THE PEARL 
 OF PRINGESSES 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE 
 )XNG0ULEM£.QUEEN QF NAVARRE 
 
 H.NOEL WILLIAMS 
 
PC 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Date Due 
 
 PRINTED IN U. S. A 
 
 (QT 
 
 CAT. NO. 23233 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 DC 112.M2W72 
 
 Pearl of princesses : 
 
 3 1924 028 100 810 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028100810 
 
THE PEARL OF PRINCESSES 
 
oia^X'Ce^z/e^^' J>^n'i-a<H^/^*?tey. 
 
 '^ '^ "4^1^^. 
 
THE 
 PEARL OF PRINCESSES 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE 
 D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 
 BY 
 
 H. NOEL WILLIAMS 
 
 AUTHOR OF "fIVB FAIR SISTERS," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 BRENTANO'S 
 
 c 
 
Printed in Great Britain. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Charles d'Angoul^me — Louise of Savoy — Birth of Marguerite 
 d'AngouIfime — The prediction of Francois de Paule — Death 
 of Charles d'AngoulSme ....... 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 Mar^chal de Gi^— 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 Mar^ 
 
 chal de Gie .......... 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'Alen9on — Mar- 
 guerite marries the Due d'Alen^on — 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 Th^rouanne and 
 Tournai — The Brunette of Amboise — The Due de Valois and 
 Madame Disomme ........ JoSo 
 
 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 Fran9ois I 89-98 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Louise created Duchesse d'Angoul^me — Marguerite directs the 
 King's patronage — Clement Marot — An atrocious accusation 
 — An audacious gallant ....... 99-114 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 The campaign of Marignano — The Concordat — Charles of Austria — 
 
 "The Field of the Cloth of Gold" 115-122 
 
 CHAPTER XH 
 
 Lef^vre d'Etaples — Religious views of Marguerite d'AngoulSrae — 
 Guillaume Bri^onnet, Bishop of Meaux — The Mystics of 
 Meaux — Marguerite and Bri9onnet — A mystical correspond- 
 ence — Bri9onnet prosecuted for heresy .... 123-138 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 First war between Francois I and Charles V — Fraud of Louise of 
 Savoy — The Conn^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 Pavia — ^Anguish of Marguerite .... 158-168 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Fran9ois 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 Bri9onnet 
 — Fran9ois I is transferred to Spain — Fran9ois 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- 
 gfuerite — 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 — Fran9ois 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 XXH 
 Francois I and Jeanne d'Albret — "La Messe i sept points" — Mar- 
 guerite and ^her husband — Marguerite's life in B^arn — " Le 
 Miroir de I'Ame p^cheresse " — ^An outrageous affront — Mar- 
 guerite and the Franciscans of Issoudun .... 278—293 
 
 CHAPTER XXni 
 Tsabeau 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 Fran9ois — Marguerite in 
 Picardy — Illness of Jeanne d'Albret — Generosity of Marguerite 
 — The Aigues-Mortes interview ...... 306-32 1 
 
 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 P^riers — Etienne 
 
 Dolet — Marguerite's poetical work — The Heptara^ron . . 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'Orl&ins — Gloomy presentiments — A warning dream — Mar- 1 
 
 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 
 
 INMX 415-423 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MARGUERITE D ANGOULEMEj QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 
 ANNE OF BRITTANY .... 
 
 MARY TUDOR 
 
 / 
 
 EMPEROR CHARLES V . . . . 
 
 LOUISE OF SAVOY, COUNTESS d'aNGOUL^ME 
 
 HENRI d'ALBRET, KING OF NAVARRE . 
 
 MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND . 
 
 JEANNE d'ALBRET, QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 
 MARGUERITE D'ANGOULtME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 t 
 
 Frontispiece 
 To face page 
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THE PEARL OF PRINCESSES 
 
 MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 By his marriage with Valentina of Milan, Louis, 
 Due d'Orl6ans, 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 P^rigord ; 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 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 P'rance, 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,^ 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 
 
 ^ Daughter of Alain IX, Vicomte de Rohan, and of Marie de 
 Bretagne, daughter of Fran9ois I, Duke of Brittany. 
 
 2 
 
Charles d'Angoul^me 
 
 prompdy 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 
 H ouse. 
 
 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, made "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, bastar;d of M. le 
 Comte " ; 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 aiFect 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. 
 
 T\\& fianci^ 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 rayal 
 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- 
 
 4 
 
Louise of Savoy 
 
 ingly modest one of 35,000 livres, payable in three 
 years ; ^ 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." ^ 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 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 « Histoire de Louis XII'. 
 
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,'- 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 "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 
 ^ M. de Maulde la Clavi&re, Louise de Savoie et Franfois V 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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." 1 
 
 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. 
 
 7 
 
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. 
 
 " 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, " the 
 
 8 
 
The Prediction of Fran9ois 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 1 494 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 the 
 death of the Dauphin, the count, accompanied by his wife, 
 left Cognac with the twofold object of presenting their 
 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 been 
 obliged to retire from Court, having had the misfortune 
 to give dire oiFence to the queen by his well-meaning 
 efforts to divert the King from the melancholy condition 
 into which the Dauphin's death had thrown him, but 
 which Anne had construed into an insulting display of 
 joy at the removal of her son from his path.^ 
 
 The day upon which the Comte and Comtesse 
 d'Angouleme quitted Cognac was bitterly cold, and in 
 consequence of the severity of the weather and the 
 condition of the roads, they journeyed only so far as 
 Chateauneuf, where they stopped for the night. Shortly 
 after their arrival, Charles d'Angouleme complained of 
 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 learned 
 
 ^ " After the death of the Dauphin, King Charles and his queen 
 were full of such desolate grief that the doctors, fearing the weakness 
 and feeble constitution of the King, were of opinion that excess of 
 sorrow might be prejudicial to his health. They therefore advised as 
 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. 
 
 lO 
 
Death of Charles d'Angoukme 
 
 practitioners of the healing art were gathered round the 
 sick-bed, who, after a lengthy consultation, pronounced 
 the patient J;o 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 ; ^ 
 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," ^ 
 for a husband who expected her to receive his mistress as 
 
 1 Histoire de Louis XII'. 
 
 "^ Madame Darmesteter, Margaret of Navarre. 
 
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, m 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 Gi6, 
 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 
 
 13 
 
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 Angoiilerae 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 
 
 15 
 
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 d^but by the translation 
 into the vernacular of an erotic poem by Pope Pius II, 
 written, of course, during the pleasure-loving youth 
 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.^ 
 
 ^ Lystoire de Euriaks et Lucresse vrays amoureux selon pape pie, id., goth. 
 petit in P, suivie de la traduction, par " Johannis Floridi," de I'Histoire 
 de Guisgard et Sigiimotide, de I'Aretin. Imprime le 6 Mai 1493, par 
 Ant. V6rard. TJie dedication was as follows — 
 
 En lonneur de la saincte Trinity, 
 Louenge de vous, Charles roy tr^s chrestien, 
 De latin en franfois j'ay translate 
 Lystoire du tr^s 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 d'honneur, 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.^ 
 
 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'Eurlalus et de Lucresse, le maintien 
 Qui en amours ont eu durent leur vie, 
 Ainsi que la descript, ou temps ancien, 
 Aeneas Silvius, nomme 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. 
 
 i8 
 
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 divotes. 
 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 intelligeht 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 
 
 19 
 
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 niost 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 fitienne Lenain, while the Dues d'Orl6ans 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'Orldans, in consequence, succeeded him under 
 the title of Louis XII, and the little Comte d'Angouleme 
 became heir presumptive to the Crown of France. 
 
 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 Jacqu'es 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 " 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 Margqerite." 
 
 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'AngouIeme, 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 
 
 23 
 
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/ 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 XII's 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 P&re Hilarion de Coste. 
 
 24 
 
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 tb 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 Mar^chal 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, Cjesar 
 Borgia, who arrived clad in cloth-of-gold and covered 
 
 26 
 
The Mar^chal de Gie 
 
 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, Gi6 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 Mar^chal de Gi6, 
 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,^ 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 nam^, 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 Mardchal de Gi6 was a very severe 
 gaoler. He came but little to Amboise, since, being 
 
 1 " My daughter [i. 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, 
 
 29 
 
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 Floret. 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 Gid's deputy. Floret, 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 Floret, 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 Mar^chal 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 — k 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 1 500, 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 off^ered to give Marguerite a dowry of 
 200,000 6cus. 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 h 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 ° 
 
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 "la 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 educ^ition 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, " that, in teaching him to read, she nourished 
 him on the histories of Priam and Hector. We find 
 among her manuscripts a Recueil des Hisioires de Troye, 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 
 1 510, 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 (Tun roi, 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 time 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 brother's 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 Lpuis XII. 
 
 On June 25, 1 502, 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 Mar^chal de Gi6, who spoke in high 
 terms of Marguerite and her brother, and described Mile. 
 d'AngouIeme as " tres belle et bien sage de son dge." 
 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, dc 
 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 '* Hen 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-Martin 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." ^ Though amiable 
 to all, her afFection in her early years was mainly concen- 
 trated on her mother and brother — Notre Triniti, as she 
 liked to call the group, " 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, Oration fun^bre de Marguerite, Reive 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.^ 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 
 Savojr, but this is quite incorrect. 
 
 40 
 
Louise and the Mar^chal 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, 
 decUned to commit herself. She recognized that the 
 hour for her revenge had come, since she was well aware 
 that Anne de Bretagne detested the Mar6chal 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 Ihe-majeste and malversation were 
 launched against the marshal. The Sieur Alain d'Albret, 
 a kinsman of the King of Navarre and a bitter 
 
 41 
 
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. " 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 1 505, 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 XII's historians, " that every one had lost his 
 own child." ^ 
 
 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, Hiitoire du roy Leys XII', cited by Maulde la Ckviire. 
 
 42 
 
Louise and the Marechal de Gi6 
 
 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 eouneil of regeney, in which the Queen 
 and Louise of Savoy were relegated to a very subordinate 
 rdle. 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 " miracle " which had saved Trajan 
 from the earthquake at Antioeh. 
 
 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. Fi'om Brittany she superintended the resump- 
 tion of the proceedings against the Mar6ehal de Gi6, 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 eases 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 Parlemeni 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,"«'y^f 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 1 505 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 
 
 46 
 
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,"^ 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 
 ^ Miss Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance. 
 48 
 
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 
 fortuni, 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.''^ 
 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. " 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 
 ^ Louise de Satioie et Frtfnfois I". 
 
 49 « 
 
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, " 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 "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 Amtoise ; 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 correspqndence 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 
 
 51 
 
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, finding 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 diflicult 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 afiair 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 tite-h-tte, he inquired whether 
 
 52 
 
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 
 FoUe, 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 " 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'Alen9on 
 
 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'Alen<jon, 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'Alen^on, 
 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'Alencjon, 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'Alen<jon and 
 Marguerite, as a means of terminating a long and vexa- 
 tious lawsuit between the reigning branch and that of 
 Alencjon 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'Alencjon, 
 
 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'Alenqon 
 
 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,^ 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," ^ the Cardinal de Nantes officiating,^ 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 
 
 ^ " This sum, the contract stipulated, was to be paid by instalments. 
 The first portion of his sister's dowry, a sum of 6000 livres, Franyois 
 delivered to the Due d'Alenfon on the day the contract was signed. A 
 document preserved in the Biblioth^ue Royale, signed by Marguerite 
 and Charles in acknowledgment of an advance of 7000 livres made by 
 Fran9ois I in liquidation of his sister's dowry in the year 1 5 I o, states 
 that no further sums were received by the Due d'Alen9on until 
 1 5 1 8. In this, and in the following year, the King paid 40,000 livres ; 
 and again, in 1 5 zo, Franfois 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. 
 
 * Journal de Louise de Savoie. 
 
 ' Robert de Gnibe, 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 13 th, 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 Frattfoys, 
 ici prhent, qui est tout Franfoys." 
 
 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 19th 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 tpok a similar oath on his 
 own account, and then dispersed with loud cries of 
 " Vive le Rot ! " 
 
 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. 
 
 6i 
 
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 Alencjon, when he should again find himself at leisure. 
 Such was his despair that he was "like to lose his 
 
 63 
 
The Pearl of Priiicesses 
 
 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'Alencjon 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 
 
 64 
 
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 gendeman 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 heir 
 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 F 
 
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, aiFected 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 aiFection 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 heir 
 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 J 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 
 
 67 
 
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 : ^ II y a des meres qui se 
 font les proxinetes de leurs fils.' " ^ 
 
 1 Louise de Saz/oie et Francois V. 
 
 69 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Duc>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 Tr6- 
 moilles, and pestered the King to give him an opportunity 
 of distinguishing himself. For some time Louis XII 
 refused, but in August 151 1 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 
 
 71 
 
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 1 5 1 3 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 £perons " (" 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 navoit 
 iamais tournS 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 : " XJne 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,^ the Court of France was as* fertile in romances 
 
 ^ Anne was terribly strict with her maids-of-honour, who were treated 
 like schoolgirls. They were placed under the direction of a gouvemante, 
 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 JVIajesty 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 
 MUte. 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 
 
 Brant6me, 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, 
 Francjoise 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 ofliicer 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 tite-i-tite, 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 
 
 76 
 
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, Frangois 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 
 trap" observes Brantome ; " /'/ etnbrassait qui rune, qui 
 I autre " ; and the ill-health which would appear to have 
 prevented him from prosecuting the campaign of 15 12 
 was undoubtedly due to these excesses. Recognizing the 
 foUy of his conduct, he decided to reform and seek some 
 object upon whom he might concentrate his aifections. 
 Nor had he far to seek. 
 
 There was 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;^ and so well did he contrive matters with the 
 prior that the porter received orders to open the gate for 
 
 ^ If the Disommes were then living in the Rue de la Pauhominerie, 
 where Fran9ois's inamorata is known to have died some years later, 
 this monastery must have been that of the Blancs Manteaur, 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 " 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'Alencjon, 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 aU 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 VI II 
 
 Francois's lax morals did not aiFect his filial relations, 
 and he was almost as devoted a son as Louise of Savoy 
 was a mother. At the end of December 1 5 1 3, 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 14th, 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 Ren6e, 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, I shall be with her to keep her company." His 
 c ondition 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<jon. 
 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," ^ 
 
 exhausted all the vocabulary of eulogy in order to chant 
 
 ^ M. W. Frere, The Life of Marguerite d'Jngoulime, Queen of Navarre. 
 * 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 Bran tome 
 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 
 
 84 
 
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." ^ 
 
 The sums paid to tailors in the course of the year 15 14 
 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 nUgance. 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 Gouifier, 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 15 14 
 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 
 ^ M. de Maulde la Clavi^re, Louise de Savote et Franfois I'". 
 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. " Ce gros 
 garfon gAtira tout ! " he observed, meaning that, when 
 Fran9ois 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 i8, 15 14, 
 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 
 
 87 
 
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 ''^ gros 
 garfon " from succeeding to the throne and " 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, 15 14 — exactly 
 seven months after the death of Anne de Bretagne — the 
 Due deLongueville signed the treaty of peace with England 
 and, in the name of his sovereign, married Mary Tudor. 
 
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 v^hom 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, 15 14, 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,^ 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 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 89 
 
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 " 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, larfded 
 
 safely at Boulogne.^ Here she was met by the Dues 
 
 de Valois, d'Alencjon, and de Bourbon, and other great 
 
 nobles, who escorted her to Abbeville, where she arrived 
 
 on October 8. 
 
 ^ 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." ^ 
 
 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, " 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, 
 
 ^ 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.^ 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 
 
 ^ 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 ggntil compagnon avec 
 safemme" until the next day was far advanced, 
 
 Soubz le drap d'or couvert d'orfebvrerie 
 Qui reluysoit en fine pierrerie.'- 
 
 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 haquenie pour le porter plus 
 vite et plus doucement en Enfsr 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." ^ 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 Francjois, 
 gave him his last instructions with regard to the Queen 
 and his younger daughter, Madame Ren^e. The prince, 
 
 ^ Bouchet, Epttre XIV, cited by M. de Maulde la ClaviJre. 
 « 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 Mimoires, was indeed 
 a splendid New Year's gift ! 
 
 Mary Tudor learned of her widowhood the following 
 morning. She aiFected 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 
 
 96 
 
Accession of Fran9ois 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 « 
 
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, 15 1 5," 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, spangled with stars and 
 golden fleurs-de-lis, which had been erected near the Port 
 Saint-Denis. 
 
 98 
 
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 Parlementoi 
 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 hdton 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 
 Etampes 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'AIen^on 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- 
 
 lOO 
 
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, " 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 mailre 
 des requites, 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 pe: son 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 
 
 lOI 
 
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 6cus — 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 
 
element 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 15 19, that she took into her service a young 
 poet whose name will always be associated with hers. 
 
 Clement Marot — " k gentil Maitre CUment" 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, " 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 mitier, 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, ViUon, 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 foUe 
 Je ressemblais a I'hirondelle qui vole 
 Puis 9a, puis la ; I'Sge 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 Francjois arranged 
 
 104 
 
Ckment 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 
 VEnfer, 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 I'issue, Marguerite, 
 
 Grande sur terra, envers le ciel petite : 
 
 C'est la princesse i I'esprit inspire 
 
 Au cceur esleu, qui de Dieu est tire 
 
 Mieulx (et m'en croy) que le festu de I'ambre ; 
 
 Et d'elle suis I'humble valet de chambre. 
 
 C'est mon etat. O juge Plutonique ! 
 
 Le Roy des Francs, dont elle est soeur unique 
 
 M'ha fait ce bien : et quelque jour viendra. 
 
 Que le sceur m^me au fr&re 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, "'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 coeur constant n'est, pour heur, ou malheur. 
 Jamais trop gay, ne trop melancolique ; 
 
 105 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 Elle a au chef un esprit ang61ique, 
 
 Le plus subtil qui oncq'aux cieulx vola. 
 
 O grand merveille ! on pent voir par cela. 
 
 Que je suis serf d?ung monstre fort estrange ; 
 
 Monstre, je dy, car, pour tout vray, elle a 
 
 Corps feminin, ccEur d'homme, et teste d'ange. 
 
 The Abbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy, in his edition of Marot's 
 works,^ 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 IVIarot 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 reaUy 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.^ 
 
 ^ CEuvres de Clement Marot, accompanies /Tune preface historijue, par 
 r J bbe Lenglet-Dufresnoy (Paris, 173 1). 
 
 * 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 Times, 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. Gdnin, in his notes 
 to les Nouvelles Lettres de Marguerite d' Angoulime, brings 
 against the princess an odious charge, claiming to have 
 discovered evidence that "the aiFection of Marguerite 
 for her brother was of a criminal nature, and that this 
 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 end 
 of his life, instead of exciting our sympathy and our 
 admiration, ought rather to revolt us." 
 
 The evidence in question consists of "a document 
 unique, but unexceptionable : a letter in Marguerite'^ 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 152 1-2, Here 
 it is : — 
 
 " 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 oflF 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 Inexperience pour difaite ; ^ 
 knowing my impatience without your aid, as you will 
 learn by a token ^ 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 I'assurance, 
 Sans que jamais de vous je me defie, 
 Et si ma main trop foiblement supplie, 
 Vostre bonte excusera I'ignorance 
 Pis que morte. 
 
 ^ 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." 
 
 * Without doubt, the verses with which Marguerite terminates this 
 letter. 
 
 108 
 
An Atrocious Accusation 
 
 Par quoy k 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." ^ 
 
 G6nin 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.^ " 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 aiFected to doubt her 
 affection so tender ; he dared to say that he would not 
 believe it, at least until he had had the ' 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. 
 
 * 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 
 1 52 1-2. 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 Dipenser de Marguerite d' AngouUme, 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 Lincjy, in 
 his edition of the Heptamiron^ 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 Mattresses du 
 Francois I"', 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 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
 lU 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 have been on the best of terms. In the case oJF his 
 Majesty's early flame, Fran^oise 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 maitresse 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 rebuff's 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 cfhonneur, 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. 
 
 " 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, finding 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 Francjois 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 15 14, 
 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, 
 
 115 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 and the Swiss mercenaries of Maximilian promptly- 
 occupied the Alpine passes from Mont-Cenjs 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 13th of September, which was Thursday, 15 15," 
 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 14th of October, of the year 15 15, 
 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 1530,^ 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 1 5 1 6, a " Con- 
 
 ^ Thus history repeated itself in a singular manner, for Maximilian's 
 father, Ludovico il More, had been dispossessed of his duchy by 
 Louis XII, and carried away captive to Paris, where he died in 15 10, 
 at the Chateau of Leches. 
 
 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 16, 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 15 17), 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 aflPairs 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 lawand 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 XIFs 
 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 Maxlmihan 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/ 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 I 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," ^ 
 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 Fran(jois, 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 
 ^ Guillaume du Bellay, Mdmoires. 
 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 PontiiF 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 15 12, 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 B6da. A dissertation that he published in 
 15 17 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 Parkment, 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. 
 " 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."^ 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. 
 
 ^ Edith Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance. 
 I2S 
 
, The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 Guilkume 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 1495.-^ 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-Pr^s 
 was bestowed upon him. In 1 507 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 
 1 5 1 6 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 
 
 ^ Guillaume Brifonnet 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 1 5 1 4, leaving a good reputation 
 as a Churchman, a scholar, and a diplomat. 
 
 126 
 
Guillaume Briq: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. Bri^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-Pr6s, 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, 
 " 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 ; ^ 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 Leftvre 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 
 (T AngouUme^ 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 B6da 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, "/^ 
 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 :— 
 
 " 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'Alen^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 ^ 
 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 
 
 ^ Philiberta of Savoy, half-sister of the Duchesse d'Angoul^me, 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, and 
 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 Bricjonnet forthwith responds : " Ah, Madame, under- 
 stand that there is in the world a cake of tribulation 
 for you to share with your useless son,^ 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, and 
 on the breath of life, which shall kindle the flaming 
 fire of faith. " Uitendue de vostre royaulme, biens et 
 honneurs" he continues, " doibvent estre voix excitative et 
 gros souffle t pour allumer ung torrent de feu d'' amour de 
 Dieu. Hilas, Madame ! fay paour qu'il tie soit a malaise, 
 car comme dit Jeremie, le soufflet qui doibt allumer le feu y 
 est failly : deficit sufflatorium in igne" 
 
 So far the writer's drift, if not exactly transparent, may 
 at least be divined ; but, in the next paragaph, as though 
 ashamed of this comparative lucidity, he plunges into the 
 
 1 Thus the bishop was in the habit of signing himselt, notwithstand- 
 ing that he was twenty-five years older than the princess. Marguerite 
 varies between " your useless mother," and " your frozen, thirsty, and 
 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 
 
 ^ " Uabysme, qui tout abysme previent, four en le dhabysment I'abysmer 
 en P abysme [sans l'abysmer\ ; au quel abysme est fond sans fond, vote des 
 errants" etc. 
 
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, f<Jr 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, Who 
 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 more 
 
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 152 1-2, 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." 
 
 US 
 
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 B6da, 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 unqualijied 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 ' 
 
Bri(;onnet 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 Brigonnet 
 to clear himself of the charges brought against him by the 
 Franciscans. 
 
 Bri^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 (fot- 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 " 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.-^ 
 
 Leclerc retired to Rosay, in Brie, and subsequently to Metz, where 
 he suiFered death as a heretic. 
 
 137 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 It was a sad blov/ 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. " 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 
 Brigonnet 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,^ used her 
 
 ^ Daughter of the Emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy ; 
 born 1480 ; married first, in 1497, Don Juan, son of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella; secondly, in 151Z, 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 
 
 T40 
 
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 
 Semblan^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." ^ 
 
 The passions of this woman were soon to cost France 
 dearer still. 
 
 ^ " Quod de ejus impudkltia liberius hcutus 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 Conn^table 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 Conndtable 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,' Mercceur, 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 15 17, 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 condottteri. 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 
 Francjois 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 ^oved 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 h&ton 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 Francjois 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 
 BeaujeUj 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 : ' 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 
 
 147 
 
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. ' The matter shall 
 not rest here,' quoth she in her wrath, ' 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. ' When the time is ripe, I shall 
 know how to reckon with him.' " 
 
 Shortly after this came the Semblan^ai affair, in which 
 Bourbon joined with Lautrec in his endeavour to expose 
 Louise.i 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 Parkment 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, Dauphin^ 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 ; ^ 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. 
 
 ^ Born at Louvain in 1498 ; married in 15 19 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. 
 
 149 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 " 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 11, news 
 was brought to Paris by Ren^, 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.^ 
 
 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, 
 
 ^ Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris sous la rlgne de Fraitfois I"" (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 15 15, and Viceroy of ' 
 Naples in 1 5 2 1 . 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 and was driven back across the Sesia.^ 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,^ and, towards the end of her life, a martyr 
 
 ^ 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.^ 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,^ 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. 
 
 ^ Here is the list : — 
 
 I. Louise, born in 1515 ; died in 1517. 2. Charlotte, born in 
 1516; died in 1524. 3. Fran9ois, born in 1518 ; died in 1536. 
 4. Henri, born in 15 19, succeeded to the throne as Henri II in 1547 ; 
 died in 1559. S- 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 1 5 74. 
 
 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 Rot Fratifois I"'. 
 
 ^53 
 
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 corthge 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." ^ 
 
 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 
 '^ Letter to the Bishop of Meaux, August 1524. 
 
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 and 
 yet not enough), I am going to impart to you a share of 
 the tribulation with which it has pleased Our Lord to 
 smite me (a grievous burden for this frail and feeble 
 body to bear). My sorrow is that it has pleased God to 
 inflict upon Madame Charlotte so grievous a malady of 
 fever and flux after her measles that I know not whether 
 it may not be His good pleasure to take her to Himself, 
 without suff^ering her longer to taste the miseries of this 
 world. As Madame is not yet strong enough to endure 
 the smallest sorrow, I conceal this from her and from the 
 King likewise, for you are aware that he has enough to 
 think about elsewhere. Therefore, as upon me alone this 
 care must fall, I ask the help of your fervent prayers 
 that as the Almighty wills so it may be done. I pray 
 you not to grow weary in giving me that succour which 
 my unbelief renders so necessary. I hope that ere my 
 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 mere, 
 
 " 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 r&me Pescheresse, was deeply 
 distressed by her death. She had, besides, the painful 
 
 156 
 
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 Semblancjai and Bourbon, this makes strange reading ; 
 but, then, Louise was no ordinary woman. 
 
 157 
 
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,^ 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,^ and when a breach had been made in 
 the ramparts, threw up with astonishing rapidity a 
 formidable earthwork, which was called " k 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 difli- 
 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. 
 
 ^ 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 to 
 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, finding 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 proiSgfs 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. SebviUe 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 landsknechts, 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 G^nouillac, 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 
 
 ^ 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, Frangois 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'Alencjon, 
 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, 
 
 165 
 
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 elite 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,^ 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 Conndtable 
 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 
 Mardchal 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. 
 
 ^ 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 Franfois 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." 
 
 i66 
 
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 
 
 167 
 
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." ^ 
 
 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 Favie^ 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 caftmte de Franfois I"", cited by Frere. 
 l68 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 pRANgois, 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 rhonneur." 
 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 lifcy 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 YS." 
 
 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 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,^ 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 all 
 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. 
 " 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 
 
 173 
 
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^ shall be one, we 
 
 1 The expression, " Notre trintti ", 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 eut croissance, 
 Si tr^s beau, que d^s lors le lys pour sa plaisance 
 Fleuron y a entez et mis par geniture, 
 Ung seul cueur en trois corps. 
 
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, Alencjon'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 nomm6 pour sa puissance, 
 Francois, franc aux efforts des Fran9ois la iiance ; 
 La seur bien cognoissez, duchesse nette et pure, 
 Bonne trop plus qu'assez. O noble geniture ! 
 Vous Stes unicorps comme une trine esience : 
 Ung seul cueur en trois corps. 
 
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, I 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 
 
 176 
 
" The King fasts upon Turtles " 
 
 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'Alen^on, who esteems his captive freedom (prisonni^re 
 liberti) 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 "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,^ and had the latter 
 
 ^ In this poem the King thus indignantly alludes to Alenfon's 
 disgraceful flight at Pavia : — 
 
 Trop tost je veis ceux-la qu'avois laissez. 
 De tout honneur, et vertii delaissez. 
 Les trops meschans s'enfuyoient sans combat, 
 Et entre eulx tous n'avoyent pour debat, 
 
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'AlenQon's bed," Marguerite says : " He [the duke] 
 begs me to oiFer 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 ii, 1525, the luckless Alen^on breathed 
 his last. A manuscript chronicle, entitled ks 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 
 "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 m^moire. 
 Malheureux ! las : ]^t qui vous conduisoit, 
 A telle errcur 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 
 much 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,i 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 VI 1, 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 
 
 ^ 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 Briqionnet 
 
 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 Parlement 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 Bri^onnct 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 
 
 184 
 
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 
 
 185 
 
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- 
 
 i86 
 
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^ 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 
 
 ^ Montmorency was no longer a prisoner, having been exchanged 
 some weeks before for Don Ugo de Mon9ada, 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 [i. 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- 
 cois 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. 
 
 i88 
 
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 iVIontmorency 
 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'Alencjon, 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 tite-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 corn- 
 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 : According as it hath pleased you to 
 send me word by the Mardchal 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,^ 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 
 
 ^ And the duke's daughter, who was of a highly romantic disposition, 
 fell so desperately in love with him that, from sheer despair, she took 
 the veil and founded a monastery at Guadalajara. 
 
 192 
 
Frangois 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 Frangois 
 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 ; ^ 
 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 
 
 ^ Herself, Franfois, 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 mati^re ; 
 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 carri^re 
 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. 
 Puand nul nevoz, I'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 tris bonne et forte ! 
 
 Alors sa soeur, plus mal que morte, 
 
 Courra baiser le messaiger, 
 
 Qui telles nouvelles apporte 
 
 Que son fi^re est hors de dangler. 
 
 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 i8, 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 
 
 195 
 
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. 
 " My 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, I 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 "),^ and, 
 three days after the departure of his "good brother," 
 
 1 Delia vita e delta opere di Andrea Navagero, cited by Mignet, Rivalile 
 de Franfoit I" 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 : ' 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 apartinents, 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.^ This evening I will send you 
 
 ^ 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/ 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,^ 
 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 
 
 ^ The Military Governor of Madrid, and the officer specially appointed 
 to guard Franfois. 
 
 2 On a pilgrimage to a shrine of the Virgin near Talavera, 
 
 201 
 
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 hetweenCharles 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 t© 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 " 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 trh chhre et tres amie 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 Highness's 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 1 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 fouVided upon the rock — the 
 immovable rock — Jesus Christ.\ 
 
 " If you ask me how I thus\ know you, I who have 
 
 2g6 1 
 
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, 1 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. 1 found this hope prin- 
 cipally on the boundless mercy of God ; then, partly 
 
 207 
 
The Pearl ot 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'Alencjon." 
 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 
 
 211 
 
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 litde 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 nooh 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.^ 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 Fran9ois, 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'Alenjon, 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 RousslUon, 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 i yth, 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 ■ 
 Ma^on 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'Orl^ans, or the Dauphin and twelve of the 
 principal personages of the kingdom, were to be delivered 
 up as hostages,! 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 
 
 ^ Among the twelve were the Due de Vendome, the Duke of Albany, 
 the Comte de Saint-Pol, Louis de Bv6z&, Grand S6nechal 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. 
 
 2l8 
 
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 See Champollion, Captivite de Francois I'", 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 fianck, 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.^ The only concession 
 
 ^ 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 l:night having been 
 
 220 
 
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 
 witliout 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'Orldans 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^ 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 
 ^ Marguerite herself. 
 222 
 
Henri d'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 lo, 1494, lost his capital in 15 12, 
 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 15 16, 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 
 1 52 1, 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,'- 
 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 15 19, 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 
 
-»«■ -TV'y fli. h.iKJiCi 17 I'll 
 
 Zi /JOITV 
 
 
 S^' 
 
 
 
 -^«<-' 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 t! ■^sj^ 
 
 HENRI 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 ^ I'es- 
 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 
 lUescas, 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 lUescas, on which occasion the 
 Queen, whose heart Francois seems to have conquered 
 completely, performed a saraband before her fianci, with 
 the Countess of Nassau, one of her ladies-in-waiting. 
 
 On the 19th, 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, 
 Francjois, 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 Pefialosa 
 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'Orl6ans 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."^ 
 
 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- 
 son's, took the road to Bayonne, where they arrived on 
 the evening of March 1 5, 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, Jhe 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 
 I yth, 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'Orl6ans, 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 Alar9on, 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.^ After 
 receiving their congratulations and snatching a hasty meal,^ 
 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."^ 
 " 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." * 
 
 ^- " 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 Anglix, 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. 
 
 * Taylor. 
 
 * President de Selve to the Parlement of Paris, March i8, 1526. 
 
 232 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 By no class of his subjects was the liberation of 
 Francois hailed with greater relief than by Marguerite's 
 protigis^ the Reformers and men of letters. After the 
 departure of the princess for Spain, the Commissioners 
 appointed by the Parlement had contin ued 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 
 Sorboiine, 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 
 itre conclu h mart".; 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 B6da. 
 
 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. "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, 
 Peiialosa, 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 commimicated 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 lo, 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,^ 
 "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." ^ 
 
 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 Brant6me, of course, wrote much later, but he echoes the sentiments 
 of contemporary Frenchmen. 
 
 * Instructions of March i^zS, in Sharon Turner. 
 
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. Francjois 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 momentoXis 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. " 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 debdcle 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 Frangois 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 savantes et la plus savante des 
 belles" and Marot wrote : — 
 
 A Heilly 
 Dix-huit ans je vous donne ? 
 
 Belle et bonne ; 
 Mais k 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 affisctions 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," Frangois 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, 
 " 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 V autre." " Take them all back to her," he ex- 
 claimed ; " 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 mart 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 dtlaissdes 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, Ren6 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, ^nd, 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 
 
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-aiFairs, 
 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 fuU 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 {sic), 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 
 
 245 
 
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'Alen^on and de Berry, Comtesse de 
 Roddes [Rhodez], du Perche, de Lisle, Vicomtesse de 
 Lemaigne, and Dame de Baug6," 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, " 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(jon, 
 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 B6arn, and promised her " 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 Bdarn, 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 thorojxghly 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 with Lannoy, had made but the feeblest 
 preparations. On May 5 the invaders beheld the spires 
 a"nd 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 of 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 oiFered 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," ^ 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, " 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 
 
 253 
 
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 
 "/«r les enlrailles 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 
 
The Virgin of the Rue des Rosiers 
 
 Francois caused a silver statue to be made to replace 
 the one so impiously defaced. On June ii, 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.^ 
 
 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 priches 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 1551. when it was cut down and destroyed by the Huguenots. 
 The vacant niche was then filled by a marble statue. 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 domestic happiness, and on the journey we find her 
 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 B6arnais 
 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 
 " a velvet gown and gold stockings, for he was of noble 
 birth." 
 
 258 
 
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 haa 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, "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 
 
Francois 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.^ 
 
 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 logger, 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. 
 
 ^ 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."^ 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 1 1), the new Queen made 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, " so that all men might reverently 
 gaze upon her." 
 
 ^ Godefroy, CMmon'tal Jron(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 i6, 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 dpre 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- 
 cois's fortitude to endure ; and he accordingly gave 
 orders for a great sale of timber in the forest, to the 
 amount of i oo,ooo 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 be 
 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'Orl6ans — ^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 humiliatibns 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 taken 
 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 Vavoit donni, Dieu Va osti ! " 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 1 53 1, 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 With 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 19, 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 Francjois : — 
 
 " 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 abundance 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 health 
 of the princes, which I beg that God may speedily 
 
 274 
 
Louise's Last Journey 
 
 restore to you. Monseigneur d'Aire^ 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 iijfeetion," 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 shed 
 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, 
 "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 B^arn. 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 " 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 G6rard 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 N6rac, 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 
 
^■^a \ 
 
 r^9- 
 
 / / 
 
 . .1 
 * \ 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 \ ; 
 
 
 '¥■ 
 
 -r 
 
 ,A/ 
 
 JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 
 
i( 
 
 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 B6arn. 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 h sept points " or "Messe h 
 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 prot'egis^ 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 h 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 
 pi-otection. 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 repHed : " iVIy cousin, God has commanded 
 us to administer justice by punishing the wicked. He 
 would be dishonbured, and not honoured, if, at your 
 solicitation, I abetted the evil-doer, instead of obeying 
 this righteous command. I purpose, therefore, by sufl^er- 
 ing justice to take its course, and by consigning the 
 
 284 
 
Marguerite's Life in B^arn 
 
 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 B^arn. 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 N6rac, 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- 
 tres dUiotely twenty valets de chambre, seventeen secretaries, 
 
 286 
 
Marguerite's Life in Bdarn 
 
 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^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 
 
1 I 
 
 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 Alencjon 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- 
 
 ^ Le Miroir de I'Ame pecheresse en quel elle recongnoist ses faultes et 
 pechez, aussi ses graces et benefices a elle faitez par Jesu Christ, son espoux. 
 La Marguerite tris noble et precieuse, s'est proposee a ceulx qui de ban cueur la 
 cerchoient. A Alenfon, chez maistre Simon du Bois, MDXXXI. 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, 
 I 548, in Apryll." A copy, bound in blue and gold, is preserved in the 
 Bodleian Library at Oxford. 
 
 288 
 
" Le Miroir de I'Ame Pdcheresse " 
 
 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 " 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 B6da 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 VAme pkheresse. 
 
 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 V 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 cur6 
 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 inform 
 the King that the book had been inadvertently included 
 in the list of prohibited works by the cur6 of Saint-Andre, 
 not, however, for its heretical tendencies, but because it 
 
 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 personce, 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 nor 
 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 had 
 
 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 difl!iculty 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, hov^eVer, being degraded from 
 his ecclesiastical dignities Sfnd condemned to two years 
 in the galleys. 
 
 293 
 
CHAPTER XXIIl 
 
 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 h la mode de Bretagne 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 Ren6, 
 Vicomte de 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'fitampes, 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 defive 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. " 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-fi 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 effiarts 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 " 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 aU 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- 
 cois 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 
 h sept points, and urged him not to surrender to the 
 clamour of the Sorbonne. Francois rejoined, with some- 
 what ominous wit, that la Messe h 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 B6arn ; 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.^ 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 B^arn ; 
 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 th^t 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 
 
 ^ 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 Sorbonne, 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 
 Francois 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, Francois was no longer the " 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 : " 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.^ 
 
 '^ In 1 548, 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 
 
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, Fran9ois 
 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 
 B6da reappeared updn 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 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 of 50,000 men ; while, almost simultaneously, another 
 army under the Comtes de Nassau and de Roeux 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 S^ndchale de Poitou, compelled her to make a stay of 
 some days, she inspected a troop of a thousand Gascons, 
 which had been raised by Jean de Montpezat, Comte 
 
 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 ^ 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." ^ 
 
 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. " 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. 
 * 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 Ligurik, 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 of 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 
 
 311 
 
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 lo), 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 
 
 314 
 
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 B6arn, 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 bdton 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, 
 B^arn, 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 
 
MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, 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 d''honneur, 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."^ 
 
 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 S6ez, when he entered the room a few 
 minutes later. " 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 
 ^ Sainte-Marthe. 
 
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, Fran^oise 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 B^arn 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, destended 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 i6, 1537, an armistice 
 for three months was signed at Mon^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 efi^ective 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." ^ 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 
 
 ^ Le Laboureur, Additions aux Memoires de Castelnau, vol. i. 
 "Gallant" must be here understood in the Platonic sense. 
 
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." ^ 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 Dauphjn 
 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 
 
 ^ Bouchot, Catharine de Medicis. 
 324 
 
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'fitampes 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 ^ — and the majority of the 
 
 1 Notably Jean Vout6, 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. 
 
 3^5 
 
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,^ 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 Fran9ois was 
 known to regard the heir apparent. But in February 
 1538 the oflice 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. 
 
 ^ Franfois, Comte 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 Fran9ois 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 affiDrded 
 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 
 
 327 
 
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 Franfois 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, Fran9ois was attacked by a severe illness — 
 " une recrudescence du mal aigu et honteux qui I'avait frappe 
 des sa jeunesse" if we are to believe Henri Martin.-* 
 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 
 foUy, 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'Etampes," 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 Frangois's express orders, was received 
 everywhere " like the Kings of France on their joyous 
 
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 fdtes, went his way, leaving 
 Franfois 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 : Francois 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 Francois 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 
 
 331 
 
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 jiow 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 prin'ce 
 died. His i-equest, 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 
 
 332 
 
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 " ; ^ 
 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 Fran9ois'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-playfuUy, with l|is displeasure, 
 declaring that he would never come to see her again ; 
 to no purpose. " 1 would rather throw myself into a 
 weU ! " was the girl's 'reply. 
 
 Then he became seriously angry, and, suspicious that 
 Henri d'Albret had instigated his daughter to revolt, 
 expressed himself td that effect in violent terms to 
 Jeanne's gouvernanie, Madame de Silly, who hastened to 
 inform the Queen of Navarre. 
 
 335 
 
The Pearl of JPrincesses 
 
 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 ^ 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 her servile love for the King seems sometimes to have 
 acted as a poison, perverting her nature and deadening 
 her aiFections,^ and when she declared, in a subsequent 
 letter to Francois, 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 [iWlarguerite] 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. Francois was her religion, 
 and Jeanne's refusal to sacrifice herself in his interests 
 seemed to her like an act of sacrilege.^ 
 
 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 : — 
 
 ^ Edith Sichel, Women and Men of the French Renaissance. 
 
 ^ In justice to Marguerite, it should be observed that she appears to 
 have looked upon Jeanne's aversion to the Duke of Cloves as a mere 
 childish caprice, and to have considered that, when she had resigned herselt 
 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. 
 
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 
 klat, 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." ^ 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 
 
 l Forneron, les Dues de Guise et leur epoque. 
 
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'Orl6ans, 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 jpwels 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 
 
 342 
 
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 : " C est fait disormais 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 Francois 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 B6arn 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 Beam 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 N6rac 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 liber tins, or free-thinkers, were outcasts in his eyes, 
 and, after his departure from B^arn, 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 Pdriers — " 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 Periers 
 
 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 valet de 
 chambre and secretary, an appointment which he cele- 
 brated in the rondeau, Tro-p -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 B^arn, 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 I'lle 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 B6arn 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 — "Z? vray appuy et entretenement des 
 verttts" as he called her in his last testament. 
 
 The career of Etienne Dolet was even more chequered 
 than that of his friend Des P6riers, 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 1 509, at Orleans, a member 
 of a prosperous middle-class family, he studied at 
 
 348 
 
£tienne 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 
 TuUy ; Christ and TuUy 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, Frangois 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 Cato 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 
 Dolety 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 ; ^ 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 
 vakts de chambre figure the names of Jean de la Haye, 
 
 '*- This translation was undertaken at Marguerite's special request, as 
 Le Majon tells us in his dedication to her, and has always been con- 
 sidered one of the ablest literary works of the period. 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 who published les 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 
 Heptameron} 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 Heptamiron. 
 
 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 S6vign6 or Madame de 
 Maintenon. 
 
 ^ 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. 
 
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 V Ame pecheresse, already twice pub- 
 lished separately, another piece of about the same length 
 as the Miroir and of somewhat similar character, entitled 
 Oraison de VAme fidele ^h 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 epttres 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. Trap, Prou [much], Peu, Mains, and a long love- 
 poem called la Coche, 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 
 Jhus-Christ crucifi'e — 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 
 1553, and two farces, le Malade and Flnquisiteur, published 
 in the appendix to the first volume of Le Roux de 
 Lin^y's edition of the Heptam^ron, most of the remainder 
 of Marguerite's verse remained in manuscript until 1896, 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 when M. Abel Lefranc published les Dertiieres poesies 
 de Marguerite cT AngouUme. This new collection, which 
 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 I'^gneau, 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 enti^re ... . 
 
 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 VHistoire 
 des Amants fortunh, but which is known to fame by the 
 name chosen by Claude Gruget, the editor of the greatly- 
 improved edition of 1559, that of V Heptamiron. 
 
 354 
 
The Heptamdron 
 
 Ccynstructedj as this tide 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 
 Heptamiron 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 Heptamiron 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 Heptamiron 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 Heptam^ron 
 
 In fact, as Genin and Sainte-Beuve have both pointed 
 out, there is really nothing in the Heptameron 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 nouvelles, 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 
 B6arnais 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, Dagou^in and Saffredant ; two demoiselles, 
 Ennasuite and Nomerfide ; Simontault, gentleman-in- 
 waitiiig to Oisille and the tres affectueux serviteur of 
 Parlamente ; and Geburon, a gentleman older and more 
 discreet than Jiis 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 
 Rabelaisian 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." Dagou^in shows us 
 the warm, impulsive Platonic idealism of youth. "He 
 would rather die than do aught to offend the conscience 
 
 358 
 
The Heptam^ron 
 
 of his lady." His 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. 
 
 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." 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 Heptam6ron 
 
 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. F61ix 
 Frank,^ 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 find three 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 
 
 ^ 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 Fran9ois de 
 Bourdeille ; Dagoufin with Nicolas Dangu, Abb6 de Juilly ; Nomerfide 
 with Isabeau d'Albret, and Saffredant with that lady's husband, Rene 
 de Rohan ; M. Frank's arguments are highly ingenious, but, save in 
 one or two instances, scarcely convincing. 
 
 361 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 practically all authorities agree that Ennasuite is Bran- 
 tome's grandmother, Anne de Vivonne, Dame de 
 Bourdeille, who, her grandson tells us, was one of 
 the " devisantes " of the Heptamiron ; and we think that 
 a very strong case has been made out by Imbert de 
 Saint-Amand and Madame Darmesteter for their con- 
 clusion that, in the character of Oisille, the Queen of 
 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 Heptam^ron 
 
 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. F61ix 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.^ 
 
 ^ Marguerite is here alluding to Antoine le Mafon's famous transla- 
 tion, which was published in 1545. 
 
 364 
 
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,^ 
 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 
 long 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,^ the bringing 
 to bed of Madame la Dauphine,^ and many other matters 
 of a nature to engross the whole Court, caused the 
 
 ^ Monseigneur le Dauphin and Madame la Dauphine are Fran9ois I's 
 second son Henri (afterwards Henri II) and Catherine de' Medici, who 
 assumed these titles on the death of the Dauphin Fran9ois 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 Franpois I, married in 
 1559 to Emmanuel Philibert X, Duke of Savoy, is intended. 
 
 * Two of the best authorities ota the Heptamiron, 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. 
 
 3 Catherine de' Medici gave birth to her first child, the future 
 Fran9ois II, at Fontainebleau on January 19, IS43. 
 
The Pear] 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 ;^ 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 Heptamiron was written. 
 Too much attention need not be paid to the date of 
 Le 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 bee'n written 
 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 
 
 ^ This plainly indicates that it was Marguerite's original intention to 
 write a Dtcamtnn. 
 
 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 Ahhh 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 1 544, 
 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 Heptamiron, 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.^ 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 de Ronez 
 
The Pearl of Princesses 
 
 whole of the intermediate discussions — by far the most 
 interesting and valuable portion of the Heptamiron — 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 F61ix 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 ^ 
 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 (Nouvelle 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. 
 
 '^ At this period ten o'clock was the dinner-hour of the Court and the 
 upper classes. 
 
 368 
 
The Heptam^ron 
 
 The nouveUes, 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 BB 
 
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 of hope."^ At four o'clock the monastery bell 
 rings for vespers, the siance 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 mterest, 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 oncques ne vis ; a lady " la plus helle que se puisse ren- 
 contrer,''' and so forth-r-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 Heptamiron 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 fortunez. 
 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 
 
 * Imbert de Saint-Amand, les Fentmes de la cour dei demiers Falois. 
 
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 tHeptamiron des 
 Nouvelles de trks illustre et tres excellente princesse. Marguerite 
 de Falois, 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 great 
 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 Soci^t6 des Bibliophiles Francjais 
 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 1 892, 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 B^arn. 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 B6da 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 1 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, 1 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 "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'fitampes. 
 
 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 Heptamiron. 
 
 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, Rin^on 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 Francois 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 Fran9ois 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'Orl6ans, 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, Guillaume 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.^ "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 B6arn ; 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, IVIonseigneur, 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 bf Cleves gained a victory over the Imperialists 
 
 382 
 
An Ill-timed Pleasantry 
 
 at Sittard, while in June Francois and the Dauphin 
 invaded Haina^ut 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 " 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 Frangois 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 Frangois 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. Frangois 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 Netherlander s, 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 CO 
 
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 Alen^on 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 Alen^on, by whom Marguerite was 
 
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 convoyer, 
 Humble salut te veullent envoyer 
 Ceulx qui par toy ont dit mainte chanson, 
 Les rossignols de ton pare d'Alenjon. 
 
 While Francois, too unwell to take the field himself, 
 remained his sister's guest at Alengon, 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 
 
 387 
 
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." ^ 
 
 Francois, 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 
 ^ Histoire de notre temps. 
 •?88 
 
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 ; Francois 
 renounced his pretensions to Naples, Charles his claims 
 to Burgundy. The Due d'Orl6ans 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, Frangois 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 
 MiMnese ; 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 Francois 
 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 Alenfon to 
 congratulate her brother on the peace which had been 
 concluded between "/i? lys et la pomme rondel 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 
 thaj:, 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 rivirence 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. 
 
 390 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 In the secluded green valleys of the Piedmotitese 
 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 : " lis 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 Parle- 
 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 
 
 391 
 
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 
 1 545 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 Parlementoi 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.^ 
 
 ^ 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 
 
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 Francois 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 confirm^ 
 Soit, et aussi I'Eglise reformee, 
 Et d'une part oustees les heresies, 
 De I'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 Fran9ois, 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 Cr6py, 
 to all intents and purposes, mere waste parchment. 
 
 In the last days of August, the plague broke out 
 
 394 
 
Death of the Due d'Orldans 
 
 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 Frangois. 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'Etampes 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 B^arn 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." i 
 
 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 
 
 ^ Marguerite d' Ang)uleme : son livre dedepenses, par le Comte Hector 
 de la Ferriire-Percy. 
 
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'Orl^ans 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 1 547, 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 IMuette, 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." 1 
 
 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 
 ^ La Ferriire, Les Grandes Chaises ou xw sihle. 
 
A Warning Dream 
 
 FranQois 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 I'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 
 
 swur ! Ma scsur!" She awoke arid 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 thfe 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 teU 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 : ' You were concealing the King's deith 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 Fran9ois qui Marguerite, 
 Qui fut li6e par enfance en son bers [berceau] 
 . . . depuis les pieds j usque 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 abondance. 
 Ma bouche se plaint en tous lieux ; 
 De mon coeur ne peult saillir mieux 
 Que souspirs sous nuUe all6geance. 
 
 Hef isolation terrifies her, and, in her distress, she turns 
 to Heaven and cries : — 
 
 Je n'ay plus ny p^re ny mere, 
 
 Ny soeur, ny frere, 
 
 Sinon Dieu seul, auquel j'espere. 
 
 Through prayer she arrives at resignation : — 
 
 La mort du fr^re a chang^ dans la scEur 
 En grand desir de mort la craint et peur 
 
 Sa grand douleur elle estime douceur, 
 
 Sachant que c'est la porte et chemine seur (sftr) 
 
 Par oii 11 faut au Cr^ateur 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 
 ddeply 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 her 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 Alenfon ; 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 Frangois 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 rnaitre 
 d'hotel^ 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 Francois 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. " 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 diiFerent 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 
 slimmer, and had returned to N6rac. 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 B6arn, 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 6cus 
 (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^ joyeusetes et fompes 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 Pekrl 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 B6arn, 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 Bearn 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 whUe 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 wiU 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 desir6 
 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 g^mir, 
 Et me donnez pour le mieux 
 
 Un doux dormir.'- 
 
 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 Bri^onnet, 
 
 and which clung to her to the end of her life. One of 
 
 her maids-of-honour falling ill and being near to death,^ 
 
 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, 
 
 ^ Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, ^dit. 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. 
 
 412 
 
Last Days of Marguerite d'Angouldme 
 
 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 
 seve;-e 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." ^ 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 B6arn 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. 
 
 '^ Florimond de Remond, Histoire de I'Heresie. 
 414 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbeville, 90, 91 
 
 Agen, 28, 316 
 
 Agnadello, 71 
 
 Aigaes-Mortes, 191, 321 
 
 Ainoy, 312 
 
 Aire, Monseigneur d', sub-preceptor to 
 Dauphin and his brothers, 275 
 
 Aix, 158, 314 
 
 Alaryon, 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, 
 III, 166, 217, 223, 224, 226, 245, 
 246, 256, 261, 267, 271, 278, 279, 
 280, 281, 282, 284, 287, 309, 315, 
 316, 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, 33S, 338, 339, 
 342, 371, 377, 38s, 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, 17s 
 
 , Fran9oise, 407 
 
 , Marguerite de Lorraine, Duchesse 
 
 d', 62, 87, 91 
 
 , Ren^ 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, 
 
 4S. 49, 50, S2, 66, 67, 70, 75, 230, 
 
 270, 274 
 Amboise, Cardinal d', 37, 38, 45 
 Amiens, 73, 315 
 Ampudia, 261 
 Andriano, 260 
 AngoulSme, 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, ISS, 222, 274, 303, 330, 331 
 , Fran9oise, Comte d', afterwards 
 
 Francis I of France, 8, 9, 20-23, 27, 
 
 28, 30, 33. 35, 41, 43, 45, 47, 48, 
 58, 60, 61, 70-102, 104, 107, 109- 
 26, 13s, 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', I, 2 
 
 , Marguerite d', afterwards Queen 
 
 of Navarre, her ancestry, 1-6 ; her 
 birth, 7 ; she loses her father, 1 1 ; 
 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 VH, 46, 47 ; her personal 
 appearance, 48 ; stories in the ffep- 
 tamJron founded on her own affairs, 
 48-54, 62-9 ; her marriage to the 
 Due d'Alen9on, 57 ; she repulses 
 Bonnivet, 62-9 ; 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 ; her 
 moral character discussed, 106-12 ; 
 a letter from her to the King, 107-9 ; 
 Bonnivet again repulsed, ii2-'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, 1 74-7 ; death of her 
 husband, 178; her grief at the perse- 
 cution of the Reformers, 182-4; 
 her embassy to Spain, 184, 190, 191, 
 193. 195-206, 208-16 ; Erasmus's 
 letter to her, 206-8 ; has an accident 
 at Douzere, 221 ; her letter to Fran- 
 fois 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 '• Francois 
 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 B^arn, 285-6 ; the sim- 
 plicity of her attire, 286, 287 ; her 
 poem le Miror de I'Ame picheresse, 
 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 Fran9ois 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 Fran9ois 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 Fran9ois 
 in his illness, 329; her love for 
 her daughter Jeanne, 333 ; tempered 
 by her desire to please the King, 
 33S> 336; her letter to him on the 
 subject, 336-9 ; more intercourses 
 with the Reformers, 347-52; her 
 poems, 353, 354; the Heptamiron, 
 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 
 AngoulSme, Louise of Savoy, Countess 
 of, 3, 16, 18-34, 40-50, 54-7, 60-1, 
 
 66-70, 75. 8'-3> 89. 9i-4> 96-9. "5. 
 118, 135, 141-4, 149, 153, 160-2, 
 167, 170-9, 189-91, 204, 205, 221, 
 229, 239, 242, 243, 247, 261, 266, 
 273, 274, 276-7 
 
 Anne, Queen of Charles VIII, King of 
 France, afterwards of Louis XII, 8, 
 23> 24, 25, 27, 29, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 
 56, 58, 60, 61, 71, 73, 81, 82, 83, 84, 
 88 
 
 Annebaut, 379 
 
 Aragon, Catherine of, 32, 36, 37, 38, 
 
 243-S 
 Aranda, 229 
 
 Arande, Michel d', 131, 138, 161, 182 
 Aries, 149 
 
 Armagnac, Marguerite d', 42 
 Arras, J. B., 340 
 
 16 
 
Index 
 
 Arthur, Prince of Wales, 31, 36 
 
 Aste, 60 
 
 Asti, 217 
 
 Augereau, 28S 
 
 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, i6o, 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" 
 Baire, la. High Bailiff of Paris, 219 
 Basle, 102, 208 
 Baug^, Dame de, 246 
 Bayard, 85, 151, 166, 219 
 Bayonne, 230 
 B^arn, 255, 278, 281, 285-6, 302, 319, 
 
 332-4, 335. 336, 337. 372, 395. 407. 
 
 4". 415 
 Beaujeu, Anne de, 4, 9, 10, 15, 19, 56, 
 
 148 
 Beaune, Jacques de. Seigneur de Sem- 
 
 blan9ai, 141, 142, 148 
 BWa, Noel, 124, 128, 181, 233, 289, 
 
 ago, 292, 300, 305 
 Bellay, Guillaume du, 97, 139, 165, 
 
 187, 296, 373, 378 
 
 , Martin du, 380, 397 
 
 B^rauld, Nicolas, 349 
 
 Berquin, Louis de, 1 29, 138, 233, 234, 
 
 257. 258 
 Berry, 275 
 Berthaut, 298, 301 
 Bertrandi, Pr&ident, 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 GoufEer, Artus. 
 Bolejm, Anne, 121, 244 
 Bonnivet, Madame, 50, 51, 53 
 
 , Sire de. 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, 
 
 27s. 310. 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'. 
 Brijonnet, 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, 
 
 166, 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, loi, 102 
 
 Burgos, 252 
 
 Burgundy, 201, 203, 218, 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 
 
 ETE 
 
Index 
 
 Castel-Jaloux, 410 
 
 Castiglione, Baldassare, 237 
 
 Catalonia, 193 
 
 Canterets, 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, 20s, 207, 21 1-3, 216-8, 220, 
 224, 226-8, 235, 237, 252, 259-61, 
 266, 269, 304, 307, 311, 320, 321, 
 327, 329-32, 334, 342, 343. 378, 
 383, 384, 389. 397 
 
 VIII, King of France, 4, 5, 8, 
 
 9, 21 
 
 the Bold, 201, 217 
 
 Charlotte, Madame, daughter of Francis 
 
 I. IS4-7 
 Chateaubriand, Countess de, 72, 112, 
 
 242, 243, 29s 
 GhSteauneuf, 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 
 
 de la. 
 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, 
 
 Srard de. 
 Cop, Guillaume, loi, 102, 290 
 Coucy, 60 
 Courant, 298, 301 
 Coustellier, Thomas le, 400 
 Cr^py, 389, 390, 392, 394 
 
 Dagoucin, 358 
 Dampierre, 398 
 
 Dandolo, Venetian ambassador, 88, 90, 
 270 
 
 Darmesteter, Madame, 138, 356 
 Dauphin. See Franjois. 
 Dauphin^, 149 
 Delorme, Philippe, 347 
 Denisot, Nicolas, 352 
 Denmark, Christian III of, 378 
 Disomme, Ja-;ques, 77, 78, 79 
 
 , Mme., 77-80, 87 
 
 Dolet, Etienne, 345-51 
 
 Doria, Andrea, 192, 260 
 
 Douzere, 221 
 
 Dover, 90, 91 
 
 Duchitel, Pierre, loi, 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, 
 
 Fran5ois 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 
 
 Estries, 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 15, 1 17 
 
 Ferrara, 249, 345 
 
 Ferreras, Spanish historian, 204 
 
 Ferriere, Count de la, no, 403, 412 
 
 Flanders, 139, 329 
 
 Fleuranges, Sieur de, 31, 96, 147 
 
 Florence, 2i8, 249 
 
 Foix, Andr^, Seigheur de Lesparre, 1 12 
 
 , Franfoisede, 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 Le«- 
 
 cun, 112 
 
 418 
 
Index 
 
 Folembrai, 396 
 
 FoUe, 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 Bret^ne, 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, 
 153, ISS. 218, 222, 230, 231, 236, 
 267, 269, 274, 303, 312, 322, 324, 
 
 32s. 395 
 Frank, M. Felix, 363 
 Frederick, Prince Palatine, 202 
 Freer, Martha, 128, 353, 393, 415 
 Fregoso, 377 
 Freundenberger, 371 
 Froment, Antoine, 184 
 Frott^, Jehan, 351 
 Frundsberg, Georg, 249 
 
 Gaeti, 40 
 
 Gamaches, 85 
 
 Gattinara, Chancellor, 218, 219 
 
 Geler, Jehan, 406 
 
 Gtein, 107, 109, no, 357 
 
 Genoa, 71, 163, 187, 217, 252, 260, 311 
 
 G^nouillac, Galiot de, 163 
 
 Ghent, 320 
 
 Gi^, Marechal de, 13, 26-31, 33, 38- 
 
 42, 43, 44, 71 
 Gien, 410 
 
 Goinret, Jehan, 271 
 Gonzaga, Ferdinando di, 314 
 Gouffier, Artus, Sieur de Boisy, an 
 
 elder brother of Bonnivet, 35, 85, 
 
 100 
 , Guillaume, Sire de Bonnivet, 49, 
 
 5°. SI. S3. S4. 62. 63. 64, 6s, 66, 
 
 68, 72, 85, 100, 112, 113, 114, 121, 
 
 139. 151. 159. 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 Alen9on, 
 
 403 
 
 Grossoles, Erard de. Bishop of Con- 
 dom, 373, 374-S 
 
 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 
 
 Haye, 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, I'S. 121, 140, 148, 149(243. 
 
 244. 251. 38s. 388, 397 
 Heptamiron, The, 48-54, 62-69, 355" 
 
 71 
 Herbault, 152, 158 
 Herbert, Lord, 46 
 Hurault, Robert, Abb^ 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, 23s, 
 
 237. 249 
 Lascar, Jean de, 208 
 Lautrec, 140-2, 145, 148, 159, 171, 
 
 231, 251, 259, 260 
 Leclerc, 129, 137 
 Lefevre, 123, 124, 127, 136, 138, 
 
 23s 
 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, l6l, 162, 165, 307, 
 
 3". 314 
 Liguria, 311 
 Limoges, Bishop of. See Langeac, 
 
 Jean. 
 Limours, 398 
 
 Lin9y, Le Roux de, iii, 353, 368, 371 
 Lisieux, Bishop of, 255, 266 
 Loches, SS 
 Lodi, 160 
 Loire, 40 
 Longueil, Christopher, tutor to Fran- 
 
 9ois, Count d' i^gouleme, 34 
 Longueville, Due de, 88 
 Lorraine, Cardinal de, 266, 330 
 
 , Fian9ois de, i66, 390 
 
 , Marguerite de, $^ 
 
 Louise of Savoy. See AngoulSme, 
 
 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, 4S, 46, 47, 49, 55. 5^. 57. 
 
 67, 70. 71. 86. 88, 90, 91, 92, 94, 
 
 95. 96. 115. "9. 224 
 Lugo, Don Alvaro de, 265 
 Luther, Martin, 122, 123, 129, 181, 
 
 183, 256, 296 
 Luxembourg, 384 
 , Robert de. Bishop of Angoul€me, 
 
 4 
 Lyons, 40, 151, 161, 167, 168, 171, 
 213. 229, 312, 314, 316, 350, 386 
 
 Ma9on, Antoine le, 351, 366 
 Madeline, Madame, daughter of 
 
 Francis I, 153, 155, 222, 385 
 Madon, 45, 46 
 Madrid, 20, 107, iii, 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, CWment, 103, 233, 234, 345, 
 
 347 
 
 , Jean, 84, 103-6 
 
 Marseilles, 158 
 
 Martin, Henri, no, 328 
 
 Maulde la Clavi^re, Louise de Savoie et 
 
 Fraitfois I'^ 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, 2lo 
 
 Merindol, 391 
 
 Mfaieres, 139 
 
 Michelet, 109, no, in 
 
 Mignet, 184 
 
 Milan, 27, 29, 116, 140, I45, 160, 161, 
 
 163, 165, 186, 248 
 
 , Duke of, 219 
 
 Mon9ada, Don Ugo de, 193 
 Monfon, 320 
 Monge, 408 
 
 Mont-de-Marsan, 235, 266 
 Montecuculi, Count Sebastino di, 313, 
 
 314 
 
 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, 3i'9, 320. 326-7, 328, 
 329. 330, 340, 341. 342, 343, 344, 
 377, 398, 404-S, 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 
 
 , King of. See Albret, Henri d'. 
 
 , Queen of. See AngoulSme, 
 
 Margaret. 
 
 420 
 
Index 
 
 Navarreins, 285 
 
 Nemours, Due de, 42 
 
 Nerac, a6o, 280, 281. 285, 301, 345, 
 
 405 
 Neufville, Nicolas de, Seigneur of 
 
 Villeroi, 104 
 Nice, 331, 377, 38s 
 Niel, 322 
 Nlmes, 221, 309 
 Nodier, Charles 367 
 Norfolk, Duke of, English Ambassador, 
 
 329 
 Noyon, 117 
 
 Odet, Seigneur de Lautrec, 112 
 
 Oisille, Dame, 358-64 
 
 Olhagary, 284, 334 
 
 Olivier, 353 
 
 Oloron, Bishop of, 373 
 
 Oppede, Baron d', 392 
 
 Orl&ins, 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 
 
 Falisse, 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, ¥>, 
 100, 103, 116, 137, 154, 161, 171, 
 175, 182, 244, 254, 256, 272, 288, 
 298, 301, 347, 387, 388, 406 
 
 , Bishop of, 303-4 
 
 Parvi, Guillaume, 83 
 
 Pau, 256, 285, 345, 399, 405, 410 
 
 Paul HI, Pope, 295, 305, 320, 372, 
 
 384, 4»3 
 Paule, Fran(ois de, 8, 9, 23 
 Pavanne, Jacques, 182, 183 
 Pavia, 114, 160, 162, 163, 165, 166, 
 
 168, 170, 180, 203, 223, 240, 252, 
 
 337, 338 
 Pay du Fou, Bonaventure du. See 
 
 Bonnivet, Madame. 
 Pedraza, 26 1, 263 
 
 Pelletier, Jacques, 347, 352 
 
 Fefialosa, 229 
 
 Penthievre, Count de, I, 242 
 
 Periers, Bonaventure des, 345-8, 367 
 
 Perpignan, 379 
 
 Pescara, Marehese di, 158-160, 164, 
 
 i6S, 187 
 Petit, Guillaume, afterwards Bishop 
 
 of Senlis, 100, 102, 124, 129, 290, 
 
 297 
 Philip, eldest son of Charles V, 279 
 Phillippe, Duke of Savoy. See Bresse, 
 
 Phillippe, Count de. 
 Picardy, 81 
 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 
 Plotet, Lieutenant, 30 
 Poitiers, 34 
 , Diane de, widow of Louis de 
 
 Br6z6, 322-6, 340, 395, 404 
 Poitou, S6n6chale 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 
 
 Foneher, 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, 
 
 316, 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 
 
 Ren4 Bastard of Savoy, 85, 144 
 
 , the Lyons Messenger, 150 
 
 Renee, Madame, afterwards Duchess 
 
 of Ferrara, 82, 95, 146 
 Requefia, 192 
 
 421 
 
Index 
 
 Rheims, 98, ia6, 407 
 
 Rhodez, Bishop of, 283 
 
 Rieux, de, 172 
 
 Rin9on, 377 
 
 Roanne, 230 
 
 Roche, Sieui de la, 204 
 
 Rochefort, 398 
 
 , Francois de, 225 
 
 Roeux, Count de, 308 
 
 Rohan, Fran9oise de, 319 
 
 , Marguerite de. See Angouleme, 
 
 Countess de. 
 
 , Pierre de, 13 
 
 , Ren^, Viscount de, 395, 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-Andr^-des-Arts, Cure of, 290 
 
 Saint-Cloud, 272 
 
 Saint-Denis, 91, 92, 97, 98, 151, 272 
 
 Saint-Dizier, 387 
 
 Saint-Gelais, Jean de, 5, 11, 13, 16, 
 
 18, 25, 26, 28, 33, 42, 4S 
 , Octavien de, Bishop of Angou- 
 
 ISme, 16-18 
 Saint-Germain, 275, 398 
 Saint-Germain-en-Lay, 246, 317, 395, 
 
 397 
 
 Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 232, 265 
 
 Saint-Maixent, 25 
 
 Saint-Pather, 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 
 
 S^ez, Bishop of, 318 
 
 Segovia, 195 
 
 Selve, Jean de, 189, 191, I98,'2I9 
 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, 
 
 98-4. 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 
 Th^rouanne, 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 
 
 Toumai, 73, 122, 140 
 
 Tournelles, Palais des, 97 
 
 Toumon, Fran9ois de, Archbishop of 
 
 Embrun, 189, 191, 198, 219, 220, 
 
 263, 264, 297, 299-302, 392, 397 
 Tours, 59 
 
 Tr6moille, Louis de la, 163, 166 
 Troyes, 130, 131 
 Tudor, Mary, afterwards Queen of 
 
 Louis XII, King of France, 88, 90, 
 
 91, 92. 93. 94. 95. 96, 97 
 Tulle, Bishop of. See ChStel, 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'AngoulSme, 
 nephew of Marguerite, 253 
 
 , Due de. See Angouleme, Fran- 
 cois Count d'. 
 
 Vauban, 285 
 
 Vaud^mont, Count de, 55 
 
 Vaudois, 393 
 
 Velasco, Don Pedro Hernandez de, 
 Constable of Castile, 263 
 
 Vend6me, Due de, 100, 171, 175, 
 303. 3161 379. 390. 406, 408, 409 
 
 , Duchesse de, 246, 411 
 
 Venice, 118, 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 VHI, 
 King ot England, 36, 38 
 
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