King René d'Anjou and His Seven Queens
CHAPTER IX
JEHANNE DE LAVAL
Roses--“December” and “May”--A famous House--The Queen of Beauty--All in love with Jehanne--The champion’s crest--A tournament banquet--The Grand Prix--René struck with Jehanne--His Genoese innamorate--“Devils at home”--A second marriage desirable--The King bemoans Isabelle--No festivities--A moral allegory--A new course of life--Costly offerings--“Les Tards-Venus”--Court of Love at Les Baux--“La Passe Rose”--A coffin full of golden hair--Ruralizing royalty--Jehanne, nymph of the bosquets--“Pastorals”--“Regnault et Jehanneton”--All fall in love, and all fall out!--An allegory of chivalry--Cuer reads the strange inscription--Louis XI.’s outrageous behaviour--“L’Abuzé en Court”--René the victim--The Pageant of the Pheasant--An elysium of love--The Queen’s virtues--Her portrait--René’s school of architects--St. Bernardin, the King’s confessor--René’s heart--Pious Sovereigns--Relics--The crown of Catalonia--Queen Jehanne and Queen Margaret--Church spectacles--Magnificent hospitality--Demoiselle Odille--La Petite Hélène--Patroness of crafts--“The Golden Rose”--René’s green old age--“Le bon Roy est mort!”--Marie de la Chapelle’s children--Queen Jehanne retires to Beaufort--A studious widow--“I have no other rôle to play!”-“La Reine” in an iron cage--The Queen’s sweet death--Her will--Her monument and René’s--“Priez pour la bonne Jehanne” 306-356
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
CEREMONIOUS ENTRY OF THE “LADY OF THE CREST” _Frontispiece_
QUEEN YOLANDA D’ARRAGONA 30
ENTRY OF A QUEEN INTO HER CAPITAL 40
FAVOURITE RECREATIONS 50
A MYSTERY 60
KING LOUIS II. OF SICILY-ANJOU 68
COMMUNION OF A KNIGHT 74
A ROYAL REPAST 80
STREET SCENE IN AIX 86
QUEEN ISABELLE DE LORRAINE 94
KING RENÉ (_circa_ 1440) 106
ROYAL PATRONESSES AND CRAFTS 118
“CŒUR” AND “THE ISLAND OF LOVE” 130
“THE WHITE QUEEN”--JEANNE D’ARC 144
EXPULSION OF GAY WOMEN 152
SIEGE OF ORLÉANS 160
SACRÉ OF CHARLES VII. 168
QUEEN MARIE D’ANJOU 174
A BESIEGED CASTLE 184
KING RENÉ AND HIS COURT 194
QUEENS, JUDGES, AND KNIGHTS 204
QUEEN GIOVANNA II. DA NAPOLI 216
HOMAGE OF A VASSAL 226
KING AND QUEEN IN STONE 236
KING RENÉ AND GUARINI DA VERONA 246
QUEEN MARGUERITE D’ANJOU 254
BEFORE THE “LISTS” 268
KING RENÉ IN HIS STUDY 280
AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS 292
QUEEN JEHANNE DE LAVAL 306
ST. MADELEINE PREACHING 320
“THE BURNING BUSH” 334
KING RENÉ (_circa_ 1470) 348
PREFACE
KING RENÉ D’ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS--yes, I stand by my title, and offer no apology to the captious and the curious.
René was the most remarkable personality in the French Renaissance. How many English readers of the romance of history, I wonder, know anything about him but his name? Of his “seven Queens,” two only are at all familiar to the English public,--Marguerite d’Anjou and Jeanne d’Arc,--and their stories as commonly told are unconvincing. The other five are not known even by name to the majority of people; therefore I have immense pleasure in introducing them to any clientèle: Yolanda d’Arragona, Isabelle de Lorraine, Jehanne de Laval, Giovanna II. da Napoli, Jeanne d’Arc and Marguerite d’Anjou. This galaxy of Queens, fair and frail, will appeal as something entirely new in sentimental biography to those in search of novelty.
Turgid facts of history and dryasdust statistics of the past are, of course, within everybody’s ken, or they are supposed to be--this is an age of snobbery! Piquant stories of the persons and foibles of famous men and women are my measure, and such you will have in plenty in my narratives. To get at my facts and fictions I have dug deep into the records of Court chroniclers, and I think I have blended very successfully the spirit of the troubadours and the spirit of the age of chivalry. At the end of the volume I have added a Bibliography, for the benefit of sententious students, and my Index is as full as possible, to assist the casual reader.
The illustrations which adorn my pages have been gathered from many sources. I think they will greatly assist the appreciation of my work. With respect to portraits of my “Queens,” there are no extant likenesses of Yolanda and Jeanne: for the latter I have chosen to reproduce the historical imaginative fresco of M. Lepenveu, at the Pantheon in Paris; for the former the stained-glass window effigy at Le Mans Cathedral must do duty. Queen Isabelle is an enlargement of a miniature by René; Queen Marie is after a French picture of the School of Jean Focquet, now at the National Gallery, London, but wrongly entitled. Queen Giovanna II. is from an altar-piece in the National Museum at Naples. Queen Marguerite is from a miniature by her father,--her portraits in England are eminently unsatisfactory and non-contemporary,--Queen Jehanne is from the right wing of the Aix triptych, by Nicholas Froment.
There is, I think, nothing more to add to my preface, so I leave “King René and his Seven Queens” _tête-à-tête_ with my discerning public. If they are found to be entertaining company I am repaid.
EDGCUMBE STALEY.
CHRONOLOGY
1399. Marriage of Louis II. d’Anjou and Yolanda d’Arragona.
1408. Birth of René d’Anjou.
1411. Giovanna II. succeeds to throne of Naples.
1417. René adopted by Cardinal de Bar.
1420. Marriage of René and Isabelle de Lorraine.
1422. Marie d’Anjou marries Charles VII.
1424. René, Duke of Barrois.
1429. Jeanne d’Arc and René at Siege of Orléans.
1431. René, Duke of Lorraine; prisoner at Bulgneville.
1433. René’s campaign in Italy.
1434. René, King of Sicily, etc.
1435. Giovanna II. dies; René, King of Naples.
1437. René released finally from Tour de Bar.
1441. René retires from Italy.
1442. Queen Yolanda dies.
1445. Marriage of Marguerite d’Anjou and Henry VI.
1448. Order of the _Croissant_ established.
1453. Queen Isabelle dies.
1455. Marriage of René and Jehanne de Laval.
1463. Queen Marie dies.
1465. René proclaimed King of Catalonia.
1470. Jean, Duke of Calabria, King of Catalonia, dies.
1473. René retires from Anjou, which is seized by Louis XI.
1480. René dies.
1482. Queen Marguerite dies.
1498. Queen Jehanne dies.
KING RENÉ D’ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS