The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of AustriaTremayne, Eleanor E.
History
The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria
Tremayne, Eleanor E.
Margaret, of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, 1480-1530; Netherlands -- History -- Charles V, 1506-1555
If we are to believe Pasquier, Margaret had a foreboding of her
misfortune before these events took place. One day whilst walking in
the garden at Amboise, her ladies and gentlemen noticed that she
seemed very melancholy, and one of them asked her the reason. She
replied that she had had a strange dream, which she could not forget,
for she believed it boded ill. In her dream she thought she was in a
large park, and saw a marguerite (daisy) which she was told to watch;
whilst she gazed at the flower, a donkey came and tried to eat it; she
kept him off as long as she could, but at last he seized and devoured
it. This troubled her so much that she woke with a start, and the
dream still weighed upon her mind.
No one then anticipated what ultimately happened, but afterwards this
quaint dream was looked upon as a forecast of Margaret's broken
marriage. Curiously enough her dismissal had been provided for by
Louis XI. at the time of the Treaty of Arras, as the following clause
in the treaty will show. 'If it should happen (which God forbid) that
my said Lady Margaret being of age, my said Lord the Dauphin should
not proceed to the perfect consummation of the said marriage, or that
the said marriage should be broken by the king, Monseigneur the
Dauphin, or others on their part, during the minority of the young
lady or after; in which case, my said lady shall be sent at the
king's expense or at that of my said Lord the Dauphin, back to my said
Lord the Duke her father, or the Duke Philip her brother, frankly and
fully discharged of all bonds of marriage and all other obligations,
to one of the good towns in the territories of Brabant, Flanders, or
Hainault, to a safe place acknowledging obedience to the said Dukes.'
But Margaret remained in France for two years after Charles's marriage
with Anne of Brittany, which took place on December 6th, 1491.
Neglected by her father, and kept as a sort of hostage until the Peace
of Senlis was signed, she passed her time in seclusion. 'When the king
had restored peace to Brittany, he returned to France, and gave orders
that Madam Margaret of Flanders should retire to the castle of Melun
on the river Seine, and take with her the Princess of Tarente'; here
she remained for more than a year. An interesting letter written by
Margaret to Anne de Beaujeu from Melun has fortunately been preserved.
In it she requests that her cousin might not be taken away from her,
although the king has ordered her to leave, and mentioning that Madame
de Molitart has told her that she is to be better treated than
formerly:--[4]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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