Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron: A Speculum Principis?

• In Event: Vision and Its Instruments in Early Modern Literature I

Abstract

The Speculum principis or “mirror for princes” genre offers advice to the ruling elite regarding their spiritual, social, and political responsibilities. Notable titles include Christine de Pizan’s Livre du corps de policie , the Institutio principis christiani of Erasmus, and Guillaume Budé’s L’Institution du prince. Also included in this genre are conduct books for noble children, like the Enseignements de la duchesse de Bourbon à sa fille Suzanne, written by Anne de France. We know that Marguerite de Navarre was familiar with the specular dimension of texts, as she wrote two mystical mirrors: Le Miroir de l’âme pécheresse and Le Miroir de Jhesus Christ crucifié. In this presentation, I will suggest that she was also interested in more worldly mirrors and that her Heptameron can be read (at least in part) as a sort of speculum principis, influenced by the likes of Erasmus and Anne de France, albeit with significant differences.

Author

• Nancy Frelick, University of British Columbia