Margaret of Navarre

1492-1549. Champion of the reform movement in France. Sister of Francis I, she first (1509) married Charles, duke of Alençon, and after his death Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre. She early came under the influence of the French Reformers Lefèvre d'étaples, Guillaume Briçonnet, and others, giving them refuge when persecuted, first at Angoulême and later in Navarre. She also sought to reform the churches under her control and to influence her brother Francis to favor the reform movement which was growing at the time in France. She entered into correspondence with a number of the prominent Reformers, eventually becoming a Calvinist. She wrote several books of poetry and prose, the two best known being Miroir de l'ãme pécheresse and l'Heptaméron. She died shortly after being forced by Henry II to marry her daughter to Antoine de Bourbon, who became the parents of Henry of Navarre, later Henry IV of France.