The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
General
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
Love stories, French -- Translations into English; Tales -- France -- Translations into English
to Rome with Marshal Trivulzio to negotiate the Pope’s entry into this
league.
On war being declared, he set aside his judicial robes, and took an
active part in the campaign against Venice, fighting so bravely at
Agnadel that Louis XII. knighted him on the battlefield. His last
diplomatic mission was to the Court of Leo X. in 1515, in which year he
was, on account of his great learning, appointed to direct the education
of the King’s younger daughter, the celebrated Renée of Ferrara. But
it is doubtful whether he ever even entered upon these duties, since he
died soon after he had been entrusted with them. His family remained in
Dauphiné, where it died out, obscurely, during the seventeenth century.
Only one of his sons, Anthony, evinced any talent, becoming counsellor
of the Rouen Parliament (1519), and ambassador at Milan (1530). Lancelot
de Carles, Bishop of Riez, was not, as some biographers assert, a son
of Jeffroy Charles, nor was he, it would seem, in any way connected with
the Saluzza family.
Jeffroy Charles’s wife, Margaret du Mottet, had borne him eight children
before he surprised her in adultery. After the tragical ending of his
conjugal mishaps he adopted as his crest the figure of an angel holding
the forefinger of one hand to his mouth as if to enjoin secrecy. (1) In
the seventeenth century this “angel of silence” was to be seen, carved
in stone, and serving as a support of the Charles escutcheon, on the
house where the President had resided in the Rue des Clercs at Grenoble
(Guy Allard’s _Dictionnaire du Dauphiné, &c_, Grenoble 1695). Escutcheon
and support have nowadays disappeared, but on certain of Charles’s
seals, as well as in books that belonged to him, now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris, the emblem of the angel will still be found. The
earliest seal on which we find it is one affixed to a receipt dated from
Milan, July 31, 1506. Assuming that he adopted this crest in memory of
the events narrated by Queen Margaret, it is probable that the latter
occurred in the earlier part of 1506 or the latter part of the previous
year. (2)
1 The suggestion here presents itself that, apart from the
question of any crime, this emblem of secrecy was a very
fitting one for a diplomatist to assume.--Ed.
2 That is, twenty years after the _Cent Nouvelles
Nouvelles_, from which some commentators think the
_Heptameron_ story to have been borrowed, was first printed.
--Ed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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