ABSTRACT
Daughter of Henry d’Albret and Margaret d’Angouleme, Jeanne d’Albret was to be betrothed to the duke of Cleves at the insistence of Francis I for political reasons in 1540 but her adamant opposition brought the matter to naught. Jeanne married Antoine of Bourbon in 1548 who, despite some public vacillation, stayed a loyal Catholic. Jeanne's conversion triggered a rebellion of her Catholic subjects who, during the Third War of Religion, were supported by the king. Jeanne died of tuberculosis in 1572, a few weeks before the wedding of her son Henry and Marguerite of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medicis, and the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The role of the Jews in late medieval Europe differed both in different countries and over time. By the early 16th century the European-wide situation was characterized by the fact that most European countries, notably Spain, as is so well known, had expelled the Jews.
