The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-04-14

S&CaS ia AZ 1OulL dHu C6kui
of their time. IL the salon and council
hall-one not only from the acciden
of birth and rank, but by force OF
character and exceptional literary &C
complishments; the other by her per
sonal charms, ner impressive will, aa,
her ~wickedness. The first, Margare;
OF Angonleme, was the daughter OF
Charles of Orleans and Louise OF Sa
yoy; she was also sister of Francis 1
King of France. Francis the Magnif.-
cent" the s~ensualist and debauchee
who was the Duke of Angonleme be
fore he assembled the throne, and whom
his predecessor, Louis XII, was won,
to call contemptuously big boy" Mar
garet married first the Duke of A.en.
o Of the blood royal, when only IL
years old; and IS years afterward.
Alencon having died, she was welded
to Henri d'Albert, count of Bearn, and
titular king of Navarro. She warmly
sympathiZed with the reformers in re
ligion, and protected the followers OF
Calvin in her husbands dominions OF
Bearn and Navarro. Indeed. so much
was she distrusted and hated by the
Catholics that the Pope sent a mes
sage TO Francis that if he would extir-
pate the heritics, he must begin with
| his sister Margaret.
Margaret of Angonleme was a vol
luminous writer, having composed sew
eral dramas, many poems, rondea'IX,
etc. Her most ~pretentious and merI-
torious work was the "HeptameroA,'
modelled after Bocaccio's became
ron.
Tho coconI AToroorat IF yIa1oic U..c
the daughter of Henry II, of France.
who was accidentally killed during a
tournament by n of the noblemen of
his court. She was a sister of three
of the worst and feeblest monarchs
that ever sat on the throne Of any
country: Francis II, the boy-husbanL
Of the lovely Mary, Queen of Scots;
Charles TX. who from a window OF the
Louvre, fired on the H%uguenots in the
streets of Paris during the Massacre
or st. Bartholomew; Henry III, who
when his brother Charles died, was
king of Poland. from which he literal
ly ran away, to secure the crown OF
France, and his courtiers ran after
him, not wishing to give him up; but
he was better mounted than his pur-
suers. When it was seen what a shah
by king he made in France, a Polish
nobleman sent him word that the Poles
we're very glad that he had sucn a
swift horse when he started from their
country.
Margaret from her girlhOOd was fam
ed for her beauty, dreaded for her
violent temper and indOmitable will,
and notorious for her prof1igacy. In
mere caprice she wished to marry the
king of Portugal, but for reasons OF
state was united to Henry of Navarro,
afterwards the celebrated Henry ",
founder of the Bourbon line. Even at
the hymeneal altar she displayed her,
wilfulness, refusing to signify her as
sent at the right place in the ceremO-
NAL. The august prelate looked agnast
and the attendants were uneasy and
embarrassed, until her brother Charles
" stepped forward, placed n hand
under her chin, another on top OF her
pretty, naughty head, and compelled
from it an affirmative nod. The Off
ciating priest bowed his acknowledge
ment of this royal way of getting overl
a di aiculty and the marriage was conf
sum1nated.
Margaret lived with Henry inl
Bearn from 1876 to 1881, but there was
never any love between them, and she
returned to Paris on the invitation OF
her mother, the famous Catherine del
Medici. There her life was so scandal
Gus and licentiouS Is to arouse the an
ger of her dissolute brother, Henry ILL.,
who had just come into his kingdom|
and he sent her back to her husband
who received her with bitter re-
proaches. She fled from the lattar toI
the city of Agen, whence she Wa3edI
war on him as a hereto, putting her.
self at the head of a large body OIL
Catholics. She was defeated, ta:zen|
prisoner, and confined in the fortress
of Usson for many years. When her|
husband became king OF France asI
Henry " in 1889, he refused to Eel
lease her from prison, or permit her toI
assume her rank as queen consOrt. Hell
secured a divorce from her in 1899, butt
she did not regain her liberty until
1904, and passed the remainder of herI
days in Paris and it's vicinity, leading
a vicious life long after her youth and
much of her beauty had left her. I'M
old age she was seized with a rem Orse1
full fear of death; and, like Madame del
MainJenon, morganatic wife of LouisI
XIV, turned deyotee and bigot. She|
possessed an enormous fortune, a greaJ
part of which she expended in found
ing in Paris the convent Petits Angus
tins. The last year or two of her Gfti
was devoted to writing her memoirs
which are still eXtant. and which s.reI
valuable chiefly as a curious hissoly VI
of the inner and court life of the LAST
five kings of the ValOis line: Francis
l, Henry II, Francis II, Charles XXI
Henry III.
Maria de Medici, daughter OF the|
Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Arch
duchess Joanna Of Austria, became theI
second wife of Henry ", of France inI
1900, one year after his divorce from|
Margaret of Valois. When her husband
was assassinated by Ravillae on the|
14th of May, 1910, she became regent
of the kingdom in the minority OF hc1I
son, the future Louis XIII. But sha|
was a weak, meddlesome, ~bad-heartedj
H~