Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/146

Rh own first marriage, she did not think her daughter unfortunate. Margaret appears to have liked the Duke of Cleves; and he was at least an earnest against the Emperor. He was gallant in battle, wealthy, tolerant, and a protector of the oppressed. Above all, he could serve her brother Francis. She had small pity for Jeanne.

Nevertheless, having gained considerable influence over Duke William, she managed to ease her little daughter of the most intolerable portion of her burden. She induced the Duke, out of consideration to the childish age and fragile health of Jeanne, to submit to a purely formal marriage, and then to return to Germany, leaving his little bride with her parents for at least another year. Even this respite did not appease Jeanne. The day after her betrothal she signed another protest.

At last the King became impatient. He sent a peremptory message to Margaret, requesting her to bring her daughter at once to Châtellerault, where the Court had removed. The meadows of Châtellerault were overbuilt with palaces and arches made of greenery; jousts and tourneys were held the whole day long. At night they were continued by torchlight, a thing which never yet had been seen in France. Nymphs, dryads, dwarfs, knights, and ladies arrayed after the fashion of Amadis and La Belle Dame sans Merci, hermits in robes of green and grey velvet, all manner of gay and strange masquers inhabited the palaces of boughs. Little Jeanne herself, on her wedding morning, was clad so heavily in cloth-of-gold and silver, so studded and heavy with gems, that she could not walk under the weight of her finery. The King himself was to have led her to the altar. Finding her so weak, a