Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/106

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(1529–1535.)

less at Fontainebleau than at Nérac, Queen Margaret was the patron of the Renaissance, and the champion of the learned. She fostered the natural love of Francis for art and letters, and encouraged him (to defy the restrictions and rigid dogma of the Sorbonne. Francis, who was sensitive to any interference with his kingship, was easily convinced that the Sorbonne lessened his authority by its presumption; and in such a mood his sister found it easy to persuade him to found a secular college in Paris, to confer an eternal benefit on Learning.

Margaret was not alone in her endeavour. Jean du Bellay, the younger brother of the vigilant Guillaume and the wise Martin, was Cardinal of Paris. He was suspected of a leaning to Reform; it was even said that, spite of his red hat, he was secretly married to Madame de Châtillon, the excellent governess of Margaret. He was a brilliant, adequate, and tolerant statesman and scholar. His influence, it is needless to say, with that of his two brothers, was ever thrown into Margaret's scale. The Renaissance in France