etween these two Cesare was now given to choose by
Louis, and his choice fell upon Charlotte.

She was seventeen years of age and said to be the most beautiful maid
in France, and she had been reared at the honourable and pious Court of
Jeanne de Valois, whence she had passed into that of Anne of Brittany,
which latter, says Hilarion de Coste,(1) was "a school of virtue, an
academy of honour."

1 Eloges et vies des Reynes, Princesses, etc.

Negotiations for her hand were opened with Alain, who, it is said, was
at first unwilling, but in the end won over to consent. Navarre had need
of the friendship of the King of France, that it might withstand the
predatory humours of Castille; and so, for his son's sake, Alain could
not long oppose the wishes of Louis. Considering closely the pecuniary
difficulties under which this Alain d'Albret was labouring and his
notorious avarice, one is tempted to conclude that such difficulties
as he may have made were dictated by his reduced circumstances, his
impossibility, or unwillingness, to supply his daughter with a dowry
fitting her rank, and an unworthy desire to drive in the matter the best
bargain possible. And this is abundantly confirmed by the obvious care
and hard-headed cunning with which the Sieur d'Albret investigated
Cesare's circumstances and sources of revenue to verify their values to
be what was alleged.

Eventually he consented to endow her with 30,000 livres Tournois (90,000
francs) to be paid as follows: 6,000 livres on the celebration of the
marriage, and the balance by annual instalments of 1,500 livres until
cleared off. This sum, as a matter of fact, represented her portion of
the inheritance from her deceased mother, Francoise de Bretagne, and it
was tendered subject to her renouncing all rights and succession in any
property of her father's or her said deceased mother's.

Thus is it set forth in the contract drawn up by Alain at Castel-Jaloux
on March 23, 1499, which contract empowers his son Gabriel and one
Regnault de St. Chamans to treat and conclude the marriage urged by the
king between the Duke of Valentinois and Alain's daughter, Charlotte
d'Albret. But that was by no means all. Among other conditions imposed
by Alain, he stipulated that the Pope should endow his daughter with
100,000 livres Tournois, and that for his son, Amanieu d'Albret,
there should be a cardinal's hat--for the fulfilment of both of which
conditions Cesare took it upon hi