A lady with humanist leanings, who was forced into marriage she never
wanted. War was looming between Catholics and the Huguenots. Yet plans
were set to kidnap her, along with conspiracies to murder. We now look
at the torturous life of Jeanne d'Albret. Please don't forget to subscribe
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At 5pm on the afternoon of the 16th of November 1528, Jeanne was born at
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in France. Her father was Henry the second, King of
Navarre and her mother, Marguerite of Angoulême. Yet her mother had quite a
unique family background. She was the daughter of Louise of Savoy, and
Charles, Count of Angoulême, and also the sister to Francis the first of
France. The king would officially announced Jeanne's birthday on the
seventh of January. When Jeanne reached the age of two, her uncle Francis
started to deliver her education. It would take place at the Chateau de
Plessis-lèz-Tours in the Loire Valley, where she would remain apart from
her parents. Her tutor was Nicholas Bourbon, a humanist who served her
well giving Jeanne fine start. Jeanne was described as a frivolous and high
spirited Princess, which came through at an early age when she would at
times be both stubborn and unyielding. Yet, it wouldn't be long before
Jeanne had grown and was now at the centre of certain people's minds with
the hope of getting her married. Charles the fifth Holy Roman Emperor
was one such person who offered his son and heir, Philip, but Francis
had other ideas. On the 13th of June 1541. She was forced into a
marriage with William "the Rich", Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, when she was
only 12 years old. Jeanne struggled with this arrangement to the point
where she was whipped into obedience, a brutal way to treat such a young
girl. Yet her protestations continued even as she was carried to the
altar by the constable of France, Anne de Montmorency. Before the wedding
day, Jeanne put pen to paper for documents which she also had officers of
her household sign, were damning of the union between herself and the
Duke. It would say,
The marriage went ahead and lasted four years before it was terminated on
the grounds of the Duke signing and alliance with Charles the fifth that
would end the alliance with France. For Jeanne, this must have been the
happiest day of her short life so far! The marriage had never been
consummated, and the fact she had been forced into it originally, gave
enough grounds for an annulment. King Francis the first died in 1547, and
next up was Henry II. It wouldn't be long before Jeanne was
once again down the aisle. On the 20th of October 1548, Jeanne married
Antoine de Bourbon, also known as the "first prince of the blood". The
marriage was quite possibly a political move to strengthen the areas in
northern and southern France. This time around, it seems Jeanne approved of
this new man in her life. Romance and love were the keywords around the
court. However, as with all happy beginnings, something usually comes
along to cause a stressful time. Antoine was notorious as an adulterer.
He had already fathered one illegitimate child called Charles to a woman
by the name of Louise de La Béraudière. She was otherwise known as the
"La belle Rouet." A very glamorous lady and one many men would be attracted
to at court. Yet apart from his excursions away, as a couple, Jeanne and
Antoine would go on to have five children, sadly, of which only two went
on to become adults.
The next big occasion for Jeanne would fall on 25th of
May 1555. The day Henry the second died. This would now make her Queen
of Navarre, and she became a joint ruler with her husband. The couple
were crowned on the 18th of August at Pau, under Roman Catholic rites.
And as with all good royal coronations, there would be the obligatory
souvenirs, including a commemorative coin. Most of the rule would be
conducted by Jeanne as her husband would spend large amounts of time away.
Yet she was a forceful female and committed enough time to carry out the
tasks required to keep on top of her household. Jeanne was highly
influenced by her mother. And as I said earlier, her tutor was also a
humanist and the religious reforms circling at that time would
undoubtedly influenced her decision making now. Calvinism was the way
forward in her eyes. This was a major branch of Protestantism that
followed a theological tradition. It was a practice set by John Calvin,
along with other reformation era theologians. The power of this new
religion was so righteous in her mind, she decided to declare Calvinism
as the official religion of her kingdom. Although she was now among the
top 10 ranking Protestants in her country. It would also make her one of
the top 10 most hated women by the counterforce to reformation, the
Catholic Church. Following the new ruling, she quickly set out to put in
place her new ideas, priests and nuns were told to leave, Catholic
churches were destroyed and Catholicism was banned across the country.
And Jeanne had translations of the Bible commissioned, which were written
in Basque, specifically for her subjects. Jeanne was a powerful woman with
a face that quite possibly wouldn't melt butter! Her eyes were said to be
cold and her lips thin, and her sarcasm and fierce reputation made sure
that when in her company, you would go out of your way with P's and Q's.
By 1561, Catherine de' Medici appointed Antoine as Lieutenant-General of
France. At the time, Catherine was working as Regent of her son Charles
the ninth. Whether Jeanne and Catherine actually got on with each other is
another source of contention, with that being said, Jeanne would refer to
her as the "Florentine grocer's daughter".
Apart from the not so well chosen words, against her not so well chosen
friends, war was now looming. It was now a power struggle between the
Catholics and the Huguenots for control over the French court, which led
to what became known as the French wars, which began in 1562. At the
time, both Jeanne and Antoine were at court. Antoine, in his wisdom,
decided alone to support the Catholics. This could have severe
consequences on the couple as Jeanne had been told to abandon her
loyalties to Protestant ideals. Yet Jeanne being Jeanne, ignored it. Catherine
de Medici tried to bring some harmony to the apparent bickering and
conduct a peaceful settlement for all, and even attempting to plead with
Jeanne to go with her husband on this occasion. Once again, Jeanne
refused, quite possibly in a way that terrified any future requests from
anyone on the subject. Jeanne continued to support the Calvinist religion.
But support was now growing for the Catholics. When other nobles started
to turn their backs on her, she would eventually have to leave. Although
putting on a brave face in public, in private, she feared her husband and
Catherine's anger. She would depart in March 1562 and make her
way south to seek refuge. On the journey, she had stopped off at her
husbands ancestral home, a chateau in Vendôme, Yet, while here she
suffered a pretty terrible ordeal, a Huguenot force of 400 men invaded
the town. When news reached her husband, he ordered Jeanne to be arrested
and brought back to Paris, where she would be then confined to a
Catholic convent. Luckily for Jeanne, she managed to escape the town and
elude the warrant for her arrest. By the end of the year, Antoine had
been fatally wounded at Rouen and died. Jeanne was distraught at the news
and tried to gain permission to cross enemy lines to be near her
husband, but she would never see him again. Instead, Antoine's mistress
would be the one by his bedside at his demise.
Now Jeanne was the solitary
leader and Queen of Navarre, her son Henry would also become heir to the
throne. Henry would travel with his mother on many tours throughout
their domain and would officiate over administrative affairs. While
Jeanne's attention was now mostly on protecting her borders; although she
remained relatively neutral at the start, the location of Navarre was
right alongside the Spanish Catholic border. Spain sent envoys to try
and coax her into giving up her religious fight and returned to
Catholicism. Once again, Jeanne was not in the mood for talking or indeed
giving everything up she believed and had put in place. However, Pope
Pius the fourth was not in the happiest of moods at hearing her latest
tirade of abuse. And so with some thought, planned to kidnap her, give
her to the Spanish Inquisition in Madrid, then remove Nevarre as a crown
state with help from the rulers of Spain and France. It was now that
Rome came calling for Jeanne; she was to be tried for heresy, add to
that confiscation of her property and declarations that her kingdom was
available to invade should anyone want it. The Pope wasn't pulling any
punches in this latest manoeuvre. But the disparaging remarks sent out
alarm bells. King Philip of Spain and Catherine de Medici, now both
enraged at the suggestion sent letters to the Pope. It seems they
worked, and no further action came and the threats declined.
Once again, war broke out in 1568, and for Jeanne, she was now well advised with all
the trappings of such things, but would once again support the Huguenots
cause. But both Jeanne and Henry, her son were feeling more threatened than
usual as Spanish and French troops were closing in.
Again, it was time to leave, they would set off for La Rochelle and seek refuge at a
Protestant stronghold. While here, Jeanne would literally become a
minister for propaganda, writing letters and creating manifestos to
foreign leaders, hoping they would come and help the cause. But times
were changing. Jeanne had assumed control of the area and was stringent in
her dealings. She now controlled fortifications, finance, and
intelligence, along with making sure the civilians remained in line and
to the cause. She would also use her own jewellery as security against a
loan of 20,000 livres by Elizabeth the first of England. Then at other
times, you would see Jeanne on the field of battle with Admiral de Coligny,
where together they would inspect the forces and rally troops.
Peace at last was on the horizon, and as expected at the front of
negotiations was Jeanne. She was the principal speaker at the talks in
bringing a settlement to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which ended this "third war"
in August 1570 due to the Catholic army running out of money. Later
that year, a marriage of what can only be called as convenience was
arranged for Jeanne's son Henry to King Charles the sixth's sister Marguerite.
The reason was to give Huguenots public office in France and authority
that had been previously denied. Although Jeanne, as we know, didn't
particularly enjoy the company of Catherine de Medici, she did accept an
offer of talks from her to negotiate the marriage settlements. And on
the 14 February 1572, the two women met at Chenonceaux. For Jeanne, she
found the atmosphere to be toxic. She stated that there was corruption
in the air, and the women were seen to be very promiscuous. This was
something that jeanne found hard to accept with her puritanical nature.
jeanne would write to Henry and said,
She also spoke of the Queen's mother and complained, saying,
However, an agreement was reached, and the marriage contract was signed
on the 11th of April. After this, Jeanne set up home in Paris and was
apparently heading off to the top shops of the day in preparation for
the upcoming wedding. But Anna d'Este described Jeanne at the time in a
letter she wrote to a friend saying the "The Queen of Navarre is here, not in
very good health, but very courageous. She is wearing more pearls than ever."
By the fourth of June 1572, Jeanne had returned home after another
shopping trip, but she was feeling ill on this occasion. The following
morning, she had woke with a fever and complained of pains on the upper
right side of her body. Just five days later, Jeanne was dead.
Rumours were rife, and conspiracy theories about her death circulated,
with one saying Jeanne had been poisoned by Catherine de Medici, who had
allegedly sent her a pair of perfumed gloves. It was René Bianchi, a
fellow Florentine, who apparently had skillfully created these. However,
an autopsy carried out showed that jeanne had in fact died of natural causes.
Jeanne's funeral guided through the streets of Vendôme, where
she would be buried alongside her husband at Ducal Church of collégiale Saint-
George. Unfortunately, the tombs were destroyed when the church was
sacked during the 1793 French Revolution. As for Jeanne's son, Henry, he went
on to become King Henry the third of Navarre and in 1589, ascended to
the throne of France as Henry the fourth.
Thank you so much for
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