witness
of your gracious treatment of this gentleman. Hence,
every one will believe that, if he did this thing, it was
not without some fault on your side ; and your honour,
for which you never had to blush, will be freely questioned
wherever the story is related."
Marguerite recognized the force of this reasoning, and
decided to remain silent. As for Bonnivet, " he passed
the night in regrets such as I cannot describe, and in the
morning, rinding his face greatly disfigured, he feigned
grievous sickness, and to be unable to endure the light,
until the company had quitted his house." Nor did he
appear again at Court until all traces of his defeat had
disappeared, and whenever he found himself in the
presence of the princess, he blushed and appeared
greatly embarrassed. From that time Marguerite treated
Bonnivet with marked coldness ; nevertheless, she could
still weep for him when he fell, fighting valiantly, on the
fatal field of Pavia.
114
CHAPTER XI
THE reign of Francois I, so fertile in disaster, opened
in a blaze of glory. The temptation to embark upon
those Italian enterprises for which France had paid so
dearly during the two previous reigns proved too strong
for the restless ambition of the new King, and, undeterred
by the sad experience of his predecessors, he at once
resolved upon the recovery of the Milanese. To
secure himself against external attack, he renewed with
Henry VIII the treaty concluded by Louis XII in 1514,
won over the Republic of Genoa, which commanded the
communications between Milan and the sea, secured the
co-operation of the Venetians, and negotiated with his
future redoubtable rival the young Charles of Austria,
Sovereign of the Netherlands, a treaty of alliance, in
which he promised him his sister-in-law, Renee de France,
in marriage, and engaged to assist him, when the time
arrived, to secure the vast heritage of his two grand-
fathers, the Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinand the
Catholic.
These negotiations completed, he entrusted the regency
of the kingdom to Louise of Savoy Madame, as she was
now officially styled with powers so wide as to produce
a vigorous protest from the Parlement of Paris, sent his
wife, who was near her confinement, to Amboise with
his mother and sister, and set out for Italy, at the head
of what was for those times a considerable army. In
great alarm, the Papacy, Maximilian Sforza, Duke of
Milan, and the Spaniards renewed their former alliance,
"5
The Pearl of Princesses
and the Swiss mercenaries of Maximilian promptly
occupied the Alpine passes from Mont-Cenis to Mont-
Genevre. But Francois, guided by friendly peasants,
succeeded in leading his army over the mountains by a
pass to the south of Mont-Genevre which had hitherto
been deemed impracticable ; and his great victory over
the Swiss at Marignano (September 13-14, 1515) was
speedily followed by the surrender of Milan.
"The 1 3th of September, which was Thursday, 1515,"
writes his proud mother in her Journal, " my son van-
quished and defeated the Swiss near Milan ; the battle
began at five hours after noon ; it lasted all the night and
the morrow until eleven o'clock in the morning ; and
this very day I left Amboise to go on foot to Notre
Dame des Fontaines, to commend to her that which I
love more than myself. It is my son, glorious and
triumphant Caesar, subjugator of the Helvetians.
"Sunday, the I4th of October, of the year 1515,
Maximilian, son of the late Louis Sforza, was besieged
in the castle of Milan by the French, and made a
conditional surrender to my son."
After despatching Maximilian Sforza to Paris, where
he lived in a kind of honourable captivity until his death
in I53O, 1 Francois, with the object of securing his
position in Italy, entered into negotiations with the Pope
and the Swiss. With the latter, he made a treaty, which
subsequently took the form of a perpetual peace, and
was destined to endure as long as the French Monarchy.
With Leo X, he concluded, in February 1516, a " Con-
1 Thus history repeated itself in a singular manner, for Maximilian's
father, Ludovico il Moro, had been dispossessed of his duchy by
Louis XII, and carried away captive to Paris, where he died in 1510,
at the Chateau of Loches.
116
The Concordat
cordat," which swept away that great charter of Galilean
liberties, the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438, by recognizing
the superiority of the Holy See over all ecclesiastical
councils, and restoring to it the annates and other rich
sources of revenues of which it had then been deprived,
while, at the same time, giving the King of France the
right of nomination to practically all vacant benefices.
The Parlement of Paris and the University subsequently
protested vehemently against this cynical bargain, which
deprived the Gallican Church both of its wealth and its
independence ; but the only result of their remonstrances
was that Francois ordered the imprisonment of several
members of the latter body, and took away from the
Parlement all cognizance of ecclesiastical affairs.
Having disbanded the greater part of his victorious
army and left the remainder, under the command of
Bourbon, to occupy the newly-conquered territory, the
King returned to France. The Queen, who during his
absence in Italy had given birth to a daughter, met him
at Sisteron, in Provence, accompanied by the Duchesse
d'Angouleme and Marguerite, whose adulation must
have served to strengthen Francois's belief that Marig-
nano and the conquest of the Milanese were the presage
of far greater triumphs.
On January 23, 15 [6, Ferdinand V had died, leaving
the crowns of Spain and Naples to Charles of Austria.
The latter, whose accession was encountering grave diffi-
culties, seemed disposed towards peace and even an
alliance with France ; and in the following August a
treaty was signed at Noyon, whereby Charles was pledged
to marriage with a French princess, and to accept, by
way of dowry, the rights of the Kings of France to
the crown of Naples. This was succeeded, thanks to
117
The Pearl of Princesses
Charles's good offices, by a reconciliation between the
Emperor Maximilian and Francois, and a treaty of
alliance between the three sovereigns at Cambrai, by
which they mutually agreed to guarantee their respective
dominions and to act in concert against the Turk, whose
power was daily becoming more threatening. To com-
plete the pacification, Francois renewed his alliance
with Venice (October 1517), and a year later came to
an arrangement with Henry VIII, by which France
recovered Tournai. ,
These successful negotiations, following his conquests
in Italy, placed the crown upon the power and reputation
of the young king. Enjoying, thanks to the absorption
of the great fiefs, the Concordat, and the subservience of
the Parkments, an authority which no French monarch had
ever before exercised, he seemed called to the first place
among the princes of Europe. But for such a position he
was eminently unfitted. His qualities, indeed, were super-
ficial rather than solid. Brave, open-handed, magnificent,
capable of generous and even lofty impulses, he was, at
the same time, thanks to the deplorable training of his
adoring mother, vain, selfish, and easily led, without
self-restraint, perseverance or sense of duty. He had
no taste for the stern business of government ; he cared
nothing for justice, nothing for economy. So long as
he had money to squander on his incessant wars and his
licentious pleasures, he was content to leave the manage-
ment of affairs in the hands of Louise of Savoy and her
infamous favourite, the Chancellor du Prat "one of
the most pernicious men who ever existed," says Regnier
de la Planche both of whom showed a cynical indiffer-
ence for law and justice which has seldom been surpassed,
ground down the people by aggravated taxation, and
118
Charles of Austria
diverted immense sums into their own coffers. Louis XII's
prediction with regard to his heir was coming only too
true.
Although Francois was so entirely devoid of states-
manlike qualities, there were no limits to his ambition.
He aspired or, at any rate, his mother aspired on his
behalf to a kind of world empire, which was to include
Persia and India ; and, as a first step towards the
realization of this dream, he had resolved to secure the
Imperial Crown of Germany. But, meanwhile, a rival
had appeared upon the scene. He was the heir of the
four dynasties Burgundy, Austria, Castile and Aragon
that pale, taciturn, studious lad, who a little while before
had almost seemed to court the friendship and protection
of the all-conquering King of France. To Francois
the young King of Spain appeared no very formidable
adversary; he could not bring himself to believe that
so unpromising an exterior concealed gifts which were to
make him the greatest statesman of his age: a subtlety
and a talent for organization rarely equalled, a tireless
energy, an unconquerable tenacity. Francois's courtiers
shared his scepticism in regard to Charles ; " un certain
petit roi " they called him, and laughed in their sleeves.
In January 1519, the Emperor Maximilian died, and
Charles offered himself to the suffrages of the Electors.
The union of Spain, Naples, the Netherlands, and the
Empire under one head was a contingency which it was
impossible for Francois I to contemplate without alarm,
and one which he was determined to avert. Had he used
his influence to secure the election of one of the other
German princes, he would probably have succeeded in
keeping Charles out ; but, dazzled by the brilliant pros-
pect of becoming the lay head of Christendom, and the
119
The Pearl of Princesses
defender of the Faith against the Moslem, he entered the
lists in person, 1 vowing that " he would have the Empire
if it cost him three million crowns, and that three years
after his election he would be in Constantinople or his
grave." But neither the glamour of his military triumphs,
nor the favour of the Pope, nor the mules laden with gold
which he sent to support his pretensions, proved sufficient
to balance the claims of a competitor whose House had
already furnished six wearers of the Imperial purple, and
whose hereditary dominions, bordering as they did on
Turkey, enabled him to present himself as the natural
defender of Germany. On July 5, 1519, "it was cried
aloud in the great church of Frankfurt : Charles, Catholic
King, elected Emperor ! Which being done, gave great
joy to those who wished well to the Catholic King, and
great mourning to those who were for the King of
France ; and they were vexed and bewildered, seeing
that they had spent in vain the money which they once
had." 2 '
Francois had lost the great prize which he had so
ardently coveted, and a great deal of money as well, and
his irritation at his defeat undoubtedly embittered his
personal relations with his successful rival, and precipi-
tated the outbreak of that long and sanguinary struggle
which, with an occasional breathing-space, was to continue
until the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1557, and which
inherited disputes in regard to Navarre, Naples, Milan,
Burgundy, and Flanders would in any event have rendered
inevitable.
In view of the approaching conflict, the great aim
1 He came forward, in theory, as a German prince, basing his claim
on his lordship of the old kingdom of Aries, a fief of the empire.
2 Fleuranges.
120
The " Field of the Cloth of Gold "
of both sovereigns was now to secure the alliance of
England. Francois believed that he had the better
chance, since Henry VIII had been, like himself, an
unsuccessful candidate for the Imperial Crown. He
accordingly invited him to an interview, and in the
month of June 1 520, the two Courts, " bearing their mills,
their forests, and their meadows on their shoulders," 1
met between Guines and Ardres, on a spot which
received the name of the " Field of the Cloth of Gold."
Nothing came of this ruinous pageant, at which, by
the way, Henry VIII saw for the first time Anne Boleyn,
who came thither as one of the Duchesse d'Alen^on's
maids-of-honour ; for, though Francois parted from his
brother of England under the illusion that he was assured
of his support, the latter had merely been acting a part.
Wolsey indeed, who guided Henry's policy, had been
already gained over by Charles V, and a few days before
the English King sailed for France the Emperor had
landed at Dover, and an interview had taken place
between the two monarchs. On taking leave of Francois,
Henry journeyed to Gravelines to return his nephew's
visit. There were no silken tents or ladies or tourneys or
banquets, but a great deal of business was done ; and
the King subsequently announced that he intended to
adopt an attitude of strict neutrality towards the two
rivals, and to declare against the aggressor.
The aggressor, as Henry VIII had doubtless foreseen,
proved to be Francois, who, in April 1521, after several
ineffectual efforts to gall his astute adversary into taking
the offensive, struck the first blow, by sending an army
under Bonnivet into Navarre, to assist Henri d'Albret
to recover his kingdom, and another under the Due
1 Guillaume du Bellay, Memoires.
121
The Pearl of Princesses
d'Alen^on to assist Charles's rebellious vassal, Robert de
la Marck, who from his little principality of Bouillon
was devastating the southern borders of the Netherlands.
Charles, on his side, retaliated by invading France and
laying siege to Tournai, and concluded (May 8, 1521) a
treaty with Leo X for the expulsion of the French from
Italy, that Machiavellian Pontiff having been induced
to change sides, partly by the promise of territorial
aggrandizement, and partly by the hope of inducing
Charles to check the Reformation in Germany, by
procuring the Diet's condemnation of Luther.
122
CHAPTER XII
BY the side of the struggle between Francois I and
Charles V for the hegemony of Europe, another contest,
and one of infinitely more importance was beginning
the contest between the Church of Rome and the
Reformation.
Some years before Luther affixed his famous manifesto
to the gates of the church at Wittenberg the New Ideas
had begun to agitate the Sorbonne. There was at this
time among the professors of the University one Jacques
Lefevre d'Etaples, a man of very considerable learning
and of undoubted piety, though it was rather as a
philosopher and a mathematician than a theologian that
he had acquired distinction. He had, however, always
been much addicted to the reading of mystical works, of
which he published several, and this eventually led him
towards middle age to embark upon a profound study
of the Bible, an occupation to which he devoted the
rest of his life. In 1512, when Lefevre was in his forty-
eighth year, he undertook a revised version of the text
of the Vulgate, which, however, does not appear to have
been altogether a success, perhaps because he had never
troubled to acquire much elegance in the writing of
Latin. On the other hand, the commentaries which he
subsequently published on various portions of the New
Testament were of the highest value, and they form the
truly original part of his work. " It was his special
endeavour to discover the spiritual meaning of the
Scriptures, that is to say, that which the Holy Spirit
has concealed beneath the literal meaning, and which
123
The Pearl of Princesses
is not revealed save to those who seek to understand
divine things in a manner not carnal. To determine
this spiritual meaning he had no confidence save in the
aid of divine inspiration.''
Lefevre's writings gained him many disciples, among
whom were Gerard Roussel and the fiery Guillaume
Farel, a member of a noble family of Dauphine, who was
to become one of the most celebrated French Reformers ;
but they soon brought him into collision with the more
orthodox officials of the Sorbonne, headed by its bigoted
syndic, Noel Beda. A dissertation that he published in
1517 to prove, contrary to the opinion of the doctors
of the time, that Mary Magdalene, Mary, the sister of
Lazarus, and the woman mentioned by St. Luke in the
seventeenth chapter of his gospel, were three distinct
persons raised a tempest of controversy ; and in 1521,
at the instance of Beda, the Sorbonne solemnly con-
demned the dissertation, and reported its author to the
Parlement of Paris as a heretic. The Parlement^ which
in cases of heresy was only the exponent of the law, and
not the judge of doctrine, would undoubtedly have
assigned Lefevre to the stake, when the King, having
caused the condemned treatise to be examined by his
confessor, Guillaume Petit, who declared that he could
find nothing in it contrary to orthodoxy, stopped the
proceedings, and forbade the Parlement or the University
to molest Lefevre further.
It is generally believed that it was at the instigation
of his sister that Francois had interposed his authority
to save Lefevre, which, if it be the case, constitutes the
first of Marguerite's many acts of intervention on behalf
of the Reformers.
To understand Marguerite d'Angouleme's sympathy
124
Religious Views of Marguerite
with the Reformation in its early stages, before diver-
gences of doctrine became clearly defined, is not difficult.
u In France, the home of culture," observes a well-
known authority on the French Renaissance, " for the
first twenty years, or thereabouts, the Renaissance and
Reformation went hand in hand. Scholars, Reformers,
poets, philosophers, wits, and mystics all made common
cause against the rule of ignorance and convention and
the imprisonment of the imagination. Marguerite of
Angouleme adopted the new faith in a great measure
because she was a mystic ; because, too, her large-minded
charity made tolerance a necessity. Any thought that
helped men to live more nobly she included within the
pale of religion, and Socrates was no less a saint to her
than Augustine." 1 Marguerite was undoubtedly a con-
vinced and even a fervent Christian, but of her dogmas
we know little. The creed that used the fewest forms
and dwelt most upon practical Christianity would seem
to have been the one that appealed to her, and she felt
a profound disgust for the superstition of the Middle
Ages and the monks who exploited the popular credulity.
It is, however, certain that she never at any time con-
templated separation from Rome. She desired to purify
an old order, not to found a new one, and if she sought
in later years to protect the followers of Calvin from
persecution, it was, as she herself declared, from com-
passion, not from conviction.
The ardent sympathy which the princess evinced for
the New Ideas was largely due to the close friendship
which existed between her and Guillaume Bri^onnet,
Bishop of Meaux, one of the most distinguished prelates
of the Gallican Church.
1 Edith Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance.
125
The Pearl of Princesses
Guillaume Bri^onnet was the elder of the two sons of
that Guillaume Bri^onnet, Comte de Montbrun, who,
entering the priesthood after the death of his wife,
successively filled the sees of St. Malo and Nismes, and
the archiepiscopal thrones of Rheims and Narbonne, and
was created a cardinal by Alexander VI in H95- 1 The
heir to great wealth and an ancient title, Bri^onnet had
been intended for a political career, but, being of a
very devout turn of mind, Court life was but little to
his taste, and he soon decided to follow his father's
example. After filling several minor ecclesiastical offices,
he was, in 1504, created Bishop of Lodeve, and three
years later the rich Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pr6s
was bestowed upon him. In 1507 Bri^onnet was sent as
Ambassador Extraordinary to Rome, where he eloquently
and ably defended the foreign policy of Louis XII before
the Sacred College, in a discussion which was subsequently
translated into French and widely distributed ; and in
1516 he was again accredited in a similar capacity to the
Vatican, for negotiations which retained him at Rome for
two years.
With his wealth, his learning, and his undoubted
abilities, Bri^onnet might, had he so desired, have played
an important part at the Court of Francois I, but he was
devoid of ambition, and, when not employed on diplo-
matic missions, preferred to reside in his diocese of
Meaux, which he had exchanged for that of Lodeve, or
at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, where he occu-
pied himself in instituting some sadly-needed reforms
1 Guillaume Bi^onnet was expelled from the Sacred College by
Julien II for his adhesion to the decrees of the Council of Pisa, but he
was restored by Leo X. He died in 1514, leaving a good reputation
as a Churchman, a scholar, and a diplomat.
126
Guillaume Bri^onnet, Bishop of Meaux
among the monks and in augmenting the library of the
monastery. On his return from his second mission to
Rome, he found the Sorbonne in great agitation over the
teaching of Lefevre and his followers. Bric^onnet was
already well acquainted with Lefevre, whose pupil he
had formerly been, and whom he had sometimes invited
to visit him at Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and, desiring to
make himself more conversant with the views which the
latter was now propounding, with the object, it appears,
of being able to combat them more effectually in his own
diocese, where they were reputed to have taken root, he
renewed the acquaintance. He soon found, however,
that he was far more in sympathy with his old master's
views than he had believed possible, for, like him, he
was an enthusiastic Biblical student ("The savour of
divine food," he once wrote to Marguerite d'Angouleme,
<c is so sweet that it renders the mind insatiable ; the
more one tastes, the more one desires it "), and, like
him, he deplored the growing corruption of the Church.
It may here be observed that Lefevre's opinions were
certainly not such as would be regarded as very danger-
ous by Roman Catholics of our own day. He never
at any rate, in his writings attacked the authority of the
Holy See or the constitution of the Catholic Church ; he
merely demanded the reform of abuses and the restora-
tion of the Church to its primitive purity. As to dogma,
he remained throughout his life attached to doctrines
which the Reformers repudiated, such as Free Will and
Transubstantiation ; 1 and, unlike the Protestants, he did
not base Justification on faith alone, but recognized the
1 The author of the article on Lefevre in the Encyclopedia Britannica
says that "he agreed with Luther in rejecting Transubstantiation."
This was precisely what Lefevre did not do.
127
The Pearl of Princesses
merit of works. " Seek," he wrote, " first to obtain the
salvation of God, according to Paul, and add the works to
the faith, according to James, for they are the signs of a
living and abundant faith." He accepted monasticism
and celibacy, and approved of abstinence and maceration,
though he saw in them merely outward signs of penitence
and demanded that they should be accompanied by an
inward change of heart. Several years after the publica-
tion of his commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul one
saw him still religiously submitting to the ordinances of
the Church, venerating relics, making, as Farel reports,
" the most profound reverences to images," and vowing
to the Virgin an ardent devotion ; and he collected
material for a martyrology, of which the first part, com-
prising the martyrs whose fetes were celebrated in the
month of January, appeared in 1524. There was, how-
ever, one important point, among others of much less
importance, in which Lefevre approached the Reformers :
he desired that the Bible should alone be consulted on
matters of dogma.
We have thought it necessary to explain what were the
opinions held by the first prominent French Reformer, both
because they have been much misrepresented by certain
writers, notably by Martha Freer, in her Life of Marguerite
cT Angouleme^ in which she credits him with views differing
but little from those of the most advanced Reformers, and
also because these opinions seem to have coincided in the
main with Marguerite's own beliefs.
When Beda and his partisans began to fulminate against
Lefevre, Bri^onnet offered him an asylum at Meaux, where
he aided the bishop in reforming his diocese. How sorely
such reform was needed may be gathered from the fact that,
as the result of investigations made by Bri^onnet in 1519,
128
The Mystics of Meaux
he learned that in the whole diocese there were scarcely
ten resident priests, and that out of some one hundred
and thirty cures to whom the absentees had delegated
their duties, while they took their ease in Paris and
elsewhere, only fourteen were, in his opinion, fit to
officiate.
Lefevre was followed to Meaux by others who favoured
the New Ideas, and soon a little group of earnest thinkers
and students, all zealous for Reform, gathered around
the good bishop, who gave them a cordial welcome, and
Meaux became " a serene oasis amidst the spreading
cupidity and corruption of the Church." Here were
Roussel and Farel ; Michel d'Arande, Bri^onnet's chap-
lain, whom Marguerite afterwards appointed her almoner ;
Louis de Berquin, an officer of the King's Guards, " le
plus savant de la noblesse" a fiery soul, whose zeal his
friend, the prudent Erasmus, in vain endeavoured to
moderate, and who was to die for his faith after the
famous affair of the broken statue in 1528 ; Mazurier,
the champion of the courageous German scholar Reuchlin
against the persecution of the Dominicans of Cologne ;
Leclerc, a weaver of Meaux, like his scholarly friend
Berquin, doomed to a martyr's death ; and a few others
no less fervent, if not as effectual, as their fellows. They
had one or two outside associates, such as Duchatel and
Guillaume Petit, though these men, for a time their
admirers, afterwards took fright and turned against
them.
Strong in the episcopal protection, the Heretics of
Meaux as the little band of Reformers soon came to
be called were exceedingly active. They studied, they
argued, they wrote, and they preached, and they found
ready listeners among Leclerc's fellow-artisans, the
129 K
The Pearl of Princesses
weavers of the town, who, being for the most part
scantily clothed and half-starved, and altogether weary
of their lot, since it was a time of famine and of war
and rumours of war, were fit subjects for religious re-
vival. Some of the preachers too, carried away by their
enthusiasm, went a good deal farther than the bishop
under whose protection they carried on their work had
contemplated or than it was prudent to go. " In the
year 1520," writes the Bourgeois of Paris, "there arose
in the duchy of Saxony, in Germany, a heretic doctor of
theology, named Martin Luther, who said many things
against the power of the Pope . . . and wrote several
books, which were printed and published throughout all the
cities of Germany and throughout the kingdom of France
. . . and in 1521 there was a great famine, so that in
Paris no corn and no bread were to be found in all the
town for any price ; and throughout the land of Nor-
mandy a still greater famine and scarcity of corn and
bread, so that sixty-two bushels of wheat sold for ten
livres. . . . And it must be noted that the greater part
of the town of Meaux was infected by the doctrine of
Luther."
The learned and pious Bishop of Meaux had, of
course, been well known by reputation to Marguerite
for many years, but it is doubtful if she were more than
slightly acquainted with him before the similarity of their
religious opinions, and their common desire to protect
the Reformers, created a bond of union between them.
In the spring of 1521, however, when war and famine
were casting their shadows over the land, and she felt
sorely in need of religious consolation, she wrote to him
from Troyes, where the Court then was, to demand
" spiritual service," since " she must needs meddle with
130
Marguerite and Brigonnet
many things which might well make her afraid," and to
ask him to send to her, for comfort, his learned chaplain,
Michel d'Arande :
u Monsieur de Meaux. Knowing that there is but
one thing needful, I have recourse to you to entreat
you that you will be, by prayer, the means that God
may be pleased to lead M. d'Alen^on according to His
holy will. For, by the King's command, M. d'Alenc^on
is setting out as lieutenant-general of the army,
which I misdoubt me, will not return without war.
And since peace and victory are in His hand, and be-
lieving that you wish well, not only to the public good
of the kingdom, but also to my husband and to myself,
I demand your spiritual service, since I must needs
meddle with many things which may well make me
afraid. And, again, to-morrow my aunt of Nemours l
leaves us for Savoy, whereupon I recommend her
and myself to you, and pray you, if you think this
a fit season, to let Master Michel [d'Arande] make a
journey hither, which I only desire for the glory of
God, leaving it to your discretion and to his."
In accordance with Marguerite's request, Michel
d'Arande was despatched to Troyes, and a correspondence
began between the princess and the bishop, which con-
tinued with but little intermission for several years
an amazing correspondence, fantastic, mystical, be-
wildering, and voluminous beyond all belief. For
Bri^onnet, who appears to have been lucid enough in
the pulpit, no sooner took pen in hand than he allowed
1 Philiberta of Savoy, half-sister of the Duchesse d'Angouleme, and
wife of the Due de Nemours. She was leaving for Turin to be present
at her brother's marriage with Beatrice of Portugal, whose elder sister
Isabella afterwards became the wife of Charles V.
The Pearl of Princesses
his imagination to run away with him, so to speak, an<
incomprehensible metaphors, classical quotations, similes,
parables, and obscure allegories confound the reader at
every page. " I share my cake with you," cries
Marguerite, telling the good bishop of her troubles ;
and Bri^onnet forthwith responds : " Ah, Madame, under-
stand that there is in the world a cake of tribulation
for you to share with your useless son, 1 made from
scattered tares, kneaded with cold water in the trough
of infidel and disobedient presumption, baked in the
furnace of self-love, whereof the eating has been a fig
poisoning the architects and their posterity, until the
unleavened meal has been put in the cask of human
nature."
On another occasion, the princess unguardedly used
the image of a " flame " to illustrate her meaning,
upon which her correspondent hastens to send her in
reply thirty-six closely-written pages, throughout which
he fluctuates between dissertations on fire and heat, anc
on the breath of life, which shall kindle the flaming
fire of faith. " Uetendue de vostre royaulme, biens e
honneurs" he continues, " doibvent estre voix excitative e
gros souffle t four allumer ung torrent de feu d'* amour d<
Dieu. HelaS) Madame ! fay paour quil ne soit a malaise
car comme dit Jeremie, le soufflet qui doibt allumer le feu j
est failly : deficit sufflatorium in igne"
So far the writer's drift, if not exactly transparent, ma;
at least be divined ; but, in the next paragaph, as thougl
ashamed of this comparative lucidity, he plunges into th
1 Thus the bishop was in the habit of signing himself, notwithstanc
ing that he was twenty-five years older than the princess. Marguerit :
varies between " your useless mother," and " your frozen, thirsty, an
ravenous daughter."
132
A Mystical Correspondence
lowest depths of mysticism : " Madame, who is deserted,
is abysmed in the desert ; seeking the desert and not
finding it ; and, finding it, is yet the more bewildered ;
and a poor guide is he to guide another out of the desert
and to lead him into the desert desired. The desert
starves him with mortiferous hunger, although he be full
to the eyes ; goading his desire, but to satisfy it and to
impoverish it with poverty."
The subtleties and enigmas of her right reverend friend
proved a little too much for Marguerite, who implores
him to speak a little more plainly in a letter in which,
however, she pathetically endeavours to assimilate her own
language to the episcopal gibberish. " Demetaphorize
yourself," she entreats. "The poor wanderer cannot
understand the good which is to be found in the desert,
for lack of knowing that she is benighted there. Prithee,
out of kindness and pity, run not so swiftly through the
desert that she cannot follow you, in order that the abyss
which you invoke may not engulph the poor wanderer."
The bishop declines to demetaphorize himself. On
the contrary, he seizes greedily on the idea of "the
abyss " which Marguerite had unluckily suggested, and
in the course of a letter of prodigious length plays upon
the word through every spiritual simile to which it could
be applied : " The abyss which prevents all abysses,
which, in saving from the abyss, whelms in the abyss
[without whelming or spoiling], which abyss is the
bottomless bottom of things, the way of the wanderers,
etc. etc." 1
One cannot perhaps be surprised that the authors
1 " Uabysme, qu'i tout abysme previent, pour en le desabysment rabysmtr
en F abysme [sans rabysmer] ; au quel abysme est fond sans fond, vole dts
trrants" etc.
133
The Pearl of Princesses
of la France protestante, after wading through such
epistles as these, should have pronounced the corre-
spondence of Marguerite and Bri^onnet to be "one
of the strangest monuments of the aberration into
which the human mind falls when it desires to free
itself from the empire of reason " ; adding that " all the
greatest absurdities that mysticism ever imagined is
here set forth in the style the most alembic."
Yet this judgment is altogether too sweeping, for not
all the correspondence is in the tone of the letters we
have just cited, and on such occasions as Bri^onnet does
deign to descend to the level of the average intelligence,
and to forget for the nonce his similes and metaphors,
his allegories and his Latin quotations, nothing can be
more touching and more beautiful than his exhortations
to the princess. " Madame," he writes, in response to
a complaint concerning the loneliness of her life, " you
write to me to have pity upon you, because you are
lonely. I understand not this phrase. Who lives in
the world, and has his heart there, is lonely, forasmuch
as he is ill-companied ; but she whose heart is dead to
the world, and alive to the meek and gracious Jesus,
her true and lawful spouse, is truly alone, for she lives
in her one and only needful thing ; and yet, withal,
alone she is not, not being forsaken by Him, Who fills
and keeps all things. Pity I cannot, and must not, such
solitude, which is more to be esteemed than the whole
world, from which I am persuaded that God's love has
saved you, and that you are no longer the child thereof.
Abide, Madame, therefore alone in your Holy One, Whc
for you has been pleased to suffer a painful and ignominious
death. Commending myself, therefore, to your gracious
favour, I beseech you to be pleased to employ no mon
A Mystical Correspondence
such words as you have used in your last. Of God
alone you are daughter and spouse, and no other father
should you require. I exhort and admonish you, Madame,
that you be to Him such and so good a daughter as
He is a faithful father ; and forasmuch as without His
help you cannot attain to this, because what is finite
cannot match with infinity, I beseech Him that He will
be pleased to vouchsafe you increase of strength to
love, serve, and adore Him with all your heart and being."
And in this correspondence, yes, even behind the
mask of metaphor and allegory which so severely taxes
the patience of the reader, one can perceive a great and
tangible effort : the endeavour to convert Francois I
and Louise of Savoy to the New Ideas, to the ever-
growing necessity of Reform. For a little time things
promised well, and it seemed not unlikely that Francois,
the Father of Letters, might be brought to favour the
opinions professed by some of the most brilliant scholars
in Europe. " I have no wish to persecute," said he ; ~^
" I should only be preventing learned men from coming
into my kingdom." Louise, too, seemed to incline in
the same direction, and Marguerite was encouraged to
attempt their further conversion. She took her mother
to Meaux, where they appear to have spent some little
time during the winter of 1521-2, and did not fail to
improve the occasion ; she introduced Michel d'Arande
into the family circle, and that divine read portions of
the New Testament daily to his three royal friends, and
discussed passages with them as he went on. Mother
and son became more heterodox, and the daughter
rejoiced exceedingly. " Madame has begun to read in the
Holy Scriptures," she writes to Bri^onnet. " You know
the confidence that she and the King repose in you."
The Pearl of Princesses
And to Lefevre, who had written to felicitate her upon
the progress of her good work : " The King and Madame
are more than ever inclined to aid the reform of the
Church, and resolved to let the world know that the
truth of God is no heresy."
But Marguerite, in this matter, did not understand the
attitude of Francois and her mother. With them, religion
was always subordinated to statecraft, and, though they
might be indifferent to the spiritual importance of
-Catholicism, they had a great respect for the Church
of Rome as a temporal force, and regarded it as the root of
all authority and good government. " Any other religion
would prejudice my estate," Francois once observed ; and
though heresy as an opinion might be in accord with
his liberal tastes, heresy as a political factor which threat-
ened the authority of Rome, and, through that, his own
prerogatives, was something which must be suppressed by
every means in his power.
And, unhappily for Marguerite, the orthodox party in
the Church, alarmed and incensed by the rapid progress
of Luther's doctrines, was not inclined to discriminate
between the moderate and advanced parties among the
Reformers, and declared that Meaux was a nest of
heretics which must be forthwith rooted out. " If we
tolerate these heretics," cried Beda, in the course of a
violent attack on the writings of Lefevre, " there is an
end to our power, our authority, and our teaching. We
shall become the derision of France, and the authority of
the Sorbonne will be destroyed." And the Faculty of
Theology proceeded to pass an unqualified censure on
these and other works emanating from Meaux, and
referred the matter to the Parlement^ together with an
accusation of Lutheranism preferred by the Franciscans
of Meaux the persistent enemies of Bri^onnet, who had
136
Brigonnet prosecuted for Heresy
forbidden them the pulpits in his diocese against the
bishop. The Parlement^ after some discussion, decreed
the arrest of all the ex-doctors of the Faculty refugees
within the diocese of Meaux ; and summoned Bri^onnet
to clear himself of the charges brought against him by the
Franciscans.
Bric^onnet, though a sincerely pious and well-meaning
man, was not of the stuff whereof martyrs are made.
He had already begun to fear that he had gone too far,
and, in sore distress of mind, had written to Marguerite :
"Let it please you to slacken the fire for some time.
The wood you wish to burn is so green that it will put
out the fire ; and we counsel you (for several reasons,
of which I hope to tell you the rest some day) to leave
it alone ; if you do not wish to extinguish the brand
as well as the surplus which desires to burn and to
inflame others." Now that the storm which he had fore-
seen had actually burst, and he found himself menaced
with exile, captivity, and perhaps even a worse fate, the
gentle, cultured, timid bishop quailed before it, and re-
paired to Paris in a pitiable state of alarm. With the aid
of Marguerite and his powerful friends and connexions,
he succeeded in clearing himself of the charge of heresy,
but he was required to prove the sincerity of his ortho-
doxy, by joining with the Sorbonne against his former
friends and issuing decrees expelling them from his
diocese (October 1523). In December he preached
against the c< Lutheran pest," and a little later presided
over the trial of Leclerc, who was sentenced to be whipped
with rods on three successive days through the streets of
Meaux, to be branded on the forehead, and to be expelled
the diocese. 1
Leclerc retired to Rosay, in Brie, and subsequently to Mctz, where
he suffered death as a heretic.
137
The Pearl of Princesses
It was a sad blow to all the hopes which Marguerite
had founded on the activities of that little band of
Reformers, but she succeeded to some extent in repairing
the disaster, by obtaining the appointment of a special
commission, which, after examining the grounds of the
alleged heresy of Lefevre, exonerated him completely ;
by securing the recall to France of Michel d'Arande, who
had taken to flight, as had Roussel and Farel, and the
liberation of Berquin from the Conciergerie, by cleverly
representing to the King the insolence of the Sorbonne in
causing an officer of his own Guards to be arrested without
having first ascertained his royal pleasure.
One might have supposed that after the completeness
of Bri^onnet's surrender had revealed the weakness of his
character, Marguerite would have sought some more
courageous spiritual guide ; but, singularly enough, no word
of blame appears to have escaped her, and she continued
her correspondence with the bishop in exactly the same
tone of reverence and appeal as before. " Perhaps it was
not all charity," writes Madame Darmesteter. <c At least,
I think, a factor in that long-suffering charity of hers was a
certain chivalrous denseness, a certain obstinacy in cling-
ing to an ideal, which made her patiently accept the faulty
Bri^onnet as her spiritual superior, even as she accepted
Francois as her perfect hero, despite the many foibles, the
long debasement, the patent degradation, which would
have disenchanted any other worshipper. The pedestal
on which this idealizing woman set her idols was so high
that she did not see their feet of clay. And, bowed down
before their shrines, she offered a lifelong, unparalleled
devotion to those whose real qualities she never even
saw."
138
CHAPTER XIII
DURING the first few months of the war. Fortune
inclined to the side of France. The Swiss in the Papal
service were reluctant to fight against their compatriots
in French pay, and little impression was made on the
defences of the Milanese ; Bonnivet surprised Fontarabia,
the key of North-western Spain, and the Count of Nassau,
who commanded the army which had invaded France, was
obliged by the advance of a superior force under the
King in person to raise the siege of Mezieres and fall
back hurriedly across the frontier, leaving the French to
ravage Hainaut and Western Flanders. Francois was
strongly advised to pursue and fall upon the retreating
Imperialists, but he hesitated and allowed them to escape
him. " If he had attacked them," writes Guillaume du
Bellay, " the Emperor would that day have lost both
honour and fortune. . . . He was at Valenciennes in
such despair that during the night he fled to Flanders
with a hundred horse. That day God had delivered our
enemies into our hands ; but we would not accept the
gift, a refusal which afterwards cost us dear."
So hopeless, however, appeared Charles's position in
the autumn of 1521, that Wolsey, who on August 2 had
concluded on behalf of Henry VIII a secret agreement
with the Emperor at Bruges, implored him to accept a
truce, and his aunt, Margaret of Austria, 1 used her
1 Daughter of the Emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy ;
born 1480 ; married first, in 1497, Don Juan, son of Ferdinand and
Isabella; secondly, in 1512, Philibert le Beau, Duke of Savoy;
Governess of the Netherlands; died 1530.
The Pearl of Princesses
influence in the same direction. But Charles declined to
consent to such a step, and his obstinacy was speedily
justified ; for on November 25, the day after Wolsey,
with many misgivings, had signed the treaty confirming
the Bruges agreement and pledging England to an
offensive alliance with France, came the news that the
Imperialists and the Papal forces, aided by a popular
rising, had occupied Milan.
The tide now turned strongly against France ;
Tournai at once capitulated ; Lautrec, who commanded
for Francois in Italy, left without money, supplies, or
reinforcements, retreated towards the Swiss frontier, and
all the towns of Lombardy, with the exception of a few
scattered fortresses, followed the example of the capital.
As the months passed, the outlook grew more and
more gloomy. The death of Leo X (December 21, 1521)
was followed by the election to the Pontifical chair of the
Emperor's old tutor, Adrian of Utrecht ; at the end of
the following April, Lautrec, who had re-entered the
Milanese, rashly attacked the Imperialists in their almost
impregnable position at La Bicocca, a country-house
surrounded by a great moat near Milan, with the result
that he met with a disastrous repulse and was obliged
to evacuate Italy altogether ; while shortly afterwards
Henry VIII declared war against France, and an English
force invaded Picardy.
The loss of the Milanese was a bitter blow to Francois,
and what must have made it still harder to bear, was the
knowledge that the shameful conduct of his own mother
was largely responsible.
When the discomfited Lautrec returned to France, the
King received him very badly and reproached him with
having lost "his heritage of the Milanese." Lautrec
140
EMPEROR CHARLES V.
Fraud of Louise of Savoy
replied hotly that it was his Majesty himself who had
lost it. The troops had not been paid for eighteen
months. If the Swiss had been paid, he would not,
through fear of their desertion, have been obliged to
engage the enemy at a disadvantage. The King re-
joined that he had sent him 400,000 ecus the previous
year ; but Lautrec assured him that, though he had
certainly received letters announcing that the money
was about to be despatched, it had never reached him.
Francois, stupefied with astonishment, sent for the Surin-
tendant des Finances, Jacques de Beaune, Seigneur de
Semblanc^ai, an old and valued servant of the State, who
informed him that when, in accordance with his Majesty's
instructions, he was on the point of remitting the 400,000
ecus to Italy, he had received peremptory orders from
the Duchesse d'Angouleme, Francois being then absent
with the army on the Flemish frontier, to pay into her
hands the money, for the disposal of which she had
promised to be responsible to the King. And he added
that he held Louise's receipt for the same, to prove the
truth of his assertion.
The King hastened to his mother's apartments and
demanded an explanation. Louise did not deny having
received such a sum from the Surintendant it was,
of course, useless to do so in the face of the receipt
but boldly declared that it was her own property,
savings from her revenues, which had been entrusted to
the care of Semblan^ai. Such a statement would not
bear the least examination, and at first Francois utterly
refused to believe her, and there were stormy scenes
between the pair. Marguerite, however, would appear
to have intervened to reconcile mother and son, by which
intervention she rendered a very bad service to France.
141
The Pearl of Princesses
What is certain, is that Louise, aided by her infamous
favourite, the Chancellor Du Prat, eventually succeeded
in re-establishing her influence over Francois, and that
Semblan^ai, who had seemed vindicated, and who had
still sufficient credit shortly afterwards to transmit his
office to his son, was summoned two years later to give an
account of his stewardship before a commission nominated
by the King. The catastrophe of the year 1525 caused
this affair to be suspended ; but the implacable Louise
neither forgave nor forgot, and in January 1527, being
once more Regent and all-powerful, she caused the hapless
Semblan^ai to be arrested and brought to trial before
another commission, which she and the Chancellor had
carefully packed, on charges of fraud and malversation,
with the result that this worthy old man the faithful
Minister of three successive kings was found guilty,
condemned to death, and hanged, like a common criminal,
on the gibbet of Montfau^on.
Louise's embezzlement of the funds intended for the
Army of Italy would appear to have been due less to
avarice than to vindictiveness. She had vowed to ruin at
all cost the credit of the brothers de Foix and of their
sister, Madame de Chateaubriand, of whose influence
over the King she was bitterly jealous ; and she is said,
moreover, to have cherished a special grudge against
Lautrec, who had " spoken too freely of her unchastity." 1
The passions of this woman were soon to cost France
dearer still.
1 " Quod de ejus impudicitia libmus locutus fuisset" Belcarius (Beau-
caire). According to De Thou, she had to avenge an affront even less
pardonable, namely, Lautrec's refusal to respond to her amorous advances.
But this seems little probable, since Lautrec, a rough soldier, with a
face covered with scars, was scarcely the kind of lover to appeal to
Louise's fancy.
142
The Connetable de Bourbon
The summer of 1523 witnessed the formation of a
general league against France, which comprised the
Pope, the Emperor Charles V's younger brother Ferdi-
nand, Archduke of Austria, Francesco Sforza, now Duke
of Milan, Venice, Savoy, Florence, Montferrato, and
Lucca ; while at the very moment that all the resources
of the kingdom were being strained to the uttermost to
make head against this formidable coalition came the
defection of the Connetable de Bourbon.
Charles de Bourbon-Montpensier, head of the younger
branch of the house of Bourbon, was, thanks to his
marriage with his cousin Suzanne, daughter of Pierre II,
Due de Bourbon and Anne de Beaujeu, the most power-
ful feudal prince in France, and until the birth of sons
to Francois I had been heir presumptive to the throne.
So vast indeed were his possessions that they might
almost be called an imperium in imperio. They comprised
the duchies of Bourbon, Auvergne, and Chatellerault ;
the counties of Clermont, Montpensier, Forez, La Marche,
and Gien ; the viscounties of Carlat and Murat ; the
seigneuries of Beaujeu, Cambraille, Mercoeur, Annancy,
La Roche-en-Regnier, and Bourbon-Lancy. These im-
mense estates were governed after the manner of real
kingdoms. He possessed the right to administer justice,
with the reservation of an appeal to the royal courts ; he
appointed a chancellor ; he had his own pleaders. He
had even the privilege of levying soldiers in the greater
part of his dominions ; and this he could very well do,
since he was almost as wealthy as the King.
Never had there been a more magnificent nobleman ;
in all Europe no one could vie with him in splendour or
generosity. At the supper which followed Francois's coro-
nation he appeared wearing a robe of cloth-of-gold with a
H3
The Pearl of Princesses
train twelve ells long, lined with ermine, and a velvet
cap sparkling with precious stones, which were said to be
worth a hundred thousand crowns. When, in 1517, he
entertained his sovereign at Moulins, where he kept
almost regal state, the King was served at the banqueting-
table by five hundred gentlemen in velvet costumes, each
wearing a gold chain passed three times round his neck.
But Bourbon had other titles to respect besides his
wealth and magnificence. He was one of the most
renowned soldiers of his time, who had greatly distin-
guished himself in the Italian wars of Louis XII, and
had had no inconsiderable share in the victory of Marig-
nano, and a just man in the highest sense of the word,
ruling his people and his soldiers with equal firmness
and gentleness. Unfortunately, he was also ambitious,
haughty, passionate, and overweeningly proud, for his
mother had been a Gonzaga, and in his veins flowed the
hot blood of generations of condottieri. These qualities
ended by arousing the displeasure of Francois I, who,
though he had, as we have mentioned, created Bourbon
Constable of France on his accession to the throne and
had loaded him with honours, ere long began to treat
him with marked coldness.
The King's attitude appears to have been largely due to
the malevolent insinuations of Louise of Savoy. Louise
was fourteen years older than Bourbon at the time when
Francois became King she was forty, while the duke was
twenty-six but she was more ardent and passionate than
in her youth, and very credulous as to the effect of her
own charms ; in fact, a woman made to be deceived.
She fell madly in love with the young soldier, with his
dark southern face, black hair, and great melancholy eyes,
who had been brought up with her own children ; and
144
Louise of Savoy and Bourbon
for some time Bourbon appeared to return her affection.
Any way, they went so far as the exchange of rings and
actual promises of marriage, when the sickly, hunch-
backed Suzanne should be no more. How far he was
sincere, and how far he was playing a part, is a matter for
speculation ; but it is certain that he made great use of
Louise's infatuation. It was through her influence that
he had been made Constable ; it was to her that he owed
his government of Languedoc, with its splendid emolu-
ments, and his post of Gentleman of the Chamber.
After the triumphant campaign of Marignano, Bourbon
was appointed Governor of the Milanese, and took up his
residence at Milan. Louise, in despair at his absence,
the more so since the ladies of Milan were reported to be
of surpassing beauty, resolved that he should come back,
and intrigued for that purpose with Madame de Chateau-
briand, who wanted the government of the Milanese for
her brother, Lautrec, and had had tender relations of her
own with Bourbon, which she was by no means unwilling
to renew. Between them they persuaded the King to
recall the Constable ; but the latter, who seems to have
found his post at Milan a very congenial one, and whose
vanity was wounded at having to make way for Lautrec,
returned to France in a very ill humour, and, when he
learned of Louise's share in his recall, he was beside him-
self with indignation. In an outburst of rage, he declared
that he would never forgive her, and told her to her face
that he had never loved her and had courted her merely
to serve his own purpose. The fury of Louise may be
imagined ; from that moment she hated Bourbon as much
as she had once loved him, and swore to use every means
in her power to compass his ruin.
Francois I had always regarded Bourbon with a jealous
145 L
The Pearl of Princesses
and watchful eye ; nor can it be denied that so powerful
a vassal was a distinct danger to the throne, particularly
when to his immense wealth and vast possessions had
been added the baton of Constable, which gave him the
virtual control of the Army. Aware of this and observ-
ing Bourbon's haughty and resolute mien when he saw
him at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Henry VIII had
observed to Francois: "Were he subject of mine, his
head would not remain two days on his shoulders/'
Had Francois acted upon this advice, he would perhaps
not have paid too dearly for that celebrated pageant.
However, if he could not bring himself to treat the
constable in quite so drastic a manner as his brother of
England had suggested, he was -now, thanks to the per-
sistent efforts of the vindictive Louise, fully determined
on Bourbon's humiliation. When the war with Charles V
broke out in 1521, although Bourbon had raised at his
own expense a force of 800 men-at-arms and 6000 foot,
Francois would not trust him with any command, and
in the Flemish campaign even refused to allow him to
lead the vanguard a post which, by right, belonged to
the Constable of France on the pretext that he wished
to keep him near his own person. This affront deeply
wounded the pride of Bourbon, but it proved to be
merely an earnest of what was in store for him.
Towards the close of that year Suzanne de Bourbon
died, and as soon, or perhaps rather sooner, than de-
corum permitted, her husband began negotiations for the
hand of Queen Claude's younger sister, Madame Renee,
a marriage which would, of course, have added greatly to
his wealth and importance. At this moment, however, a
veritable bolt from the blue descended upon him.
The great possessions of the House of Bourbon had
146
Louise of Savoy and Bourbon
been originally bequeathed by Louis XI to Anne de
Beaujeu, with the condition that, in the event of her
death without a male heir, they should revert to the
Crown. But, on the marriage of Charles de Montpensier
to Suzanne de Bourbon, Louis XII had annulled this
edict by another, which assured the inheritance of the
Bourbon estates to the survivor. The Crown lawyers
now, however, asserted that these estates reverted to the
King by inalienable right, and that Francois could dispose
of them at will ; and Louise of Savoy announced her
intention of claiming them as Suzanne's first cousin,
whereas Bourbon was a mere distant kinsman. Thus,
in her vindictive spite, Louise proposed to strip her
former lover of the whole of the heritage of his dead
wife.
She was, nevertheless, willing to give the Constable a
chance of saving himself from the ruin which menaced
him, either because of some return of her old affection,
or because she and Francois feared the effect which the
action they were contemplating might have upon the
nobility, who looked upon Bourbon as their leader.
Accordingly, the King sent one of his gentlemen to the
Constable to suggest that the conflicting claims of him-
self and the Duchess d'Angouleme might be easily re-
conciled by a marriage between them. But the haughty
and high-spirited Bourbon rejected this proposal with
scorn. "When the duke heard these tidings," writes
Fleuranges, " for a long time he spake no word, but stood
looking upon the noble messenger, his brother-in-arms,
and at length he said to him : c Is it an act worthy of our
friendship to bring me the offer of such a woman . . .
the dread of all nations? ... I would not do this thing
no, not for all the riches of Christendom.'' When the
H7
The Pearl of Princesses
King informed his mother of this answer, " she, like a
woman bereft of her senses, began to tear her hair, saying
that she had been a mad woman thus to abandon herself
in order to receive such an answer. c The matter shall
not rest here/ quoth she in her wrath, c for, by the Creator
of souls, his words shall cost him dear. My son, I will
not own you, I will condemn you as a coward king, if you
do not avenge me/ The King answered that the hour
had not yet come, as he had need of the Constable's
services in the approaching campaign. ' Bear with me,
mother/ he continued. c When the time is ripe, I shall
know how to reckon with him.' '
Shortly after this came the Semblanc^ai affair, in which
Bourbon joined with Lautrec in his endeavour to expose
Louise. 1 His conduct in this matter removed any linger-
ing scruples which the lady may possibly have entertained
in regard to the Constable, and strengthened her deter-
mination to effect his ruin. On the death of Anne de
Beaujeu, the Crown at once began its suit against Bour-
bon, and, thanks to the machinations of Du Prat, in
August 1523, the Parlement of Paris sequestrated all
the Bourbon estates and referred the case to the King's
Council, whose decision was, of course, a foregone
conclusion.
Meanwhile, the dishonourable and even fraudulent
methods that were being adopted to despoil him had
proved too great a strain on the Constable's loyalty and
patriotism, and since the previous autumn he had been
in communication with the agents of Charles V and
Henry VIII. The Emperor hoped much from Bour-
1 He also, if we are to believe Varillas, was imprudent enough to
indulge in sarcastic allusions to a certain miller at Cognac, who, he
declared, bore so striking a resemblance to the King, both in face and
figure, that the likeness could scarcely be accidental.
148
Treason of the Constable
bon's defection, and, though the latter's terms were high,
he resolved to accede to them ; and in the spring of
1523 a secret treaty for the dismemberment of France
was concluded between the Constable, Charles V, and
Henry VIII, by which it was agreed that, in the event
of success, an independent kingdom should be given to
Bourbon, composed of Aries, Dauphine and Provence,
with his former possessions of Auvergne and the Bour-
bonnais, and the hand of the Emperor's elder sister,
Eleanor, Queen-dowager of Portugal ; l while the
Emperor received, as his share of the spoil, Burgundy,
Champagne and Picardy, and Henry VIII the old
English inheritance in the South and West. To such
a pass had the rancour of Louise of Savoy and his own
passionate resentment driven the Constable of France.
These negotiations were not completed without vague
rumours of what was in progress coming to the ears of
Francois I. He determined to tax Bourbon openly with
his suspected treason, and, by assuming a knowledge
which he did not possess, endeavoured to surprise him
into a confession of his guilt, if guilty he really were.
In March 1523 Bourbon visited Paris, where the Court
then was, and whilst there visited Queen Claude. Sud-
denly, the King entered, and turning abruptly to the
Constable, said : " It is true, I suppose, that you are
going to be married ? " " No, Sire," replied Bourbon.
1 Born at Louvain in 1498 ; married in 1519 to the old King of
Portugal, Manoel the Great, by whom she was left a widow two years
later. Charles V engaged to bestow a dowry of 200,000 crowns upon
his sister, and, in the event of his own death, and that of the Archduke
Ferdinand, without leaving male heirs, he promised to declare Eleanor
heiress of the hereditary dominions of his House. The Queen also pos-
sessed an independent revenue of 20,000 crowns, and jewels valued at
over half-a-million. The Constable was to settle the Beaujolais on his
bride.
I 49
The Pearl of Princesses
u But I know that you are I am aware of all your traffic
with the Emperor. It will be well for you to remember
what I am saying." " Sire, you threaten me ! I have not
deserved to be treated in this manner." With which the
Constable left the room and returned to his own house.
And all the nobles present followed him, to show their
sympathy.
Had Bourbon issued his challenge to his ungrateful
sovereign from his own dominions, it might have awakened
a response which, in conjunction with the English and
Imperialist invasions, might have torn the sceptre from
Francois's grasp. For the whole country was seething
with discontent under the intolerable burdens laid upon
it for a war in which neither noble, citizen, nor peasant had
any interest, and he not only commanded a large and
influential following among the nobility, but was regarded
by the Parlement as the advocate of its rights and privi-
leges, persistently disregarded by the King, and by the
people as one who had their wrongs at heart. But he
delayed too long ; his plans were discovered, and he was
obliged to fly for his life, disguised as a servant, to the
mountains of Auvergne, and thence to Italy.
" In the said year 1523, on Friday, September 1 1, news
was brought to Paris by Rene, the Lyons messenger,
that Monsieur de Bourbon had left the land of France ;
and on Our Lady's Day in September had departed in
secret from his land of the Bourbonnais ; and by the
sound of trumpet he was proclaimed a traitor throughout
the land of France ; and it was proclaimed that whoso
should take the said Sieur de Bourbon and deliver him
into the hands of the said Grand Master, the Sieur
d'Alen^on, or into the hands of Monsieur de la Palisse,
the King would grant him 10,000 golden crowns ; or for
150
Reverses of the French
information as to where he could be taken, 20,000 silver
crowns."
No one, however, succeeded in earning either of the
promised rewards, and Bourbon arrived in safety at the
camp of the Imperialist Army of Italy, in which he
accepted a command under Lannoy, Viceroy of Naples. 2
The fortunes of France were indeed at a low ebb ;
domestic treason, foreign invasion, religious animosities,
and financial difficulties seemed to be combining to ruin
her. The King, however, faced the situation bravely
enough. " It is true that the princes of Europe have
conspired against me," said he, "but I care not, for I
have an answer and a defiance for each one of them. In
the first place, I do not embarrass myself with the
Emperor's projects, because he has no money to maintain
them ; nor with those of the King of England, for my
province of Picardy is well fortified ; the Flemings are
bad soldiers ; and, as for Italy, I will not yield one inch
of the territory which my enemies have momentarily
wrested from me."
He had certainly need of all the optimism he possessed
during the ensuing campaign. The English and the
Flemings, whose fighting qualities he held so cheaply,
penetrated to within eleven leagues of Paris ; while
Bonnivet, to whom had been entrusted the command of
the army which, previous to the discovery of Bourbon's
conspiracy, the King himself had intended to lead into
the Milanese, proved no match for the Imperialist Generals,
1 Journal d > un bourgeois de Paris sous la regne de Francois I er (1515-36),
edited by Ludovic Lalanne (Paris, 1854).
* Charles, Marquis de Lannoy, born at Valenciennes in 1487, and
brought up with the future Emperor, who was greatly attached to him.
He was made a Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1515, and Viceroy of
Naples in 1521.
The Pearl of Princesses
and was driven back across the Sesia. 1 His retreat was
rendered memorable by the death of the celebrated
Bayard le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche who com-
manded the rear-guard, and saved the army from destruc-
tion at the cost of his own life (April 30, 1524). After
this reverse the last French garrison in Lombardy speedily
capitulated, and not a rod of Italian soil remained to
Francois 1.
Hard upon the evacuation of Italy came the news that
the victorious Imperialists were preparing for an invasion
of the south-eastern provinces, and that Bourbon intended
to carry fire and sword through the land of which he had
once been the foremost defender. To meet this new
danger Francois issued orders that all the troops which
could be spared from the defence of the North should
assemble at Lyons, whither he set out at the beginning of
July, accompanied by his mother and sister. At Bourges
he was overtaken by a messenger from Blois with tidings
that the Queen, who had been in failing health for some
time past, was dangerously ill. The critical state of
affairs prevented the King from returning ; but Louise
and Marguerite started at once, and travelled with all
possible speed ; but at Herbault, a country-house belong-
ing to the King, situated a few miles from Blois, where
they had been obliged to stop for a night, owing to Louise
having become unwell, they learned that the Queen was
already dead.
Neglected by her fickle husband, slighted by her
mother-in-law, 2 and, towards the end of her life, a martyr
1 Bonnivet appears to have owed his appointment to the command
of the Army of Italy to the solace for Bourbon's disdain which he had
brought to Louise of Savoy's wounded heart.
2 Louise of Savoy, in her Journal, calls the universe to witness that
she had always treated her daughter-in-law with respect and affection.
152
Death of Queen Claude
to ill-health, poor Queen Claude had had a sad life.
Most of her time had been spent in the embroidering of
altar-cloths, in devotional exercises, and in works of
charity ; and the only joys she appears to have known
were those of maternity, which were not spared her, since
in ten years she had given birth to seven children three
sons and four daughters. 1 En revanche, she was accorded
a magnificent funeral, and after lying in state for some
time in the chapel of Saint-Calais at Blois, during which
contemporary chroniclers assure us that several sick
persons who had visited her tomb, " bearing offerings and
candles," were cured of their ailments, 2 her body was
conveyed to Saint-Denis, in a hearse drawn by six horses,
each ridden by a bareheaded " enfant d'honneur" dressed in
black velvet. Louise and Marguerite followed on mules
with black trappings, while before her went a great
company of princes, prelates, ambassadors, nobles, and
" Every one knows it," she writes ; " truth recognizes it ; experience
proves it ; moreover, common report proclaims it." Her indignant
protestations, however, have been disregarded by historians, and there
can be little doubt that she had treated the unfortunate Queen as though
determined to avenge upon her all that she herself had suffered from the
hatred of Anne de Bretagne.
1 Here is the list :
I. Louise, born in 1515 ; died in 1517. z. Charlotte, born in
1516; died in 1524. 3. Fra^ois, born in 1518 ; died in 1536.
4. Henri, born in 1519, succeeded to the throne as Henri II in 1547 ;
died in 1559. 5. Madeleine, born in 1520, married in 1536 James V
of Scotland ; died in 1537. 6. Charles, born in 1522 ; died in 1545.
7. Marguerite, born in 1525 ; married in 1559 Emmanuel Philibert,
tenth Duke of Savoy ; died in 1574.
2 "And by reason of the great opinion which they held of her
sanctity, several persons carried to her offerings and candles, and attest
that they were cured and saved from some malady by her intercessions.
And likewise a notable lady, who affirmed that she had obtained, owing
to her merits, the cure of a fever which had long tormented her."
Chronique du Roi Franfois l er .
153
The Pearl of Princesses
presidents, and counsellors of the Parlement, with the
four-and-twenty criers of Paris at their head, ringing their
bells and proclaiming the titles and virtues of the deceased
princess virtues, alas ! too little appreciated during her
lifetime. All the streets and squares of Paris through
which the cortege passed were hung with crape, and a
wax taper burned before every house.
According to Marguerite, the death of the poor Queen,
whom she had treated so badly, occasioned Louise " in-
credible distress/' and " increased her illness so greatly
that, if its violence had not speedily abated, she could
not have endured it long. The King," she continues,
" whom we left at Bourges awaiting the end, feels it not
less. Perceiving that it [his wife's death] could not long
be averted, he mourned exceedingly, saying to Madame
[Louise] : ' If my life could be given in exchange for
hers, willingly would I surrender it. Never could I
have believed that the bonds of marriage, confirmed by
God, were so difficult to sever.' And so in tears we
separated. Since, we have had no news how he [the King]
fares, but I fear that he is burdened with heavy sorrow." l
So intense was Marguerite's affection for her mother
and brother that it never seems to have occurred to her
to doubt their sincerity. In the case of Louise, however,
it must be admitted that she had cause enough for
" incredible distress " in the dangers and disasters which
her passions had brought upon the kingdom.
In dying, the poor Queen had left her children, the
eldest of whom, Madame Charlotte, was but seven years
old, to the care of her sister-in-law, and worthily did
Marguerite discharge the trust reposed in her. No one
could have been more kind and gentle, or more solicitous
1 Letter to the Bishop of Meaux, August 1524.
'54
Illness of Madame Charlotte
for their welfare than she, and some of her most touching
and charming letters are those which she wrote to the
absent King about his motherless children.
The little princes and princesses usually resided at
Amboise, as it was impossible for them to accompany
their royal parents in the various perambulations of the
Court, and Amboise, where the King and Marguerite had
themselves been brought up, was considered the healthiest
of all the royal residences. The Dauphin Francois, and
his brothers, Henri, Due d'Orleans, and Charles, Due
d'Angouleme, were strong and healthy boys ; but their
two elder girls, Mesdames Charlotte and Madeleine,
had inherited their mother's delicate constitution. The
children had been brought to Blois to take a last farewell
of the Queen, and here they contracted measles, which
in the case of little Madame Charlotte was followed by
dangerous complications. Marguerite, who had remained
at Herbault with Louise, whom a severe attack of gout
a malady from which she suffered excruciating torture in
her later years had prevented from returning to Lyons,
hastened to Blois and nursed the little princess with
tender care ; but the poor child grew steadily worse.
Fearing to add to the anxieties of Francois, she refused
to allow him to be informed of his daughter's illness, nor
did she even tell Louise, " who was not yet strong enough
to bear the slightest sorrow." To judge, however, from
a letter which she wrote to Bri^onnet, the usual confidant
of her troubles and anxieties, she appears to have been
aware of the heavy responsibility she was thereby
incurring :
"September 1524.
" To render you evil for good (for I am bound to
thank God and you for the consolation which your last
The Pearl of Princesses
letter gave and still gives me, as I have read it often an
yet not enough), I am going to impart to you a share o
the tribulation with which it has pleased Our Lord t
smite me (a grievous burden for this frail and feebl
body to bear). My sorrow is that it has pleased God t
inflict upon Madame Charlotte so grievous a malady o
fever and flux after her measles that I know not whethe
it may not be His good pleasure to take her to Himself
without suffering her longer to taste the miseries of thi
world. As Madame is not yet strong enough to endur
the smallest sorrow, I conceal this from her and from th
King likewise, for you are aware that he has enough t
think about elsewhere. Therefore, as upon me alone thi
care must fall, I ask the help of your fervent praye
that as the Almighty wills so it may be done. I pra
you not to grow weary in giving me that succour whic
my unbelief renders so necessary. I hope that ere m
messenger reaches you that she [Madame Charlotte
may be relieved from apprehension of death ; or else may
have attained that state which we all ought to desire
rather than dread, but which grace can alone comprehend
that grace which especially with all her imperfections
needs,
" Vostre trop inutile
" MARGUERITE."
,
Poor Madame Charlotte lived on for some little time
longer, when death at length released her from her
sufferings. She appears to have been a pious, sweet and
affectionate child, and Marguerite, who had been tenderly
attached to her, and who in after days dedicated to her
her poem, le Myrouer de Fdme Pescheresse, was deeply
distressed by her death. She had, besides, the painful
i S 6
Death of Madame Charlotte
task of breaking the news to the King, from whom she
had considered it her duty to conceal his little daughter's
illness. In another letter to Bri$onnet, she tells him that,
notwithstanding that he was in ignorance of Madame
Charlotte being ill, Francois " had dreamed three times
that she appeared to him and said : 'Adieu, mon roy, je
voys en Paradis ! ' and so divined her death, which he took
extremely to heart, but, by the goodness of God, endured
patiently." And she adds: "Madame, who had not heard
a word, learned it through the indiscretion of a captain
of Adventurers, and bore it in such a manner that from
dinner-time till supper (one tear not waiting for the
other, without uttering sighs of impatience or vexation)
she never ceased to exhort me to submission, and under-
took towards me the office of comforter, which I owed
her. I wished that you had been here to witness this
sight ; for, seeing her suffer such intense and almost
insupportable bodily pain, while her eyes were raised to
Heaven, praising God for His mercies, I beheld, as I
thought, a soul wrapt in ecstacy of spiritual transport."
After what we know of Louise of Savoy's dealings
with Semblanc^ai and Bourbon, this makes strange reading ;
but, then, Louise was no ordinary woman,
CHAPTER XIV
WHILST Marguerite was watching by the death-bed
of her little niece and Louise was nursing her gout at
Herbault, the Imperialist Army of Italy, under the
command of Bourbon, advancing rapidly along the
Corniche Road, had crossed the Var and entered
Provence. The ex-Constable, aware that the French
were but ill-prepared to meet an invasion from this
quarter, had conceived the bold plan of marching straight
upon Lyons, in the belief that, if he succeeded in pene-
trating to the heart of the kingdom, the discontented
nobles, particularly those of his own former dominions,
would hasten to rally round him. There was un-
doubtedly much to be said for this course, though
Bourbon probably overestimated the strength of the
rebellious faction. However, Charles V had other views.
He was set upon the capture of Marseilles the half-way
house between Genoa and Barcelona which would con-
vert the Gulf of Lyons into a Spanish lake and definitely
transfer the command of the Mediterranean from France
to Spain ; and the Marchese di Pescara, 1 who had been
associated with Bourbon, and the Spanish officers, refused
their consent to his project and insisted on his undertaking
the conquest of Provence.
With the exception of Aix, whose defence was pro-
tracted for over a month, most of the Provencal towns
1 Francesca Ferrante d'Avalos, a member of a noble Neapolitan
family of Spanish origin, and the husband of Vittoria Colonna, who
consecrated many of her poems to his memory. He was by far the
ablest general whom Charles V possessed at this time.
158
Invasion of Provence
opened their gates after scarcely a show of resistance, and
on August 19 the Imperialists laid siege to Marseilles.
The ramparts were ill-fitted to withstand artillery, while
the inhabitants bore no very high reputation for courage ;
and Bourbon laughingly assured Pescara that " three
cannon-shots would so astonish the good citizens that
they would come with halters round their necks to bring
him the keys of the town." His calculations were
grievously at fault, for the " good citizens " offered an
heroic resistance, 1 and when a breach had been made in
the ramparts, threw up with astonishing rapidity a
formidable earthwork, which was called <c le rampart des
dames" since all the women in the town had assisted in
its construction. A Spanish squadron which was block-
ading the port was defeated by the French fleet, which
was thus enabled to provision Marseilles, while the
investing army, whose supplies reached them with diffi-
culty, suffered severe privations. Finally, towards the
end of September, the approach of the formidable army
which Francois had by this time been able to assemble
at Avignon obliged the Imperialists to raise the siege
and retreat into Italy.
Unfortunately, Francois was not satisfied with having
preserved his kingdom and secured his crown. Em-
boldened by the retirement of the enemy, he at once
decided to make another descent into the Milanese, and
revenge in person the reverses of Lautrec and Bonnivet,
and the invasion to which his realm had just been exposed,
by the splendour of a conquest which he believed to be
certain and which he intended should be permanent.
1 Du Bellay relates that one day a cannon-shot from the town passed
through Pescara's tent, killing his almoner and two of his attendants en
route. Pescara sent the deadly missile to Bourbon. " Here," wrote
he ironically, " are the keys which the citizens of Marseilles bring you."
The Pearl of Princesses
His most experienced generals, who had begun t(
entertain an almost superstitious dread of Italy and to
regard it as a tomb in which successive French armies
were destined to be swallowed up, endeavoured to
dissuade him from undertaking a campaign so late in
the year ; and Louise and Marguerite, who had arrived
at Lyons, joined their solicitations to those of the King's
military advisers. Louise, rinding that her letters had
no effect upon her son's resolution, decided to make
a journey to Avignon, in the hope that a personal
interview might induce him to abandon it, and begged
the King on no account to set out before her arrival,
as she had State secrets of great importance to com-
municate to him. But Francois would hear of no delay,
and early in October, having nominated his mother
Regent, at the head of 40,000 men, who included the
flower of the French nobility, he marched rapidly
through Dauphine and over Mont-Genevre into Italy,
with the intention of cutting off" the retreating
Imperialists from Lombardy.
In this he all but succeeded ; indeed, he entered
Milan by the western gate as Bourbon and Pescara
retired through the eastern and fell back on Lodi.
Here Pescara entrenched himself in a strong position,
in order to defend the line of the Adda, while Bourbon
hastened into Germany to raise a force of landsknechts.
Pescara's troops were worn out with sickness and
privation ; they had received no pay for months and
were utterly discouraged ; and if Francois had attacked
the disorganized army before Bourbon could return,
he would probably have broken it up beyond all hope
of rally. Instead of doing so, however, he laid siege
to Pavia, which blocked the road from Milan south-
160
Louise and Marguerite at Lyons
wards, and into which the Imperialists in their retreat
had thrown a force of 6000 men, under Antonio de
Leyva, a brave and experienced officer.
The news of Francois's recovery of Milan, practically
without striking a blow, was hailed with transports of
joy by his admiring relatives, and the exultant Mar-
guerite writes to Bri^onnet that the King had come
to the decision that his success was " a miraculous work,
achieved by the direct intervention of God, Who, without
battle, had given victory to those who believed in Him,
and who, relying not on their own knowledge and
strength, trusted in His paternal goodness. The King,
therefore, requires of Madame that she cause it to be
proclaimed and published that all victory, honour and
glory is alone due to the great God of Hosts." Alas !
Francois's military incapacity, as we shall see, was
sufficient to counter-balance any miracle.
Louise and Marguerite were still at Lyons, and the
Reformers, driven from Paris and Meaux, gathered
round the latter, and, strong in her protection, pro-
ceeded to sow the seed boldly. Michel d'Arande,
Sebville, minister of the Reformed Church at Grenoble,
and one Maigret, a converted Dominican monk, preached
the new doctrines publicly at Lyons, to the great wrath
of the Dominicans of that city, who appealed to the
Sorbonne and demanded the arrest of Sebville and
Maigret. "The heresy of the Pauvres of Lyons is
revived," they wrote, " and schism rends the unity and
subverts the authority of the Holy Roman Church."
Beda and his colleagues applauded the zeal of the
Dominicans, and orders for the arrest of both preachers
were issued. Maigret took to flight ; but Sebville stood
his ground and was forthwith arraigned for heresy. His
161 M
The Pearl of Princesses
friends, however, besought Marguerite's intervention,
and the princess, after having apparently failed to
interest the Regent in her protege s behalf, wrote to the
King, who sent orders forbidding the Parlement and the
Sorbonne to pursue the prosecution of the accused, and
directing that he should be set at liberty. Sebville was
accordingly released, though a veto was placed on his
disturbing eloquence ; but Maigret returned to Lyons,
where, under the patronage of Marguerite, he continued
to preach publicly.
While her daughter thus openly protected the Re-
formers, Louise soothed to some degree the irritation
of the orthodox by the frequent religious processions
which she commanded to implore the intervention of
Heaven in favour of the French army in Italy. On one
occasion, she gave orders for a general muster of children
of all ages, whom she caused to be marshalled in proces-
sion to the cathedral, that they might " raise their inno-
cent voices in prayer " that God would grant success to
her son's arms. "Remembering your continual troubles,"
writes Marguerite to Anne de Montmorency, who was
with the army before Pavia, " she [Louise] perseveres
daily in commanding processions and prayers. Next
Sunday there is to be a grand procession of young and
very little children, to supplicate Heaven to grant relief
and prosperity to the King. I beseech Him, Who from
the mouths of babes has perfected praise, to grant such
accomplishment as He wills to their innocent prayers."
From this letter it will be gathered that matters in
Italy were not going altogether as could be desired ; and,
in point of fact, the garrison and citizens of Pavia, whom
Antonio de Leyva had succeeded in inspiring with his
own indomitable spirit, had offered so stubborn a resist-
162
The Disaster of Pavia
ance that time had been given to Pescara to reorganize
his shattered forces ; to Bourbon to return from Germany
with a large body of landskmchts, which his great name
had attracted to his banner ; and to Lannoy, the Viceroy
of Naples, to join his colleagues at the head of a con-
siderable force of Spaniards and Italians. On the other
hand, Francois, with criminal imprudence, had greatly
weakened his own army by detaching 4000 men to attack
Genoa, and sending nearly three times that number to the
frontier of Naples.
Towards the end of January, the Imperialists quitted
their camp at Lodi and advanced to the relief of Pavia.
Francois's most prudent officers, La Palice, who had suc-
ceeded Bourbon as Constable, La Tremoille, and the Grand
Master of the Artillery, Galiot de Gnouillac, warned
him of the danger of permitting himself to be shut in
between the garrison of Pavia and the relieving army,
and urged that he should temporarily raise the siege and
retire on Milan, or occupy a strong defensive position
in the environs. Bonnivet and the younger officers,
however, cried out with one voice against this proposal,
the former declaring, that " we other Frenchmen are not
accustomed to make war by military artifices, but with
banners waving, particularly when we have for general a
valiant King, who ought to inspire the greatest poltroons
to combat bravely." * Such advice was too much in
accord with Francois's own inclinations not to be accept-
able, and he accordingly determined to remain before
Pavia.
So strong was the position occupied by the French,
that for three weeks the Imperialists remained in sight of
it without attempting any decisive movement ; and it was
1 Brant6me.
163
The Pearl of Princesses
only when, their provisions being exhausted, their generals
found themselves faced with the alternative of fighting
or disbanding, that they determined to attack. Though
Francois's army had, in the interval, been still further
weakened by the withdrawal of 6000 Swiss mercenaries,
recalled to the Grisons by the necessity of defending
their valleys against the incursions of a condottiere in the
Emperor's pay, it was still superior to the enemy, par-
ticularly in cavalry and artillery, in both of which the
Imperialists were lamentably deficient. They had, how-
ever, a large body of Spanish arquebusiers, at this time
the best marksmen in Europe.
In the early hours of St. Matthias's Day (February 24),
which happened to be the birthday of Charles V, the
Imperialists advanced to the assault of the French posi-
tion. Their march lay over an open plain, and the
French artillery directed upon them so murderous a fire
that, according to Du Bellay, " one saw only heads and
legs flying in the air." To check this havoc, Pescara
ordered his troops to take shelter in a hollow to the
northward of the French, for which they accordingly
made, the infantry at the double and the cavalry at a
gallop. Observing this, Francois concluded that the
Imperialists were in full retreat, and that victory was
assured, and charged furiously down from the rising
ground which he occupied, at the head of his bodyguard of
nobles and gentlemen and the French men-at-arms. By
this movement, he not only got between his own artillery
and the enemy, and obliged the gunners to cease fire,
but cut himself off" from the main body, and left his
centre and right unsupported by cavalry. As soon as the
King charged, the whole army quitted their entrenchments
and pressed forward likewise.
164
The Disaster of Pavia
The King at first carried all before him, killed with his
lance the Marchese di San Angelo, who commanded the
Imperialist light horse, scattered the men-at-arms of
Lannoy, and broke right through a body of pikemen.
But Pescara and Bourbon rallied the fugitives, and the
steady fire of the Spanish arquebusiers, which no armour
could withstand, checked the triumphal progress of the
men-at-arms, and drove them back upon the advancing
Swiss, who formed the centre of the French line, and
whom they threw into hopeless confusion. Meanwhile,
the landsknechts on the French right were attacked on one
flank by their compatriots in the Imperial service, and on
the other by some Spanish battalions, and, overwhelmed
by numbers, perished almost to a man. The victorious
troops then advanced upon the disordered Swiss, upon
whom the arquebusiers were now directing their fire ;
and, disheartened by the fate of their German comrades,
the Swiss gave way and retreated towards Milan.
The day was now irretrievably lost, yet total disaster
might well have been averted had the Due d'Alen^on,
who commanded the cavalry of the left wing, which had
not yet come into action, made a vigorous charge. But
the unfortunate man appears to have lost his head alto-
gether, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of some
of his officers, ordered the retreat to be sounded, and
quitted the field without striking a blow ; and though
the infantry of that wing, composed mainly of French-
men, under La Palice, offered an heroic resistance, they
eventually shared the fate of the Germans. Finally,
Antonio de Leyva sallied out from Pavia, dispersed the
corps which had been left to mask the fortress, destroyed
the bridge over the Ticino the principal avenue of
escape and fell upon the rear of the French cavalry,
The Pearl of Princesses
whom Francois had so imprudently led to the charge,
and who were now the only troops which still held their
ground. They, comprising as they did the tlite of the
French nobility and inspired by the example of their
King, performed prodigies of valour. But, hemmed in
on every side by overwhelming numbers, their courage
was useless ; Francois's horse fell dead under him, and
the King, who had been wounded in three places, was
made prisoner, 1 while almost all his followers were either
killed or taken. Never had there been so great a
slaughter of nobles. The gallant old Louis de la
Tremoille, who had taken part in every war which France
had waged since the accession of Charles VIII ; Louis
d'Ars, the kinsman and teacher of Bayard ; the Connetable
La Palice ; Francois de Lorraine, younger brother of
Claude, Due de Guise ; Rene, the Bastard of Savoy,
Louise's half-brother ; the Grand Equerry, San-Sevarino,
chief of the French party in the kingdom of Naples ; the
Marechal de Foix ; Richard de la Pole, the attainted
Duke of Suffolk, called by the French " Rose blanche" to
distinguish him from Charles Brandon, and Bonnivet,
whose fatal advice had determined the King to remain
before Pavia, were either killed or mortally wounded ;
while Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre ; the Comte de
Saint-Pol, brother of the Due de Vendome ; Anne de
Montmorency ; Chabot de Brion, and the Prince de
Talmont, heir of La Tremoille, were among the prisoners.
1 Fran9ois would probably have been killed had not Bourbon's
equerry, Pomperant, ridden up and interposed himself between the King
and those who were pressing upon him, crying out : " It is the King,
spare him ! " He suggested that he should surrender himself ; but
this Fran9ois refused to do ; and it was Lannoy who received his
sword, handing him his own at the same time, " since it was unseemly
that a king, although a captive, should be disarmed."
166
Anguish of Marguerite
In less than two hours France was deprived of her
Sovereign and a whole generation of paladins. Alto-
gether, it is believed that over 10,000 of the French and
their auxiliaries perished on the field of battle or were
drowned in attempting to escape across the Ticino. The
loss of the victors was comparatively small, probably not
more than 1000.
The Duchesse d'Angouleme and Marguerite were still
at Lyons when news of this disaster reached them. For
some days Louise's fortitude seems to have entirely
forsaken her, and she could do nothing but weep and
lament her son's misfortune and the threatened ruin of
the kingdom. "Alas ! he did not wish to believe me ! "
she repeatedly exclaimed. " Ah ! how many times did I
warn him ! Why did he not believe me, for my fears
predicted all his misfortunes ? " In vain Du Prat sought
to arouse her to the necessity of immediate action, point-
ing out that the liberation of the King and the safety of
the country depended upon her. For the moment, her
spirit, usually so determined, was completely crushed
beneath the weight of her trials, and she seemed like one
distraught.
Marguerite's anguish was not less keen ; for not only
was her idolized brother a prisoner and many of her
friends among the dead, but she had the terrible humilia-
tion of knowing that the cowardice or incapacity of her
own husband had largely contributed to the disaster. "It
cannot be described," writes Moreau de Villefranche,
" what lamentations were made, and tears shed by that
noble lady, the mother of the King, after she had heard
the piteous news that her very dear and only son, the
Very Christian King Francois, first of that name, was
The Pearl of Princesses
taken and subjected to the will of his vassal and greatest
enemy. Oh ! what regrets ! Oh ! how many were the
deplorable lamentations ! Oh ! how numberless were the
grievous exclamations uttered by the said lady ! After-
wards also by Madame Marguerite, her only daughter ;
and by the ladies, demoiselles, princes, dukes, barons, and
by all the courtiers likewise. The same mournings were
made by the people of Lyons ; and the lamentation was
so great that scarce could it be appeased." l
Marguerite was by turns overwhelmed by grief and
indignation : grief for her captive brother, indignation at
the conduct of her feeble husband. That luckless prince
was making his way back to Lyons by slow marches, for
he well knew the reception which awaited him there. All
the peasants were singing Chansons de Pavie, and, as he
rode dejectedly along, his ears must have been assailed by
songs such as this :
Qui vit jamais au monde
Ung roy si courageux
De sa mettre en battaille ;
Et delaisse de ceulx,
En qui toute fiance
Et qui tenait asseur,
L'ont laisse en souffrance !
Veey la le malheur.
The whole country, indeed, was furious against les fuyards
de Pavie, and Rabelais undoubtedly voiced the popular
sentiment when he wrote : " I hate more than poison a
man who flies when sword-play comes into fashion. Why
am I not King of France for eighty or a hundred years ?
Mon Dieu ! I would crop the tails of the curs who fled
from Pavia."
1 Docum. sur la capthite de Frattfois l er , cited by Frere.
168
CHAPTER XV
FRANCOIS, after surrendering to Lannoy, had begged
the Viceroy to spare him the humiliation of being sent as
a prisoner to the city which he had lately been besieging,
and to conduct him instead to the Imperialists' camp ;
and to this request his chivalrous captor readily assented.
Brantome relates that on the way they passed the church
of a Carthusian monastery, which the King asked permis-
sion to enter. The first object that met his eyes was this
inscription : " It is good for me, Lord, that I have been
in trouble, that I may learn thy statutes." Francois,
deeply affected, fell on his knees and remained for some
time in prayer before the high altar ; then he rose and
followed his guards.
The following day the captive monarch was conducted
to the citadel of Pizzighitone, there to await the
Emperor's pleasure. Before, however, leaving the
Imperialists' camp, he wrote to his mother the letter in
which occurs that phrase which tradition* reshaped for
him into the famous " Tout est perdu fors fhonneur"
Here is the actual text :
" Madame, in order that you may be acquainted with
the extent of my misfortunes, know that of all things there
remain to me naught save honour and life, which are safe."
And he adds :
" And so that, in your adversity, this news may bring
you a little consolation, I have requested permission to
write to you this letter ; begging you not to despair, but
169
The Pearl of Princesses
to employ your usual prudence, for I cherish hope that
in the end God will not forsake me ; recommending your
grandchildren and my children to your care, and request-
ing you to give a safe-conduct to the bearer of this to
go and to return from Spain, for he journeys to the
Emperor, to learn in what manner he wishes me to
be treated. Commending myself to your favour and
affection, I am your very humble and obedient son,
" FRANCO vs."
For the moment, it certainly seemed that Francois had
not exaggerated the gravity of the situation. The over-
whelming disaster of Pavia not only rendered the loss of
Italy certain, but it exposed France herself to the gravest
peril. With her King a prisoner, the troops to which she
looked for defence against foreign aggression destroyed
or dispersed, her best generals dead or in captivity, her
Treasury exhausted, it was difficult to see how she could
escape dismemberment, if her enemies prosecuted the war
with vigour before she had time to recover from the blow
which she had received ; while, even if they stayed their
hands, the disturbed condition of the country and the
hatred with which the Regent and Du Prat were regarded
threatened within serious trouble.
However, Louise of Savoy, with all her faults and her
vices, did not, as we know, lack either courage or capacity,
and so soon as she had recovered a little from the blow
she had sustained, her fortitude returned, and she rose to
the occasion bravely enough. Her first care was to write
to her son and send him a reassuring message. Here is
her letter :
" MONSEIGNEUR i I cannot make a better beginning
to my letter than by praising God that He has been
170
Marguerite's Letter to the King
pleased to preserve your honour, your life, and your
health ; of which under your own hand you have been
pleased to assure me. This news has been of such
comfort to us in our tribulation that it cannot be suffi-
ciently expressed ; also that you are now in the hands of
so worthy a man, 1 who treats you so well. Monseigneur,
hearing these things, and that it is your intention to
endure with resignation the ills that God has inflicted
upon you, I, for my part, likewise promise to bear this
reverse as you hope and desire, in such manner, for the
aid of your little children and the affairs of the kingdom,
that I shall not be the occasion of greater grief to you.
I beseech God, Monseigneur, to have you in His holy
keeping, as prays with all her heart,
" Your very humble and good mother and subject,
" LOYSE."
And Marguerite, desiring to associate herself with the
sentiment with which the letter concludes, inscribed in
the margin : " Your very humble sister, Marguerite."
In accordance with the promise she had given the King,
Louise proceeded to take energetic steps to meet the
dangers which threatened France. She assembled at
Lyons what troops she could muster, and entrusted the
command to the Due de Vendome, with whom she
associated Lautrec and Claude de Lorraine, Due de
Guise. She summoned to Lyons delegates from the
Parlement of Paris, which was already sharply questioning
her right to an uncontrolled regency, gave them many fair
words, and submitted to them the measures which she
proposed to take for the preservation of the kingdom.
She convened a council of notables, which controlled
1 The Viceroy of Naples.
171
The Pearl of Princesses
Louise herself at times, but which put an end to
dissension, at least so far as regarded armaments and
foreign negotiations ; and she sought friends everywhere,
" even in hell," since not only did she renew the old
alliance with the Venetians, and induce Henry VIII,
jealous of the growing power of the Emperor, to recall his
troops from the frontier of Picardy and enter into a treaty
of neutrality with her, but opened negotiations with the
Porte, the first of that long series of friendly dealings
between France and Turkey directed against the House
/"*. ' of Austria.
Even before the defection of England, whose co-opera-
tion was, of course, essential to the success of a fresh
invasion of France, Charles V had already abandoned all
idea of such an undertaking, which would have entailed
demands upon the Imperial coffers which they were at
that moment in no condition to meet, and had decided to
confine his efforts to the exaction of a favourable treaty.
cc As it is not my desire to carry on the war if I can
promote peace," he writes to the Regent, " I have caused
things to be set down in writing which it is my intention
to recover from the King, as justly belonging to us ;
which paper my cousin De Rieux will show you, and
then afterwards present to the King your son, in the
hope that you will both maturely consider and not refuse
demands so moderate and just, and which will insure the
welfare and repose of Christendom."
The demands referred to, though not unjust, could
scarcely be called moderate, including as they did the
cession of the duchy of Burgundy, with its dependencies
of Ma^on, Auxerre, Auxonne, and Bar-sur-Seine. The
indignation in France when they were made known was
extreme ; while Francois refused even to consider them.
172
Marguerite's Letter to Montmorency
However, Charles believed that his rival's impatience of
imprisonment would ere long assure their acceptance.
Louise and Marguerite derived some consolation for
their separation from their idol by maintaining an active
correspondence with him. They also received news of
the King from Anne de Montmorency and La Barre,
the High Bailiff of Paris, who shared their Sovereign's
captivity at Pizzighitone. Marguerite, on learning that
Montmorency was at Pizzighitone, wrote to express
her envy of the good fortune he enjoyed in being privi-
leged to console the King in his misfortunes.
"The envy I experience at seeing you so good a
servant," she writes, " is not so great but that I thank
God for the grace that he has given you, in permitting
you to serve, in this his hour of need and misfortune,
him who deserves it of you. Believe me, the joy which
the King felt at seeing you has been so sensibly reflected
here, that with us it is no longer a question of weariness
and sickness, but of eager anxiety to perform his man-
dates. True is it, nevertheless, that all my life I shall
bear you envy that I cannot perform towards him [the
King] the offices you are now fulfilling ; for where the
will to do so surpasses all that you can feel, Fortune
serves me ill by rendering the way difficult to me a
woman. I hope that God, who knows this my earnest
desire, will reserve for me an hour when I, too, may have
my part ; when life, death, and everything which can
either be feared or desired, will be voluntarily sacrificed
for him. I beseech the Almighty to grant me this oppor-
tunity. I pray you (if you deem it expedient) commend
me to Monseigneur the Viceroy ; for the courtesy which
he shows towards the King makes me feel so obliged
to him that I cannot refrain from asking you to express
The Pearl of Princesses
to him what you know I feel. As often as you can, send
Madame news of her son, on whose deliverance and
health depends her life and consolation, as on the well-
being of both these persons rests that of
" Your good cousin,
" MARGUERITE."
This letter to Montmorency was accompanied by a
joint epistle from Marguerite and her mother to the
King, the first part of which is in Louise's handwriting,
and the latter in Marguerite's, while it is signed by both :
" MONSEIGNEUR : The joy we yet feel from the good
news contained in the letter which it has pleased you to
write to me, your mother, reassures us so much for the
safety of that health upon which our lives depend, that it
seems as if we ought not to hold other discourse than to
praise God and pray for the continuation of such joyful
tidings, as the best and most reviving nourishment upon
which we can subsist. And, inasmuch as God has always
mercifully permitted that our trinity 1 shall be one, we
1 The expression, " Noire trinite ", to indicate their mutual affection,
concord, and union, is continually used by Louise of Savoy and her two
children in the verses they wrote. The idea was taken up with en-
thusiasm by the Court poets ; and Jean Marot celebrated it in the
following sonnet :
Ung seul cueur en trois corps au jour'dhui voy en France,
Regnant en doulx accord, sans quelque differance,
D'amour tant enlacez, qu'il semble que nature,
Les formant ayt chass6 dissension, murmure,
Pour nourrir sans discords amoureuse alliance.
Ung pin, bien m'en records, en Savoye cut croissance,
Si tres beau, que des lors le lys pour sa plaisance
Fleuron y a entez et mis par geniture,
Ung icul cueur en trois corps.
'74
Disgrace of the Due d'Alengon
beseech you that this letter, presented to you, our third,
may be received with the same affection as with all their
hearts it is offered to you by
" Your very humble and obedient mother and sister,
" LOYSE,
" MARGUERITE."
Meanwhile, the disgraced Alen^on had reached Lyons.
Pursued all the way from the frontier by the taunts of his
countrymen, and ill with shame and remorse, the unhappy
prince had already been sufficiently punished ; but his
exasperated relatives were determined that no humilia-
tion should be spared him. Immediately on his arrival,
Louise sent him a peremptory summons to her presence,
and overwhelmed him with the bitterest reproaches.
Marguerite was even more cruel ; she had never cared
for her husband, and, now that she regarded him as the
cause of her adored brother's captivity, he had become
odious to her. She therefore refused to see him or to
hold any communication with him. The Due de Ven-
dome, Alen^on's brother-in-law, appears to have followed
her example.
Abandoned by all, and in momentary fear of arrest, for
the Parlement of Paris had demanded that he should be
brought to trial for high treason, the wretched man deter-
mined to quit Lyons privately and retire to his chateau of
Argentan. But his anguish of mind so aggravated an
attack of pleurisy from which he was suffering that he was
L'ung est entre les forts nomme pour sa puissance,
Francois, franc aux efforts des Fran9ois la fiance ;
La seur bien cognoissez, duchesse nette et pure,
Bonne trop plus qu'assez. O noble geniture !
Vous tes unicorps comme une trine essence :
Ung seul cueur en trois corps.
175
The Pearl of Princesses
obliged to take to his bed, from which he never rose
again.
When informed of the alarming state of her husband,
compassion and her sense of duty prevailed over Mar-
guerite's resentment, and, hastening to the dying man's
bedside, she tended him body and soul with unceasing
care and devotion (It was the first time that either appears
to have received much attention from her). The duke
expressed a great desire to obtain his Sovereign's pardon,
and Marguerite consented to undertake the part of in-
tercessor, though, from the very guarded manner in
which she alludes to her husband, she would appear to
have been very reluctant to remind the King of the
shameful manner in which he had been deserted. The
greater part of her letter, indeed, is consecrated to an
eloquent appeal to Francois to renounce his reported
intention of keeping a rigid fast throughout the remain-
der of Lent a resolution which filled her with con-
sternation, both because fish was considered injurious to
the royal constitution, and because Louise, who was not
strong enough to subsist upon Lenten fare, had vowed
that she would follow her son's example.
" If, Monseigneur," she writes, " you desire that she
[Louise] should preserve her health, 1 beseech you to
take care of your own. It has been told Madame that
you purpose to pass Lent without eating either flesh or
eggs ; and sometimes, for the honour of God, not to
break your fast at all. Monseigneur, as fervently as a
most devoted sister can entreat, I beseech you not to do
so, but to consider how very injurious fish is to your
health. Believe me, if you persist in it, Madame has
vowed that she will do likewise ; and thus the thought
of seeing you both growing weak makes me once more
" The King fasts upon Turtles ' 1
implore that it will please you to desist from this resolu-
tion, out of regard for her precious life and your own.
For, if you continue in health, your friends will do so
likewise ; but, if the contrary, you may imagine the
alternative. Have, then, compassion upon yourself,
Monseigneur, in thinking of us."
And she concludes :
" I will not add more now, save to entreat you to
receive the very humble homage of Monseigneur
d'Alenc/Dn, who esteems his captive freedom (frisonnttrt
liben^ so great a misfortune that, until he sees you again,
he holds his life to be as death ; which, with all that
God has given him, he humbly devotes to your service,
without forgetting her who desires more than ever to
devote herself to your love.
" Your very humble and very obedient subject and sister,
" MARGUERITE."
Marguerite's apprehensions as to the effect of a too
rigorous fast upon the King's health were relieved by a
letter from Francois's fellow-prisoner, La Barre, to the
Regent, in which he informed her that u the King was
fasting upon turtles, which he found very good " ; while,
in response to her appeal on behalf of her husband, his
Majesty sent the duke a gracious message. Nevertheless,
the poetic narration of his misfortunes which Francois
afterwards composed in the Alcazar at Madrid, to beguile
the tedium of his captivity, proves that he was deeply
incensed against his brother-in-law, 1 and had the latter
1 In this poem the King thus indignantly alludes to Alenfon's
diigraceful flight at Pavia :
Trop tost je veis ceux-la qu'avois laissez.
De tout honneur, et vertu delaisser.
Lea trops meschans s'enfuyoient sans combit,
Et entre eulx tous n'avoyent pour debat,
I 7? N
The Pearl of Princesses
survived Francois's release, it is probable that his near
connexion with the King would not have saved him
from disgrace. As it was, he was already beyond hope ;
and in her next letter to the King, " written at the foot of
M. d'Alen^on's bed," Marguerite says : " He [the duke]
begs me to offer you, with my own, his very humble
homage, and to say that, could he but see you before
he died, he would go more happily towards Paradise.
I know not what to say to you, Monseigneur. All is
in the hand of God. Only I beseech you not to sorrow,
either for him or for me ; and be assured that, whatever
happens, God will give me strength to endure it."
On April n, 1525, the luckless Alenc/m breathed
his last. A manuscript chronicle, entitled les Prisons,
preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, the authorship
of which has been attributed by many to Marguerite
herself, gives a minute account of the last hours of the
duke, from which it would appear that he made a very
edifying exit from the world, and that one of his last
acts was to commend to the care of Louise of Savoy
a her who had been his loving consort for so many
years " ; adding, that " so prudent and virtuous had
been her conduct that well did she deserve commenda-
tion from him."
However prudent and virtuous she may have been,
it is to be feared that Marguerite could scarcely be
described as a loving consort ; and when we find her
assuring Francois that, " after the first two days of
Si n'est fouyr, laissant toute victoire
Pour faire d'eulx honteuse la memoire.
Malheureux ! las : Et qui vous conduisoit,
A telle erreur ne qui vous adisoit ;
Abandonner fuyans en disarray,
Honneur, pays, amys, et vostre roy !
178
Marguerite a Widow
her bereavement, never had Madame seen her with a
tearful eye or a mournful countenance, since she should
esteem herself too miserable were she to be the cause of
disquietude to her who was doing so much for him," we
are inclined to doubt whether such stoicism called for
quite so much effort on her part as she wished the King
to believe. Nor would it appear to have jarred very
greatly upon her when, the breath scarcely out of her
husband's body, Louise offered her in marriage to
Charles V, as the easiest means of terminating Francois's
captivity ; indeed, it is probable that the discourtesy of
his Imperial Majesty, who did not even trouble himself
to answer the proposal, hurt her feelings far more.
179
CHAPTER XVI
THE fatal battle of Pavia brought other troubles to
Marguerite d'Angouleme besides the captivity of her
brother and the disgrace and death of her husband. The
Sorbonne was not slow to appreciate the opportunity
which now presented itself of dealing an overwhelming
blow at the Reformers, and every pulpit in Paris re-
sounded with clamours against the heretics, to whom,
as in times of old, the calamities of the country were
attributed. The Parlement joined in the agitation, and
addressed to the Regent a remonstrance in which it
ascribed the disaster of Pavia to celestial anger on account
of the King's toleration of heresy, and demanded that
vigorous measures should be taken against its adherents.
" Heresy," she was told, " had raised its head amongst
them ; and the King, by failing to erect scaffolds against
it, had drawn down the wrath of Heaven upon the
kingdom."
Louise of Savoy found herself unable to turn a deaf ear
to this demand. At Lyons, it is true, she had offered no
objection to the encouragement which her daughter had
given the Reformers, and had listened with unconcern
while the Papal Supremacy had been assailed in her very
presence. But since the captivity of the King all was
changed. The Parlement was showing itself exceedingly
jealous of the powers with which the Regent had been
invested, and the hostility it displayed towards the
measures presented for its approval was the cause of
m'uch trouble and vexation to Louise. It was therefore
1 80
Persecution of the Reformers
highly advisable to propitiate it and endeavour to divert
its meddlesome activity into some other channel ; while,
at the same time, it was of paramount importance to
conciliate the new Pope, Clement VII, 1 who had the
power to stir up all Italy against Charles V, and nothing
was more calculated to secure the friendship of the
Vatican than a rigorous suppression of those who
disputed its authority.
Despite, therefore, the entreaties and remonstrances
of Marguerite, the proscription of the " innovators " was
resolved upon in Council ; and Louise wrote to the Pope
to inquire what steps he would advise in order to secure
the extirpation of heresy throughout the kingdom ; while
the Bishop of Sens was despatched to the Sorbonne to
invite the opinion of that body. Beda and his partisans,
overjoyed to find that the Court, which had so often
snatched from their clutches the victims they had doomed
to destruction, was at last awake to the fact that "the
detestable doctrines of Luther were everywhere gaining
fresh adherents," hastened to reply that " the writ-
ings of these heretics must be prohibited by proclama-
tion"; and that, if these means proved insufficient, force
and constraint must be employed ; " for those who resist
the light must be subdued by punishment and terrors."
Clement VII, on his side, after preparing the way by the
despatch of a cardinal's hat to Du Prat, and by stimulat-
ing the Regent's hopes of a diversion in Italy in favour of
Francois's release, boldly proposed the introduction of the
Inquisition into France, and addressed a brief to the
Parlement to that effect. The Papal recommendation was
received with enthusiasm, and the Parlement lost no time
1 Adrian IV had died in September 1523, and had been succeeded
by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who assumed the name of Clement VII.
181
The Pearl of Princesses
in appointing four commissioners " to do and accomplish
the trial of those who should be attainted with Luther's
doctrines," and decreed that those found guilty " should
be delivered over to the secular arm, that is to say, to the
said Parkment^ which for the same shall condemn them to
be burned alive" (May 17, 1525).
This ferocious decree struck dismay into Marguerite's
heart. Death, proscription, or apostasy threatened her
friends, and she felt herself powerless to defend them.
For the success of her policy was more to Louise of Savoy
than the fate of a few obscure theologians ; and, convinced
of the necessity of conciliating the Parlement and securing
the alliance of the Pope, she steeled herself against all
her daughter's entreaties. Nor did an appeal to the
King himself hold out any prospect of success, since
Francois, grateful for the devotion which his mother had
shown for his interests, was very unlikely to interfere with
any measures which the Regent and her advisers con-
sidered it necessary to adopt ; and Louise and Du Prat
had, moreover, anticipated any such action on Marguerite's
part, by representing to the King that the Reformers had
been endeavouring to sow dissensions during his absence.
She therefore caused them to be informed, through
Michel d'Arande, that, for the present at any rate, they
must not rely on her protection, and that it would be
advisable for them to exercise the utmost discretion ; and
on a hint from her, Lefevre quitted Blois, where she had
secured for him the post of royal librarian, and took
refuge at Strasbourg, at the house of the Reformer
Capito.
The other Parlements followed the example of that of
Paris, and the fires of persecution were lighted. A young
man of great promise, Jacques Pavanne by name, who
182
Pusillanimous Conduct of Briconnet
had been one of the little coterie of Meaux, and who,
after having abjured the Reformed doctrines, had subse-
quently retracted his abjuration, was arrested, condemned,
and burned in the Place de Greve (August 28, 1525).
About the same time, a poor hermit of the forest of Livri,
convicted of having preached to the peasants the doctrines
of Meaux, was burned, with much solemnity, by a slow
fire in front of Notre-Dame. Clergy and people were
summoned to the spot by the tocsin of the cathedral, and
the doctors assured the populace that the hapless hermit
was a lost soul who was being spared the fires of hell. A
gentleman named La Tour and a young student were the
next victims ; while blood was also shed in the provinces,
and one Du Blet, a friend of Farel, and a man named
Moulin were burned at Lyons.
The Commissioners, emboldened by success, resolved
to strike at higher game, and, after the Parkment had
formally forbidden the reading of Lefevre d'Etaples's
translation of the New Testament (August 1525), they
summoned the Bishop of Meaux to appear before them.
For Beda and his friends, not satisfied with the prelate's
surrender two years before, were resolved that he should
drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs. The unfor-
tunate Briconnet demanded to be tried before the
assembled chambers of the Parlement ; but this claim was
set aside, and, with the dreadful fate of his former disciple
Jacques Pavanne before his eyes, he stooped to purchase
his acquittal by the Commissioners at the cost of the
most abject surrender, disavowing his past, condemn-
ing, in a diocesan synod, the works of Luther, and
giving all the pledges for his future conduct that were
demanded of him, except that of becoming a persecutor
in his turn.
183
The Pearl of Princesses
Having succeeded in extorting these unworthy con-
cessions from Bri^onnet, the Commissioners permitted
him to return to his diocese, where, however, he continued
to be subjected to the most galling espionage. Antoine
Froment states that " soon afterwards this miserable
bishop, haunted by remorse, resigned his see and died of
despair : a marvellous example of the terrible judgments
of God against those who persecute the truth, having
known it." This, however, is quite untrue, as Bri^onnet
lived until 1533 and retained his see until the end. It is
to be remarked, however, that about this time his corre-
spondence with Marguerite d'Angouleme appears to have
ceased ; any way, there are no letters of a later date in
existence.
Marguerite was not in France at the time when her
spiritual director was constrained to this second surrender
to the bigotry of the Sorbonne. Some weeks earlier she
had set out for Spain, whither Francois had been trans-
ferred early in the summer, charged with one of the most
important missions ever entrusted to a woman.
Some misconception appears to exist in regard to
Francois's transference from Italy to Spain. Several
historians state that Charles V sent orders for the
King's removal ; but Mignet has shown that Lannoy
acted entirely on his own responsibility, and that Charles
was greatly astonished on learning that his prisoner was
on Spanish soil.
The fact is that the Viceroy of Naples had come to
the conclusion that the King was no longer safe in Italy,
where there was always the risk that a combination of
some of the Italian States in his favour, or the return
of Bourbon to his old allegiance, might restore him
Francois I is transferred to Spain
to liberty, and that it was imperative that he should be
transferred to Spain with the least possible delay. Since,
however, this could not be effected without the royal
prisoner's own consent, owing to the presence of a
powerful French fleet in the Mediterranean, he per-
suaded Francois, who was daily growing more impatient
at the slow progress of the negotiations for his release,
that an agreement would be greatly facilitated by a
personal conference between him and the Emperor ; and
the King undertook temporarily to disarm his fleet
and to furnish seven galleys, which were to be manned
by Spaniards and guarded by sixteen Imperial vessels,
for his transport to Spain.
Both the Regent and Marguerite appear to have
regarded this decision on the King's part with the
gravest misgivings, since they argued, very rightly, that,
if Charles V persisted in his exorbitant demands while
his rival remained in Italy, where he could not consider
him in permanent security, what treatment might not
Francois expect when a prisoner in Spain, cut off from
every chance of liberty ?
Shortly before leaving Pizzighitone, the King received
a letter from his sister, in which her earnest entreaties to
him to submit patiently to his lot show that she foresaw
the cruel disappointment which was in store for him.
" If it should please God," she writes, " to give you
experience of the bitter sorrows which He suffered for
you, and, at the same time, mercifully to endow you
with grace to support patiently His dispensations, I
entreat you to believe me, Monseigneur, that it is
but for the trial of your faith, and to afford you leisure
to meditate upon, and to be convinced of, the depth of
His love towards you. He can content himself only
The Pearl of Princesses
with your undivided heart, even as in love He has
given you all His own, in order that, being united to
Christ in tribulation, He may deliver you for His own
glory, and your consolation, by the merits of His vic-
torious and blessed resurrection ; that, by your means, His
great name may be known and adored, not only in your
own kingdom, but throughout Christendom, even to the
conversion of unbelievers. Oh ! thrice happy, Sire, will
be your brief captivity if, through it, God deigns to
deliver so many precious souls from the prisons of
infidelity and eternal damnation ! Alas ! Monseigneur,
I am aware that you comprehend these truths better
than I can do ; but in all things I think of you as the
only friend whom God has left me in the world, to be
at once a father, a brother, and a husband, and being
unable to say this in person, I have not feared to write
this long letter, which seems short to me, so great a joy
is it to feel that I am speaking to you."
Before Lannoy could remove his illustrious prisoner
from Pizzighitone, it was necessary for him to obtain
the assent of Bourbon and Pescara, who were bitterly
jealous of the Viceroy's favour with the Emperor, and
who, he knew, would most certainly refuse to allow the
King to be transferred to Spain without an express order
from Charles V, and perhaps not even then. To remove
this obstacle, he had recourse to a very pretty piece of
deception. Summoning a council of war at Milan, he
pointed out that the intrigues of the French Government
in Italy and the uncertain attitude of the States con-
tiguous to the Milanese rendered it no longer safe
to keep Francois at Pizzighitone, and proposed that he
should be removed to a fortress in the kingdom of
Naples. His colleagues having consented, he next pro-
186
Francois arrives in Spain
posed that the journey should be made by sea, as the
transfer of the King through Italy might be accompanied
by serious difficulties. To this also they raised no
objection, and at the beginning of June 1525 the King,
escorted by the greater part of the army, set out for
Genoa, where he embarked, with the Viceroy, on board
the Imperialist squadron and sailed in the direction of
Naples, whither, after seeing his Majesty depart, Bourbon
and Pescara directed their march. On arriving at Porto
Venere, however, where he was joined by Anne de
Montmorency 1 with the French galleys, the Viceroy
altered his course and made for the Spanish coast. On
June 19 they arrived at Barcelona, where the King
landed and passed the night at the palace of the Arch-
bishop of Tarragona. Next day he re-embarked and
sailed for Valencia. Here a mutiny broke out among
the soldiers who had accompanied them from Italy.
Clamouring for their arrears of pay, they assembled
before the house where the Viceroy and his prisoner
was lodged, and when Lannoy presented himself on the
balcony and ordered them to disperse, several of them
let fly at him with their arquebuses, one ball entering
the room where the King was sitting and passing in
unpleasantly close proximity to his Majesty's head. If
we are to believe Du Bellay, the Viceroy, who was not
remarkable for his courage, promptly made his escape
over the roofs of the neighbouring houses until he
reached a place of safety ; but Francois, boldly stepping
on to the balcony, haranged the mutineers, and, by
distributing money amongst them and promising, in the
1 Montmorency was no longer a prisoner, having been exchanged
some weeks before for Don Ugo de Mo^ada, Prior of Messina, who
had been captured by the French in the sea-fight off the coast of
Provence in the previous year.
187
The Pearl of Princesses
Emperor's name, that their demands should speedily be
satisfied, succeeded in quelling the disturbance.
Charles V was at Toledo, holding the Cortes of Castile,
when he learned of the captive monarch's arrival in Spain,
upon which he wrote to Francois as follows :
" It has given me great pleasure to learn of your
arrival here [/'. e. in Spain] a circumstance which with-
out doubt will tend to hasten a solid and general
pacification, to the great benefit of Christendom, which
is a thing to be desired by us above all others. I have
sent orders to my Viceroy to repair immediately to my
presence, that from him 1 may learn your intentions
on this matter. I have likewise desired him to continue
towards you the courteous treatment which you have
been receiving ; for I should be distressed, if, having
found yourself well entertained in Italy, you should not
meet with still better treatment here, that you may
know and appreciate the great desire that I have to
remain your brother and friend,
" CHARLES/'
At the same time, he caused the King to be informed,
through Lannoy, that he should decline to accord him a
personal interview that personal interview which Fran-
$ois had counted upon to smooth away all difficulties, and
which the Viceroy had used as a bait to lure him to Spain
until conditions such as had already been presented to
his Majesty at Pizzighitone had been accepted. Too late,
Francois began to perceive the error he had committed in
placing himself so completely in the power of his astute
rival. It was soon to be brought home to him still more
forcibly.
188
Francois at Venyssolo
After remaining a few days at Valencia, the King was
conducted to the castle of Venyssolo, about twelve miles
from that city, belonging to the governor, Don Geronimo
Cabanillas. Here, though treated with all the honour
due to royalty, and permitted to take exercise amid the
beautiful scenery of the Vega, he was none the less most
rigorously guarded.
" The person of the French king is in the keeping of
the Captain Alar^on," writes the English Ambassador to
Wolsey, " which so narrowly seeth him that no word
escapes him, or is spoken to him, unmarked ; nor no man
without the emperor's knowledge speaketh with him,
not otherwise than openly. And we understand by the
emperor's council that until the emperor and he shall be
in a point on this treaty, the emperor will not speak to
him, nor shall he come nigh the court."
From Venyssolo, Francois despatched Montmorency
to Toledo to demand a truce which would permit Francois
de Tournon, Archbishop of Embrun, and Jean de Selve,
First President of the Parlement of Paris, the Ambassadors
nominated by the Regent, to come to Spain to treat
regularly for peace, and a safe-conduct for the Duchesse
d'Alenc^on, whose presence would console his captivity and
facilitate the negotiations. For Francois had a high
opinion of his sister's political capacity an opinion which,
as their despatches show, was shared by more than one of
the Ambassadors at the Court of France and, ever san-
guine, he hoped much from the influence which she might
exercise over the Emperor, notwithstanding that Charles
had not even answered Louise's proposal to give Mar-
guerite to him in marriage. Moreover, possessing as she
did his full confidence and that of their mother, and
being so well acquainted with their desires and intentions,
189
The Pearl of Princesses
she would have a great advantage over the official
representatives of France.
The armistice was accorded without difficulty; but to
Marguerite's journey to Spain, which would oblige him
to treat personally for the release of the King, the
Emperor, who had no great desire for prolonged tete-h-
tites with a lady who had made him a proposal of marriage,
raised objections, observing that it was for the Ministers
of France and Spain alone to arrange the conditions of
peace. Montmorency replied, as he had been instructed
to do, that " the King, through his sister, wished to com-
plete within a month what otherwise would be a matter
of endless length, to the infinite detriment of their
Majesties, their subjects and territories "; and, after a good
deal of delay, Charles consented. He, at the same time,
declared that it was his wish that whatever powers might
be given the princess whom he regarded as accredited
to himself the Regent should still authorize her Ambas-
sadors to treat for peace with his Ministers ; though the
treaty should be definitely concluded between Marguerite
and the Emperor.
Marguerite was naturally overjoyed at the prospect of
seeing her brother again, and personally negotiating his
release ; but Louise of Savoy distrusted Charles V so
profoundly that at first she refused to sanction the
journey to Spain, fearing lest, having already got her son
into his power, the temptation, on some specious pretext,
to make a prisoner of her daughter as well, and use this
double captivity to extort the cession of Burgundy from
France, might prove too much for that not over-
scrupulous monarch. However, she finally yielded to
Marguerite's persuasions, and we find the latter writing
to the King :
190
LOUISE OF SAVOY, COUNTESS D'ANGOULEME.
Marguerite Ambassadress Extraordinary
" MONSEIGNEUR i According as it hath pleased you to
send me word by the Marechal de Montmorency,
Madame has, at length, granted me permission to make
the journey into Spain, to accomplish which I am making
all speed, as the marshal will report to you, feeling only
too thankful if, through my humble means, it be the will
of God to give you deliverance. But, Monseigneur,
the journey is long, and you know the amount of fatigue
my strength will endure. Fearing, therefore, that I
cannot be with you as soon as you desire, I very humbly
entreat you to command your Ambassadors to proceed, so
that I may know at once on my arrival how your affairs
stand ; and do not delay them in anything, waiting for
my presence. As Madame cannot give you the consola-
tion of seeing her, she has been pleased to permit me the
happiness of serving you. I will not attempt to describe
how agreeable to me is obedience to your united will."
Marguerite was formally invested by the Regent with
full powers as Ambassadress Extraordinary to the
Emperor to conclude whatever treaty she deemed advis-
able ; and the Archbishop of Embrun and the President
de Selve, who arrived at Toledo about the middle of July,
were instructed to agree to nothing without her sanction.
Early in August, she left Lyons, accompanied by the
Regent and a numerous suite, and journeyed down the
Rhone as far as Pont Saint-Esprit, where Louise took
leave of her. Thence she proceeded to Aigues-Mortes,
where she was to embark for Barcelona, only to find that
the expected safe-conduct from Charles V, who seemed
determined to do everything in his power to delay her
journey to Spain, had not arrived. Nor was it until she
had waited for nearly a fortnight that it at length came,
191
The Pearl of Princesses
drawn, however, in vague and unsatisfactory terms, and
valuable for three months only a circumstance which
appeared to the princess not a little suspicious. Such,
however, was her impatience to reach her destination,
that she refused to hear of any more time being wasted
by efforts to obtain a more satisfactory document, and at
the beginning of September she put to sea, escorted by a
mixed squadron of French and Genoese vessels under the
command of the famous naval condottiere^ Andrea Doria,
at that time in the service of France.
At the time when his devoted sister sailed for Spain,
Francois was no longer at Venyssolo. In order that
the French Ambassadors on their arrival might be able
to communicate easily with their sovereign, the Emperor
had directed that the King should be transferred to
Madrid. On July 20, accordingly, Francois quitted
Venyssolo, accompanied by the Governor of Valencia
and a great number of noblemen and gentlemen, who
escorted him as far as Requena, where he found the
Bishop of Avila, who had been deputed to convey to
him the Emperor's compliments. His journey to
Madrid, which occupied three weeks, resembled rather
that of a king than a captive. At Guadalajara, the
Duke of Infantado gave the most magnificent fete in his
honour, 1 and the three days which he spent there were
one round of tournaments, bull-fights, balls and banquets ;
while at Alcala, the whole town came out to meet him,
headed by the authorities and students of the University.
But what a cruel deception awaited him when, on
1 And the duke's daughter, who was of a highly romantic disposition,
fell so desperately in love with him that, from sheer despair, ihe took
the veil and founded a monastery at Guadalajara.
192
Francois in the Alcazar
August 17, he reached Madrid ! There, after being
confined for a few days in the tower of los Lujanes,
the strongest of the towers which flanked the ramparts
of the city, he was lodged in a narrow chamber in the
donjon of the Alcazar, containing only such furniture
as was absolutely necessary, and lighted by a single
window with two iron gratings fixed into the massive
walls, which overlooked the Manzanares, always dry at
this season of the year, and the arid plain beyond. A
company of arquebusiers guarded the tower, and no one
but the King's gaolers were permitted to have access
to him. This close and galling confinement, which
could scarcely have been more rigorous had Francois
been a State criminal awaiting his trial on a charge of
high treason, soon began to have its effect upon the health
of the unfortunate monarch, and towards the middle of
September he fell seriously ill.
After a voyage which brought unspeakable anguish
to the majority of her attendants, but which Marguerite
herself appears to have borne very well since she
assures her brother that the extreme desire that she
had to see his Majesty absorbed all other pains the
princess arrived safely at Barcelona, where she was
received by the Viceroy of Naples and by Don Ugo de
Mon^ada, Prior of Messina, representing the Emperor,
accompanied by the civic fathers in their robes of office
and many of the grandees of Catalonia. Her reception
by the populace was a very flattering one, for the
Spaniards generally disapproved of their Sovereign's
treatment of his fallen foe, and sympathized with the
devotion to her brother which had caused Marguerite
to undertake so long and fatiguing a journey.
193 o
The Pearl of Princesses
As it would take her more than a fortnight to reach
Madrid, and the report which the Viceroy brought her
of the King's health was far from reassuring, Marguerite
made but the briefest stay at Barcelona, and then con-
tinued her journey, she and her suite travelling in litters,
escorted by a guard of honour under the command
of Mon^ada. As she travelled slowly on through the
heat and dust of the Spanish summer, she consoled
herself by writing frequent letters to her brother.
" I implore you," she writes, " to believe that whatso-
ever I can do in your service, were it to scatter to the
winds the ashes of my bones (jusques a mettre au vent
la cendre de mes ous\ nothing would be to me either
strange or difficult, or painful ; but, on the contrary,
consolation, repose, and honour. And at this hour,
Monseigneur, I well know the strength of that love
which God has planted in the hearts of us three ; l
for that which seemed to me impossible, thinking only
of myself, I find easy when I think of you. And this
makes me desire, for your good, that which the pains
of death should not make me desire for my own repose.
" Supplicating Him, the Author of my being, not
to render life so useless to me but that it may serve
to obtain your deliverance ; to earn which blessing I
should esteem captivity as welcome liberty.
" Your very humble and very obedient subject and sister,
" MARGUERITE."
As she drew nearer Madrid, the news concerning the
king's health grew more disquieting, and she was con-
sumed with anxiety and impatience. She has described
1 Herself, Frai^ois, and Louise of Savoy.
194
Francois falls dangerously 111
her feelings in the following verses, which, if somewhat
ornate, are not without literary merit :
CHANSON FAICTE PAR MADAME MARGUERITE DANS
SA LICTIERE DURANT LA MALLADYE DU ROI.
Le desir du bien que j'actendz
Me donne de travail matiere ;
Une heure me dure cent ans,
Et me semble que ma lictiere
Ne bouge, ou retourne en arriere
Tant j'ay de m'advancer desir.
O qu'ell'est longue, la carriere
Ou gist a la fin mon plaisir !
Je regarde de tous costez
Pour voir s'il n'arrive personne ;
Priant sans cesse, n'en doubtez,
Dieu que sante a mon Roy donne.
Quand nul nevoz, 1'oeil j'abandonne
A plurer ; puis sur le pappier
Un peu de ma douleur j'ordonne :
Voila mon douleureux mestier.
O qu'il sera le bien venu
Celluy qui, frappant a ma porte,
Dira ; le Roy est revenu
Et sa sante tres bonne et forte !
Alors sa soeur, plus mal que morte,
Courra baiser le messaiger,
Qui telles nouvelles apporte
Que son fiere est hors de dangier.
But no messenger came to win Marguerite's embraces
by such welcome tidings.
Francois, in fact, was growing steadily worse, and on
the evening of September 18, as the Emperor was
returning from hunting in the forest of Segovia, word
was brought him that his captive was dying. In great
alarm, for if the King really died, all the fruits he ex-
pected to gather from the victory of Pavia would escape
him, he set out at once for Madrid, and travelling
'95
The Pearl of Princesses
all that night and all the following day, reached the
Alcazar as darkness was falling. The Viceroy of
Naples and Anne de Montmorency met him at the
gate, and, accompanied by Lannoy and preceded by
Montmorency, carrying a torch, Charles ascended to
the dreary room where the most magnificent prince in
Europe lay dying.
On perceiving the Emperor, Francois painfully raised
himself into a sitting posture and bowed. But Charles,
momentarily overcome by remorse, threw himself on
his knees beside the bed, and clasped the sick man in
his arms, and " they remained for some time in a close
embrace without saying a word." The King was the
first to break the silence. " My lord," said he, with
some excusable irony, " you see before you your prisoner
and your slave." " Nay," replied the Emperor affection-
ately, " but my good brother and true friend, whom I
look upon as free." " Your slave," rejoined the King.
" ^7 good brother and friend who shall be free,"
insisted the Emperor. " My most ardent desire is your
recovery, think only of that. All the rest shall be
done, my lord, according to your wishes." " It will
be as you order," replied Francois, " for it is yours to
command ; but, my lord, 1 entreat you, let there be
no intermediary between us." The King then fell back
exhausted on his pillow, and Charles withdrew, having
assured him that when Marguerite arrived, peace and
his liberty would speedily follow.
The next day, the Emperor again visited Francois,
and did all in his power to console him ; but the royal
prisoner was in a very weak state, spoke as though he
did not expect to recover, and besought Charles, in the
event of his death, not to be too hard upon his sons,
196
Marguerite reaches Madrid
but to take them under his protection and defend them
against those who might attempt to despoil them. And
the Emperor promised that everything should be
arranged in accordance with his wishes, so soon as his
sister arrived.
While he was still with the King, a message was
brought him that Marguerite had entered Madrid and
was approaching the Alcazar. Travelling with all possible
despatch, both day and night, she had arrived two or three
days earlier than she had been expected. The Emperor
received her at the foot of the staircase of the Alcazar.
She was dressed all in white, on account of the recent
death of her husband, and her face was stained with
tears. Charles greeted her with the utmost courtesy,
and begged her not to despair ; and, after the principal
ladies and gentlemen of the princess's suite had been
presented to him, he gave her his hand and conducted
her to the sick-room, where Francois lay with scarcely
life enough left in him to respond to his sister's agitated
greetings. Then, leaving them together, he quitted the
Alcazar and set out for Toledo, where the conferences
with the French Ambassadors were being held.
The visits and assurances of the Emperor and the
presence of his devoted sister served to arouse the
captive monarch from the depths of discouragement into
which he had fallen. But, though Charles would appear
to have been under the impression that his illness was
due far more to moral than to physical causes, this was
certainly not the case. The King was suffering from
an abscess in the head (" un appostema nella testa "J, 1 and,
three days after the departure of his "good brother,"
1 Delia vita e della opere di Andrea Navagero, cited by Mignet, Rivalitc
de Francois I' r et de Charles-Quint.
197
The Pearl of Princesses
he had so serious a relapse that both his own and the
Emperor's physicians held out no hope of recovery.
According to one of the French Ambassadors, the Presi-
dent de Selve, all the signs of approaching death were
evident, and he lay for several hours without speaking or
recognizing any one.
Believing that the end was at hand, Marguerite caused
an altar to be set up in the sick-room, summoned all
her own and his Majesty's attendants, and directed the
Archbishop of Embrun to celebrate Mass, and afterwards,
if possible, to administer the Holy Sacrament to the
King. "At the moment of the elevation," writes
Selve to the Parlement of Paris, "when the archbishop
exhorted him to regard the Host, my sovereign lord
(who had been for long deprived of sight and hearing)
turned his head, raised his hands, and murmured : c It is
my God, Who will restore me both in body and soul. I
pray you let me receive Him.' Upon this it was ob-
served to the said lord that he could not swallow the
wafer ; but he replying that he was able, Madame la
Duchesse [Marguerite] commanded that the holy wafer
should be divided into two portions, which being done,
he received it with such marks of contrition and extreme
humility that there was not one person present who did
not melt into tears. Madame la Duchesse then partook
of the other half of the said Holy Sacrament. From
that hour the said lord has continued to amend ; so much
so, that he is now quit of all danger, which is a miracu-
lous work of God, as all the French and Spaniards
unanimously testify."
In point of fact, the agitation caused by his receiving
the Holy Sacrament had caused the abscess in Francois's
head to open, happily in an outward direction ; and,
198
Recovery of the King
though the King remained for some time in a very weak
state, he was soon out of danger. That he owed his
comparatively rapid recovery to the tender care of his
sister cannot be doubted ; " for," says Brantome, " she
understood his temperament and complexion better than
all his physicians, and caused him to be so well treated
according to her own knowledge that he was speedily
cured."
199
CHAPTER XVII
As soon as Francois was pronounced convalescent,
Marguerite set out for Toledo. She was received with
great ceremony, about three miles from the city, by the
Emperor in person, attended by the Archbishop of
Toledo, the Viceroy of Naples, the Duke of Alva, and
a great cavalcade of nobles. She entered the city with
Charles riding beside her litter, and was escorted to the
palace of Don Diego de Mendoza, Count de Melito,
where lodgings had been prepared for herself and her
suite. His Majesty assisted her to alight, conducted her
to her apartments, and " entertained her with many fair
and obliging words," finally appointing the following
afternoon for their first conference.
" I arrived last night at this place," writes the princess
to her brother on October 4. " The Emperor gave me a
courteous reception, and came to meet me and escort me
to this house ; since which he has entertained me with
many fair and obliging words, expressing his satisfaction at
your recovered health and the hope that he has of your
friendship. By the counsel of the Viceroy, I shall visit
him to-day after dinner, and then we shall begin in good
earnest to discuss the terms of your deliverance. He
[the Emperor] insists that we shall confer together alone
in a room, though he permits one of my ladies to stand
without at the door. 1 This evening I will send you
1 Charles's insistence on these strictly private interviews was no doubt
due to his desire to be able to disavow afterwards any promises which
he might find it inconvenient to keep.
200
Marguerite and Charles V
word what passes at our conference. I beseech you,
Monseigneur, to affect a feeble and ailing manner while
in the presence of the Sieur Alar^on, 1 as your weakness
will hasten my negotiation ; for I long more than I can
tell you to see you at liberty, which, by the grace of God,
will soon be."
That afternoon the duel of wits between Marguerite
and the Emperor began. " I found him very cold," she
writes to Francois, " but not inclined to stand on cere-
mony, for he put me off on the pretext of speaking to his
Council, and said he would give me an answer to-day.
And then he took me to see Queen Alyenor (sic\ his sister,
where I stayed until quite late. And last night I went
to see her, and she spoke to me in terms of great friend-
liness. It is true she goes on her journey to-morrow, 2
and I must go and take leave of her. I think she goes
more by obedience than by choice, for they keep her
very much in subjection. And, as I was conversing
with her, the Viceroy came in quest of me, and I went
to the Emperor's apartments, who sent for me to come
to his chamber. He told me he desired your deliver-
ance in perfect amity, but, in the end, he stopped at the
question of Burgundy."
Yes, Burgundy was the stumbling-block. The duchy
had reverted to the Crown of France on the death of
Charles the Bold, without male heirs, in 1477, when the
Estates had recognized Louis XI as their liege lord. But
the Emperor, as the grandson of Charles the Bold's
daughter Mary, had always regarded it as his lawful
inheritance, of which he had been unjustly deprived, and
1 The Military Governor of Madrid, and the officer specially appointed
to guard Fran9ois.
2 On a pilgrimage to a shrine of the Virgin near Talavera.
2OI
The Pearl of Princesses
for sentimental, as well as political, reasons he was deter-
mined to recover it. The French negotiators, on their
side, were instructed to resist to the utmost a demand
which, if conceded, would not only deprive France of
one of her largest and most wealthy provinces, but would
place her redoubtable enemy within striking distance of
the capital. They had suggested, however, that the case
should be referred to arbitration, with the understanding
that, if Burgundy were assigned to Charles, it should
form the dowry of his sister Eleanor, the Queen-dowager
of Portugal, whom Francois should then take to wife.
To this the Emperor had refused to consent ; but
Marguerite did not despair of his being prevailed upon
to alter his decision. She hoped much from the inter-
cession of Eleanor herself. The widow of Manoel the
Great had been promised to Bourbon ; but she had
shown the strongest disinclination for such a marriage,
while, being of a romantic temperament, at the age of
sixteen she had fallen desperately in love with Frederick,
Prince Palatine, whom Charles, of course, promptly sent
about his business. Francois's courage and misfortunes
had not failed to appeal to her. The English Ambas-
sadors, who had been instructed to endeavour to prevent
any permanent rapprochement bet ween Charles and Francois,
were apprehensive lest this should be brought about by
Marguerite wooing the Emperor for herself and Eleanor
for her brother. "Being young and a widow," said
they, " she comes, as Ovid says of women going to a
play, to see and to be seen ; that perhaps the emperor
may like her ; and also to woo the queen-dowager of
Portugal for her brother. . . . Then, as they are both
young widows, she shall find good commodity in cackling
with her to advance her brother's matter." It was no
202
Marguerite plans her Brother's Escape
doubt to prevent this " cackling " that Charles had
suggested to his sister the propriety of a pilgrimage
to Talavera.
Marguerite and the Emperor had several conferences,
and discussed the situation for hours at a time ; but
though Charles was lavish in compliments and promises,
on the question of Burgundy he would not budge an
inch. " I assure you, Monseigneur," writes Marguerite
to the King, " that the office of solicitor in so unreason-
able a company is a far more difficult service than it was
to be your physician when you were sick." When, on
October 17, the princess returned to Madrid, matters
were still in the same state as on the morrow of Pavia,
and Francois found himself faced with the alternative
of perpetual captivity or his consent to the practical
dismemberment of France.
In despair of procuring her brother's liberation by any
other means, Marguerite set about planning his escape
from prison. By some means, a Moorish slave, whose
duty it was to attend to the fire in the King's room, was
won over. About dusk this man was in the habit of
bringing in a supply of wood sufficient to last during
the night, after which, his duties for the day being at
an end, he was at liberty to leave the Alcazar ; and the
princess proposed that Francois should stain his face and
hands until they resembled those of the Moor, exchange
clothes with him, descend in his stead, and walk boldly
out of the fortress gates, beyond which fleet horses
would be waiting to take him to the frontier. In order
to insure the fugitive monarch as long a start as possible
of his pursuers, the accommodating Moor was then to
place himself in his Majesty's bed and feign sickness :
a device not likely to be speedily penetrated, as the King
203
The Pearl of Princesses
was accustomed to retire early and spend a great part of
the morning in bed.
It is difficult to see how such a scheme, which rests
upon the authority of the Spanish historian Ferreras,
could have succeeded, for reasons which will be suffi-
ciently obvious ; but, any way, the conspirators had no
opportunity of putting it to the test, as Champion, the
King's secretary, mortally offended by his royal master's
refusal to exact reparation from Montmorency's brother,
the Sieur de la Roche, who had grossly insulted the
secretary, went secretly to Toledo and informed the
Emperor of what was in the wind. Charles, beyond
causing the Moor whom Marguerite had suborned to
be removed from the Alcazar, and giving orders that
a stricter watch should be kept upon his captive, took
no action in the matter. But he did not like Marguerite
any the better for it, and determined to punish her when
a favourable opportunity should present itself. He had
little chivalry in his nature, and could make no allowance
for the feelings which had prompted the princess to plot
for her brother's liberation.
Foiled in her attempt to rescue the King, Marguerite
fell back upon an expedient which she believed would
prove as fatal to the Emperor's hopes as the death of
his prisoner; and Francois, at her instigation, drew up
and signed an act of abdication, in which he declared
that u We have willed and consented, by perpetual and
irrevocable edict, that our very dear and beloved son
Francois shall be henceforth declared Very Christian
King of France, and as King shall be crowned, anointed,
and consecrated." In the event of the death of Louise
of Savoy, " notre tres chere et tres amee seur unicque
Marguerite de France " was to become Regent, but he
204
Francois resolves to Abdicate
reserved to himself the right of resuming the Crown
should he ever recover his liberty.
This abdication, she fondly believed, would oblige the
Emperor to abate his terms, since, if it were allowed
to take effect, Francois would become merely a private
individual ; and it would be with Louise of Savoy and
her grandson, the free and independent monarch of
France, that Charles would have to deal.
The King's resolution was duly communicated to the
Emperor by Montmorency, accompanied by a request
that he would permit his Majesty's entourage to be
placed on such a footing as would be suitable for an
ex-sovereign who had resigned himself to the idea of
spending the remainder of his days in captivity. Charles,
however, did not appear to be perturbed very greatly
by the announcement. He knew that Francois was a
bad subject for prison life, and believed that he was far
too selfish to sacrifice himself for his kingdom.
Marguerite derived some consolation for the failure
of her efforts on behalf of her imprisoned brother from
the knowledge that the King enjoyed the sympathy and
the admiration of Europe, and that Francois had acquired
a greater reputation by his misfortunes than ever he had
in the heyday of his prosperity. From almost every
country, from all kinds of eminent men princes, states-
men, poets, philosophers and theologians letters reached
her full of the most flattering expressions and assurances
of the profound interest which the writers felt in the
success of her mission. Among her correspondents was
no less a person than Erasmus, to whose fastidious mind
the princess made a strong appeal, both as a refined
scholar and as a typical representative of that side of
the Reformation which best embodied his tastes. They
205
The Pearl of Princesses
had never met or corresponded, but Marguerite's friends
had suggested that, in this time of adversity, a letter
from the great scholar, for whom the princess was known
to entertain a sincere admiration, could not fail to be
most welcome, and had succeeded in overcoming his
diffidence.
" The admirers of your Highnesses virtues," he writes,
" have written several times, encouraging me to address
some condolences to you in the midst of the tempest of
misfortune by which you are now assailed. Therefore,
as the learned and noble personage who has presented
this letter to you was about to set off unexpectedly for
Spain, to make a brief sojourn there, I hesitated whether
it would be advisable to maintain absolute silence or to
send you this short and badly-expressed letter. My fear
and reluctance have yielded to the strong affection that
I bear you ; for I have admired and loved you this long
while, because of the many and goodly gifts with which
God has endowed you. He has given you the prudence
of a philosopher : chastity, moderation, piety, an un-
conquerable strength of mind, and a marvellous contempt
for all the vanities of the world. Who could refrain
from admiring in the sister of a great king qualities
which are rare even among priests and monks ? And
I would not speak of them now were I not sure that you
know that the merit lies not with you, but wholly with
God, the Dispenser of all good. So with the wish to
congratulate rather than to console have I ventured to
address you. The calamity is great, I acknowledge ;
but nothing in human affairs is so terrible that it need
cast down a courage truly founded upon the rock the
immovable rock Jesus Christ.
" If you ask me how I thus know you, I who have
206
Letter of Erasmus to Marguerite
never seen you, there are many who know your High-
ness by your portraits, without ever having had the
happiness of beholding your face. But, as for me, many
men of worth and knowledge have painted your mind
in their letters to me more faithfully than any painter
could portray your person with his illusive colours.
Nor should you doubt my good faith ; I praise you,
because I know your worth ; I do not flatter your power,
since I covet nothing from you save a return of esteem.
Long have I loved the Most Christian King ; or, to
speak more truly, long have I returned his friendship,
since it was he who first sought for mine in divers
ways. And a woman, a heroine such as you are, I
cannot refrain from loving in the Lord.
" I owe the Emperor not only fair deeds, but fidelity,
and that for more than one reason. First, I am his
born subject, and for some years I have been one of
his Privy Councillors, and he has my oath of allegiance.
Would to God it were the Turks over whom he had
gained this victory ! That would have been an answer to
our most fervent prayers. Doubtless, the sinfulness of
mankind was too great for God to esteem us worthy
of so signal a mercy. Now, magnificent as is the victory
of the Emperor, I have not been able to congratulate
him from the depths of my heart ; but I have great
hope that soon the fatal issue of this battle will become
as great an occasion of felicitation to you and to France
as to the Emperor himself. So great a workman is He
who in His secret counsels rules the affairs of this lower
world, that often, when misfortunes appear irretrievable,
suddenly He converts and renders them conducive to
our most triumphant successes. I found this hope prin-
cipally on the boundless mercy of God ; then, partly
207
The Pearl of Princesses
on the genius of the Emperor, whose goodness equals
and even surpasses the grandeur of his fortune ; and
partly on the marvellous dexterity of the Most Christian
King. Furthermore, I feel certain that they have formed
between them a bond of friendship, strong as a chain
of adamant. My hopes are fortified by the letter which,
just before the King's departure for Spain, your High-
ness wrote to the illustrious Polish baron, Jean de Lascar.
He resides with me, and friendship has made all things
common between us. In truth, your letter showed, not
only your firm resolve to endure with unshaken courage
the burden of adverse destiny, but refreshed our affec-
tionate solicitude by words of good omen. Should this
hope be realized, we shall wish joy to the Emperor and
not alone to him, but to all Christendom.
" I must, before I conclude, plead for a twofold pardon
from you : first, for having presumed to address so
puissant a lady ; next, for having done so impromptu
a liberty which even a plebeian scarcely permits himself
towards a friend. But my scruples were banished from
my mind when I heard the rumours of your surpassing
kindness. The Lord Jesus keep you in health and
safety fresh in the full flower of prosperity in Him.
At Bale ; St. Michael's Eve, 1525."
Meanwhile, the period covered by Marguerite's safe-
conduct was slipping away, and when, on Francois's
instructions, the French Ambassadors applied to the
Emperor for its extension, the request was curtly re-
fused, Charles observing that " there was now no occasion
for the duchess to remain longer with the King, and
that he deemed it best for her to return to France with-
out delay." The Ambassadors then asked that permission
might be accorded the princess to travel by way of
208
Marguerite sets out for France
Navarre, which would appreciably shorten her journey,
instead of traversing Castile and Aragon to enter France
by Roussillon ; but this very reasonable request was
likewise refused. The fact is that the Emperor was
greatly irritated against Marguerite, to whose influence
he attributed the rupture of the negotiations, and whose
continued presence in Spain served, he believed, to
confirm her brother in his obstinacy ; and her unsuc-
cessful attempt to secure the King's escape from the
Alcazar had not lessened his resentment.
Though naturally very reluctant to part with his sister,
Francois counselled her to start at once, pointing out that
their mother's health was precarious, and that, since it was
so obviously to the Emperor's interest to have in his
power the only person who, in the event of the Regent's
death or serious illness, was capable of taking her place,
it would be most impolitic for Marguerite to afford him
any pretext for arresting her. On November 19, accord-
ingly, the princess left Madrid, with a heavy heart, for
at no period since his captivity began had Francois's
restoration to his kingdom appeared more hopeless, and,
as his health was still far from fully restored and he
suffered much from attacks of depression, he still stood
sorely in need of her companionship.
Marguerite passed the first night of her journey at
Alcala. On rising on the morrow, she received a letter
from Montmorency with news of the King. " My
cousin," she writes in reply, " I received your letter
at my lever, and you can well believe what pleasure it
afforded me to have tidings of the King. As for news
concerning myself, I am well enough in body ; but my
spirit, I cannot deny, pines for that which I have left
behind. All night long I dreamed that I held the King's
209 P
The Pearl of Princesses
hand ; and I would not rouse myself, so as to have that
pleasant illusion a little longer. I try to bear this
departure as well as I can ; but succour me with news
of him as often as you may. Let me hear some good
news if you have any to tell." And to her brother
she writes by the same courier : " Monseigneur, the
farther I journey from you, the more 1 feel my separa-
tion from you, which would be too grievous a burden,
if the desire to obey you, and to render you still greater
service than I could by remaining, did not afford me
strength to submit."
From Alcala, Marguerite proceeded to Guadalajara,
where she spent some days at the palace of the Duke of
Infantado, the nobleman who had entertained Francois
so magnificently on his journey to Madrid, and whose
eldest daughter, Donna Ximena de Mendoza, had con-
ceived so romantic a passion for his Majesty. Neither
the duke nor his son were present to receive the princess,
the reason being that they had espoused the captive
monarch's cause with such warmth at Court that the
Emperor had forbidden them, on pain of his displeasure,
" either to see or speak with the Duchesse d'Alenc^on."
This prohibition, however, did not extend to the ladies
of the family, and Marguerite informs the King that she
intended to compensate herself for the enforced absence
of their male relatives by talking all the more to them.
Marguerite remained at Guadalajara until the 29th,
and appears to have been much gratified by the admiration
and sympathy expressed by the Mendoza ladies for her
brother. " Never," she writes to Montmorency, " could
I have imagined that I should find myself here amongst
a party bearing such enthusiastic admiration for the King,
which has been a source of great consolation to me."
210
Emperor schemes to arrest Marguerite
Before her departure, her hostesses presented her with a
pair of splendid mules, richly caparisoned, to draw her
litter.
The princess left Guadalajara on November 29, and
journeyed slowly on to Siguenza, for heavy rains had
reduced the roads to a very bad condition, and she
seemed, moreover, reluctant to increase the distance
between herself and the King, to whom she continued to
write daily.
Meanwhile, affairs at Madrid had taken a new turn.
By some means a copy of the act of abdication which
Francois had signed had fallen into the Emperor's hands,
much to the consternation of that monarch, who had
been unable to bring himself to believe that the King
really intended to carry out the heroic resolution which
he had instructed Montmorency to announce to him.
Charles at once recognized the necessity of preventing
this all-important document from leaving Spain, and
began to concert plans to that effect with his customary
astuteness.
He had little doubt in his mind that the act of abdica-
tion was either already on its way to France in the
custody of the King's sister, or would be confided to
Montmorency, for whom Francois had recently applied
to him for a safe-conduct, in order to enable the marshal
to proceed to Lyons with important despatches (In point
of fact, the King, whose original intention it had been to
entrust it to Marguerite, had, just before the princess's
departure, decided that it would be safer in Mont-
morency's hands, fearing lest Charles might find some
pretext for arresting his sister). He therefore appears to
have determined to make sure of them both, and pro-
posed that the negotiations for the King's release should
21 I
The Pearl of Princesses
be resumed, and that Francois should recall his sister to
Madrid, in order that she might again confer with the
Emperor. If, as he hoped rather than expected, she was
more disposed to yield on the question of Burgundy,
well and good ; if not, when her safe-conduct expired at
the end of December, he intended to arrest her. As for
Montmorency, it would be easy to invent some pretext
for detaining him in Spain.
Francois's consent to a resumption of the negotiations
was, of course, not refused, though he entertained but
little hope that Charles would abate his demands ; but,
being not without a shrewd suspicion that a belief that
his sister carried with her the act of abdication was at the
bottom of his Imperial Majesty's desire for her return to
Madrid a suspicion which was strengthened by Charles's
refusal to extend the period of her safe-conduct he
firmly declined to recall her, observing that, as the matter
of Burgundy had already been exhaustively debated be-
tween her and the Emperor, he failed to see the necessity
for her presence.
On learning from her brother that the negotiations
were about to be renewed, Marguerite, who was then at
Siguenza, declared herself only too willing to retrace her
steps. " If you see good signs of hope," she writes,
" remember, I beseech you, Monseigneur, that I am as
yet only twenty hours distant from you. ... I entreat
you, Monseigneur, do not hesitate to convert my sad
and wearisome suspense (which cannot be termed repose)
into happy labour and toil for you."
Francois, however, not only refused to hear of his
sister's return, but directed Montmorency to send her
instructions to hasten her journey, so as to make sure of
reaching the frontier before her safe-conduct expired.
212
Marguerite is Warned
" My cousin," writes the princess in reply, " my messen-
ger will inform you how diligently I intend to travel, in
accordance with the injunctions you have sent me by
command of the King. I will delay so little on the road
that I hope to reach Narbonne by Christmas Day. I do
not tell you that it is not without extreme reluctance that
I make such haste to depart out of Spain, knowing with
so little certainty how the King really is. Nevertheless,
since you have written to desire me to make all possible
diligence, and that very soon you will tell me wherefore,
I have travelled as rapidly as my attendants can bear."
This letter seems to dispose very effectually of the
legend that Marguerite was indebted for the timely
warning that enabled her to evade the designs of
Charles V for her arrest, should she be found within his
dominions after the expiration of her safe-conduct, to the
ex-Connetable de Bourbon, who had lately arrived in
Spain, and who had formerly been one of her soupirants.
Of course, it is possible that Bourbon may have sent
word to the King ; but the Emperor's very significant
refusal to extend the princess's safe-conduct beyond the
end of the year, while, at the same time, he was proposing
her recall to Madrid, was surely sufficient in itself to
excuse Francois's suspicions.
On December 3, Marguerite left Siguenza and travelled
to Medina-Celi, where she was hospitably entertained by
the duke of that name, who had married a daughter of
the Duke of Infantado, and, with his wife, shared that
nobleman's sympathy for the captive King. While at
Medina, Brion arrived, on his way from Lyons to Madrid,
with intelligence that Louise of Savoy had just succeeded
in concluding an alliance with the Pope, Venice and other
Italian States against the Emperor. "You will learn
213
The Pearl of Princesses
from Brion that which will encourage you to hold firm,"
writes Marguerite to her brother, "for your gaolers,
Sire, will soon be compelled to lower their tone. God,
who without any effort of their own, raised them to such
prosperity, will humble them by your endeavours, if it
pleases Him, so that you will yet emerge with great
honour and profit."
On leaving Medina, Marguerite quitted her litter and
performed the rest of the journey on horseback. The
roads were in so terrible a condition as to be nearly im-
passable in some districts she occupied from noon until
seven o'clock in the evening to cover the distance between
Medina and Montreal, a matter of some five leagues
while, as she approached the mountains, the cold became
intense. 1 However, she struggled bravely on, starting
at six o'clock in the morning and travelling until night-
fall, and, though the ladies of her suite were sometimes
almost ready to drop from their saddles with exhaustion,
she herself appears to have suffered little from the strain
of such continuous travelling; at any rate, wherever
they stopped she never failed to write to her brother
or the Regent or Montmorency, and sometimes to all
three.
1 Fra^ois, in his final protest against the Treaty of Madrid, inveighs
against the churlish conduct of the Emperor in compelling his sister to
undertake so fatiguing a journey in the depth of winter, setting forth how
" my said sister, the Duchesse d'Alen9on, in the month of December,
with her ladies, her train of gentlemen, and her baggage, was constrained,
in the midst of cold, snow, and frost, to traverse the kingdoms of Castile
and Aragon, and the countries of Barcelona and Roussillon, to enter
France before the expiration of the truce, as the Emperor had refused to
grant her a passport to travel through the kingdom of Navarre, in order
to quit his dominions more quickly ; all of which were very significant
and apparent signs that he wished to detain the said Duchesse d'Alenfon
a prisoner, with her suite, in case she should be found within the
territory of Spain after the termination of the truce."
214
A Hurried Journey
Meanwhile, the negotiations for peace had been re-
sumed, and Francois, finding the Emperor inexorable on
the question of Burgundy, had decided to yield, provided
that Charles would consent to his being first set at liberty,
on the ground that the cession of so large an extent of
territory presented difficulties which could only be over-
come by the presence of the King in his own realm. The
King immediately sent a courier to his sister to announce
the decision at which he had arrived ; and Marguerite,
who was then at Iqualada, wrote expressing her approval,
though at the bottom of her heart she can scarcely have
failed to feel some disappointment that, at the last moment,
Francois had abandoned his determination to sacrifice
himself for his kingdom. At the same time, she begged
him to allow her to return to Madrid, unless he con-
sidered that she could be of more service to him in
France. She did not, however, wait for his reply, but
continued her journey, and, on nearing Barcelona, where
she arrived on the xyth, she was overtaken by a courier
from the King, urging her to make all possible haste to
reach the frontier.
" I hope to reach Narbonne by Saturday next," writes
the princess in reply, " but these laborious daily journey-
ings are like fast days, which are generally accepted rather
by compulsion than out of devotion and goodwill. How-
ever, it is absolutely necessary that I should so exert
myself ; for, apart from the intimation which you, Mon-
seigneur, have just sent me, I have myself seen here cause
for much haste ; the reason is rather a startling one, as
M. Delabarre will tell you, to whom I have written in
greater detail upon the matter."
What it was that necessitated Marguerite continuing to
travel in such haste that she reached Salces, the first town
215
The Pearl of Princesses
on the French frontier, in four days, although when she
left Barcelona her safe-conduct had still a fortnight to run,
we do not know ; but it is possible to hazard a shrewd
conjecture. In her passport, and in those of her suite,
the wily Emperor had caused a clause to be inserted to
the effect that it held good, provided that the person in
whose favour it was drawn had " committed nothing to
the prejudice of the Emperor or the safety of the nation. "
Well, Marguerite's little plot to secure her brother's
escape might certainly be construed into an act prejudicial
to the Emperor ; and it would, therefore, appear that
Charles had, for a moment, contemplated the arrest of the
princess, notwithstanding the fact that the period for
which her safe-conduct had been granted had not expired.
That she was allowed to proceed unmolested was no
doubt due to the fact that the Emperor had learned,
though unofficially, that Francois was at length prepared
to accede to his demands.
Marguerite returned to France with the mission on
which she had set out unaccomplished. But, if she had
failed, it was not from want of endeavour, and it is certain
that the most experienced of diplomatists would have
fared no better. The possession of the person of his
rival placed the Emperor in so overwhelmingly strong a
position that he was able to dictate his own terms ; and,
since Francois had lacked the courage to carry out his
threat of abdication, he had perforce to accept them or
resign himself to an indefinite captivity. But to accept
Charles's terms was one thing, and to execute them, as
we shall presently see, was quite another matter.
216
CHAPTER XVIII
ON December 19, 1525, Francois authorized his Am-
bassadors at Madrid to surrender Burgundy in full
sovereignty, with the stipulation that the King should
first be set at liberty. To this Charles consented, and on
January 14, 1526, the Treaty of Madrid was signed.
By the terms of this famous treaty, Francois engaged
to " restore " to the Emperor the possessions of Charles
the Bold, the latter, however, abandoning the counties of
Macron and Auxerre and the seigneurie of Bar-sur-Seine,
which he gave by way of dowry to his sister Eleanor,
whom Francois undertook to marry. The King of
France resigned all claims on the Milanese, Genoa, Asti,
and Naples ; abandoned Italy entirely to the Emperor ;
promised that a French fleet should escort Charles when
he went to Italy for the purpose of his coronation, and
that he would co-operate with him in person in a crusade
against the Infidel, and in the suppression of Lutherans
and other heretics ; renounced all his rights of sovereignty
over Flanders and Artois ; withdrew his protection from
Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, and his allies on the
Flemish frontier, Robert de la Marck and the Duke of
Guelders, and restored Bourbon and his accomplices to
their estates and dignities. Nothing was said about
Bourbon's promised kingdom in South-Eastern France ;
but it was understood that, as compensation for this and
the hand of Eleanor, he was to receive the Milanese, of
which Francesco Sforza, who had placed himself at the
head of an abortive movement for the independence of
Italy, and was being blockaded by the Spaniards in the
217
The Pearl of Princesses
citadel of Milan, was to be deprived. Lastly, either the
two elder sons of the King, the Dauphin Francois and
Henri Due d'Orleans, or the Dauphin and twelve of the
principal personages of the kingdom, were to be delivered
up as hostages, 1 until all the stipulations of the treaty
had been fulfilled.
It is difficult at first sight to understand how the shrewd
and cautious Charles could have consented to the release
of his prisoner until this treaty, so humiliating for France,
had been executed, or at least until he had been placed in
possession of Burgundy ; and the Chancellor Gattinara
protested in the strongest terms consistent with respect
against a step which, he declared, would inevitably com-
promise, and perhaps lose altogether, the fruits of Pavia.
But, though the Emperor entertained far from an exalted
opinion of Francois's character, he probably found it diffi-
cult to believe that he intended to play him false. The
long and stubborn resistance which the King had opposed
to his demands seemed to be a guarantee of good faith,
for, if his intentions were otherwise, why had he not yielded
before and escaped those weary months in the Alcazar ?
Besides, the alternative was a renewal of the war, since
the truce was on the point of expiring ; and war at the
present juncture would risk all that was assured by the
treaty. For Charles could no longer rely on the support
of those who had hitherto sustained him, or on the
neutrality of those who had permitted him to conquer.
Henry VIII, without as yet declaring himself his enemy,
had become the ally of France ; Venice, Florence, the
1 Among the twelve were the Due de Vendome, the Duke of Albany,
the Comte de Saint-Pol, Louis de Breze, Grand Senechal of Normandy
the husband of Diane de Poitiers Montmorency, Lautrec, and
Guise. In other words, all the best generals who had survived the
disaster of Pavia,
218
Duplicity of Francois I
Pope, and the Duke of Milan were intriguing against
him; his brother Ferdinand, crippled by a rebellion in the
Tyrol, was quite unable to render him assistance. He
was, in fact, completely isolated, and, so far from being in
a position to invade France, would be obliged to act
entirely on the defensive.
For these reasons he decided to disregard the advice of
Gattinara, and to accept the advantages which were con-
ceded to him under the conditions on which they were
offered. If, however, he consented to the liberation of
Francois, he did not fail to take every possible precaution
to render the treaty inviolable. Not only did he insist
upon the most precious hostages, but he demanded that
the King should* swear upon the Gospel to fulfil his
engagements, and give his word of honour as a knight
that he would return to prison, if within four months all
the conditions of the treaty were not fulfilled.
Francois complied readily enough, but he had not the
remotest intention of keeping his word. What moral
fibre he possessed had been hopelessly sapped by his
imprisonment ; and on January 13, 1526 the day before
the treaty was signed he had summoned to the Alcazar
the President de Selve, the Archbishop of Embrun,
Chabot de Brion, La Barre, the High Bailiff" of Paris,
and his secretary, Bayard, and, after exacting from each of
them an oath of secrecy, entered a solemn protest against
the treaty to which he was being compelled to submit " by
force and constraint," and declared the obligation which
he was on the point of contracting " null and of no effect,"
as attempts upon the rights of his crown, hurtful to
France, and injurious to his honour. 1
1 See Chamgollion, Captivite de Franfois l fr , where the text of the
protest is given.
219
The Pearl of Princesses
Six days after the conclusion of the Treaty of Madrid,
Francois was betrothed to the Queen-dowager of Portu-
gal. As the King was suffering from an attack of fever,
and, indeed, was too ill to leave his bed, the ceremony
had perforce to take place in his apartment at the Alcazar,
Lannoy representing his future consort. A betrothal in
such circumstances could scarcely be considered to augur
well for the happiness of the royal pair ; but Charles V
was anxious to secure yet another guarantee for the ful-
filment of his Most Christian Majesty's engagements.
Since etiquette required Francois to address a compli-
mentary letter to his fiancee^ he wrote to the Emperor to
inquire by what title it was his pleasure that he should
address her ; and Charles in reply authorized him to
address her by the name of wife, " which before God she
already is."
As some weeks must elapse before the hostages could
arrive in Spain, Francois was obliged to remain at Madrid.
It might be supposed that during this interval he would
have been permitted to exchange his gloomy prison for
some more cheerful residence, or, at least, that the con-
straint to which he had been so long subjected would
have been relaxed. But, in spite of the representations
of the gentlemen of his suite and the Archbishop of
Embrun, he remained in the Alcazar and was kept under
perpetual surveillance. Arquebusiers mounted guard at
the door of his chamber both night and day, and even
while he slept his attendants were obliged to admit the
officers of the fortress, who came at intervals to satisfy
themselves that he was still there. 1 The only concession
1 This continued detention was one of the reasons afterwards given
by Fran9ois to excuse his refusal to execute the terms of the Treaty of
Madrid. According to him, his word of honour as a knight having been
22O
Illness of the King's Children
was permission to leave his prison, though always accom-
panied by guards, in order to go and hear Mass at
celebrated churches, or to visit convents. On these occa-
sions the populace, whose admiration he had gained by
his handsome presence and his reputation for courage,
pressed eagerly to see him, and those afflicted with
scrofula came to entreat him to lay his royal hands upon
them. \
From Salces, where she was met by the Seigneur
de Clermont, the King's lieutenant in Languedoc, at the
head of an escort of cavalry, Marguerite journeyed to Nar-
bonne, in which city she spent Christmas Day, and thence,
by way of Montpellier and Nimes, to the Chateau of
Rousillon, where Louise of Savoy, who had intended to
come as far as Pont Saint-Esprit to meet her daughter,
had been detained by an attack of gout. The princess,
however, was not allowed to remain long with her, as in
a few days she received an urgent summons to Blois,
where her youngest and favourite nephew, the little Due
d'Angouleme, had fallen very ill with measles a disease
which quickly communicated itself to the rest of the royal
children, with the exception of the infant Madame Mar-
guerite. Although suffering from a painful accident
which had befallen her at Douzere, where she had
stumbled in alighting from her litter on a flight of steps
and cut her knee to the bone, Marguerite, who never
thought of herself where the welfare of those whom she
loved was concerned, set out at once and travelled in all
demanded and given, the Emperor was obliged to set him at liberty
forthwith, and that, since this was not done, he was freed from his
promise.
221
The Pearl of Princesses
haste to Blois, whence she writes the following character-
istic letter to the King :
" MONSEIGNEUR : The written assurance that Madame
sends you of her convalescence renders it needless for
me to say more on that subject, save to confirm her
assurance that your children, your kingdom, and herself
are as well as we can desire them to be during your
absence. But, Monseigneur, the fear that I have lately
experienced concerning your children obliges me to tell
you at length the joy I feel at their recovery. First,
M. d'Angouleme caught the measles, with a violent and
continued fever ; next, M. d'Orleans took them, with
little fever ; afterwards, Madame Madeleine fell ill, but
without fever or pain ; then, by way of company, the
Dauphin, without suffering or fever. And now they are
all quite cured and very well. The Dauphin performs
wonders in the way of studying, and mingles with his
schooling a hundred thousand other matters ; we hear no
more of fits of passion, but, on the contrary, of all the
virtues. M. d'Orleans is nailed to his book, and says
that he wants to be good also ; but M. d'Angouleme
knows more than all the others, and says things to be
esteemed wonderful for his age rather than childish
prattle, and which, Monseigneur, you would be amazed
to hear. Little Margot resembles myself ; she refuses to
be ill ; they tell me she has very graceful ways, and
promises to be far prettier than Mile. d'Angouleme 1 ever
was. I have now told you, Monseigneur, the truth
about your children, which has for once obliged me to
run the risk of wearying you ; for, as seeing I am not
worthy to serve you in weightier matter, I shall (since
1 Marguerite herself.
222
Henri cT Albret, King of Navarre
the thought of you is in all) devote life and energy to
your trifling affairs ; esteeming nothing unimportant or
impossible in which you are concerned,
"Your very humble and very obedient subject and
sister,
" MARGUERITE."
When Marguerite rejoined the Court, which had
returned to Lyons, she found there a young prince with
whom her fate was to be closely associated, in the person
of Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, who had been taken
prisoner with Francois I at Pavia, but, more fortunate
than his suzerain, had lately succeeded in effecting his
escape from captivity.
One of the most ancient families in France, the House
of Albret, which derived its name from the Chateau
d'Albret, in the Landes, traced its origin from the middle
of the eleventh century, an epoch when there lived one
Amanieu, seigneur of that fief. Successively vassals of
the Dukes of Gascony and Aquitaine, the seigneurs of
Albret played an important part in all the events which
agitated South- Western France in the eleventh century,
furnishing warriors for the First Crusade and sustaining
the Catholic cause against the Albigeois. By the middle
of the thirteenth century, the family had greatly increased
its possessions, by means of wealthy marriages, royal
concessions and the annexation of lands belonging to the
Church ; and in the Black Prince's campaign of 1367 we
find the Amanieu d'Albret of that period furnishing him
with one thousand men-at-arms. After having for some
time supported the English cause, the seigneurs of Albret
rallied to the French party, and rendered great service in
the final conquest of Guienne. They did not fail of
223
The Pearl of Princesses
their reward, and an alliance between Arnaud Amanieu
d'Albret and Marguerite de Bourbon, the cession to
them of the county of Dreux by Charles VI, of the
county of Gace and the seigneury of Lesparre by Charles
VII, and of the estates of the House of Armagnac by
Louis XI, made them towards the end of the fifteenth
century the richest family of the realm. Under Alain
le Grand the sovereignty of Beam and Navarre marked
the zenith of the prosperity of this great feudal house ;
but Jean d'Albret, crowned King of Navarre at Pam-
peluna on January 10, 1494, lost his capital in 1512,
which was taken by a Spanish army under the command
of the Duke of Alva. He appealed for help to Louis
XII, but the French army which was despatched to his
assistance effected nothing ; and all his dominions beyond
the Pyrenees were soon lost. Jean died, a broken-
hearted man, in 1516, and was succeeded by Henri
d'Albret, the eldest of his fourteen children, who, when
war broke out between Francois I and Charles V in
1521, made, with the assistance of a French army, an
unsuccessful attempt to recover Pampeluna, and, three
years later, followed Francois to Italy, where he shared
his fate.
Henri was imprisoned in the citadel of Pavia. He
offered the Emperor a very large ransom, which, however,
was refused, for Charles's policy forbade him to release
a captive whose claims on Navarre had recently been the
cause of much trouble, and was determined to exact
Henri's total renunciation of his rights on that kingdom
as the price of his liberation. The young king, who,
says an historian of Navarre, was "a prince endowed
with singular ingenuity, and abounded in admirable and
subtle invention, and in finding remedies for things
224
A Romantic Escape from Prison
apparently most hopeless," thereupon determined to
effect his escape. Having bribed two of the guards
stationed outside his room to refrain from bestowing too
close an attention on the movements of his servants as
they passed in and out, he succeeded in getting a rope-
ladder conveyed to him ; and, one dark and stormy
December night, he dressed himself in the clothes of one
of his pages, Francois de Rochefort, and descended into
the dried-up moat of the citadel, leaving Rochefort asleep
in his bed.
The next morning, when the captain of the guard
entered the King's room, according to custom, to assure
himself of the safety of the prisoner, he found the
curtains of the bed closely drawn, and was met by a
request from Rochefort's colleague that his royal master
might not be disturbed, as he had been ill during the
night and had only just fallen asleep. The officer
assented and left the room, nor was it until towards
evening that the ruse was discovered ; and by that time
the fugitive, who had had a swift horse waiting for him
outside the city walls, had got so long a start that pursuit
was hopeless.
At the time of his romantic escape from the citadel of
Pavia, the King of Navarre was in his twenty-third year, 1
a handsome, brave, impetuous young man, an adept at all
manly exercises, a generous patron of men of letters, and
something of a scholar himself. He and Marguerite
1 He was born at Sanguessa, in Navarre, on April 3, 1503. His
godfathers were two German pilgrims who happened to be passing
through the town at the time, on a pilgrimage to St. lago de Compo-
stella. One of them was named Henry, the other Adam ; and their
selection as sponsors to the little prince was, according to the Spaniards,
a presage of his future fate that of a pilgrim and outcast from his
kingdom of Navarre.
225 Q
The Pearl of Princesses
were already well acquainted, for since his mother's death,
in 1519, Henri d'Albret had spent a good deal of his
time at the Court of France, where Francois I had shown
great favour to the spirited and clever lad ; but they
had, of course, not met since the princess lost her
husband.
Now, he found her a widow, and, at the same time, the
heroine of Europe, for her embassy, though seemingly
fruitless, had made her famous, and Charles V had
grudgingly admitted that he had never thought it possible
that a woman could possess so much capacity for affairs.
Henri d'Albret, always ready to fall in love, like a true
son of the South, conceived a great admiration for this
charming woman, who had shown so much devotion and
address ; and, as he was ambitious as well as impression-
able, and eager to recover the lost dominions of his
House beyond the Pyrenees, he did not forget the
influence she possessed with the King, without whose
assistance his hopes in that direction would certainly
never materialize.
Marguerite, on her side, could hardly fail to feel a
kindly interest in one who had suffered, like her own
beloved brother, at the hands of the common enemy an
enemy who, in Henri's case, was not merely an ungenerous
captor, but the usurper of his kingdom. They talked
much together during those winter days at Lyons, and
Marguerite found that there were other bonds of sym-
pathy between them besides their indignation against the
Emperor and their devotion to the captive King. Henri
shared her love of learning, even to the extent of de-
manding it in women, and, like her, he favoured the
Reformers and regarded the Inquisition as the deadliest
blight that could fall upon any kingdom. She approved
226
HIZNRI D'ALBRET, KING OF NAVARRE.
Marguerite and the King of Navarre
warmly, too, of his plans for improving the condition of
his subjects, for he was an excellent ruler, " loving his
people," says Bordenave, " like his own children."
Finally, she decided that, with the exception, of course,
of Francois, no one approached so closely to her knightly
ideal as the young King of Navarre, and proceeded to
fall in love with him.
To most persons, the idea of a marriage between a
woman of thirty-three and a young man of twenty-two
a young man, too, ardent, impressionable, and head-
strong must have seemed a very risky experiment. But
Marguerite would not appear to have regarded it in that
light, or, at any rate, considered the risk worth taking.
Perhaps his faults were not as yet very apparent to her,
for, as we have seen, she was always singularly blind to
the deficiencies of those who had won her affection or
esteem ; or, if she did perceive them, she believed that
time and her influence would serve to eradicate them.
But, before anything could be definitely settled, it was
necessary for the lovers to await the return of the King
and obtain his sanction ; a circumstance which caused
Marguerite to look forward more eagerly than ever to
her brother's restoration to his kingdom.
On February 13, 1526, after having signed the peace
at Toledo, Charles V returned to Madrid. Francois,
mounted on a richly-caparisoned mule and dressed h Fes-
pagnole^ as a compliment to the Emperor, met him in the
outskirts of the city, and the two monarchs embraced
with a great show of affection. They entered Madrid
amid the acclamations of the people, and proceeded to
the Alcazar, where they supped together ; and during
the two following days made their devotions at the same
227
The Pearl of Princesses
churches, and gave other proofs of the sincerity of their
reconciliation.
On the 1 6th, Francois having expressed a desire to
see his bride-elect before leaving Spain, their Majesties
quitted Madrid to visit Queen Eleanor at the Castle of
Illescas, one of the residences of the Archbishop of
Toledo, where she had arrived on the previous day.
They established themselves at the Castle of Torrejon, a
few miles distant, and paid their first visit on the follow-
ing afternoon. Although, as we have seen, Francois had
not the slightest intention of sharing his throne with the
lady, he appears to have acted the part of a gallant lover
to perfection, and when Eleanor fell on her knees and
was about to kiss his hand, he raised her up and em-
braced her warmly. The next day, the two monarchs
paid a second visit to Illescas, on which occasion the
Queen, whose heart Francois seems to have conquered
completely, performed a saraband before her fianc^ with
the Countess of Nassau, one of her ladies-in-waiting.
On the iQth, King and Emperor bade one another
farewell, the former to return to Madrid and thence to
France, the latter to proceed to Seville, where he was
to wed the Infanta Isabella of Portugal. At parting,
Francois, at the request of the Emperor, who, in this last
interview, was unable to free his mind from some un-
easiness in regard to the execution of the treaty, renewed
his assurances of fidelity to his engagements, " under pain
of being accounted a miserable scoundrel," and Charles
warned the King that, " although he had never hated him,
yet if he deceived him, particularly in what concerned his
sister Eleanor, he should hold his person in detestation,
and should seek every means of taking vengeance and of
injuring him as much as possible." Then, after the
228
Francois sets out for France
King had once more sworn to fulfil his obligations, they
commended one another to God's keeping and separated.
Two days later (February 21), Francois joyfully
quitted the gloomy fortress, where he had suffered so
much in both body and mind, and where he had ended
by purchasing his liberty at the price of his honour, and
took the road to the French frontier. He was accom-
panied by the Viceroy of Naples and a numerous guard,
under the command of Alargon. At Aranda, on the
Douro, fifty leagues from the frontier, which was reached
on the 26th, Lannoy, in conjunction with the King,
drafted the formalities which were to be observed at his
release, which was to take place on the Bidassoa, between
Fontarabia and Andaye, in the centre of the stream.
Chabot de Brion and a Spanish officer named Penalosa
were then despatched to France, the former to hasten the
arrival of Louise of Savoy and the hostages, the latter to
carry to the Court the regulations for the exchange ; and
the King and his escort continued their journey as far as
Vittoria, where they halted to await news of the Regent.
Louise of Savoy and Marguerite had learned of the
Treaty of Madrid at the end of January, when Anne de
Montmorency arrived at Lyons, bringing with him the
document for the Regent's signature, and Louise lost
no time in making the arrangements required to secure
her son's liberation. The clause relating to the hostages
left France the alternative of replacing the second of the
young princes by twelve of the principal personages of
the kingdom. But Louise, who had, of course, been
informed by Montmorency of what had occurred at the
Alcazar on the eve of the signing of the treaty, and was
aware that a refusal to execute its terms would certainly
be followed by a renewal of the war, immediately decided
229
The Pearl of Princesses
that to deprive the kingdom of its best generals in such
circumstances would be an act of criminal folly, and that
the little Due d'Orleans must therefore accompany the
Dauphin to Spain.
After having announced that peace had been con-
cluded, and that the King would shortly be restored to
his loving subjects, without, however, revealing the
humiliating conditions by which his Majesty's liberty had
been purchased, she set out for Amboise, where the
young princes were, accompanied by Marguerite, the
English and Imperialist Ambassadors, Dr. John Taylor
and Louis von Praet. On arriving at Roanne, they em-
barked in barges upon the Loire, and made the rest of
the journey by water, though, owing to continuous rain,
the river had overflowed its banks, and " the wind was
so ragious that no man might pass without danger." 1
The Regent, " notwithstanding that she was vexed with
the gout in her hand," says Dr. Taylor, only remained
one night at Amboise, and then, with her elder grand-
sons, took the road to Bayonne, where they arrived on
the evening of March 15, and "were received with a great
triumph of gunshot." During the journey the task fell
to Marguerite of preparing the two little princes for the
change that awaited them, and of describing Queen
Eleanor, their father's betrothed, who was coming as far
as Vittoria to receive them, and in whose charge they
were to remain until the principal conditions of the Treaty
of Madrid had been fulfilled, when she would bring
them with her to France. It was a difficult task that
Marguerite had to perform, for while she kept assuring
the poor boys that in a few weeks at furthest they
1 Despatch of Taylor to Wolsey, in Sharon Turner, Tfo Modern
History of England.
230
The King exchanged for his Sons
would be allowed to return to their relatives, she was
well aware that, unless the conditions of the treaty were
executed, it might be months and even years before
they saw their native land again, and that, if their father
declined to fulfil his obligations, the Emperor was quite
capable of visiting his resentment upon the children.
The exchange of the King for his sons took place on the
1 7th, at seven o'clock in the morning. The most elaborate
precautions had been taken to guard against any attempt
at escape or rescue ; no vessels of any description, with
the exception of those required for the conveyance of
Francois and the hostages, being allowed on the Bidassoa
or within five leagues of its mouth, while for twenty
leagues on either side of the frontier the country was
evacuated by troops. At the appointed hour, Francois,
accompanied by Lannoy, Alargon, and ten Spanish gentle-
men, armed only with sword and dagger, appeared on
the southern bank of the river ; while the Dauphin and
the Due d'Orleans, accompanied by Lautrec and ten
French gentlemen, armed in like fashion, appeared on
the opposite bank. Two barges of the same size and
manned by the same number of rowers were in readiness.
Each party entered one, and was rowed out to the centre
of the stream, where a raft had been moored. Lannoy
and Alargon, followed by the King, mounted the raft,
as did Lautrec and the little princes. The boys kissed
their father's hand, and Lannoy said : " Sire, your High-
ness is now free ; let him execute what he has promised ! "
" All shall be done," answered Francois, who then em-
braced his children, and stepping into the barge which
had brought them, was rowed to the northern bank,
while the princes were conveyed to the Spanish shore.
The King, who, in his selfish way/ was much attached
231
The Pearl of Princesses
to his children, had probably experienced some twinges
of conscience at the thought of these two young boys
the elder but ten years old condemned to a captivity
which his intended repudiation of his engagements could
not fail to make a long and painful one. But any com-
punction he may have felt was speedily stifled by joy
at finding himself a free man once more. So soon as his
foot touched French soil, he threw himself on horseback,
crying : " Now I am King ! I am King once more ! "
and rode away at a gallop to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, whither
the nobles of the Court, the Chancellor Du Prat and the
English Ambassador had come to welcome him. 1 After
receiving their congratulations and snatching a hasty meal, 2
he hastened on to Bayonne, where the Regent and the rest
of the Court had remained, and " was received with much
shot of ordnance without the town a quarter of a mile." 3
" Immediately on setting foot to ground he went to
return thanks to God in the principal church of that
town, and then hurried away to greet his mother and
sister, who were impatiently awaiting him." 4
1 " After the chancellor had saluted the King, he showed me to him
that I was the orator of England. The King took me in his arms,
whom I saluted in this manner : ' Christianissimi Rex ! ex parte serenis-
simi regis Angliae, defensoris fidei, Deum omnipotentem ego con-
gratulor, tuae majestatis in suum regnum salvo reditur.' " Despatch
of Taylor to Wolsey, in Sharon Turner.
2 The epicures among the King's retinue must have been not a little
disappointed that his Majesty refused to linger over this repast, since a
most elaborate menu had been provided, including, since it was Lent, no
less than fifteen different kinds of fish, to wit : pike, chad, mullet, cod,
lampreys, sardines, oysters, turtle, plaice, roach, salmon, herrings, dorados,
barbels, and sturgeon.
3 Taylor.
4 President de Selve to the Parlement of Paris, March 18, 1526.
232
CHAPTER XIX
BY no class of his subjects was the liberation of
Francois hailed with greater relief than by Marguerite's
proteges^ the Reformers and men of letters. After the
departure of the princess for Spain, the Commissioners
appointed by the Parkment had continued their work with
unabated ardour. They had imprisoned Clement Marot,
who had boasted openly of his sympathy with the New
Ideas, on the accusation of one Bouchard, a doctor of the
Sorbonne, who appears to have been a personal enemy
of the poet, though, as Marot had many powerful
friends at Court besides Marguerite and the King, and
his theological opinions were not taken very seriously,
it does not appear to have been their intention to
proceed to extremities against him. They had caused
Louis de Berquin to be arrested, condemned him as
an heretic and delivered him over to the Parlement "pour
etre conclu a mort" ; and other members of the King's
entourage were being threatened by the Sorbonne, which
did not attempt to dissimulate its hatred of Marguerite.
One of the princess's friends, Papillon, for whom she had
procured admission to the Council, had died under very
suspicious circumstances, if we are to believe Erasmus,
whose witty and amusing Colloques, wherein the writer
indulged in biting pleasantries at the expense of the
monks and the schoolmen, and attacked asceticism and
superstition, had been denounced to the Faculty of
Theology as heretical by the furious Beda.
On Marguerite's arrival at Madrid, she had lost no
233
The Pearl of Princesses
time in appealing to the King on behalf of the Reformers ;
and Francois had sent directions to his mother to inform
the Parlement that it was his pleasure that all proceedings
pending against heretics should be suspended until his
return, and that no further executions should take place
until the decrees had been confirmed by himself. He
had, however, .only been partially obeyed, as, though the
stake had claimed no more victims, the arrests had
continued. As soon as he arrived in France, however,
urged on by the representatives of his sister, he took
more vigorous steps, and sent from Bayonne orders for
the immediate release of Marot, and for the discon-
tinuance of the proceedings against Berquin ; and when
the Parlement remonstrated, directed him to be set at
liberty.
Marguerite did not fail to fan the flame of her
brother's resentment against the fanaticism of the
Sorbonne and the insolence of the Parlement^ and it
was probably at her instigation that in June Erasmus
addressed to the King a letter complaining of the
strictures passed by the Sorbonne on his writings, and
warning him that, unless the insolent temerity of the
theologians met with prompt repression, they would
soon venture to assail royalty itself. u They design,
Sire," he writes, "to establish a tyrannical authority,
even over their princes ; this, be assured, is their secret
aim. If the prince does not surrender to their will,
they will proclaim him an heretic and denounce him to
the Church, which, according to them, consists of a few
apostate doctors and renegade monks. "
No more adroit appeal to the susceptibilities of a
sovereign always so tenacious of his authority could have
been devised, and it did not fail of effect. The King,
234
The Tables turned on the Bigots
violently irritated against the Sorbonne, sent orders to
the Parlement requiring them to prohibit the sale of
Beda's books, and to exercise a strict surveillance over
the University and prevent its members from publishing
and disseminating libels upon Erasmus ; and the syndic,
having had occasion to present himself at Court, was
arrested and kept in custody for a day, as a hint to
moderate his zeal. Not long afterwards, Francois
bethought him of a reprisal on that carping divine and
his followers which shows that his Majesty had a very
pretty sense of humour. He sent orders to the Uni-
versity to examine and report on the orthodoxy of a book
published by its syndic against Erasmus and Lefevre.
" It has been reported to me," he wrote, " that the book
abounds in grave errors ; of one thing, I feel assured,
namely, that it abounds in gross calumny a thing more
reprehensible than much erroneous doctrine."
Thus, for the moment, the cause of the Reformers
triumphed.
Charles V soon discovered that on the day on which
he had allowed the French King to cross the Bidassoa,
he had let slip the chance which comes to a man but
once in his life.
On Francois's arrival at Bayonne, Louis van Praet,
the Imperial Ambassador, lost no time in calling upon
him to ratify the treaty, as he had engaged to do in
the first town in his dominions. The King, on some
plausible pretext, deferred the ratification. At Mont-de-
Marsan, whither the Court proceeded from Bayonne,
Penalosa, who had been sent by Lannoy, joined Van
Praet, and Francois was again summoned to fulfil his
promise. This time, his Majesty replied that the treaty,
235
The Pearl of Princesses
the terms of which had already been made public by
the Emperor, was causing great indignation among his
subjects ; that the principal personages of the State, to
whom he had applied to secure its acceptance, all
implored him not to ratify it ; that he had received
advices from Burgundy that the cession of that province,
" united and incorporated inseparably with the Crown,"
could not take place without the consent of the Estates,
which were determined not to give it, and that he feared
that the adhesion of the States-General of the kingdom
and of the Parlement of Paris, which was equally necessary
for such an alienation, would be impossible to obtain.
These evasive answers were communicated to Lannoy,
who was at Vittoria with Queen Eleanor and the young
princes, and by him transmitted to his master. Charles
at once sent orders to the Viceroy of Naples to proceed
in person to France, and demand in the most imperative
terms the immediate fulfilment of the King's engage-
ments. Lannoy set out in all haste and found the Court
at Cognac, the royal physicians having advised that a
sojourn in Francois's native air might be beneficial to
his health, which was still causing some anxiety.
Two days after the Viceroy's arrival (May 10, 1526),
he and Van Praet were requested to appear before the
Council, when the Chancellor informed them that the
King had no power to surrender a province of France,
and that, though his Majesty's subjects were ready to
obey him in all else, they would never consent to the
dismemberment of the realm. Frangois himself con-
firmed what his Minister had said, adding that the oath
which he had taken either to execute the terms of the
treaty or to return to Spain was not binding, inasmuch
as it had been exacted from him while in prison. At
236
The King repudiates his Engagements
the same time, he was prepared to pay a ransom of ten
million crowns for Burgundy, and to execute faithfully
the rest of the treaty.
Modern historians have rightly condemned Francois's
conduct in severe terms ; but it was very differently
regarded at the time. " Our King," writes Brantome, 1
" made the treaty of a very skilful prince," and such
was undoubtedly the general opinion in France. Nor
was foreign opinion, outside Charles's own dominions, dis-
posed to judge the perjured monarch at all harshly. Those,
indeed, to whom the growing power of the Emperor was
a cause of jealousy and alarm declared that Francois
was justified in repudiating engagements entered into
while he was not a free agent. "Treaties made under
fear do not stand," wrote Baldassare Castiglione, the
Papal Nuncio at Toledo, to the Vatican, so soon as he
was informed of the terms of the treaty, and Clement
VII subsequently made not the smallest difficulty about
absolving the King from his oath ; while Wolsey in-
structed the English Ambassadors at the French Court
" to say of themselves soberly, and in a manner of
stupefaction and marvel, that these be great and high
conditions, the like whereof have not been heard of,
and such as were even here [in England] thought were
either never agreed to, or being agreed to, shall never
be performed." 2
Francois's reply to the demands of Lannoy and Van
Praet was communicated to Charles V, who, incensed
and mortified at finding himself the dupe of a rival
whose political capacity he held in such contempt,
1 Brantome, of course, wrote much later, but he echoes the sentiments
of contemporary Frenchmen.
2 Instructions of March 1526, in Sharon Turner.
237
The Pearl of Princesses
rejected the proposed compromise with indignation, and
called upon the King to keep his oath and return to
prison, since he was either unwilling or unable to
execute the articles of the Treaty of Madrid. The only
response to this summons was the announcement of the
formation of the " Holy League " of Cognac, between
the King of France, the Pope, Venice, Florence, and
Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, which, conceived
ostensibly in the interests of universal peace, was in
reality a challenge to a European War, and to which the
Emperor was ironically invited to give his adhesion, on
condition that he should restore the Milanese to Sforza,
place the Italian States in the position in which they
stood at his accession, and release the French princes
for a reasonable ransom in money.
Never again was France to have so favourable an
opportunity of arresting the forward march of its great
enemy as at the moment of the formation of the League
of Cognac. Charles V was without an ally in Europe,
and beset with difficulties on every side. Germany was
torn by religious strife ; the Turks were overrunning
Hungary ; Naples was seething with discontent ; in
Lombardy his army had dwindled to ten or twelve
thousand men, surrounded by a population which their
tyranny had driven to exasperation. To crown all, his
coffers were all but empty.
But the opportunity was allowed to pass. Francois was
no longer the man he had been before his captivity. Then,
whatever his shortcomings, he had at least possessed reso-
lution and energy where the furtherance of his own
ambitious schemes were concerned. Now, however, a
marked change was perceptible both in mind and body.
He had lost the fire and elasticity of youth ; State duties
238
A New Sultana
wearied him, and he appeared to take but a faint interest
in the momentous struggle to which he found himself
committed, and to be quite unable to decide upon a
vigorous course of action. The pleasures of the chase,
and, still more, the charms of a new mistress, occupied his
mind to the exclusion of the important questions which
called so urgently for his attention. c< Alexander," wrote
Tavannes, " used to pay attention to women when he had
no affairs of State ; Francois attended to affairs of State
when there were no more women."
Anne de Pisseleu, the lady in question, was born
towards the close of the year 1508, at the Chateau of
Fontainebleau-Lavaganne, near Beauvais. Her father was
Guillaume de Pisseleu, Seigneur d'Heilly, a nobleman
whose views on the subject of children were so completely
in accord with those of the Psalmist that he married three
times and gave to his Majesty no less than thirty lieges.
Anne belonged to the second brood, her mother being a
Mile. Sanguin. As the years went by, the worthy
seigneur began to find the weight of so very full a quiver
somewhat difficult to sustain, and, so soon as Anne had
attained a marriageable age, he procured her the post of
maid-of-honour to Louise of Savoy, in the hope that her
pretty face would suffice to secure her a husband who
would be disposed to waive the question of dowry.
Many writers, on the authority of Brantome, state that
Anne de Pisseleu was presented at Court during the
captivity of the King, and that Francois met her, for the
first time, at Mont-de-Marsan, on his return from Spain,
and fell in love with her at first sight. But, in point of
fact, she had made her appearance at Court four years
earlier, and there is reason to believe that she had
attracted the attention of the King before the debacle of
239
The Pearl of Princesses
Pavia, and that it was to her, and not to Madame de
Chateaubriand, that were addressed those plaintive verses
with which the prisoner of the Alcazar endeavoured to
beguile the tedium of his captivity.
However that may be, scarcely had Francois been restored
to his kingdom, than their relations were a secret from no
one, and Madame de Chateaubriand was completely dis-
carded. Nor can we wonder at the monarch's infatuation,
since Mile. d'Heilly, by which name his new enchantress was
henceforth known, was not only young and beautiful, but
intelligent and accomplished. Charles de Sainte-Marthe
called her " la plus belle des savanfes et la plus savante des
belles" and Marot wrote :
A Heilly
Dix-huit ans je vous donne ?
Belle et bonne ;
Mais a votre sens rassis,
Trente cinq et trente-six
J'en ordonne.
Moreover, she was sprightly and vivacious, and possessed
in a supreme degree of the art of pleasing. In short, it
would have been difficult to find any one more calculated
to appeal to a man of Francois's temperament, at a moment
when his only desire was to forget his misfortunes and
sufferings in a round of pleasure and excitement.
The subjugation of the King was as complete as it was
speedy, and when his new favourite imperiously demanded
that he should require her predecessor in his affections to
restore the jewels which he had given her, " not because
of their price and value," says Brantome, " but because
she coveted the beautiful devices upon them which his
sister had made and composed," Francois was mean
enough to consent. To the messenger charged with the
royal commands Madame de Chateaubriand replied that
240
Madame de Chateaubriand discarded
she was ill, but that he might return in three days. She
profited by this respite to send for a goldsmith and have
the jewels melted down, and, when the messenger returned,
she handed him the simple ingots. " Go," said she,
<c carry them to the King, and tell him that, since it is his
pleasure to take back what he gave so generously, I
restore his gifts in ingots of gold. As for the mottoes,
they are so indelibly engraved on my mind, and I hold
them so sacred, that I cannot suffer another than myself
to appropriate or find pleasure in them/'
When the message was delivered to Francois, he had
the grace to feel ashamed of his shabby treatment of the
woman whom he had once professed to love, and whom
he had cast off for Mile. d'Heilly " ainsi quun clou
chasse Pantre" " Take them all back to her," he ex-
claimed ; <c 1 valued them not for their intrinsic worth,
but for the mottoes and devices which they bore, for
willingly would I have given her double. Since she has
caused them to be destroyed, I do not wish for the gold,
and she may keep it. She has given proof of more
courage and generosity than I should have believed a
woman capable of showing."
It may here be observed that there is no truth in the
tradition which has been accepted by so many historians,
that, overwhelmed by the loss of the royal favour,
Madame de Chateaubriand retired to her husband's
Chateau in Brittany, where, after being kept in solitary
confinement for many months, in a room draped with
black, she was put to death by orders of her injured
consort. That gentleman had long since accepted his
allotted part of mari complaisant and had found it a not
unprofitable one ; and, so far from hastening to avenge
his honour, he lived with his erring wife for more
241 R
The Pearl of Princesses
than ten years; and in 1532, when Francois visited
Brittany, he was magnificently entertained by the count
and countess. Nor did the fair delaissees wounded
heart cause her to eschew altogether the pleasures of the
Court, since in the following year she attended the wed-
ding of the Due d'Orleans (afterwards Henri II) and
Catherine de' Medici at Marseilles, where we hear of her
preferring a petition to Clement VII that she might be
permitted to eat meat three times a week during Lent.
Like Madame de Pompadour, two centuries later,
Anne de Pisseleu had the talent to assure by the charms
of her mind the empire which her beauty would not have
perhaps sufficed to maintain, and she ruled her royal
lover to the day of his death, though, unfortunately for
himself, Francois was not always proof against the attrac-
tions of other facile beauties. In order to save appear-
ances and diminish the scandal, the King married the lady
to a complaisant nobleman, Jean de Brosse, a direct
descendant of the Vicomtes de Limoges, who consented to
confer the shelter of his name upon the avowed mistress
of his Sovereign in return for the restoration of his family
estates, which had been confiscated owing to the treason
of his father, Rene de Brosse, who had taken part in the
conspiracy of Bourbon, followed the Constable to Italy,
and fallen on the field of Pavia, fighting in the Imperial-
ist ranks. So accommodating did this nobleman prove
himself that the grateful King not only restored to him
his confiscated property, but created him Comte de
Penthievre, appointed him Governor of Brittany, gave
him the collar of the Order of Saint-Michel, and, finally,
erected for him, or rather for his wife, the county of
Etampes into a duchy.
There can be little doubt that Louise of Savoy had
242
ADA/HE DE C HASTEAVBRJAN
MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
Policy versus Sentiment
deliberately encouraged the King's passion for her beautiful
maid-of-honour, out of hatred for Madame de Chateau-
briand and also because she believed that she had little to
fear from the influence of Mile. d'Heilly, who, haughty
as she afterwards showed herself to the world in general,
always behaved towards the Duchesse d'Angouleme with
becoming deference. As for Marguerite, she accepted
the new favourite with even more complaisance than she
usually showed in regard to her brother's love-affairs,
since the latter favoured the Reformed ideas and used
her credit with the King to protect artists and men of
letters.
Meanwhile, the project of a marriage between Mar-
guerite and the young King of Navarre was encountering
unexpected obstacles. It might have been thought that
Francois, who had so much reason to be grateful to his
sister, and who had lately experienced so touching a proof
of her devotion, -would have found it difficult to refuse
her anything, more especially since Louise of Savoy had
expressed her full approval of the alliance, and had actually
caused a marriage-contract to be drafted before the news
of the conclusion of the Treaty of Madrid and the ap-
proaching liberation of her son had reached her. The
King, however, declined for some months to give his
sanction, his sense of the obligations under which his
sister had placed him not being sufficiently keen to
override certain political considerations.
Francois was exceedingly anxious to secure the adhesion
of England to the League of Cognac, and, aware that
Henry VIII was contemplating the repudiation of Cath-
erine of Aragon, he despatched the Bishop of Tarbes
to England to promise him his assistance in procuring
243
The Pearl of Princesses
the Papal sanction to the dissolution of his marriage,
and to propose that, when that was accomplished, an
alliance between Henry and Marguerite should take
place. Wolsey entered with alacrity into this project, and
warmly commended the French princess to his master.
" There is a woman in France," said he, " who is above
all other women ; none other is so worthy of your
hand." And he added a portrait of Marguerite, which
he had procured from Paris, to his persuasions.
In order to conceal his design of sharing his throne
with Anne Boleyn, which was the real motive of his
desire to repudiate Catherine, Henry VIII feigned to
receive the proposition very favourably, and secret nego-
tiations continued throughout the summer of 1526 ; for
Marguerite, though they must have occasioned her the
bitterest mortification, appears to have had too much
docility to offer any active opposition to her brother's
plans. When, however, Henry's infatuation for Anne
Boleyn became a matter of common knowledge, and she
realized that she was in the degrading situation of com-
peting with her former maid-of-honour for the hand of a
monarch whose wife was living, she could no longer con-
ceal her disgust, and declared that she should refuse even
to listen to the proposed marriage. The project was
therefore allowed to drop, the more readily that Francois
had reluctantly come to the conclusion that, if Henry
obtained his divorce from Catherine, it would be Anne
Boleyn, and not Marguerite, who would replace her.
At the same time, it was represented to him that his
sister's reputation must inevitably suffer, should the
secret overtures which he had made to bring about an
alliance between her and the King of England transpire
after the divorce of Catherine, while Marguerite remained
244
The Second Marriage of Marguerite
unmarried. Francois recognized the force of this reason-
ing, and towards the end of 1526 gave a somewhat
grudging consent to his sister's marriage with Henri
d'Albret.
The formal betrothal of Marguerite to the King of
Navarre appears to have taken place at the end of
November or the beginning of December, after which
the princess travelled southwards, escorted by her fiance^
and paid a short visit to one of his sisters, Catherine
d'Albret, at Saint-Preuil, in Languedoc, where Catherine
had taken the veil. From a letter, which she wrote on
the way, to her friend Anne de Polignac, Comtesse de la
Rochefoucauld, it would appear as if some fresh difficulty
had arisen in regard to her marriage, since she alludes to
it as still uncertain. " My cousin, " she writes, " Yester-
day the King of Navarre decided that I shall quit this
place on Friday next. On Saturday, I shall be at Tarbes,
where I mean to spend the approaching festival, and
thence journeying to Prouille (j/V), at which place I intend
to make some sojourn, and hope to see you there : I
beg you very earnestly to meet me. If all things were
as I could wish, there is not a child belonging to you
that I would not take back with me ; but our marriage is
not yet so certain an event that I dare venture to invite
my relatives, as I will explain to you more at length
when we meet."
However, by the time Marguerite returned to Court
the King's objections to the match had been finally over-
come, and the marriage-contract of the "very high and
puissant prince and princess, Monseigneur Henri, by the
grace of God, King of Navarre, lord of Beam, son of the
very high and puissant Jean and Catherine, by the same
grace late King and Queen of Navarre, Due and Duchesse
2 45
The Pearl of Princesses
de Gandie, de Montblanc and de Penafiel, Comte and Com-
tesse de Foix, Seigneur and Dame de Beam and Bigorre ;
and Madame Marguerite de France, only sister of the
King, Duchesse d'Alencxm and de Berry, Comtesse de
Roddes [Rhodez], du Perche, de Lisle, Vicomtesse de
Lemaigne, and Dame de Bauge," was duly signed.
By this contract, Marguerite resigned to her future
husband the revenues and administration of all her estates,
with the exception of those of the duchy of Berry, the town
and county of Bourges, and certain lordships, a which it
had pleased the King since his joyful accession to bestow
upon his sister," and which she reserved to herself. She
also presented the King of Navarre with her gold and
silver plate, and the sum of 45,000 livres, owing to her
from the sisters and co-heiresses of the Due d'Alen^on,
the Duchesse de Vendome, and the Marchioness of
Montferrato. The King of Navarre, on his part, assigned
to his future bride a jointure of 20,000 livres on lands in
the principality of Beam, and promised her u rich rings
and jewels, over and above what she now possesses, to
the amount of 10,000 crowns." In the event of Henri
d'Albret predeceasing her, Marguerite was to remain sole
guardian of any children of the marriage and Regent of
Navarre and Beam, until the majority of her eldest son
or daughter.
The marriage-ceremony was performed in the chapel of
Saint Germain-en-Laye, where the unfortunate Claude de
France had been married to Francois thirteen years earlier.
Like Francois's wedding, it took place at a time of great
national depression, and, with the exception of a grand
banquet and a " marvellous triumphant joust," was not
attended by any special rejoicings. En revanche , the poets
and savants, not only in France, but throughout Europe,
246
A Pretty Allegory
vied with one another in celebrating the beauty, virtues
and talents of the bride, and though a good many of their
effusions are couched in a somewhat hyperbolical strain,
they, nevertheless, form a striking testimony to the ad-
miration and esteem which Marguerite enjoyed. Among
the poems may be mentioned an allegory in Latin by
Jean Dorat, wherein he recounts how a beautiful pearl
(Margaris) was formed in the shell which supported the
radiant form of Venus, as she rose from the bosom of the
waves. It was a stray drop of the fragrant dew from
which the goddess sprang. One day, during her preg-
nancy, Louise of Savoy, while eating oysters, accidentally
swallowed this priceless gem, with the result that the
daughter to whom she gave birth shortly afterwards
partook of the divine nature of Venus, and was named
Marguerite :
Qualis et esca fuit, talem quoque ventre puellam,
Edidit, et nomen Marguerite inde manet.
247
CHAPTER XX
AND so Marguerite d'Angouleme changed her title
and became Queen of Navarre. It was a position of
finer sound than substance, for since 1512 the whole of
Upper Navarre, that is to say, of Navarre beyond the
Pyrenees, had passed into the possession of Spain.
However, Francois had given her and her husband his
sacred promise to reconquer the latter's lost dominions
a promise which, by the way, he never intended to fulfil,
since it did not suit his interests to have a real king for
so near a neighbour and had . bestowed upon his dis-
possessed brother-in-law the government of Guienne,
the most important one in France.
Marguerite's marriage did not mean her immediate
departure from the Court of France ; indeed, it was
not until towards the end of the following year that she
made acquaintance with her husband's little kingdom.
Her presence near her brother was, indeed, sorely needed
to awaken the King from the apathy and indifference to
everything but pleasure which seemed to have possessed
him since his return to France. Francois had pushed
his Italian allies into war by the promise of the most
vigorous co-operation, but for more than a year he made
no move, and by that time two of the leaders of the
Italian League had fallen, and the whole situation in
the peninsula had undergone a complete change.
The Duke of Urbino, the general of the Confederates,
though far superior to the Imperialists in numbers, failed
in his attempt to relieve the citadel of Milan, and at the
end of July 1526, starvation obliged Sforza to capitulate.
248
Bourbon in Italy
After Sforza, it was the turn of Clement VII. In
March 1527, the Pope, who had begun to regret his
share in a war in which he had embarked in the confident
assurance of energetic support from France, concluded a
treaty with the Viceroy of Naples, by which he was to
abandon the Confederation, while the Imperialists were
to evacuate the States of the Church. This move, how-
ever, did not save him from paying a bitter price for his
reliance on Francois's promises, for the solution of the
Papal-Imperial problem had passed into other hands.
In the summer of 1526, Bourbon had assumed com-
mand of the Imperialists in Italy, where towards the end
of the year he was joined by 13,000 landsknechts under
George Friindsberg. The ex-Constable's troops, unpaid,
ragged and starving, were in full mutiny, and the
Germans soon followed the example of the Spaniards.
Friindsberg, while endeavouring to pacify them, was struck
down by apoplexy and carried away to Ferrara, where he
died ; and Bourbon, recognizing that in order to quell the
mutiny there was but one course open to him, offered to
lead the troops to the pillage of Florence and Rome.
Brantome asserts that, as a proof of his good intentions, he
distributed among the soldiers all his jewels and plate,
reserving for himself only his clothes and a coat of cloth-
of-silver, and declared that he was " but a penniless
cavalier, no richer than they were, not by one sol " ; but,
according to other accounts, they pillaged his quarters
and also killed one of his attendants. Any way, his
decision was hailed with enthusiasm by the army, which
was already preparing to march, when one of Lannoy's
officers, named Feramosca, arrived in the camp with the
announcement of the truce which had just been con-
cluded with the Pope. Bourbon, however, who was by
249
The Pearl of Princesses
this time thoroughly disgusted with the ingratitude of
the Emperor, and is believed to have contemplated
carving out a kingdom for himself in Southern Italy,
told him sarcastically that, if he wished the truce to be
observed, he had better persuade the troops of the
necessity of submitting to it. This Feramosca rashly
essayed to do, and had to fly for his life from the
exasperated soldiery.
At the beginning of April, Bourbon's polyglot army
of French outlaws, Spanish soldiers, Italian bandits, and
German mercenaries crossed the Apennines and descended
into Tuscany, "like a living avalanche," devastating every
town and village through which it passed. But finding
that the Duke of Urbino had fallen back to cover
Florence, it turned to the south-east and advanced
rapidly on Rome, for whose defence Clement, relying on
his convention v/ith Lannoy, had made but the feeblest
preparations. On May 5 the invaders beheld the spires
and domes of the Eternal City rising before them ;
and on the following day they advanced to the assault.
It was Bourbon himself who planted the first scaling-
ladder against the walls, but, as he placed his foot on the
second rung, a ball from an arquebus struck him, and he
fell back into the trench, mortally wounded. Benvenuto
Cellini claims, in his autobiography, the honour of
having fired the fatal shot, but the writer's weakness for
self-glorification is too evident for much importance to be
attached to such a statement.
Roused to fury by the death of their leader, the
assailants poured over the ramparts in a resistless torrent ;
the terror-stricken Pope fled to the Castle ^f St. Angelo,
and in a few hours all resistance was at an end. The
grim tragedy which followed is well known. For weeks
250
The Sack of Rome
the city was a prey to the ferocious soldiery, who pillaged,
murdered, and committed every act of brutal violence,
without respect of age or sex or dignity. " The sack of
Rome," writes Brantome, " was so terrible that neither
before nor since has anything like it been seen."
" Never," says Guillaume Paradin, " had there such
calamity, misery, damage, cruelty, and inhumanity been
witnessed."
The sack of Rome and the captivity of the Pope, who,
after sustaining a siege of a month in the Castle of
St. Angelo, was obliged to capitulate, sent a thrill of
horror through Europe, and though the Emperor made
every effort to exculpate himself, his protestations fell on
unheeding ears. The opportunity thus offered was too
favourable for Francois to lose. At the end of April a
few days before Rome fell he had concluded a treaty
with Henry VIII, whereby it was arranged that Francois
himself, or his second son Henri, should marry Mary
Tudor, then eleven years old ; that the King of England
should renounce his pretensions to the Crown of France,
in return for an annual payment ; that, in the mean-
while, the two monarchs should present an ultimatum to
the Emperor calling upon him to make peace, liberate
the captive French princes on payment of the ransom
already offered, and discharge his debts to England, and
that, in the event of his refusal, they should make joint
war upon him. The tragic news from Italy caused this
alliance to bear speedy fruit, and, at the beginning of
August, Lautrec, at the head of an army of 30,000 men,
subsidized by "the Kyng of Englande's money, that
the cardinal [Wolsey] brought out of Englande in bar-
rels," 1 entered Lombardy and carried all before him.
1 Hall's Chronicle.
251
The Pearl of Princesses
Alessandria capitulated ; Pavia was taken by assault and
ruthlessly sacked, in revenge for the disaster of 1525,
and before the end of the year practically the whole of
the Milanese, with the exception of the capital, was lost
to the Emperor ; while Genoa, which had refused to join
the League of Cognac, also surrendered. The few Italian
princes who remained faithful to the Imperial cause now
abandoned it, and on December 9 Clement VII succeeded
in effecting his escape from Rome, in disguise, and took
refuge at his palace of Orvieto.
At the end of January 1528, the heralds of England
and France brought to the Emperor, who was then at
Burgos, a formal declaration of war. Charles replied in
very moderate terms to the English herald, but said to the
other : " The King, your master, has done a sorry,
dastard deed in breaking his plighted word to me in
regard to the Treaty of Madrid, and for this I am ready to
maintain my person against his."
From these words, used partly in bravado by the
Emperor, sprang that strange episode in these eventful
times of a challenge to mortal combat exchanged between
the two most powerful monarchs. For Francois, stung
to the quick by his rival's language, replied by a violent
cartel, in which he informed the Emperor that, " if he had
wished, or wished to accuse him of having done anything
unworthy of a gentleman of honour, he lied in his throat ";
and begged him to name a time and place where they
might meet to decide their quarrel. The Emperor there-
upon despatched the herald-at-arms, " Burgundy," with a
letter, in which he ironically suggested a meeting on the
Bidassoa between Fontarabia and Andaye, c< a place which
must be well known to you, for there I restored you to
freedom and received your children as hostages, on the
252
Birth of Jeanne d'Albret
faith of your solemn promise to return, if our treaty-
were not executed." This letter he was instructed to
read to Francois before his assembled Court. But when,
on September 9, after being kept waiting for seven weeks
on the frontier, he reached Paris and was admitted to the
royal presence, Francois demanded the safe-conduct he
had asked for ; and as " Burgundy " refused to deliver it
before he had done his office in the form prescribed, and
the King refused to hear him otherwise, he eventually
retired with the cartel still in his hand. Perhaps, Francois
was reluctant to allow his Court to hear the exceedingly
candid opinion which the Emperor expressed of his con-
duct ; but, more probably, he was only too glad of a
pretext to put an end to an affair which was exciting the
ridicule of Europe.
On January 7, 1528, at Fontainebleau, the Queen of
Navarre gave birth to a daughter, the celebrated Jeanne
d'Albret, the future mother of Henri Quatre. The fact
that her first marriage had been a childless one had been
a sore disappointment to Marguerite, who was passion-
ately fond of children, and her joy that her wishes had
at length been fulfilled was great, though doubtless she
would have been still more delighted had her first-born
been a son. It is a coincidence not without interest
that Lefevre d'Etaples, for whom, soon after Francois's
restoration to his kingdom, Marguerite had procured the
post of tutor to her youngest and favourite nephew,
Charles de Valois, Due d'Angouleme, should have been
at Fontainebleau at the time, and one of the first to
welcome into the world the young princess who was to
become so ardent a champion of the Reformed faith.
In the summer of that year, the Reformers, whom the
2 53
The Pearl of Princesses
attitude of the King on his return from captivity had
inspired with such ardent hopes, found themselves again
menaced by the fires of persecution. Once more, to
the great grief of Marguerite, was religious toleration
sacrificed to statecraft, for Francois, desiring that his zeal
for the Church should present a contrast to the conduct
of the Emperor, whose soldiers had laid sacrilegious hands
on the Pope, deemed it advisable to withdraw his pro-
tection from his Lutheran subjects. Encouraged by
this, Du Prat convoked a diocesan synod of his archi-
episcopal see of Sens, which proceeded to pass severe
decrees against the Reformers, and conjured the King
"par les entr allies de la misericorde divine " to exterminate
heresy from the realm. ^
While this Council was in session, an incident occurred
which increased the ferocious zeal of the bigots and made
the King only too willing to listen to their exhortations.
At the angle of the Rue des Rosiers and the Rue des
Juifs, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, stood a statue of
the Virgin with the Child in her arms, which was held
in particular veneration by the Parisians. One morning
in June 1528, the inhabitants of the district were hor-
rified to find that during the night the shrine had been
brutally desecrated. The heads of both Madonna and
Child had been lopped from the trunk, and lay, fallen
and mutilated, in the gutter. This detestable outrage
aroused indescribable grief and indignation throughout
the city, and " the King, who was in Paris, being told
thereof, was so much angered and so far undone that,
saith report, he wept bitterly." Solemn processions and
prayers were ordered to expiate the sacrilegious deed,
the perpetrator of which remained undiscovered, though
a large reward was offered for his apprehension ; and
254
iarl
The Virgin of the Rue des Rosiers
Francois caused a silver statue to be made to replace
the one so impiously defaced. On June n, attended
by the Princes of the Blood, the great officers of the
Crown, the Ambassadors, the university and municipal
authorities, the suffragan bishops of the diocese, and
representatives of every church and convent in Paris,
the King went in solemn state to the church of the
Couvent de Sainte-Catherine, where he heard Mass ;
and, at its conclusion, carrying a lighted taper and
preceded by the Bishop of Lisieux, Grand Almoner of
France, bearing aloft the silver statue, he repaired to
the Rue des Rosiers, where with his own hands he
replaced the Virgin in her niche, an ironwork trellis
being afterwards erected to guard the new statue from
similar desecration. 1
The mutilation of the Virgin of the Rue des Rosiers
sounded the tocsin for a general persecution of the
Reformers throughout France. Seven edicts prohibiting
their public meetings or preches were issued by the King's
Council and eagerly registered by the Parlement ; their
writings were more rigidly scrutinized than ever by the
zealots of the Sorbonne, and in most instances suppressed,
and, though for some months afterwards there were no
public executions for heresy, yet those whose orthodoxy
was suspected were subjected to the most rigorous
surveillance.
Early in October, the Queen of Navarre left Fon-
tainebleau and set out with her husband for Beam.
No differences had apparently yet arisen to cloud her
1 Notwithstanding this precaution, the silver statue was stolen some
years later. It was then replaced by one of wood, which remained
until 1 55 i, when it was cut down and destroyed by the Huguenots.
The vacant niche was then filled by a marble statue.
2 55
The Pearl of Princesses
her
domestic happiness, and on the journey we find
writing to Anne de Montmorency " to give him news
of the marriage, which goes so well that I have much
reason to felicitate myself." And yet the days were
not so very far distant when she was to write to
him : " You are better as a relation than the King of
Navarre."
To Marguerite, the little kingdom to which Henri
d'Albret brought her must have seemed like a foreign
country. In the north, all around the capital of Nerac,
stretched the dreary Landes, great wastes of ash-coloured
sand, streaked here and there with forests of pine and
cork-oak, with the sea on the western horizon : a strange,
desolate country, sparsely peopled by rough peasants
who clothed themselves in skins and used enormous
stilts to make their way over the sandy plain. Pau,
the southern capital, with its steep, narrow streets and
little fortress-like chateau, with the rugged, white-capped
Pyrenees beyond, presented no less singular a contrast
to Fontainebleau or Saint-Germain or the royal resi-
dences on the banks of the Loire ; and it was long ere
Marguerite became entirely reconciled to her new sur-
roundings. The idiom of the country, too, perplexed
and prevented her from responding as she would have
wished to the enthusiastic welcome which the Bearnais
gave their queen. " I have been here five days," she
writes to Francois, "and I am now just beginning to
understand the language."
Marguerite had not been many weeks in Beam when
bad news reached her from Paris. Notwithstanding
the indignation with which the outrage in the Rue des
Rosiers had been received, the more intemperate fol-
lowers of Luther had continued their^acts of sacrilege,
256
The Fate of Berquin
and several images of the saints in various streets of the
capital were torn from their niches and mutilated. Most
unfortunately for himself, it happened that this very
moment, when King, clergy and people, were alike exas-
perated against the Reformers, had been selected by
the imprudent Berquin to come into fresh collision with
the Sorbonne. In vain had his friend Erasmus exhorted
him to moderation, bidding him " remember that hornets
must not be irritated." Relying on the protection of the
Court, which had twice snatched him from the clutches
of his enemies, Berquin attacked the University, de-
manding the reversal of censures recently pronounced
on the works of Erasmus and redress for its past
persecutions of himself, and presented several memorials
to the King, couched in language which certainly did not
err on the side of moderation. The Sorbonne was not
slow to retaliate, and promptly renewed its charge of
heresy against Berquin, at the same time demanding
that he should again be brought to trial, in accordance
with the canons of the Council of Sens. This time, the
King, perhaps not unnaturally incensed by Berquin's
foolish persistence in tempting Providence, abandoned
him to his fate, and signed a decree authorizing the
resumption of the proceedings against him. Conscious
at last of his folly, Berquin appealed to Marguerite, who
had already twice persuaded her brother to use his
authority to save him ; and his protectress hastened to
address an eloquent letter to the King on his behalf.
Her intervention was so far successful that Berquin,
instead of being consigned to the flames, was con-
demned to make the amende honorable, by a public
abjuration of his heresy before the porch of Notre-Dame,
which done, his writings were to be burned before his
257 s
The Pearl of Princesses
face by the public executioner, his tongue to be pierced,
his forehead branded with the fleur-de-lis^ as a perpetual
mark of ignominy, and he was to be imprisoned for life
in the Conciergerie.
Berquin refused to retract, and, though Marguerite
again appealed to her brother, it was of no avail ; and,
having been condemned to death as an obstinate and
contumacious heretic, he was burned in the Place de
Greve (April 24, 1529), enduring his torments with
heroic fortitude. " You would have said," wrote
Erasmus, " that, when he was led forth to be tortured,
he was at home in his library, pursuing his studies,
or in a temple meditating on holy things/* And the
Bourgeois de Paris writes : " Le dit Berquin etait moult
grand clerc^ expert en science et subtil;" adding that he wore
<c a velvet gown and gold stockings, for he was of noble
birth."
2 5 8
CHAPTER XXI
WHILE the fires of persecution were being relighted
in France, the fate of Italy was trembling in the balance.
After his successes over the Imperialists in Lombardy,
Lautrec had advanced southward, without encountering
anything but the feeblest opposition, for disease had so
terribly avenged the Romans of the brigands who had
despoiled them, that by the beginning of 1529 they
had been reduced to a mere wreck of an army ; and,
on the approach of the French, they evacuated the city
and the surrounding country and fell back on Naples.
If Lautrec had shown a little more activity he might
have destroyed them, in which case Naples must have
fallen ; but he allowed them to escape him. Never-
theless, the end of April found him besieging the town,
while the French and Genoese fleets blockaded the port.
The plight of the garrison was desperate, for neither
supplies nor reinforcements could reach them ; and
when, in the last days of May, the Imperialist fleet was
defeated and practically destroyed in a desperate attempt
to break the blockade, their last hope seemed to be
extinguished.
Had Naples fallen, Italy would have been irrevocably
lost to Charles V, but the apathy and puerile folly of
Francois ruined all his hopes of establishing his dominion
in the peninsula, just when they appeared on the point
of being realized. He sent scarcely any reinforcements
or money to Lautrec ; he alienated the Genoese, by de-
priving them of their free constitution and converting
Savona into a rival port ; and by these measures and
259
The Pearl of Princesses
the haughtiness and injustice with which he treated them,
he mortally offended their compatriot Andrea Doria, who
had long served France with a squadron organized and
equipped by himself. At the beginning of July, Doria
withdrew the Genoese galleys from the Bay of Naples,
upon which troops and supplies from Spain and Sicily
were at once thrown into the beleaguered city. Shortly
afterwards, a terrible epidemic probably a virulent form
of typhus, engendered by the heat of an exceptionally
hot summer and the insanitary condition of the be-
siegers* camp broke out amongst the French, and in
a month more than two-thirds of the army were swept
away, Lautrec himself being one of the victims. The
survivors, of whom only some 4000 are said to have
been fit for service, raised the siege and evacuated the
whole kingdom of Naples ; but the Imperialists pressed
hard upon the retreating army, and it was eventually
obliged to capitulate.
The catastrophe of Naples was followed by other
reverses. In September, Andrea Doria went over with
his ships to the Emperor, appeared off Genoa and incited
a revolt, which resulted in the French garrison being
driven out, and the city, which was the Watergate of
Northern Italy, placing itself under Imperial protection.
Reinforcements from Spain were thus enabled to reach
Lombardy, and in June a second French army, under
the Comte de Sainte-Pol, which had been despatched
thither, was totally defeated by Antonio de Leyva at
Andriano. The last blow came when, almost immedi-
ately afterwards, Francois's pseudo-ally, the Pope, deserted
the league and made an " Eternal Peace " with Charles.
Francois's one wish was now for peace. He had
already lost two armies, and to raise a third was impos-
260
Captivity of the Princes
sible. Moreover, he was becoming alarmed about his
sons, who had now been more than three years in
captivity, and whose tender age had not saved them
from paying dearly for the perfidy of their sire. On
the latter's refusal to fulfil the terms of the Treaty of
Madrid, they had been withdrawn from the care of
Queen Eleanor and confined in the fortress of Ampudia,
and afterwards in that of Villalpando ; while, when war was
declared, they had been separated from all their French
attendants, some of whom were sent to the galleys, and
removed to the citadel of Pedraza, in the midst of
the mountains of Castile, where they were surrounded
entirely by Spaniards, for the most part rough soldiers,
and most rigorously guarded, no person from the outside
world being allowed to approach them. The King feared
that, unless they were soon set at liberty, the health and
character of the boys might be seriously affected.
Fortunately for Francois, the resources of the Emperor
were almost as exhausted as his own, while the religious
dissensions in Germany, which were threatening to
develop into civil war, and the advance of the Turks,
who, after overrunning Hungary, were threatening
Vienna, made peace an urgent necessity.
Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria were called
upon to arbitrate between the two monarchs. They met
at Cambrai on July 7, 1529, whither Louise proceeded,
accompanied by the King and Queen of Navarre and
a magnificent suite, which is said to have required no
less than 3000 carts and wagons to transport their
baggage, it being Francois's object to persuade the
Regent of the Netherlands that, notwithstanding the
calls which the war had made upon the resources of
his kingdom, they were still boundless.
' 261
The Pearl of Princesses
The old ground of the negotiations was laboriously
retraced by the two royal ladies ; Margaret of Austria
began by insisting on nothing less than the Treaty of
Madrid without modifications ; and, as Louise showed
herself as inflexible on the question of Burgundy as had
her daughter at Toledo, it seemed as though the con-
ference would come to nothing and the war be resumed.
Finally, however, they came to an agreement, and on
July 24, 1529, cc la Paix des Dames" the famous Treaty
of Cambrai, was signed. It was, in the main, a recapitu-
lation of the Madrid treaty, save that Burgundy remained
a French province, with the proviso that, if a son should
be born to Francois and Eleanor of Portugal, he should
inherit the duchy, to the prejudice of the elder children
of the King ; and that the young princes were to be
restored to their father on the payment of the 2,000,000
crowns already offered. The Italian allies of France were
abandoned to their fate, Francois excusing his mean
desertion of them by pleading the necessity of his king-
dom and his impatience to deliver his sons from captivity.
Impatient though Francois might be to recover his sons,
nearly a year was to elapse before they were restored to
him. Of the ransom of 2,000,000 crowns, 1,200,000
had, by the terms of the treaty, to be paid before the
young princes would be permitted to touch the soil of
France, and, in the exhausted condition of the kingdom,
the raising of such a sum proved no easy task. The
King demanded an extraordinary aid from the three
Estates of the realm, and the appeal was generously
responded to. Every town in France contributed, Paris
alone giving 400,000 crowns ; the Church, the nobility,
and the gentry contributed largely, while numbers of
persons advanced additional sums on the security of
262
Frangois marries Eleanor of Austria
Treasury bonds a decidedly risky experiment under
the administration of the unscrupulous Du Prat. With
all these contributions, however, there was still a con-
siderable deficit. Francois therefore appealed again to
his nobles, and himself set the example of sending to the
Mint a quantity of gold plate to be melted down and
coined into crowns. The King and Queen of Navarre
did likewise, and the Chancellor, Anne de Montmorency,
Chabot de Brion, and the Cardinal de Tournon, the
High Bailiff of Paris and other notable persons followed
suit. They received an acknowledgment of their gifts,
and it must be recorded to the King's credit that, at a
more prosperous period of his reign, restitution was made
to them. 1
At the beginning of 1530, the Vicomte de Turenne
was despatched to Spain to wed Queen Eleanor on behalf
of Francois. The marriage was celebrated at Toledo on
March 30, and immediately afterwards the Queen set out
for Vittoria, where she was to remain until the arrange-
ments for the liberation of the princes had been com-
pleted, when she was to accompany them to France.
The boys had hoped that they would be at once con-
ducted to Vittoria to join their stepmother ; but they
were kept at Pedraza for some weeks longer, and it was
not until the beginning of June that they reached Vittoria,
under the escort of Don Pedro Hernandez de Velasco,
Constable of Castile.
1 Among the names of those who contributed to the ransom of the
princes, that of Louise of Savoy is missing, although on her death, not
long afterwards, the enormous sum of 1,100,000 crowns, largely the
fruit of her peculations, was found in her private treasury. With
increasing years, Louise had become so miserly that not even to hasten
the liberation of her grandchildren could she bring herself to unloose
her purse-strings.
263
The Pearl of Princesses
Towards the end of April, Anne de Montmorency,
who, after the return of the King from captivity, had
been created Grand Master of France, arrived at Bayonne,
accompanied by the Cardinal de Tournon, to make the
final arrangements for the payment of the ransom and to
receive the Queen and the princes. Here he was joined
by Louis van Praet, who was to represent the Emperor,
and several officials of the Spanish Treasury. A few days
later the French began to deliver the money, which was
packed in sacks of 10,000 crowns each, and conveyed to
the house occupied by Don Alvaro de Lugo, a high
official of the Imperial Treasury, who carefully counted
the contents of each sack as it was brought to him. But
when the money came to be weighed it was discovered
that the coinage had been so debased by the unscrupulous
Du Prat that most of the money was of short weight,
and the French had, in consequence, to find a further
41,000 crowns to make good the deficiency. After this
difficulty had been satisfactorily adjusted, the gold was
packed in boxes of 25,000 crowns each, which were
sealed up by the officials on either side and placed in
a room in Don Alvaro's house, twelve guards being
posted " above, below, and about it."
All these formalities naturally occupied a great deal
of time, and fresh delay was continually being occasioned
by the exasperating punctiliousness of the Spaniards,
which drove Montmorency and Tournon to the point
of distraction. At length, however, it was arranged that
the princes and the money should change hands on the
Bidassoa between Fontarabia and the Andaye, on the
same spot where Francois had been released four years
before, on the morning of July i. Owing to fresh
difficulties between the French and Spanish representa-
264
Liberation of the French Princes
tives, it was not until between five and six o'clock in the
evening that the Queen and the princes arrived on the
southern bank of the river, where the exchange took
place, with very much the same formalities as had been
observed at that of the King, the most minute precautions
being taken on both sides to guard against treachery.
Montmorency and Don Alvaro de Lugo, with the coffers
containing the ransom, embarked in a barge, which was
manned by twelve rowers and a steersman. They were
accompanied by eleven French gentlemen and two pages
of the same height as the Dauphin and the Due
d'Orleans. At precisely the same moment, the Constable
of Castile and Van Praet entered a similar barge, which
was propelled by the same number of oarsmen. The
princes and the pages wore poniards, the gentlemen
both sword and poniard. Both barges then rowed out
to midstream, where a raft had been moored, on which
stood two gentlemen, one French, the other Spanish : the
Spaniard called the Constable, the Frenchman the Grand
Master ; and the two plenipotentiaries mounted the raft
together and passed thus from one barge to the other.
The persons of their respective suites summoned one by
one, a Frenchman and a Spaniard alternately followed,
until the Spanish barge, in which the princes had remained,
was occupied by the French, and that containing the
ransom was filled by Spaniards. Then the barges cast off
from the raft and made for either bank, " the Spaniards
bearing away the gold crowns, and the Grand Master the
treasure of France."
Meanwhile, Queen Eleanor had crossed the river with
her ladies and the Cardinal de Tournon, and, guided
by torchlight, the whole company set out at once for
Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where they arrived at midnight.
265
The Pearl of Princesses
From that town Montmorency despatched a messenger
to Bordeaux to announce the glad tidings to the King
and Louise of Savoy, who were waiting there with the
whole Court ; and on July 3 Francois started to meet his
bride and his sons.
On the 6th, the Queen and the princes, who were
greeted in every town and village through which they
passed with transports of joy, reached Mont-de-Marsan,
where her Majesty was -informed that the king would
meet her that evening at the Convent of Veyrieres, about
four leagues distant. Eleanor reached the rendezvous
at nine o'clock, and was escorted by the Grand Master
and the Spanish Ambassador to the apartment prepared
for her. Francois arrived two hours later, accompanied
by the Cardinal de Lorraine, Chabot de Brion and a few
gentlemen of his Household, and gave the Queen "as good
and honourable a reception as it was possible for a man
enamoured of a lady to do." 1 The Queen then retired
to adorn herself for the nuptial ceremony, which was
performed at two o'clock the following morning, in the
chapel of the convent, by the Cardinal de Tournon,
assisted by the Bishop of Lisieux, the King's almoner.
It had been stipulated by Charles V that his sister's
marriage should be solemnized immediately after her
first interview with the King, which accounts for the
strangeness of the hour selected for the ceremony.
A few days later (July n), the new Queen mad^ her
triumphant entry into Bordeaux, the magnificence of her
attire, we are assured, exceeding anything that had before
been witnessed, and was borne through the gaily-decorated
streets in an open litter, u so that all men might reverently
gaze upon her."
1 Godefroy, Ceremonial fran^ois.
266
An Interesting Event at Blois
The Queen of Navarre had not accompanied Francois
to the South to meet Queen Eleanor and the young
princes. She was again enceinte, and, as the doctors
considered it unsafe for her to undertake so long a
journey, it had been decided that she should remain at
Blois until after her child was born. Her disappoint-
ment was very keen, the more so since it necessitated a
separation of some considerable time from the King of
Navarre, who was, of course, to accompany the Court,
and whose unfortunate sensibility to the charms of the
fair, when his consort's eye did not happen to be upon
him, was already beginning to cause Marguerite many
heart-burnings. "When the King of Navarre arrives,"
she wrote to Montmorency, " I pray you counsel him in
all that he has to do, for we both place perfect confidence
in you. As you are with him, I fear not that everything
will go well ; except that I am afraid you cannot prevent
him from paying assiduous court to the Spanish ladies."
Marguerite solaced the tedium of her residence at
Blois by incessant correspondence with her absent rela-
tives and friends, and by superintending the construction
of the new gardens which the King was having laid out
at immense expense, and in which she took a great
interest. On July 16, to her intense joy, she gave birth
to a son, who was named Jean, after his paternal grand-
father, and was sent to the Chateau of Lonray, about
three miles from Alen^on, to be brought up with his little
sister.
Francois, who was then at Angouleme with his bride,
expressed great delight on learning the news, and lost no
time in despatching a courier to bear his congratulations
to his sister. He also published an edict conferring
upon Marguerite and her husband the privilege of
267
The Pearl of Princesses
creating a freeman in every guild throughout the realm,
" in order to manifest to our very dear and beloved
brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, and to our sister,
his consort, the joy which we feel at the birth of our very
dear and beloved nephew, Jean, Prince of Navarre."
Marguerite's recovery was rapid, and before the end
of August she was able to join the court at Fontainebleau.
Fontainebleau, which, at the beginning of the reign, had
been a mere hunting-box " une dfre solitude " was the
home of Francois's heart, and he was bent on converting
it into a fairy palace, a masterpiece of magnificence. The
splendid gallery known by his name, the Cour Ovale and
the Chateau du Donjon were in progress ; and gardens
were being cut out of the surrounding forest. But, for
the moment, the raising of the young princes' ransom
and the sums expended on Queen Eleanor's reception
had so drained the King's privy purse that, to his
Majesty's intense mortification, the work had been sus-
pended from want of funds. It was not for long,
however, for the suspension of his cherished schemes at
Fontainebleau was a privation altogether beyond Fran-
C/DIS'S fortitude to endure ; and he accordingly gave
orders for a great sale of timber in the forest, to the
amount of 100,000 livres, and, " to the end that no time
may be lost and my buildings may not be retarded," sent
directions to the Provost of Paris and others " to take
counsel together and find some merchant who will ^e
willing, on the faith of my commission authorizing the
sale of timber, to advance a sufficient sum for my said
buildings."
At Fontainebleau, Marguerite renewed the acquaint-
ance begun at Toledo with Queen Eleanor. The new
Queen, though not strictly beautiful, was decidedly pre-
268
The New Queen
possessing, with a high forehead, arched eyebrows, a fresh
complexion, and very white teeth, and, as she was, if
somewhat dull, of a kind and amiable disposition, and
had come to France prepared to love her husband, for
whom she had always felt great sympathy and admira-
tion, there appears to have been no reason why the King,
notwithstanding his infatuation for Anne de Pisseleu,
should not have lived on affectionate terms with her.
Unhappily, the hatred which Francois felt for the
Emperor recoiled on everything that belonged to that
monarch, and caused him to regard his marriage with his
former captor's sister as the most grievous of all the
penalties imposed by the recent treaty. Accordingly,
though he treated his new consort with the most pro-
found respect and surrounded her with all the pomp and
ceremony to which her rank entitled her, he showed her
not a vestige of affection ; and when the poor woman
ventured to manifest some resentment at the attentions
which he paid the reigning sultana, no longer troubled to
conceal his indifference, and seldom saw her except in
the presence of the Court.
Francois might have been more favourably or less
unfavourably disposed towards his Queen, had he not
been so much disturbed by the change in his two sons,
whom Eleanor had brought with her from Spain, which
furnished him with an additional grievance against
Charles V.
Contrary to what he had feared, the health of the
young princes would not appear to have been much
affected by their captivity. The same, however, could
not be said for their characters.
The Dauphin, who was now twelve years old, returned
to France a grave, reserved lad, speaking little, and then
269
The Pearl of Princesses
in slow, measured tones, drinking scarcely anything but
water, wearing only the most sombre clothes, and showing
a regard for the minutiae of etiquette most unusual in so
young a prince in a word, far more of a Spaniard than
a Frenchman.
In the Due d'Orleans his junior by a year and of a
more sensitive nature the change was even more marked.
He had left France a bright, intelligent lad, and Dr.
Taylor, the English Ambassador, who saw him at Amboise
on the eve of his departure for Spain, had praised him
warmly in one of his despatches to Wolsey. He returned
apparently an altogether different being, awkward, taciturn,
morose, unsociable. The poor boy's spirit, in fact, had
been crushed by the dreary existence which had been his
lot for more than four years an existence in which he
had not only been deprived of the affection and sympathy
so necessary for one of his age, but subjected, it is but
too probable, to constant petty humiliations at the hands
of his callous gaolers. So profound was the impression
that his sufferings had left upon him, that in 1542 that
is to say, twelve years after his return from Spain
Matteo Dandolo, the Venetian Ambassador in France,
wrote that few people at the Court could ever remember
to have heard him laugh.
Francois, who was not the kind of man to make
allowance for the shortcomings of others, could not
conceal his displeasure at the change which had fiken
place in his sons, and particularly in the younger. He
might have endeavoured to win the boy's confidence
and affection, and thus gradually to dissipate his melan-
choly humour and persuade him that life held joys as
well as sorrows. But the task was not one which com-
mended itself to his selfish nature ; and so, observing
270
Marguerite loses her Son
that the mark of a true Frenchman was to be always gay
and lively, and that " he did not care for dreamy, sullen,
sleepy children," he left his two elder sons severely alone,
and bestowed all the paternal affection of which he was
capable on their younger brother, the Due d'Angouleme,
a frank, high-spirited boy, now in his ninth year, who
bade fair to become a replica of his father in both
appearance and character.
Towards the end of the autumn, Marguerite received
bad news of the health of her little son, and she and the
King of Navarre quitted the Court for their Chateau of
Alen^on, in order to be near him. They found the poor
child in a very weak state, and, though Marguerite had
him removed from Lonray to Alen^on and placed under
the care of Jehan Goinret, one of the best doctors of the
time, he grew worse and died on Christmas Day, having
lived less than six months. The queen informed the
inhabitants of the town of the loss she had sustained and
of her resignation to the decrees of Providence by causing
placards to be posted in the principal quarters of the
town announcing the sad event, while beneath were the
words: " Dieu fa-volt donnt, Dieu Va ost&l" She then
wrote to inform Francois of his nephew's death.
"As it has pleased God/' she says, " to take to Himself
him whom you acknowledged as your little son, and
whom you honoured so greatly as to rejoice with me at
his birth, I write, in the fear that you and Madame may
be deeply grieved at the sorrowful event, to beseech you
both rather to rejoice at the glory to which he has been
translated than to bewail his departure. If it pleases
God to preserve you both in good health, I will try to
bear all other earthly tribulations patiently ; for, Mon-
seigneur, the King of Navarre and myself are content to
271
The Pearl of Princesses
submit to the will of Him who can, if it pleases Him,
give us many more children to serve you and your
children."
It was a melancholy close of the year for Marguerite,
and the news which she received from Francois that their
mother, who, " with her gout and her accustomed sorrows
seemed to be celebrating unconsciously in her own body
the obsequies of her grandson," did not tend to raise her
spirits. In February 1531, she returned to Court to attend
Queen Eleanor's coronation, which took place at Saint-
Denis on March 5, with all the splendour proper to such
ceremonies. On this occasion the Queen of Navarre
wore " a royal crown, very richly adorned with precious
stones ; a surcoat furred with ermine and ornamented
with costly gems ; and a long royal mantle, lined with
ermine and powdered vt\\h fleurs-de-lis in gold embroidery,
the train of which was carried by the Comtes de Candale
and de Roussy." Marguerite also attended the Queen
on her state entry into Paris a few days later, and at the
grand banquet given by the municipality of Paris to the
Royal Family at the Hotel de Ville, on March 1 9, which
brought the coronation festivities to a close, and at which
the city fathers presented her Majesty with two magni-
ficent candelabra of silver gilt, six feet high, and valued
at the sum of 10,000 livres.
Early in May, Marguerite, whose health since her
little son's death had been very indifferent, was advised
by her physicians to spend some time at Saint-Cloud,
then merely a village, but much frequented by persons
anxious to escape for a season from the narrow streets
and noisome odours of the capital, owing to the purity
of the air and the supposed medicinal qualities of its
water. She was not, however, allowed to remain there
272
Failing Health of Louise of Savoy
long, being summoned to Saint-Germain, where the
Court was then in residence, by a message from her
mother, who was again seriously unwell.
Louise's health had been gradually failing for some
years past, and she suffered intolerable torment from
gout. Her mind, however, remained as clear and ener-
getic as ever, and she continued to take the same active
part in public affairs. Although it was only too clear
that her days were numbered, none of her physicians
dared to tell her the truth, for she had always evinced
a marked dread of death, and bitterly resented any
reference to it, insomuch that more than one divine who
had had the misfortune to make the forbidden subject
the theme of his discourse when preaching before her had
thereby forfeited all chance of preferment. " Preachers,
when they are at a loss what to say in their sermons and
have run the length of their knowledge," she observed
contemptuously on one occasion, " invariably take refuge
in discussing this one everlasting subject of death. As
if one did not know well enough that the fate of all is to
die."
At the beginning of June, Louise, accompanied by
her daughter, removed to Fontainebleau, for which she
shared the King's affection, and which appears to have
agreed with her better than any of the other royal resi-
dences in the neighbourhood of Paris. Here they were
soon joined by the King and Queen, but, finding Madame
in better health and so far recovered as to be able to take
occasional exercise in the gardens, Francois only remained
a few days and then set out for Blois, where the altera-
tions which he was having executed at the chateau required
his attention. Before leaving, he received a promise from
Louise that she would join him as soon as she felt well
273 T
The Pearl of Princesses
enough to make the journey. Mother and son, however,
were never destined to meet again.
Shortly afterwards, the three young princes arrived
from Amboise on a visit to their grandmother, who, since
the King's departure, had been in a very depressed state,
as she appears to have had a secret presentiment that
she had taken her last farewell of her idolized son. Their
visit had a cheering effect upon the spirits of Louise,
who was much attached to the boys, and Marguerite
hastened to communicate her delight at this welcome
result to Francois :
4< MONSEIGNEUR, I have not feared to trouble you
with this letter, in order to report the improvement in
the health of Madame^ which has failed her gravely
since your departure, until this afternoon, when she
received a visit from three little doctors, who speedily
made her forget her pain. I assure you it is
impossible she could have derived greater benefit than
she has done from this visit. The princes, however,
were very sorrowful and discontented when they learned
of your departure ; for M. d'Angouleme had made up
his mind that, if he could only see you again, never to
loose your hand ; for he says that, even if you go to
hunt the wild boar, he knows that you will take good
care that nothing hurts him. Believe me, Monseigneur,
that Madame^ while listening to this and other discourses,
could not refrain from shedding abunuance of tears,
which have done her great good ; for you know the
saying :
Qui pleur larmes par amour,
N'en sent jamais mal ny douleur.
I close my letter by assuring you of the good healtl
of the princes, which I beg that God may speedil]
274
Louise's Last Journey
restore to you. Monseigneur d'Aire 1 has given me
ample assurance that they are healthy, and under good
treatment, as I hope you will soon be able to judge
for yourself. I beseech you, Monseigneur, always to
retain in your gracious favour
" Your very humble and very obedient subject and
mignonne,
" MARGUERITE."
The improvement in Louise's health was not main-
tained ; and, instead of being able to rejoin the
King at Blois, she remained at Fontainebleau until the
middle of September, when, owing to an outbreak of
plague in the neighbourhood, of such severity that
Marguerite declares, in a letter to Montmorency, that
" she dared not write either to the King or the Queen,
and scarcely to him, from fear that her letter should
convey the infection," it was considered no longer safe
for her to remain there. Being unwilling apparently to
approach the Court after residence in an infected district,
Madame expressed a desire to visit her chateau of
Romorantin, which had been the scene of some of the
happiest hours of her youth ; and she and her daughter
set out for Berry.
Louise travelled in a litter, and bore the journey much
better than had been anticipated, until they arrived at
Gres-en-Gatinais, where it had been decided that she
should rest for a few days. Brantome relates that, during
the night following her arrival, her room was suddenly
illuminated by a bright light. Summoning her attendants,
she inquired why they had kindled so large a fire, as
the weather was still very warm. They replied that they
1 Sub-preceptor to the Dauphin and his brothers.
275
The Pearl of Princesses
had not done so, and that it was the moon which she<
the brilliant light. Louise, remarking that the moon
was on the wane, rose from her bed and went to the
window, when she perceived that the light proceeded
from an immense comet burning in the heavens. Always
very superstitious, she was overcome with alarm, being
convinced that it portended that her death was at hand.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, when she returned to her bed,
u that is a sign which is not intended to warn people
of lowly condition ; God sends it to admonish the great
ones of the earth. It announces my speedy departure
from this world ; I must prepare myself, therefore, for
death ! "
Next morning, she sent for her director, a Franciscan
monk, and, having confessed, requested him to celebrate
Mass without delay. In vain the physicians sought to
reassure her, declaring that, in their opinion, there was
no immediate cause for alarm, as she was no worse
than she had been for some time past. She persisted
in her belief that her end was close at hand, and in her
weak state this conviction served to verify her words.
Towards evening she became very ill, and the last
Sacraments were administered ; and early in the afternoon
of the following day (September 22, 1531), she expired,
so calmly, we are told, that Marguerite, who was watch-
ing beside her, was unaware of the precise moment of
her death.
Louise of Savoy is, in many respects, a repulsive
character, but her faults and her vices did not prevent
her being sincerely beloved by her children, and her
devotion to them certainly merited their gratitude and
affection. If she had often abused the confidence which
Francois reposed in her, and used it for the furtherance
276
Death of Louise
of her own unworthy ends, she had, on the whole, shown
herself a shrewd and sagacious counsellor, and her con-
duct of affairs both at home and abroad during the
King's captivity, and, in particular, the successful intrigues
which she pursued with the Italian States, proved her
to have been a woman of real ability. Her death,
therefore, little as it was deplored except by her children,
must be regarded as a distinct loss to France ; and,
had her life been prolonged, it is possible that she
would have saved the kingdom from some of the
disasters which marked the latter part of her son's
reign.
The mortal remains of Louise of Savoy were embalmed
and conveyed to Saint-Denis, where they were interred
in the family mausoleum which Francois had erected
there. Her heart, enclosed within a leaden casket, was
buried at the foot of the high altar at Notre-Dame. A
brass plate covered the tomb, on which were engraven
the Arms of France and Savoy, while beneath was a
heart surmounted by a crown and the following
inscription
Cor magnorum opifex, Francum quae viscera Regem
Portavere hie sunt, spiritus in superis.
277
CHAPTER XXII
TOWARDS the close of the autumn of that year, the
King and Queen of Navarre set out for Beam. Al-
though, at the time of their marriage, Francois had
promised to do everything in his power to restore
Spanish Navarre to the House of Albret, he had shown
not the smallest anxiety to fulfil this engagement, and,
since the Treaty of Cambrai, in which Henri's claims
were ignored, the draft of an agreement, never, however,
executed, had fallen into the young king's hands, from
which it would appear that Francois had been prepared to
pledge himself cc neither to aid nor to favour the King of
Navarre in his designs for the recovery of his kingdom,"
Incensed by this evidence of his brother-in-law's bad
faith, and in the belief that it was due to the counsels
of Montmorency, Henri d' Albret allowed himself to be
drawn into the rivalry between the Grand Master and
Chabot de Brion, which then divided the Court, and
supported the latter with more warmth than prudence.
Montmorency was not the kind of man to pardon such
interference, and, thanks to his insinuations, Francois
began to treat his relative with some coldness. Nor
were matters improved by the zeal with which Marguerite
espoused her husband's cause, since Francois, so long
accustomed to a monopoly of his sister's devotion, had
begun to conceive no little jealousy of the King of
Navarre, and sometimes showed himself angrily im-
patient of the deference which she paid the latter.
Henri d' Albret had therefore resolved to withdraw for a
278
Francois I and Jeanne d'Albret
time to his own little kingdom, and to take his wife with
him.
Marguerite departed with reluctance, and this reluctance
was much increased by the fact that Francois had insisted
that her little daughter Jeanne should remain under his
guardianship, instead of accompanying her parents. The
little princess, a lively and intelligent child, whose features
already bore a striking resemblance to those of her
mother, was a great favourite of the King, who treated
her like one of his own children. But the motive which
rendered him unwilling to allow her to quit his dominions
was a political one.
In default of another son being born to the King and
Queen of Navarre, Jeanne would inherit Beam and her
father's other possessions in the South of France ; and a
rumour had reached his ears that Charles V had opened
secret negotiations with Henri d'Albret for the future
marriage of the little princess with his eldest son Philip,
and had accompanied this proposal by the most tempting
offers. It was further reported that the Emperor had
stipulated that the young heiress of Navarre should be
sent to Spain, that she might be educated with her future
husband at Toledo. Marguerite, when approached by
Francois on the subject, had denied emphatically that any
such negotiations were in progress ; but, though the King
readily acquitted his sister of participation in a scheme
which would establish the House of Hapsburg on the
soil of France, she failed to allay his suspicions concerning
her husband, who, he was aware, had been deeply morti-
fied that his interests had been ignored at Cambrai.
Accordingly, he determined to assure himself against all
risk of such a contingency by retaining his niece in his
own custody ; and, when the King of Navarre began to
279
The Pearl of Princesses
raise objections, promptly decided the matter, by formally
assigning to the little princess and her household the
royal chateau of Plessis-les-Tours as a residence.
On her arrival at Nerac, the Queen of Navarre was
met by a little band of Reformers to whom she had lately
offered an asylum in her husband's dominions, headed by
Lefevre d'Etaples and Gerard Roussel. After the King's
return from captivity, Lefevre had, thanks to Marguerite's
good offices, been appointed King's librarian at Blois,
which was soon followed by his nomination to the post of
preceptor to the little Due d'Angouleme. Francois held
Lefevre in high esteem, and had on more than one
occasion offered him a bishopric ; but, aware that his
religious views would be sure to render him a mark for
the enmity of the Universities, he had always declined
episcopal honours. But neither his refusal of preferment
nor his patriarchal age he was now in his eighty-eighth
year sufficed to save him from further persecution ; and,
at the beginning of 1533, proceedings were instituted, in
accordance with the decrees of the Council, to revive the
process for heresy against him, which the intervention of
the King had caused to be suspended. Warned by some
of his friends of what was in contemplation, Lefevre
appealed to the Queen of Navarre, who at once responded
by offering him an asylum at Nerac, and, moreover, con-
trived to secure his removal thither without exciting the
suspicion of his enemies, by representing that he was in
indifferent health and desired permission to absent him-
self for a while from his duties at Blois, " in order to
visit a friend for change of air." At Nerac, the good old
man passed the remainder of his days in the peace and
security denied him elsewhere.
280
JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN OF NAVARRE.
" La Messe a Sept Points "
Upon Roussel Marguerite had already bestowed the
abbey of Clairac, in the Agenois, and she now appointed
him one of her chaplains-in-ordinary. She also authorized
him to use in the royal chapels of Pau and Nerac a missal
in French, in which all allusion to the Virgin and the
saints had been suppressed, and which was soon in
general use in Beam. But she went much farther than
that, for, by her permission, the more advanced of the
Reformers of Beam met frequently, at first in an under-
ground apartment beneath the chateau of Pau, afterwards
in one of the secret chambers belonging to the Mint, to
celebrate the heterodox "Messe a sept points " or "Messe a
deux especes" No elevation of the Host, or adoration of
the Species was allowed ; no commemoration of the Virgin
and the saints ; and the officiating priest was not obliged
to be celibate. He wore lay dress, took a common loaf,
ate of it and gave it to the congregation, who all together
communicated in both Species at once. These assemblies
were held in profound secrecy, after nightfall. Mar-
guerite, accompanied by those of her Court who inclined
to the Reformed faith, often attended and received the
Sacrament in both kinds.
The attitude of the King of Navarre towards these
innovations seems to have varied. Always strongly
opposed to religious persecution, he had readily opened
the portals of his kingdom to his wife's proteges, and had
sometimes been present at the sermons preached privately
by one or other of them in the Queen's apartments. He
is even said to have been induced by Marguerite to
attend the secret celebrations of the "Messe a sept points"
during the winter of 1532-3. Catholic historians of
those times, however, deny that he was ever actually per-
suaded to countenance heresy, and assert that he became
281
The Pearl of Princesses
ere long decidedly uneasy at the lengths to which his con-
sort's sympathy for the Reformers was carrying her. The
story runs that, on one occasion, being informed that the
Queen was in her apartments, listening to the exhorta-
tions of a certain divine of the most pronounced Lutheran
views, he proceeded thither, with the intention of chas-
tising the reverend gentleman for his presumption.
Warned in time, however, the latter had prudently taken
to flight, and he found Marguerite alone. Angry at
being foiled in his design, he vented his indignation on
her, and dealt her a sound box on the ear, exclaiming :
" Madame, you want to know too much ! " Not content
with this, he forthwith despatched a courier to his royal
brother-in-law, requesting him to interpose his authority
to check her Majesty's heretical proclivities ; while Mar-
guerite entrusted the same messenger with a letter to
Francois, in which she complained bitterly of the affront
she had received and appealed to him for redress and
protection. Francois, as might be expected, warmly
espoused his sister's cause, and threatened the King of
Navarre with his severe displeasure, if he ever again
forgot the respect due to his consort.
There is probably little or no truth in this story, for
Henri d'Albret was far too chivalrous a prince to treat
his consort in such a manner, even if she 'had not been
the sister of his suzerain ; while Marguerite was too
proud a woman to refer domestic disputes to her
brother's arbitration. Moreover, the King of Navarre
was aware that Francois had been most reluctant to
allow Marguerite to leave his Court, and that the mere
suspicion that she was being subjected to insult would
have furnished him with a pretext for insisting on her
taking up her residence there permanently. In point
282
Marguerite and her Husband
of fact, Henri, although he may not have altogether
approved of the encouragement given by his wife to
the sectarians to propagate their doctrines, allowed her
to do pretty much as she pleased, and refused to circum-
scribe the activities of the Reformers, notwithstanding
repeated protests from the bishops of Beam. He was,
indeed, believed to share their views, and to have com-
municated according to their rites, and the Cardinal de
Gramont and the Bishop of Rhodez took the extreme
step of travelling to Paris to lay a formal complaint before
the Council and the Parlement^ declaring that this was
the only course left to them to save the true faith from
extinction in the dominions of the King of Navarre.
Before betaking themselves for the winter to their
picturesque chateau of Pau, the King and Queen of
Navarre made a kind of royal progress through a part
of their States. They were already estranged at heart,
these two, for it was becoming daily more evident that
Henri was weary of fidelity to a consort eleven years
his senior, and, though Marguerite could scarcely have
expected anything else, she did not perhaps accept the
inevitable with as much philosophy as she might have
shown. Moreover, though intensely proud of his
brilliant wife, the King was not a little jealous of her
intellectual superiority. They had, however, one great
interest in common, the desire to improve their princi-
pality of Beam, and during this journey they appear
to have decided upon more than one beneficent scheme
for promoting the prosperity of their subjects. The
country, though fertile and productive enough, had
hitherto remained almost uncultivated, through the
ignorance and neglect of the inhabitants, who knew
283
The Pearl of Princesses
little or nothing of agriculture and preferred hunting
or the rearing of sheep and cattle to tilling the soil.
Under the wise administration of Henri and Marguerite
the aspect of the country was soon changed for the better.
Engineers and skilled agriculturists were introduced,
and the sandy Landes were drained and cultivated, and
planted with vineyards and cork-oak woods. A large
cloth manufactory was established at Nai, and the Bearnais
were taught how to weave the fine wool of the Pyrennean
sheep. The criminal code of the principality, which had
been administered in a very lax manner, with the result
that robbery and sanguinary brawls were of frequent
occurrence, was reformed, and life and property rendered
secure by a vigorous and, at the same time, strictly
impartial execution of justice. For Henri d'Albret
piqued himself on the fact that, in his dominions, the
nobleman who had offended against his laws was punished
with the same severity as the peasant, and neither the
high rank of the guilty nor the most influential inter-
cession on his behalf was permitted to interfere with
the course of justice. Olhagaray relates that, one Good
Friday, the Bishop of Lescar, Jacques de Foix, came
to intercede with the King for the life of a certain
gentleman, a near relation of his own, and implored him
to perform this act of clemency for the honour of our
Lord, who on that day suffered a cruel death to save
sinners. Henri heard him to the end without interrup-
tion, and then replied : " My cousin, God has commanded
us to administer justice by punishing the wicked. He
would be dishonoured, and not honoured, if, at your
solicitation, I abetted the evil-doer, instead of obeying
this righteous command. I purpose, therefore, by suffer-
ing justice to take its course, and by consigning the
284
Marguerite's Life in B6arn
guilty to the punishment that he has deserved, to offer
to God the only honour worthy of His acceptance."
Henri d'Albret also devoted himself to strengthening
the defences of his little kingdom and fortified several of
the towns. Navarreins, commanding the valley of the
Gave of Oloron, was virtually rebuilt by him, and trans-
formed into a formidable stronghold, as was proved during
the Wars of Religion, when it successfully withstood a
siege by a considerable Catholic army. Long afterwards,
when Vauban inaugurated his new style of fortification, he
was so impressed by the strength of the ramparts which
Marguerite's husband had raised that he left them
almost untouched, and contented himself with adding
to them and making a few improvements. The King
of Navarre was anxious to refortify Sauveterre, which
had been taken by a Spanish army in 1523, when the
old castle of Montreal, then the strongest citadel in
B6arn, had been half demolished ; but, as time and
money were lacking, he was reluctantly obliged to
abandon his plans ; and the ruins left by the Imperialists,
the ivy-clad keep and the mutilated bridge over the
Gave soon fell into irremediable decay.
Marguerite, who had now mastered the dialect of the
country, soon became immensely popular in Beam. She
was accessible to every one who had any request to make
of her, and, when receiving placets, it was her custom, if
time permitted, to read them herself in the presence of
the petitioners, that she might question them upon the
matter if she considered it necessary. She then handed
the petition to an officer of her Household, declaring her
pleasure thereon, and gave orders that it was to be exe-
cuted with as little delay as possible. She liked walking
almost alone in the streets of Pau and Nerac, that poor
285
The Pearl of Princesses
people might approach her the more easily and talk
frankly to her. "To see her you would never have
thought she was a queen, for she went about like a
simple demoiselle." " No one," she said, " ought to go
away sad or disappointed from the presence of a prince,
for kings were the ministers of the poor, not their mas-
ters ; and the poor were the members of God." She
would like to be the servant of all who served the body,
and the Prime Minister of the Poor was the title she
gave herself. Her charity was boundless, far, indeed, in
excess of her revenues ; nor was she content to leave her
bounty to be distributed by her almoners, but, when any
circumstance of peculiar distress had been reported to her,
went to visit the sufferers and inquired herself into the
particulars of the case. Frequently, she sent her own
physicians to visit the sick, and brought them money and
necessaries with her own hands.
At the Court of France, the most magnificent in
Europe, Marguerite dressed with all the sumptuousness
that was naturally expected of the King's sister and
shared in all its costly pleasures. But in Beam, the
revenues of which did not admit of a luxurious mode
of life, she adopted great simplicity in her habits and
attire. Her dress was of plain black velvet : from the
skirt, half-hidden by the long cloak, to the cornette, or
square hood, coming low down on the forehead. She
wore no jewels or trimming ; but her high collar was
lined with martens' fur and fastened by pins in the front.
As sister of the King of France, she was obliged to keep
up a certain state, and the number of attendants con-
sidered indispensable was out of all proportion to the
size of her husband's little kingdom. She had ten mai-
trcs cThotel, twenty valets de chambre, seventeen secretaries,
286
Marguerite's Life in B6arn
four doctors, two chamberlains, a chancellor, and twenty-
eight ladies, besides councillors and notaries. She allowed
the men and women of her suite twenty-five crowns a
year for their dress, giving, however, more to -the slovenly
and ungainly, because, as she once explained, they needed
more clothes to make them look well, and she liked to
see comely people about her person. She also kept up
the princely tradition of providing her demoiselles with
trousseaux, though they appear to have been very modest
ones : eight ells of black velvet, eight of black satin, a
cloak lined with lamb's wool, and thirty francs for the
purchase of a mule. She dined daily au grand couvert,
but in a very frugal manner. Two tables were laid.
At the upper table the Queen dined alone, served by
her officers ; the second was reserved for strangers whom
she had honoured by an invitation to dinner, and was
presided over by her dame d 1 honneur. When Marguerite
wished to show a visitor a special mark of attention, she
sent him some dish from her own table.
Affairs of State, study, correspondence, religious exer-
cises, and works of charity occupied most of her time.
The King of Navarre consulted her in regard to all his
plans for the welfare of his people, and during his frequent
absences the entire administration remained in her hands.
Certain hours of each day were set apart for theological
studies, during which she conferred with leading divines,
both Reformers and orthodox. A part of every afternoon
was devoted to embroidery with her ladies, but, since this
was a task which only required a small part of her atten-
tion, she carried on some other occupation simultaneously.
"When she occupied herself in tapestry or in other needle-
work," writes Sainte-Marthe, " she always employed a
person to read to her the work of some historian, poet,
287
The Pearl of Princesses
or notable author ; or she dictated some meditation,
which was immediately taken down in writing. I will
recount another habit of hers that may possibly surprise
many to hear of, but which is, nevertheless, most true,
and that might be confirmed, were it deemed necessary,
by the united testimony of many great and honourable
personages, who, with myself, have often witnessed it
that, while she diligently worked with her needle, she
had two secretaries employed about her chair, one in
taking down French verse, which she composed very
rapidly and with admirable erudition and facility ; the
other in writing letters at her dictation to despatch to
her numerous friends."
Early in the winter of 1532-3, Marguerite returned
to Paris, where the Court was then residing. She had
been separated from her brother for more than a year,
and he was impatient to see her again. Shortly after her
return, a long, mystical poem of hers, entitled le Miroir
de r Ame pecheresse, first published at Alenc^on in 1531,*
was reissued by one Augereau, a bookseller of the capi-
tal. The poem bore as its motto the words, Cor mundum
crea in me Deus a prayer constantly on Marguerite's lips
and the author's doubts and fears, anxieties and aspira-
1 Le Miroir de FAme pecheresse en quel elle recongnoist ses faultes ft
pcckex, aussi ses graces et benefices a elle faitez par Jem Christ, son espoux.
La Marguerite tres noble et precieuse, s'est propesee a ceulx qui de bon cueur la
cerchoient. A Alenfon, chez maistre Simon du Bois, MDXXXL In 1541
this poem was translated into English by Queen Elizabeth, under the
following title : "A godly medytacyon of the Christen sowle, compiled
in French by Lady Margarete, Quene of Navarre, and aptely translated
into English by the right vertuose lady Elizabeth, daughter to our late
sovereyne, King Henry the VIII. Imprimed in the year of our Lorde,
1548, in Apryll." A copy, bound in blue and gold, is preserved in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford.
288
" Le Miroir de PAme Pecheresse v
tions, were all revealed in rhyming decasyllabics. In
this mist of nebulous piety it would be no easy task to
name precisely any error of commission ; but keen-
scented u smellers-out " of heretics had no difficulty in
fastening upon several of omission. There was, for in-
stance, no mention either of the saints or of Purgatory ;
while the prayer to the Virgin, the Salve Regina, was
paraphrased in honour of our Lord. The Sorbonne,
long exasperated against the King's sister on account of
her consistent protection of the Reformers, perceived
their opportunity and resolved to seize it.
It was the practice of the Faculty of Theology to
appoint Commissioners to examine and report upon new
books before they were admitted to the University library,
that is to say, upon all new publications, since authors were
obliged to send a copy of their works to the Sorbonne ;
and this, together with the fact that le Miroir was pub-
lished anonymously, though its authorship was an open
secret, afforded the champions of orthodoxy the means of
affixing the stigma of heresy to Marguerite's writings,
without the necessity of venturing upon a direct attack.
In due course, the poem in question came under the
inspection of the Commissioners, of whom Beda was one,
and, after a pretence of examining it, since they were
already well acquainted with its contents, they, with one
voice, condemned it as heretical, and ordered it to be
placed on the Index Expurgatorius of the Sorbonne,
feigning ignorance of its authorship. The following day,
in accordance with the report of the Commissioners, a list
of the condemned works was published, amongst which
figured le Miroir de V Ame pecheresse.
By feigning ignorance of the authorship of the poem, the
crafty theologians believed they had secured themselves
289 u
The Pearl of Princesses
against the resentment with which the King would be
sure to visit an open accusation of heresy against his
sister ; but Francois, who had little love for the zealots of
the Sorbonne, was not deceived, and his wrath was extreme.
Summoning the Rector of the University, Nicholas Cop,
he demanded the names of the theologians upon whose
representations the Queen of Navarre's poem had been
condemned. Cop, himself in secret a sympathizer with
the Reformers, replied, quite truly, that he had had
nothing to do with the matter and was ignorant of the
parties concerned, upon which his Majesty ordered him
to institute a searching investigation of the affair, and to
report in person to the Council on the following day.
He then sent for his confessor, Guillaume Petit, Bishop
of Senlis, and instructed him to undertake the defence of
his sister's poem before the University and to prove its
orthodoxy. This the bishop did con amore, and concluded
a long and erudite harangue by informing the assembled
theologians that it was the King's will that an immediate
revocation of their censure on le Miroir de T Ame pecheresse
should be promulgated. To this they were, of course,
obliged to consent, and, since the turbulent Beda, who
had been the prime instigator of their action, was already
in such bad odour with the King that it was felt that it
would be dangerous for him to admit the part he had
played, a comparatively innocuous personage, the cure
of Saint-Andre-des-Arts, was persuaded to shield him,
and to declare that it was he who had first denounced
le Miroir to the Commissioners. The condemnation was
then formally revoked, and Cop was requested to infon
the King that the book had been inadvertently includec
in the list of prohibited works by the cure of Saint-Andre,
not, however, for its heretical tendencies, but because il
290
An Outrageous Affront
had been published without the approbation of the Faculty
of Theology as required by law.
Marguerite had triumphed ; but the bigots were by
no means silenced. A few weeks later, the professors
and students of the college of the Navarrene Fathers
at Paris, indignant at the humiliation inflicted on the
Sorbonne, and resolved to show that their college, despite
its appellation, was not in any way implicated in the
heresy of the Queen of Navarre, composed an allegorical
play, which was publicly performed by four professors
and several scholars in the great hall of the college.
In the first act, Marguerite is represented sitting at her
spinning-wheel ; a hideous Fury enters carrying a French
translation of the Gospels, and the Queen drops her
spindle in order to receive it. Then, after a good deal
of dialogue between the various dramatis ^ersonce^ full of
insolent allusions to the Reformers and their patroness,
the play concludes with the transformation of Marguerite
herself into a Fury and her departure for the infernal
regions.
This outrageous attack upon the Queen of Navarre
aroused widespread indignation, and even the persecuting
Du Prat counselled the King to visit the offenders
with condign punishment. Francois, beside himself with
wrath at the insult to his sister and to his own dignity,
needed no incitement to take vengeance upon these
insolent churchmen ; and the Council forthwith issued
a warrant directing the Provost of Paris to proceed to
the College de Navarre and arrest the author and all
concerned in the production of the play. The college
authorities, however, having received warning of what
was intended, prepared to resist ; and when the Provost,
accompanied by a detachment of archers, arrived, he
291
The Pearl of Princesses
found students and professors drawn up in battle-array,
with their principal in his academic robes at their head,
and was received with a volley of stones. The Provost
sent for reinforcements, and, after a desperate struggle,
the scholars tearing up their forms and desks to serve
as weapons, the forces of the Law prevailed over those
of the Church, and the latter surrendered. An inquiry
was then held, though it failed to reveal the name of
the author of the play, and, after the actors had been
compelled to repeat their parts, they were marched off
to the Conciergerie, together with their principal. That
it would have gone hardly with them but for the inter-
cession of the victim of their indecent buffoonery cannot
be doubted, since they had outraged the King, not only
in his affections, but in his royal dignity ; and that was
an offence which Francois never forgave. Marguerite,
however, with real magnanimity, besought her brother
to pardon them, even, it is said, on her knees, and very
reluctantly the King consented. Accordingly, after being
kept in prison for a while that they might have leisure
to repent of their audacity, the culprits were set at
liberty, with a severe admonition as to the terrible things
that would befall them if they offended again. Never-
theless, the King was determined to make an example
of some one, and, being suspicious either that the play
had been performed at the instigation of Beda, or that
he was actually the author of it, he exiled the combative
syndic for two years.
Neither admiration for Marguerite's magnanimity noi
dread of the King's resentment served to protect the
Queen of Navarre from further attacks. The monks
were particularly incensed against her, owing to the
merciless manner in which, in her writings, she hac
292
Marguerite and the Franciscans
ridiculed their ignorance and exposed the shocking
depravity then so common among them ; and in an
assembly held at Issoudun to devise measures for the
more effectual suppression of heresy, the prior of the
Franciscan monastery in that town the Order of St.
Francis was the favourite butt of Marguerite's satire
delivered a most violent harangue, in which he de-
clared that, if this patroness of heretics had her deserts,
she would be seized, tied up in a sack, and drowned in
the Seine. No sooner were these words reported to
the King than, in furious wrath, he sent orders to the
authorities of Issoudun to arrest this insolent fanatic,
vowing that he should suffer the same punishment as
he had declared his sister to be worthy of. The monks,
however, stirred up a riot among the populace, over
whom they possessed great influence, and it was only
with the greatest difficulty that the prior was eventually
laid by the heels. Nor did the trouble end there, for,
a few days later, the officer who had succeeded in
executing the warrant was murdered, and his body
dragged through the streets by the infuriated rabble.
Notwithstanding this aggravation of the original offence,
the prior escaped with his life, for once more the kind-
hearted Queen of Navarre intervened between her
enemies and her brother's vengeance. He was not
allowed to go scot-free, however, being degraded from
his ecclesiastical dignities and condemned to two years
in the galleys.
293
CHAPTER XXIII
To Francois I, the Peace of Cambrai was merely a
truce to enable his exhausted kingdom to gather strength
for fresh exertions ; he had no thought of abiding by
it for a moment longer than it suited his convenience.
For Francois's passion for Italy was the scourge of his
reign ; it was the passion of a lover for a beautiful and
capricious mistress, and the rebuffs which he had sustained
only made him the more eager to prosecute his suit.
And so, scarcely was the ink dry upon the parchment
of the treaty than he was planning new combinations,
with the ultimate object of once more gaining a footing
in that fatal land which had already proved the grave of
so many French armies.
Although the Papacy was not strong enough to unite
Italy in opposition to foreign influence, it was, never-
theless, the pivot of the Italian political system, since it
wielded a great influence, and could always foment a
formidable opposition to any prince who aimed at the
domination of the peninsula. Francois, therefore, deter-
mined to leave no stone unturned to detach, this time
definitely, the scheming, shifty Pontiff from the Emperor,
and after long and tortuous negotiations a marriage was
arranged between his second son, the Due d'Orleans, and
Catherine de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo" de' Medici
Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne,
and a cousin a la mode de Eretagne of Clement VII, though
he called her his niece. The marriage took place at Mar-
seilles on October 28, 1533, with great magnificence, and
294
Isabeau d'Albret
Francois promised himself great advantages from this
close connexion with Clement, who had brought his
niece to France and with whom he had numerous con-
ferences. Unfortunately for him, the Pope did not live
long enough to be able to fulfil his engagements, as in
September of the following year his career of duplicity
and prevarication was cut short by death. Consequently,
Francois gained nothing by the marriage which he had
been at such pains to bring about, not even the whole of
Catherine's dowry, which was being paid by instalments,
as the new Pontiff", Paul III, naturally refused to be
bound by the obligations of his predecessor.
During the early months of 1 534 the Queen of Navarre
was engaged in negotiating a marriage between her sister-
in-law, Isabeau d'Albret, the young lady whose charms
have been immortalized by Clement Marot, and Rene,
Vicomte d6 Rohan, a Breton noble of illustrious birth,
but impoverished fortunes, upon whom she had set her
affections. Francois, whose adopted daughter Isabeau
was, at first strongly opposed the project, pointing out
that the princess ought to look far higher for a husband,
as her hand had already been demanded in marriage by
more than one prince, though, for political reasons, their
proposals had not been accepted, and that M. de Rohan
was not only poor, but endowed with very extravagant
tastes. Eventually, however, Marguerite succeeded in
overcoming his objections, and in the following summer
she set out for Brittany, to negotiate Isabeau's marriage-
contract with the Rohans and to be present at the wedding.
While in Brittany, Marguerite was for a short while
the guest of her brother's former inamorata, Madame de
Chateaubriand, after which she proceeded to Alen^on,
295
The Pearl of Princesses
where she remained for some time. On the way
thither she had an interview with the King at Rouen,
in which she urged him to invite Melanchthon, the most
moderate and persuasive of all the Reformers, to Paris,
and offer him a professor's chair at the University, in
order that he might confer with the theologians of France
on the causes which had brought about the deplorable
schism in the Church, and endeavour to arrive at some
compromise acceptable to both parties. The Duchesse
d'Etampes, whose good offices the Queen of Navarre had
taken the precaution to enlist, supported her ; and the
two ladies represented to the King the advantages which
he would derive in his struggle with the Emperor by
acquiring the goodwill of the German Protestants.
Francois, much impressed by this argument, promised
to give the matter serious consideration, and shortly
afterwards offered Melanchthon, through the Archbishop
of Senlis, a professorship in the University of Paris and
a generous pension. Melanchthon replied thanking the
King for his bounty, adding, however, that he could not
leave the dominions of the Elector of Saxony without that
prince's permission ; and Francois therefore instructed
Guillaume du Bellay, his Ambassador to the confederated
princes of Germany, to approach the Elector on the sub-
ject. The latter readily gave his assent to Melanchthon 's
departure, predicting that his arrival in France would be
followed by the speedy conversion of the whole nation to
the Protestant creed ; and everything seemed to favour
Marguerite's schemes, when, at the request of Luther,
Melanchthon decided to postpone his journey for a few
weeks, in order to complete an important theological
treatise against the Anabaptists, upon which he was then
engaged. In explaining the cause of the delay to the King,
296
Melanchthon invited to Paris
he sent a treatise embodying his views on reform, for
Francis to submit to the Sorbonne. Melanchthon's trea-
tise was condemned in the most sweeping terms by the
University, and almost with one voice the cardinals and
bishops protested against the proposal to invite this dan-
gerous heretic to Paris. The King, prompted by Mar-
guerite, refused to withdraw his invitation to the German
Reformer, observing that, " in his opinion, he was profit-
ably serving both God and man, by seeking, through the
medium of conciliation, to heal the divisions in the Church."
But this pronouncement served only to intensify the
bitterness of the opposition. The bigoted Cardinal de
Tournon, who dreaded lest Melanchthon, aided by the
influence of the Queen of Navarre and the kind-hearted
and tolerant Archbishop of Senlis, should prevail upon
the King to repeal the edicts against heresy, was particu-
larly bold in giving expression to his views. One morning
he appeared at the King's lever, ostentatiously carrying a
pretty and richly-bound volume. Francois inquired the
title of the book. u It is a volume of the works of
St. Irenaeus," replied the cardinal. " I have just come
upon the passage wherein this holy father relates that
St. John, having unwittingly entered a public bath in
company with the heretic Cerinthus, quitted it on the
instant, refusing to remain longer in a place defiled by
the presence of that blasphemer. Yet you, Sire, you are
bold enough to invite Melanchthon into the heart of your
dominions ; you fear not the power of the deadly poison
of heresy which he diffuses with such subtle skill. It
would appear, therefore, that your Majesty feels greater
strength to resist temptation than the beloved disciple of
Christ ! " The King, we are told, vouchsafed no reply to
this reproof, but shortly afterwards left Paris for Blois,
297
The Pearl of Princesses
presumably to be out of the way of further episcopal
remonstrances.
The Queen of Navarre, undeterred by the indignation
which her project of bringing Melanchthon to Paris was
arousing, or by the scarcely-veiled attacks which were
continually being made upon her by the more fanatical
preachers of the capital, solicited a licence from the King
to enable Gerard Roussel and two Augustinian monks of
decidedly heterodox views, named Berthaut and Courant,
to preach in Paris, with the idea of preparing the way for
Melanchthon's mission. This request was accorded by the
King, and the singular spectacle was presented of eccle-
siastics who only in name retained their obedience to the
Holy See preaching publicly under royal protection, while,
at the same time, the edicts for the suppression of heresy
were being rigorously enforced against those who held
less advanced opinions. Nothing could have been more
calculated to exasperate the champions of orthodoxy, and
the appearance of Roussel and the two monks in the
pulpit was the signal for turbulent scenes.
While matters were in this state, an event occurred,
whether the work of the fanatical element among the
Protestants or of unscrupulous Catholics it is impossible
to decide, which placed the Reformers hopelessly in the
wrong, exasperated their enemies to the point of frenzy,
and dissipated all hopes of the compromise between the'
rival parties for which the Queen of Navarre was
striving.
On the night of October 18-19, 1534, the doors of all
the public buildings and churches in Paris were covered
with placards, assailing in the grossest terms the mysteries
of the Catholic faith, and repudiating the Mass, the Host,
the Prayers for the Dead : in a word, whatever was held
298
The Affair of the Placards
most mystical and most sacred. The movement appeared
to be simultaneous throughout France. In every large
town throughout the realm similar placards appeared,
and at Blois, where the King was then in residence, they
were affixed to the gates of the chateau.
One universal cry of horror and indignation resounded
throughout France ; the Sorbonne clamoured for a general
auto-da-fe of heretics as the only means of expiating
so unspeakable an outrage, and even ardent Reformers
bowed their heads in shame and sorrow at the abominable
and blasphemous manner in which the most sacred subjects
were treated.
The composition of these placards was ascribed to Farel,
and they were supposed to have been printed at Neuf-
chatel, where he had taken refuge. But the Protestants
denied most strenuously that they had been either com-
posed or affixed by persons of their communion, and
declared that they were the outcome of a dastardly con-
spiracy on the part of the Sorbonne and the Cardinal de
Tournon to arouse the resentment of the King against
the Reformers and counteract the efforts of the Queen of
Navarre in favour of toleration. Such undoubtedly was
the view of Marguerite herself, who, in a letter to her
brother some years later, reminds him of <c the opinions
that she formerly expressed to him relative to those
abominable placards, namely, that they were affixed by
persons who would fain prove others guilty of their own
misdemeanour " ; and, when we consider the exasperation
which had been excited among the more bigoted Catholics
at the project of bringing Melanchthon to Paris, it must
be admitted that she may quite possibly have been right.
On the other hand, we must bear in mind that there was
an element among the Reformers which, in its hatred of
299
The Pearl of Princesses
what it called idolatry, was capable of committing any
folly or extravagance.
The King at once left Blois and proceeded to Paris, to
investigate the matter. On the very night of his return
the placards appeared again ; they were on all the public
buildings, on all the churches, on the walls of the Louvre,
yes, even on the doors of the King's private apartments,
as though in insolent defiance of the royal authority.
Francois, equally outraged in his dignity and in his
faith, ordered the Parlement to institute the most rigorous
inquiry ; Gerard Roussel and the two Augustinian monks
were arrested and thrown into prison, and their appre-
hension was followed by that of numbers of persons
suspected of favouring the new doctrines. Every church
in Paris rang with denunciation of the Reformers and
demands for their extermination. Beda, but lately
returned from exile, mounted the pulpit and delivered
an impassioned harangue against the King, whose
misplaced leniency towards heretics, he declared, was
responsible for these outrages. Francois, exasperated by
his insolence, banished him a second time ; but the
syndic's words had struck home ; and he determined to
show no mercy.
As the result of its investigations, the Parlement
declared that it had discovered a plot on the part of the
heretics to murder all the faithful assembled in Paris
at Mass on a given day. Nothing could be more
ridiculous than such a charge, and at any other time the
so-called proofs would not have stood the most super-
ficial examination ; but such was the frenzy against the
Protestants that it was eagerly accepted by the Council as
a pretext for carrying on the persecution with relentless
severity.
300
Marguerite attacked by the Bigots
Meantime, Marguerite had returned to Nerac. Here
she learned of the Affair of the Placards. Her dismay
was great, particularly when she was informed of the
arrest of Roussel, for whom she hastened to intercede ;
but her enemies now possessed the King's ear, and she
was informed that her almoner's trial would have to take
its course. Emboldened by their success, and believing
that the influence of the Queen of Navarre over her
brother was on the decline, the Cardinal de Tournon and
the fanatical party in the Council did not hesitate to
affirm that she was herself an heretic ; upon which Fran-
$ois angrily informed them that he would summon his
sister to Paris, that she might answer her accusers in
person. She came at once, not a little to the consterna-
tion of the bigots, who infinitely preferred to combat her
influence while she remained at a distance. Francois
received her with great severity, laid the blame of all the
troubles upon the encouragement which she had given to
the Reformers, and told her that women who followed
new doctrines were hateful, and that she must alter her
ways. She defended herself, protesting that all that she
had done had been done with one object, the union of
the Church, presented the king with a copy of la Messe
a sept points^ and urged him not to surrender to the
clamour of the Sorbonne. Francois rejoined, with some-
what ominous wit, that la Messe a sept points " smelled
of faggots." In great alarm Marguerite chose an orthodox
confessor and took the Holy Communion, which had the
effect of silencing her accusers ; and, finally, the King
relented so far that Roussel was set at liberty and allowed
to return to his abbey in Beam ; while her monastic
proteges, Berthaut and Courant, having tendered a recanta-
tion of their opinions and assumed the habit of their
301
The Pearl of Princesses
Order, were also released. 1 Marguerite likewise suc-
ceeded in procuring the release of certain German
Reformers arrested in Paris for their supposed conniv-
ance in the Affair of the Placards, who were handed over
to commissioners appointed by their several sovereigns
to be punished or not as was deemed advisable. But
to his own subjects Francois was pitiless ; and, despite
his gentle sister's prayers and entreaties, several unhappy
Lutherans were condemned to the stake ; and it was
decided that their execution should be preceded by a
great public procession to Notre-Dame, in which the
King announced his intention of taking part, with all his
Court.
Finding her intercession of no avail, Marguerite
entreated of her brother permission to return to Beam ;
and this he reluctantly accorded, to the intense chagrin
of the Cardinal de Tournon and the Sorbonne, whose
triumph would have been complete, had the heretic queen
been forced to walk in the procession and give an
apparent sanction to the horrible scenes which were to
follow it.
Early in January 1535, Marguerite set out on her
journey to the South with a heavy heart, for it must have
seemed to her as though all her dreams of culture,
beneficence, and toleration had crumbled to nothing,
and that France had returned to the gloomy fanaticism
of the Dark Ages. A few days later (January 21), the
expiatory procession which Francois had commanded
traversed Paris from the Louvre to Notre-Dame, carry-
ing with it all the relics of all the shrines in the capital.
The King walked in the procession, bareheaded, with a
1 Berthaut remained in the bosom of the Church ; but Courant fled
to Geneva, where he became an ardent disciple of Calvin.
302
An Expiatory Procession
lighted taper in his hand, and with him went his sons,
the Princes of the Blood, the grand officers of the Crown,
the foreign ambassadors, the cardinals, archbishops and
bishops, the gentlemen of the Royal Household, the
officials of the Sor bonne, the Parlement, the Provost of
Paris and the municipal authorities, the guilds of the
capital, and monks and priests without number. The
Host was borne aloft by the Bishop of Paris, under
a canopy of crimson velvet, spangled with fleurs-de-lis,
supported by the Dauphin and his two younger brothers,
and the Due de Vendome, first Prince of the Blood.
On the arrival of the procession at Notre-Dame, the
Host was reverently deposited on the high altar by the
Bishop of Paris, and, the Queen and her ladies having
arrived, High Mass was celebrated. On its termination,
the royal party proceeded to the bishop's palace, where
Frangois dined au grand convert with the Queen and the
princes. Then the King gave orders that as many as the
hall could contain should be admitted, and, ascending the
throne, addressed them in words which sounded strange
indeed in the mouth of him who enjoyed the reputation
of being the most enlightened monarch of his time.
But, at that moment, Frangois was no longer the <c Father
of Letters," but the gloomy fanatic of the Middle Ages.
He spoke, with tears in his eyes, of the unspeakable
outrage offered to all that they esteemed most holy,
"through the machinations of certain wicked and blas-
phemous men of mean condition " ; he denounced in
burning words the enemies of God and the Church.
"And if my own right arm," he cried, in conclusion,
" were infected with the heretical pestilence, I would cut it
off and cast it from me ; and, if one of my children were
so miserable as to favour it, I would with my own hand
303
The Pearl of Princesses
deliver him up to the just doom of the heretic and the
blasphemer." Murmurs of applause rose from the
assembly, and when the King had finished his address.,
the Bishop of Paris advanced, and, kneeling before the
throne, humbly thanked his Majesty for his gracious
speech, in the name of the clergy of the realm.
From the bishop's palace, Francois, followed by his
Court, repaired to the Place de Greve, to see the fires
lighted which were to consume the victims whose suffer-
ings were to conclude this day of atonement : u three
Lutherans," says the Bourgeois of Paris, " and a clerk of
the Chatelet, and a fruiterer, and the wife of a cobbler,
and a schoolmaster ; this last for eating meat on Friday."
These hapless persons were not burned in the usual
manner ; to propitiate an outraged Deity, or rather to
gratify the savage vindictiveness of the Sorbonne, their
sufferings were prolonged as long as possible. Fastened
by iron chains to a lofty gibbet, they were lowered into
the fire ; then hauled up and exhorted to make recanta-
tion, and, on their refusal, let down again into the flames.
So it continued until death put an end to their torments.
According to some historians, even the Queen and the
ladies of the Court were obliged to witness this horrible
scene, and were only permitted to retire when Madame
d'Etampes complained of the sickening odour of the
burning flesh. But, as the Bourgeois of Paris does not
mention the presence of the King at the actual sacrifice,
it is probable that the Court returned to the Louvre
after seeing the preparations completed. 1
1 In 1548, Henri II was present at the burning of a Protestant
tailor, who had grossly insulted the King's mistress, Diane de Poitiers,
in the royal presence. " But never since that time," writes Theodore
de Beze, " did the King wish to assist at this spectacle, by which he was
so horrified, that he said on several occasions afterwards that it seemed
34
The Fires of Persecution
The wrath of the King was not yet appeased ; a horror
of his own laxity seemed to be upon him, and throughout
the winter and spring of 1535 the burnings continued ;
until the Lutheran princes of Germany, whose alliance
he so much desired against the Emperor, complained
bitterly of his severity towards persons whose only crime
was the profession of a creed which they themselves
held ; until even the new Pope, Paul III, felt obliged to
interfere, and " require the Very Christian King to
appease his anger and to pardon." Then, at last, Francois
consented to stay his hand, and shortly afterwards, hos-
tilities with Charles V having begun again, veered round
once more towards Reform ; and when the irrepressible
Beda reappeared upon the scene, and, disdaining to learn
wisdom from experience, began to upbraid his Majesty
publicly with encouraging heretics, caused him to be
brought to trial on a charge of high treason, and, after
doing public penance in a sheet and with a lighted taper
in his hand before the porch of Notre-Dame, " for
having spoken malignantly and falsely of his sovereign
lord the king," to be imprisoned in the fortress of Mont
Saint-Michel, where he died eighteen months later.
to him that on the following night he saw this person, and that even in
the daytime the fear came over him that he was following him ; in
consequence of which, he swore that he would never again witness a
burning, so dearly had he paid for this pleasure."
305
CHAPTER XXIV
ALTHOUGH the death of Clement VII, in September
1534, had deprived him of the expected support of
the Papacy, Francois was none the less determined to
challenge his arch-enemy's supremacy in Italy. Already,
indeed, he had found a spacious pretext for disturbing
the peace of Europe, in the arrest and execution by
Francesco Sforza, after a summary trial, of one
Maraviglia, a secret agent of his, on a charge of having
hired bravi to assassinate a gentleman of Milan who
had insulted him ; and, in default of the Holy Father,
sought the assistance of the Commander of the Faithful,
Soliman II, with whom he concluded a secret alliance,
which stipulated that, while the King of France invaded
the Milanese, the Ottoman fleet should make a descent
on the Neapolitan coasts. Pope or Sultan, it was all
the same to this Very Christian King, if, by the aid of
one or the other, he could contrive to regain a footing
in Italy !
Just as Francois was preparing to fulfil his part of
this odious contract, Francesco Sforza died, leaving no
heir (October 24, 1535), whereupon Imperial troops
promptly entered the Milanese and occupied it, as a
fief which had reverted to its suzerain. The King of
France, on his side, lost no time in demanding the
duchy for the Due d'Orleans, and, not receiving a
satisfactory reply, requested of Charles III, Duke of Savoy,
a passage for the French army through his States.
This being refused, he revived a frivolous arid long-
306
War breaks out Again
abandoned claim of Louise of Savoy to her father's
dominions, and early in February 1536 despatched an
army under Chabot de Brion and the Comte de Saint-
Pol across the frontier. Neither in Savoy nor in Piedmont
did the French meet with any serious resistance, and
by the middle of March Turin and nearly all the towns
of Piedmont had opened their gates to the invaders.
Had the victorious French marched at once into the
Milanese, they might have subdued it with almost equal
facility, for the Imperialists there were too weak to offer
an effective resistance. But Francois, unwilling to take
the offensive against the Emperor so long as there
remained any chance of an accommodation, allowed
Charles to delude him with negotiations into which
that astute monarch had entered with no other object
than that of gaining time to send reinforcements to
Lombardy ; and when hostilities began, the invasion
of the duchy was no longer possible, and the King was
obliged to act on the defensive. However, the Marchese
di Saluzzo, a shifty Italian to whom he had been imprudent
enough to entrust the command in Piedmont, deserted
to the Emperor, and by the end of June the French had
been driven in confusion across the Alps. The garrisons
of Turin, Pinerolo, and one or two other places alone
held out.
Charles, whose recent triumphant expedition against
Barbarossa and his pirate hordes appears to have en-
couraged him to depart from his usual caution, now
determined on the invasion of Provence, and, though
Antonio de Leyva, who had a lively recollection of the
fiasco of 1524, besought him to forgo so hazardous
an undertaking, his remonstrances were unheeded, and
on July 25 the Emperor crossed the Var at the head
307
The Pearl of Princesses
of 50,000 men ; while, almost simultaneously, another
army under the Comtes de Nassau and de Rceux invaded
Picardy from the Netherlands.
Francois entrusted the defence of Provence to Anne
de Montmorency, who, with the authorization of the
King, had recourse to the barbarous expedient of laying
waste the whole of the country from the sea to the
Durance, and from the Alps to the Rhone, in order
to arrest the invader. Vineyards, oliveyards, mills, and
bakehouses were ruthlessly destroyed, cattle driven away,
wine-casks emptied into the gutters, wells filled up,
and even towns burned to the ground. Thousands of
the unhappy peasants perished of starvation, and the
fields were strewn with dead bodies. Meanwhile,
Montmorency had seized Avignon, despite the protests
of the vice-legate who commanded for the pope in the
Venaissin, and had formed an entrenched camp between
the Durance and the Rhone ; while the King established
himself at Valence, in order to be near at hand in case
of emergency.
Henri d'Albret, in his twofold quality of King of
Navarre and Governor of Guienne, showed great activity
in raising troops for the assistance of his brother-in-law,
while Marguerite superintended defensive measures in
Beam. Since, however, there did not appear to be
much likelihood of any hostile movement on the part
of the Spaniards, and she was anxious to be nearer
the seat of war, she obtained permission from her
husband to join the King at Valence. At Montfrin,
near Nimes, where the illness of her lady-of-honour,
the Senechale de Poitou, compelled her to make a stay oi
some days, she inspected a troop of a thousand Gascons,
which had been raised by Jean de Montpezat, Comt<
308
Marguerite visits the Army
de Carmain, a cadet of the house of Foix, surnamed
from his swarthy complexion the Comte de Carbon ;
and we find her writing to Montmorency : " Do not
hurry yourself about providing guards for the bank of
the Rhone whilst we remain in the neighbourhood, for
we will keep good watch. If the Emperor could only
behold the swarthy faces of the soldiers in our troop,
who are all of Carbon's complexion, it would so frighten
him that he would not dare approach us. If our Basques
prove themselves equally serviceable people, I am sure
you will feel satisfied with them."
From Nimes, Marguerite journeyed up the Rhone to
Valence to visit the King, who received her with great
delight. " When I arrived," she writes to Montmorency,
" the King was on the ramparts, superintending the
fortifications which he is having constructed. When
he saw me, his face expressed so much joy, and he gave
me so warm a welcome, that, at any rate, I was assured
that my arrival had not increased his many troubles."
Marguerite only made a short stay at Valence, and then
set out for Montfrin, to meet the King of Navarre and
review the troops which he was bringing from Guienne.
On the way, she visited Montmorency's camp at Avignon,
which, she informs Francois, she had found " a most salu-
brious place, clean almost as a private cabinet, and filled
with numbers of fine men, whose countenances and
speech prove the ardour to do you service which inspires
them."
Such, indeed, was the dread which the Grand Master
inspired among those whom he commanded that
his lines resembled a well-governed city rather than
a camp composed of soldiers of various nationalities.
Never was there a more terrible martinet. For the
309
The Pearl of Princesses
slightest symptoms of insubordination he ordered death
or torture, and sentence once passed on an offender,
nothing could induce him to mitigate it. A devout
Catholic, he was most punctilious in the discharge of his
religious duties. " Never," says Brantome, " did he
fail in his devotions or his prayers, and there was not a
morning on which he omitted to say his Paternosters."
But he adds that " Beware of the Constable's 1 Pater-
nosters " became a saying in the Army, " for, as he
muttered them, he used to interject orders in connexion
with justice, police, or military matters, such as : < Hang
me that man ! Tie that fellow up to yonder tree ! Run
him through with your pikes ! Burn that village ! '
without, however, interrupting his prayers until he had
finished them."
Marguerite was received with every honour by
Montmorency, and, attended by him, inspected every
part of the camp, being greeted with great enthusiasm
by the soldiers. Afterwards, she requested that the
chief officers should be presented to her, to each of
whom she paid some graceful compliment, since " this
princess had great tact, making many apt speeches, and
teaching others to become communicative. For which
reason, the King placed great reliance on her, and used
to say that she afforded him signal aid." 2
After spending a day or two at Avignon, the Queen
of Navarre proceeded to Montfrin, where her husband
received her at the head of his troops, which were
drawn up in battle-array. <e Monseigneur," she writes
to her brother, " I came yesterday to this place
[Montfrin], where are the levies of the King of Navarre,
1 Montmorency received the baton of Constable in 1539.
2 Brant6me.
310
Retreat of the Imperialists
which I have inspected in battle-array. I will say
nothing of the men-at-arms, but there are few soldiers
better mounted than our light horse. You will be pleased
with the Gascons, and would to God the Emperor would
make an attempt to cross the Rhone while I am here !
For, with the succour you propose to send (and we should
not need much), I will gladly undertake mere woman
though I be to defend the passage."
The Emperor did not attempt to cross the Rhone. He
advanced without encountering any serious opposition as
far as Aix, which he occupied ; but there his success
terminated. The country round had been so remorsely
devastated as to be incapable of supporting a single
division, much less an army ; the supplies which the
Imperialist fleet landed at Toulon were repeatedly inter-
cepted by the starving peasantry, and famine and disease
wrought havoc among the invaders. Finally, towards
the middle of September, when nearly half his army was
either dead or unfit for service among the former being
his best general, Antonio de Leyva Charles, learning
that his communications were threatened by a rising of
the French party in Liguria, decided to retreat. On
September 23 he repassed the Var with the wreck of
his army, and made his way to Genoa, where he em-
barked for Barcelona, in order, according to a bon-mot of
the time, " to inter in Spain his honour, which had died
in Provence/'
Victory had attended the arms, or rather the strategy
of the French ; but the expulsion of the Imperialists had
been only gained at the expense of the devastation bf the
fairest province of the realm, and the joy which the retreat
of the invader occasioned was further discounted by a
calamity which might well have been regarded by the
The Pearl of Princesses
devout as a judgment upon the King for all the misery
to which his restless ambition had condemned his unhappy
subjects, and which was to change profoundly the future
of France.
The Dauphin Francois had remained at Lyons, await-
ing the orders of the King to rejoin him. This prince,
now in his twentieth year, had to some degree abandoned
the gravity and reserve which had aroused so much sur-
prise on his return from Spain, though he still continued
to affect the most sombre colours in his dress and to
drink principally water. In his relations with the fair sex
he is said to have been far less austere, and had selected a
mistress from among the Queen's maids-of-honour ; " a
very modest and virtuous girl," says Brantome, whose
first cousin the lady was, " for the great choose their
mistresses as much for their virtues as for other
qualities." If, however, Monsieur le Dauphin shared
the paternal susceptibility to feminine charms, he appears
to have been an intelligent and level-headed youth,
who gave every promise of one day making an excellent
king.
The day before that on which the Dauphin was to leave
Lyons, he went to play tennis at Ainay. As the weather
was intensely hot, the prince soon became very thirsty, and
despatched one of his pages to draw him some water from
a neighbouring well. The page hurried off, taking with
him a Portuguese pitcher which had been given his master
by Dona Agnese Pachecho, dame d'honneur to Queen
Eleanor. This pitcher, Brantome tells us, was of a
peculiar clay, " which was said to possess the virtues of
keeping the water cool and, at the same time, preventing
it having any injurious effect, even when imbibed after
312
Death of the Dauphin Francois
violent exercise." A rather hazardous assertion in view
of what followed.
While the page was raising the bucket from the well, a
certain Count Sebastano di Montecuculi, a nobleman of
Ferrara, who held the post of sewer in the Dauphin's
Household, approached and took up the pitcher, as
though to examine its workmanship.
Having drawn the water, the page, without waiting to
rinse the pitcher, filled it and returned to the Dauphin,
who emptied it almost at a draught, for, though he seldom
touched wine, it was his habit to drink immoderate
quantities of water. Shortly afterwards, he was seized
with agonizing pains and nausea, and five days later
(August 10), despite all the efforts of the doctors who
attended him, he was dead.
It was an age when the death of noble persons was
continually attributed to foul play not infrequently, it
must be admitted, with good reason and though
modern historians are agreed that the death of the
Dauphin was due to an attack of pleurisy, occasioned by
his imprudence in drinking a copious draught of cold
water after taking violent exercise on a hot summer's day,
the physicians were unanimously of opinion that he had
been poisoned. Suspicion naturally pointed to Monte-
cuculi, who, it was pointed out, might easily have slipped
some deadly poison into the pitcher while the page was
engaged in drawing the water. Unhappily for the sup-
posed culprit, he appears to have been a student of
toxicology, as a great many of his countrymen were in
those days, generally for very practical reasons ; and when
he was arrested, a packet of arsenic was found at his
lodging. He was immediately put to the question, and, to
curtail his sufferings, confessed that he had poisoned the
313
The Pearl of Princesses
Dauphin, and added that he had been bribed by the
Imperialist generals Antonio de Leyva and Ferdinando
di Gonzaga, cousin of the Duke of Mantua, who, he
understood, were acting under superior authority, to
remove the King himself and his two other sons by the
same means. He was brought to trial and condemned to
be dismembered by horses ; and this barbarous sentence
was duly carried out at Lyons, in the presence of the
King and the whole Court, including even the ladies
(October 7, 1536).
After the execution, Francois addressed a circular letter
to the German Protestant princes, wherein he acquainted
them with all the details of his eldest son's death and the
fate of the supposed criminal, and openly accused the two
Imperialist generals of having instigated Montecuculi to
the commission of the deed. Antonio de Leyva had died
at Aix in September ; but Gonzaga indignantly protested
against such an accusation, and expressed his readiness to
meet in arms all who dared to impeach his honour. The
Cardinal de Granvelle, the Imperial Chancellor, wrote a
letter intended to demonstrate the utter absurdity of such
reports, and to exculpate, not only Leyva and Gonzaga,
but also his master, who was accused by implication ; and
the Duke of Mantua sent an Ambassador Extraordinary
to the French Court to defend his cousin. Eventually,
the charge was allowed to drop ; and, indeed, it was one
in which it was impossible to persist, since the only
persons to profit by the removal of the unfortunate prince
were the Due d'Orleans and his wife, who now found
themselves on the highest step of the throne.
The Queen of Navarre was very active in her brother's
interests during the winter and spring which followed
3H
Marguerite in Picardy
Charles V's disastrous invasion of Provence. Towards the
end of the year 1536, she was in Brittany, where she was
again the guest of the Chateaubriands, inquiring, appar-
ently, into the condition of affairs in that province, where
considerable disaffection existed among the garrison of
Brest, owing to their pay being in arrears. In the spring
of 1537 we find her in Picardy, the Imperialist invasion of
which had likewise been repulsed the previous year, but
which was soon to be subjected to another, inspecting
Therouanne, Boulogne, Amiens, and other fortresses. At
the same time, she did not forget the interests of her
husband, and writes to demand the despatch of a force to
the frontiers of Beam, to guard against any surprise on
the part of the Spaniards, and to recommend Montmo-
rency to place the kingdom of Navarre " in the hands of
him who was deprived of it for having declared himself
French. ... It will be an action very much redounding
to the King's honour," she continues, " if he should
succeed in restoring the heritage of his brother-in-law,
and would afford a notable example to all princes that
the King never omits to reward good service." Montmo-
rency, however, had no desire to forward the interests of
the King of Navarre, though, as Marguerite's friendship
was still of use to him, and he looked to it to assist him
to the goal of his ambition the baton of Constable of
France he was careful not to allow her to suspect it ;
nor is it probable that Francois, even if he had wished
to do so, could have succeeded in exacting from Charles V
a kingdom incorporated in every respect with the Spanish
monarchy.
In June, Marguerite was called upon to nurse her
husband, who had fallen ill of a malignant fever which
was ravaging the country, and had carried off a number
315
The Pearl of Princesses
of well-known persons, including the Due de Vendome.
For several days Henri d'Albret's life was despaired of,
but eventually he recovered, and so soon as he was well
enough to travel, set out with his wife for Guienne, where
an incursion of the Spanish was apprehended. On the
way, however, they were overtaken by a courier from
Francois, with orders to the King of Navarre to join him
at Lyons, where he was assembling an army for a fresh
expedition across the Alps, and an authorization for
Marguerite to discharge the functions of Governor of
Guienne during her husband's absence.
The Queen undertook these responsible duties with
her usual energy and courage, and in the course of the
next few weeks traversed nearly the whole of Guienne,
Beam, and Gascony, visiting the various towns and
fortresses, inspecting the garrisons, and conferring with
their commanders. Her sojourn at Bordeaux afforded
her an opportunity of intervening on behalf of Andrew
Melanchthon, brother of the celebrated Reformer, who
had been arrested and imprisoned in the Conciergerie,
for preaching in the town of Agen. In her character of
governor, she went down in state to the Palais de Justice
and demanded his release of the Parlement of Bordeaux,
which was accorded, on condition that he betook himself
and his doctrines beyond the borders of Guienne.
In October, Marguerite received orders from her
brother to join him at Lyons, as he wished to take leave
of her before he set out for Italy. After spending some
days with the King, whom she found full of confidence
in regard to the result of his coming descent into the
fatal plains of Lombardy, she proceeded, at his desire,
to Fontainebleau, where both Queen Eleanor and the
Dauphine lay ill of the fever which was still ravaging
316
A-ROYNE^DE-NAVA
MARGUERITE D'AXGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE.
Illness of Jeanne d'Albret
the north and centre of France, and of which Francois
himself had had a slight attack. Fortunately, both the
illustrious ladies were soon convalescent, and on their
recovery the Court removed for the winter from Fon-
tainebleau to Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In the last days of December, the Queen of Navarre
was in Paris, when she received a message from Plessis-
les-Tours that her little daughter, who had just com-
pleted her ninth year, was lying seriously ill of fever
and dysentery. The journey from the capital to that
town was no light matter in those days, and when the
news arrived, night was falling, few of her servants were
at hand, and none of her travelling equipages available.
Nevertheless, she refused to wait until the morning, and
having summoned those of her attendants whom she
had brought with her, and borrowing a litter from her
niece, Madame Marguerite, set out for Touraine.
Rain was falling in torrents and the roads were in a
terrible condition, and, on reaching Bourg-la-Reine, her
people besought her to remain there for a while. To this
she reluctantly consented, but before going to the lodging
which had been prepared for her, entered the church
accompanied only by her dame cThonneur, the Senechale
of Poitou, bidding the rest of her suite await her in the
porch, " as her heart was very heavy with a presentiment
of her daughter's approaching death. " Advancing to
the high altar, she prostrated herself before it, weeping
bitterly and accusing her own sins as the cause of her
child's illness. When she rose again, she was calm, and,
as she rejoined her attendants, exclaimed : " Now have
I indeed good hope of God's mercy ; and in faith
do I humbly rely that He will restore my child to me."
She then proceeded to her lodging and sat down to
317
The Pearl of Princesses
supper, " discoursing all through the meal of God's pity
and mercy, and the miseries and tribulations of men,
with a great gravity of language." 1
After supper, Marguerite dismissed her attendants,
and, taking up the Bible, opened it at the prayer of
Hezekiah, which she took as a good omen. At that
moment she heard in the distance the sound of a horn,
which in those days heralded the approach of a royal
courier, and shortly afterwards the horseman galloped
up the street and drew rein before the door of the inn.
Going to the window, she threw it open and inquired
whence he came, and what news he brought ; but not
receiving any reply, for her voice was drowned by the
noise and confusion attending his arrival, she concluded
that he must be the bearer of ill tidings, and, over-
powered by grief, fell on her knees and covered her
face with her hands. Thus she was found by the
Bishop of Seez, when he entered the room a few
minutes later. 4C Ah, Monsieur de Seez," she ex-
claimed, rising slowly to her feet, " do you come to
tell a sorrowing mother of the death of her only child ?
I know full well that she is now with God." Such was
her state that the bishop had some difficulty in making
her comprehend that he was the bearer of good news,
and that her daughter had been pronounced out of
danger. " Upon which she lifted her hands to Heaven
and gave thanks to God."
The Queen of Navarre remained for a day or two at
Bourg-la-Reine, since she was worn out with fatigue and
anxiety, and then continued her journey to Plessis-les-
Tours, where she assisted in nursing the little invalid
back to health. Scarcely, however, was Jeanne able to
1 Sainte-Marthe.
318
Generosity of Marguerite
leave her bed, than Marguerite found herself obliged
to make a hurried journey to Boisgency in Brittany,
in response to the piteous entreaty of her sister-in-
law, Isabeau d'Albret, whose husband, the improvident
Vicomte de Rohan, had mismanaged his affairs so dis-
astrously that he was on the verge of total ruin. The
generous princess had already provided for the three
children of the marriage, obtaining for the boys appoint-
ments as pages to the Dauphin, which insured them
maintenance and education free from all expense to their
parents, and taking the girl, Franchise de Rohan, under
her own protection ; and she now offered to place
Isabeau with her daughter at Plessis-les-Tours, until
the viscount had succeeded in re-establishing his affairs
which, as a matter of fact, he never did. The ex-
penses of Isabeau's household no inconsiderable item,
by the way were liquidated by Marguerite from her
own revenues, with some assistance from the King. That
sprightly young lady was therefore spared the humilia-
tion of returning to Beam as a pensioner on her
brother's bounty, which would have been the more
distressing, as she was about to present the viscount
with another pledge of her affection.
Meanwhile, the French in Italy had been carrying all
before them. Montmorency, with the vanguard of the
invading army, forced the pass of Susa, descended the
valley of the Dora, and compelled the Imperialists to
raise the siege of Turin and fall back across the Po.
Then, on receiving reinforcements, he pressed on, obliged
them to take refuge under the cannon of Asti, and by
the time the King with the remainder of the army joined
him, had succeeded in reducing the whole country
319
The Pearl of Princesses
between the Po and the Tanaro. Everything seemed
to encourage the most flattering hopes, when suddenly
negotiations took the place of hostilities. Paul III, eager
to unite Christendom against the Turk, who had just
inflicted a crushing defeat upon Ferdinand of Austria
at Essek, on the Drave, pressed his mediation on the
belligerents, and, on November 16, 1537, an armistice
for three months was signed at Monc^on ; while, in the
following June, as the outcome of a conference at Nice,
a ten years' truce was concluded between the rivals,
which left each in possession of the territory which he
occupied at the moment of its signature.
Thus, France retained Savoy and the greater part of
Piedmont, and for the first time since the campaign of
Marignano a war ended to the advantage of Francois,
who, with the Alpine passes and the strongest fortresses
in Piedmont in his hands, found himself in a singularly
favourable position for prosecuting his designs on the
Milanese. Nevertheless, in the opinion of many his-
torians, the King committed a grave error in concluding
peace at a moment when the Emperor, threatened by the
Turks, hampered by the German Protestants, unpopular
in Northern Italy, where his soldiers lived by rapine and
plunder, and unable to count on any effective support
from the Netherland provinces, where the town of Ghent
was in full revolt, found himself in a most critical
situation. But the reproaches of the Pope on his sacri-
legious alliance with Soliman filled him with remorse,
and, after having borne all the odium of the Turkish
alliance, he abandoned it just when he might have derived
from it substantial advantages.
There can be no doubt that Montmorency's influence
counted for much in this decision. One of the most
320
The Aigues-Mortes Interview
bigoted of Catholics, the Grand Master's conscience re-
volted against alliances with infidels and heretics, and,
though he did his duty against the Imperialists in the
field, he was always a consistent advocate of peace with
the Emperor, insomuch that his enemies did not hesitate
to accuse him of preferring the interests of Rome to
those of France.
To the same influence may be traced the ostentatious
reconciliation between the two rivals, which, to the
profound astonishment of Europe, took place at Aigues-
Mortes a month later. It was commonly reported that
Charles's galley had been obliged to take shelter in that
harbour by stress of weather, but it seems more probable
that the meeting was a prearranged one. Any way, before
the Emperor quitted the shores of France, the King,
lured on by the bait of the Milanese, had promised to
abandon the German Protestants, to give no encourage-
ment to the Ghent burghers, and to aid Charles in his
struggle against the infidel and his efforts for Catholic
unity. It was the beginning of an entirely new policy,
which was to cost France dear.
321
CHAPTER XXV
THE untimely death of the Dauphin Francois had
brought about a great change at the Court of France.
Henri, the King's second son the taciturn, melancholy
Henri, with his olive skin, his long, straight nose, and
his lustreless black eyes now stood upon the highest
step of the throne. And at his elbow stood a woman
a woman already approaching her fortieth year, but still
eminently seductive : tall and splendidly proportioned,
with jet-black hair, fine eyes, regular features and a
dazzling complexion, which certain of her contemporaries
believed to have been due to the possession of some
wonderful elixir, but which, in point of fact, she owed
to healthy exercise, early hours and the regular use of
cold water. This woman was the celebrated Diane de
Poitiers, widow of Louis de Breze, Grand Senechal of
Normandy, and she was to govern Henri for the rest
of his life.
It is related, and the anecdote has been accepted by
such authorities on the period as Niel and Bouchot,
that, annoyed at the melancholy humour and uncouth
manners of his heir, Francois had, so to speak, thrown
the lady into the Dauphin's arms, with instructions to
polish him a little. " They say," writes Le Laboureur,
" that, one day after the death of the Dauphin Francois,
the King having expressed to her [Diane] his displeasure
at the little animation which he saw in the Prince Henri,
she told him that he must be made to fall in love, and
322
Diane de Poitiers
that she would make him her gallant." 1 If this anecdote
be true, it confirms the supposition that the affair did
not begin until Henri had become heir to the throne
and a quarry worthy of the pursuit of so haughty and
ambitious a lady as the Grande Senechale.
Never was quarry pursued with more determination
or with more adroitness. To assure a greater and more
durable ascendency, Diane was in no hurry to complete
the young prince's subjugation, but posed before every
one as the mentor of youth and inexperience, the guide
of the future King of France towards noble thoughts and
generous actions ; encouraging the taciturn, reserved lad
to converse freely with her a thing which it is doubtful
if he had ever done before with any human being to
express opinions to which he had never yet dared to give
utterance, to open his mind to her and to make her the
confidante of his hopes and fears.
Henri was completely fascinated. His had been a
dreary, almost friendless, existence. He had lost his
mother when he was a child ; he was perhaps the least
loved of all Francois's children ; he disliked his younger
brother, who presumed on the King's indulgence to give
himself intolerable airs, and he had no affection for his
wife, whom he despised, because she was not of royal
birth, and whose reputation for cleverness made him
feel awkward and constrained in her presence. Craving
companionship and sympathy, it is not surprising that he
should have yielded himself unreservedly to the counsels
of the new Egeria.
For a time, the liaison was conducted with such
circumspection that the Court appears to have been
1 Le Laboureur, Additions aux Memoir es de Castelnau, vol. i.
" Gallant " must be here understood in the Platonic sense.
323
The Pearl of Princesses
completely deceived as to the lady's intentions, and so
shrewd an observer as the Venetian Ambassador, Marino
Cavalli, wrote that her affection for her royal pupil was
" like that of a mother for a son." But, while awaken-
ing Henri's intellectual powers, she had not failed to
awaken his dormant passions as well, for " she knew
what Catherine was absolutely ignorant of, and she had
studied her prince with the pitiless penetration of an
anatomist." l Soon he was completely in her toils, and
his initiation into the mysteries of love was proceeding
simultaneously with his instruction in courtly manners
and the duties of his exalted position.
Although bitterly humiliated at her husband's pre-
ference for another woman, Catherine's innate talent
for dissimulation came to her aid, and not only did
she refrain from reproaching him, but she treated the
Senechale with the same courtesy as before ; and the
curious sought in vain for any indication of the jealousy
and hatred which consumed her, and which the necessity
for repression served only to aggravate.
Nevertheless, Diane was not permitted to triumph with
impunity. For some years past Madame d'Etampes had
regarded the Senechale, who was one of the few women
at the Court who declined to acknowledge her ascendency,
with far from friendly feelings, and that lady's conquest of
the Dauphin roused her slumbering hatred to malignant
activity. Great as was the influence she exercised, she
knew that it must terminate with the King's life, and
she feared the moment when the favourite of the Dauphin
would reign in her place and be in a position to mete out
to her the same treatment which she had received at her
hands. It is true that Francois was still in the prime of
1 Bouchot, Catharine de M edicts.
3 2 4
Rival Sultanas
life, and that, in the ordinary course of Nature, he might
be expected to reign for many years ; but none knew
better than she that the King's health was already under-
mined by the excesses of his youth, and that it would
probably not be so very long before the sceptre passed
to another. She accordingly determined to employ every
means in her power to expel the enemy from the citadel
she had captured before that moment arrived.
Then began a bitter strife between the two sultanas :
the duchess, in the hope of making the Dauphin ashamed
of his choice, letting slip no opportunity of expressing
her astonishment that the prince should have had the bad
taste to choose for his mistress a " toothless, wrinkled
hag," who, she asserted, had been married on the same
day on which she herself was born there was, as a
matter of fact, only nine years difference between them ;
while Diane retaliated by assailing the reputation of
Madame d'Etampes, whom she accused, not without good
grounds, it would appear, of infidelity to her royal lover.
The antagonism between the two women became a
veritable war, which divided the Court into two hostile
camps. Madame d'Etampes favoured those who viewed
the Reformation with approval ; Diane declared openly
for the suppression of heresy. The duchess had for
allies Chabot de Brion, who was regarded as the King's
rival in her affections, her uncle, Antoine Sanguin, Arch-
bishop of Orleans, most of the men of letters some of
whom did not hesitate to prostitute their pens in their
patroness's service, and composed biting epigrams at
the expense of her rival 1 and the majority of the
1 Notably Jean Voute, who in 1537 published, under the name
of Vulteius, a collection of Latin verses, in which he assailed the
favourite of the Dauphin with a licence worthy of Martial.
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The Pearl of Princesses
courtiers, who naturally preferred to worship the risen
planet rather than one who might be many years before
it reached its zenith. The Senechale was assured of the
support of the Cardinal de Lorraine, who shared her
hatred of the new doctrines, less from sincere religious
conviction than from fear of losing his benefices and
episcopates, of the cardinal's three nephews, the elder
sons of the Due de Guise, 1 of certain ladies whom the
jealousy of Madame d'Etampes had excluded from the
royal circle, and of those courtiers who had the foresight
to sacrifice present to future advantages. But her most
influential adherent was Montmorency, for the moment
the most powerful personage at Court. Montmorency
detested Madame d'fitampes, who had consistently striven
to thwart his ambitions ; while the warm friendship which
had sprung up between him and the Dauphin during
the Italian campaign of 1537, when the young prince
had been associated with the Grand Master in the com-
mand of the vanguard, naturally inclined him to take
the side of that prince's mistress, with whose intolerant
religious views he was, moreover, in the fullest sympathy.
It was certainly a very bold step to champion the cause
of the Dauphin's favourite against that of the King, par-
ticularly in view of the dislike with which Fra^ois was
known to regard the heir apparent. But in February
1538 the office of Constable of France, vacant since the
treason of Bourbon, had been revived in Montmorency's
favour, as the reward of his services in the late war, and
had inspired him with the belief that he was indispensable
to the King both in the council-chamber and the field.
1 Franois, Comtc d'Aumale, afterwards Due de Guise ; Charles,
afterwards Archbishop of Rheims and Cardinal de Lorraine ; and
Claude, afterwards Marquis de Mayenne.
326
Marguerite and Montmorency
Montmorency, however, had not secured the baton
of Constable without a struggle, for Madame d'fitampes
had opposed a strenuous resistance to his elevation to
that coveted office, and, had it not been for the Queen
of Navarre, who had warmly supported the claims of her
old friend, the tears and entreaties of the duchess would
probably have prevailed. The new Constable, however,
showed himself singularly ungrateful, and not only did he
make no effort to persuade Franois to obtain for Henri
d'Albret the restoration of his kingdom, but, no sooner
did he find himself in possession of the highest office in
the State than he felt no scruples about endeavouring to
destroy the influence which had helped him to it.
His motives in seeking to estrange the King from his
sister were partly personal and partly political and
religious. His vanity was wounded by the thought that
any one should share with him Constable and Grand
Master of France the confidence of his sovereign ; he
knew that in the Queen of Navarre, animated as she was
by the most profound distrust of the Emperor, he pos-
sessed a resolute opponent of the new policy which he
had inaugurated ; and, finally, to his bigoted mind the
encouragement and protection which Marguerite afforded
the Reformers, to whom he would fain have seen applied
the same summary methods of punishment which he
employed in the camp, was a crime of the deepest dye.
" I have heard it related by a person of good faith,"
writes Brantome, " that the Connetable de Montmorency,
then in the highest favour, speaking of this matter of re-
ligion one day with the King, made no difficulty or scruple
about telling him that, ' if he really wished to exter-
minate the heretics of his kingdom, he ought to begin
with his Court and with his nearest relative,' mentioning
3 2 7
The Pearl of Princesses
the queen his sister. To which the King replied :
' Do not speak of her ; she loves me too much. She
will never believe anything save what I believe, and will
never embrace a religion prejudicial to my State.' '
The Constable's words were duly reported to the Queen
of Navarre, probably by Fran9ois himself, and confirmed
the rumours which had already reached her from more
than one source of the secret animosity of the man whom
she had placed under such great obligations. " From
that moment," continues Brantome, " the queen never
liked Monsieur le Connetable more ; and her displeasure
greatly contributed to procure his subsequent disgrace
and banishment from Court." There would not appear,
however, to have been any open breach between them at
the time, though in the year 1538 the voluminous corre-
spondence which Marguerite had so long carried on with
Montmorency comes to an end, and she ceases to allude
to him in her letters to the King and others.
Towards the close of that year, while the Court was at
Compiegne, Francois was attacked by a severe illness
c< une recrudescence du mat aigu et honteux qui Favait frappe
des sa jeunesse" if we are to believe Henri Martin. 1
Any way, it left him for a time a physical wreck, and
affected his mind to some degree as well as his body.
Affairs now fell completely into the hands of Mont-
morency, who was thus able to give a free rein to his
Catholic and Imperialist predilections. He broke off
the friendly relations which had existed with England, the
German Protestant princes, the Duke of Cleves and the
Turks, and not only persuaded the King, dazzled by
1 In view of the promiscuous gallantries in which his Majesty had
been prone to indulge in his youthful days, this is likely enough ; but
there appears to be no truth in the unpleasant legend of " la belle
Ferroniere" accepted by so many historians.
328
Policy of Montmorency
the chimerical hope of a voluntary restitution of the Milan-
ese, to reject the offer of the rebellious Ghent burghers
to acknowledge him as their suzerain, but to reveal their
proposals to Charles V, and to promise him a safe passage
through France to Flanders, when he journeyed thither
to reduce his revolted subjects to obedience.
The Queen of Navarre, who had been at Compiegne
when the King fell ill, and had tended him with all her
customary devotion, did what she could to counteract the
fatal counsels of Montmorency. But, entertaining as she
did for her brother an almost servile adoration, she could
not bring herself to remonstrate boldly with him on his
folly, but preferred to work on him through Madame
d'Etampes. " If you would have anything of importance
done," she told the English Ambassador, the Duke of
Norfolk, " seek to win over Madame d'Etampes, who
can do more with the King than all the rest. Only she
can impress a thing in his head against the Constable ;
and I myself, when the Constable had turned the King
against me, had to seek the aid of Madame d'fitampes."
And to his colleague, Wallup, when he pressed her to
remonstrate personally with the King, she declared that
" these things could only be wrought by Madame
d'fitampes," and that she would not speak herself,
" since she would be noted partial, and also suspected."
Any way, she had little hope that any one would be able
to divert his steps from the path along which the Constable
was guiding him. " My brother is of this nature, that, a
thing being fixed in his head, it is half impossible to be
plucked away."
And so, to the astonishment of all Europe, the Emperor
came, and, by Francois's express orders, was received
everywhere " like the Kings of France on their joyous
329
The Pearl of Princesses
accession,'* and made a solemn entry into the capital, amid
the ringing of church bells and the firing of cannon ; and,
after a week of magnificent fetes, went his way, leaving
Francois under the fond delusion that the Milanese was
already as good as his.
At the beginning of 1539, a provisional agreement had
been arrived at between the two sovereigns, in regard to
a marriage between the King's youngest son, who had now
assumed the Dauphin's former title of Due d'Orleans, and
the daughter of Ferdinand of Austria, Charles promising
that he would " dispose of the duchy and state of Milan,
in virtue and contemplation of the said marriage, in such
a manner that the said lord king would have reason to
be well contented with it " ; and before his departure for
Flanders, it had been arranged that, after Charles had
induced the Gantois to return to their submission and
had seen his brother Ferdinand, who was to join him at
Brussels, Montmorency and the Cardinal de Lorraine
should proceed thither, where his Majesty would make
a definite pronouncement concerning the Milanese. By
the end of February 1 540, the Gantois had made their
submission, and Ferdinand had arrived at Brussels ; but
Montmorency waited in vain for the Imperial summons.
None came ; and when the French Ambassador at Brussels
reminded Charles of his promises with regard to the
Milanese, he answered that he had never made any which
could be considered binding upon him. Finally, at the
beginning of April, he submitted, through his Ambassador
at the French Court, Saint-Vincent, an entirely new pro-
position : Fran9ois and he were to renounce their
respective pretensions to the Milanese and to Burgundy ;
the Due d'Orleans was to marry the Emperor's eldest
daughter, with the Netherlands, Franche-Comte and the
330
Francois the Dupe of the Emperor
Charolais as her dowry, while Frangois was to accord his
son an appanage worthy of so great an alliance, in
proximity to the territory ceded to the bride. To bind
yet closer Hapsburg and Valois, Charles's son, Philip,
was to wed Jeanne d'Albret and purchase her rights over
Lower Navarre and Beam.
This project, which, if accepted, would have created a
new House of Burgundy under the protection of Spain
and the Empire, and inevitably have caused a feud
between the Due d'Orleans and his elder brother, already
on sufficiently bad terms, was very ill-received by the
French Court. Francois was bitterly mortified to find
that he had once more sacrificed the substance for the
shadow and permitted Charles to re-establish his authority
in Flanders and Germany, while deluding him with
promises which he had not the remotest intention of
fulfilling. Urged on by Montmorency, indignant at
having allowed himself to be made the dupe of the
Emperor, he continued to insist on the cession of Lom-
bardy ; but, after the negotiations had dragged on for
some months, Charles proceeded to dissipate the King's
last remaining hopes, by formally investing Don Philip
with the duchy of Milan. From that moment, notwith-
standing that both monarchs announced their intention
of respecting the truce of Nice, a fresh rupture between
them was plainly inevitable.
We have seen that, at the same time, as the Emperor
proposed an alliance between the Due d'Orleans and his
eldest daughter, he had also suggested one between his
son and Jeanne d'Albret. Even had Francois been
inclined to favour the former proposition, he would most
certainly have rejected the latter, since it was with the
express object of preventing a marriage which would give
The Pearl of Princesses
the House of Hapsburg a footing on the French side of
the Pyrenees, that he had removed his little niece from
her parents' control and constituted himself her guardian.
Jeanne, however, was now twelve years old, and in a year
or two, when her education would be considered com-
pleted, it was certain that her father would demand
permission which the King could not well refuse, to take
her to Beam, that she might receive the homage and
recognition of her future subjects. Now, Francois had
never been able to rid himself of the suspicion that it
was the King of Navarre's intention to give his daughter
in marriage to Philip of Spain, and he was aware that,
once in Beam, nothing would be easier than to convey
the young princess across the Spanish frontier. To
prevent such a contingency, the King determined to marry
Jeanne to some prince of his own choosing whose States
were far removed from those of the future Queen of
Navarre. Nor had he long to seek for one who would
serve his purpose.
It had happened that while the Emperor was at Ghent,
Guillaume de la Marck, Duke of Cleves and Juliers, had
journeyed thither to petition Charles to confirm him in
the possession of the duchy of Guelders, which had
lapsed to his father, Guillaume II, by right of inheritance
and the election of the Estates, shortly before that prince
died. His request, however, was refused, and Charles
announced his intention of incorporating the duchy in
the Netherlands. The Duke of Cleves, after vainly
endeavouring to shake his suzerain's resolution, repaired,
in high dudgeon, to the Court of France, and demanded
of the King the investiture of the duchy of Guelders,
with troops to maintain his rights. Such an opportunity
of testifying his resentment for the Imperial duplicity in
33 2
Mother and Daughter
regard to the Milanese was too agreeable to Francois for
him not to take advantage of it ; and not only did he
readily accede to the Duke's request, but offered him
the hand of Jeanne d'Albret, stipulating only that she
should remain under his care for another three years,
when her education would be completed.
Now, although but a child in years, Jeanne's mind was
a very precocious one, and she had already begun to show
that haughty character and strength of will which were to
make her, in years to come, so redoubtable a party leader.
Like her mother, she possessed great intellectual powers
and a remarkable faculty for absorbing knowledge ; but in
other respects she was the exact opposite of Marguerite
a person of convictions rather than of sympathies, " seeing
one thing at a time and not wanting to see more " ; l
cold, proud, obstinate, and ambitious. Marguerite wor-
shipped her, but the little girl was far from returning her
affection ; indeed, if anything, she appears to have disliked
her mother, and to have regarded her confiding and
generous nature with something very like contempt,
though she was only too ready to take advantage of her
liberality in money matters.
Since the King had assumed the guardianship of his
niece, Jeanne had lived at the Chateau of Plessis-les-
Tours, with her tutor, the learned Nicholas Bourbon,
and a gouvernante, Marguerite's friend Madame de Silly,
Baillive of Caen, to instil the social graces. The Baillive
also held the purse and kept her charge's accounts, which
show that the young lady had some decidedly expen-
sive tastes, notably in the way of theatricals, private
performances of plays being frequently given before
her.
1 Edith Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance.
333
The Pearl of Princesses
Notwithstanding diversions of this kind, Jeanne, if we
are to believe the historian Olhagaray, was very unhappy
at Plessis, which, considering its lonely position and the
dark deeds which were commonly reported to have been
enacted within its gloomy walls in the time of Louis XI,
was certainly the reverse of a cheerful residence for a
young girl. " This abode," he writes, " proved very
wearisome to our princess, so that her chamber often
echoed with her lamentations and the air with her sighs,
while she gave a loose rein to her tears. The lustre of
her complexion, for she was one of the fairest princesses
of Europe, was marred by the abundance of her tears ;
her locks hung loose upon her shoulders ; her lips
remained without a smile. And when King Francois
heard of this," continues the historian, " he offered the
demoiselle to the Duke of Cleves, without the consent
of her father or mother."
It was certainly not out of compassion for his little
niece's unhappiness that Francois desired to marry her to
the Duke of Cleves, but because the marriage of the
princess whose hand Charles V had demanded for his
son to a rebellious vassal of the Emperor would be like a
glove thrown in that monarch's face. Nor is it true,
notwithstanding the assertions of Olhagaray and many
contemporary writers, that the King arbitrarily disposed
of Jeanne's hand, in defiance of the entreaties of her
parents. Whether they approved of his Majesty's choice
of a husband for their daughter, is another matter. It is
certain that the King of Navarre did not, for the alliance,
though it might secure a useful ally for France, would
be most prejudicial to the interests of Beam, since, not
only would it offend Spain, but remove its future
sovereign to a distance from her subjects. However,
334
Jeanne d'Albret in Revolt
much as he might disapprove of the match, he did not
dare to oppose the will of his imperious brother-in-law.
As for Marguerite, though she must have been aware
that this whim of the King was opposed to every interest
of her husband, of her subjects, even of her child, her
intense and all-absorbing devotion to her brother was
such that she refused to allow any consideration to weigh
with her ; and not only did she give her consent to the
marriage, but did not scruple to have recourse to the
most drastic means to enforce Jeanne's submission to
the royal will.
For the girl, far less complaisant than her parents,
offered the most resolute resistance to Francois's plans.
A petty sovereign, she protested, was no fit match for a
princess ; to marry him would be to degrade herself.
While, when he was presented to her, her whole soul
revolted against the idea of becoming the wife of this
heavy, coarse German, whose manners disgusted her and
whose language she could not understand. And so she
took the liberty of " very humbly entreating the King that
she might not be compelled to marry M. de Cleves."
Francois was at first inclined to be amused at seeing
the spectacle of his little niece laying claim to the
privileges of a woman. He tried coaxing, but in vain ;
threatened her, half -play fully, with his displeasure,
declaring that he would never come to see her again ;
to no purpose. " 1 would rather throw myself into a
well ! " was the girl's reply.
Then he became seriously angry, and, suspicious that
Henri d'Albret had instigated his daughter to revolt,
expressed himself to that effect in violent terms to
Jeanne's gouvernante, Madame de Silly, who hastened to
inform the Queen of Navarre.
335
The Pearl of Princesses
Scarcely able to credit such intelligence, for rebellion
against parental fiats was practically unknown in those
days, while disobedience to the King was nothing short
of treason in her eyes, Marguerite summoned her
daughter to account for the observations which had
provoked the avuncular wrath. To which the young
lady coolly replied that " she had taken the liberty of
speaking frankly to the King, having been in the habit
of saying to him all that she thought and wished."
Alarmed and horrified beyond measure, Marguerite
lost not a moment in writing to the King, to intercede
for her misguided offspring and to exonerate herself
and her husband from all responsibility for such out-
rageous conduct. Here is her letter, than which it
would be difficult to find a more abject epistle :
" MONSEIGNEUR, In my extreme tribulation, I have
but one comfort, which is the certain knowledge that
neither the King of Navarre nor myself have ever had any
other wish or intention than that of obliging you, not
only in the matter of this marriage, but in whatsoever
you might command. But now, Monseigneur, having
heard that my daughter neither recognizing the great
honour you do her in condescending to visit her, nor
the obedience that she owes you, nor yet that a maiden
should have no will of her own has spoken to you so
madly as to say that she begged of you that she might
not be married to M. de Cleves, I know not what to
think, Monseigneur, nor how to address you ; for I am
grieved to the heart, and have neither relative nor friend
in this world to whom I can apply for consolation or
counsel. And the King of Navarre is, on his part, so
amazed and grieved, that never have I seen him before
336
An Abject Epistle
so provoked. I cannot divine whence comes this great
boldness, she never having even mentioned such a desire
to us. She excuses herself towards us, on the plea that
she is more intimate with you than even with ourselves ;
but this intimacy ought not to give rise to such boldness,
without ever, so far as I know, seeking counsel from any
one. For if I could discover the personage who had put
such an idea into her head, I would make so great a
demonstration of my displeasure, as should convince you,
Monseigneur, that this madness has no sanction from her
father and mother, who have never had, and never will
have, any other wish but your own. Knowing therefore,
Monseigneur, that it is your habit rather to pardon errors
than to punish them more particularly when the under-
standing fails, as it has assuredly done in the case of my
unhappy daughter I entreat you very humbly, Mon-
seigneur, that for one unreasonable request which she
has preferred, and which is the first error she has com-
mitted in respect of yourself, you will not withdraw that
paternal favour which you have ever manifested towards
her and ourselves ; but, reflecting on the many per-
fections with which God has endowed you, you will
bear with our infirmities without displeasure. If the
dread of your anger makes your subjects tremble, believe
me, Monseigneur, that it smites us with death ; since
you could not visit us with a more severe punishment
than to withdraw your favour, which we have ever prized
above kingdoms or treasure whatsoever."
It is indeed singular to find the mother who had been
thrown into such despair by her child's illness displaying
not the smallest compunction at causing that child so much
unhappiness. But, as one of her biographers observes,
337 z
The Pearl of Princesses
her servile love for the King seems sometimes to have
acted as a poison, perverting her nature and deadening
her affections, 1 and when she declared, in a subsequent
letter to Frangois, that " she and her husband would
rather have seen their daughter die, as she told them she
should do, than they would have stayed her from going
to the place where she [Marguerite] deemed that she
could do him service," she was not indulging in hyperbole.
Marguerite considered that the noblest lot on earth was
to live or die for the King. Frangois was her religion,
and Jeanne's refusal to sacrifice herself in his interests
seemed to her like an act of sacrilege. 2
Jeanne thought otherwise, and Marguerite, furious at
her daughter's contumacity, proceeded to deal with her
with the relentless severity of a fanatic whose idol has been
outraged ; and ordered Madame de Silly to administer
a daily castigation until her stubborn spirit had been
broken. We know not how many castigations were
administered, or what degree of severity was resorted to ;
but, any way, they altogether failed to effect their purpose ;
and, finding her objections disregarded by Francois and her
parents, the brave little girl adopted the singular expedient
of making a formal protest against her compulsory nup-
tials in a document which she herself drew up and caused
to be witnessed by three officers of her household, to
whom she first read it aloud :
1 Edith Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance,
2 In justice to Marguerite, it should be observed that she appears to
have looked upon Jeanne's aversion to the Duke of Cleves as a mere
childish caprice, and to have considered that, when she had resigned herself
to her husband's table-manners and other Teutonic peculiarities, she
would not be unhappy. The fact that the Duke, though not an avowed
Lutheran, was a protector of the Reformers, no doubt inclined her to
regard him more favourably than she might otherwise have done.
338
Protest of Jeanne d'Albret
" I, Jehanne de Navarre, persisting in the protestations
that I have already made, do hereby again affirm and protest,
before these present, that the marriage which it is desired
to contract between myself and the Duke of Cleves is
against my will ; that I have never consented to it, and
never will consent ; and that all that I may do or say
hereafter, by which it may be attempted to prove that
I have given my consent, will be forcibly extorted against
my wish and desire, from fear of the King, my father,
and of the Queen, my mother, who has threatened me
and had me whipped by the Baillive of Caen, my gouvern-
ante. By the command of the Queen, my mother, my
said gouvernante has several times declared that, should
I not do in regard to this marriage all that the King
requires, and give my consent, I should be so severely
thrashed and maltreated as to bring about my death, and
that, by refusing, I shall be the cause of the total ruin
and destruction of my father, my mother, and all their
House ; the which has inspired me with such fear and
dread particularly, that I should be the cause of the ruin
of my said father and mother that I know of no one
who can succour me save God, seeing that my father and
mother abandon me, who both well know what I have
said to them : that I can never love the Duke of Cleves,
and that I will have none of him. Therefore, I declare
beforehand that should it come to pass that I am affianced
or married to the said Duke of Cleves, in any way or
manner, it will be, and will have been, against my heart
and will ; and that he shall never become my husband,
and that I shall never consider him as such ; and
that the said marriage shall be null, and that I call God
and you to witness thereof, so that you may sign my pro-
testation with me and recognize the force, the violence,
339
The Pearl of Princesses
and constraint which is used towards me in the matter of
this marriage.
'"JEHANNE DE NAVARRE,
J. B. ARRAS,
FRANCES NAVARRO,
."ARNAULD DUQUESSE."
This was pretty daring for a little girl who had only
just completed her twelfth year, and on the day after her
betrothal, she drew up and signed, in the presence of the
same witnesses, another protest, as vehement as the first.
But it did not help her to escape going through a marriage
ceremony with the Teutonic ogre, though she derived
some consolation from the knowledge that the ogre was
returning immediately to his own country, and that she
would not be required to live with him for another three
years.
The marriage took place at Chatelherault with great
eclat, but its importance, in the eyes of the Court, was
somewhat overshadowed by the significance of an
episode which took place in the church, and which was
regarded as heralding the disgrace of the most powerful
personage in the realm.
The intrigues of the palace rather than the humiliation
into which the Constable's almost pathetic trust in the
Emperor's friendship and good faith had led his sovereign
were the cause of Montmorency's fall.
As time went on, the struggle between the parties of
Madame d'Etampes and Diane de Poitiers, with the latter
of which the Constable had so imprudently associated
himself, became more and more envenomed, and both
Francois and the Dauphin found themselves involved in
it. The two ladies began active hostilities in the person
340
Intrigues against Montmorency
of their partisans, "seeming to regard one another as
kings upon a chessboard, who are not attacked until the
principal pieces have been taken." x The Admiral, Cha-
bot de Brion, Madame d'Etampes's principal champion
and long Montmorency's sworn enemy, was accused of
enriching himself in various ways at the expense of the
State. Abandoned by the King, already irritated against
the Admiral by the friendship, a little too tender, which
Madame d'Etampes testified for him, he was brought to
trial before a commission presided over by the Chancellor
Poyet, a creature of Diane and the Constable, who,
notwithstanding the reluctance of some of the judges,
succeeded in securing the condemnation of the accused,
who was deprived of all his dignities, banished from
Court, and mulcted in a fine of 1,500,000 livres.
Montmorency was not allowed much time to rejoice
over the downfall of his rival. The arrest of Chabot had
greatly infuriated Madame d'Etampes, who became from
that moment the implacable enemy of the Constable and
left no means untried to destroy his credit with the King.
While the rapprochement with the Emperor lasted, she
appears to have made but little impression on Mont-
morency's position, for Francois naturally looked to its
author to secure the cession of the Milanese. But when,
in April 1540, the King's eyes were suddenly and rudely
opened to the real value of the Imperial promises, her
task was, of course, immensely facilitated. Already she
had succeeded in alienating father from son, and in per-
suading his Majesty to express to the Dauphin in very
plain language his disapproval of his infatuation for the
Senechale ; and it was not difficult for her to awaken the
King's suspicions in regard to the intimacy between Henri
1 Forneron, les Dues de Guise et leur epoque,
341
The Pearl of Princesses
and Montmorency, declaring her conviction that the Con-
stable had sacrificed his interests to those of his heir, and
secretly connived at the Emperor's duplicity, from a desire
to prevent the aggrandizement of the Due d'Orleans, of
whom his elder brother was jealous. " The Constable is
a great villain/' she exclaimed one day. "He has deceived
the King, telling him that the Emperor would imme-
diately surrender to him the Milanese, when he knew
the contrary."
In her efforts to undermine the Constable's credit, the
favourite was ably seconded by the Queen of Navarre,
justly exasperated by the ingratitude with which Mont-
morency had requited her good offices ; and the persuasions
of his mistress, joined to those of his sister, proved too
strong for the King to resist. His manner towards the
Constable became cold and constrained ; he no longer left
the absolute direction of affairs in his hands, and, when the
Emperor's bestowal of the Milanese upon Don Philip had
destroyed all hope of an accommodation, instructed his
Ambassadors at foreign Courts to address their despatches
in future not to Montmorency, but to himself ; while
not long afterwards he placed the Foreign Office under
the direction of the Chancellor. Finally, the marriage
of Jeanne d'Albret afforded him an opportunity of indi-
cating to the Constable in a singularly humiliating
manner that he had altogether forfeited his sovereign's
favour.
On her wedding-day, the child-bride appeared arrayed
in a robe of cloth-of-gold, so studded with jewels that " it
was a sight to behold," and a violet satin cloak, with an
ermine train of immense length. Determined to show to
the last her aversion to the marriage to which she had
been constrained, when her royal uncle approached to
34 2
Disgrace of the Constable
conduct her to the altar, she complained of feeling unwell
and declared that it was perfectly impossible for her to
walk, on account of the weight of her gilded and be-
jewelled gown. Then the idea occurred to Francois of
exalting the bride of the Emperor's rebellious vassal at the
expense of the Emperor's dupe, before his Court and the
representatives of foreign States, and, turning to Mont-
morency, he ordered him brusquely to carry the princess.
The Constable did not dare to disobey, and the Court
looked on in speechless astonishment, while the Constable
of France, the highest dignitary of the realm, whose privi-
lege it was to bear the sword of State before his sovereign,
was turned into a lackey for a petulant child.
Montmorency did not pretend to misunderstand the
significance of the indignity which had been put upon
him, and, as he returned to his place in the bridal pro-
cession, he was heard to murmur : " Cestfait dtsormais de
faveur ! Adieu luy dit" But his enemies rejoiced exceed-
ingly, and amongst them the Queen of Navarre, whose
tender heart had been hardened by the Constable's un-
worthy efforts to alienate from her her brother's affection
the one offence that she was unable to forgive. " See,"
she whispered to those near her, " he who would have
ruined me in the favour of the King my brother now
serves to carry my daughter to church ! "
Next day, the Constable quitted Chatelherault and
retired to Chantilly, and afterwards to Ecouen, where
he had begun the construction of a magnificent chateau.
Unable, however, to believe that the King intended his
disgrace to be permanent, he solicited, towards the end
of the summer, permission to return to Court, to which
his Majesty replied by a curt refusal, and an intimation
that, if he came without his permission, he would have
343
The Pearl of Princesses
reason to regret it. Several persons ventured to remon-
strate with Frangois on his treatment of Montmorency,
reminding him of the services which the object of his
displeasure had rendered during the last war, and point-
ing out the need which France had of so experienced
a general, at a moment when she was about to measure
swords once more with her redoubtable enemy. But,
thanks to the efforts of Madame d'Etampes, the King
remained inexorable ; and the Constable remained in
disgrace until Henri II ascended the throne.
At the conclusion of the wedding festivities, which
were on the most sumptuous scale, the Duke of Cleves
returned to Germany, and the little bride set out with
her parents for Beam. Hitherto Jeanne had not been
allowed to visit her future dominions, but, now that she
could not marry Philip of Spain, Frangois had no longer
any object to serve in keeping her under his control.
344
CHAPTER XXVI
THE little Court of Beam was not only an asylum for
persecuted Reformers, but the most celebrated literary
centre of the time. Men of letters of all kinds, from
the most erudite of philosophers to the most frivolous
of poets, were sure of a welcome at Pau or Nerac, and
few there were who did not at one time or another avail
themselves of it.
Here might be found Clement Marot, who divided
his time between Marguerite's Court and that of France.
It was to B6arn that he fled after the Affair of the
Placards, before making his way for greater security to
Ferrara and Venice ; and it was owing to the Queen of
Navarre's intercession on his behalf that, in 1536, he
received permission to return to France. Compromised
anew by his famous translation of the Psalms, which the
Protestants had adopted, he was obliged, in 1543, to
resume the road of exile, and in the following year, at
Turin, terminated his life of vicissitudes, leaving to his
patroness, by way of a legacy, a natural daughter, whom
Marguerite placed in a convent which she had founded.
Then there were the two free-thinking scholars, Bona-
venture des Periers and fitienne Dolet, whose presence
at Nerac so scandalized Calvin, when the attentions of
the Sorbonne rendered it advisable for him to accept
Marguerite's hospitality. A born despot, he counten-
anced no form of religion but the one which he himself
had evolved ; and Marguerite's tolerance, which he praised
when directed towards the Calvinists, he regarded as a
345
The Pearl of Princesses
fatal weakness when extended to others. The whole
race of libertins^ or free-thinkers, were outcasts in his eyes,
and, after his departure from Beam, he published a fero-
cious pamphlet, Ex Libertinis, in the course of which he
bitterly reproached the Queen of Navarre for harbouring
Des Periers and Dolet.
" It is impossible," he wrote to her subsequently,
"not to wish that your house should prove worthier
of being the true family of Jesus Christ, instead of
which certain of its members deserve to be called the
slaves of the devil ; his slaves, I repeat, and his
colleagues." Marguerite, deeply hurt, replied accusing
him of want of Christian charity, to which he rejoined
assuring her of his faithful attachment, but protesting
that "he was far from seeking the favour of princes.
It was quite enough for him to have been admitted to
the service of a greater master/' Nevertheless, he had
been glad enough of the protection of princes when his
life was in danger.
It is sad to reflect on the tragic fate which awaited
these two gifted men, though doubtless the Pope of
Geneva considered that they met with nothing less than
their deserts.
Bonaventure des P6riers " le joyeux Bonaventure"
was one of those brilliant, erratic creatures who are at
once the admiration and the despair of their friends.
Born about 1500, he was associated with Lefevre
d'Etaples, Calvin and Olivetan in the first trans-
lation of the Bible into the French language, that
famous translation which was published at Neufchatel
in 1535. But, though he proclaimed himself a champion
of the New Ideas, he was far too much of an
adventurer in thought to be bound by the tenets
346
Bonaventure des P^riers
of any sect, and his reckless sarcasm gave deep
offence to Catholic and Protestant alike. Forced to
leave Paris by the persecution which followed the
Affair of the Placards, he took refuge at Lyons, which
was then a centre of artistic and literary culture,
and a city of refuge for those whose bold views had
rendered residence in the capital unsafe. Here he
assisted Etienne Dolet in the composition of the first
volume of his Commentaries on the Latin language,
defended the exiled Marot, an edition of whose works
he subsequently edited, from the cowardly attacks of
the poet Sagon, the mouthpiece of the Sorbonne, and
foregathered with artists like Philippe Delorme, and
men of letters like Charles Fontaine, Maurice Sceve,
Pelletier, Noel d'Alibert, valet de chambre to the Queen
of Navarre, and Nicolas Bourbon, Jeanne d'Albret's
preceptor. It is also probable that he knew Rabelais,
though there is no record of their having been
acquainted.
Recommended by Alibert and Nicolas Bourbon to
Marguerite, he would appear to have been already on her
pension list for some time when in 1536 he definitely
entered the Queen's service, with the title of va/et de
chambre and secretary, an appointment which he cele-
brated in the rondeau, Trop plus quheureux. He
believed that he had now found "leisure and liberty,"
though he does not seem to have been always very
satisfied with the position which he occupied at the
Court of Beam, which, however, did not prevent him
from bitterly regretting it, when, some years later, he
was so unfortunate as to lose it.
Des Periers's disgrace has been frequently attributed
to the publication, in 1537, of his famous book, the
347
The Pearl of Princesses
Cymbalum Mundi^ a sceptical work in the style of the
Pantagruel of Rabelais, which drew upon him the con-
demnation of Calvin and the Reformers, besides the
wrath of the Sorbonne. This, however, is an error ;
indeed, it was mainly due to Marguerite's protection
that he was permitted to remain unmolested, although
his book was burned by the public executioner and
its printer imprisoned ; and it is certain that, as his
Voyage a lik Barbe proves, he was still in favour in
1539. However, Marguerite appears to have ended by
being scandalized at the opinions of this new Lucian,
or, at any rate, she decided that it would be highly
impolitic to countenance him any longer, and in 1541
he was exiled from Beam and his named erased from
the list of her Household. Des Periers humbled himself,
made confession of his faults, and pleaded piteously for
reinstatement ; but Marguerite was firm, and though it
is believed that she continued to assist him with money,
through one of her ladies, Mile, de Saint-Pather, his
pension was not continued after the autumn of that
year.
Abandoned by his protectress, the unhappy poet
probably fell into poverty, and certainly into despair,
and in 1 544 he committed suicide, by throwing himself
on his sword, it is said, leaving his unpublished writings
to Marguerite " le vray appuy et entretenement des
vertus" as he called her in his last testament.
The career of Etienne Dolet was even more chequered
than that of his friend Des Periers, and ended still more
tragically, which is not surprising, since his capacity for
getting himself into trouble seems to have been alto-
gether abnormal. Born in 1509, at Orleans, a member
of a prosperous middle-class family, he studied at
348
Etienne Dolet
Paris under Nicolas Berauld, afterwards the tutor
of Coligny, and at the age of seventeen proceeded to
the University of Padua, at that time the centre of
classical criticism, where he sat at the feet of the
learned Simon Villovanus and became, like him, an
enthusiastic admirer of Cicero. " Let others choose
other masters," said he, " I approve only of Christ and
Tully ; Christ and Tully are enough for me."
In 1530, he became secretary to Jean de Langeac,
Bishop of Limoges, then Ambassador to the Venetian
Republic, and remained with him for three years.
Then, on the advice of his patron, he went to study
law at the University of Toulouse. Here his pro-
nounced latitudinarian views soon brought him into
collision with the authorities, and eventually he was
banished from the city by a decree of the Parlement.
Shaking the dust of bigoted Toulouse off his feet,
he repaired to the more congenial atmosphere of Lyons,
where he entered the lists against Erasmus, by the
publication of a Dialogus de imitatione Ciceronia, in which
he assailed the great scholar with more vigour and
ability than good taste. This was followed by the publica-
tion in two folio volumes of a Commentary on the
Latin language no mere verbal dictionary, but a classi-
fication of words according to ideas in the first of which
he had the assistance of Bonaventure des Periers. Soon
afterwards, Francois I and his Court happening to pass
through Lyons, Dolet appealed to the King on behalf
of the law-students of the town, who had stirred up
a riot which had resulted in the closing of their schools
by the authorities. This was the occasion of his intro-
duction to the Queen of Navarre, who had accompanied
her brother, and, though he does not appear to have had
349
The Pearl of Princesses
much intercourse with her at the time, she subsequently
invited him to visit her in Beam.
Marguerite proved a good friend to Dolet in many
ways. She assisted him with her purse, as she assisted
so many of her impecunious guests ; she secured a royal
pardon for him when he was forced to flee from Lyons,
for having killed a painter named Compaing, who had
attacked him in a brawl ; and when, in 1538, he decided
to set up a printing-press of his own at Lyons, it was
doubtless she who persuaded the King to grant him the
privilege of printing during ten years any work in Latin,
Greek, Italian, or French which had received his personal
supervision.
For three or four years after he became a printer,
Dolet conducted his business with commendable discre-
tion, and even went so far as to throw a sop to the bigots,
whom he knew were watching him narrowly, by the
publication of a Calo christianus^ or Christian moralist.
But, at length, his natural impulsiveness got the better of
his caution, and a stream of heretical books began to
issue from his press. The consequence was that, in 1542,
he was arrested, brought to trial and condemned ; but
the King's reader, Pierre du Chatel, Bishop of Tulle,
contrived to get the ear of his master, and after fifteen
months in prison he was set at liberty. His enemies,
however, were resolved on his destruction, and soon
afterwards a charge of selling copies of his condemned
books was fabricated against him, and he was again
arrested. He met stratagem with stratagem, succeeded
in effecting his escape, and took refuge in Piedmont.
But, instead of remaining there, he was so imprudent as
to venture back to Lyons, in order to see his little son,
to whom he was tenderly attached, and was recaptured.
350
fitienne Dolet
This time, he was brought to trial in Paris, not on the
former charge, but on a fresh one, that of having changed
the sense of a passage in an apocryphal dialogue of Plato,
which he had translated and printed, into a proclamation
of materialism. He appealed to Marguerite to intercede
for him ; but in such a case she was powerless, and,
having been pronounced guilty of blasphemy and sedition,
he was strangled and burned in the Place Maubert
(August 1546). The story that, on his way to execution,
he composed the punning pentameter : " Non dolet ipse
Dolet, sed pia turba dolet" is of very doubtful authenticity.
It has been the fashion to claim Dolet, to whose
memory a statue was erected in 1889 on the spot where
he had suffered, as the first martyr of free-thought. But,
though he was repudiated by Calvin, who accused him of
having uttered " execrable blasphemies against the Son of
God," and he is known to have detested the Lutherans,
whom he stigmatized as " that foolish sect, led away by a
pernicious passion for notoriety," the religious character of
a large number of the books which he translated or printed
renders it very doubtful whether he ought to be regarded
as a Rationalist in the modern acceptation of the term.
Of less distinction than the writers we have mentioned,
but, nevertheless, of considerable prominence in the
literary world of their time, were Marguerite's secre-
tary, Antoine le Ma^on, the translator of Boccaccio's
Decameron ; 1 Marot's friend, Victor Brodeau, and Jehan
Frotte, the author of some pretty verses, both of whom
occupied similar posts ; while on the list of the Queen's
valets de chambre figure the names of Jean de la Haye,
1 This translation was undertaken at Marguerite's special request, as
Le Ma9on tells us in his dedication to her, and has always been con-
sidered one of the ablest literary works of the period.
35 1
The Pearl of Princesses
who published ks Marguerite de la Marguerite ; Antoine
du Moulin, author and translator, who edited the works
both of Marot and Bonaventure des Periers, and Claude
Gruget, who edited, in 1559, the second edition of the
Heftameron} Among other intimates of Marguerite
were Nicolas Denisot and Jacques Pelletier, who, like
Des Periers, endeavoured to introduce into French poetry
the metrical verses of the ancients, and the learned Nico-
las Bourbon, to whom the Queen confided the education
of her daughter.
Marguerite d'Angouleme, so enlightened and so
generous a patroness of literature and men of letters, was
herself one of the most distinguished women of letters
whom France has produced. Her work, which was very
considerable, falls into three divisions : her letters, her
poems, and the collection of nouvelles, or tales, on which her
literary reputation chiefly rests the famous Heptameron.
Her letters, of which sufficient have already been
cited in this volume to render it needless to discuss them
at length, are naturally of the first importance, both for
the light which they throw upon the events of her time
and for determining the character of the writer. In
purely literary interest, however, they are greatly inferior
to her efforts in both poetry and fiction ; for the age of
accomplished women letter-writers was not yet, and it is
almost painful to compare their interminable sentences,
and their laboured, ceremonious style, with the simple,
natural language of Madame de Sevigne or Madame de
Maintenon.
1 There was, of course, no question of these valets de chambre per-
forming any of the ordinary duties of that office, such services as were
required of them being of a purely literary character.
35 2
Marguerite's Poetical Work
Much of Marguerite's poetical work, which is very
voluminous, is disfigured by the same faults which we
find in her letters. A number of her poems were collected
and published in 1547 by Jean de la Haye, under the
attractive title of les Marguerite de Marguerite des prin-
cesses^ tres illustre Royne de Navarre. These included,
besides le Miroir de rAme pecheresse, already twice pub-
lished separately, another piece of about the same length
as the Miroir and of somewhat similar character, entitled
Oraison de F Ame fidele a son Seigneur Dieu, and a shorter
Oraison a Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ; four so-called
"comedies," or, rather, mystery-plays, on the Nativity ;
a poem something in the style of the Miroir, but much
superior to it, le Triomphe de F Agneau ; a number of
chansons spirituelles ; four epitres addressed to Francois 1,
and a fifth to the King of Navarre ; a secular comedy,
entitled les Quatre Dames et les Quatre Gentilhommes,
composed of long and rather tedious monologues ; a
farce, Trop^ Prou [much], Peu> Moins, and a long love-
poem called la Coche y dedicated to the Duchesse
d'Etampes. An excellent edition of the Marguerites was
published in 1873, with an introduction by M. Felix
Franck.
With the exception of a spiritual poem, le Miroir de
Jesus-Christ crucifie the last work of the Queen's pen
which was published the year following her death by a
priest named Olivier, to whom she had entrusted the
manuscript, with a dedication to her well-loved niece
Madame Marguerite ; an eclogue, which appeared in
1 553, and two farces, le Malade and rinquisiteur, published
in the appendix to the first volume of Le Roux de
Lincj-'s edition of the Heptameron, most of the remainder
of Marguerite's verse remained in manuscript until 1896,
353 AA *$\L
The Pearl of Princesses
when M. Abel Lefranc published les Dernieres poesies
de Marguerite cT Angouleme. This new collection, which
o d
is of a very interesting character, consisted of verses,
epistles, and "comedies " ; les Prisons^ a long allegorical
poem of that amorous religious tendency so characteristic
of the time ; some miscellaneous verse ; and a poem, le
Navire, expressive of her despair at her brother's death.
Marguerite's longer poems make, as a rule, somewhat
tedious reading, for the tradition of her day was a dull
one, and she was more intellectual than poetic. This is
particularly the case with her religious verse, which is,
besides, not always easy to understand ; but to characterize
it in a lump as a " mystical rhodomontade," as does
Madame Darmesteter, is altogether too sweeping a con-
demnation. The Triomphe de P Agneau^ for example,
contains passages of singular beauty, and the same may
be said of some of her chansons spirituelles.
In her lighter verse, her pen often had its sprightly
moods, and in these was very charming indeed. Take,
for instance, her recipe for Life
Trois onces faut prendre de patience ;
Puis de repos et paix de conscience
II en faut bien la livre entiere . . .
Pomme d'amour faut prendre, mais bien peu
De moquerie une once, voire deux . . .
Finally, we come to the . book on which, as we have
said, the literary reputation of Marguerite chiefly rests,
the collection of Nouvelles which, when it was first pub-
lished, in a mutilated form, nine years after its author's
death, bore the not very appropriate title of mistoirc
des Amants fortunes^ but which is known to fame by the
name chosen by Claude Gruget, the editor of the greatly-
improved edition of 1559, that of r Hep tarn tr on.
354
The Heptameron
Constructed, as this title indicates, on the lines of
Boccaccio's Decameron, the book consists of seven com-
plete days of ten tales each and an eighth of two tales
only, death having prevented Marguerite from carrying
out her original intention, as announced in the Prologue,
of presenting us with a French Decameron.
Marguerite's enthusiastic English biographer, Martha
Freer, misled apparently by the constant repetition of
the names Argentan and Alen^on, and yet more perhaps
by a laudable, if mistaken, desire to remove what she
considers a stain upon an otherwise spotless career,
has committed herself to the bold assertion that the
Heptameron is the work of Marguerite's thoughtless
youth, written when she was about nineteen, that is to
say, soon after her marriage to the Due d'Alen^on. With
all respect for one of the most conscientious and pains-
taking writers of historical biography which England
has produced, we feel bound to express the opinion that
Miss Freer 's early-Victorian modesty prevented her from
making more than a very perfunctory examination of a
work which she stigmatizes as "a closed book in these
days [1854]" ; otherwise, she must have recognized, as
we shall presently show, that the Heptameron abounds in
evidence that it was the product of the Queen of
Navarre's mature years.
But this error is more pardonable than the sweeping con-
demnation which she proceeds to pass upon Marguerite's
book. "To suit the licentious tastes of the age," she
writes, " Marguerite condescended, in these tales, to do
violence to every principle and virtue which then, and
always throughout her life, adorned her character. It is
lamentable to behold the mental and religious falling
away in the mind of one so gifted with right perception
355
The Pearl of Princesses
which these tales exhibit. A vague consciousness of the
sin and folly of her compliance with the perverted tastes
of the corrupt age evidently often stole across the mind of
the Duchesse d'Alen^on. This is forcibly demonstrated
in the ingenious method by which the duchess almost
invariably winds up her narratives, by moral and religious
reflections and pious warnings against the wickedness she
has been so wittily portraying, as if she would, by this
means, tranquillize her conscience and deceive herself into
a palliation of the sin she was committing."
This tirade would be amusing did it not reveal so
painful an inability to understand one of the most striking
characteristics of the French Renaissance, of which Mar-
guerite is so typical a representative : the blending of
religiosity and voluptuousness.
But let us listen to another biographer of Marguerite's
own sex, Madame Darmesteter :
" The peculiarity of the Heplamtron is its union of an
ideal of chivalry, honour, and religion with an entire
absence of the moral sense. Piety is an affair of the
thoughts, the opinions, the ideas, possibly a matter for
one's own personal life and soul. That it should attempt
to regulate the lives of others would be to fall into the
deadly sin of pride. Mystical as Marguerite ever is, she is
naturally lenient to the grosser sins ; for all her esoteric
dogmas go to prove, firstly, that the sins of the body are
of small account compared with the sins of the soul, such
as pride and deadness of spirit ; and, secondly, that the
soul exists only in its relations to the idea of God, and
that it has no duties and no relations to the external
world. The militant and responsible side of virtue is
dead in such a soul." \
356
The Heptamdron
In fact, as Gnin and Sainte-Beuve have both pointed
out, there is really nothing in the Heptamtron which is
at variance with Marguerite's life and natural habits of
thought. Gross it certainly is, but then what book
which purported to portray the manners and morals of
that age could be otherwise ? Yet it is much less gross
than its Italian prototype there is none of that gloating
over licentious episodes which may be found there much
less gross than the Cent Nouvelles nouveHes, from which,
by the way, Marguerite borrowed the plot of at least one
story ; and it compares very favourably in this respect
with many works of the sixteenth century, notably, with
Brantome and Rabelais, and even with some parts of
Shakespeare. Further, its grossness is to a large extent
redeemed by qualities which are entirely absent from the
works of Boccaccio or Castiglione.
Boccaccio's immortal tales are supposed to be related by
a party of ladies and gentlemen who have sought refuge
in a country-house in the environs of Florence to escape
from the contagion of the Black Death, then ravaging
that city. Marguerite has chosen a less lugubrious setting,
though not without its element of tragedy.
The author tells us, in her Prologue, that at the begin-
ning of September, "when the hot springs of the
Pyrenees begin to enter upon their virtues," a number
of persons of quality, both French and Spanish, had
assembled at Cauterets, " some to drink the waters,
others to bathe, and others again to make trial of the
mud." But when the time came for them to return
home, the rain set in with such severity that "it seemed
as though God had forgotten His promise to Noah never
to destroy the world again" ; and they found their roads,
especially those on the French side of the mountains,
357
The Pearl of Princesses
rendered well-nigh impassable by the rising of the Gave
Barnais and other rivers. Some of the travellers were
drowned in attempting to cross the swollen torrents ; but
an elderly widow. Dame Oisille, succeeded, after losing
most of her attendants and horses, in making her way in
. safety to the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Serrance, where
she was presently joined by five gentlemen and four
ladies, who had met en route with divers tragic adven-
tures, with bears, brigands, and so forth.
The little company of refugees thus numbers ten
persons, both sexes being equally represented, as required
for the author's purpose, and is composed as follows :
Oisille, already mentioned ; a married couple, Hircan
and Parlamente ; Longarine, a lady whose husband had
been killed in the affray with the brigands ; two young
gallants, Dagouin and Saffredant ; two demoiselles,
Ennasuite and Nomerfide ; Simontault, gentleman-in-
waiting to Oisille and the tres affectueux serviteur of
Parlamente ; and Geburon, a gentleman older and more
discreet than his male companions.
Each of these persons is supposed to represent a dis-
tinct type of character. Hircan is depicted as fond of
his wife Parlamente, to whom, however, he makes no
pretence of fidelity. He is, in fact, a pronounced liber-
tine and of a somewhat rough and ruthless general
character, and is doubtless intended to personify the
vRabelaisian cynicism of the French Renaissance move-
ment, the attempt to make nature and freedom the sole
standards of human conduct. "You would fain," his
wife tells him, " have neither God nor law other than
your own desires might set up." "'Dagoucin shows us
the warm, impulsive Platonic idealism of youth. " He
would rather die than do aught to offend the conscience
358
The Heptameron
of his lady." ^iHis friend Saffredant, wild and reckless,
but not unlovable, represents that blending of amorous
licence with chivalrous devotion so characteristic of the
French Renaissance. ^Simontault, not quite the equal
in rank of his associates, is a merry fellow, though with
a strong vein of sentiment in him, and is a proficient at
airy badinage. " Of a truth," says he, in reference to the
story of a gentleman who, being "disdained in marriage,"
had, in his despair, become a monk, and had resisted all
the efforts of his repentant lady-love to persuade him to
return to the world, " of a truth, I think he did wisely ;
for who has well considered the marriage state will not
esteem it less vexatious than an austere devotion, and he,
so greatly weakened by fasts and abstinences, feared
to take upon him such a lifelong burden." Finally,
Geburon represents knightly experience, and passions
which have cooled with the passing years.
With the exception of ^Hircan, it cannot be said that
any of the male characters are very firmly drawn. The
women, however, are much more distinct, and bear the
unmistakable impress of a feminine hand.
J Oisille, who, in deference to her age, rank, and
unblemished reputation, is regarded with great respect
by the rest of the company, and accepted as a kind of
mistress both of the revels and of more serious matters,
represents chiefly the religious side of the French Renais-
sance, in so far as it was a compound of Protestant
teaching with Romish ritual. Of all that is purest and
best in the Old Religion she is a staunch upholder ; she
is even ready to defend practices which, though derided
by the Reformers, are at any rate harmless ; and when
Dagou^in describes as " poor simpletons " those who
carry candles to the shrines of the saints, she answers that
359
The Pearl of Princesses
" those who least know how to tell it are often those who
feel the most the love of God and of His will." J But
she is merciless towards the grosser superstitions, and she
denounces in scathing terms the corruption of the clergy,
and particularly of the monks. With all her piety and
virtue, Oisille is a thorough woman of the world ; and,
as such, she accepts the conventional gallantry of the
time, and it is only on occasion that she ventures a mild
protest against the very free stories and sentiments of her
companions. She possesses, however, a singular talent
for drawing an edifying conclusion from the most
unedifying narrative, and never loses an opportunity of
impressing upon her audience that every example of
human frailty only goes to prove that strength to resist
temptation should be sought in Heaven, and not on
earth.
J Parlamente, apparently devoted to her somewhat
churlish husband Hircan, yet, at the same time, by no
means wholly averse to the devotion of Simontault, is a
very charming character, perfectly virtuous, if a trifle
coquettish, vivacious, witty, cultured and refined ; in a
word, an admirable representative of the intellectual side
of the Renaissance. y
The recently widowed Longarine, discreetly unhappy
for her dead husband, but willing enough to be consoled
by Saffredant, is an amiable, modest young woman with
a tender heart, in which the sufferings of others awaken
a quick response. She may be considered to typify the
average well-bred, well-conducted woman of the time.
Ennasuite and Nomerfide seem to stand for what may
be called the Radical side of the Renaissance movement,
in which revolt against the religious discipline of Rome
vented itself in an unseemly license of speech and indif-
360
The Heptamcron
ference to high principles. The first is a haughty
damsel, with a sovereign disdain for the " lower orders " ;
the second a merry, high-spirited girl, "the youngest
and maddest of us all." She it is who relates the one
really objectionable tale in the book.
The identity of these ten personages has naturally
been provocative of much speculation among the various
editors and critics of the Heptameron. But, without going
quite so far as Dr. George Saintsbury, who stigmatizes
the results of their efforts as " the idlest conjecture," and
"puerile guesswork," we cannot think they have been
particularly successful. To assert, for instance, that
Oisille is intended for Louise of Savoy, as does M. Felix
Frank, 1 would seem to argue a very imperfect acquaint-
ance with the character of the mother of Francois I,
which was certainly very little consistent with some of
the sentiments expressed by that personage ; and when
we fincTfhree distinguished critics, in Le Roux de Lincy,
Frank and Madame Darmesteter, identifying Simontault
with three separate persons so entirely different as Bran-
tome's father, Francois de Bourdeille, Henri d'Albret and
Clement Marot, and at variance again in regard to the
identity of Nomerfide and Saffredant, it would seem that,
whoever these characters may have been intended to
represent, Marguerite did not wish them to be recog-
nized. At the same time, it is only fair to observe that
1 M. Felix Frank further identifies Parlamente with Marguerite
herself; Hircan with Henri d'Albret; Longarine with Aimee de la
Fayette, Dame de Silly, Jeanne d'Albret's gouvernante ; Ennasuite with
Anne de Vivonne, Dame de Bourdeille ; Simontault with Fra^ois de
Bourdeille ; Dago^in with Nicolas Dangu, Abbe de Juilly ; Nomerfide
with Isabeau d'Albret, and Saffredant with that lady's husband, Ren6
de Rohan ; M. Frank's arguments are highly ingenious, but, save in
one or two instances, scarcely convincing.
3 6i
The Pearl of Princesses
practically all authorities agree that Ennasuite is Bran-
tome's grandmother, Anne de Vivonne, Dame dt
Bourdeille, who, her grandson tells us, was one oi
the " devisantes " of the Heptameron ; and we think that
a very strong case has been made out by Imbert de
^ Saint-Airland and Madame Darmesteter for their con-
clusion that, in the character of Oisille, the Queen oi
Navarre meant to draw her own likeness.
When the fugitives from the floods assembled at the
Abbey of Notre-Dame de Serrance had ended relating to
each other their adventures, and had returned thanks to
God, who, " contenting Himself with the servants, had
saved the masters and mistresses," they made inquiries as
to the possibility of continuing their homeward journey ;
and, on learning that the Gave was still rising, and that a
long time must elapse before it was again fordable, they
resolved to build a bridge. The abbot, says the author,
with whom that holy man was evidently no favourite,
was very pleased that they should go to this expense,
/since the bridge would increase the number of pilgrims
to his monastery ; but, though he furnished workmen,
" his avarice did not suffer him to pay anything." The
workmen reported that the bridge could not be finished
in less than ten or twelve days, whereupon the company
began to cast about them for some means of passing the
time of waiting as pleasantly as possible. All are agreed
that to spend nearly a fortnight without a pastime would
be altogether insupportable ; and the madcap Nomerfide
goes so far as to declare that were she a single day
without amusement, she would be found dead in the
morning. To avert this catastrophe, Hircan and all the
gentlemen entreat Oisille, as the eldest of the party, to
find them some occupation at once " pleasant and
362
The Heptameron
virtuous." To which request that pious lady replies in
a speech which we shall make no apology for giving at
length, since it appears to dispose very effectually of the
contention of M. Felix Frank and others that Oisille is
intended to personify Louise of Savoy, and, at the same
time, to confirm the opinion of those who see in her none
other than the author herself :
" My children, you ask me a thing I find very difficult,
to teach you a pastime that may deliver you from
weariness ; for, having sought such a remedy all my life,
I have never found but one, which is the reading of the
Holy Scriptures, wherein is found the true and perfect
joy from which repose and bodily health proceed. And,
if you ask me to tell you the recipe which keeps me
at my age so joyous and so healthy, it is that so soon as
I rise in the morning, I open the Holy Scriptures and
read therein, seeing and contemplating the will of God,
who sent His Son for our sake into this world to
announce His Holy Word and glad tidings, whereby
He promises remission from our sins and the full dis-
charge of all our debts, by the gift of His love, His
passion, and His martyrdom. When I meditate upon
this, I am so filled with joy that, taking up my Psalter, I
sing in my heart and say with my mouth the beautiful
canticles and psalms which the Spirit of God composed
in the heart of David and of other writers. And the
satisfaction that I find therein so consoles me that all the
evils that my days may bring seem to me as benedic-
tions ; forasmuch as in faith I keep in my heart even
Him who for my sake hath borne them all. In like
manner, before supper, I retire and pasture my soul in
some holy lesson ; while, at night, I call to mind my
363
The Pearl of Princesses
doings of the day, seek forgiveness for what I have done
amiss, and praise God for His mercies. And in His
love, and fear, and peace, I take my rest, assured against
all evils. There, my children, you behold the pastime
which, for long enough, has sufficed me, who, having
made trial of all things, have found in none of them
satisfaction for the spirit. Perchance, if every morning
you would read in the Scriptures for an hour, and after-
wards say your prayers devoutly during Mass, you would
find in this desert the beauty which one may find in
every place. For he who knows God sees all things fair
in Him ; and, afar from Him, there is naught save
uncomeliness. Wherefore I pray you accept my counsel,
if you would live in gladness."
However, this gay company is unable to resign itself
absolutely to so austere a regimen, and Hircan, on behalf
of the gentlemen, proposes a division of their time
between the sacred and the profane, that is to say, that
Oisille should read to them in the morning from the New
Testament, and that between dinner and vespers they
should choose " some pastime which shall be pleasant to
the body and yet not hurtful to the soul." Oisille
rejoins that, since she had been at pains to forget every
kind of worldly pleasure, she fears that she would suc-
ceed but ill in the choice of such a diversion ; and it is
therefore agreed that Parlamente shall choose for them.
Parlamente thereupon gives her decision in favour of
story-telling. " I think," she says, " that there is not
one of you who has not read the Hundred Tales of
Boccaccio, lately translated from the Italian into French. 1
1 Marguerite is here alluding to Antoine le Maon's famous transla-
tion, which was published in 1545.
3 6 4
The Heptameron
So highly were these esteemed by the Very Christian
King Francois, first of the name, Monseigneur le
Dauphin, Madame la Dauphine, and Madame Marguerite, 1
that could Boccaccio only have heard from the place
where he lay the praises of such illustrious persons, they
would have raised him from the dead. Now I heard not
leng since that the two ladies of whom I have spoken,
together with several others of the Court, deliberated to
do as much only in one thing differing from Boccaccio,
that they would write no tale that was not veritable
history. And the said ladies, and Monseigneur le
Dauphin with them, undertook to tell ten stories each
and to assemble in all ten persons from amongst those
whom they judged most capable of relating something.
But students and men of letters were excepted, for
Monseigneur le Dauphin would not allow of them being
brought in, fearing lest the flowers of their rhetoric
should in somewise prove injurious to the truth of
their tales. But the weighty matters in which the King
has since engaged the peace with England, 2 the bringing
to bed of Madame la Dauphine, 3 and many other matters
of a nature to engross the whole Court, caused the
1 Monseigneur le Dauphin and Madame la Dauphine are Fra^ois Fs
second son Henri (afterwards Henri II) and Catherine de' Medici, who
assumed these titles on the death of the Dauphin Fra^ois in August
1536. Opinions differ as to who is meant by Madame Marguerite.
Some authorities think that the author is referring to herself, the Queen
of Navarre being usually called thus at her brother's Court ; others that
Marguerite de France, youngest daughter of Fra^ois I, married in
1559 to Emmanuel Philibert X, Duke of Savoy, is intended.
2 Two of the best authorities on the Heptameron, MM. Montaiglon
and Dillaye, are of opinion that a word or two is deficient in the manu-
script, and that the writer intends to imply the rupture of the peace
with England in 1543.
8 Catherine de' Medici gave birth to her first child, the future
Fran9ois II, at Fontainebleau on January 19, 1543.
365
The Pearl of Princesses
enterprise to be forgotten entirely. By reason, however,
of our now great leisure, it can be accomplished in ten days
while we wait for our bridge to be completed. If it
pleased you, we might go every day from noon till four
of the clock into yonder pleasant meadow beside the
River Gave. The trees there are so leafy that the sun
can neither penetrate the shade nor change the coolness
to heat. Seated there at our ease, we might each one
tell a story of something we have ourselves seen or
heard related by one worthy of belief. At the end of
ten days we shall have completed the hundred -, 1 and
if God wills it that our work be found worthy in the
eyes of the lords and ladies of whom I have made
mention, we will, on our return from this journey,
present them with it in lieu of images and paternosters,
and feel assured that they will esteem this to be a more
pleasant gift. If, however, any one can devise some plan
more agreeable than mine, I will fall in with his opinion.'*
Parlamente's speech is very important, since it enables
us to determine with some approach to certainty the
date at which the Prologue of the Heptameron was written.
Too much attention need not be paid to the date of
Lc Mason's publication of his translation of Boccaccio,
since it appears to have been circulated at the Court in
manuscript long before it was printed. But those of
the important events which caused the literary plans of
the Dauphin and Dauphine to be abandoned prove con-
clusively that the Prologue could not have been written
XA before 1 544 ; and the general opinion now is that
Marguerite began writing the book during her residence
at Alen^on in the spring of that year. Of course, it is
quite possible that the Queen may already have had laid by
1 This plainly indicates that it was Marguerite's original intention to
write a Decamtron.
366
The Heptameron
several of the tales which appear in it, since story-telling
was a fashionable diversion of the time. Even, however,
if such were the case, it is very improbable that any of
them were the work of her youth, since her first husband,
^the Due d'Alen^on, is always spoken of as dead (1525) ;
more than one reference is made to the death of the
\Dauphin Francois (1536), and the future Henri II and
Catherine de' Medici are usually called Monseigneur le
Dauphin and Madame la Dauphine. Marguerite was
still engaged upon the book down to a year or so before
her death, as an amusing adventure which befell Jeanne
d'Albret and her husband, Antoine de Bourbon, Due de
Vendome, who were married in September 1548, forms
the subject of one of the last tales.
And, if we admit, as we can hardly refuse to do, that
the Heptameron^ with the possible exception of a few
tales, was written subsequently to the spring of 1544,
what becomes of the theory of Charles Nodier, based on
the untrustworthy testimony of the Abbe Goujet and a
supposed similarity of style between the Heptameron and
the Cymbalum Mundi, that it is the work of Bonaventure
des Periers ? For Des Periers, as we know, died in 1544,
and he had been exiled from Marguerite's Court three
years earlier. But, even if dates did not furnish a
complete answer to Nodier's contention, could any one
reasonably believe that the Heptameron^ which combines
^with its grossness a tone of almost unctuous piety, was
penned by an unbeliever ?
That one or more of the Queen of Navarre's literary
entourage^ or of her personal friends, may have had a
hand in the book is, of course, not only possible, but
even probable. 1 But that the tales in the main and the
1 We ourselves find it very difficult to believe that that singularly
unpleasant story which describes the misadventure of Madame dc Ronex
367
The Pearl of Princesses
whole of the intermediate discussions by far the most
interesting and valuable portion of the Heptameron are
Marguerite's work cannot, we think, be doubted. All
tradition, all authority, is on her side, from Claude
Gruget, who gave the book its title, and Brantome, who
tells us that his grandmother held the ink-horn for
Queen Marguerite as she wrote the tales, journeying in
her litter about the country, to distinguished modern
critics like Le Roux de Lincy, Paul Lacroix ( " the
Bibliophile Jacob "), and Felix Frank.
Parlamente's proposal is received with acclamation by
all the company, who declare that it was not possible to
give better advice. Early next morning they all repair
to Oisille's chamber, where they find that pious lady
already at her devotions. They listen to her reading for
a full hour, then piously hear Mass, and at ten o'clock 1
go to dinner. After dinner they withdraw each to his
own apartment ; but at noon they all assemble in the
meadow by the river, " which was so fair and pleasant
that it would need a Boccaccio to describe it as it really
was." And when they have seated themselves on the
grass, "which was so fine and soft that they needed
neither cushion nor carpet," Simontault opens the pro-
ceedings by relating the tragic story of " the misdeeds
of the proctor's wife who had a bishop for her gallant."
in the Franciscan monastery at Moulins (Nouve'lle XIV), and which
Oisille, with only too much justice, stigmatizes as "a dirty and dis-
agreeable tale," can have been written by Marguerite. It was very
probably written by some personal friend, and included by the Queen
of Navarre in her collection in deference to the wishes of its author and
against her better judgment.
1 At this period ten o'clock was the dinner-hour of the Court and the
upper classes.
368
The Heptam^ron
The nouvelles, or rather the subjects, are not very easy
to classify. A good many are consecrated to the decep-
tions practised by wives on husbands, or husbands on
wives, and occasionally by lovers on both. Another large
division is composed of stories to the discredit of the
monks, and especially of the Cordeliers, or Franciscans,
an Order whose brutal antipathy to learning, no less than
their gross immorality, rendered them highly obnoxious
to Marguerite and her friends, though the Queen was
ready enough to recognize merit when she found it
among them, and it was a Franciscan who administered
to her the last consolations of religion. Nor are the
secular clergy spared, though they escape more lightly.
Not a few stories refer to well-known persons of the
time, who are sometimes mentioned by name, while at
others their identity is veiled under disguises which are
not difficult to penetrate. Thus, the amours of Francois 1
furnish material for more than one story, as does the
pursuit of Marguerite herself by the audacious Bonnivet.
Some deal with celebrated crimes, like the murder of
Alessandro de' Medici by his cousin Lorenzaccio
(Nouvelle XII). The most pathetic, perhaps the only
truly pathetic, story in the book, is that of the wife
of the muleteer of Amboise, who preferred death to
dishonour (Nouvelle II).
Each story is followed by a discussion in which the
whole of the company take part. Some approve the
conduct of the hero or the heroine ; others condemn it
severely. There are paradoxical opinions and judicious
ones. The men, and particularly Hircan, often hold
morality very cheap ; but the ladies, led by Oisille, pro-
test in the name of virtue. " The experienced widow is
the soul of the reunion. She regulates the order of the
369
The Pearl of Princesses
tales ; she is the court of last resort in delicate questions
and the most arduous problems of sentimental casuistry ;
she formulates the most serious reflections on human
frailty, the inconsiderate ardour of youth, and the illu-
sions ot hope." l At four o'clock the monastery bell
rings for vespers, the seance terminates, and the company
repair to the chapel, though, if an interesting point is
being debated, the monks have to wait for them. How-
ever, they do not complain, but sometimes hide behind
the hedge to listen to the stories.
These stories, with rare exceptions, are not of a high
order of interest, nor is the author's style particularly
attractive. Some of the longer ones are too much drawn
out, overcharged with useless details ; there is not a
living portrait in any of them a prince " si charmant
que uhcques ne vis ; a lady " la plus belle que se puisse ren-
contrer" and so forth there is little either of real
humour or of true pathos. But, when the general colour
and tone of the stories is taken in connexion with the
tenor of the intermediate conversations, which form
so striking a feature of the book, the Heptameron must be
\regarded as a most remarkable work and as the most
complete literary exponent of the close of the French
Renaissance which exists.
In 1559, nine years after the author's death, one Pierre
Boaistuau gathered together the tales of the Queen of
Navarre, already familiar in manuscript to the Court, and
published them under the title of les Amans forlunez.
The editor dedicated his work to Marguerite de Bourbon,
Duchesse de Nevers, but he carefully avoided naming
Marguerite as the author of these nouvelles. The text,
however, was much mutilated, and all the passages in
1 Imbert de Saint-Amand, les Femmes de la cour des derniers Valois.
37
\
The Heptameron
which Marguerite expounded her own views on religion,
and even some of the stories which Boaistuau considered
too heretical for safety, were ruthlessly suppressed. In
the following year, Claude Gruget brought out another
edition, in which he restored the order of the tales and
some of the text suppressed by Boaistuau. Moreover,
he acknowledged Marguerite as the author of this un-
finished Decameron, which he entitled I* Heptameron des
N ouvelles de tres illustre et tres excellente princesse, Marguerite
de Valois, Royne de Navarre, and dedicated to her daughter,
Jeanne d'Albret. " I should not have presumed,
Madame," he says in his dedication, " to present to you
this book of nouvelles, composed by the late queen, your
mother, if her name had not been omitted or excluded
in the first edition of her work, and the entire plan of the
narratives so changed that they cannot be recognized as
the same composition." Gruget's work, of which an
English translation appeared in 1654, obtained a greaf
success, but though the next two centuries saw the publi-
cation of numerous new editions of the Heptameron, it was
not until that of the Societe des Bibliophiles Fran^ais
appeared in 1853, under the auspices of M. Le Roux
de Lincy, that justice may be said to have been done to
the style and sentiments of the Queen of Navarre. Of
several modern English translations, infinitely the best is
that of the Society of the English Bibliophilists, pub-
lished in 1892, in five volumes, from the text of Le Roux
de Lincy's work, illustrated by the original engravings
designed by Freudenberger, and the head- and tail-pieces
by Dunker, and to which Dr. George Saintsbury has
contributed an Introduction, in which his profound know-
ledge and fine critical discrimination have seldom been
more happily displayed.
371
CHAPTER XXVII
DURING the winter which followed her daughter's
marriage, the Queen of Navarre's attention was chiefly
occupied by ecclesiastical disputes in Beam. Although
since the Affair of the Placards Marguerite had been less
fervent in the expressions of her sympathy with the
Reformers, she had continued to protect them, and the
new doctrines had made considerable progress in the
principality. This progress was largely due to the teach-
ing of Gerard Roussel, for whom the Queen had obtained
the bishopric of Oloron. That Marguerite should have
ventured to recommend to the Holy See for episcopal
honours a divine who had notoriously departed from the
ritual of Rome, and had twice been brought to trial for
heresy, is remarkable enough ; but what is still more
extraordinary, is that Paul III should have sanctioned the
appointment, and that, though, after his consecration,
Roussel continued his unorthodox practices, notably, the
administration of the Holy Sacrament in both kinds to the
laity, no attempt was made to remove him. But Roussel's
sincere piety, large-hearted charity and sweetness of dis-
position, even more than his eloquence and learning, had
gained him numberless friends, even among those who
differed from him in doctrine ; and his metropolitan, the
Bishop of Lescar, himself a member of the House of
Albret, was a supple prelate, who paid the Queen the most
assiduous court, and carefully refrained from any inter-
ference with those who enjoyed her protection.
Some of the bishops, however, whose sees lay wholly
372
Marguerite and the Bishop of Condom
or in part within the states of the King of Navarre were
not disposed to show so much complaisance. Chief
among these was Erard de Grossoles, Bishop of Condom,
one of the most zealous champions of the Papacy in the
South of France, who aspired to play in Beam and
Gascony a similar role to that which Beda had under-
taken in Paris. Some two years before, the bishop had
delivered a violent harangue from the pulpit of his
cathedral, in which he denounced the proceedings of the
Bishop of Oloron, and boldly attacked the orthodoxy,
not only of the King and Queen of Navarre, but of
Francois I himself. Marguerite thereupon caused
information to be laid against Grossoles, and he was
temporarily suspended from his episcopal functions, and
summoned to Paris to clear himself of the charge against
him. The Queen besought her brother to compel the
bishop to resign his see and bestow it on her friend the
Cardinal du Bellay, " the poorest cardinal in his do-
minions " ; but, as the Council was opposed to the
punishment of a prelate merely for excess of zeal for the
Faith, Grossoles escaped with an admonition, and was
allowed to return to his diocese. Here, encouraged by
his partial vindication, it was not long before he resumed
his denunciations of Roussel and of his royal protectors,
upon which Marguerite again made representations to
the King and urgently demanded the removal of " him
who was converting the Holy Word of God into a cause
for disobedience towards superiors and of noisy pulpit
declamation."
In accordance with his sister's request, Francois nomi-
nated two commissioners to proceed to Bordeaux and
investigate the charges against the Bishop of Condom,
promising that, whatever might be their decision, the
373
The Pearl of Princesses
turbulent prelate should be translated to some distant
diocese.
Grossoles, however, was the head of a comparatively
small, but exceedingly fanatical, party in Beam and Gas-
cony ; and during the interval between the announcement
of the appointment of the Commissioners and their arrival,
his adherents made desperate efforts to induce the Queen
of Navarre to stay the proceedings. Arguments and even
threats proving futile, some of the more fanatical spirits
among them resolved to go farther, and began conspiring
against her life. Word was brought to the King of Navarre
of a plot to poison his consort on Christmas Day, during
the celebration of High Mass, by, so it was alleged,
burning deadly drugs in the censers which were to be
wafted round her, in homage to her sovereign dignity,
after incense had been offered at the altar. Whether this
was the actual form which the attempt against the Queen
was to take may be doubted ; but it is certain that an
extensively organized conspiracy existed, and that several
persons of rank were concerned in it, among whom was
the Baron de Lescure, who had long been distinguished
for his bitter criticism of Marguerite's encouragement of
the Reformers. The King of Navarre gave orders for
the baron's arrest, but, warned in time, the latter suc-
ceeded in effecting his escape, and took refuge in Spain.
An arrest, however, which was apparently of great impor-
tance, was effected at the beginning of the following year ;
but Marguerite, in her correspondence, carefully sup-
presses the name of the suspect and merely refers to him
as " our prisoner." From which it may be inferred that
he must have been a person of unusual distinction, pos-
sibly even connected with the House of Albret.
In this alarming situation, the Queen displayed her usual
374
Marguerite and the Bishop of Condom
courage, and, though urged to retire for a while to her
brother's Court, declined to do so, and announced her
intention of awaiting the arrival of the Commissioners
appointed to investigate the conduct of the Bishop of
Condom. But, as will be gathered from the following
letter addressed to her steward, Izernay, whom she had
despatched on a special mission to Francois, every pre-
caution was taken to guard her against the evil designs of
her enemies
" I must mention for your guidance that I feel no less
indebted to the King for his project of translating M. de
Condom to Blois than for his intention of sending here
the Commissioners whom you name ; since I bear the
bishop no personal enmity, and only desire that the King
should be honoured and obeyed in this country as he
ought, and acknowledged to be a clement prince. These
are matters upon which, as you know, I am loath to tor-
ment the King, but since the return of the Bishop of
Condom, the King can have little conception of the
audacity displayed by the relatives of this prelate. Owing
to warnings that I have received to guard myself against
poison, which, I learn, is very much in vogue with them,
I have requested the King of Navarre to dismiss from the
town [of Pau] all the adherents of the said bishop, which
he has done gradually, after explaining to them the
opinion I entertained of them all. He has, moreover,
given strict orders to prevent any one entering our culin-
ary offices here. It is reported that the monks have
invented a new mode of poisoning their enemies, by the
smoke of incense, of which, however, I have no present
dread, as, since your departure, I have been more indis-
posed from ill-health than ever. On Christmas Day,
375
The Pearl of Princesses
High Mass was chanted in the grand salon here, and
from my bed I heard matins, and subsequently Mass
also."
In a letter to the King, Marguerite speaks of the
mysterious prisoner already mentioned, who, in the hope
of saving his life, had " freely confessed to the design of
poisoning us both " (/. e. herself and her husband), and
whom she suspected u of concealing something of still
greater magnitude," and of " holding secret and traitorous
correspondence which he fears to own." From further
correspondence of the Queen of Navarre with her brother,
we learn that the culprit had been brought to trial
before a special commission appointed by Francois, and
condemned to some exemplary punishment ; but that
Marguerite had then interceded for him, and obtained
permission from the King to accord him a free pardon
one more instance of the readiness with which she forgave
even the gravest injuries. Beyond what can be gathered
from Marguerite's letters, nothing appears to be known
about the proceedings against this personage, whose
identity has remained a mystery.
The affair of the Bishop of Condom continued for some
time longer to agitate the little Court of Beam, when the
investigation into his conduct was terminated by his
translation to the see of Blois a post in which he was
naturally obliged to curb his eloquence while Condom
was conferred on Charles de Pisseleu, brother of Madame
d'Etampes.
Late in the following spring, the King of Navarre
having been advised by his physician to take the baths of
Cauterets, Marguerite accompanied him thither, in order,
she writes to her brother, " to prevent him from worrying
376
Marguerite at Cauterets
and to transact his business for him," for when one is at
the baths, " one must live like a child, without any care."
This, however, was not her only motive in going to
Cauterets, for, in a letter to the Duke of Cleves, she
states that she had herself been recommended a course of
the baths, as she was suffering from a "caterre" which " had
fallen upon half her neck and obliged her to keep her
bed." This visit to Cauterets, it may be observed, evi-
dently left a deep impression upon Marguerite's mind,
since it is in this neighbourhood that she laid the scene of
the prologue of the Heptameron.
Since the disgrace of Montmorency, Francois, in anti-
cipation of a new war with Charles V, had been striving
to renew the alliances which had been broken during the
administration of the Constable. The task was no easy
one, for the majority of his former allies, among whom
was Soliman, had been profoundly disgusted by the King's
credulous and vacillating conduct. However, thanks to
the untiring efforts of the French diplomatists, the sus-
pension of the persecution against the Reformers, and
the marriage of Jeanne d'Albret with the Duke of Cleves,
with whom Francois formed an offensive and defensive
alliance, some of the German Protestants were wooed
back and Soliman was persuaded to promise the assistance
of his fleet.
Before this had been accomplished, the Emperor had
considerately furnished his rival with an admirable pre-
text for breaking the truce of Nice. In July 1541, as
two of Francois's agents, Ringon and Fregoso, the one
bound for Constantinople, the other for Venice, were
passing down the Po, the barge in which they were
travelling was attacked, near Pavia, by a party of Spanish
377
The Pearl of Princesses
soldiers, sent by the Viceroy of the Milanese, the Marquis
del Guasto, and both the diplomatists were killed. The
seizure of their papers was the object of this crime, but,
as the most compromising of these had been entrusted to
Guillaume du Bellay, the Governor of Piedmont, it was
not attained. Del Guasto, when accused of having in-
stigated the assassination, declared that the culprits were
merely banditti ; but it was soon proved beyond all reason-
able doubt that they were soldiers from the garrison of
Pavia ; and Frangois filled all Europe with denunciations of
the outrage perpetrated on the sacred persons of his Ambas-
sadors, and demanded reparation. However, as the chain
of alliances which he had hoped to form was not yet com-
plete, and the Pope besought him not to attack Charles
until the latter's return from his approaching expedition
against Algiers, he decided to postpone hostilities until
the following year.
The expedition against Algiers ended in a lamentable
fiasco, and the Emperor returned to Spain with prestige
and power both seriously diminished. The Very Christian
King had, of course, no scruple in turning the common
misfortune of Christendom to his own advantage ; his
deliberate exaggeration of Charles's losses encouraged
both Christian III of Denmark and Gustavus Wasa of
Sweden to join the Anti-Imperial Alliance ; the co-operation
of the Porte was tacitly acknowledged, and on July 12,
1542, war was formally declared.
In former contests between Francois and Charles, Italy
had been the chief theatre of war ; and the former had
consistently sacrificed everything to his Italian ambitions.
But, on the present occasion, he resolved to remain on
the defensive beyond the Alps, while he invaded Luxem-
378
Marguerite's Advice disregarded
bourg in the north, and Roussillon in the south. It is
probable that Soliman had insisted on the adoption of this
plan of campaign as a condition of his support, since
it would necessarily prevent the Emperor from sending
any considerable force into the valley of the Danube.
The command of the Army of the North was entrusted
to the Due d'Orleans, with Claude, Due de Guise, to
advise him ; that of Roussillon was given to the Dauphin,
Annebaut being selected to act as his lieutenant-general
and counsellor, while the King, who hoped to draw his
rival into a great battle in the Rousillon valleys, an-
nounced his intention of joining it in person if the Em-
peror should cross the Pyrenees. Three other armies
were set on foot : one, consisting almost entirely of
German mercenaries hired by the Due de Cleves with
French gold, invaded Brabant ; the second, under the
Due de Vendome, defended the Flemish frontier ; while
the third held Piedmont.
The objective of the Army of Roussillon was warmly
debated in the Council. Marguerite repeatedly urged
her brother first to undertake the conquest of Upper
Navarre, which Henri d'Albret offered to garrison and
defend, while the French army advanced towards
Madrid. She represented that Fontarabia would pre-
sent an easy conquest, and that, this place once in their
hands, the Dauphin's army would meet with little resist-
ance as it marched upon Pampeluna, since the population
of Navarre could be counted on to rise on behalf of their
former rulers.
Unfortunately, as it was to prove, her advice was not
accepted, and it was decided to adhere to the original plan
of invading Roussillon and to make the taking of Per-
pignan the main objective. Early information of the
379
The Pearl of Princesses
designs of the French, and the failure of the Dauphin
to occupy the mountain passes leading into Aragon, gave
the Emperor time to strengthen the fortifications and throw
a considerable force, under the command of Alva, into
place ; and at the beginning of October the invading army,
decimated by disease and seeing its communications on
the point of being cut off by the mountain torrents,
swollen by the autumn rains, was obliged to raise the
siege and retreat into France.
In the Netherlands, the Duke of Cleves defeated the
Flemish militia and overran Brabant, which his troops
pillaged mercilessly. Then, marching into the duchy of
Luxembourg, he effected a junction with the Due
d'Orleans, and their combined forces stormed or reduced
several towns, including the capital. But, thanks to the
folly and egotism of the youthful commander-in-chief,
whose jealousy of his elder brother led him to disband
the greater part of his troops and post off to the south, in
order to share the Dauphin's expected glory, the Im-
perialists were enabled to recover Luxembourg, and, but
for the courage and activity of the Due de Guise, the
other places taken by the French would also have been
lost. In Piedmont, Guillaurne du Bellay and his brother
Martin bravely held their ground against the superior
forces of the Imperialists ; but his exertions proved too
much for the former, whose health was already shattered,
and he died at the beginning of the following year.
At the end of November, Frangois, who had established
himself at Montpellier to await the result of the operations
in Roussillon, paid a visit to the King and Queen of
Navarre at Nerac, where he was magnificently entertained
and " regaled with banquets, comedies, and joustings."
On leaving Nerac, he proceeded to Bordeaux, whither his
380
Marguerite intercedes for the Rochellois
sister accompanied him, and, while there, received intelli-
gence that the inhabitants of La Rochelle had revolted
against the increase of the gabelle, or salt-tax, which the
war had necessitated, had attempted the life of their
governor, the Sieur de Jarnac, and had closed their gates
against the troops sent to preserve order in the town.
Francois was extremely incensed on learning of these
violent proceedings, and at once announced his intention
of setting out for La Rochelle, to quell the revolt in
person, and mete out condign punishment to the rebel-
lious citizens. The Queen of Navarre, however, hastened
to intercede for the Rochellois, pointing out that, were
the King to act with clemency on this occasion, instead
of imitating the severity with which the Emperor had
recently punished the inhabitants of Ghent, the contrast
between the conduct of the two sovereigns could not
fail to provoke comparisons very greatly to her brother's
advantage. The King recognized the wisdom of this
advice, and, though he came to La Rochelle accompanied
by a force sufficient to overcome the most strenuous
resistance, had it been offered him, he contented himself
with representing to the trembling deputation from the
inhabitants, which waited upon him to implore his pardon,
the magnitude of the offence of which they had been
guilty, and the penalties to which they had rendered
themselves liable. Then he informed them that, gravely
as they had offended, he had no intention of punishing
them as they had deserved, and should merely impose
on the town a fine of 200,000 livres. 1 " I will never
voluntarily," said he, " inflict upon my subjects the
1 This sum was given by the King to the Chancellor, Montholon,
who returned it to the authorities of La Rochelle, to be employed in
building a hospital.
381
The Pearl of Princesses
penalties by which the Emperor punished the revolt of
Ghent, even for a less offence than you have committed ;
for his hands were stained with the blood of his people,
from which mine, by the mercy of God, are yet free.
But the Emperor, by this rigour, alienated their love and
affection ; while I hope, on the contrary, by the exercise
of mercy and clemency, to confirm your loyalty and
obedience." The joy of the Rochellois when the King's
decision was made known was in proportion to the fears
they had previously entertained, and so great was their
enthusiasm for their sovereign that Francois dismissed
his troops and remained for some days the guest of the
town.
A copy of the King's speech was sent to the Queen
of Navarre, who caused it to be printed and circulated
in Barn ; while a number of copies also appear to have
been smuggled into Spain. " Monseigneur," she writes
to her brother, " the Bishop of Tulle has sent me an
account of the piteous supplication made to you by your
unhappy subjects of La Rochelle, with your Christian
and most merciful response ; on reading which, me-
thought I heard and saw you thus exercise your accus-
tomed goodness and gentleness. I have caused so many
copies of this your answer to be circulated here, in Spain,
and elsewhere, that your humanity can henceforth be no
more concealed from men than it is from Him whom I
implore, Monseigneur, to lengthen your life by a century,
if only for the honour and welfare of your realm."
The war in 1 543 was confined to Italy and the Nether-
lands. In the Low Countries, Fortune at first smiled
upon the French and their allies ; at the end of March,
the Duke of Cleves gained a victory over the Imperialists
382
An Ill-timed Pleasantry
at Sittard, while in June Francois and the Dauphin
invaded Hainaut and took Landrecies, on the Sambre,
which the King proceeded to fortify and garrison. Then,
deeming that he had done enough for glory, his Majesty
disbanded the greater part of his army and retired to
Rheims, where he divided his time between the beasts
of the forest and the beauties of the Court.
From these agreeable occupations he was presently
aroused by the news that the emperor had arrived at
Speyer at the head of a formidable army. That Charles's
first move would be to take summary vengeance upon
his rebellious vassal, the Duke of Cleves, could not be
doubted, and that prince in great trepidation sent courier
after courier to Francois to implore his assistance ; but
the King, having disbanded most of his troops, was
unable to take the field for more than a month, by which
time the fate of his ally was already sealed.
In mid-August, the Imperialists invaded the Duke's
dominions, and on the 22nd appeared before Diiren.
The town was reputed to be impregnable, and, when
summoned to surrender in the Emperor's name, the
citizens, affecting to believe that Charles had perished
during his stormy voyage from Algiers to Spain, in
which a number of his ships had been lost, flippantly
replied that u they must take them for fools and simple-
tons to make such a demand, since it was well known
to the people of Diiren that the Emperor Charles had
long served as food for the fishes of the ocean." Two
days later, after a struggle of three hours, the town was
taken by storm, and the people of Diiren expiated this
ill-timed pleasantry in torrents of blood : the garrison
and all the male inhabitants, save old men and children,
being ruthlessly massacred. No second example of the
383
The Pearl of Princesses
consequences of resistance to the Imperial arms was
required ; town after town opened its gates to the in-
vaders, and on September 7 the Duke of Cleves, who
was not of the stuff whereof heroes are made, rode into
Charles's camp at Venloo, on the Meuse, declaring that
"he came to throw himself at the feet of the most
illustrious Emperor, to receive the chastisement of his
fault or some ray of mercy or pardon/*
The news of the Duke's submission reached Francois
at Luxembourg, which had surrendered to the French
on September 10. Although the loss of this valuable
ally was mainly due to his own indolence and want of
foresight, he chose to consider himself the aggrieved
party, and inveighed loudly against his conduct ; while
Marguerite stigmatized her son-in-law as " vilain et
infame" The King avenged himself upon the Duke by
refusing to send him his wife, whom he had demanded ;
and the indefatigable Jeanne resumed her policy of pro-
testation, this time with the full approval of her mother
and uncle. Finally, both parties presented separate suits
to the Holy See, praying for the dissolution of their
union, and affirming on oath that, on account of the
tender age of the princess, the ceremony performed at
Chatelherault ought to be regarded in the light of a
betrothal; and at the end of 1545 Paul III issued a
decree annulling the marriage and permitting both
parties to contract a fresh alliance. The Duke of Cleves
subsequently married the Archduchess Mary, daughter
of the King of the Romans.
The defection of the Duke of Cleves had been
preceded by the loss of a more valuable ally. Owing
to the support accorded by Francois to James V of
Scotland, who had married the King's daughter, Madame
384
A Critical Situation
Madeleine, in the previous February Henry VIII had
concluded a treaty with the Emperor, in which the old
design of a partition of France was renewed ; and in
September an English contingent joined the Imperialists
in the Netherlands, though the combined forces failed
to effect anything of importance during the remainder
of the campaign.
Meantime, the ports of Provence had been witnessing
the strange spectacle of the white cross of the Very
Christian King and the crescent of the Infidel floating
side by side. But the assistance of the dreaded Bar-
barossa and his pirate galleys brought Francois no
advantage commensurate with the storm of execration
which so unnatural an alliance, and the atrocities com-
mitted by the Turks on the hapless inhabitants of the
Mediterranean coasts, raised against him. The capture
of the town of Nice, the bulk of whose population was
carried off as slaves by Barbarossa, was indeed sorry
compensation for the alienation of the German Protestant
princes.
The campaign of 1544 opened under the gloomiest
auspices. Francois was now completely isolated, for
during the winter Charles had succeeded in detaching
Denmark and Sweden from the hostile coalition, and
the Lutheran princes had made their peace with the
Emperor. Henry VIII had taken the field in person,
and with an English army of 30,000 men, subsequently
reinforced by 15,000 Netherlanders, was preparing to
march through Picardy straight upon Paris ; while the
Emperor was to advance upon the capital from Lorraine,
and Del Guasto, the governor of the Milanese, to sweep
the French out of Piedmont and enter France by way
385 cc
The Pearl of Princesses
of Lyons. Francois's resources were practically ex-
hausted, and he had no money to hire the mercenaries
from which his armies were mainly recruited. The
situation could scarcely have been more critical.
At the beginning of the year, the King, ill and
despondent and overwhelmed with cares, had written
urging his sister to come to the Court. But since the
summer of 1542, when she had given birth to twin
sons, neither of whom had survived more than a few
hours, Marguerite's health had been very indifferent,
and she had already developed symptoms of consumption,
the malady which was to cut short her life. Greatly,
therefore, as she desired to be by her brother's side to
share his troubles, she was unable to comply with his
request until April, when, in response to a pathetic
entreaty from the harassed monarch to join him with-
out delay, she courageously resolved to undertake the
fatigues of the long journey. " Monseigneur," she
writes, " if I had one foot in the grave, and my physicians
declared my death to be inevitable, your letter must have
restored me to life. I have heard from your envoy
the message that you have sent me, and the affectionate
remembrance you bear me, so that even now I cannot
recall his words without shedding tears of joy."
The King was then engaged in inspecting the fortresses
of Normandy and Picardy, and it was at Marguerite's
Chateau of Alengon that the brother and sister met. It
must have been a sad reunion, to themselves and to
those who witnessed it ; for not only did the shadow
of invasion and possible dismemberment hang over the
realm of France, but both the King and his sister, once
so full of the joy of life, were now alike the victims of
maladies which could have but one termination.
The people of Alengon, by whom Marguerite was
386
Panic in Paris
greatly beloved, greeted her return with all manner of
rejoicings, and an ingenious poet of the town .composed
and presented to her an ode on behalf of the nightingales
of her park at Alengon, which, he supposes, had assembled
to chant a chorus of welcome. The opening lines of this
pretty fancy were as follows :
Par cestre epistre, en style rude escripte,
Princesse illustre, 6 Royne Marguerite,
Puisque plus loing ne t'on peu conveyer,
Humble salut te veullent envoyer
Ceulx qui par toy ont dit mainte chanson,
Les rossignols de ton pare d'Ale^on.
While Francois, too unwell to take the field himself,
remained his sister's guest at Alenc.on, hostilities had
been resumed. From Piedmont came news which
served to cheer in some degree the King's drooping
spirits. The Comte d'Enghien had gained a great
victory over the Imperialists at Ceresole, which freed
France from all fear of invasion on the side of Italy
and set at liberty a part of the victorious troops to
assist in opposing the armies of the Emperor and the
English King. And sorely indeed was their assistance
needed, for from the Lorraine frontier the tide of inva-
sion, though stemmed for a time by the heroic defence
of Saint-Dizier, was advancing steadily towards the capi-
tal ; and when, in the first days of September, the capture
of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry brought the Emperor
to within striking distance of Paris, the panic that
reigned there was indescribable. " Never since the foun-
dation of the town," writes Paradin, "was there seen
such tumult and confusion. You might then have be-
held rich and poor, great and little, persons of all
ages and all conditions, flying and carrying away their
property, by land, by water, by wagon ; some dragging
their children after them, others bearing old men on
38?
The Pearl of Princesses
their shoulders." The Seine was so thickly covered
with boats, " that it was impossible to see the water
of the river," and several of them, overloaded with
passengers, sank with their cargoes. The same terror
and confusion prevailed in the country round Paris,
and the roads were blocked by flocks of sheep and
herds of cattle which their distracted owners were
driving towards Normandy or the Loire." l
Frangois, who had left Alengon early in May, was
at Fontainebleau when he learned of the approach of the
enemy and the panic prevailing in the capital. Although
so unwell as to be confined to his room, he at once
set out for Paris, and, accompanied by the Due de
Guise, rode on horseback through the streets, pausing
at intervals to address the people and assure them that
they need have no cause for alarm. "I cannot,"
said he, "protect you from the effects of your own
fears ; but I will undertake to protect you against the
enemy, since I would rather die in your defence than
live after having failed to save you." The resolute
attitude of the King, who, in this crisis at least, proved
himself a worthy head of the State, produced an extra-
ordinary effect ; the various trade guilds, whose charters
bound them to aid in the defence of the capital in case
of emergency, rushed to arms ; and in a few hours the
emotional Parisians had passed from craven terror to
the most boundless confidence.
Nevertheless, if Henry VIII had advanced direct upon
Paris, instead of lingering to lay siege to Boulogne, the
city would probably have fallen, since the weak army
commanded by the Dauphin, which was covering the
capital, could then have been assailed on two sides
simultaneously. But the English King was not disposed
1 Histoire de notre temps.
388
.
Peace of Cr6py
to forgo so valuable a prize, besides which sickness
was rife among his troops, and his transport-service had
broken down. Despite, therefore, of urgent entreaties
from the Emperor, he declined to cross the Somme.
Charles's army was in even worse case, and, now that
Henry's co-operation, upon which he had based all his
hopes of success, had failed him, the Emperor decided
that an advance upon Paris would be altogether too
hazardous an undertaking. He accordingly retired on
Soissons, which he took and sacked, and from there
opened negotiations with the French Court. Frangois
was, of course, only too ready to treat, and on Septem-
ber 1 8, 1 544, a peace was signed at Crepy, in the Laonnais,
which was practically a reversion to the arrangement
proposed by Charles V in 1540, rendered a little more
acceptable, so far as the King was concerned, by a few
concessions. All conquests made by either monarch
since the truce of Nice were to be restored ; Frangois
renounced his pretensions to Naples, Charles his claims
to Burgundy. The Due d'Orleans was to marry, at
the expiration of two years, either the Infanta Maria,
or the Archduchess Anne, daughter of the King of the
Romans, the Emperor being allowed four months to
decide which of the two princesses he should give him.
If he decided in favour of the Infanta, she should
receive the Netherlands, though, during the lifetime of
the Emperor, the young couple would only rule the
provinces in his name. In that event, Francois engaged
to abandon his claim to the Milanese ; but, if Orleans
left no heirs, the King and Emperor would resume their
respective rights to the Milanese and Burgundy. If
Charles selected his niece, she should be given the
Milanese ; the Emperor, however, reserving the fealty
of the duchy until an heir was born. Orleans was to
389
The Pearl of Princesses
receive as an appanage the duchies of Orleans,
Angouleme, Bourbon, and Chatelherault, and Frangois
agreed to restore the territories of the Duke of Savoy
so soon as either the Netherlands or the Milanese was
conferred upon his son. Finally, the King, "like a
penitent sinner," agreed to break off his alliance with
infidels and heretics and to take up arms against them
conjointly with the Emperor.
The faithful Marguerite wrote from Alengon to
congratulate her brother on the peace which had been
concluded between " le lys et la pomme ronde" But it
was certainly not a subject for congratulation, but very
much the reverse ; and the Dauphin was so exasperated
when he learned of the proposed aggrandizement of his
younger brother at the expense of his future kingdom
that, although he did not dare to refuse his signature
to the treaty, he subsequently entered a secret protest
against it, in the presence of the Due de Vendome,
the Comte d'Enghien, and Francois de Lorraine, eldest
son of the Due de Guise, in which he protested that
he had only signed "pour la crainte et reverence paternelle "
(December 12, 1544). His example was followed a
few weeks later by the Parlement of Toulouse.
But this was not the worst feature of the Peace of
Crepy, which consisted in the fact that a King of France
had consented to range himself definitely on the side
of the Inquisition and to pledge himself to extirpate
heresy with fire and sword. Nor were many months
allowed to elapse before he or rather his Ministers
proceeded to carry out this undertaking in a manner
which sent a thrill of horror throughout Europe and
cast an indelible stain upon his name.
39
CHAPTER XXVIII
IN the secluded green valleys of the Piedmontese
Alps dwelt a race of peaceful shepherds, the remnant
of the disciples of Pierre de Waldo, of Lyons, a
Reformer of the twelfth century, who were known in
France by the name of Vaudois, Pauvres de Lyon
or Insabbates, from their custom of wearing sandals
instead of shoes, in imitation of their founder. Cruelly
persecuted for more than two centuries, they had in
recent times been left comparatively unmolested ; and
Louis XII, after perusing the report of a commission
which he had appointed to inquire into their manner
of life and doctrines, had exclaimed : " Us sont meilleurs \
Chretiens que nous ! "
In 1536 the Vaudois, who, thanks to the immunity
from persecution which they had so long enjoyed, had
greatly increased in numbers, had given their formal
adhesion to the Church of Geneva, whose doctrines
bore a very close resemblance to those preached by
Pierre de Waldo ; and this step and their growing
numbers drew upon them the attention of the bigots
of the Parlement of Aix. Four years later, in Novem-
ber 1540, some act perpetrated by one of the Vaudois
against a priest provided the pretext for which the
Provencal magistrates had been seeking, and the Park*
ment issued a decree delivering over the head of every
household in the towns of Merindol and Cabrieres to
the secular arm, and declaring all the property of the
inhabitants confiscated ; while every house was to be
39 1
The Pearl of Princesses
razed to the ground, every orchard to be uprooted,
every tree to be burned as accursed.
Thanks to the remonstrances of the enlightened Car-
dinal du Bellay, and the fear of alienating the Lutheran
princes, the King ordered the suspension of this ferocious
decree. But, unhappily, it was not annulled, and no
sooner was the Peace of Crepy signed than the cruel
and fanatical Cardinal de Tournon began to urge him to
authorize its execution. Deceived by false reports that
the Vaudois were meditating an insurrection, in January
1545 Frangois weakly consented; while in August he
formally expressed his approval of the measures taken
against them. But when he learned the truth ; when
he knew that hundreds of these hapless peasants had
been ruthlessly massacred, without distinction of age or
sex ; that scores of women and children had been burned
alive in a church ; that Cabrieres and Merindol had
been utterly destroyed, together with twenty-two of the
neighbouring villages ; that the whole region had been
changed into a desert ; when he heard the cry of horror
and indignation which arose in Switzerland, in England,
even in France, the King was overwhelmed with shame
and remorse. He declared that his orders had been
cruelly exceeded, and sent for the Baron d'Oppede, Pre-
sident of the Parlement of Aix and Lieutenant-Governor
of Provence, to render an account of his conduct ; and
it required all the influence of Tournon to save his
fellow-criminal from a violent death. As it was, though
he escaped with his life, d'Oppede left the court a
disgraced and ruined man. 1
1 On the accession of Henri II, the new King, animated mainly by
the desire to condemn the work of his father's Ministers, caused
proceedings to be instituted against d'Oppede and a number of other
392
Marguerite eulogises the Peace
And what of Marguerite ? With what feelings must
she the champion of the oppressed have learned of
this abominable crime ? Must it not have been of shame
likewise shame, not only for the sake of the King, but
for her own ? For, true to her role of loading with
extravagant praise every public act of this adored
brother, she had at the New Year only a few days
before the fatal orders condemning the Vaudois to fire
and sword went forth addressed to Frangois a long
epistle in verse in praise of that ignoble Peace of Crepy,
whereof the massacre of the Vaudois was the blood-
stained firstfruits, in which, after rejoicing over the
reunion of the Very Christian and Catholic Kings and
the triumph of Holy Church over its enemies which
must speedily follow it, and declaring that " all other
good or gain, compared to this, appears imperfect," she
continues :
Car par eulx veult que la foy confirme
Soit, et aussi 1'Eglise reformee,
Et d'une part oustees les heresies,
De 1'autre aussi les vaines fantaisies,
Et que la foy nous fasse en toute guise
Et triumphans triumpher saincte figlise.
Poor Marguerite ! Little could she have foreseen,
when she urged her brother " to the suppression of
heresies," how speedily and in what an atrocious manner
her wishes were to be granted !
Great efforts have been made by certain Protestant
historians, notably by Marguerite's English biographer,
Miss Freer, to prove that the Queen of Navarre had
persons concerned in the massacre of the Vaudois. But, after one of
the less important culprits had been condemned to death and exe-
cuted, the affair was proceeded with in a very half-hearted manner and
eventually allowed to drop.
393
The Pearl of Princesses
actually embraced the Reformed Faith, and was only
restrained from proclaiming her allegiance to it by
prudential motives. But the warm approval expressed
by her of the Peace of Crepy, and, in particular, the
verses just cited, constitute, we think, very strong proof
to the contrary. On the other hand, they also tend to
show that, notwithstanding the assertions of Catholic
writers, that, in her later years, she abandoned those
heterodox views on certain matters which had provoked
the hostility of her Sorbonne, she still clung to the
hope of a peaceful reform of the Church, which would
have purged it of its " vaines fantaisies " and restored it
to its primitive simplicity, without breaking its unity.
The war with England still continued, and all the
efforts of the French were now directed to the recovery
of Boulogne, which had surrendered to Henry VIII a
few days before the Peace of Crepy was signed. In
October 1 544, an attempt was made to take the lower
town by camisado, but it was repulsed with considerable
loss, and nothing further was attempted that year.
However, in the following summer the place was regu-
larly invested, and Francois, who, notwithstanding his
feeble health, wished to be in touch with the army,
proceeded to Picardy, accompanied by his two sons, and
established himself at the Abbey of Foret-Moutiers,
between Abbeville and Montreuil.
The operations did not lead to the recovery of
Boulogne, which, in fact, remained in English possession
until it was restored by treaty in 1550; but they had
one important result : they rendered the Treaty of Crepy,
to all intents and purposes, mere waste parchment.
In the last days of August, the plague broke out
394
Death of the Due d'Orleans
with fearful virulence among the besiegers, and soon the
soldiers were dying in such numbers that it was no
longer possible to bury them. The survivors were
terror-stricken ; but the Due d' Orleans laughed at their
fears, and one day, in a spirit of bravado, entered with
some young nobles as thoughtless as himself a house in
which several persons had recently succumbed to the
pestilence, slashed open the beds with his sword, and
scattered the feathers over himself and his companions,
observing that " never yet had a Son of France died
of the plague."
The sequel was a grim commentary on the boasted
immunity of the Royal House. That same evening, the
prince was taken ill. Three days later, he was dead.
The death of his much-loved younger son, in which
he may well have seen a judgment of Heaven upon him
for the massacre of the innocent Vaudois, was a terrible
blow to Francois. In wretched health and frequently
a prey to the most cruel sufferings, wounded alike in his
affections and his ambitions, his domestic life embittered
by the quarrels between Madame d'fitampes and Diane
de Poitiers, the enmity of the former towards the Dauphin,
and the fears which that lady was constantly expressing
as to the fate which awaited her when she should lose
her protector, this once brilliant monarch was now indeed
an object for commiseration. In his isolation, he turned
for solace to the one being whose devotion had never
failed him and wrote begging his sister to join him.
Marguerite, who had returned to Beam in the spring,
set out at once and arrived at Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
where the Court was then in residence, in the first
days of 1546. She found the King in somewhat better
health, but in a state of the most profound depression.
395
The Pearl of Princesses
However, Marguerite's presence exercised over him its
accustomed charm, and when he felt a little stronger,
the fancy took him to revisit, in the company of his
beloved " mignonne" the chateaux which he had built or
embellished, all full as they were of the souvenirs of
his joyous youth ; and they went in succession to
the Chateau of Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne,
to Fontainebleau, Folembrai, Villers-Cotterets, and
Chambord.
" Other sovereigns," writes La Ferriere, " have pro-
tected the artists, Francois loved them. In his passion
for the arts he sought forgetfulness of his sorrows, a
truce to his sufferings. He consoled himself for Italy
lost by this other Italy which he had created around him.
It is under the grey sky of winter that he revisits the
park of Chambord, of melancholy aspect, one of those
places consecrated to mourning in anticipation. Leaning
on the arm of his sweet Marguerite, from the high-pointed
window his enfeebled gaze wandered over those great
woods despoiled of their leaves, where but lately he had
hunted the stag ; over that gloomy horizon, faithful
image of his present fortunes. It is then that, under the
influence of those sad reflections against which we are
powerless to defend ourselves in the presence of afflicted
Nature, he traced those words which Brantome has
preserved for us
Souvent femme varie
Mai habil qui s'y fie." 1
On parting from the King, Marguerite went to visit
her daughter at Plessis-les-Tours, to which, after the
dissolution of her marriage with the Duke of Cleves, that
1 Marguerite d? Angouleme : son livre dedepenses, par le Comte Hector
de la Ferriere-Percy.
396
Gloomy Presentiments
spirited damsel had, to her profound disgust, been again
relegated, until another husband could be found for her.
Then, after spending a few days in retreat at the Abbey
of Fontevrault, she returned to Beam.
In June, peace was signed between England and France,
and, since on the death of the Due d'Orleans all the old
subjects of controversy between Francois and Charles V
had sprung into life again, and the Emperor's attention
was now occupied with the war against the League of
Schmalkalde, it seemed as though the King could scarcely
have desired a more favourable opportunity for realizing
his lifelong ambitions beyond the Alps. But, though
the Dauphin pressed his father earnestly to invade Lom-
bardy while his rival's hands were tied, Francois had lost
the power of resolution, and could not make up his mind
to take definite action ; and, on the advice of the miser-
able old Cardinal de Tournon, persecuted the Protestants
in France, in place of assisting their co-religionists in
Germany. And so amidst infamy at home and impotence
abroad the reign which had once been so brilliant drew
towards its close.
Early in February 1547, while the Court was at Saint-
Germain-en-Laye, Francois received the news of the
death of Henry VIII, which had occurred on the 26th of
the previous month. " This death," writes Martin du
Bellay, "occasioned the King much sorrow, not only
because of the hope which he had entertained of making
with him a firmer alliance than that which he had begun,
but because they were almost of an age, and of the same
constitution ; and he feared that he must soon follow
him. Those, moreover, who were about his person
perceived that from that time he became more pensive
than before."
397
The Pearl of Princesses
Since the beginning of the winter the King's health had
been much worse. He had, it would appear, contracted
a slow fever, which was remorselessly sapping what vitality
still remained to him. Nevertheless, he still continued
to hunt, observing to those who endeavoured to dissuade
him, that, " when old and sick he would be carried to the
chase, and that perhaps when he was dead he would want
to go in his coffin." A strange restlessness now seized
upon him, and, as though seeking to escape from the
death which was so near, he led his weary Court from
Saint-Germain to La Muette, thence to Villepreux, and
subsequently to Dampierre, Chevreuse, Limours, and
Rochefort, " revisiting all the places which he had loved,
all the forests in which he had hunted in his vigorous
youth." i
At length, towards the end of March, he arrived at
Rambouillet, intending to remain there but one night
and to return to Saint-Germain. But recollections of
the happy hunting-days he had enjoyed in the sur-
rounding forests and a temporary alleviation of pain
induced him to order a boar-hunt for the morrow. All
day the King followed the chase with an ardour which
seemed to those who accompanied wellnigh incredible in
a man so wasted by disease ; but he returned to the
chateau utterly worn out and retired at once to bed. He
never rose again, and, after terrible sufferings, he expired
on March 31, in his fifty-fourth year. He retained his
faculties to the end, and his last counsels to the Dauphin
to diminish as far as possible the taxes which the necessi-
ties of war had compelled him to impose, never to recall
Montmorency, and to be on his guard against the Guises,
whose greed, ambition, and audacity had begun to cause
1 La Ferrire, Les Granges Chasses au xvie slecle.
398
A Warning Dream
Francois serious uneasiness, were such as that prince
would have done well to lay to heart. All contemporary
authorities agree in attributing to him a very edifying
end ; and the Secretary of Finance, Bochetel, in a letter
to 1'Aubespine, expresses his conviction that " for a
century -past no prince had ever died with so much
contrition and repentance."
The winter of 1546-7 had been an unusually severe
one, and so intense was the cold that Marguerite, whose
health was growing more and more feeble, was seldom
able to go out or even to leave her apartments in the
Chateau of Pau. Even had she been well enough to
travel, it would have been difficult to have joined the
King, for the mountain roads were deep in snow, which
often delayed the arrival of the couriers constantly
passing between brother and sister. Ill and suffering as
she was herself, all her thoughts were for Francois, and,
as the reports concerning him became more alarming, her
anxiety was pitiable to witness ; and this, and the sleep-
less nights which it entailed, told heavily upon her fragile
constitution.
With March came an improvement in the weather, and,
the roads being once more open for travellers, Marguerite
left Pau for the convent of Tusson, in the Angoumois,
where she intended to spend Lent, and afterwards to
proceed to the Court. She was now somewhat less
anxious about the King, as the news which reached her
of his astonishing activity and rapid changes of residence
appeared to indicate a decided improvement in his health.
However, one night at the beginning of April, she
dreamed that her brother, pale and wan, stood beside her
bed, and that, in a voice of anguish, he exclaimed : " Ma
399
The Pearl of Princesses
sosur ! Ma sceur!" She awoke and gazed about her,
but the vision had disappeared. Nevertheless, so pro-
found was the impression which it had left upon her
mind, weakened by illness and the fasts and vigils of
Lent, that she rose and forthwith despatched messengers to
Rochefort, where she believed the King to be, to ascertain
the condition of his health. While awaiting their return,
she withdrew from the company of the nuns, whose
tranquillity was a reproach to her feverish anxiety, and
seldom left her room. But day after day passed, and not
one of her messengers came back.
Her suspense became unendurable. " Whoever," she
cried, " comes to my door to announce to me the cure
of the King my brother, were such a messenger weary,
tired, muddy, and dirty, I would embrace him as though
he were the cleanest prince and gentleman in France ; and,
if he lacked a bed and could not find one on which to
repose, I would give him mine and sleep on the floor, for
the sake of the good news he brought me."
No one, however, had the courage to tell her the truth.
Knowing her passionate attachment to her brother, they
feared that the shock might be too much for her in her
weak condition.
Marguerite's messengers had been gone a week, and
the King had been a fortnight dead, when she dreamed
again that her brother stood by her bed and addressed
her in the same manner as before. Wellnigh distracted,
she summoned her attendants and questioned them
closely ; and, to calm their mistress, they assured her
that the last reports of the King's health were favourable.
Only half-convinced, she rose and went to the convent
chapel to pray. " On her way thither," writes Sainte-
Marthe, " she summoned Thomas le Coustellier, a young
400
Marguerite learns of the King's Death
man of good intelligence and her secretary, and, as she
was dictating to him the substance of a letter that she
wished to write to a princess of the Court, to obtain from
her some news of the King's health, she heard, on the
other side of the cloisters, a nun, whose brain was some-
what affected, weeping and lamenting bitterly. Queen
Marguerite, naturally inclined to pity, hastened to this
woman, inquired why she was weeping, and encouraged
her to tell whether she wished for anything. Thereupon
the nun began to lament still more loudly, and, looking
at the Queen, told her that she was deploring her ill-
fortune. When Queen Marguerite heard these words,
she turned towards those who were with her and said to
them : c You were concealing the King's death from me,
but the Spirit of God has revealed it to me, through the
instrumentality of this poor mad woman/ This said,
she returned to her room, humbly thanking the Lord for
all the goodness He was pleased to show her."
401
DD
CHAPTER XXIX
WHEN, in the spring of the previous year, the negotia-
tions for peace with England were beginning to take a
favourable turn, Marguerite had written to her brother :
" I entreat you, Monseigneur, that when you have con-
cluded the peace that we desire, you will be pleased to
inform those whose life depends on yours."
So far as she herself was concerned, this was no mere
figure of speech. Her life, indeed, had been so inter-
twined with that of her idolized brother that she had
been firmly convinced that she would not survive him an
hour ; and it was a marvel to her that he could be dead
and she still alive. However, her belief had proved
fallacious, and many a dreary hour had yet to be lived
through without the one who had been the centre of her
existence.
For forty days after the fatal news reached her she
remained at Tusson, " singing daily with the nuns at
matins and at evensong." Sometimes her anguish found
relief in verse, and the lyrics she wrote at this time the
cries of a broken heart are by far the most moving of her
poems :
Qui pleurera Frai^ois qui Marguerite,
Qui fat liee par enfance en son bers [berceau]
. . . depuis les pieds jusque sus le sommet
En moi ne sens que desolation.
Her tears flow in such abundance as to obscure all things
about her ; her lamentations are unceasing :
Tant de larmes jettent mes yeux,
Qu'ilz ne voyent terre ne cieux,
402
Marguerite voices her Grief
Telle est de leur pleur abondancc.
Ma bouche se plaint en tous lieux ;
De mon cceur ne peult saillir mieux
Que souspirs sous nulle allegeance.
Her isolation terrifies her, and, in her distress, she turns
to Heaven and cries :
Je n'ay plus ny pere ny mere,
Ny soeur, ny frere,
Sinon Dieu seul, auquel j'espere.
Through prayer she arrives at resignation :
La mort du frere a change dans la soeur
En grand desir de mort la craint et peur
Sa grand douleur elle estime douceur,
Sachant que c'est la porte et chemine seur (sur)
Par ou il faut au Createur voler.
>< Here," observes La Ferriere, " we have the side on
which Marguerite is truly a poetess. Her verse, which,
when treating of subjects in which her feelings are not
deeply concerned, drags itself laboriously along, a little
obscure and painfully distorted, from the moment that
she feels herself profoundly moved, assumes character-
istics more true, more vivid, and rises to the level of her
emotion. Then her whole soul passes into her poetry ;
it is no longer a lifeless instrument, which obeys a given
impulsion ; it is a voice which laments, a heart which
suffers, and tells us of it. At these moments she is
perhaps the only writer of her epoch who is inspired by
her own sentiments, by hef private life, who speaks that
simple language which alone can express great sorrows,
great afflictions."
Feeling quite unequal to occupying herself with her
ordinary affairs, Marguerite had delegated her authority
to Jacques Groslet, the Chancellor of Alenc.on ; but soon
403
The Pearl of Princesses
financial embarrassments recalled her to the stern necessi-
ties of this world and became for her the cause of new
sorrows. For some years past she had only been enabled
to make her revenues balance her expenditure by the aid
of a pension of 25,000 livres which Francois I had allowed
her, for, as has been said, her generosity was boundless,
and charitable gifts, the education of destitute students
a whole legion of them pensions to men of letters,
refugee Reformers, and aged servants, the support of her
needy sister-in-law, Isabeau d'Albret, and, above all, the
extravagance of her daughter Jeanne, who was now living
in Paris, where she maintained an almost royal establish-
ment, constituted a heavy drain upon her resources.
This pension had ceased with the late King's life, and it
was not at all improbable that the new Sovereign, who of
late years had been none too favourably disposed towards
his aunt, would refuse to continue it, in which event
Marguerite would be obliged to curtail her expenditure
in every way possible, and many of those who had sub-
sisted upon her bounty would find themselves in sore
straits. "You know," she writes to her faithful maitre
cThotel^ Izernay, whom she had sent to the Court to
represent her circumstances to the King and to solicit the
continuance of her pension, " that without it, it would be
impossible for me to keep up my position that I have
only just sufficient to provide for the rest of this year
and it may surely be believed that without great necessity
it is not my habit to ask for anything."
If it had only been the King whom she had to petition,
her pride would not have suffered ; but Henri II could
only really be approached through his favourites :
through Diane de Poitiers, who had now blossomed into
the Duchesse de Valentinois ; through Montmorency,
404
Marguerite appeals to Henri II
recalled to Court almost as soon as Frangois had drawn
his last breath, and restored to all his former offices ; or
through the greedy and ambitious Guises, who between
them formed a sort of bodyguard around the throne to
prevent any one else coming near it. And so the poor
Queen found herself obliged to stoop to solicit the
patronage of her nephew's mistress, the good offices of
Montmorency's friend the President Bertrandi, and finally
greatest humiliation of all those of the Constable him-
self, who had treated her with such base ingratitude in
the past, and whose disgrace she had contributed to bring
about. u I see well," she writes to him, on learning that
the all-powerful Minister had condescended to intercede
for her, " that time has not conquered your memory, and
has not made you forget the love I have borne you from
your childhood onwards." We can imagine what it must
have cost her to write this, knowing that Montmorency's
memory could have evoked very different impressions
from those of love.
Meanwhile, the Queen of Navarre had left Mont-de-
Marsan, where she had been spending the early part of the
summer, and had returned to Nerac. Uncertain as to
the result of her appeal to the new King's generosity, she
resolved to prepare for a refusal, and accordingly began
to impose upon herself the severest economy. But, while
sternly denying herself every luxury and even comforts,
she could not be persuaded to discharge any of her
attendants, or to curtail her gifts to the poor, which were
continued on the same munificent scale as heretofore.
At length, towards the end of the year, to her great
relief, her pension of 25,000 livres was restored to her;
none too soon, since for some time past money had been
unpleasantly scarce at the Court of Pau, and in the last
405
The Pearl of Princesses
days of May Marguerite had been obliged to send Oliver
Bourgoing, Treasurer of Berry, and Jehan Geler, one of
her private secretaries, to Paris, to endeavour to negotiate
a loan on her behalf. The ordinary expenses of Jeanne
d'Albret's Household had not been paid for nearly two
years and were now in arrears to the extent of 11,877
livres, to say nothing of a sum of over 2000 livres which
Mathieu Javette, Treasurer of Alengon, had advanced
to that young lady for her menus plaisirs and alms-
giving ; so that the first two quarters of Marguerite's
pension and part of the third had to be diverted into
her daughter's coffers.
Marguerite complained bitterly to Izernay of the girl's
reckless extravagance, and besought him to endeavour to
check it. " For the King of Navarre and I do find it
insupportable, and deem that it is impossible it should
long continue, since we have not the means to defray it ;
and the said lord has told me that, when he was at Paris,
he found the expenses of my daughter marvellously
great, wherefore I warned you of it, as I do again, be-
seeching you to stay your hand ; for, with the expenses
that I have already, I could not find the means to support
this extra charge."
Remonstrances, however, appear to have been lost
upon Jeanne, who declared that it was quite impossible
for her to reduce her Household by so much as a single
officer, if she were to maintain a position in accordance
with her rank ; and in the first ten months of the
ensuing year her expenses absorbed the whole of her
mother's pension.
Meantime, negotiations had begun for that damsel's
marriage or re-marriage. Henri II had inherited his
father's fears lest the King of Navarre should marry
406
An Unwelcome Proposition
his only daughter to Philip of Spain, and, to frustrate any
attempt in that direction, he determined that Jeanne
should be wedded with as little delay as possible.
The husband that he chose for her was Antoine de
Bourbon, Due de Vendome, the first Prince of the
Blood, the son of Frangoise d'Alengon, a sister of
Marguerite's first husband, a handsome and chivalrous
young man, but vain and frivolous and without any
stability of character. His Majesty had broached the
subject of this alliance to Henri d'Albret, when the
latter came to Rheims, in the summer of 1547, to
attend the Sacre. At the same time, in order to spare
his susceptibilities and accustom him by degrees to the
idea of a match which was contrary to his own projects
for his daughter, he bade him take time for reflection,
and suggested that he should return to Beam, discuss
the matter at his leisure with Marguerite, and inform
him of their decision within the next six months.
When, however, the period of grace had expired with-
out any answer reaching him, Henri II took umbrage
and despatched the Sieur d'Estrees to Pau, with a letter
in his own hand for the King and Queen of Navarre,
in which he invited them in pressing terms to come to
Court and acquaint him with the resolution at which they
must by this time have surely succeeded in arriving.
Henri d'Albret, who could not make up his mind to
forgo the advantages which the alliance of his daughter
with Philip of Spain promised him, excused himself on
the plea of illness it was true that he had been ill,
but political reasons were undoubtedly retarding his
convalescence ; Marguerite sent a letter full of vague
protestations of loyalty and devotion. "As to the
marriage of which it pleases you to write," she says,
407
The Pearl of Princesses
" you may do anything to the father and to the mother,
if you do not firmly believe that their property, their
daughter, and their own lives are dedicated to your
service." Perhaps, she too hankered after the Spanish
marriage ; perhaps, she had penetrated the fickleness and
futility of Antoine de Bourbon's character, and recog-
nized how little fitted he was to guide her self-willed,
courageous daughter. Any way, notwithstanding that
the young prince appeared in every respect a most
suitable match for Jeanne, and that his mother had been
one of Marguerite's dearest friends, she was bitterly
opposed to the project.
And so she and her husband, not daring openly to
oppose the King's wishes, had recourse to shuffling, in
the futile hope of finding some way of escape. But
they got no quarter from Henri II, and no support from
Jeanne, to whom the Due de Vendome had been paying
assiduous court, and who was very well content to wed
a French prince, standing next in the line of succession
to the King's children ; and did not hesitate to say so.
And, at last, Henri II succeeded in getting hold of his
elusive vassal and wrung from him a reluctant consent.
" I have got rid of him [the King of Navarre] cheaper than
I thought," wrote he contemptuously to Montmorency.
" I am giving him only 1 5,000 livres a year for the
government of his kingdom. This is less than I offered
him by Monge, which, if you recollect, was 10,000 ecus
(30,000 livres)." His Majesty might have added that
the astute Bearnais had stipulated that the lesser sum
should be secured upon the taxes levied in Guienne, all
of which passed through his hands, in his quality of
governor of that province.
But though Henri d'Albret, making a virtue of neces-
408
Second Marriage of Jeanne d'Albret
sity, affected to yield with a good grace, and, writes the
King, " will swear by nothing but the allegiance which he
owes me," his suzerain "trusted his protestations just as
much as he ought," which meant not at all ; and when,
towards the end of September 1548, Marguerite joined
the Court for Henri II's " superb and triumphal entry
into the noble and ancient city of Lyons," and made no
attempt to conceal her dissatisfaction, his Majesty became
so suspicious that he went the length of causing their
correspondence to be intercepted, to make sure that they
were concocting no scheme to interfere with his own.
Nothing, however, of a compromising nature appears to
have been discovered, and on October i, at Moulins,
whither the Court had proceeded on leaving Lyons, the
marriage of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albert
that marriage which was to give to France the best of all
her long line of kings was duly celebrated, " avec toute
espece de festins^ joyeusetis et pompes royales"
Jeanne, delighted at the good fortune which had brought
her a handsome and gallant French prince for a husband
in place of a German boor, and sublimely indifferent
to the long-cherished ambitions of which her wedding-
bells were the death-knell, was radiantly happy. " Never
have I seen so joyous a bride," wrote Henri II to Mont-
morency ; " she did nothing but laugh." Marguerite, on
the other hand, was resentful to the last, and only at the
King's express command consented to affix her signature
to the marriage-contract.
A few days later the newly-married pair started for
Vendome. The separation of Marguerite and her
daughter was heartrending, though the grief was all on
the former's side, for Jeanne, the King informs his
confidant, "makes no account of her mother." "You
409
The Pearl of Princesses
never saw such tears as my aunt shed when they went
away ; and, if it had not been for me, she would never
have gone home with her husband/'
Everything was giving way at once around the poor
Queen of Navarre. She had lost the brother whom she
had adored ; her only daughter, married to a prince
whom she disliked and distrusted, showed but too plainly
that all the affection that she had lavished upon her had
awakened no response ; her husband was no longer any-
thing but a stranger to her. His frivolity, his continual
infidelities, had ended by alienating Marguerite, and he
repaid her for the displeasure which she evinced at his
conduct by flaunting his facile conquests even in the
midst of their little Court. " It is true that there is no
love lost between my good aunt and her husband,"
writes their royal nephew ; " never were any couple less
united." The King and Queen of Navarre had combated
together the projects of Henri II in regard to their
daughter ; but no sooner was the marriage celebrated
than Henri d'Albret suddenly changed his attitude, and,
either in order to pay his court to the King, or to annoy
his wife, "pretended to be the best-contented father in
the world." " The Queen of Navarre," continues
Henri II, " is on the worst terms possible with her
husband, through her love for her daughter."
On leaving Moulins, Marguerite did not immediately
return to Beam. She went to Sancerre and thence to
Gien and Jargeau, and in the middle of November joined
her daughter at Vendome. The latter part of January
and the month of February were passed at Castel-Jaloux,
and it was not until March was well advanced that she
arrived at Pau. Early in the summer, the Due and
Duchesse de Vendome visited Beam, to receive the
410
Last Days of Marguerite d'Angouleme
homage of the Estates as Henri d'Albret's successors.
The enthusiastic reception accorded by the people to
Jeanne was the last ray of happiness in her mother's
life. " Oh, what joy ! " cries the historian Olhagaray.
"What joy to the people of Beam and Foix, who had
until then believed that their princess, whom they dearly
loved, was held a prisoner in France ! She was received
with pomp incredible ; the people flocked together to
welcome her, and to render her homage as their future
rightful mistress, and one whom they expected to prove
nothing less than a second Marguerite ; like her, she had
been the precious flower growing in the parterre of that
Royal House, and the odour of whose perfume attracted
into Beam the choicest minds of Europe, like as a fragrant
bed of thyme draws the honey-bees to suck its sweetness."
But the precious flower of whom the writer speaks
< la Marguerite des Marguerites " was closing her petals.
Day by day her strength was declining, and another of
those dreams to which her visionary brain seems to have
been peculiarly subject had lately convinced her that she had
but a little while to live. A very beautiful woman appeared
to her, holding in her hand a garland of many-coloured
flowers, and pointing to it, said : " Soon it will be yours ! "
From that moment, she decided to have done with the
things of this world and to consecrate her few remaining
days to preparation for the next. She abandoned the
administration of her property to her husband ; she
renounced all her usual occupations ; she refused even to
discuss her personal affairs. If we are to believe Bran-
tome, there were times when a great fear of death
possessed her, and she wept, observing that she was not
yet so old but that she might well be permitted to live a
few years longer ; and that when her attendants strove to
411
The Pearl of Princesses
comfort her by reminding her of the glory reserved for
the children of God in Paradise, she replied sadly : " All
that is very true ; but we stay so long a time under the
earth before we reach it." As, however, La Ferriere
very justly remarks, Marguerite's whole life contradicts
such assertions. From her youth, at the moment when
the future seemed to hold for her nothing but the fairest
promises, she had already familiarized herself with the
idea of death, as the following verses testify :
Seigneur, quand viendra le jour
Tant desire
Quand je serai par amour
A vous tire.
Ce jour des nopces
Ma tarde tant !
Que de nul bien ni honneur
Ne suis content.
Essuyez des toutes yeux
Le long gemir,
Et me donnez pour le mieux
Un doux dormir. 1
At the same time, Brantome is probably correct enough
in what he says concerning the intense curiosity which
she entertained concerning the nature of the soul, since
this is perfectly consistent with the mysticism which she
had derived from her close friendship with Brigonnet,
and which clung to her to the end of her life. One of
her maids-of-honour falling ill and being near to death, 2
Marguerite established herself at her bedside, weeping
and yet watching every movement of the dying girl with
the utmost eagerness. Nor did she quit her post when
the end had come, but remained, silent and motionless,
1 Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, edit, de J. Tournes, p. 513.
2 Probably Florette de Sara, who died in 1542, and to whom
Marguerite is known to have been tenderly attached.
4 I2
Last Days of Marguerite d'Angouleme
with her eyes fixed upon the pallid features of the dead.
At length, one of her ladies, after a vain attempt to
persuade her to leave the chamber of death, ventured to
inquire why she still lingered. To which the Queen
replied, that " having often heard the most learned
doctors and ecclesiastics maintain that at the moment of
dissolution the immortal spirit was set at liberty and
unloosed, she could not repress her desire to observe
whether any symptom or indication of such a separation
were visible ; also, if the spirit assumed a visible form, or
gave utterance to any sounds on its departure ; but that
nothing of the kind had she been able to discover."
In the autumn of 1549, the Queen of Navarre moved
to the Chateau of Odos, in Bigorre, situated about a
league from Tarbes, and rather more than twice that
distance from Bagneres, the waters of which it was hoped
might afford her relief, as they were deemed very effica-
cious in affections of the chest. In Marguerite's case, how-
ever, the disease was too far advanced for her to derive any
benefit from such remedies, and she grew steadily weaker.
An act of imprudence hastened the end. One night
at the beginning of December, a great comet appeared in
the sky, which the superstitious regarded as a prognostic
of the death of Pope Paul III. Marguerite, wishing to
get a better view of it than could be obtained from her
window, insisted on going out on to an open balcony,
and remained there for some little time silently contem-
plating the heavens, and doubtless reflecting on that
other comet which had appeared before her mother's
death at Grez-en-Gatinois. Suddenly, the Queen's phy-
sician, Escuranis, who was standing beside her, observed
that her mouth was drawn a little awry. He persuaded
her to go indoors and to bed, and lost no time in treating
413
The Pearl of Princesses
her. But the biting air of the December night, to which
she had so unwisely exposed herself, had done its work.
The chill which she had contracted developed into a
severe attack of pleurisy, and, though the doctors who
attended her at first refused to admit that she was in any
danger, they were soon obliged to alter their tone and to
warn her that she must prepare for death. She received
the announcement with calm courage and, always more
thoughtful for others than for herself, begged her weep-
ing attendants not to distress themselves on her account.
A Franciscan monk, Gilles Caillau, received her confes-
sion and administered the last Sacraments, and to him
she is said to have protested that " she had never
separated herself from the Catholic Church, and that
what she had done for the Reformers proceeded from
pure compassion/* 1 We see no reason to doubt that
she did make such a statement, though Protestant writers
are, for the most part, inclined to regard the story with
angry incredulity. However, it was only partially true,
for, if her heart had often ruled her reason, she had
certainly protected some of the Reformers as much from
taste as from pity.
Marguerite died in December 1549, in her fifty-eighth
year, and was buried with all the pomp and ceremony
befitting her rank in the cathedral church of Lescar.
All the learned men in Europe hastened to celebrate the
memory of one of the greatest benefactresses of letters
which the world has known ; but the tears shed over her
bier by her poor subjects of Beam formed, as Martha
Freer very truly observes, a more glorious tribute to her
memory than all the elegies and eulogies which her
death called forth.
1 Florimond de Remond, Histoire de FHeresle.
414
INDEX
ABBEVILLE, 90, 91
Agen, 28, 316
Agnadello, 71
Aigues-Mortes, 191, 321
Ainoy, 312
Aire, Monseigneur d', sub-preceptor to
Dauphin and his brothers, 275
Aix, 158, 314
Alar9on, 229
, Sieur, 201
Albret, Alain, Sieur d', 41
Amanieu d', 223
Arnaud Amanieu d', 224
Catherine d', 245
Charlotte d', 27
Henri d', King of Navarre,
Marguerite's second husband, 31,
in, 166, 217, 223, 224, 226, 245,
246, 256, 261, 267, 271, 278, 279,
280, 281, 282, 284, 287, 309, 315,
3i6, 334, 335, 374, 379, 406-7, 408,
409
-, Isabeau d', 295, 319, 404
, Jean d', King of Navarre, 72,
224
, Jeanne d', daughter of Henri d'
Albret, King of Navarre, 48, 279,
318, 331-2, 333, 334, 335, 338, 339,
342, 37i, 377, 385, 404, 406-7, 409,
411
Alcala, 192, 209, 210
Alen9on, 386, 388, 390
, Charles, Due d', 55, 56, 62, 64,
65, 81, 83, 90, 122, 165, 175
, Fran9oise, 407
, Marguerite de Lorraine, Duchesse
d', 62, 87, 91
, Rene" d', 55
Alessandria, 252
Alexander VI, Pope, 26, 32
Algiers, 378
Alibert, Noel d', 347
Alva, Duke of, 72
Amaillou, Sire d', 50, 51
Amboise, 10, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33,
45, 49, 50, 5 2 , 66, 67, 70, 75, 230,
270, 274
Amboise, Cardinal d', 37, 38, 45
Amiens, 73, 315
Ampudia, 261
Andriano, 260
Angouleme, 81, 267
, Bishop of. See Luxembourg,
Robert de.
, Charles, Count d', 2-6, 10-14,
16, 17, 22, 24, 48
, Charles, Due d', son of Francis I,
and Dauphin after his brother's death,
153, 155, 222, 274, 303, 330, 331
, Fran9oise, Comte d', afterwards
Francis I of France, 8, 9, 20-23, 2 7>
28, 30, 33, 35, 4i, 43, 45, 47, 48,
58, 60, 61, 70-102, 104, 107, 109-
26, 135, 139-52, 160-7, 170-9,
181, 184, 186, 188, 197-9, 202-5,
217, 220, 223, 224, 226, 231-9, 242,
245, 246, 248, 251-5, 260-3, 266-8,
270, 274-6, 280, 282, 290, 294-296,
300, 302-4, 306, 314, 316, 317, 320,
324, 327-9, 332, 334, 335, 338, 340,
344, 353, 373, 378, 383, 384, 389,
390, 395, 397, 398, 401, 405
, Jean, Comte d', 1,2
, Marguerite d', afterwards Queen
of Navarre, her ancestry, 1-6 ; her
birth, 7 ; she loses her father, u ;
her early days, 22, 30 ; her marriage
with Arthur, Prince of Wales sug-
gested, 31 ; or his brother Henry,
Duke of York, 36-8 ; her intellectual ^
qualities and amiable disposition, 39 ; '
she declines an offer of marriage with
Henry VII, 46, 47 ; her personal
appearance, 48 ; stories in the Hep-
tameron founded on her own affairs,
48-54, 62-9 ; her marriage to the
Due d'Alen9on, 57 ; she repulses
Bonnivet, 629 ; her friendship with
Mile, de Foix, 75 ; she uses her
influence with her brother the King
415
Index
in the interests of her husband and
friends and of learning, 100-4 J her
moral character discussed, 106-12 ' 1 ^
a letter from her to the King, 107-9 >
Bonnivet again repulsed, 112-4;
her sympathy with the Reformation,
124-9 > her correspondence with the
Bishop of Meaux, 130-5, 155, 156,
161 ; at the Queen's death is be-
queathed the care of her children,
154; at Lyons she hears of her
brother's defeat and capture before
Pavia, 167 ; her letters to her brother
in captivity, 174-7; death of her
husband, 178 ; her grief at the perse-
cution of the Reformers, 182-4 >
her embassy to Spain, 184, 190, 191,
J 93> 195-206, 208-16 ; Erasmus's-/
letter to her, 206-8 ; has an accident
at Douzere, 221 ; her letter to Fran-
9015 about the young princes, 222-
3 ; at Lyons she meets Henri of
Navarre, 223 ; their community of
tastes, 226 ; her continued interest in
the Reformers, 233-5 > Fra^ois ,
puts obstacles in the way of her
marriage with Henri of Navarre,
243 ; and proposes her for wife to
Henry VIII, 244; her betrothal to
- Henri of Navarre, 245 ; their mar-
riage, 245, 247 ; birth of her daughter
Jeanne d'Albret, 253 ; she leaves for
Navarre, 255, 256 ; intercedes for
the Reformers, 257, 258 ; birth of
her son Jean, 267 ; renews her
acquaintance with Queen Eleanor,
268 ; death of her son, 271 ; attends
at the coronation of Queen Eleanor,
272 ; the death of her mother, 276 ;
her return to Navarre, 278 ; her care
for the Reformers, 280-3 > her popu-
larity' in Beam, 285-6 ; the sim-
plicity of her attire, 286, 287 ; her
poem le Mir or de rAme picker esse^
288-91 ; she is attacked in an alle-
gorical play, 291, 292; and by the
Franciscans, 292, 293 ; arranges a
marriage for her sister-in-law, Isabeau
d'Albret, 295, 296 ; her endeavours
to fetch Melanchthon to Paris, 296-8 ;
the attacks made upon her for her
part in the Reformation, 298-302 ;
she visits Francois at Valence, 309 ;
Montmorency in camp at Avignon,
309, 310 ; and her husband at Mont-
frin, 310 ; her activity in her brother's
interests, 314, 315 ; nursing her hus-
band, 315, 316; acts as Governor of
' Guienne, 316; joins Franois at
Lyons, 316 ; at Paris hears of the
illness of her daughter, 317 ; and on
her way to, hears that the child is
out of danger, 318 ; affords assistance
to Isabeau d'Albret, 319; Mont-
morency denounces her to the King
on account of her sympathy with
the Reformers, 327 ; tends Fra^ois
in his illness, 329; her love for
her daughter Jeanne, 333 ; tempered
by her desire to please the King,
335. 33 6 ; her letter to him on the
subject, 336-9 ; more intercourses
with the Reformers, 347-52; her
poems, 353, 354; the Heptamtron^.
355-71 ; her attention occupied with
ecclesiastical disputes, 372-6; ac-
companies her husband to the baths
of Cauterets, 376, 377 ; her influence
on her brother's treatment of the
revolt of La Rochelle, 380-2; she
develops consumption, 386 ; her grief
at the massacre of the Vaudois, 393,
394 ; she joins her brother at Saint-
Germain-en- Laye, 395 ; and thence
goes to visit her daughter, 396 ; her
growing weakness, 399 ; hears of her
brother's death, 400, 401 ; her grief
at his loss and the lyrics she wrote,
402, 403 ; she fears the loss of her
pension, 404 ; but it is continued,
405 ; her distress at her daughter's
extravagance, 406 ; her declining
strength and preparation for the end,
411, 412; her death, 414
Angouleme, Louise of Savoy, Countess
of, 3, 16, 18-34, 40-50, 54-7, 60-1,
66-70, 75, 81-3, 89, 91-4, 96-9, 115,
118, 135, 141-4, 149, 153, 160-2,
167, I7O-9, 189-91, 2O4, 2O5, 221,
229, 239, 242, 243, 247, 26l, 266,
273, 274, 276-7
Anne, Queen of Charles VIII, King of
France, afterwards of Louis XII, 8,
23, 24, 25, 27, 29,140, 41, 42, 43, 45,
56, 58, 60, 61, 71, 73. 8 i> 82 8 3> 84,
88
Annebaut, 379
Aragon, Catherine of, 32, 36, 37, 38,
2 43-5
Aranda, 229
Arande, Michel d', 131, 138, 161, 182
Aries, 149
Armagnac, Marguerite d', 42
Arras, J. B., 340
Index
Arthur, Prince of Wales, 31, 36
Aste, 60
Asti, 217
Augereau, 288
Aumont, Madame d', 93
Austria, Charles V of, 41, 117, 120
, Ferdinand of, 320, 330
, Margaret of, 139, 261
Autun, Jean d', 74
Avignon, 159, 160, 309
Avila, Bishop of, 192
Avs, Louis d', 166
Bacquier, Matthew, 37, 38
Bagneres, 413
Barbarossa, 307, 385
Barcelona, 187, 191, 194, 215, 216,
3 11
Barre, la, High Bailiff of Paris, 219
Basle, 102, 208
Bauge, Dame de, 246
Bayard, 85, 151, 166, 219
Bayonne, 230
Beam, 255, 278, 281, 285-6, 302, 319,
332-4, 335, 336, 337, 372, 395, 407,
4H, 415
Beaujeu, Anne de, 4, 9, 10, 15, 19, 56,
148
Beaune, Jacques de, Seigneur de Sem-
blan9ai, 141, 142, 148
Beda, Noel, 124, 128, 181, 233, 289,
-^96, 292, 300, 305
Bellay, Guillaume du, 97, 139, 165,
187, 296, 373, 378
, Martin du, 380, 397
Berauld, Nicolas, 349
Berquin, Louis de, 129, 138, 233, 234,
257, 258
Berry, 275
Berthaut, 298, 301
Bertrandi, President, 405
Bidassoa, 229
Blois, 10, 26, 27, 29, 40, 41, 57, 60,
62, 71, 83, 87, 152, 153, 182, 222,
267, 273, 275, 299, 375
Boaistuau, Pierre, 370
Bochetel, 399
Boisgency, 319
Boisy, Sieur de. See Gouffier, Artus.
Boleyn, Anne, 121, 244
Bonnivet, Madame, 50, 51, 53
, Sirede See Gouffier, Guillaume.
Bordeaux, 266, 316, 373
Bordenave, 227
Borgia, Caesar, 26, 27
, Lucretia, 32
Bouchard, a doctor, 233
Bouchot, 322
Boulogne, 90, 315, 394
Bourbon, 217
, Constable de. See Montpensier,
Count de.
Due de, 20, 83, 90
Duchesse de, 31, 60, 83
Marguerite de, Duchesse de
Nevers, 224, 370
Nicholas, 333, 347
Suzanne de, 56, 143, 146, 147
Bourdeille, M. de, 85
Bourges, 154
Bourg-la-Reine, 317, 318
Bourgoing, Oliver, 406
Brabant, 379
Brant6me, 23, 39, 71, 77, 84, 85, 93,
97, 112, 169, 199, 237, 239, 251,
275, 3io> 327, 357, 368, 396, 4",
412
Bresse, Philippe, Count de, 3, 14, 20
Bretagne, Anne of. See Anne, Queen
of Charles VIII, and afterwards of
Louis XII.
, Duke de. See Angouleme,
Fran9ois, Count d'.
Bri9onnet, Guillaume, Bishop of
Meaux, 125, 126, 131-8, 155, 161,
183, 184
, Guillaume, Count de Montbrun,
126, 412
Brion, Philippe de Chabot, Sieur de,
afterwards Admiral of France, 31,
1 66, 213, 214, 219, 229, 263, 266,
278, 307, 325, 341
Brittany, 40
Brodeau, Victor, 351
Brosse, Jean de, 242
, Rene de, 242
Bruges, 139, 140
Bude, Guillaume, 101, 102
Burgos, 252
Burgundy, 201, 203, 2 1 8, 262
, Jean-sans-Peur, Duke of, I
, Marie of, 2
Cabanillas, Don Geronimo, 189
Cabrieres, 391
Caen, Baillive of. See Silly, Madame
de.
Cahors, 103
Caillau, Gilles, 414
Calabria, Duke of, son of the ex- King
of Naples, 38
Cambrai, 118, 261-2, 294
Candale, Count de, 272
Carr, 27
417
E E
Index
Castel-Jaloux, 410
Castiglione, Baldassare, 237
Catalonia, 193
Cauterets, 376
Cavalli, Marino, 324
Cellini, Benvenuto, 250
Ceresole, 387
Chabot, Philippe de, 31
Chambord, 396
Chantilly, 343
Charles II, Duke of Savoy, 14
Ill, Duke of Savoy, 306
V, Emperor, 102, 121, 123,
139, 140, 148, 149, 158, 172, 179,
184-6, 188-91, 193, 195-7, 200,
202, 205, 207, 2II-3, 216-8, 220,
224, 226-8, 235, 237, 252, 259-61,
266, 269, 304, 307, 311, 320, 321,
334, 342, 343, 378,
France, 4, 5, 8,
9, 21
the Bold, 201, 217
Charlotte, Madame, daughter of Francis
I, 154-7
Chateaubriand, Countess de, 72, 112,
242, 243, 295
Chateauneuf, 10
Chatel, Pierre du, Bishop of Tulle, 350
Chatelherault, 81, 340
Ch^tillon, Jacques de, 23
, Madame de, 23, 62, 113
Chaumont, 50
Chevreuse, 398
Chinon, 25, 26
Civray, 25
Clement VII, Pope, 181, 250, 252,
260, 294, 306
Clermont, Seigneur de, 221
Cleves, Duke of. See Maick, Guillaume
dela.
Cognac, 3, 4, io> 14-16, 21, 25, 26, 81,
82, 236, 237, 243, 252
Compaing, 350
Compiegne, 99, 328
Condom, Bishop of. See Grossoles,
Eraid de.
Cop, Guillaume, 101, 102, 290
Coucy, 60
Courant, 298, 301
Coustellier, Thomas le, 400
Crepy, 389, 390, 392, 394
Dagoucin, 358
Dampierre, 398
Dandolo, Venetian ambassador, 88, 90,
270
Darmesteter, Madame, 138, 356
Dauphin. See Fran9ois.
Dauphine, 149
Delorme, Philippe, 347
Denisot, Nicolas, 352
Denmark, Christian III of, 378
Disomme, Jacques, 77, 78, 79
, Mme., 77-80, 87
Dolet, Etienne, 345-51
Doria, Andrea, 192, 260
Douzere, 221
Dover, 90, 91
Duchatel, Pierre, 101, 102, 129
Dunker, 371
Dunois, Bastard of Orleans, 6
Duquesse, Arnauld, 340
DUren, 383
Durtal, Sire de, 30
Ecouen, 343
Embrun, Archbishop of. See Tournon,
Fra^ois de.
Enghien, Count d', 387, 390
Entragues, Pierre de Balzac d', 74
Entremont, Count d', 36, 37
Epernay, 387
Erasmus, 102, 205, 233, 257, 258
Escuranis, Physician to Marguerite,
414
Essek, 320
Este, Alfonso d', 32
, Hercule d', Duke of Ferrara, 32
Estrees, Sieur d', 407
fitampes, Duchesse d', 296, 304, 324-9,
340-1, 344, 395
Etaples, Lefevre, 253, 346
Farel, Guillaume, 124, 129, 183, 299
Feramosca, 249
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 142
V, King of Spain, 45, 46, 1 1 5, 1 1 7
Ferrara, 249, 345
Ferreras, Spanish historian, 204
Ferriere, Count de la, no, 403, 412
Flanders, 139, 329
Fleuranges, Sieur de, 31, 96, 147
Florence, 218, 249
Foix, Andre, Seigneur de Lesparre, 112
, Fran9oise de, 38, 75, 112
, Gaton de, 31, 49, 51, 52, 53,
63, 66
, Jacques de, Bishop of Lescar,
112, 284, 372
, Odet de, Seigneur de Lautrec,
72, 112
, Thomas de, Seigneur de Les-
cun, 112
4l8
Index
Folembrai, 396
Folle, Jeanne la, 54
Fontaine, Charles, 347
Fontainebleau, 253, 255, 268, 275, 316,
388, 396
Fontarabia, 72, 139, 229, 264, 379
Fontevrault, Abbey of, 397
France, Claude de, daughter of Louis
XII by Anne de Bretagne, 9, 29,
40, 41, 43, 58-60, 82, 86, 87, 92,
98, 146, 149, 151, 152, 246
, Jeanne de, Queen of Louis XII,
23, 26
Fran9ois, Dauphin, son of Francis I,
1 53, 155, 2l8 222 > 2 3> 2 3i> 2 36,
267, 269, 274, 303, 312, 322, 324,
3 2 5 395
Frank, M. Felix, 363
Frederick, Prince Palatine, 2O2
Freer, Martha, 128, 353, 393, 415
Fregoso, 377
Freundenberger, 371
Froment, Antoine, 184
Frotte, Jehan, 351
Frundsberg, Georg, 249
Gaeta, 40
Gamaches, 85
Gattinara, Chancellor, 218, 219
Geler, Jehan, 406
Genin, 107, 109, no, 357
Genoa, 71, 163, 187, 217, 252, 260, 311
Genouiliac, Galiot de, 163
Ghent, 320
Gie, Marechal de, 13, 26-31, 33, 38-
4 2 , 43, 44, 71
Gien, 410
Goinret, Jehan, 271
Gcnzaga, Ferdinando di, 314
Gouffier, Artus, Sieur de Boisy, an
elder brother of Bonnivet, 35, 85,
100
, Guillaume, Sire de Bonnivet, 49,
50, 51, 53, 54, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66,
68, 72, 85, loo, 112, 113, 114, 121,
!39, IS 1 . J59, 163
Goujet, Abbe, 367
Gramont, Cardinal de, 283
Granvelle, Cardinal de, 314
Granville, Amiral de, 74
, Mile. Anne de, 74
Grenoble, 37, 161
Gres-en-Galinais, 275
Grez-en-Gatinois, 414
Grignols, 93, 94
Groslet, Jacques, chancellor of Alenjon,
403
Grossoles, Erard de, Bishop of Con-
dom, 373, 374-5
Gruget, Claude, 352, 354, 368, 371
Guadalajara, 210, 211
Guasto, Marquis del, 378, 385
Guelders, Duke of, 217
Guienne, 72, 223, 248, 316
, Governor of. See Albret, Henri
d', King of Navarre, 308
Guinegate, 72
Guise, Claude de Lorraine, Due de,
171, 379, 388
Have, Jean de la, 352, 353
Heilly, Mile, d', 241, 243
, Seigneur d', 239
Henry VII, King of England, 31, 36,
46
VIII, King of England, 36, 72,
88, 97, 115, 121, 140, 148, 149, 243,
244, 251, 385, 388, 397
Heptameron, The, 48-54, 62-69, 355-
71
Herbault, 152, 158
Herbert, Lord, 46
Hurault, Robert, Abbe of Saint- Martin
d'Autun, 39
Infantado, Duke of, 192, 213
Issoudun, 293
Izernay, 404, 406
Jaligny, 11
Jargeau, 410
Jarnac, Sieur de, 381
Javette, Mathieu, 406
Lacroix, Paul, 368
Langeac, Jean de, Bishop of Limoges,
349
Languedoc, 145, 221
Lannoy, Charles, Marquis de, 151, 163,
169, 186, 187-8, 220, 228, 231, 235,
2 37, 2 49
Lascar, Jean de, 208
Lautrec, 140-2, 145, 148, 159, 171,
231, 251, 259, 260
Leclerc, 129, 137
Lefevre, 123, 124, 127, 136, 138,
2 35
Lefranc, M. Abel, 354
Lemaigne, Vicomtesse de, 246
Leo X, Pope, 84, 116, 122, 140
Lescar, Bishop of. See Foix, Jacques
de.
Lescure, in
, Baron de, 374
419
Index
Leyva, Antonio, de, 161, 162, 165, 307,
3H,3I4
Liguna, 311
Limoges, Bishop of. See Langeac,
Jean.
Limours, 398
Lin ? y, Le Roux de, ill, 353, 368, 371
Lisieux, Bishop of, 255, 266
Loches, 55
Lodi, 160
Loire, 40
Longueil, Christopher, tutor to Fran-
9015, Count d' Angouleme, 34
Longueville, Due de, 88
Lorraine, Cardinal de, 266, 330
, Fra^ois de, 166, 390
, Marguerite de, 55
Louise of Savoy. See Angouleme,
Countess of.
Louis XI, King of France, 2, 3, 8, 36
XII, King of France, 21, 23, 24,
26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40,
41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 49, 55, 56, 57,
67, 70, 71, 86, 88, 90, 91, 92, 94,
95 96, 115, 119, 224
Lugo, Don Alvaro de, 265
Luther, Martin, 122, 123, 129, 181,
183, 256, 296
Luxembourg, 384
, Robert de, Bishop of Angouleme,
Lyons, 40, 151, 161, 167, 168, 171,
213, 229, 312, 314, 316, 350, 386
Macon, Antoine le, 351, 366
Madeline, Madame, daughter of
Francis I, 153, 155, 222, 385
Madon, 45, 46
Madrid, 20, 107, in, 177, 194, 209,
211, 213, 215, 217, 220, 227-9,
233, 243, 252, 261, 262, 379
Mantua, Duke of, 314
Maraviglia, 306
Marck, Guillaume de la, Duke of
Cleves and Juliers, 332-4, 336-9,
377, 379, 383, 384, 396
, Robert de la, 71, 122, 217
Mare, Jean de la, Bishop of Condom,
35
Marignano, 116, 117, 144, 145
Marot, Clement, 103, 233, 234, 345,
347
, Jean, 84, 103-6
Marseilles, 158
Martin, Henri, no, 328
Maulde la Claviere, Louise de Savoic et
Francois I er , 49, 69
Maximilian, Emperor, 115, 118, 119
Meaux, 126, 128, 129
Medici, Catherine de', daughter of
Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino,
294, 324
Medina-Celi, 213, 214
Melanchthon, Andrew, 316
, Philipp, 297-9
Melle, 5
Mendoza, Don Diego de, Count de
Melito, 200
, Donna Ximena de, 210
Merindol, 391
Mzieres, 139
Michelet, 109, no, in
Mignet, 184
Milan, 27, 29, 116, 140, 145, 160, 161,
163, 165, 186, 248
, Duke of, 219
Mon9ada, Don Ugo de, 193
Mon9on, 320
Monge, 408
Mont-de-Marsan, 235, 266
Montecuculi, Count Sebastino di, 313,
3H
Montfau9on, 142
Montferrato, Marchioness of, 246
Montfrin, 308, 309
Montmorency, Anne de, 31, 166, 173,
187, 189, 190, 191, 205, 209-14,
229, 256, 263, 264, 265, 267, 278,
308, 310, 315, 319, 320, 326-7, 328,
329, 330, 340, 34i, 342, 343, 344,
377, 398, 404-5, 408, 409
Montmorency- Laval, Jean de, 112
Montpellier, 221
Montpensier, Charles de Bourbon,
Count de, 31, 143-7, 249, 250
Montpezat, Jean de, Comte de Car-
main, 309
Moulins, II, 20, 144, 408
Nai, 284
Nantes, 40
, Cardinal de, 57
Naples, 39, 163, 187, 217, 259, 260,
389
Narbonne, 126, 213, 215, 221
Nassau, Count of, 139, 308
, Countess of, 228
Navarre, 121, 209, 227, 248
, Jean, Prince of, 268
, Jehanne de. See Albret, Jeanne
d'.
, King of. See Albret, Henri d'.
, Queen of. See Angouleme,
Margaret.
420
Index
Navarreins, 285
Nemours, Due de, 42
Nerac, 260, 280, 281, 285, 301, 345,
405.
Neufville, Nicolas de, Seigneur of
Villeroi, 104
Nice, 331, 377, 385
Niel, 322
Nimes, 221, 309
Nodier, Charles 367
Norfolk, Duke of, English Ambassador,
329
Noyon, 117
Odet, Seigneur de Lautrec, 1 12
Oisille, Dame, 358-64
Olhagary, 284, 334
Olivier, 353
Oloron, Bishop of, 373
Oppede, Baron d', 392
Orleans, 348
, Charles d', 35
, Henri, Due d', son of Francis,
afterwards King Henri II, 153, 155,
218, 222, 230, 231, 236, 242, 251,
267, 269, 270, 274, 294, 303, 322,
326, 331, 395, 405-10
, Jeanne de France, Duchess of, 8
, Louis, Due d', I, 8-10, 13, 14,
20, 21 ; afterwards Louis XII, q.v.
, Valentina of Milan, Duchess d',
1,635
Orvieto, 252
Pachecho, Dona Agnese, 312
Palisse, Monsieur de la, 150, 163, 165
Pampeluna, 224, 379
Papillon, 233
Paradin, Guillaume, 251, 387
Paradis, Paul, 39
Paris, i, 4, 24, 25, 77, 78,^87, 91, 96,
100, 103, 116, 137, 154, 161, 171,
175, 182, 244, 254, 256, 272, 288,
29*. 30i, 347, 387, 388, 406
, Bishop of, 303-4
Parvi, Guillaume, 83
Pau, 256, 285, 345, 399, 405, 410
Paul III, Pope, 295, 305, 320, 372,
384, 413
Paule, Fran9ois de, 8, 9, 23
Pavanne, Jacques, 182, 183
Pavia, 114, 160, 162, 163, 165, 166,
1 68, 170, 1 80, 203, 223, 240, 252,
337, 33 8
Pay du Fou, Bonaventure du. See
Bonnivet, Madame.
Pedraza, 261, 263
Pelletier, Jacques, 347, 352
Penalosa, 229
Penthievre, Count de, I, 242
Periers, Bonaventure des, 345-8, 367
Perpignan, 379
Pescara, Marchese di, 158-160, 164,
165, 187
Petit, Guillaume, afterwards Bishop
of Senlis, 100, 102, 124, 129, 290,
297
Philip, eldest son of Charles V, 279
Phillippe, Duke of Savoy. Set Bresse,
Phillippe, Count de.
Picardy, 8 1
Piellei, Guillaume, 72
Pinerolo, 307
Pisseleu, Anne de, 239, 242, 269
, Guillaume de, 239
Pius II, Pope, 17
Pizzighitone. 169, 173, 185, 186, 188
Planche, Regnier de la, 118
Plessis-les-Tours, 8, 9, 280, 318, 319,
396
Ploret, Lieutenant, 30
Poitiers, 34
, Diane de, widow of Louis de
Breze, 322-6, 340, 395, 404
Poitou, Senechale of, 308, 317
Pole, Richard de la, the attainted Duke
of Suffolk, 166
Polignac, Anne de, Countess de la
Rochefoucald, 245
, Elie de, 13
, Mile. Jeanne de, 3, 6, 16, 30
Poncher, Etienne, Archbishop of Sens,
102
Pontbriant, The brothers, 41
Portugal, Eleanor, Queen-Dowager of,
149, 202, 217, 220, 228, 230, 261,
262, 263, 266, 267, 268, 272, 312,
3i6, 405
, Infanta Isabella of, 228
Praet, Louis van, 230, 235, 264, 265
Prat, du, Chancellor, 100, 118, 142,
148, 167, 170, 181, 232. 263, 264,
291
Provence, 149
Rambouillet, 398
Ravenna, 31, 49
Refuge, Arnault du, 2
, Regnault du, 89
Rene, Bastard of Savoy, 85, 144
, the Lyons Messenger, 150
Renee, Madame, afterwards Duchess
of Ferrara, 82, 95, 146
Requefia, 192
421
Index
Rheims, 98, 126, 407
Rhodez, Bishop of, 283
Rieux, de, 172
Rin9on, 377
Roanne, 230
Roche, Sieur de la, 204
Rochefort, 398
, Frar^ois de, 225
Ro2ux, Count de, 308
Rohan, Fran9oise de, 319
, Marguerite de. See Angouleme,
Countess de.
, Pierre de, 13
, Rene, Viscount de, 295, 319
Rome, 249, 251, 252
Romorantin, Chateau of, 29, 89, 91,
96, 275
Roussel, Gerard, 124, 129, 138, 280,
281, 298, 300, 372
Roussillon, 209, 379
Roussy, Count de, 272
Saigon, 347
Saint-Andre-des-Arts, Cure of, 290
Saint-Cloud, 272
Saint-Denis, 91, 92, 97, 98, 151, 272
Saint- Dizier, 387
Saint-Gelais, Jean de, 5, u, 13, 16,
1 8, 25, 26, 28, 33, 42, 45
, Octavien de, Bishop of Angou-
leme, 16-18
Saint-Germain, 275, 398
Saint-Germain-en- Lay, 246, 317, 395,
397
Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 232, 265
Saint-Maixent, 25
Saint-Father, Mile, de, 348
Saini-Pol, Count de, 166, 260, 307
Saint- Preuil, 245
Saint- Vincent, 330
Sainte-Beuve, 357
Sainte-Marthe, Charles de, 240, 287
Saintonge, 97
Saintsbury, Mr. George, 371
Salces, 215, 221
Saluzzo, Marchese di, 307
Sanguin, Antoine, Archbishop of Or-
leans, 325
, Mile., 239
Sauveterre, 285
Savona, 259
Savoy, Claude de Brosses de Bretagne,
Duchess of, 14
Sceve, Maurice, 347
Scotland, James V of, 384
Seez, Bishop of, 318
Segovia, 195
Selve, Jean de, 189, 191, 198, 219
Senlis, Bishop of. See Petit, Guillaume.
Seville, 228
Sforza, Francesco, 142, 217, 238, 248,
306
, Louis, 116
, Maximilian, Duke of Milan, 115
Siguenza, 212
Silly, Madame de, Baillive of Caen,
333, 335, 338-9
Sisteron, 117
Soissons, 60
Soliman II, 306, 320, 377
Somerset, Duke of, 46
Spain, Philip of, 332, 342-4, 407
Spinola, Madame, 74
Strasbourg, 182
Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke of,
92-4, 96, 97
Susa, 319
Talavera, 203
Talmont, Prince de, 166
Tarbes, 245
, Bishop of, 243
Tarragona, Archbishop of, 187
Taylor, Dr. John, English Ambassador,
230, 270
Testard, Robert, 15
Therouanne, 72, 73, 315
Toledo, 188, 197, 227, 237, 263, 268,
279
, Archbishop of, 228
Torrejon, Castle of, 228
Toulon, 311
Toulouse, 43, 349
Touraine, 317
Tournai, 73, 122, 140
Tournelles, Palais des, 97
Tournon, Fran9ois de, Archbishop of
Embrun, 189, 191, 198, 219, 220,
263, 264, 297, 299-302, 392, 397
Tours, 59
Tremoille, Louis de la, 163, 166
Troyes, 130, 131
Tudor, Mary, afterwards Queen of
Louis XII, King of France, 88, 90,
9i, 92 , 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Tulle, Bishop of. See Chatel, Pierre
du.
Turenne, Viscount de, 263
Turin, 307, 319, 345
Urbino, Duke of, 248, 250
Usson, 25
Utrecht, Adrian of, 140
422
Index
Valence, 308
Valencia, 187
Valentinois, Duchess de. See Poitiers,
Diane de.
Valois, Charles de, Duke d'Angouleme,
nephew of Marguerite, 253
, Due de. See Angouleme, Fran-
ois Count d'.
Vauban, 285
Vaudemont, Count de, 55
Vaudois, 393
Velasco, Don Pedro Hernandez de,
Constable of Castile, 263
Vend6me, Due de, 100, 171, 175,
303 3i6, 379, 390, 406, 408, 409
, Duchesse de, 246, 411
Venice, II 8, 213, 218, 345
Venyssolo, 189
Vertus, Philippe, Count de, I
Veyrieres, Convent of, 266
Vienna, 261
Villalpando, 261
Villefranche, Moreau de, 167
Villepreux, 398
Villers-Cotterets, 396
Vittoria, 229, 230, 263
Waldo, Pierre de, 391
Wallup, 329
Wasa, Gustavus, 378
Wolsey, Cardinal, 121, 139, 140, 244,
251, 270
York, Duke of, afterwards Henry VIII,
King of England, 36, 38
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