Note 20 — Chapter I · MARRIAGE
George Herbert Ely translation
The good Anne of France, married to a husband much older than herself, had in her life a romance which has escaped notice. She was fond of her first fiancé:
“Le prédit duc de Calabre, famé, En l’espousant luy donna ung aneau, Non de grant pris; mais si fut il amé De par la dame et plus chier estimé Qu’or ny argent, ne bague, ne joiau Qu’elle garda, mieulx que plus riche et beau, Jusque a la mort, c’est vérité patente....”
[“Calabria’s foresaid duke, a prince of fame, Plighted his troth and gave his bride a ring, Of no great price, I wot, but yet the dame Loved him so dear, so high esteemed his name As never gold nor any precious thing, Silver nor gem, did her more pleasure bring, Until her death. ’Tis very truth I tell.”]
The duke died six years after the betrothal,
“Qui fust ung deul qui bien tost ne passa, Mais grefvement poingnit et trepersa Le noble cueur de la jeune espousée. Par quoy, tost fust la chose disposée Qu’aultre mari prendroit notable et bon, Ung sien prochain, feu Pierre de Bourbon.”
[“And ’twas a sorrow that not soon did pass, But smote fell sore and heavily, alas! The noble heart of this young winsome bride. Nathless, ere yet her brimming tears were dried, Another mate was found her, good and high, Pierre de Bourbon, of her own family.”]
But the princess clung to the ring of her former lover, symbol of
“Loyalle amour dont estoit anoblie ... ... En cest aneau que luy avoit doné Son amy mort, voullut Pierre espouser.”
[“Of loyal love’s ennobling influence. And with this ring, gift of her lover dead, Would she her husband Pierre de Bourbon wed,”]
in order to preserve the memory of him whom God, in his unfathomable designs, had seen fit to take from her—
“Pour petit cueur, d’une jeune pucelle, Bien garde est d’amour honneste C’est quant jamais ne varie ou chancelle ...” —Poème inédit de La Vauguyon.
[“To the sweet guileless heart of tender maid ’Tis surety of a chaste and noble love That changeth never, nor will ever fade.”]
The princess was as pure a woman as any of whom we have any account, but the author dwells on this innocent romance in order to keep her memory alive in the hearts of lovers.