17 - Margaret of Angouleme, Queen of Navarre by Agnes Mary Frances Robinson

Explore the extraordinary life of Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Marguerite de Navarre), who lived from 1492 to 1549. As the sister of Francis I, King of France, Margaret was a woman of remarkable intellect, once pursued by the future Henry VIII of England. Yet, at just seventeen, she found herself wed to the unrefined Charles IV of Alençon by royal decree. After his untimely death, she married Henry II of Navarre, with whom she had a daughter—who would become the mother of the future Henry IV of France—and a son who tragically passed away in infancy. Journey with Margaret as she bravely traverses the Pyrenees to rescue her brother, Francis, from captivity at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor. Her advocacy for emerging Reformation ideas in France alarmed the Catholic conservatives of the Sorbonne. Today, her captivating collection of short stories, the Heptameron, continues to resonate with readers. (Pamela Nagami)