Margaret de Navarre, also known to history as Margaret Dangolemme and Margaret Dallenson,

was a remarkable royal woman who lived in the early 16th century in France. Is it wonder

that one of our listeners got in touch to suggest her as a subject for the podcast?

Sister to King Francois I, she operated as his queen in all but name, as an influencer,

politician and diplomat during the long confiments of his actual queen Claude.

Margaret Eit was highly educated, bright and charismatic, an activist for reform and a patron

of intellectuals, artists and writers. She's been called the mother of the Renaissance

in France. But she was also herself a writer, the author in fact of many works, among which

were her reflections on the spiritual life, the mirror of the sinful soul, which would

greatly influence Elizabeth I and her masterpiece, a female and feminized version of Baccatio's

collection of stories, the De Cameron. Margaret's was called the Eptemeron.

To learn about Margaret de Navarre is to dive deep into the tumultuous nature of religious

belief before the Reformation had irrevocably split the Church in two, into artistic development

when the Renaissance was new in Northern Europe and female power when even the most elevated

of women could be the target of male violence. Our guide today is nearly as glittering as

her subject. Dr Emily Butterworth is a reader in early modern French at King's College

London. She's written on gossip, scandal, rabble and monten, but her latest work is Margaret

de Navarre, a critical companion, published in 2022.

Dr Butterworth, welcome to not just the tutors, I am absolutely delighted that we're going

to talk about one of the most interesting women in the 16th century as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, thank you so much for having me, it's a pleasure to be here.

We are talking about a woman who is known by many names, perhaps in literary circles

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