Marguerite de Navarre was one of the most educated and powerful women of Renaissance Europe. The Heptaméron, her celebrated collection of tales and debates, offers readers invaluable insights into diverse aspects of sixteenth-century French society. Scholars of Marguerite have written extensively on the complexities of her religious thought, but the influence of Catholic narrative tradition on the Heptaméron has been underexplored. Through an analysis of Marguerite’s tales together with literary works, religious writings, and visual images of the saints, Hagiography in Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron reveals the important relationship between the Queen of Navarre’s text, hagiographic tradition, and various sixteenth-century controversies. By contextualizing the Heptaméron within these theological and literary debates, this volume illustrates how Marguerite both borrowed from and revised hagiography to lend greater authority to her writing, advocate on behalf of women, and craft an innovative response to polemics about gender, religion, and the cult of saints.

LEANNA BRIDGE REZVANI is a Lecturer in French at MIT. She received a PhD from Boston College and has published articles on Marguerite de Navarre, Madame de Lafayette, and Marguerite de Roberval. In addition, she has developed websites on Marguerite de Roberval, the Heptaméron, and La Princesse de Clèves. She also created and maintains the website for the Marguerite de Navarre Society.

Contents

Introduction: Marguerite, the Saints, and Renaissance Debates 

Chapter 1: Beyond Boccaccio: Saints’ Vitae and the Heptaméron 
Chapter 2: The Prologue, Pilgrimage, and Prophetesses in the Heptaméron 
Chapter 3: Violence, Sufferings, and the Persecution of Saintly Women 
Chapter 4: Saintly Women Confined and Isolated 
Chapter 5: The Holiness of Saint Francis, the False Sanctity of the Franciscans, and Ungodly Clerics and Women 

Conclusion: The Final Tale, Revising Hagiography, and Offering Hope 

Notes 
Bibliography 
About the Author