I.
_Louise of Savoy; her marriage with the Count of Angouleme-- Birth of her children Margaret and Francis--Their father's early death--Louise and her children at Amboise--Margaret's studies and her brother's pastimes--Marriage of Margaret with the Duke of Alencon--Her estrangement from her husband-- Accession of Francis I.--The Duke of Alencon at Marignano-- Margaret's Court at Alencon--Her personal appearance--Her interest in the Reformation and her connection with Clement Marot--Lawsuit between Louise of Savoy and the Constable de Bourbon._
In dealing with the life and work of Margaret of Angouleme (1) it isnecessary at the outset to refer to the mother whose influence andcompanionship served so greatly to mould her daughter's career.
1 This Life of Margaret is based upon the memoir by M, Le Roux de Lincy prefixed to the edition of the _Heptameron_ issued by the Societe des Bibliophiles Francais, but various errors have been rectified, and advantage has been taken of the researches of later biographers.
Louise of Savoy, daughter of Count Philip of Bresse, subsequently Dukeof Savoy, was born at Le Pont d'Ain in 1477, and upon the death of hermother, Margaret de Bourbon, she married Charles d'Orleans, Count ofAngouleme, to whom she brought the slender dowry of thirty-five thousandlivres. (1) She was then but twelve years old, her husband being sometwenty years her senior. He had been banished from the French Court forhis participation in the insurrection of Brittany, and was living instraitened circumstances. Still, on either side the alliance was anhonourable one. Louise belonged to a sovereign house, while the Countof Angouleme was a prince of the blood royal of France by virtue of hisdescent from King Charles V., his grandfather having been that monarch'ssecond son, the notorious Duke Louis of Orleans, (2) who was murdered inParis in 1417 at the instigation of John the Bold of Burgundy.
1 The value of the Paris livre at this date was twenty sols, so that the amount would be equivalent to about L1400.
2 This was the prince described by Brantome as a "great debaucher of the ladies of the Court, and invariably of the greatest among them."--_Vies des Dames galantes_ (Disc. i.).
Louise, who, although barely nubile, impatiently longed to become amother, gave birth to her first child after four years of weddedlife. "My daughter Margaret," she writes in the journal recording theprincipal events of her career, "was born in the year 1492, the eleventhday of April, at two o'clock in the morning; that is to say, the tenthday, fourteen hours and ten minutes, counting after the manner ofthe astronomers." This auspicious event took place at the Chateau ofAngouleme, then a formidable and stately pile, of which nowadays thereonly remains a couple of towers, built in the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies. Soon afterwards Cognac became the Count of Angouleme'sfavourite place of residence, and it was there that Louise gave birth,on September 12th, 1494, to her second child, a son, who was christenedFrancis.
Louise's desires were now satisfied, but her happiness did not longremain complete. On January 1st, 1496, when she was but eighteen yearsold, she lost her amiable and accomplished husband, and forthwithretiring to her Chateau of Romorantin, she resolved to devote herselfentirely to the education of her children. The Duke of Orleans, who,on the death of Charles VIII. in 1498, succeeded to the throne as LouisXII., was appointed their guardian, and in 1499 he invited them andtheir mother to the royal Chateau of Amboise, where they remained forseveral years.
The education of Francis, who had become heir-presumptive to the throne,was conducted at Amboise by the Marshal de Gie, one of the King'sfavourites, whilst Margaret was intrusted to the care of a venerablelady, whom her panegyrist does not mention by name, but in whom hestates all virtues were assembled. (1) This lady took care to regulatenot only the acts but also the language of the young princess, who wasprovided with a tutor in the person of Robert Hurault, Baron of Auzay,great archdeacon and abbot of St. Martin of Autun. (2) This divineinstructed her in Latin and French literature, and also taught herSpanish and Italian, in which languages Brantome asserts that she becameproficient. "But albeit she knew how to speak good Spanish and goodItalian," he says, "she always made use of her mother tongue for mattersof moment; though when it was necessary to join in jesting and gallantconversation she showed that she was acquainted with more than her dailybread." (3)
1 Sainte-Marthe's _Oraison funebre de la Royne de Navarre_, p. 22. Margaret's modern biographers state that this lady was Madame de Chastillon, but it is doubtful which Madame de Chastillon it was. The Rev. James Anderson assumes it was Louise de Montmorency, the mother of the Colignys, whilst Miss Freer asserts it was Anne de Chabannes de Damniartin, wife of James de Chastillon, killed in Italy in 1572. M. Franck has shown, in his edition of the _Heptameron_, that Anne de Chabannes died about 1505, and that James de Chastillon then married Blanche de Tournon. Possibly his first wife may have been Margaret's governess, but what is quite certain is that the second wife became her lady of honour, and that it is she who is alluded to in the _Heptameron_.
2 Odolant Desnos's _Memoires historiques sur Alencon_, vol. ii.
3 Brantome's _Rodomontades espagnoles_, 18mo, 1740, vol. xii. p. 117.
Such was Margaret's craving for knowledge that she even wished toobtain instruction in Hebrew, and Paul Paradis, surnamed Le Canosse, aprofessor at the Royal College, gave her some lessons in it. Moreover,a rather obscure passage in the funeral oration which Sainte-Marthedevoted to her after her death, seemingly implies that she acquiredfrom some of the most eminent men then flourishing the precepts of thephilosophy of the ancients.
The journal kept by Louise of Savoy does not impart much information asto the style of life which she and her children led in their new abode,the palatial Chateau of Amboise, originally built by the Counts ofAnjou, and fortified by Charles VII. with the most formidable towers inFrance. (1)
1 The Chateau of Amboise, now the private property of the Count de Paris, is said to occupy the site of a Roman fortress destroyed by the Normans and rebuilt by Foulques the Red of Anjou. When Francis I. ascended the French throne he presented the barony of Amboise with its hundred and forty-six fiefs to his mother, Louise of Savoy.
Numerous authorities state, however, that Margaret spent most of hertime in study with her preceptors and in the devotional exercises whichthen had so large a place in the training of princesses. Still she wasby no means indifferent to the pastimes in which her brother and hiscompanions engaged. Gaston de Foix, the nephew of the King, WilliamGouffier, who became Admiral de Bonnivet, Philip Brion, Sieur deChabot, Fleurange, "the young adventurer," Charles de Bourbon, Countof Montpensier, and Anne de Montmorency--two future Constables ofFrance--surrounded the heir to the throne, with whom they practisedtennis, archery, and jousting, or played at soldiers pending the timewhen they were to wage war in earnest. (1)
Margaret was a frequent spectator of these pastimes, and took a keeninterest in her brother's efforts whenever he was assailing or defendingsome miniature fortress or tilting at the ring. It would appear alsothat she was wont to play at chess with him; for we have it on highauthority that it is she and her brother who are represented, thusengaged, in a curious miniature preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationalein Paris. (2) In this design--executed by an unknown artist--only theback of Francis is to be seen, but a full view of Margaret is supplied;the personage standing behind her being Artus Gouffier, her own and herbrother's governor.
1 Fleurange's _Histoire des Choses memorables advenues du Reigne de Louis XII. et Francois I_.
2 Paulin Paris's _Manuscrits francois de la Bibliotheque du Roi_, &c., Paris, 1836, vol. i. pp. 279-281. The miniature in question is contained in MS. No. 6808: _Commentaire sur le Livre des Echecs amoureux et Archiloge Sophie_.
Whatever time Margaret may have devoted to diversion, she was certainlya very studious child, for at fifteen years of age she already had thereputatio
n of being highly accomplished. Shortly after her sixteenthbirthday a great change took place in her life. On August 3rd, 1508,Louise of Savoy records in her journal that Francis "this day quittedAmboise to become a courtier, and left me all alone." Margaretaccompanied her brother upon his entry into the world, the young couplerepairing to Blois, where Louis XII. had fixed his residence. Therehad previously been some unsuccessful negotiations in view of marryingMargaret to Prince Henry of England (Henry VIII.), and at this periodanother husband was suggested in the person of Charles of Austria, Countof Flanders, and subsequently Emperor Charles V. Louis XII., however,had other views as regards the daughter of the Count of Angouleme, forhe knew that if he himself died without male issue the throne would passto Margaret's brother. Hence he decided to marry her to a prince of theroyal house, Charles, Duke of Alencon.
This prince, born at Alencon on September 2nd, 1489, had been broughtup at the Chateau of Mauves, in Le Perche, by his mother, the pious andcharitable Margaret of Lorraine, who on losing her husband had resolved,like Louise of Savoy, to devote herself to the education of herchildren. (1)
1 Hilarion de Coste's _Vies et Eloges des Dames illustres_, vol. ii. p. 260.
It had originally been intended that her son Charles should marry Susan,daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon--the celebrated Peter andAnne de Beaujeu--but this match fell through owing to the death of Peterand the opposition of Anne, who preferred the young Count of Montpensier(afterwards Constable de Bourbon) as a son-in-law. A yet higher alliancethen presented itself for Charles: it was proposed that he should marryAnne of Brittany, the widow of King Charles VIII., but she was manyyears his senior, and, moreover, to prevent the separation of Brittanyfrom France, it had been stipulated that she should marry either herfirst husband's successor (Louis XII.) or the heir-presumptive to thethrone. Either course seemed impracticable, as the heir, Francis ofAngouleme, was but a child, while the new King was already married toJane, a daughter of Louis XI. Brittany seemed lost to France, when LouisXII., by promising the duchy of Valentinois to Caesar Borgia, prevailedupon Pope Alexander VI. to divorce him from his wife. He then marriedAnne of Brittany, while Charles of Alencon proceeded to perfect hisknightly education, pending other matrimonial arrangements.
In 1507, when in his eighteenth year, he accompanied the army which theKing led against the Genoese, and conducted himself bravely; displayingsuch courage, indeed, at the battle of Agnadel, gained over theVenetians--who were assailed after the submission of Genoa--that LouisXII. bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. It was during thisItalian expedition that his mother negotiated his marriage with Margaretof Angouleme. The alliance was openly countenanced by Louis XII.,and the young Duke of Valois--as Francis of Angouleme was nowcalled--readily acceded to it. Margaret brought with her a dowry ofsixty thousand livres, payable in four instalments, and Charles, who wason the point of attaining his twenty-first year, was declared a majorand placed in possession of his estates. (1) The marriage was solemnisedat Blois in October 1509.
1 Odolant Desnos's _Memoires historiques sur Alencon_, vol. ii. p. 231
Margaret did not find in her husband a mind comparable to her own.Differences of taste and temper brought about a certain amount ofcoolness, which did not, however, hinder the Duchess from fulfillingthe duties of a faithful, submissive wife. In fact, although but littlesympathy would appear to have existed between the Duke and Duchessof Alencon, their domestic differences have at least been singularlyexaggerated.
During the first five years of her married life Margaret lived insomewhat retired style in her duchy of Alencon, while her husband tookpart in various expeditions, and was invested with important functions.In 1513 he fought in Picardy against the English and Imperialists,commanded by Henry VIII., being present at the famous "Battle of Spurs;"and early in 1514 he was appointed Lieutenant-General and Governor ofBrittany. Margaret at this period was not only often separated from herhusband, but she also saw little of her mother, who had retired to herduchy of Angouleme. Louise of Savoy, as mother of the heir-presumptive,was the object of the homage of all adroit and politic courtiers, butshe had to behave with circumspection on account of the jealousy ofthe Queen, Anne of Brittany, whose daughters, Claude and Renee, weredebarred by the Salic Law from inheriting the crown. Louis XII. wishedto marry Claude to Francis of Angouleme, but Anne refusing her consent,it was only after her death, in 1514, that the marriage was solemnised.
It now seemed certain that Francis would in due course ascend thethrone; but Louis XII. abruptly contracted a third alliance, marryingMary of England, the sister of Henry VIII. Louise of Savoy soon deemedit prudent to keep a watch on the conduct of this gay young Queen, andtook up her residence at the Court in November 1514. Shortly afterwardsLouis XII. died of exhaustion, as many had foreseen, and the hopes ofthe Duchess of Angouleme were realised. She knew the full extent of herempire over her son, now Francis I., and felt both able and ready toexercise a like authority over the affairs of his kingdom.
The accession of Francis gave a more important position to Margaret andher husband. The latter was already one of the leading personages of thestate, and new favours increased his power. He did not address the Kingas "Your Majesty," says Odolant Desnos, but styled him "Monseigneur"or "My Lord," and all the acts which he issued respecting his duchy ofAlencon began with the preamble, "Charles, by the grace of God."Francis had scarcely become King than he turned his eyes upon Italy, andappointing his mother as Regent, he set out with a large army, aportion of which was commanded by the Duke of Alencon. At the battleof Marignano the troops of the latter formed the rearguard, and, onperceiving that the Swiss were preparing to surround the bulk of theFrench army, Charles marched against them, overthrew them, and by hisskilful manouvres decided the issue of the second day's fight. (1) Theconquest of the duchy of Milan was the result of this victory, and peacesupervening, the Duke of Alencon returned to France.
1 Odolant Desnos's _Memoires historiques sur Alencon_, vol. ii. p. 238.
It was at this period that Margaret began to keep a Court, which,according to Odolant Desnos, rivalled that of her brother. We knowthat in 1517 she and her husband entertained the King with a series ofmagnificent fetes at their Chateau of Alencon, which then combined botha palace and a fortress. But little of the chateau now remains, as,after the damage done to it during the religious wars between 1561and 1572, it was partially demolished by Henry IV. when he and Bironcaptured it in 1590. Still the lofty keep built by Henry I. of Englandsubsisted intact till in 1715 it was damaged by fire, and finally in1787 razed to the ground.
The old pile was yet in all its splendour in 1517, when Francis I. wasentertained there with jousts and tournaments. At these gay gatheringsMargaret appeared apparelled in keeping with her brother's love ofdisplay; for, like all princesses, she clothed herself on importantoccasions in sumptuous garments. But in every-day life she wasvery simple, despising the vulgar plan of impressing the crowd bymagnificence and splendour. In a portrait executed about this period,her dark-coloured dress is surmounted by a wimple with a double collarand her head covered with a cap in the Bearnese style. This portrait (1)tends, like those of a later date, to the belief that Margaret's beauty,so celebrated by the poets of her time, consisted mainly in thenobility of her bearing and the sweetness and liveliness spread over herfeatures. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were very large, but although shehad been violently attacked with small-pox while still young, she hadbeen spared the traces which this cruel illness so often left in thosedays, and she even preserved the freshness of her complexion until latein life. (2)
1 It is preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, where it will be found in the _Recueil de Portraits au crayon par Clouett Dumonstier, &c_, fol. xi.
2 Referring to this subject, she says in one of her letters: "You can tell it to the Count and Countess of Vertus, whom you will go and visit on my behalf; and say to the Countess that I am sorely vexed that she
has this loathsome illness. However, I had it as severely as ever was known. And if it be that she has caught it as I have been told, I should like to be near her to preserve her complexion, and do for her what I did for myself."--Genin's _lettres de Marguerite d'Angouleme_, Paris, 1841, p. 374.
Like her brother, whom she greatly resembled, she was very tall. Hergait was solemn, but the dignified air of her person was tempered byextreme affability and a lively humour, which never left her. (1)
1 Sainte-Marthe says on this subject: "For in her face, in her gestures, in her walk, in her words, in all that she did and said, a royal gravity made itself so manifest and apparent, that one saw I know not what of majesty which compelled every one to revere and dread her. In seeing her kindly receive every one, refuse no one, and patiently listen to all, you would have promised yourself easy and facile access to her; but if she cast eyes upon you, there was in her face I know not what of gravity, which made you so astounded that you no longer had power, I do not say to walk a step, but even to stir a foot to approach her."-- _Oraison-funebre, &c_, p. 53.
Francis I. did not allow the magnificent reception accorded to him atAlencon to pass unrewarded. He presented his sister with the duchy ofBerry, where she henceforward exercised temporal control, though shedoes not appear to have ever resided there for any length of time.In 1521, when her husband started to the relief of Chevalier Bayard,attacked in Mezieres by the Imperial troops, she repaired to Meaux withher mother so as to be near to the Duke. Whilst sojourning there sheimproved her acquaintance with the Bishop, William Briconnet, who hadgathered around him Gerard Roussel, Michael d'Arande, Lefevre d'Etaples,and other celebrated disciples of the Reformation. The effect ofLuther's preaching had scarcely reached France before Margaret had begunto manifest great interest in the movement, and had engaged in a longcorrespondence with Briconnet, which is still extant. Historians areat variance as to whether Margaret ever really contemplated a change ofreligion, or whether the protection she extended to the Reformers wassimply dictated by a natural feeling of compassion and a horror ofpersecution. It has been contended that she really meditated a changeof faith, and even attempted to convert her mother and brother; and thisview is borne out by some passages in the letters which she wrote toBishop Briconnet after spending the winter of 1521 at Meaux.
Whilst she was sojourning there, her husband, having contributed to therelief of Mezieres, joined the King, who was then encamped at Fervacqueson the Somme, and preparing to invade Hainault. It was at this juncturethat Clement Marot, the poet, who, after being attached to the personof Anne of Brittany, had become a hanger-on at the Court of Francis I.,applied to Margaret to take him into her service. (1)
1 Epistle ii.: _Le Despourveu a Madame la Duchesse d'Alencon_, in the _OEuvres de Clement Marot_, 1700, vol. i. p. 99.
Shortly afterwards we find him furnishing her with informationrespecting the royal army, which had entered Hainault and was fightingthere. (1)
1 Epistle iii.: _Du Camp d' Attigny a ma dite Dame d' Alencon, ibid._, vol. i. p. 104.
Lenglet-Dufresnoy, in his edition of Marot's works, originated thetheory that the numerous poems composed by Marot in honour of Margaretsupply proofs of an amorous intrigue between the pair. Other authoritieshave endorsed this view; but M. Le Roux de Lincy asserts that in thepieces referred to, and others in which Marot incidentally speaks ofMargaret, he can find no trace either of the fancy ascribed to her forthe poet or of the passion which the latter may have felt for her. Likeall those who surrounded the Duchess of Alencon, Marot, he remarks,exalted her beauty, art, and talent to the clouds; but whenever it is toher that his verses are directly addressed, he does not depart fromthe respect he owes to her. To give some likelihood to his conjectures,Lenglet-Dufresnoy had to suppose that Marot addressed Margaret incertain verses which were not intended for her. In the epistlespreviously mentioned, and in several short pieces, rondeaux, epigrams,new years' addresses, and epitaphs really written to or for the sisterof Francis I., one only finds respectful praise, such as the humblecourtier may fittingly offer to his patroness. There is nothingwhatever, adds M. Le Roux de Lincy, to promote the suspicion that apassion, either unfortunate or favoured, inspired a single one of thesecompositions.
The campaign in which Francis I. was engaged at the time when Marot'sconnection with Margaret began, and concerning which the poet suppliedher with information, was destined to influence the whole reign, sinceit furnished the occasion of the first open quarrel between FrancisI. and the companion of his childhood, Charles de Bourbon, Count ofMontpensier, and Constable of France. Yielding too readily on thisoccasion to the persuasions of his mother, Francis intrusted toMargaret's husband the command of the vanguard, a post which theConstable considered his own by virtue of his office. He felt mortallyoffended at the preference given to the Duke of Alencon, and from thatday forward he and Francis were enemies for ever.
Whilst the King was secretly jealous of Bourbon, who was one of thehandsomest, richest, and bravest men in the kingdom, Louise of Savoy,although forty-four years of age, was in love with him. The Constable,then thirty-two, had lost his wife, Susan de Bourbon, from whom hehad inherited vast possessions. To these Louise of Savoy, finding herpassion disregarded, laid claim, as being a nearer relative of thedeceased. A marriage, as Chancellor Duprat suggested, would have servedto reconcile the parties, but the Constable having rejected the proposedalliance--with disdain, so it is said--the suit was brought before theParliament and decided in favour of Louise. Such satisfaction as shemay have felt was not, however, of long duration, for Charles de Bourbonleft France, entered the service of Charles V., and in the followingyear (1524) helped to drive the French under Bonnivet out of Italy.