Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/16



(1491–1515.)

Louisa of Savoy, beautiful, accomplished, barely fifteen years old, was given in marriage to Charles of Orleans, Count of Angoulême, it can have seemed no brilliant alliance on her part. The bridegroom was twenty years older than the bride, of fallen fortunes, and banished from the Court of France. That he was a possible heir to the Crown can only have counted as a splendid piece of heraldry, for the young king, Charles VIII., was newly wedded to Anne of Brittany, and his sister's husband, the heir-presumptive, was a vigorous young man of nine-and-twenty, likely to live long and have many children.

These two young lives stood between the Crown and the Count of Angoulême. It was not likely that he, delicate, gentle, fastidious, should outlive them. But