ABSTRACT
This chapter explores why, in an age when women's roles were being constrained, was Marguerite allowed to hold political power. In this chapter, political authority is defined as the rights to administer the courts and exchequers, to distribute offices and Church benefices and livings, and to direct the bailli, receveur general, and other officers within the given territory. Political authority also encompassed the power to establish and maintain patronage networks linking clients and positions within her territories to positions and clients outside them. The marriage contract between Marguerite and Charles dAlencon had specifically given Marguerite the usufruct of Alencon should the couple be childless at Charles' death. Marguerite's usufruct of the duchy had not gone unchallenged, however, and the situation triggered by the royal commissioners in 1537 was exacerbated by that challenge. Marguerite demonstrated her political authority in other ways that are not as directly related to her role as ruler of a given duchy.
