Her death took place
on December 21st, 1549, and just before expiring she grasped a crucifix
that lay beside her and murmured, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." (1)
Although the King of Navarre had not always lived in perfect accord with
his wife, he none the less keenly felt the loss he had sustained by her
death. Olhagaray represents him when deprived of Margaret as no longer
showing the same firm purpose of life, but as sad, discontented, and
altering his plans at every trifle.(2) He gave orders that Margaret's
remains should be interred in the Cathedral of Lescar, some four and a
half miles from the Chateau of Pau, with which it is said to have
been at that time connected by a subterranean passage. Several of the
Navarrese sovereigns had already been buried there, for the See was a
kind of primacy, the Bishops being _ex-officio_ presidents of the States
of Beam.(3)
1 M. Lalanne, in his edition of Brantome's works, maintains
that Margaret did not die at Odos, near Tarbes, but at
Audaux, near Orthez, basing this contention on the fact that
Brantome calls the castle "Audos in Beam," and that Odos is
in Bigorre.
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