DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0057
WOMEN OF THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 31
moment. The union of her daughter Claude with Charles
V became the fixed idea of her existence. She preferred
any prince to Francis, whose mother she cordially detes-
ted. This affair was the only subject on which she
sparred with her husband. He shilly-shallied between his
love for his wife, and his own wish for Francis—his Heir-
Apparent—whom Claude eventually married after the death
of her mother.
Short of matrimony, Anne acknowledged no tender rela-
tions, even in play. Her Court was very strict—over-severe,
thought some—-and amongst them Anne Boleyn, whose French
mother had secured her a place there. Petulant at the
Queen’s restrictions, she left her in a fit of temper and took
refuge with the King’s sister, Margaret of Angouleme. 1 Less
spoiled ladies were obliged to subject themselves to the
Queen’s code of etiquette. It was customary for those of
high rank to have, each of them, a private duenna, a
“ Maitresse,” also of high birth; but the ordinary maids-of-
honour were under the direction of a Gouvernante who appears
never to have left them. Under Anne de Bretagne’s rule,
no man, except their Confessor, was ever allowed to approach
them unless it was in her royal presence. Otherwise they
saw no one but old ladies and each other, and had few
resources beside pious books and tambour-frames. Caution
cut its own throat. Confessors made love and had to be
expelled. One of them lost his head and preached on the
1 Anne Boleyn remained in this position for some time after
the Field of the Cloth of Gold, when Henry VIII first saw her
amidst Margaret’s ladies, and perhaps, even then, marked her for
his own.
moment. The union of her daughter Claude with Charles
V became the fixed idea of her existence. She preferred
any prince to Francis, whose mother she cordially detes-
ted. This affair was the only subject on which she
sparred with her husband. He shilly-shallied between his
love for his wife, and his own wish for Francis—his Heir-
Apparent—whom Claude eventually married after the death
of her mother.
Short of matrimony, Anne acknowledged no tender rela-
tions, even in play. Her Court was very strict—over-severe,
thought some—-and amongst them Anne Boleyn, whose French
mother had secured her a place there. Petulant at the
Queen’s restrictions, she left her in a fit of temper and took
refuge with the King’s sister, Margaret of Angouleme. 1 Less
spoiled ladies were obliged to subject themselves to the
Queen’s code of etiquette. It was customary for those of
high rank to have, each of them, a private duenna, a
“ Maitresse,” also of high birth; but the ordinary maids-of-
honour were under the direction of a Gouvernante who appears
never to have left them. Under Anne de Bretagne’s rule,
no man, except their Confessor, was ever allowed to approach
them unless it was in her royal presence. Otherwise they
saw no one but old ladies and each other, and had few
resources beside pious books and tambour-frames. Caution
cut its own throat. Confessors made love and had to be
expelled. One of them lost his head and preached on the
1 Anne Boleyn remained in this position for some time after
the Field of the Cloth of Gold, when Henry VIII first saw her
amidst Margaret’s ladies, and perhaps, even then, marked her for
his own.