Marguerite d'Angouleme - Paris, France
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Metro2
N 48° 50.776 E 002° 20.183
31U E 451312 N 5410578
Marguerite d'Angouleme also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was the Queen consort of Henry II of Navarre. A very interesting character... a poet, playwright and the hostess of a well-respected salon.
Waymark Code: WMD2VT
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/11/2011
Views: 21
Marguerite d'Angouleme (1492-1549) was a bit lucky...although she was offered as a bride to the Prince who would become England's Henry VIII...he refused her. She has been called the "First Modern Woman". As her brother, Francis I, sat as King of France, she held a salon known as "New Parnassus" which became very well known. She was a poet and playwright as well. "Her most notable works are a classic collection of short stories, the Heptameron, and a remarkably intense religious poem, Miroir de l'âme pécheresse (Mirror of the Sinful Soul). This poem is a first-person, mystical narrative of the soul as a yearning woman calling out to Christ as her father-brother-lover. Her work was passed to the royal court of England, suggesting that Marguerite had influence on the Protestant Reformation in England." (
visit link) That poem, "Miroir de l'âme pécheresse" was condemned as heresy... but, her brother, King Francis I, forced the charges to be dropped.
Her legacy includes being a patron AND protector of artists...but she also served as a diplomat and peacemaker... working to prevent harsh rebukes against Calvinists. An interesting note is that she was probably friends with Anne Boleyn who had once been a lady-in-waiting to Marguerite's mother Queen Claude.
Another interesting trivia fact...Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 as he was being hosted as a guest of Marguerite and her brother Francis I.
The marble sculpture depicts her young and apparently pregnant, wearing multi-layered full-length robes and a shawl. She rests left arm on her right which in turn rests on her belly. She has a finger to her throat... as if she is in thought. There is no indication at the site as to the artist or date. It is located in the Jardin du Luxembourg.