Among the demoiselles who had come from various parts of France to acquire the graces of the polished Court of the Queen was Charlotte d’Albret, sister of Jean d’Albret, King of Navarre, and daughter of Alain, Duke of Guyenne. While Charlotte was still a child she had been placed under the care of Anne of Bretagne, and she had grown into a beautiful young woman, gracious and intelligent, and Louis decided to endeavour to bring about a union between her and Caesar. Alain, the father, looked with little favour upon the proposed marriage, but the political interests of the House of Navarre were such that he decided to consent, provided, of course, he could drive a good bargain--for in the days of chivalry fair women were exceedingly valuable pieces in the great game of politics. Throughout the negotiations Charlotte’s father showed himself to be cold, calculating, avaricious, and suspicious, but as Louis felt that everything depended upon securing a wife for Caesar, and as he himself was anxious to set out for Italy he granted all of Alain’s demands. The negotiations were protracted, almost interminable, but finally the marriage contract was drawn up at the château of Blois, May 10, 1499, in the presence of the King, Queen Anne, the Cardinal d’Amboise, Chancellor of France, the Archbishop of Sens, the proxies of the Duke of Guyenne, and numerous other dignitaries. By its terms Alain d’Albret was to give his daughter a dowry of 30,000 livres Tournois. The marriage was celebrated May 12, 1499, and the bride was said to be the most beautiful woman of France, while Caesar was described as possessing fine features and a most elegant bearing; one writer said that, like the Emperor Tiberius, he was the handsomest man of his century. Charlotte d’Albret must have known that the marriage was purely a political one. Burchard records that May 23rd a courier arrived from France with a letter to the Pope from Caesar in which he made a brutal confession with regard to his wife. Charlotte wrote the Pope expressing filial devotion and a desire to come to Rome to make his acquaintance--and she added that she was very much pleased with her new spouse. Alain’s daughter was the sacrifice and Alexander VI. and Louis XII. were to reap the benefits. Among the documents containing the negotiations with Alain d’Albret are some which clearly reveal their plans. The treaty made by the Pope and the King has often been published; but the one under discussion when they were endeavouring to bring about a marriage between Caesar and King Frederic’s daughter had never been printed until M. Yriarte reproduced[20] the entire document as an example of the duplicity which then marked all political transactions--and, it might be added, which continues to characterise them. “Minutes of an agreement between our Holy Father, the Pope Alexander VI. and the Most Christian King:--