Short answers, pulled from the story.
Marguerite de Navarre entered the world on the 11th of April 1492 in Angoulême, France. Her mother Louise of Savoy took charge of her upbringing after becoming a widow at nineteen years old.
François Rabelais Clément Marot Claude de Bectoz Pierre de Ronsard and Julián Íñiguez de Medrano all found refuge there. Leonardo da Vinci also lived nearby at Clos Lucé while working for Marguerite and her brother Francis I starting in December 1515.
The union ended when Charles died in 1525 without producing any children. This marriage forced the princess into wedlock with an illiterate man for political expediency regarding the County of Armagnac.
She undertook a dangerous journey negotiating his release after his capture at the Battle of Pavia Italy in 1525. Queen Marguerite rode horseback through wintry woods twelve hours daily for many days to meet safe-conduct deadlines while writing diplomatic letters at night.
Scholars believe her grief over losing her only son Jean on Christmas Day 1530 motivated writing this controversial work which presents a mystical narrative where the soul yearns for Christ as father-brother-lover. The piece led one monk to suggest sewing her into a sack before throwing it into the Seine River due to charges of heresy.