advice over all this . . .’ Yet a few months later: ‘My Lord, I am readying myself . . . in order to march before our army. The army makes a very good sight, together with the artillery . . .’ Her father told her that she had fought ‘with the courage of a man and not that of a woman’.
The year 1512 was particularly wearing. Guelders gained the backing of the French and Margaret had no money to fight either her own or her father’s various campaigns. But in 1513 the new anti-French coalition was confirmed and Margaret was as central to the process as its very name, the Treaty of Mechelen, suggests. Margaret (in contrast to her former sister-in-law Juana) was at the heart of European diplomacy.
* There she was to bring up not only her nephew Charles but also three of his sisters. Charles’s younger brother Ferdinand, however, was raised in Spain by the grandfather for whom he was named, while a younger sister Catalina, born after Juana had returned to Spain, shared her mother’s captivity.
* He paid those who allowed him to take out their teeth, rather than the reverse; a practice that might endear him to many today.
7
âFalse imputationsâ
France, the Netherlands, 1513
âA womanâ, Castiglione wrote, âhas not so many ways of defending herself against false imputations as has a man.â Margaret of Austria was one of several women about to prove the truth of that dictat. The first six years of Margaretâs regency had left her looking like a woman with her hands very firmly on the reins. Anne de Beaujeuâs perfect pupil, you might say; the sort of woman Anne meant when she wrote that noblewomen were, âand should be, a pattern and an example for others in all thingsâ.
But a great deal of Anne de Beaujeuâs advice centred on one particular theme:
Suffer no man to touch your body, no matter who he is . . . not one in a thousand escapes without her honour being attacked or deceived, however âgoodâ or âtrueâ her love. Therefore, for the greatest certainty in such situations, I advise you to avoid all private meetings, no matter how pleasant they are . . .
Even the slightest slip could incur blame. Or, as Anne de Beaujeu had written in an uncomfortable prophecy:
There is no man of worth, however noble he may be, who does not use treachery, nor to whom it does not seem good sport to deceive or trick women of rank . . . there is no man so perfect who, in matters of love, is truthful or keeps his word.
The truth of that was about to be proved by Margaret of Austria herself, and perhaps also in France by the daughter of Anne de Beaujeuâs protégée, Margaretâs former playmate Louise of Savoy.
The early years of Louiseâs daughter Marguerite are inevitably known chiefly through accounts of her brother François, on whom centred all the hopes of the family âtrinityâ. 1 But Margueriteâs marriage had long been discussed. While still a child she had been offered as a bride for the future Henry VIII but the offer was declined, since it was felt that Englandâs heir merited a daughter of the King of France, not a mere cousin.
As Françoisâs probable accession, and his marriage to King Louis XIIâs daughter Claude were established, England came back with a counter-offer: the suggestion that Marguerite might indeed marry the younger Henry if Louise of Savoy would marry his father, the widowed Henry VII. But Louis of France feared this double alliance might admit too much English influence into his country. When the English then suggested that Marguerite herself might marry the ageing Henry VII, she is reputed to have given a spirited refusal: âWhen my brother becomes king I will marry a man who is young, rich and noble â without having to cross the Channel!â But in fact, in 1509, Marguerite was married off to the personally unimpressive Charles,
The year 1512 was particularly wearing. Guelders gained the backing of the French and Margaret had no money to fight either her own or her father’s various campaigns. But in 1513 the new anti-French coalition was confirmed and Margaret was as central to the process as its very name, the Treaty of Mechelen, suggests. Margaret (in contrast to her former sister-in-law Juana) was at the heart of European diplomacy.
* There she was to bring up not only her nephew Charles but also three of his sisters. Charles’s younger brother Ferdinand, however, was raised in Spain by the grandfather for whom he was named, while a younger sister Catalina, born after Juana had returned to Spain, shared her mother’s captivity.
* He paid those who allowed him to take out their teeth, rather than the reverse; a practice that might endear him to many today.
7
âFalse imputationsâ
France, the Netherlands, 1513
âA womanâ, Castiglione wrote, âhas not so many ways of defending herself against false imputations as has a man.â Margaret of Austria was one of several women about to prove the truth of that dictat. The first six years of Margaretâs regency had left her looking like a woman with her hands very firmly on the reins. Anne de Beaujeuâs perfect pupil, you might say; the sort of woman Anne meant when she wrote that noblewomen were, âand should be, a pattern and an example for others in all thingsâ.
But a great deal of Anne de Beaujeuâs advice centred on one particular theme:
Suffer no man to touch your body, no matter who he is . . . not one in a thousand escapes without her honour being attacked or deceived, however âgoodâ or âtrueâ her love. Therefore, for the greatest certainty in such situations, I advise you to avoid all private meetings, no matter how pleasant they are . . .
Even the slightest slip could incur blame. Or, as Anne de Beaujeu had written in an uncomfortable prophecy:
There is no man of worth, however noble he may be, who does not use treachery, nor to whom it does not seem good sport to deceive or trick women of rank . . . there is no man so perfect who, in matters of love, is truthful or keeps his word.
The truth of that was about to be proved by Margaret of Austria herself, and perhaps also in France by the daughter of Anne de Beaujeuâs protégée, Margaretâs former playmate Louise of Savoy.
The early years of Louiseâs daughter Marguerite are inevitably known chiefly through accounts of her brother François, on whom centred all the hopes of the family âtrinityâ. 1 But Margueriteâs marriage had long been discussed. While still a child she had been offered as a bride for the future Henry VIII but the offer was declined, since it was felt that Englandâs heir merited a daughter of the King of France, not a mere cousin.
As Françoisâs probable accession, and his marriage to King Louis XIIâs daughter Claude were established, England came back with a counter-offer: the suggestion that Marguerite might indeed marry the younger Henry if Louise of Savoy would marry his father, the widowed Henry VII. But Louis of France feared this double alliance might admit too much English influence into his country. When the English then suggested that Marguerite herself might marry the ageing Henry VII, she is reputed to have given a spirited refusal: âWhen my brother becomes king I will marry a man who is young, rich and noble â without having to cross the Channel!â But in fact, in 1509, Marguerite was married off to the personally unimpressive Charles,
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