From the Funeral Oration to the Mirror of the Princesses The Oraison funèbre de Marguerite de Navarre (1550) by Charles de Sainte-Marthe

In April 1550, the French version of the Oraison funèbre de Marguerite de Navarre, translated from Latin by its author Charles de Sainte-Marthe, is presented with the remarkable subtitle “Icy is the mirror of the princesses”. The epidictic approach of the eulogy is accompanied by an exhortation to virtue based on the imitation of Marguerite, and, in view of this edifying end, the layout of the funeral speech is profoundly remodeled, the marginal note henceforth acquiring a fundamental role.