Me faudra-t-il toujours ainsi languir?
Me faudra-t-il enfin ainsi morir?
Nul n'aura-t-il de mon mal coignoissance? Trop a dure; car c'est des mon enfance!
Je prie a Dieu qu'il me doint temperance, Mestier en ay: je le prens sur ma foi;
Car mon seul bien est souvent pres de moy, Mais pour les gens fault faire contenance! Pourquoy coucher seulette et a part moy, Qu'il me faudra user de pacience!
Las! c'est pour moi trop grande penitence; Certes ouy, et plus quant ne le voy!'
These verses, and many others, were written at Bourg, or at the castle of Pont d'Ain. This castle, built towards the end of the tenth century by the Sires de Coligny, Lords of Revermont, had passed through marriage to the Dauphins du Viennois in 1225, and in
1285 to the Duke of Burgundy. In 1289 this duke exchanged it, as well as the lordship of Revermont, with Ame IV., Count of Savoy, who was Seigneur of Bresse in right of his wife, Sybille de Bauge. The buildings having been much damaged in the wars, Ame's son, Aimon, rebuilt them. The last warlike episode in the history of the castle 49 occurred in 1325 when Edward, Count of Savoy, came
to take refuge in the fortress after his defeat near Varey. The pleasant situation of the castle at the extremity of the chain of Revermont, its proximity to France, and equable climate made it the favourite home of the Dukes of Savoy. Below in the valley, which extends to the Rhone, the waters of the river Ain join those of the Suran. To the south and east are the mountain ranges near Bas Bugey, with wooded slopes and prosperous villages, to the north and west the undulating plain of Bresse, crowned by forests. The
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Princesses of Savoy loved this spot. Amedeo VIII. lived here for a long time with his wife Yolande of France. Philibert and his sister Louise (the mother of Francis I.) were born here, and here their mother, Margaret of Bourbon, came to spend her last days. In this peaceful spot Margaret passed the first years of her mourning, attached to Bresse by memories of her love and sorrow.
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CHAPTER IV
THE BUILDING OF BROU
Besides her many poems Margaret has perpetuated the memory of the chief phases in her life by means of devices, a symbolical language much in vogue in the Middle Ages.
When she returned to Flanders, after her first marriage with Charles VIII. was annulled, the device she chose was a high mountain with a hurricane raging round the summit, and underneath, 'Perflant altissima venti.' This device ingeniously expressed the idea that those in a high position are more exposed than others to the winds of adversity. After the death of Prince John of Castile and her child, Margaret adopted another device, a tree laden with fruit, struck in half by lightning, with this inscription, 'Spoliat mors munera nostra.' This device is attributed to Strada.
Lastly, as the widow of Duke Philibert, she composed the famous motto which we find reproduced everywhere on the tombs, walls,
woodwork, and stained-glass windows of the church at Brou: FORTUNE.INFORTUNE.FORT.UNE.
And this was her last motto, which she kept to the end. This enigmatical inscription has been variously interpreted. Cornelius Agrippa, her panegyrist, and Gropheus, Chevalier d'Honneur to the princess, who composed a Latin poem in her praise in 1532, saw
51 no other meaning in this device than the resume of her life ... a plaything of fortune; and they explain the word 'infortune' by the third person of the present indicative of the verb 'infortuner,' Fortuna Infortunat Fortiter Unam--'La fortune infortune (tries, persecutes) fort une femme.' Guichenon adopts this version and says the princess composed her device 'to show that she had been much persecuted by fortune, having been repudiated by Charles VIII., and having lost both her husbands, the Prince of Castile, and the Duke of Savoy. This,' he adds, 'is the true meaning of this device, although another interpretation has been given to it: Fortune
Infortune Fortune. Fortune to have been affianced to the King of France, misfortune to have been repudiated by him, and fortune
to have married the Duke of Savoy; but this explanation does not agree with the device.' In fact, it is not admissible, for it supposes the device to be composed of three words only, whilst on the marble it is clearly composed of four:
FORTUNE.INFORTUNE.FORT.UNE.
The small church of the monastery of Brou, founded in the beginning of the tenth century by Saint Gerard, had a great reputation for holiness. It was here the bodies of Philibert and his mother were laid. Margaret's thoughts were constantly occupied with the monument she wished to erect to her husband's memory, the magnificence of which should satisfy her artistic taste. She proposed devoting her dowry to this object in order to raise the necessary funds. Philibert's brother had succeeded to the ducal crown under the title of Charles III., but the state of the duchy's finances made it difficult for him to pay Margaret's dowry, which consisted of
12,000 ecus d'or per annum in French coin, or in lieu of this sum the 52 usufruct of Bresse and the provinces of Vaud and Faucigny. Charles III. on his accession had found the revenues greatly reduced; besides Margaret's dowry, three other dowager-princesses enjoyed the income from a great part of his estates. Blanche de Montferrat, widow of Charles I., had the best part of Piedmont;
Le Bugey was in the hands of Claudine of Brittany, widow of Duke Philip; lastly, Louise of Savoy received the largest portion of
Chablais. This was the state of things when Margaret complained of the insufficiency of the revenues from the properties of Bresse,
Vaud, and Faucigny, revenues far from equivalent to the sum of 12,000 ecus d'or per annum according to the terms of her marriage contract. As Charles remained deaf to her complaints, Margaret had recourse to her father, and travelled to Germany to persuade Maximilian to give her his support. Charles at last agreed to send four jurisconsuls empowered to arrange this business. During the meetings which took place at Strasburg, Margaret explained the motives which made her insist on the fulfilment of the clauses with reference to her dowry. 'Her intention being to found a church and monastery on the site of the Priory of Brou, the resting-place
of the Lady Margaret of Bourbon and Duke Philibert, she must needs collect all her resources to meet the expense which such an endowment would require. She also pointed out that, according to the Lady Margaret of Bourbon's will, the church and monastery were to be erected at the expense of her heirs and successors. Now this charge falling on Duke Charles, he could not conscientiously dispense with carrying out his mother's last wishes, but as she, Margaret, offered to fulfil this task at her own expense, he was ill-advised to dispute with her what was legally her 53 due. Charles III.'s envoys had nothing to say to this argument excepting the state of penury and embarrassment in which their master found himself.'
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At last, on the 5th of May 1505, in the presence of Maximilian, a treaty was signed in the hall of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Strasburg, by which Duke Charles granted to Margaret the county of Villars and the Seignory of Gourdans, with all rights of government as well as power of redeeming the mortgaged lands of Bresse to the amount of 1200 florins. After the ratification of this treaty Margaret returned to the castle of Pont-d'Ain and prepared to carry out her plans.
She first called her Council together and explained her intentions. Margaret of Bourbon's vow was to build a church in honour of Saint Benedict, but as this order had already become lax, Margaret wished that the church and monastery should be placed under the protection of St. Nicolas de Tolentin, who had lately been canonised, and was noted for the number of miracles worked by his intercession, and for whom she felt a particular devotion.
The princess's Council, foreseeing the enormous expense which the execution of this plan would involve, tried to dissuade her from it, and endeavoured to turn her mind to completing the church of Notre-Dame de Bourg, which Jean de Loriol was then building.
At the time of the young duke's death they had promised to bring his body to rest in the Abbey of Haute-Combe near the Dukes
of Savoy, his predecessors. But she would not listen to this argument, and replied 'that she had been informed of the vow which the late