Marguerite de Navarre: the mirror of a Renaissance queen

The 'Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe' lecture series (of five lectures) takes as its inspiration our current exhibition Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens, which chronicles the representation of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr throughout history and popular culture.

This lecture series places the queens in their wider historical context within the society of 16th-century Europe, and is delivered by historians, academics and authors, giving their insights into a wide variety of related topics. From uncovering the lives of ordinary Tudor women, to shining a light on the powerful individuals connected to the queens, the series offers the chance to engage more deeply with the history of women’s lives and legacies in this fascinating period.

This lecture is the fourth in the series but can also be booked separately.

Drawing on her recent book Marguerite de Navarre: A Critical Companion, Emily Butterworth will introduce the figure of Queen Marguerite de Navarre, also known as Marguerite d’Angoulême.

Sister of the French king François I, Marguerite was a diplomat, thinker, and writer sympathetic to the cause of church reform. Marguerite’s portrait by Jean Clouet is displayed in the exhibition as she was an influential figure in the French royal court during the years that Anne Boleyn lived there as lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude. Anne is said to have expressed admiration for Marguerite and may have been influenced by her in the fashioning of her own public image.

After her death, Marguerite continued to be seen in England as the model of a Renaissance queen: Jane Seymour’s nieces Anne, Margaret, and Jane published a collection of Latin poems in her honour and Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, translated Marguerite’s unusual devotional poem Le Miroir de l’âme pécheresse (The Mirror of the Sinful Soul) as a New Year’s present for her stepmother Katherine Parr. In her own writing, Marguerite promoted a sense of female solidarity and community which is echoed in her English connections.