CHAPTER IV
THE BUILDING OF BROU
Besides her many poems Margaret has perpetuated the memory of the chief phases in her life by means of devices, a symbolical language much in vogue in the Middle Ages.
When she returned to Flanders, after her first marriage with Charles VIII. was annulled, the device she chose was a high mountain with a hurricane raging round the summit, and underneath, 'Perflant altissima venti.' This device ingeniously expressed the idea that those in a high position are more exposed than others to the winds of adversity. After the death of Prince John of Castile and her child, Margaret adopted another device, a tree laden with fruit, struck in half by lightning, with this inscription, 'Spoliat mors munera nostra.' This device is attributed to Strada.
Lastly, as the widow of Duke Philibert, she composed the famous motto which we find reproduced everywhere on the tombs, walls, woodwork, and stained-glass windows of the church at Brou:
FORTUNE.INFORTUNE.FORT.UNE.
And this was her last motto, which she kept to the end. This enigmatical inscription has been variously interpreted. Cornelius Agrippa, her panegyrist, and Gropheus, Chevalier d'Honneur to the princess, who composed a Latin poem in her praise in 1532, saw no other meaning in this device than the résumé of her life ... a plaything of fortune; and they explain the word 'infortune' by the third person of the present indicative of the verb 'infortuner,' Fortuna Infortunat Fortiter Unam—'La fortune infortune (tries, persecutes) fort une femme.' Guichenon adopts this version and says the princess composed her device 'to show that she had been much persecuted by fortune, having been repudiated by Charles VIII., and having lost both her husbands, the Prince of Castile, and the Duke of Savoy. This,' he adds, 'is the true meaning of this device, although another interpretation has been given to it: Fortune Infortune Fortune. Fortune to have been affianced to the King of France, misfortune to have been repudiated by him, and fortune to have married the Duke of Savoy; but this explanation does not agree with the device.' In fact, it is not admissible, for it supposes the device to be composed of three words only, whilst on the marble it is clearly composed of four:
FORTUNE.INFORTUNE.FORT.UNE.
The small church of the monastery of Brou, founded in the beginning of the tenth century by Saint Gérard, had a great reputation for holiness. It was here the bodies of Philibert and his mother were laid. Margaret's thoughts were constantly occupied with the monument she wished to erect to her husband's memory, the magnificence of which should satisfy her artistic taste. She proposed devoting her dowry to this object in order to raise the necessary funds. Philibert's brother had succeeded to the ducal crown under the title of Charles III., but the state of the duchy's finances made it difficult for him to pay Margaret's dowry, which consisted of 12,000 écus d'or per annum in French coin, or in lieu of this sum the usufruct of Bresse and the provinces of Vaud and Faucigny. Charles III. on his accession had found the revenues greatly reduced; besides Margaret's dowry, three other dowager-princesses enjoyed the income from a great part of his estates. Blanche de Montferrat, widow of Charles I., had the best part of Piedmont; Le Bugey was in the hands of Claudine of Brittany, widow of Duke Philip; lastly, Louise of Savoy received the largest portion of Chablais. This was the state of things when Margaret complained of the insufficiency of the revenues from the properties of Bresse, Vaud, and Faucigny, revenues far from equivalent to the sum of 12,000 écus d'or per annum according to the terms of her marriage contract. As Charles remained deaf to her complaints, Margaret had recourse to her father, and travelled to Germany to persuade Maximilian to give her his support. Charles at last agreed to send four jurisconsuls empowered to arrange this business. During the meetings which took place at Strasburg, Margaret explained the motives which made her insist on the fulfilment of the clauses with reference to her dowry. 'Her intention being to found a church and monastery on the site of the Priory of Brou, the resting-place of the Lady Margaret of Bourbon and Duke Philibert, she must needs collect all her resources to meet the expense which such an endowment would require. She also pointed out that, according to the Lady Margaret of Bourbon's will, the church and monastery were to be erected at the expense of her heirs and successors. Now this charge falling on Duke Charles, he could not conscientiously dispense with carrying out his mother's last wishes, but as she, Margaret, offered to fulfil this task at her own expense, he was ill-advised to dispute with her what was legally her due. Charles III.'s envoys had nothing to say to this argument excepting the state of penury and embarrassment in which their master found himself.'
At last, on the 5th of May 1505, in the presence of Maximilian, a treaty was signed in the hall of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Strasburg, by which Duke Charles granted to Margaret the county of Villars and the Seignory of Gourdans, with all rights of government as well as power of redeeming the mortgaged lands of Bresse to the amount of 1200 florins. After the ratification of this treaty Margaret returned to the castle of Pont-d'Ain and prepared to carry out her plans.