again, thanks to a rope thrown out of his sister's window. Court of Nérac Shortly afterwards, Margaret, who denied any participation in this escape, finally got permission to join her husband. Catherine also saw the years pass and still had no heir. She hoped for a new wedding and invited her son-in-law to act as a good husband. Perhaps Henry III and the Queen-Mother also hoped that Margaret could play a conciliation role in the troubled provinces of the southwest. For her return with her husband, Margaret was accompanied by her mother and her chancellor, a renowned humanist, magistrate and poet, Guy Du Faur de Pibrac. This journey was an opportunity for entering the cities crossed, a way of forging closer ties with the reigning family. At the end of their journey, they finally found the King of Navarre. Catherine and her son-in-law agreed on the modalities of the execution of the last edict of pacification – the object of the Nérac conference in 1579. Then, the Queen-Mother returned to Paris. After her departure, the spouses stayed briefly in Pau where Margaret suffered from the prohibition of Catholic worship. They then settled in Nérac, capital of the Albret, which was part of the kingdom of France and where the religious regulations and intolerance in force in Béarn did not apply: Queen Margaret worked to create a refined court. She was indeed forming a true literary academy. Besides Agrippa d'Aubigné, Navarre's companion in arms, and Pibrac, the poet Saluste du Bartas or Montaigne frequented the court. Margaret had many exchanges with the author of the Essays. The court of Nérac became especially famous for the amorous adventures that occurred there, to the point of having inspired Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Margaret had an affair with one of the most illustrious companions of her husband, the Vicomte de Turenne. Henry of Navarre, on his side, endeavored to conquer all the maids of honor who accompanied his wife. In 1579, a religious war, later called the "Lovers' War", broke out between the Huguenots and King Henry III. The conflict was provoked by the misapplication of the last edict of pacification and by a conflict between Navarre and the lieutenant-general of the king in Guyenne, a province in which Henry was governor. During the conflict, Margaret rather took the side of her husband. It lasted briefly (1579–1580), thanks in part to the queen of