Jeanne d'Albret, who died shortly before her son's wedding, escaped the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on August 24, 1572, which took place just six days after the marriage of Henri and Margot.
Jeanne d'Albret, Protestant sovereign (1528–1572)
Jeanne d'Albret's uncompromising character led the writer Agrippa d'Aubigné to write that "she was a woman in name only." Succeeding her motherMarguerite d'Angoulême, a remarkable intellectual and woman of letters, Jeanne was more of an energetic woman of action.
Thus, in 1541, at the age of twelve, her uncle, King FrancisI of France, forced her to marry William, Duke of Cleves, who was twice her age. Jeanne refused to back down, and her wedding turned into a veritable theatrical performance: she had a text dictated in front of witnesses announcing her non-consent and stating that the marriage was against her will.
On her wedding day, she even deliberately weighed down her dress so that she could not walk to the altar. FrançoisI, taken aback, intervened and asked the Constable of France, Anne de Montmorency, to seize her and carry her, a shameful task for one of the most powerful lords in the kingdom.
Ultimately, the marriage was annulled four years later for political reasons: William of Cleves, defeated by imperial troops at Düren, begged for the Emperor's mercy, effectively ending his alliance with FrancisI. He then had no further rights over his wife, the king's niece. Furthermore, Jeanne never consummated her marriage.
Her second marriage in 1548 to Antoine de Bourbon, first prince of the blood, would be happier, at least during their early years...
Their married life was marked by long separations, with Jeanne d'Albret regularly staying on her estates in Albret or Béarn, while Antoine de Bourbon maintained his position in the royal entourage. Despite everything, they will be remembered for having given birth to a son who would change the course of French history: the future Henry IV.
For this birth,Henri d'Albret insisted that his daughter give birth in Pau. He set two essential conditions for her to succeed him to the throne of Navarre: he had to be present at the birth, and his daughter had to sing a Béarnais prayer, "Notre Dame du Bout du Pont," during the birth so that she would not give birth to "a crying girl or a stubborn boy"!
Jeanne d'Albret met the conditions, and her father then hung a key around her neck as a pendant, giving her access to his will.
In Nérac, Jeanne made the most important decision of her life when she decided to convert to Calvinism in 1560. She then made Nérac a religious capital, one of the capitals of Protestant France. There were many reasons for this conversion:
Jeanne was immersed in an atmosphere of religious tolerance by her motherMarguerite d'Angoulême, which may have encouraged her conversion.
Having become a major figure in Protestantism, Jeanne d'Albret initially used tolerance, then later her religious intransigence, but without spilling a drop of blood in the name of her faith.
Thus, on July 19, 1561, Jeanne promulgated her first ecclesiastical ordinances in Nérac, which were very moderate: she spared both sides, and both religions were free and celebrated alternately in the same church. However, during Charles IX's Grand Tour of France, the King of France and his mother Catherine de Medici, Jeanne d'Albret's Catholic rival, stayed in Nérac from July 28, 1565, to August1, 1565. They came here to strike a blow against one of the most important centers of Protestantism and to try to soften the stubborn Jeanne d'Albret...
In fact, since 1561, Jeanne d'Albret had ordered the closure of the convents and churches of Albret. Some places of worship were even dismantled, with the building stones being used to construct the south wing of the Château de Nérac. For Jeanne d'Albret, these four days were bitter, as she did not have the sovereign independence in this French fiefdom that she had in Béarn, and she had to obey Charles IX and accept a strong return to Catholicism. In 1566, Jeanne d'Albret went even further by promulgating Calvinism as the state religion throughout Béarn, thus ending the practice of Catholic worship.
However, in order to ease religious tensions between Catholics and Protestants, Jeanne d'Albret and Catherine de Medici decided to unite their respective children through marriage. This union, betweenHenri de NavarreandMarguerite de Valois, Queen Margot, would become known as "the vermilion wedding"...
Jeanne d'Albret, who died shortly before her son's wedding, escaped the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on August 24, 1572, which took place just six days after the marriage of Henri and Margot.
Also in the King's Gardens, a two-story octagonal tower, the Pavillon des Bains du Roy, may have been built in the early16thcentury under Henri d'Albret.
According to local tradition, the ladies of the court would come here to undress and bathe in the Baïse River, a practice that is open to debate. It is more likely that the Pavilion was initially a defensive building, given the thickness of its walls and its integration into a rampart, and later became a place of rest where snacks were served, due to its relative distance from the castle and the garden.
Today, its location is home to a Renaissance-style garden, created in 2009, which represents approximately1/10thof the16th-centurygardens.
Henri d'Albret is also credited with the birth of his grandsonHenri IVat the Château de Pau. The King of Navarre, fearing for his lineage after losing a son and two grandsons, insisted that his daughterJeanne d'Albretgive birth in Pau, which offered more amenities for the anticipated event.
Above all, Henri d'Albret wanted to be the sole master on board and leave a supporting role to his son-in-law Antoine de Bourbon, as clearly shown in the painting opposite, which can be admired at the Château-Musée Henri IV in Nérac.
Unfortunately, he did not have time to pass on the secrets of power to his grandson, dying two years later in 1555.
