Madeleine of Valois
Madeleine de Valois by Corneille de la Haye
Queen consort of Scotland
Tenure	1 January 1537 – 7 July 1537
Born	10 August 1520 Chteau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Died	7 July 1537 (aged 16) Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland
Burial	Holyrood Abbey
Spouse	James V of Scotland   ​ (m. 1537)​
House	Valois-Angoulême
Father	Francis I of France
Mother	Claude, Duchess of Brittany

Madeleine of Valois (10 August 1520 – 7 July 1537) was a French princess who briefly became Queen of Scotland in 1537 as the first wife of King James V. The marriage was arranged in accordance with the Treaty of Rouen, and they were married at Notre-Dame de Paris in January 1537, despite French reservations over her failing health. Madeleine died in July 1537, only six months after the wedding and less than two months after arriving in Scotland, resulting in her nickname, the "Summer Queen".

Madeleine was born at the Chteau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the fifth child and third daughter of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, herself the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany.

She was frail from birth, and grew up in the warm and temperate Loire Valley region of France, rather than at Paris, as her father feared that the cold would destroy her delicate health. Together with her sister, Margaret, she was raised by her aunt, Marguerite de Navarre until her father remarried and his new wife, Eleanor of Austria, took them into her own household.^[1] By her sixteenth birthday, she had contracted tuberculosis.^[2]

Three years before Madeleine's birth, the Franco-Scottish Treaty of Rouen was made to bolster the Auld Alliance after Scotland's defeat at the Battle of Flodden. A marriage between a French princess and the Scottish King was one of its provisions.^[3] In April 1530, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, was appointed commissioner to finalize the royal marriage between James V and Madeleine.^[4] However, as Madeleine did not enjoy good health, another French bride, Mary of Bourbon, was proposed.^[5]

James V sent his herald James Atkinhead to see Mary of Bourbon,^[6] and a contract was made for James to marry her. King James travelled to France in 1536 to meet Mary of Bourbon, but smitten with the delicate Madeleine, he asked Francis I for her hand in marriage. Fearing the harsh climate of Scotland would prove fatal to his daughter's already failing health, Francis I initially refused to permit the marriage.^[7]

James V met Francis I and the French royal household between Roanne and Lyon on 13 October.^[8] He continued to press Francis I for Madeleine's hand, and despite his reservations and nagging fears, Francis I reluctantly granted permission to the marriage only after Madeleine made her interest in marrying James very obvious. The court moved down the Loire Valley to Amboise, and to the Chteau de Blois, and the marriage contract was signed on 26 November 1536.^[9]

In preparation for the wedding, Francis I bought clothes and furnishings for Madeleine; jewels and gold chains were supplied by Regnault Danet, linen and cloths by Marie de Genevoise and Phillipe Savelon, clothes by the tailors Marceau Goursault and Charles Lacquait, veils by Jean Guesdon, and trimmings by Victor de Laval, who also made passementerie for a bed that Francis gave the couple. The goldsmith Thibault Hotman made silver plate for Madeleine.^[10][11] The merchants of the royal "argenterie", René Tardif and Robert Fichepain supplied silks and woollen cloth.^[12] A quantity of gold and silver trimmings for embroidering the clothes of Madeleine and her ladies were ordered from Baptiste Dalverge, a wire-drawer.^[13] A platform walkway was constructed from the Bishop's Palace to Notre-Dame de Paris.^[14]

After a Royal Entry into Paris on 31 December 1536,^[15] they were married at Notre-Dame on 1 January 1537.^[2] There was a banquet that night in the Great Hall of the Palais de la Cité.^[16] Over the next two weeks there were further celebrations and tournaments at the Chteau de la Tournelle and Louvre.^[17] The wedding festivities in 1537 were similar to those of 24 April 1558, for the wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of France.^[18]

Francis I provided Madeleine with a generous dowry of 100,000 écu, and a further 30,000 francs settled on James V. According to the marriage contract made at Blois, Madeleine renounced her and any of her heirs' claims to the French throne. If James died first, Madeleine would retain for her lifetime assets including the Earldoms of Fife, Strathearn, Ross, and Orkney with Falkland Palace, Stirling Castle, and Dingwall Castle, with the Lordship of Galloway and Threave Castle.^[19]

In February the couple moved to Chantilly, to Senlis and Compiègne, where James received the Papal gift of hat and sword.^[20][21][22] They stayed two nights at the Chteau de La Roche-Guyon.^[23] After months of festivities and celebrations, the couple left France for Scotland from Le Havre in May 1537. The French ships were commanded by Jacques de Fountaines, Sieur de Mormoulins.^[24] On 15 May, English sailors sold fish to the Scottish and French fleet off Bamburgh Head.^[25] Madeleine's health deteriorated even further, and she was very sick when the royal pair landed in Scotland. They arrived at Leith at 10 o'clock on Whitsun-eve, 19 May 1537.^[26]

According to John Lesley the ships were laden with her possessions;

"besides the Quenes Hienes furnitour, hinginis, and appareill, quhilk wes schippit at Newheavin and careit in Scotland, was also in hir awin cumpanye, transportit with hir majestie in Scotland, mony costlye jewells and goldin wark, precious stanis, orient pearle, maist excellent of any sort that was in Europe, and mony coistly abilyeaments for hir body, with mekill silver wark of coistlye cupbordis, cowpis, & plaite."^[27]

A list or inventory of wedding presents from Francis I also survives, including Arras tapestry, cloths of estate, rich beds, two cupboards of silver gilt plate, table carpets, and Persian carpets.^[28][29] Francis I also gave James V three of the ships, the Salamander, Morsicher, and Great Unicorn.^[30] Madeleine took up residence at Holyrood Palace on 21 May 1537.^[31]

The French courtiers who came with her to Scotland to form her household included; her former governess, Anne de Boissy Gouffier, Madame de Montreuil; Anne de Viergnon, Madame de Bren or Bron; Anne Le Maye; Marguerite de Vergondois her chamberer; Marion Truffaut, her nurse; her secretary, Jean de Langeac, Bishop of Limoges; master household, Jean de St Aubin; squires and cupbearers Charles de Marconnay and Charles du Merlier; the physician Master Partix; pages John Crammy and Pierre de Ronsard; furrier Gillan; butcher John Kenneth; barber Anthony.^[32][33][34] A physician from Paris, Jacques Lecoq, set out later to join her in Scotland.^[35]

Madeleine wrote to her father from Edinburgh on 8 June 1537 saying that she was better and her symptoms had diminished. James V had written to Francis I asking him to send the physician Master Francisco, and Madeleine wrote that he was now needed only to perfect her cure. She signed this letter "Magdalene de France".^[36] However, a month later, on 7 July 1537, (a month before her 17th birthday), Madeleine, the so-called "Summer Queen" of Scots, died in her husband's arms at Holyrood Palace.^[37]

James V wrote to Francis I informing him of his daughter's death.^[38] He called Madeleine "my dear companion" – votre fille, ma trés chére compaigne.^[39]

Queen Madeleine was interred in Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, next to King James II of Scotland. Black mourning clothes were worn at her funeral, and an order was sent to the merchants of Dundee to provide black cloth. Her household servants were provided with "dule gowns", and horses at the procession had black cloths and trappings.^[40][41] The chapel at Holyrood Palace was draped with cloth from Milan.^[42] The grave was desecrated by a mob in 1776 and her allegedly still beautiful head was stolen.^[43]

One of her gentlewomen, Madame de Montrueil or Motrell, visited London on her way back to France. She said that Madeleine "had no good days after her arrival there (in Scotland), but always sickly with a catarrh which descended into her stomach, which was the cause of her death".^[44]

An inventory made of the king's goods in 1542 includes some of her clothes, furnishings for her chapel, six stools for her gentlewomen to sit upon, and gold cups and other items made for her when she was a child.^[45]

Madeleine's marriage and death were commemorated by the poet David Lyndsay's Deploration of Deith of Quene Magdalene; the poem describes the pageantry of the marriage in France and Scotland:

O Paris! Of all citeis principall!
Quhilk did resave our prince with laud and glorie,
Solempnitlie, throw arkis triumphall. [arkis = arches]
* * * * * *
Thou mycht have sene the preparatioun
Maid be the Thre Estaitis of Scotland
In everilk ciete, castell, toure, and town
* * * * * *
Thow saw makand rycht costlie scaffalding
Depaynted weill with gold and asure fyne
* * * * * *
Disagysit folkis, lyke creaturis devyne,
On ilk scaffold to play ane syndrie storie
Bot all in greiting turnit thow that glorie. [greiting = crying: thow = death]^[46]

Epitaphs in Latin were composed by the French writers Etienne Dolet, Nicolas Desfrenes, Jean Visagier, and an anonymous poet. Gilles Corrozet and Pierre de Ronsard wrote verses in French.^[47]

Less than a year after her death, following negotiations completed by David Beaton, James V married the widowed Mary of Guise. She had attended his wedding to Madeleine, and perhaps her uncle, Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, suggested her to Francis I as a bride for the Scottish king.^[48] Twenty years later, listed amongst the treasures in Edinburgh Castle were two little gold cups, an agate basin, a jasper vase, and crystal jug given to Madeleine when she was a child in France.^[49]

Obelix and Co. (Obélix et Compagnie)
Date	1978
Series	Asterix
Creative team
Writers	Rene Goscinny
Artists	Albert Uderzo
Original publication
Date of publication	1976
Language	French
Chronology
Preceded by	Asterix Conquers Rome
Followed by	Asterix in Belgium

Obelix and Co. is the twenty-third volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations).^[1] The book's main focus is on the attempts by the Gaul-occupying Romans to corrupt the one remaining village that still holds out against them by instilling capitalism. It is also the penultimate volume written by Goscinny before his death in 1977; his final volume, Asterix in Belgium, was released after his death in 1979.^[2]

After Obelix single-handedly defeats a newly arrived battalion of Roman soldiers, Julius Caesar ponders over how to defeat the village of rebellious Gauls. A young advisor Preposterus, using his studies in economics, proposes that the Gauls to be integrated into capitalism, pointing out how Caesar's advisors have grown decadent with their wealth. Caesar agrees and sends Preposterus to one of the village's outlying Roman camps. Upon meeting Obelix carrying a menhir through the forest, Preposterus offers to buy the menhir and make Obelix a rich man, on the pretext it will give him influence, by buying every menhir he can make. Obelix agrees and begins making and delivering a single menhir a day to him.

Preposterus raises the demand for menhirs, forcing Obelix to hire villagers – while some aid him, the others hunt boar for himself and his new workers. The resulting workload causes him to neglect his faithful companion Dogmatix, while Asterix refuses to help him, concerned on what this is doing to him. As Obelix grows wealthy and begins wearing ostentatious clothes, many of the village's men are criticised by their wives for not matching his success. In response, many turn to making their own menhirs to sell to the Romans, with Getafix supplying them with magic potion for their work. While everyone (except for Asterix, Getafix, Cacofonix and Vitalstatistix) profits from the growing menhir demand, Asterix believes that this new change will not last.

Preposterus brings the excess stock of menhirs to Caesar, who is upset that Preposterus' plan is placing him in financial debt. Preposterus proposes to sell the menhirs to patricians on the pretext they are a symbol of great wealth and high rank. However, other provinces begin making their own menhirs to sell, creating a growing Menhir crisis that is crippling the Roman economy and threatening a civil conflict from the Empire's workforce. To put a stop to this, Caesar orders Preposterus to cease further trading with Gauls or face being thrown to the lions.

Meanwhile, Obelix becomes miserable from the wealth and power he made, having never understood it all, and how much it has changed other villagers, making him wish to go back to how life was with Asterix and Dogmatix. Asterix offers to go hunting boar with him if he reverts to his old clothes. When Preposterus arrives to announce he will stop buying menhirs, the villagers claim Obelix knew of this in advance and they fight with him. Asterix instead convinces the villagers to attack the Romans, and while Obelix sits out the fight, they wreck the camp and Preposterus. The menhir crisis caused the villagers sestertius to be devalued, and the village holds a traditional banquet to celebrate the return to normality.

• The book is a parody of capitalism:
  • While Obelix could hunt boar before, he begins to overwork for the purpose of buying them (and ridiculous clothing). This pointless circle of money is something Obelix never understands in the first place, when all this stress could be prevented by simply hunting and living the simple life like before.
  • Capitalism is also looked at as pointless through the fact that the only thing that represents it by being bought serves no practical purpose, as a menhir is simply a large stone.
• When the makers of Roman menhirs are banned from selling their stock, they block the Roman roads in protest at the loss of their jobs.
• The London School of Economics is referred to as the Latin School of Economics, where Preposterus is trained. It is the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) through the Nouvelle École d'Affranchis (NEA) in the original.

• The character of Preposterus is a parody of French politician Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and himself President of the Republic from 1995 to 2007.
• On page 27, Laurel and Hardy make an appearance as Roman legionaries ordered to unload the menhirs from Obelix's cart.
• When, on page 2, the Romans leave the camp, two of the legionaries are carrying a drunk on a shield. The bearers are Goscinny and Uderzo themselves and the drunk is their friend Pierre Tchernia.
• In this story, camp life for the Roman legionaries is shown as undisciplined and complacent, mostly due to the lack of any conflict with the Gaulish villagers during the Menhir trade. In other Asterix adventures they are usually vigilant, clean-shaven, and well-organized; but here the men's faces are covered in stubble and life is almost anarchic. This laxity is represented in the watchtower guard, who becomes increasingly dishevelled with every appearance.
• Page 36 of this book was the 1000th page of Asterix. It is the page in which Preposterus uses a number of stone tablets in order to explain his strategy of selling menhirs to an increasingly bewildered Caesar. This panel had been hailed as a remarkable explanation of modern commerce and advertising. To mark this special page 36, there is a small panel with the names of the authors, and right under another small panel with the Roman numeral M, meaning 1000th, and below a tiny Latin text saying 'Albo notamba lapillo'. It should read 'Albo notanda lapillo', which means literally "To be noted with a white stone" and has given the well-known French expression "à marquer d'une pierre blanche", meaning in English "to go down as a milestone" (alternatively this expression is used in referring more precisely to a calendar day, probable origin of the expression in the Antiquity : albo notanda lapillo dies, "day to be noted with a white stone", meaning "red letter day"-), but it is here purposely misspelled in Latin : "notamba", a pun in French meaning "note en bas", literally "note at the bottom" or footnote, which is what the panel is.
• Getafix's comment on page 30 "And the funny thing is, we still don't know what menhirs are for!" refers to the fact that modern archeologists and historians are uncertain what purpose they served.
• The "Egyptian menhir" advertised in Rome is an obelisk, similar to Cleopatra's Needle.

• Catalan: Obèlix i companyia
• Croatian: Obelix d.o.o.
• Czech: Obelix & spol.
• Danish: Obelix & Co. ApS
• Dutch: Obelix & co.
• Estonian: Ärimees Obelix
• Finnish: Obelix ja kumpp.
• German: Obelix GmbH & Co. KG
• Greek: Οβελίξ και Σία
• Hebrew: אובליקס וחבורתו
• Hungarian: Obelix és társa
• Indonesian: Obèlix dan Kawan-kawan
• Italian: Asterix e la Obelix SpA
• Norwegian: Obelix & Co. A/S
• Polish: Obeliks i spółka
• Portuguese: Obélix e Companhia
• Turkish: Oburiks ve Şirketi
• Serbian: Obeliksovo preduzeće
• Spanish: Obélix y compañía
• Swedish: Obelix & Co.