Read Part One HERE
In this post I will focus on a woman named Jeanne d'Albret
Jeanne Albret is one of the better-known women of the French Reformation. She lived from 1528 A.D. - 1572 A.D. in Navarre, which is located between Spain and France
Jeanne was the daughter of Marguerite de Navarre, and the mother of the future king of France: Henry IV.
Jeanne was strong-willed and stubborn from childhood, qualities which prepared her well to become an unflinching leader in the Huguenot wars. She is famous for the anecdotes surrounding her first marriage to the German Duke of Cleves. Bethrothed while still a child to him by King Francis, Jeanne seems to have taken it upon herself (after imploring the king to this face -an audacious act for anyone, let alone an eleven-year old girl) to write a formal statement, complete with witness signatures, declaring her unequivocal opposition to the upcoming wedding. She did this again as the wedding approached, and when the wedding day itself arrived, had to be literally carried down the aisle. The marriage was never consummated due to her youth, and was later annulled because of changing political currents. To have shown such resolve at eleven years old, in the face of mother, father, and even king, is remarkable to say the least! How would such a young woman carry herself as an adult?
The mature Jeanne took a very different approach to the Reformation than her mother, Marguerite de Navarre. Whereas Marguerite preferred to work discretely, through diplomacy and carefully-nuanced loyalties to both churches, and worked to reform the Roman Catholic Church from within while protecting persecuted reformers, Jeanne decided, after her parents' death, to convert publicly to Protestantism, and to fight openly for the Reformation. She had to face opposition at court, from her husband Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendome, and from enemy armies as a major political leader of the Huguenots.
Jeanne worked closely with men like Coligny and Conde during the Third Huguenot war, and even rallied the Huguenot troops in person. She instituted official Reformation policies in her own kingdom of Navarre, and sponsored translations of the New Testament into her people's native Basque. When Philip II of Spain sent an ambassdor to pressure her at one point, Jeanne replied to him, "Although I am just a little Princess, God has given me the government of this country so I may rule it according to His Gospel and teach it His Laws. I rely on God, who is more powerful than the King of Spain."
Read Part Five HERE
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