Besides Margaret of Valois, she is
known as Margaret of Angouleme, from her place of birth and her father's
title; Margaret of Alencon, from the fief of her first husband; Margaret
of Navarre, of which country, like her grand-niece, she was queen, by
her second marriage with Henry d'Albret; and even Margaret of Orleans,
as belonging to the Orleans branch of the royal house. She was not,
like her nieces, Margaret of France, as her father never reigned, and
Brantome properly denies her the title, but others sometimes give it.
When it is necessary to call her anything besides the simple "Margaret,"
Angouleme is at once the most appropriate and the most distinctive
designation. She was born on the 11th or 12th of April 1492, her father
being Charles, Count of Angouleme, and her mother Louise of Savoy. She
was their eldest child, and two years older than her brother, the future
King Francis. According to, and even in excess of, the custom of the
age, she received a very learned education, acquiring not merely the
three tongues, French, Italian, and Spanish, which were all in common
use at the French Court during her time, but Latin, and even a little
Greek and a little Hebrew.
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