Marguerite's first teacher in religious matters was Guillame Briçonnet 1477-1533), Bishop of Meaux. Briçonnet's primary notion was that the world is a text revealing only one message: the reign of charity.

So Marguerite became the embodiment of charity. She would walk unescorted in the streets of Pau, allowing any one to approach her and would listen at first hand to the sorrows of her people. "No one ought to go away sad or disappointed from the presence of a prince", she would say. For "kings are the ministers of the poor ... and the poor are the members of God". She called herself "The Prime Minister of the Poor".

Henri, her husband, King of Navarre, believed in what she was doing, even to the extent of setting up a public works system that became a model for France. Together he and Marguerite financed the education of needy students, among whom was Amyo, who later translated Plutarch into French.

The writer, Pierre Brantôme, said of her: "She was a great princess. But in addition to all that, she was very kind, gentle, gracious, charitable, a great dispenser of alms and friendly to all."

And of her Erasmus wrote: "For a long time I have cherished all the many excellent gifts that God bestowed upon you; prudence worth of a philosopher; chastity; moderation; piety; an invincible strength of soul, and a marvelous contempt for all the vanities of this world. Who could keep from admiring, in a great King's sister, such qualities as these, so rare even among the priests and monks?"

DO YOU WISH TO SEE THE FRONTPAGE OF THIS FILE?