DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0415
LAST DAYS OF MARGARET OF NAVARRE 367
Margaret had the funeral that all Queens have. Her wax
effigy was laid in the Church at Lescar and watched by
three lords, holding the three Royal trophies: the crown, the
sceptre, and the “Main de Justice,” which was carried with
her up to her tomb. All the great nobles of France were
present at her funeral—all except Montmorency, who kept
a grudge against hei’ even at her death, and made himself
conspicuous by his absence.
“ The Sister and wife of Kings ; the Queen of the Muses;
the tenth of their band and their dearest care; the fourth
Charity; the Queen of knowledge—lies beneath this marble.”
Such was the epitaph which a poetess wrote for her. Showers
of funeral tropes followed in due season. Nor were they
from France alone. In 1550, there appeared in Paris a
volume of a hundred Latin distiches in her honour, composed
by the three Seymour sisters, worth y • nieces of Lady Jane
Grey and pupils of a French tutor, Nicholas Denisot. He
himself, with a crowd of others, Bai’f, Dorat and the like,
translated these rhapsodies into Greek, French and Italian,
and they added poems of their own. Ronsard and du
Bellay, who can hardly have known her, followed suit with
polished praise.
Ici la Heine sommeille,
Des Reines la nonpareille,
Qui si doucement chanta;
C’est la Reine Marguerite,
La plus belle fleur d’elite
Qu’oncques 1’ Auro re enfanta.
So wrote Ronsard, most exquisite of laureates. All the
harvest of panegyrics was ultimately gathered into a book,
Margaret had the funeral that all Queens have. Her wax
effigy was laid in the Church at Lescar and watched by
three lords, holding the three Royal trophies: the crown, the
sceptre, and the “Main de Justice,” which was carried with
her up to her tomb. All the great nobles of France were
present at her funeral—all except Montmorency, who kept
a grudge against hei’ even at her death, and made himself
conspicuous by his absence.
“ The Sister and wife of Kings ; the Queen of the Muses;
the tenth of their band and their dearest care; the fourth
Charity; the Queen of knowledge—lies beneath this marble.”
Such was the epitaph which a poetess wrote for her. Showers
of funeral tropes followed in due season. Nor were they
from France alone. In 1550, there appeared in Paris a
volume of a hundred Latin distiches in her honour, composed
by the three Seymour sisters, worth y • nieces of Lady Jane
Grey and pupils of a French tutor, Nicholas Denisot. He
himself, with a crowd of others, Bai’f, Dorat and the like,
translated these rhapsodies into Greek, French and Italian,
and they added poems of their own. Ronsard and du
Bellay, who can hardly have known her, followed suit with
polished praise.
Ici la Heine sommeille,
Des Reines la nonpareille,
Qui si doucement chanta;
C’est la Reine Marguerite,
La plus belle fleur d’elite
Qu’oncques 1’ Auro re enfanta.
So wrote Ronsard, most exquisite of laureates. All the
harvest of panegyrics was ultimately gathered into a book,