_Margaret’s attachment to her daughter--Refusal of Jane to
marry the Duke of Clevés--Intervention of Margaret--The
wedding at Châtelherault and the fall of the Constable de
Montmorency--Margaret and her husband at Caulerets--The
“Heptameron”--Illness and death of Francis I.--Margaret’s
anxiety and grief--Her “Marguerites de la Marguerite”--Jane
d’Albret’s second marriage--Death of Margaret at Odos or
Audaux----Her funeral at Lescar--Destruction of her tomb_.
Whilst Margaret was living amongst divines and scholars at Pau and
Nérac, her mind, as her letters indicate, constantly turned to her
daughter Jane, whom Aimée de la Fayette, wife of the Bailiff of Caen,
was bringing up at Plessis-lès-Tours. Margaret was only able to see Jane
at rare intervals during some of her trips to France, and she was mainly
indebted to sympathising friends for news of the little Princess’s
condition and health. All her maternal tenderness was concentrated on
this daughter, and whenever the child was ailing she became distracted.
Sainte-Marthe records that in December 1537, while Margaret was
sojourning in Paris, her daughter, then scarcely nine years old, fell
seriously ill at the royal house of Plessis-lès-Tours; and as it
was rumoured amongst the Court, then at Paris, that the Princess was
threatened with death, her virtuous mother, Margaret, at about four
o’clock in the evening, ordered her litter to be brought, saying that
she would go and see her daughter, and that all her people should
prepare to start. There was nothing ready, the officials and servants
were absent, and scattered about the town of Paris and the neighbouring
villages. It was already dark, for this was during the shortest days
of the year, the weather too was adverse on account of the rain, and
neither her litter nor her baggage mules were at hand. Seeing this, the
courageous Queen borrowed the litter of Madame Margaret, her niece,(1)
got in it, and contenting herself with scant escort, started from Paris
and went as far as Bourg-la-Reine.