A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gabrielle de Bourbon
GABRIELLE DE BOURBON,
Daughter of Count de Montpensier, married, in 1485, Louis de la Tremouille, a man who filled with honour the highest offices of the state, and who was killed at the battle of Pavia in 1525. Her virtues were very great; and some published treatises remain as proofs of her devoted piety. She passed her time chiefly in solitude; for she had formed a resolution to withdraw from the court, whenever her husband's duties, as an officer in the king's army, compelled him to be absent. Charitable, as well as magnificent in her tastes, no person in want ever left her unsatisfied. She employed an hour or two daily with her needle; the rest of her time was spent in reading, writing, in her devotional duties, or in instructing the young girls by whom she liked to surround herself. She also took great care of the education of her son, who amply repaid all her trouble, but who unfortunately was killed at the battle of Marignan in 1515; and she died of grief at his loss in 1516. Her works are a "Contemplation of the Nativity and Passion of Jesus Christ;" "The Instruction of Young Girls;" and two other religious works.