PROT
ÉGÉElizabeth I (1533–1603)
Louise of Savoy (1476 –1531)
Louise’s status rose steadily as several French kings in
succession died without heir until the closest in line to
the throne was François, her son by the Count
d’Angoulême. After François I became king in 1515,
Louise was widely regarded as the power behind
his throne. In 1529, she sat down with Margaret of
Austria (her childhood playmate when they were both
raised in Anne de Beaujeu’s care) to negotiate the
so-called ‘Ladies’ Peace’ of Cambrai. Neither Louise’s
son François nor Margaret’s nephew Charles could
compromise their dignity by being the first to talk of
reconciliation, but, Margaret wrote: “How easy for
ladies... to concur in some endeavours for warding off
the general ruin of Christendom, and to make the first
advance in such an undertaking!”Jeanne d’Albret
(1528 – 72)In 1555, Marguerite’s daughter Jeanne inherited her
father’s Navarrese kingdom. Reared in her mother’s
reforming tradition, in 1560, she publicly converted to
the Protestant faith, joining France’s Huguenot rebels
inside the besieged fortress of La Rochelle,
she became a heroine of the Reformation.
When summoned to appear before the Inquisition,
Jeanne was saved by the intervention of Catherine de
Medici, even though the latter was on the other side of
the religious divide. Catherine tried to promote religious
tolerance, but the marriage of her daughter Marguerite
to Jeanne’s son Henri in 1572 provoked the slaughter
of Huguenots known as the Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre (pictured below). “You cannot govern too
wisely with kindness and diffidence,” Anne de Beaujeu
had said – the final bitter ‘Lesson’ with which her
daughters were to end the century.Thanks in part to her long reign,
Anne Boleyn’s daughter is
remembered by many as
England’s greatest monarch.
She represents the apogee of an
age of queens – which, however,
was perhaps already waning
before her death. Elizabeth
might be seen as exemplifying
many of the maxims laid down
for powerful women at the
beginning of the 16th century
by the French regent Anne de
Beaujeu (above). Elizabeth’s
motto was Video et taceo – I see
but say nothing. “Have eyes tonotice everything yet to see
nothing, ears to hear everything
yet to know nothing,” Anne de
Beaujeu had urged.
Elizabeth corresponded with
Jeanne d’Albret, Catherine
de Medici and the influential
Ottoman consort Safiye. But
the religious divisions of the
Reformation denied her the easy
contact with other women across
the continent that had been
enjoyed by earlier generations,
and fostered her long rivalry with
her Catholic kinswoman Mary,
Queen of Scots.ALLIESCHILDHOOD FRIENDSDAUGHTERPROTEGE Anne de Beaujeu (aka Anne
of France, 1461 – 1522)
Eldest daughter of the French king Louis XI, Anne was
widely noted as a woman of great ability. The Salic Law,
however, prohibited her from acceding to the throne.
Instead, on Louis’s death she acted as regent in all
but name during the minority of her younger brother
Charles VIII. Anne wrote an advice manual for
noblewomen, Enseignements [Lessons for my Daughter]
that has been compared to Machiavelli’s
The Prince. “When it comes to the government of their
lands and affairs, [widows] must depend only on
themselves; when it comes to sovereignty, they must not
cede power to anyone,” was one of her maxims. Anne was
in charge of the upbringings of Margaret of Austria during
her marriage to Charles VIII, and of Louise of Savoy.PROTÉGÉLouise of Savoy’s daughter
Marguerite was also in Cambrai
when the ‘Ladies’ Peace’ was
negotiated. Louise, François and
Marguerite were so close that
they were known as ‘the trinity’;
neither of Marguerite’s two
marriages (to the Duc d’Alençon
and to Henri II of Navarre)
impeded her devotion to her
brother, nor her sway over his
court. Author of the book of
short stories known as theHeptaméron, Marguerite was
an intellectual leader among
the great ladies who sought to
reform the Catholic church.
The number of ideas, books
and contacts they had in common
suggests that Marguerite
became a role model for Anne
Boleyn during the latter’s years in
France. Anne would later send
word to Marguerite that her
“greatest wish, next to having a
son, was to see you again.”Marguerite of Navarre (aka Marguerite
d’Angoulême, 1492 – 1549)DAUGHTER