ildren. She is described as possessing
"set will, affectionate nature, and unusual zeal for study."

At the age of twelve, a crushing blow fell upon this proud little
daughter of Caesar. To gain a province, her husband divorced her and
married Anne of Brittany. The latter maid was kidnapped during a journey
through France and held prisoner in a castle until she agreed to the
marriage, which was then speedily effected. Marguerite haughtily refused
to resign the title, "Queen of France," which she had borne for eight
years. For seventeen months there were, therefore, two Queens of France
Anne at Paris, and Marguerite holding her court at Amboise. Even the
annals of royalty have never shown a more complicated situation. Anne of
Brittany was, legally, for she had been married by proxy to Maximilian
Marguerite's stepmother. Now, by her enforced marriage to Charles, Anne
found herself the rival of her nominal stepdaughter.

Maximilian, doubly furious against France, demanded that Marguerite's
dowry be returned and that she be sent back to him with regal honors. It
was a hard journey for a high-spirited girl. Every town along the route
held fetes and was brightly illuminated as she passed through it. These
municipal displays, either from stupidity or malice, were mostly in
execrable taste. On every hand, blazoned in fire, Marguerite saw her own
name sometimes even her own portrait coupled with that of the king who
had cast her off. But she exhibited few outward signs of inward shame.
Once at Cambrai, when the crowd shouted "Noel, Noel;" she called in a
clear, far-reaching tone "Say not 'Noel,' but cry, 'Long live
Burgundy!'" Once, at dinner in a French town through which she passed,
lament was made that the vintage had been blighted; and she said: "Small
wonder that the grapes wither in a country where oaths are broken!"

But Marguerite or, rather, her wealth was not long without suitors. Don
Juan of Austria, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, offered himself and was
accepted by Maximilian. There was a brief delay in the negotiations and
Don Juan, exasperated thereby, impudently reminded the emperor that a
divorced princess ought to come cheaper than either a widow or a maid.
At about the same time Marguerite's brother, Philip the Handsome, was
betrothed to Don Juan's sister, Juana. The two girls travelled together
from Brussels as far as Liege, where Philip was to be married. There was
a great contrast between the two Marguerite