Contemporary images
Louise of Savoy (1476—1532) was only twelve when she was married to Charles of Angouleme, son of a cadet branch of the Valois originating in Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI, and still in her teens when she bore Marguerite in 1492 and Franpois in 1494.
She raised them at Cognac alongside the children of her husband’s mistresses. Although no record of discord exists among this extended family, Louise, Marguerite and Franpois conceived of themselves as a group apart, as an inseparable Trinity.[429] Widowed in 1496, Louise never remarried. With the premature death of Charles VIII and ascension of Louis XII in 1498, Franpois unexpectedly became heir presumptive. According to seventeenth-century biographer Hilarion de Coste, however, Louise was not surprised, having earlier learned from the hermit, later saint, Francesco di Paola, that she would give birth to a king.[430] Franpois acceded to the throne in 1515, fulfilling the prophecy.Louise served as Francois I’s regent when he led troops into Italy and while he was held by Imperial troops in Spain for over a year after the devastating French defeat at Pavia in 1525. Her right to rule in her son’s absence derived from her status as mother of the king, that is, the feudal precedent that made the mother legal guardian for her fatherless children.[431] But in addition to providing a juridical foundation for regency, maternity offered a persona for framing her political activity. As a mother she was expected to educate, protect and support her son, and to rule on his behalf when he was absent.[432] The iconography that supported Louise in the role has received scholarly attention, most notably from Elizabeth McCartney and Anne-Marie Lecoq.[433] Regarded by some as exemplary, by others as too controlling, Louise was nearly always characterized as a strong, prudent and watchful mother in works dedicated to her.
A treatise on the virtues housed today in the Bibliotheque Nationale of France gives the allegorical figure of Prudence Louise’s face.[434] She is depicted as a powerful, prudent maternal mentor for her son in several manuscripts from her own library, including Le Compas du dauphin, renowned for its miniature of her carrying a compass, a common attribute of Prudence.[435] [436] A manuscript recounting the story of Blanche of Castile, mother of and regent for Saint Louis, associates Louise with Blanche and thus prudent motherhood. The work concludes by lauding Blanche, “whose regency and great prudence and virtue are succeeded by the most high and strong and excellent princess, and my powerful lady, Madame Louise, mother of the most Christian king of France.”11 Franpois evoked his mother’s prudence in a letter patent naming her “regente et gouvernante” when he set off1 to conquer Milan in 1523: he had perfect confidence in her “sense, virtue, prudence and integrity.”[437] As prisoner, Franpois extended Louise’s regency, emphasizing her “long experience” and her “great prudence, honesty and goodness.”[438] The English Cardinal Wolsey132 | Queens, Regents, Mistresses: Reflections on Extracting noted at the time of the Treaty of Madrid in 1526 that Louise had demonstrated a “profound prudence, long and assured experience, unequaled conduct and marvelously great dexterity.”[439]
Even when not acting officially as regent, Louise exercised political influence, controlling access to the Royal Council.[440] She was also intimately involved in negotiations related to the triple rivalry among France, England, and the Empire, over which Charles V was elected to reign when his grandfather Maximilian died in 1519 despite Francois I’s best efforts to get himself elected. The threeway relationships underwent permutations in the years leading up to the fateful defeat of the French at Pavia, continuing to shift throughout the rest of the decade as Francois I sought his own release, the return of his ransomed sons, and the repossession of Burgundy, which he had ceded to Charles V as a condition of his release.
Contemporary observations of Louise at work highlight her health, forceful personality and sway over her son. A comment of 1518 by the Cardinal Louis d’Aragon, recorded by his secretary Antonio de Beatis, offers an example. Louise was very tall and lively, with a still-beautiful complexion.[441] She appeared to him to be about 40 (in 1518 she would have been 42), and he gave her ten more years of excellent health. The Cardinal also noted that she accompanied her son and Queen Claude everywhere and played the “governess without restraint.”[442] In a letter to Cardinal Wolsey, an unnamed clerk describes how he conveyed Henry VIII's interest in making peace with the Pope, Francois I, and the emperor to the Pontiff, who replied that the French king could not be trusted until he was no longer ruled by Louise and the seigneur de Bonnivet, Admiral of France.[443] A series of letters of 1521 written by ambassador to France William Fitzwilliam to Wolsey regarding a rapprochement between the English and the Empire reinforces these impressions. In response to his question of to whom he should turn for information, Fitzwilliam reports, the seigneur de Bonnivet, Admiral of France, had directed him to “my Lady as formerly, and after her [Florimond Robertet].”[444] A few weeks later, Fitzwilliam notes that the French’s suddenly unfavorable political situation had caused them to seek peace, commenting that many blamed Louise because it is never good when ladies rule.[445]On the other hand, Fitzwilliam shows this influence in a more positive light when a few months later he remarks to Wolsey that in case of conflict Wolsey should apply to Louise, because “when the king would stick at some points, and speak very great words, and then my Lady would qualify the matter;” the king is so “obeisant” to her that he refuses nothing that she requires him to do.[446] A year later, Fitzwilliam notes to Wolsey that the king “spends his time in the chace with the Cardinal of Lorraine, leaving everything to his mother, the Admiral and the Chancellor.”[447] Louise appears especially regularly in ambassadors’ reports during Franpois I’s captivity.[448] Although these letters report that her regency received serious challenge from the Parlement in Paris, a too-optimistic view on the part of the English as it turned out, Louise remained firmly in control, warning the unruly body that had she not been regent she would not have let them get away with such effrontery, but that she was too powerful to seek vengeance.[449] Louise knew how to exercise her authority by manifesting anger in a carefully controlled and thus effective manner.
Marguerite, too, was believed, like her mother, to be prudent, but her effectiveness was generally attributed to her charm rather than her grit.
Although not an exact contemporary, Brantome knew enough people who had seen Marguerite with their own eyes to be credible in his claim that she had a gift for worming secrets out of ambassadors.[450] Briponnet believed in her influence, as well, pushing her to convert Louise and the king to the cause of the Reform.[451] And Marguerite was taken seriously as a politician by fascinated English ambassadors during her brother’s captivity in 1525. Although their banter about Marguerite’s physical appeal has been much noted, their anxiety that she would win the emperor over indicates their awareness of her reputation for negotiation rather than any serious fear that she would sweep Charles V off his feet: surely Cuthbert Tunstall’s apprehension that Marguerite was on her way to woo Charles V for herself and Eleanor for her brother suggests primarily that he understood her to be persuasive.[452]Similar, Tunstall’s comment to Henry VIII that Marguerite would be inclined to seek out Eleanor to “cackle” with her to “advance her brodyrs matter” signals his anxiety at Marguerite’s capacity to persuade both the emperor and his sister.[453] When she arrived in Spain, Marguerite demanded respect, writing to her brother that she refused to “court” the emperor or play his “servant” by soliciting him but was waiting for him to make the first move.[454]
As for contemporary perspectives on the relationship between mother and daughter, Fitzwilliam saw them as accomplices. Louise directed Marguerite from the sidelines, letting the younger woman charm her interlocutors. In a letter of 13 September 1521, a time of mutual distrust with the French suspecting that the English were siding with the emperor whose troops had sacked Ardres just days before, Fitzwilliam reports that the king would give him no information. Therefore he spoke first to Louise and then to Marguerite.[455] Louise discussed with him her interest in peace according to Wolsey’s terms and tried to extract information about Ardres from him, but, when he replied that he knew nothing, she departed.
At that point Marguerite entered to express hope that France and England would not go to war. Fitzwilliam gives the impression that the audience with Louise and Marguerite was strategically planned to impress him, first, with the French’s resolve and then, quickly, with a softening of tone. Another letter of 15 September suggests the same strategy.[456] Here Louise first menaced the English by insisting on the French right to let heir presumptive to the Scottish throne, Duke of Albany John Stuart, leave France to wreak havoc in England. Louise then bade Fitzwilliam farewell, but lingered as the ambassador also said goodbye to Marguerite, who proceeded to question him forcefully about Ardres. The younger woman eventually left off her stern manner and began to speak “fair,” assuring Fitzwilliam that she would trust in Henry VIII until he did something to prove her wrong. She continued to speak many “good words.” For Fitzwilliam, the scene was “devised” by Louise, who stood within earshot the entire time. Fitzwilliam complains that as a choleric young man he hardly trusted himself to listen to such words, presumably those of Marguerite, which touch upon his king’s honor, and he asks to be transferred from his post. But his mistrust focuses on Louise rather than Marguerite: although the king and Louise “speak fair withMarguerite of Navarre, Louise of Savoy and Intimacy | 135 their mouths” he perceives “well what they think in their hearts.”[457] John Taylor, ambassador to France and Burgundy, reported in a letter of 1526 to Wolsey that Marguerite was “a wise and marvellous well-spoken woman^”[458]
A description of the women’s reactions to news of the defeat at Pavia and the king’s capture shows them rapidly taking control after initially giving expression to their distress. The two were residing in the Abby of Saint-Just outside of Lyon when on 1 March 1525 they received the news. Sebastien Moreau de Villefranche, referendaire general for the duchy of Milan, recounts that Louise, upon hearing that her beloved only son had been taken and forced to submit to his vassal and great enemy, piteously cried and lamented.[459] Marguerite and the whole court, indeed, all the Lyonnais, followed suit. But urged by her advisors to shake off her melancholy, Louise quickly recovered and ordered borders to be secured to prevent invasion by enemies ready to take advantage of the suddenly vulnerable kingdom. She and Marguerite initiated ransom negotiations. Francois requested that Louise come to negotiate on his behalf, but, occupied with governing, the regent decided to send Marguerite to face the emperor, accompanying her as far as Aigues-Mortes, where the younger woman boarded a ship on 28 August for Spain.[460]