This sudden marriage caused great astonishment throughout Europe. How could people believe that the young duchess, then in her fourteenth year, and well able to understand the importance of her acts, had consented to marry a king who for years had made war against her and despoiled her of her heritage! Besides it was well known that since the Treaty of Arras in 1483 Charles had been affianced to Maximilian's daughter, Margaret of Austria.
The rumour got about that the Duchess Anne had been forced into the marriage. The Pope believed this, and in granting the dispensation which was only asked for after the marriage had taken place, he formally announced that he would only confirm this union if it could be proved that it had not been brought about by force. Anne herself undertook to refute this calumny by declaring before an ecclesiastical commission that she had suffered no violence, and that she had gone to Langeais of her own free will to marry Charles.
In the marriage contract a clause was inserted to the effect that should Anne survive Charles, without children, she could only remarry with his successor. Thus was the duchy of Brittany secured to the crown of France, and the king's ambitious scheme realised to Margaret's mortification.
Mézerai tells us that 'a double dispensation was necessary, first to annul Charles's marriage with Margaret, and secondly to free Anne from her contract with Maximilian. The marriages not having been consummated, the Court of Rome did not make any great difficulty.'
When Maximilian heard that his affianced bride had become the wife of Charles VIII., and that his daughter was about to be returned to him despoiled of her title of Queen of France, he made all the Courts of Europe ring with his complaints. War began again and lasted for two years. In 1493 peace was restored by the Treaty of Senlis, concluded between Charles and Maximilian. The King of the Romans renounced the title of Duke of Brittany, and was put in possession of the whole duchy of Burgundy as well as the Franche Comté, and Artois, which had been included in Margaret's dowry.
If we are to believe Pasquier, Margaret had a foreboding of her misfortune before these events took place. One day whilst walking in the garden at Amboise, her ladies and gentlemen noticed that she seemed very melancholy, and one of them asked her the reason. She replied that she had had a strange dream, which she could not forget, for she believed it boded ill. In her dream she thought she was in a large park, and saw a marguerite (daisy) which she was told to watch; whilst she gazed at the flower, a donkey came and tried to eat it; she kept him off as long as she could, but at last he seized and devoured it. This troubled her so much that she woke with a start, and the dream still weighed upon her mind.
No one then anticipated what ultimately happened, but afterwards this quaint dream was looked upon as a forecast of Margaret's broken marriage. Curiously enough her dismissal had been provided for by Louis XI. at the time of the Treaty of Arras, as the following clause in the treaty will show. 'If it should happen (which God forbid) that my said Lady Margaret being of age, my said Lord the Dauphin should not proceed to the perfect consummation of the said marriage, or that the said marriage should be broken by the king, Monseigneur the Dauphin, or others on their part, during the minority of the young lady or after; in which case, my said lady shall be sent at the king's expense or at that of my said Lord the Dauphin, back to my said Lord the Duke her father, or the Duke Philip her brother, frankly and fully discharged of all bonds of marriage and all other obligations, to one of the good towns in the territories of Brabant, Flanders, or Hainault, to a safe place acknowledging obedience to the said Dukes.'
But Margaret remained in France for two years after Charles's marriage with Anne of Brittany, which took place on December 6th, 1491. Neglected by her father, and kept as a sort of hostage until the Peace of Senlis was signed, she passed her time in seclusion. 'When the king had restored peace to Brittany, he returned to France, and gave orders that Madam Margaret of Flanders should retire to the castle of Melun on the river Seine, and take with her the Princess of Tarente'; here she remained for more than a year. An interesting letter written by Margaret to Anne de Beaujeu from Melun has fortunately been preserved. In it she requests that her cousin might not be taken away from her, although the king has ordered her to leave, and mentioning that Madame de Molitart has told her that she is to be better treated than formerly:—[4]
'Madame ma bonne tante, il faut bien que je me plaigne à vous comme à celle en qui j'ay mon espérance, de ma cousine que l'on m'a voulu oster, qui est tout le passe-temps que j'ay, et quand je l'auray perdue je ne scay plus que je feray. Parquoi je vous prie que veuillez tenir la main pour moy qu'elle ne me soit ostée, car plus grand déplaisir ne me scauroit-on faire. Lachault est venu qui a apporté lettres adressantes à madite cousine, par lesquelles le Roy lui escrivoit qu'elle s'en allast; toutefois je ne l'ay pas voulu souffrir, jusques à ce que vous en eusse advertie, en espérant que m'y seriez en aide, comme j'ay en cela et en autre chose ma parfaite fiance, vous priant, Madame ma bonne tante, que quelque part que je soye ne parte point de vostre bonne grâce, car toujours en aurai-je besoin, à laquelle bien fort me veut recommander. Madame de Molitart m'a dit que voulais que je sois mieux traitée que je ne fus oncques, qui est une chose qui m'a fort réjouie, puisque avez encore souvenance de moy, vous disant adieu, Madame ma bonne tante, que je prie qu'il vous doint le plus aimé de vos désirs. Escrit à Melun, le dix-septième jour de Mars. Vostre bonne humble et léable nièce Marguerite.
'A Madame ma bonne tante.'