must speak to
Madame d'Alencon." The latter, unable to secure her brother's release,
planned a marriage between him and Eleanor of Portugal, sister of
Charles V.; her successes at court and in the family of the emperor
furthered this scheme. Brantome says: "She spoke to the emperor so
bravely and so courteously that he was quite astonished, and she spoke
even more to those of his council with whom she had audience; there
she produced an excellent impression, speaking and arguing with an
easy grace in which she was proficient, and making herself rather
agreeable than hateful or tiresome. Her reasons were found good and
pertinent and she retained the high esteem of the emperor, his court
and council."

Although she failed in her attempts to free the king, she succeeded,
by arranging the marriage, in completely changing the rigorous
captivity to which Charles had subjected him. Finally, by giving his
two eldest sons as hostages, the king obtained his release, and in
March, 1526, he again set foot, as sovereign, on French soil. Thus the
king's life was saved and he was permitted to return to his country,
Marguerite's devotion having accomplished that in which the most
skilled diplomatist would have failed.

All historians agree that Marguerite d'Angouleme was a devout
Catholic, but that she was too broad and liberal, intelligent
and humane, to sanction the unbridled excesses of fanaticism. The
acknowledged leader of moral reform, she protected and assisted those
persecuted on account of their religious views and sympathized with
the first stages of that movement which revolted against abuses, vice,
scandals, immorality, and intrigue. With her, the question was not one
of dogma, but concerned, instead, the religion which she considered
most conducive to progress and reform. It grieved her to see her
religion defile itself by cruel and inhuman persecutions and tortures,
by intolerance and injustice. She felt for, but not with, the heretics
in their errors. "She typifies her age in all that is good and noble,
in artistic aspirations, in literary ideals, in pure politics--in
short,--in humanity; in her is not found the chaotic vagueness which
so often breaks out in license and licentiousness, cruelty, and
barbarism."

During the absence in Spain of Francis I. and Marguerite, the
mother-regent sought to gain the support and favor of Rome by ordering
imprisonments, confiscations, and punishments of heretics; but upon
the ret