2 Génin’s Notice in the _Lettres de Marguerite, &c._, p.
25.
Margaret, pressed by her brother, at last asked for authorisation to
leave Spain. By the manner in which the permission was granted she
perceived that the Emperor wished to delay rather than hasten her
journey. During November she wrote Francis a letter in which this
conviction was plainly expressed, and about the 19th of the month she
left Madrid upon her journey overland to France.
At first she travelled very leisurely, but eventually she received
a message from her brother, advising her to hasten her speed, as the
Emperor, hoping that she would still be in Spain in January, when her
safe-conduct would expire, had given orders for her arrest. Accordingly,
on reaching Medina-Celi she quitted her litter and mounted on horseback,
accomplishing the remainder of her journey in the saddle. Nine or ten
days before the safe-conduct expired she passed Perpignan and reached
Salces, where some French nobles were awaiting her.
Soon after her return to France she again took charge of the royal
children, who once more fell ill, this time with the measles, as
Margaret related in the following characteristic letter addressed to her
brother, still a prisoner in Spain:--
“My Lord,--The fear that I have gone through about your children,
without saying anything of it to Madame (Louise of Savoy), who was also
very ill, obliges me to tell you in detail the pleasure I feel at their
recovery. M. d’Angoulême caught the measles, with a long and severe
fever; afterwards the Duke of Orleans took them with a little fever; and
then Madame Madeleine without fever or pain; and by way of company the
Dauphin without suffering or fever. And now they all are quite cured and
very well; and the Dauphin does marvels in the way of studying, mingling
with his schooling a hundred thousand other occupations. And there is no
more question of passions, but rather of all the virtues; M. d’Orléans
is nailed to his book, and says that he wants to be good; but M.
d’Angoulême does more than the others, and says things that are to be
esteemed rather as prophecies than childish utterances, which you, my
lord, would be amazed to hear. Little Margot resembles myself; she will
not be ill; but I am assured here that she has very graceful ways, and
is getting prettier than ever Mademoiselle d’Angoulême (1) was.”
1 Génin’s _Lettres de Marguerite, &c_, p. 70. The
Mademoiselle d’Angoulême alluded to at the end of the letter
is Margaret herself.
Francis having consented to the onerous conditions imposed by Charles
V., was at last liberated. On March 17th, 1526, he was exchanged for his
two elder sons, who were to serve as hostages for his good faith, and
set foot upon the territory of Bearn. He owed Margaret a deep debt of
gratitude for her efforts to hasten his release, and one of his first
cares upon leaving Spain was to wed her again in a fitting manner. He
appears to have opened matrimonial negotiations with Henry VIII. of
England, (1) but, fortunately for Margaret, without result. She, it
seems, had already made her choice. There was then at the French Court
a young King, without a kingdom, it is true, but endowed with numerous
personal qualities. This was Henry d’Albret, Count of Bearn, and
legitimate sovereign of Navarre, then held by Charles V. in defiance of
treaty rights. Henry had been taken prisoner with Francis at Pavia and
confined in the fortress there, from which, however, he had managed to
escape in the following manner.
Having procured a rope ladder in view of descending from the castle, he
ordered Francis de Rochefort, his page, to get into his bed and feign
sleep. Then he descended by the rope, the Baron of Arros and a valet
following him. In the morning, when the captain on duty came to see
Henry, as was his usual custom, he was asked by a page to let the King
sleep on, as he had been very ill during the night. Thus the trick was
only discovered when the greater part of the day had gone by, and the
fugitives were already beyond pursuit. (2)