Not being male, having “a good head and a true heart”, and fighting and defending with words to “put out the fires before they start”, are just some the themes woven into this study. Not being male, Anne counsels Suzanne to think, stand firm, and fight and defend with words (and silence) instead of resorting to “steel and flame”. Gendered strategies such as these were learnt and passed on by Anne to the next generation and before her by the foremothers and kinswomen of her matriline, a matriline that gave birth to a succession of powerful and independent female players some of whom we have encountered in this study. This same matriline begat and passed on its accumulated knowledge and wisdom to Anne’s father Louis XI le Prudent, a monarch who judiciously fought both offensively and defensively with words and strategic rhetoric, avoiding wherever possible the expense and devastation of war by learning from his early mistakes and missteps.