Marguerite of Angouleme, Queen of Navarre

1492-1549, Queen of Navarre and Duchess of Alencon

Unlike many of the women featured here, Marguerite's significance is less political and much more on a personal and cultural level.

Marguerite was the daughter of Louise of Savoy and the count of Angouleme.  Her father died when she was quite young, and as I described before, her mother took complete control over running their lands and was quite independent.  Louise fostered a love of Renaissance literature, philosophy, and art in her children, and they turned out to be the two central figures of the French Renaissance.

Marguerite was possibly the most educated woman of her time, as Louise of Savoy's daughter and the sister of the heir to the French throne.  She learned Latin, Italian, and Spanish, and was able to read all the newest publications, and later in life published her own works, some of which are still viewed as pillars of Renaissance and Reformation philosophy.  However, she was still a princess and therefore had to marry for political purposes.

First the king married her to the duke of Alencon, to keep his territory in the royal family.  The duke was kind but reputed to be very unintelligent, and functionally illiterate.  It was a marriage of convenience and they had no children.  Next she married the king of Navarre, a small kingdom wedged between France and Spain (roughly the modern day Basque region).  The Spanish had been giving Navarre trouble, so this marriage was cementing an alliance between France and Navarre.

This marriage was much happier, and Marguerite was allowed to play roles in governance and diplomacy.  When her brother, the king, was captured in Spain she personally rode twelve hours a day in winter weather to meet a diplomatic deadline to free him.  Stories say she used to walk through the streets of Navarrese cities alone, inviting people to come walk and talk with her, listening to their troubles, giving advice, and taking queries back to the king.

Even more important than this, however, was Marguerite's role in both patronizing Renaissance philosophers and artists, and actively writing herself.  You might remember, for example, my trip to Amboise, specifically the Clos Luce.  Marguerite and her brother were brought up here by their mother, and even in their childhood it was a center for artists and philosophers to congregate.  Later in their lives, Marguerite still lived there a lot of the year, and it was her brother, the king's, main residence.  They invited Leonardo da Vinci to come live there with them towards the end of his life, and sponsored him and many of his colleagues to come talk and debate there.  It was truly the center of the whole French Renaissance, and Marguerite was the organizer and moderator of everything that happened there.

Marguerite herself was not a Protestant, but she strongly favored major reforms in the Catholic Church - which at this period was overcome with corruption.  She patronized Protestant-leaning writers such as Francois Rabelais, and she herself actually wrote one of the most significant pieces of the the early Reformation.  After the death of her only son she wrote a theological poem, "Mirror of the Sinful Soul."  In a very interesting intellectual progression, it's very likely that Anne Boleyn, the famously beheaded and Protestant second wife of King Henry VIII of England, was at Marguerite's court and was influenced by the radical piece.  Her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, also Protestant, is known to have cherished the poem and recited it to her secretly Protestant, very influential and intelligent stepmother, Henry's last wife Katherine Parr.  Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, and Katherine Parr are easily the most important women of the whole Reformation movement, and it's likely that all of them were influenced by Marguerite's writing.

Marguerite was a truly remarkable woman of her time: a "Renaissance woman" quite literally, a good diplomat, intelligent, kind, and artistic.  She held an amount of cultural power that was nearly unheard of for a woman with her little political influence, and allowed geniuses like da Vinci to thrive under her watch.  It's safe to say that the world of culture is a far better place today because of her life.

(Also, for those who follow this series, continue to note the political, personal, and intellectual connections that are ongoing amongst the last few woman: Anne of Beaujeu, Louise of Savoy, Anne of Brittany, Marguerite, and the next one, her daughter Jeanne d'Albret.)

Have a Happy Halloween!

A rainy day in Paris

I went on a little outing to the American import grocery store, Thanksgiving, on Saturday, and decided to document my little walk.  It's about a 15ish minute walk, just under a mile, each way, and I have one or two pictures per minute probably.

When I woke up today there were a bunch of nice puffy white clouds in the sky..but somehow by the time I left my apartment it got entirely gray and had started to rain just a tiny bit.  I saw drops on the ground but figured it would pass quickly as it often does in the fall here.

So I started out.  Here I'm coming out of my dead end on onto the street, looking down towards the river, where I'll be headed.  You can just see one of the towers of Notre Dame.

The remnants of my neighborhood market which had ended about an hour before.

A block from the river, you can see the main part of Notre Dame behind the end of the street.  I love this little corner because to the right of the picture there is a Vietnamese produce market and restaurant, and to the left a bunch of cute pubs.

 By this time the rain had become more steady (and it was cold!) and the wind began to whip up.  I decided to keep going.  At the river now: you can see Notre Dame behind the trees, and it's just across the river.  In the foreground are the famous booksellers on the banks of the river.  A bunch weren't open because of the rain and cold - the average temperature this week is about 45, so it's our first colder weather.

I got to the bridge, and this is the view.  You're looking at Notre Dame from behind.  (Now I started to take more frequent pictures because it's very picturesque here!)

The bridge I'm about to cross, and the Right Bank in the background.  This is about 6 minutes away from my apartment.

When I go this way I generally cross this bridge, the Pont de l'Archevêché, aka the Padlock Bridge.  It's the new bridge where lovers put their locks, after the two old ones cleared them out a few years ago.

Oh look, there's me!  Self-portrait fail: it was getting too windy and cold now, my fingers were going  bit numb.

Crossed the bridge, and now on the Ile-de-la-Cite, the island where Notre Dame and the Conciegerie are. Notre Dame is on the left, and this is a good shot of the touristy kind of restaurants in this area.

I was only on that island for a moment, now I'm crossing to the other little island, Ile-St-Louis.  There is an awesome street jazz band that often plays on this bridge when it's nice out.

I was afraid my umbrella was going to blow into the Seine at this point!  You can see the waves on the river, which aren't usually there.  You'll see when I'm walking back, I crossed the bridge in the background.

One of the three main roads on Ile-St-Louis, which is mostly occupied by apartments and restaurants.

Crossing the third time, from the island to the Right Bank.

Already the Right Bank is more bustling than the Left Bank at this time on a Saturday.  I'm now in the Marais, where the store is.

 Going a bit farther into the 4th arr it becomes much quieter and more peaceful.  Mostly there are strolling families, people walking dogs, etc.  There aren't a lot of things to see in this area for tourists, although there are a lot of cool shops.  Also all the kosher stuff is closed because it's Saturday.

Just seems like a silly street name.

Taken from between the bars of the sports area at one of the larger schools in the 4th.  In the background is the back of this church.  (Photo from my post on the 4th)

I love the little streets in this area!  The American store is ahead on the right.

These streets near the river have a ton of amazing little shops that have all kinds of stuff - lots of antiques, from clothes and furniture to instruments; food shops; art and photo galleries, etc.

That's the end of my walk to the store.  I bought just a few things - red beans and rice, Jello (don't ask - I've been wanting it since I was sick a couple of weeks ago), and salt and vinegar chips.  It's always super crowded on Saturdays, especially now with people stocking up on stuff for Thanksgiving (the holiday, not this store!).

I took a slightly different path back, but didn't take too many pictures.

Here is a classic Paris bateau mouche (boat) tour on the river.  This bridge is from the Right Bank (left) to the Ile St Louis (right).

This is what all the banks of Ile-St-Louis look like.

This is the most famous ice cream shop in Paris (possibly the world?), on the island.

Now I'm on that bridge I saw while walking there, and you can see where I was, near Notre Dame.  This also shows how the two islands are situated - you can see the river going off to the right separating them, but they're very close together.

And finally here's a shot of the Tour d'Argent, one of the most well known restaurants in Paris (and also the world).  It's renowned for its duck dishes but I hear it's gone downhill in the last 20ish yeas - it now has only one Michelin star.  Parts of the adorable Pixar movie Ratatouille are set here!

So now I'm back on the Left Bank and I bid you au revoir!

Toulouse history museum

The museum of Toulouse history is a small collection housed in an old bourgeois residence.  The building is adorable.

It doesn't have a whole lot that translates well to the blog, but there were a few interesting things I'll mention.  Here are some of the decorations that represent the Academie des Jeux Floraux, the oldest known literary society in the world.  They're delicate metal flowers in reference to the title of the group, which translates to the Academy of Floral Games.  In the center there you can again see a representation of Clemence Isaure. 

Some traditional ceramics from the area.

The museum features a lot of painting and sculpture by artists from Toulouse.

I thought this was really cool: it's a traditional outfit from the Toulouse region, mid 19th century.  It definitely shows the Spanish influence.

 And here are just some random pictures that didn't really fit into the other posts.

This is the Languedoc Cross, the symbol of the region.  Languedoc was a large area of the south that shared language and cultural traditions that were quite different from other areas of France, and Toulouse was its capital.  Today it's not an official region but more like if you were to say "the Midwest" or some such.

This library was done in a really cool art deco style.  I really liked it.

Here is a fountain featuring some unknown lady.

 
This is the oldest hospital in the region, ultimately made by combining two religious hospitals that were near each other, so this building is 17th century.  In the old buildings they quarantined sick people during the plague while almost everyone else evacuated the city.  Toulouse closed the city gates after the evacuation and almost the only people left were doctors and sick people here, and bakers and butchers, who were not allowed to leave so that the people would have food.

Not sure exactly what this was for, but the sign said it was dedicated to a religious guy.

And now for some more modern stuff...a metal chicken!

And whatever this is.

Next and last Toulouse post: the churches we visited.  Lots of pictures!

12th arr

The 12th arrondissement is the easternmost area of the Right Bank of Paris.  It's split into a few distinct sections: immediately on the river is the Bercy area, which is mainly a very large park with a sports complex.  The park is very nice and peaceful; it's a more modern design than many in Paris.

These pictures aren't mine.

The park is connected to the 13th arr across the river by a footbridge.

Just north of the park is where most of the trains come into Paris, so there isn't much there but a jumble of train tracks and a couple of stations.

To the north of that and the eastern part of the 12th is mostly a business and residential area, there isn't much to see there.  Here is a rather nice fountain in the Place Felix Eboue, although it's sad looking at the moment, with no water.  Sometimes it's lit up and very pretty.

To the west the 12th meets the 11th at the Bastille, and it has a similar feel as I described for the 11th.  There are a lot of bars and restaurants, and it tends to be a middle class oriented area.  This side of the Bastille is a bit quieter and more staid, but it's one of my preferred neighborhoods: there are a lot of things to do but it's not hectic and too busy.

Just next to the Place de la Bastille is the Opera Bastille, the current home of the French National Opera.  This, rather than the famous opera house in the 8th, is where you would go to see an opera since the mid 20th century.  It's also a really cool building, and one of the few prominent examples of modern architecture in the city.

Moving along to the north side of the 12th there is the area around the Place de la Nation, the last of the huge roundabouts in this western portion of the Right Bank (the 10th, 11th, and 12th arrs).  This "star" joins ten large streets, and I think it's probably second in size only to the circle around the Arc de Triomphe.

It's hard to get a good picture of the center circle because there is so much traffic.

Here is an aerial shot of it, obviously not mine!

Nowadays it's mostly used for festivals and gatherings and such, but it was originally called "Place du Trone," or "the place of the throne" and had strong connections with the monarchy.  Louis XIV, the Sun King, came here after his marriage in 1660 with his new wife to sit on a throne before the people.

Under the Revolution it was renamed "Place du Trone Renverse," or "place of the backwards throne" as a bit of a joke, since a guillotine was placed there.  It was not the main guillotine in Paris, which was at the Place de la Concorde, but it still had a good amount of victims.

Near the Place de la Nation is the place where these victims were buried, now the Picpus Cemetery, but at the time it was an Augustinian convent that had been seized by the revolutionary government.

Today it's the only privately owned cemetery in the city, and possibly the one with the most modern burials, but you can visit it.  I'm going to write up a separate post on the cemetery because it turned out to be very interesting, but I'll give you a couple of pictures for now.

This is the site of the mass graves for the guillotine victims, who included commoners, clergy, nuns, members of the army, and nobility.

General Lafayette's wife was one of the main patronesses of this cemetery after the Revolution, so they are both buried here.  In deference to his role in the War for American Independence an American flag is always present above his grave.

So that's the 12th arr in a nutshell!  I highly recommend the Parc Bercy as a nice green spot away from touristy areas, and the banks of the river in the 12th are very pretty.  The Bastille area is fun and interesting, as I've mentioned, and I definitely recommend the Picpus Cemetery to any of my fellow history nerds - otherwise it's probably not that interesting.

Toulouse, the town hall and some history

The main area of Toulouse is in the center of the city, the square called the Capitole.  It's a large pedestrian place surrounded by 18th century buildings in that typical Toulouse pink/orange brick.

 

One side of the square is taken up by the Capitole building, which is currently the town hall along with the main theater of the city inside.

Coats of arms on the building:

The lady atop the pillars on the left here is the mythical Clemence Isaure, who supposedly founded Toulouse's medieval literary society, and who still is a part of the regional consciousness. 

Out the other side of the Capitole building is another, smaller square, which features a 15th century fortified keep.  This is a remnant of the days when Toulouse was a major military center between the warring kingdoms of France and Spain, with Toulouse's independent county in the middle.

 

This is the back of the Capitole building, it's rather pretty. 

And the other side of that square.

The Capitole, I guess because it's the town hall, is open and free to visitors most of the time.  After going through the main doors you enter into a pretty courtyard, again with that pink color.

Originally there was a building here in the late 12th century to house the administrative group that ran Toulouse, men called the capitouls.  For centuries before this group was established Toulouse was a key area in between France (then the Kingdom of the Franks) and Muslim Spain.  Sometimes it was nominally subject to France, but really it was completely independent, and often struggled between the two larger powers.  To make matters worse, Christian Europe often tried to fight with the much more advanced and efficient Arab empire on religious grounds, and used the county of Toulouse and neighboring Kingdom of Aquitaine as military bases.  Eventually Arab Spain fell, though, and then Toulouse had to struggle with keeping its independence from France.

The counts of Toulouse ruled much of modern southern France as kings, but when the ruling count went crusading in the late 11th century there was a local power struggle.  Eventually a new count was elected, but soon after eight men were also elected to represent the county of Toulouse's interests as well (a very early European pseudo-democracy).  As time went by these men grew in number and their influence diminished to only represent the city of Toulouse, but this spot was always where they met.  This building was created for them in the 18th century, long after the counts of Toulouse died out and the area was absorbed into France.

After the Revolution the rights of the capitouls were abolished and a regular mayor was appointed in 1790.  This building became the town hall, and it was improved with works of art throughout the 19th century.

Here is the entrance and grand staircase.

Much of the art in the building celebrates Toulouse's history, including this painting of a medieval troubadour.  Toulouse and the surrounding area have a long literary history, and troubadours, traveling poets and musicians, were common here.  They are considered to be some of the most important players in spreading culture in the early Renaissance.

The first room you get to is decorated with paintings by Toulousian artist Paul-Jean Gervais.  It was originally intended for upper-class weddings, as is apparent by the paintings depicting love allegories and its grandiosity.

The next room has works by more well-known Toulousian artist Henri Martin.  He chose to show scenes of Toulouse of his time, and the work "Les Reveurs" (second picture), showing prominent bourgeoisie of the time (including Jean Jaures, in the flat hat) is quite famous.

And the final room depicts the history of the city, and the capitouls, in painting and sculpture.  This room is also very grand, and is currently where town hall meetings are held.

This is a portrait of "La Belle Paule," the woman who is thought to be the real-life inspiration for Clemence Isaure (see above link).

This post was longer than expected, so I'll do the other museum next time!