The relationship between the historical Marguerite de la Rocque and the fictional or fictionalized versions of her that have accumulated across nearly five centuries is complex, and it deserves some direct engagement.

The core historical facts — the abandonment, the survival, the deaths of companions, the rescue by fishermen — appear to rest on real events.

The queen of Navarre, who appears to have heard the story from someone who knew Marguerite or who heard it from a direct source, was not writing fiction in the sixty-seventh tale; she was preserving an account of real events in the literary form available to her.

Thevet claimed to have spoken with Marguerite directly, which would make some elements of his account primary sources rather than secondary embellishments.