What did she do after the battle of Saint-Laurens, when the state was so shaken and the King had hastened to Compiegne to raise a new army?

She became so wrapped up in state affairs that she so aroused and stirred up the gentlemen of Paris that they gave prompt aid to their King, which came at a good time, and included money and other things very necessary in war.

Furthermore, when the King, her husband, was wounded, persons who were there and saw it cannot be uninformed of the great care she took for his cure, and the vigils she kept by his bedside; the prayers she offered continuously; the processions and visitations she made to the churches; and the hurried journeys she made in all directions for doctors and surgeons.  But the King’s hour had come; and when he passed from this world to the next, her grief was so great and she shed so many tears that it would seem she never could control them, and ever after, whenever his name was spoken the tears welled up from the depths of her eyes.  For this reason she assumed a device in keeping and suitable to her tears and mourning, namely, a mound of quicklime over which the drops from heaven fall abundantly, with these words in Latin as a motto:  Adorem extincta testantur vivere flamma (Although the flame is extinguished, this testifies that the fire still lives).  The drops of water, like her tears, show ardour, though the flame has been extinguished.  This device is allegorical of the nature of quicklime, which when watered burns strangely and shows its fire though the flame is wanting.  Thus did our Queen show her zeal and affection by her tears, though the flame, which typified her husband, was now extinct.  And this was the same as saying that, although he was dead, she wished to show by her tears that she could never forget him, but would love him always.

A similar device was formerly borne by Madame Valentine de Milan, Duchess d’Orleans, after the death of her husband, who was killed in Paris, for whom she grieved so much, that as a solace and comfort in her mourning, she assumed as device a watering pot, above which was an S, meaning, it is said, Seule, souvenir, soucis, soupirer (Lonely, remembrance, solicitude, sighing).  And around the watering-pot were inscribed these words, Rien ne m’est plus; plus ne m’est rien (Nought is more to me; more is to me nothing).  This device is still to be seen in her chapel in the Church of the Franciscans at Blois.

Good King Rene of Sicily having lost his wife Isabel, Duchess de Lorraine, suffered such great grief that he never was happy afterwards; and when his intimate friends and favourites tried to console him he was wont to lead them to his bedroom and there show them a picture, painted by himself (for he was an excellent painter), depicting a Turkish bow unstrung, beneath, which was written, Arco per lentare piaga non sana (The bow although unstrung heals not the wounds).