Margaret, Queen Of Navarre - The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.)

M >> Margaret, Queen Of Navarre >> The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

THE TALES OF

THE HEPTAMERON

OF

Margaret, Queen of Navarre

_Newly Translated into English from the Authentic Text_

OF M. LE ROUX DE LINCY WITH

AN ESSAY UPON THE HEPTAMERON

BY

GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A.

Also the Original Seventy-three Full Page Engravings

Designed by S. FREUDENBERG

And One Hundred and Fifty Head and Tail Pieces

By DUNKER

_IN FIVE VOLUMES_

VOLUME THE FIRST

LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY OF ENGLISH BIBLIOPHILISTS

MDCCCXCIV

[Illustration: Frontispiece]

[Margaret, Queen of Navarre, from a crayon drawing by Clouet, preserved
at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris]

[Illustration: Titlepage]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

Preface

Memoir of Margaret of Angouleme

Essay on the Heptameron

Dedications and Preface to the Original Editions

of the Heptameron

The Prologue

FIRST DAY.

Tale I. The pitiful history of a Proctor of Alencon, named St. Aignan,
and of his wife, who caused her husband to assassinate her lover, the
son of the Lieutenant-General

II. The fate of the wife of a muleteer of Amboise, who suffered herself
to be killed by her servant rather than sacrifice her chastity

III. The revenge taken by the Queen of Naples, wife to King Alfonso, for
her husband's infidelity with a gentleman's wife

IV. The ill success of a Flemish gentleman who was unable to obtain,
either by persuasion or force, the love of a great Princess

V. How a boatwoman of Coulon, near Nyort, contrived to escape from the
vicious designs of two Grey Friars

Tale VI. How the wife of an old valet of the Duke of Alencon's succeeded
in saving her lover from her husband, who was blind of one eye

VII. The craft of a Parisian merchant, who saved the reputation of the
daughter by offering violence to the mother

Appendix to the First Day

ENGRAVINGS

To face page Queen Margaret of Navarre. Frontispiece.

Prologue: The Story-tellers in the Meadow near The Gave. By S.
Freudenberg

FIRST DAY.

Tale I. Du Mesnil learns his Mistress's Infidelity from her Maid. By S.
Freudenberg

II. The Muleteer's Servant attacking his Mistress. By S. Freudenberg

III. The King Joking upon the Stag's Head being A fitting Decoration. By
S. Freudenberg

IV. The Princess's Lady of Honour hurrying to her Mistress's Assistance.
By S. Freudenberg

V. The Boatwoman of Coulon outwitting the Friars. By S. Freudenberg

VI. The Wife's Ruse to secure the Escape of her Lover. By S. Freudenberg

VII. The Merchant transferring his Caresses from the Daughter to the
Mother. By S. Freudenberg

PREFACE.

The first printed version of the famous Tales of Margaret of Navarre,
issued in Paris in the year 1558, under the title of "Histoires des
Amans Fortunez," was extremely faulty and imperfect. It comprised but
sixty-seven of the seventy-two tales written by the royal author, and
the editor, Pierre Boaistuau, not merely changed the order of those
narratives which he did print, but suppressed numerous passages in them,
besides modifying much of Margaret's phraseology. A somewhat similar
course was adopted by Claude Gruget, who, a year later, produced what
claimed to be a complete version of the stories, to which he gave the
general title of the _Heptameron_, a name they have ever since retained.
Although he reinstated the majority of the tales in their proper
sequence, he still suppressed several of them, and inserted others in
their place, and also modified the Queen's language after the fashion
set by Boaistuau. Despite its imperfections, however, Gruget's version
was frequently reprinted down to the beginning of the eighteenth
century, when it served as the basis of the numerous editions of the
_Heptameron_ in _beau langage_, as the French phrased it, which then
began to make their appearance. It served, moreover, in the one or the
other form, for the English and other translations of the work, and down
to our own times was accepted as the standard version of the Queen
of Navarre's celebrated tales. Although it was known that various
contemporary MSS. were preserved at the French National Library in
Paris, no attempt was made to compare Gruget's faulty version with the
originals until the Societe des Bibliophiles Francais entrusted this
delicate task to M. Le Roux de Lincy, whose labours led to some most
valuable discoveries, enabling him to produce a really authentic version
of Margaret's admired masterpiece, with the suppressed tales restored,
the omitted passages reinstated, and the Queen's real language given for
the first time in all its simple gracefulness.

It is from the authentic text furnished by M. Le Roux de Lincy that the
present translation has been made, without the slightest suppression or
abridgment. The work moreover contains all the more valuable notes to
be found in the best French editions of the _Heptameron_, as well as
numerous others from original sources, and includes a _resume_ of the
various suggestions made by MM. Felix Frank, Le Roux de Lincy, Paul
Lacroix, and A. de Montaiglon, towards the identification of the
narrators of the stories, and the principal actors in them, with
well-known personages of the time. An Essay on the _Heptameron_ from the
pen of Mr. George Saintsbury, M.A., and a Life of Queen Margaret,
are also given, as well as the quaint Prefaces of the earlier French
versions; and a complete bibliographical summary of the various editions
which have issued from the press.

It may be supposed that numerous illustrated editions have been
published of a work so celebrated as the _Heptameron_, which,
besides furnishing scholars with a favourite subject for research and
speculation, has, owing to its perennial freshness, delighted so many
generations of readers. Such, however, is not the case. Only two fully
illustrated editions claim the attention of connoisseurs. The first
of these was published at Amsterdam in 1698, with designs by the Dutch
artist, Roman de Hooge, whose talent has been much overrated. To-day
this edition is only valuable on account of its comparative rarity. Very
different was the famous edition illustrated by Freudenberg, a Swiss
artist--the friend of Boucher and of Greuze--which was published in
parts at Berne in 1778-81, and which among amateurs has long commanded
an almost prohibitive price.

The Full-page Illustrations to the present translation are printed from
the actual copperplates engraved for the Berne edition by Longeuil,
Halbou, and other eminent French artists of the eighteenth century,
after the designs of S. Freudenberg. There are also the one hundred and
fifty elaborate head and tail pieces executed for the Berne edition by
Dunker, well known to connoisseurs as one of the principal engravers of
the _Cabinet_ of the Duke de Choiseul.

The Portrait of Queen Margaret placed as frontispiece to the present
volume is from a crayon drawing by Clouet, preserved at the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris.

Ernest A. Vizetelly.

London,

1893.

_Explanation of the Initials appended to the Notes_.

B.J...Bibliophile Jacob, i.e. Paul Lacroix.

D.....F. Dillaye.

F.....Felix Frank.

L.....Le Roux de Lincy.

M.....Anatole de Montaiglon.

Ed....E. A. Vizetelly.

_MARGARET OF ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE._

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 is
necessary at the outset to refer to the mother whose influence and
companionship 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 Duke
of Savoy, was born at Le Pont d'Ain in 1477, and upon the death of her
mother, Margaret de Bourbon, she married Charles d'Orleans, Count of
Angouleme, to whom she brought the slender dowry of thirty-five thousand
livres. (1) She was then but twelve years old, her husband being some
twenty years her senior. He had been banished from the French Court for
his participation in the insurrection of Brittany, and was living in
straitened circumstances. Still, on either side the alliance was an
honourable one. Louise belonged to a sovereign house, while the Count
of Angouleme was a prince of the blood royal of France by virtue of his
descent from King Charles V., his grandfather having been that monarch's
second son, the notorious Duke Louis of Orleans, (2) who was murdered in
Paris 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 a
mother, gave birth to her first child after four years of wedded
life. "My daughter Margaret," she writes in the journal recording the
principal events of her career, "was born in the year 1492, the eleventh
day of April, at two o'clock in the morning; that is to say, the tenth
day, fourteen hours and ten minutes, counting after the manner of
the astronomers." This auspicious event took place at the Chateau of
Angouleme, then a formidable and stately pile, of which nowadays there
only remains a couple of towers, built in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. Soon afterwards Cognac became the Count of Angouleme's
favourite place of residence, and it was there that Louise gave birth,
on September 12th, 1494, to her second child, a son, who was christened
Francis.

Louise's desires were now satisfied, but her happiness did not long
remain complete. On January 1st, 1496, when she was but eighteen years
old, she lost her amiable and accomplished husband, and forthwith
retiring to her Chateau of Romorantin, she resolved to devote herself
entirely to the education of her children. The Duke of Orleans, who,
on the death of Charles VIII. in 1498, succeeded to the throne as Louis
XII., was appointed their guardian, and in 1499 he invited them and
their mother to the royal Chateau of Amboise, where they remained for
several 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's
favourites, whilst Margaret was intrusted to the care of a venerable
lady, whom her panegyrist does not mention by name, but in whom he
states all virtues were assembled. (1) This lady took care to regulate
not only the acts but also the language of the young princess, who was
provided with a tutor in the person of Robert Hurault, Baron of Auzay,
great archdeacon and abbot of St. Martin of Autun. (2) This divine
instructed her in Latin and French literature, and also taught her
Spanish and Italian, in which languages Brantome asserts that she became
proficient. "But albeit she knew how to speak good Spanish and good
Italian," he says, "she always made use of her mother tongue for matters
of moment; though when it was necessary to join in jesting and gallant
conversation she showed that she was acquainted with more than her daily
bread." (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 to
obtain instruction in Hebrew, and Paul Paradis, surnamed Le Canosse, a
professor at the Royal College, gave her some lessons in it. Moreover,
a rather obscure passage in the funeral oration which Sainte-Marthe
devoted to her after her death, seemingly implies that she acquired
from some of the most eminent men then flourishing the precepts of the
philosophy of the ancients.

The journal kept by Louise of Savoy does not impart much information as
to the style of life which she and her children led in their new abode,
the palatial Chateau of Amboise, originally built by the Counts of
Anjou, and fortified by Charles VII. with the most formidable towers in
France. (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 her
time in study with her preceptors and in the devotional exercises which
then had so large a place in the training of princesses. Still she was
by no means indifferent to the pastimes in which her brother and his
companions engaged. Gaston de Foix, the nephew of the King, William
Gouffier, who became Admiral de Bonnivet, Philip Brion, Sieur de
Chabot, Fleurange, "the young adventurer," Charles de Bourbon, Count
of Montpensier, and Anne de Montmorency--two future Constables of
France--surrounded the heir to the throne, with whom they practised
tennis, archery, and jousting, or played at soldiers pending the time
when they were to wage war in earnest. (1)

Margaret was a frequent spectator of these pastimes, and took a keen
interest in her brother's efforts whenever he was assailing or defending
some miniature fortress or tilting at the ring. It would appear also
that she was wont to play at chess with him; for we have it on high
authority that it is she and her brother who are represented, thus
engaged, in a curious miniature preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale
in Paris. (2) In this design--executed by an unknown artist--only the
back 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 her
brother'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 certainly
a very studious child, for at fifteen years of age she already had the
reputation of being highly accomplished. Shortly after her sixteenth
birthday a great change took place in her life. On August 3rd, 1508,
Louise of Savoy records in her journal that Francis "this day quitted
Amboise to become a courtier, and left me all alone." Margaret
accompanied her brother upon his entry into the world, the young couple
repairing to Blois, where Louis XII. had fixed his residence. There
had previously been some unsuccessful negotiations in view of marrying
Margaret to Prince Henry of England (Henry VIII.), and at this period
another husband was suggested in the person of Charles of Austria, Count
of Flanders, and subsequently Emperor Charles V. Louis XII., however,
had other views as regards the daughter of the Count of Angouleme, for
he knew that if he himself died without male issue the throne would pass
to Margaret's brother. Hence he decided to marry her to a prince of the
royal house, Charles, Duke of Alencon.

This prince, born at Alencon on September 2nd, 1489, had been brought
up at the Chateau of Mauves, in Le Perche, by his mother, the pious and
charitable Margaret of Lorraine, who on losing her husband had resolved,
like Louise of Savoy, to devote herself to the education of her
children. (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 and
Anne de Beaujeu--but this match fell through owing to the death of Peter
and the opposition of Anne, who preferred the young Count of Montpensier
(afterwards Constable de Bourbon) as a son-in-law. A yet higher alliance
then presented itself for Charles: it was proposed that he should marry
Anne of Brittany, the widow of King Charles VIII., but she was many
years his senior, and, moreover, to prevent the separation of Brittany
from France, it had been stipulated that she should marry either her
first husband's successor (Louis XII.) or the heir-presumptive to the
throne. Either course seemed impracticable, as the heir, Francis of
Angouleme, was but a child, while the new King was already married to
Jane, a daughter of Louis XI. Brittany seemed lost to France, when Louis
XII., by promising the duchy of Valentinois to Caesar Borgia, prevailed
upon Pope Alexander VI. to divorce him from his wife. He then married
Anne of Brittany, while Charles of Alencon proceeded to perfect his
knightly education, pending other matrimonial arrangements.

In 1507, when in his eighteenth year, he accompanied the army which the
King led against the Genoese, and conducted himself bravely; displaying
such courage, indeed, at the battle of Agnadel, gained over the
Venetians--who were assailed after the submission of Genoa--that Louis
XII. bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. It was during this
Italian expedition that his mother negotiated his marriage with Margaret
of Angouleme. The alliance was openly countenanced by Louis XII.,
and the young Duke of Valois--as Francis of Angouleme was now
called--readily acceded to it. Margaret brought with her a dowry of
sixty thousand livres, payable in four instalments, and Charles, who was
on the point of attaining his twenty-first year, was declared a major
and placed in possession of his estates. (1) The marriage was solemnised
at 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 of
coolness, which did not, however, hinder the Duchess from fulfilling
the duties of a faithful, submissive wife. In fact, although but little
sympathy would appear to have existed between the Duke and Duchess
of Alencon, their domestic differences have at least been singularly
exaggerated.

During the first five years of her married life Margaret lived in
somewhat retired style in her duchy of Alencon, while her husband took
part 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 of
Brittany. Margaret at this period was not only often separated from her
husband, but she also saw little of her mother, who had retired to her
duchy of Angouleme. Louise of Savoy, as mother of the heir-presumptive,
was the object of the homage of all adroit and politic courtiers, but
she had to behave with circumspection on account of the jealousy of
the Queen, Anne of Brittany, whose daughters, Claude and Renee, were
debarred by the Salic Law from inheriting the crown. Louis XII. wished
to 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 the
throne; but Louis XII. abruptly contracted a third alliance, marrying
Mary of England, the sister of Henry VIII. Louise of Savoy soon deemed
it prudent to keep a watch on the conduct of this gay young Queen, and
took up her residence at the Court in November 1514. Shortly afterwards
Louis XII. died of exhaustion, as many had foreseen, and the hopes of
the Duchess of Angouleme were realised. She knew the full extent of her
empire over her son, now Francis I., and felt both able and ready to
exercise a like authority over the affairs of his kingdom.

The accession of Francis gave a more important position to Margaret and
her husband. The latter was already one of the leading personages of the
state, and new favours increased his power. He did not address the King
as "Your Majesty," says Odolant Desnos, but styled him "Monseigneur"
or "My Lord," and all the acts which he issued respecting his duchy of
Alencon began with the preamble, "Charles, by the grace of God."
Francis had scarcely become King than he turned his eyes upon Italy, and
appointing his mother as Regent, he set out with a large army, a
portion of which was commanded by the Duke of Alencon. At the battle
of Marignano the troops of the latter formed the rearguard, and, on
perceiving that the Swiss were preparing to surround the bulk of the
French army, Charles marched against them, overthrew them, and by his
skilful manouvres decided the issue of the second day's fight. (1) The
conquest of the duchy of Milan was the result of this victory, and peace
supervening, 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 know
that in 1517 she and her husband entertained the King with a series of
magnificent fetes at their Chateau of Alencon, which then combined both
a palace and a fortress. But little of the chateau now remains, as,
after the damage done to it during the religious wars between 1561
and 1572, it was partially demolished by Henry IV. when he and Biron
captured it in 1590. Still the lofty keep built by Henry I. of England
subsisted intact till in 1715 it was damaged by fire, and finally in
1787 razed to the ground.

The old pile was yet in all its splendour in 1517, when Francis I. was
entertained there with jousts and tournaments. At these gay gatherings
Margaret appeared apparelled in keeping with her brother's love of
display; for, like all princesses, she clothed herself on important
occasions in sumptuous garments. But in every-day life she was
very simple, despising the vulgar plan of impressing the crowd by
magnificence and splendour. In a portrait executed about this period,
her dark-coloured dress is surmounted by a wimple with a double collar
and 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 the
nobility of her bearing and the sweetness and liveliness spread over her
features. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were very large, but although she
had been violently attacked with small-pox while still young, she had
been spared the traces which this cruel illness so often left in those
days, and she even preserved the freshness of her complexion until late
in 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.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13