(1492 - 1549)
Growing up in Cognac, her education was extensive, and her home was always occupied with aspiring poets, artists, philosphers and ecclesiastics, instilling in her a life long passion for literature and the arts.
In 1509, Marguerite would be married for the first time to Charles, the Duke of Alencon, but when her brother became king in 1515, she joined him at court, and with her mother; became actively involved in the affairs of state.
When Francois was defeated at Pavia in 1525 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and taken prisoner to Madrid, it was Marguerite who negotiated his release. That same year her husband died and in 1527, she was married to Henri d'Albret, the King of Navarre, with whom she had one daughter, Jeanne. (later the mother of the future Henry IV).
As far as her contribution to Canadian history, I believe that this was brought about through her life-long association with Jean Angot, a ship-owner from Dieppe. Angot was born into a family of wealthy merchants, originally from Rouen, and it was his father who financed the voyages of Jean Parmentier to Newfoundland, Brazil and in China in the early sixteenth century.
At the time, competition was fierce and pirating more profitable than exploration. Cortes had already laid claim to the riches of the Aztecs, which made his vessels regular targets. In 1523, one of Jean's ships commanded by a Captain Fleury; seized three such prizes, loaded with gold sent by Cortes, enroute to the Emperor Charles V. This Captain Fleury may have been an ancestor of the Captain Fleury who was later employed by Antionette De Pons and her Jesuits, when they were trying to establish a Mission in Acadia; almost a century later.
In 1525, Jean Angot was hired by the 'Royal Trinity' of Marguerite, her mother Louise and brother King Francois I; to explore the "New World' in search of the infamous and non-existant Northwest Passage. Since the King was busy with other things, I believe that it was actually the women who engineered this expedition. They were no doubt still angry that Charles of Austria had beat out Francois for the title of Emperor, so though in this capacity he had papal authority over the region; they instructed Argot to lay claim to any land his people discovered along the way. Francois had Charles otherwise engaged, so the timing couldn't be better.
Ango chose Giovanni De Verazzano (Jean Varazan) to head the voyage, and though he was unsuccessful, he did give Acadia it's name. Another point to mention here; in one of those 'six degrees of separation' things; is that this territory would later be claimed by the nephews of another of Argot's employees; Jacques Cartier, and it was them who sold their interests to Sieur De Monts. Of course, again we have to remember that the land they claimed was not their's for the taking, since their uncle had not conquered, purchased or negotiated it's possession.
Marguerite would spend many hours with Jean Argot, discussing everything from politics to religion, and the politics of religion. Himself, a Reformer, he introduced her to the works of Luther, Calvin and Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples; and though she never renounced Catholicism, she was open minded and twice protected Louis de Berquin, a translator of both Erasmus and Luther, from being killed as a heretic. Her own writings were mystic and often evangelical in nature, showing that these writings did have a profound effect on her spiritual beliefs.
Later, Jean Argot would be involved in a scandal, when he paid Admiral De Montmorency, the sum of 3,000 ecus in exchange for the right to harass Portuguese sailing vessels. On February 8, 1541; Montmorency, a favourite of King Henry II and Diane De Poiters; was stripped of his titles, heavily fined and thrown in prison. Argot died soon after, penniless.
She would retire for months at a time to meditate and pray, and composed numerous works of devotional poetry, including Marguerites De la Marguerite des Princesses, and Her Miroir de l'âme Pecheresse. However, the first poem in the Marguerites provoked the censure of the Sorbonne theologians for its expression of ideas associated with the religious reform movement.
