The book of the ladies: Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon RégimeBrantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille
History
The book of the ladies: Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime
Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille
France -- Biography; France -- Court and courtiers; Queens; Women -- Biography
The news of her death reached Reims the day of the king’s coronation,
and all the Court were in mourning and extreme sadness, for her kindness
was shown to all when she came there. The last time she came, the king,
her brother, made her a gift of the ransoms of Guyenne, which came from
the confiscations that took place there; but the ransoms were made so
heavy that often they exceeded the value of the confiscations.
Mme. de Dampierre asked her for one, one day when I was present, for a
gentleman whom I know. The princess made answer: “Mme. de Dampierre, I
give it to you with all my heart, having merely accepted this gift from
the king, my brother, not having asked for it; he gave it to me of his
own good-will; not to injure France, for I am French and love all those
who are so like myself; they will have more courtesy from me than from
another who might have had that gift; therefore what they want of me and
ask of me I will give.” And truly, those who had to do with her found
her all courtesy, gentleness, and goodness.
In short, she was a true daughter of France, having good mind and
ability, which she proved by seconding wisely and ably her husband, M.
de Lorraine, in the government of his seigneuries and principalities.
After this Claude de France, comes that beautiful Marguerite de France,
Queen of Navarre, of whom I have already spoken; for which reason I am
silent here, awaiting another time; for I think that April in its
springtime never produced such lovely flowers and verdure as this
princess of ours produced blooming at all seasons in noble and diverse
ways, so that all the good in the world could be said of her.
8. _Madame Diane de France._
Nor must I forget Madame Diane de France; although she was bastard and a
natural child, we must place her in the rank of the daughters of France,
because she was acknowledged by the late King Henri [II.] and
legitimatized and afterwards dowered as daughter of France; for she was
given the duchy of Chastellerault, which she quitted to be Duchesse
d’Angoulême, a title and estate she retains at this day, with all the
privileges of a daughter of France, even to that of entering the
cabinets and state business of her brothers, King Charles and King Henri
III. (where I have often seen her), as though she were their own
sister. Indeed, they loved her as such. She had much resemblance to
King Henri, her father, as much in features of the face as in habits and
actions. She loved all the exercises that he loved, whether arms,
hunting, or horses. I think it is not possible for any lady to look
better on horseback than she did, or to have better grace in riding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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