A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Anne of Beaujeu
ANNE OF BEAUJEU,
Eldest daughter of Louis the Eleventh of France, born in 1462, was early distinguished for genius, sagacity, and penetration, added to an aspiring temper. Louis, in the jealous policy which characterized him, married her to Pierre de Bourbon, sire de Beaujeu, a prince of slender fortune, moderate capacity, and a quiet, unambitious nature. The friends of Anne observed on these nuptials, that it was the union of a living with a dead body. Pierre, either through indolence, or from a discovery of the superior endowments of his wife, left her uncontrolled mistress of his household, passing, himself, the greatest part of .his time in retirement, in the Beaujolais.
On the death-bed of Louis, his jealousy of his daughter, then only twenty-six, gave place to confidence in her talents: having constituted her husband lieutenant-general of the kingdom, he bequeathed the reins of empire, with the title of governess, to the lady of Beaujeu, during the minority of her brother, Charles the Eighth, a youth of fourteen. Anne fully justified, by her capacity, the choice of her father.
Two competitors disputed the will of the late monarch, and the pretensions of Anne; her husband's brothers, John, duke de Bourbon, and Louis, duke of Orleans, presumptive heir to the crown; but Anne conducted herself with such admirable firmness and prudence, that she obtained the nomination of the states-general in her favour. By acts of popular justice, she conciliated the confidence of the nation; and she appeased the duke de Bourbon by bestowing oil him the sword of the constable of France, which he had long been ambitious to obtain. But the duke of Orleans was not so easily satisfied. He, too, was her brother-in-law, having been married, against his own wishes, by Louis the Eleventh, to his younger daughter, Jeanne, who was somewhat deformed. Having offended Anne by some passionate expressions, she ordered him to be arrested; but he fled to his castle on the Loire, where, being besieged by Anne, he was compelled to surrender, and seek shelter in Brittany, under the protection of Francis the Second.
The union of Brittany with the crown of France, had long been a favourite project of the lady of Beaujeu, and she at first attempted to obtain possession of it by force of arms. The duke of Orleans commanded the Bretons against the forces of Anne, but was taken prisoner and detained for more than two years. Philip de Comines, the celebrated historian, also suffered an imprisonment of three years, for carrying on a treasonable correspondence with the duke of Orleans. Peace with Brittany was at length concluded, and the province was annexed to the crown of France, by the marriage of the young duchess, Anne of Brittany, who had succeeded to her father's domain, to Charles the Eighth of France.
The lustre thrown over the regency of Anne, by the acquisition of Brittany, received some diminution by the restoration of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne to the king of Spain. Anne became duchess of Bourbon in 1488, by the death of John, her husband's elder brother; and though, before this, Charles the Eighth had assumed the government, she always retained a rank in the council of state. Charles the Eighth dying without issue in 1498, was succeeded by the duke of Orleans; and Anne dreaded, and with reason, lest he should revenge himself for the severity she had exercised towards him; but, saying "That it became not a king of France to revenge the quarrels of the duke of Orleans," he continued to allow her a place in the council.
The duke de Bourdon died in 1503; and Anne survived him till November 14th., 1522. They left one child, Susanne, heiress to the vast possessions of the family of Bourbon, who married her cousin, the celebrated and unfortunate Charle8 de Montpensier, constable of Bourbon.