Dates: April 11, 1492 - December 21, 1549
Occupation: writer
Known for: helping negotiate the Treaty of Cambrai, known as The Ladies Peace. A Renaissance writer, she was well educated, influenced a king of France (her brother), patronized religious reformers and humanists, and educated her daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, according to Renaissance standards. Grandmother of King Henry IV.
Also Known as: Marguerite of Angoulême, Margaret of Navarre, Margaret of Angouleme, Marguerite De Navarre, Margarita De Angulema, Margarita De Navarra
Family Connections:
- father: Charles de Valois-Orléans, comte d'Angoulême
- mother: Louise of Savoy
- brother: King Frances I of France
- husbands: (1) Duke of Alencon (d. 1525), (2) Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, humanist reformer
- daughter: Jeanne d'Albret
- grandson: Henry IV of France
About Marguerite of Navarre:
Marguerite of Navarre was well educated in languages, philosophy, history, and theology, taught by her mother, Louise of Savoy, and by tutors.
Marguerite married the Duke of Alencon in 1509. When her brother, Francis I, succeeded Louis XII, Marguerite served as his hostess. She patronized scholars and explored religious reform.
When Francis was held captive in Spain, she stepped up and helped her mother, Louise of Savoy, negotiate his release and the Treaty of Cambrai, known as The Ladies Peace.
That same year, Marguerite was widowed. In 1527, she married Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre. Under her influence, Henry initiated legal and economic reforms, and the court became a haven for religious reformers. They had one daughter, and while she retained influence at court, they were soon estranged.
Marguerite of Navarre wrote religious verse and short stories. Her verse reflected her religious non-orthodoxy, as she was influencd by humanists and tended towards mysticism. Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth I of England) translated her Miroir de l'âme pécheresse (1531) as A Godly Meditation of the Soul (1548). Marguerite's collection of 72 stories -- many of women -- was published after her death under the title L'Hemptameron des Nouvelles (also called The Heptameron).
The bulk of Marguerite's verse was not collected and published until 1896, when it was published as Les Dernières poésies.
Marguerite of Navarre took charge of the educatior of her daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, who became a Huguenot leader and whose son became France's King Henry IV. Marguerite did not go so far as becoming a Calvinist, and was estranged from her daughter over religion.
Recommended Reading:
- Marguerite of Navarre, The Heptameron (Penguin Classics), reprint 1984. (compare prices)
- Heroic Virtue, Comic Infidelity: Reassessing Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron, edited by Dora E. Polachek, Hestia Press, 1994. (compare prices)
- Gary Ferguson, Mirroring Belief: Marguerite De Navarre's Devotional Poetry, 1992. (compare prices)
- Carol Thysell, The Pleasure of Discernment: Marguerite de Navarre as Theologian, 2000. (compare prices)
