Also known as Marguerite of Angoulme

Born in Angoulme 11 April 1492, died 21 December 1549

Father was descendant of Charles V
Brother was Francis I, King of France
Two years after Marguerite's birth, the family moved from Angoulme to Cognac
heavy Italian influence
Her father died when she was nearly four
Her one-year-old brother became heir presumptive to the throne of France
Thanks to her mother, who was only nineteen when widowed, Marguerite was
tutored from childhood, given a classical education that included Latin.
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to
amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of
the participants through conversation
o Exchange of ideas, literary gatherings
Marguerite wrote many poems and plays
o Classic collection of short stories, the Heptameron
o Dialogue en forme de vision nocturne
Rising acceptance of the Reformation
Marguerite served as a mediator between Roman Catholics and
Protestants
o Intense religious poem, Miroir de l'me pcheresse (Mirror of the Sinful Soul).
First-person, mystical narrative of the sinful soul as a yearning woman
calling out to Christ as her father-brother-lover
The female narrator is the sinful soul who offers to the readers the
mirror in which they can see their own souls because all are sinners
since Adam. No human can change her, and nothing can deliver her
but the gift of divine grace through Christ.
o Her work was passed to the royal court of England, suggesting that
Marguerite had influence on the Protestant Reformation in England.
Jules Michelet (17981874), the most celebrated historian of his time, wrote of her:
"Let us always remember this tender Queen of Navarre, in whose arms
our people, fleeing from prison or the pyre, found safety, honor, and
friendship. Our gratitude to you, Mother of our [French] Renaissance!
Your hearth was that of our saints, your heart the nest of our freedom."
Eminent American historian Will Durant (1885-1981) wrote: "In Marguerite the
Renaissance and the Reformation were for a moment one. Her influence
radiated throughout France. Every free spirit looked upon her as
protectoress and ideal .... Marguerite was the embodiment of charity. She
would walk unescorted in the streets of Navarre, allowing any one to
approach her and would listen at first hand to the sorrows of the people.
She called herself 'The Prime Minister of the Poor'. Henri, her husband,
King of Navarre, believed in what she was doing, even to the extent of
setting up a public works system that became a model for France.
Together he and Marguerite financed the education of needy students."