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
You may be sure that if this queen played the sumptuous it was because
she wanted to show her brother that if she held her States, pensions,
benefits, even her conquests, through him, all were devoted to his glory
and pleasure. In fact, the said emperor was greatly pleased and praised
her much; and reckoned the cost very high; especially that of his
chamber which was hung with tapestry of splendid warp, of silver and
gold and silk, on which were figured and represented, the size of life,
all his fine conquests, great enterprises, expeditions of war, and the
battles he had fought, given, and won, above all, not forgetting the
flight of Solyman before Vienna, and the capture of King François. In
short, there was nothing in it that was not exquisite.
But the noble house lost its lustre soon after, being totally pillaged,
ruined, and razed to the ground. I have heard say that its mistress,
when she heard of its ruin, fell into such distress, anger, and rage
that for long she could not be pacified. Passing near there some time
later she wished to see the ruins, and gazing at them very piteously
with tears in her eyes, she swore that all France should repent of the
deed, for never should she be at her ease until that fine Fontainebleau,
of which they thought so much, was razed to the ground with not one
stone left upon another. In fact, she vomited her rage upon poor
Picardy, which felt it in flames. And we may believe that if peace had
not intervened, her vengeance would have been greater still; for she had
a stern, hard heart, not easily appeased, and was thought to be, on her
side as much as on ours, too cruel. But such is the nature of women,
even the greatest, who are very quick to vengeance when offended. The
emperor, it was said, loved her the better for it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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