When Marguerite was two years old, her mother, Louise of Savoy (Countess of Angoulême), gave birth to a boy. And Louise wrote in her Diary: "François, by the grace of God, King of France, and my pacific Caesar, had his first experience of worldy light at Cognac, about seven hours after noon, 1494, the twelfth day of September."

For Louise had long dreamed of bearing a son who would become King of France. There were two obstacles, the Dauphin and his younger brother, sons of King Louis XII. After them, the accession extended to the Duke of Orleans, who was childless, and the Count of Angoulême, Louise's husband.

Soon after François' birth, the Dauphin's younger brother died, removing one obstacle. And, in 1495, the heir-apparent Dauphin died. Marguerite's father, the Count of Angoulême, was -- as before the Dauphin's birth -- once again second prince of the realm.

However, in 1496, Louise's husband died of pleurisy. Widowed at 20, she was left alone to pursue her ambitions for her son, now second prince of the realm.

Louis XII began to act as kingly father for young François and his sister. Marguerite shared the schooling of her brother, with signs of outstripping him. She and her beloved brother played at holding court as Queen and King.

But at seventeen, acceeding to the ambitions of the King, Marguerite married the Duke of Alençon, a "dolt" and "bigot".

In his teens, François began an amorous career he continued until his death. This was the inspiration of one of Victor Hugo's most famous plays, "Roi s'amuse" ("The King Amuses Himself"). In 1514, Queen Anne died. In 1515, François was married to plain, lame Claude, daughter of Queen Anne by a previous marriage. That same year, Louis XII died, and François became King of France. His mother, Louise, wrote in her diary: "For this event, I am deeply indebted to Divine mercy, since by it I have been compensated for all the adversities and reverses that happened to me in my early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility was then my constant companion, and patience never forsook me."

Soon after ascending the throne, François became involved in the French dream of reconquering the Duchy of Milan and asserting ancestral claims dating back to Charles VIII. The campaign against the Swiss resulted in victory at the Battle of Marignano, considered by historians to be the last stand of the old chivalry prior to the era of the canon.

Growing up under the strong influence of women -- his mother, Louise of Savoy, and his beloved sister, Marguerite -- François founded the cour de dames: tourneys, balls, masquerades (some of which Marguerite wrote), glamorized by beautiful ladies and their gorgeous costumes. (And if a lady couldn't afford one, His Majesty supplied her one.) The contemporary writer, Brantôme, said that "the court" was not where the King was, but where the Queen and her ladies resided. The brother and sister who, in childhood, had played at "court" now celebrated a real one, in which Marguerite (not Claude) was effectively the Queen.

Marguerite's husband, the Duke of Alençon, became jealous of Marguerite's affection for her brother and found excuses for taking her away to his estates. But Marguerite kept up an almost daily correspondence with her dear brother, and carried his letters to her on her person for frequent perusal, frequenly kissing them as one would a crucifix.

Under François, the French court created a model for courts to follow. The number of courtiers was greatly increased and the word "courtisan" acquired its modern meaning. Guided by Marguerite, François brought to his court the learneds of Europe, among them Guillame Petit, who became his confessor, and Guillame Budé, a Gallic Erasmus, veritably the father of the French Renaissance. But these men, partly due to their predilection for the study of the Greek, inflamed the enmity of the theologians of the Sorbonne.

The true queen of this court was not poor limping Claude, but the sparkling Marguerite. Their philial love for each other caused some comment and a posthumous rumor of scandal. François openly called her "sa mignonne", his "pet", his "darling". Marguerite often ended her notes to him with "Votre humble, très obéissante sujette et mignonne" ("your humble, very obedient subject and your darling"). In her poetry, Marguerite not only extolled her brother's beauty but exaggerated his learning. "A degree of learning that has no equal, for there is nothing that he does not know." And she praised him for "good judgment and good conscience ... In short, he only is deserving to be king."

Marguerite often said, to courtiers, that she would be willing to accompany her brother as his laundress. When children were born to Claude and François, Marguerite became a doting aunt.

In 1525, François had to raise an army to defend his claims in the Duchy of Milan. This resulted in the disastrous Battle of Pavia in which François was taken prisoner by Emperor Charles V and held prisoner for some time. The story of Marguerite's negotiations for her beloved brother's freedom is told elsewhere, at this Website.

Marguerite's husband, the Duke of Alençon, disgraced himself at the Battle of Pavia and fell ill and died upon returning home. In 1527, Marguerite married the King of Navarre and became Queen. She was happy but also sad that it took her away from her brother.

In 1533, François married Catherine de Medici, who gradually came more and more between brother and sister. Further alienation followed as Marguerite's defense of Church Reformers aroused the Sorbonne, forcing François' involvement in controversial actions on behalf of his sister.

In his latter years, the King became more and more dissolute and diseased and died in 1545. Marguerite survived him but two short years.

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