Burgundy: The Splendid Duchy. Stories and Sketches in South BurgundyAllen, Percy
History
Burgundy: The Splendid Duchy. Stories and Sketches in South Burgundy
Allen, Percy
Burgundy (France) -- Description and travel
Francis I., after his defeat at Pavia, sought her good graces; she was
courted of many; her voice was loud in the counsels of Europe. But
Marguerite, who had already refused the hand of Henry VII. of England,
was not to be dazzled by the glitter of a crown. Long ago she had
renounced wedded life, until friendly death should lay her once more
beside Philibert in those bridal tombs. Her inmost thoughts, far away
from thrones and principalities, were turning towards the cloister, as
a fitting refuge from the cares of state, when, in 1530, her unhappy
life was brought to a sudden close. This is the traditional story of
her death, as told in a manuscript of the eighteenth century.[210]
On the fifteenth of the month of November, in the morning, before
rising, she asked for a drink of water from one of her attendants,
Magdeleine of Rochester, who, obeying her immediately, brought the
water in a crystal cup; but, while taking it back, she unfortunately
let the glass fall in front of the bed, where it was smashed to pieces.
The girl gathered the fragments up, as carefully as she could, but
did not think of looking into her Royal mistress's slippers. Some
hours later, Princess Marguerite put on her slippers, and walked to
the fire. Feeling a violent pricking sensation in her left foot, she
called a lady in waiting, who found a fragment of the broken cup firmly
embedded therein. This she drew out, as carefully as she could, and
the princess, with her usual courage, made light of the matter, and
dismissed it from her mind.
Some days after, she began to feel great pain in the foot, and noticed
that the limb was swollen. Physicians were summoned, who, after private
consultation, decided that the wound was gangrened, and that amputation
was the only practicable means of saving the patient's life. They
communicated their decision to Montécut, the princess's confessor, and
asked him to break the news to his mistress. She was much surprised,
but bore bravely what she must have known to be virtually a sentence of
death. The next few days having been passed in confession, absolution,
and the settlement of her temporal affairs, she submitted herself to
her doctors, who proceeded to administer to their patient so large a
dose of opium "that they put her to a sleep so sound that it is not yet
ended, and will not end until the Resurrection of all the dead."
Marguerite was buried at Malines, where her body lay for two years,
until, her tomb being ready, she was laid, in 1532, according to the
express terms of her will, beside her "lord and husband," who was to
rest between his mother and his wife.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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