Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/234

Rh Queen and King of Navarre, in search of complaint, or a treasonable plan to frustrate the King's arrangement for their daughter's marriage.

Henry had inherited his father's fears lest the King of Navarre should marry his only daughter to the heir of Spain. It seemed so natural a match, and one that would set so old a feud at rest, that the King of France did not feel himself secure till Jeanne of Navarre was given to a husband of his choice. France, not Spain, must acquire Navarre; it was too dangerous an outpost to yield to the enemy. Therefore, little Jeanne had been taken away from her father and mother and brought up as a French princess; therefore, she had been married, against her will, to the Duke of Cleves. Since that marriage had been dissolved, the old peril was nearer than before. Her gaiety and spirit gave a great charm to this girl, known in Paris as the Darling of Kings, and her father had always ardently desired the Spanish match. Henry determined to marry Jeanne at once.

The husband that he chose for her was rich, noble, the son of her mother's dearest friend, Françoise d'Alençon. Antoine de Bourbon, the Duke of Vendôme, held the first rank in France, after the King's children. If he were suspected of Lutheran tendencies, that was but another passport to the favour of the Queen of Navarre. In choosing him for Jeanne, Henry had done well by his little niece, with her dowry of a poverty-stricken and confiscated kingdom. Yet Margaret passionately opposed the match. Both she and her husband so disliked the mere thought of it, that we are tempted to believe they had really set their hearts on Philip of Spain for their son-in-law.