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KING RENÉ D’ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS
[Illustration: THE CEREMONIOUS ENTRY OF THE “LADY OF THE CREST” SAUMUR
TOURNAMENT 1446
From “Le Livre des Tournois” Painted by King René]
KING RENÉ D’ANJOU AND HIS SEVEN QUEENS
by
EDGCUMBE STALEY
Author of
“Lords and Ladies of the Italian Lakes,” “Guilds of Florence,”
“Fair Women of Florence,” “Tragedies of the Medici,”
“Dogaressas of Venice,” “Heroines of Genoa and the Rivieras,”
etc.
With Coloured Frontispiece and Thirty-Five Other Illustrations
“Fides Vitat Servata”
_King René’S Motto_
[Illustration]
London
John Long, Limited
Norris Street, Haymarket
MCMXII
TO
MY BROTHER VERNON
AND
HIS WIFE ETHEL
CONTENTS
PAGES
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY--KING RENÉ
King René’s titles--His character--A beau-ideal
Prince--His occupations--His work as an artist--Visits to
Italy--Scrivani--“The Burning Bush”--“Souls in Purgatory”--“La
Divina Commedia”--“St. Madeleine preaching”--“Preces Præ”--“Pas
d’Armes”--“Livres des Heures”--René’s literary work--“Regnault
et Jehanneton”--“Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance”--“La
Conquête de la Doulce Mercy”--“L’Abuzé en Court”--“Le
Tracte des Tournois”--Charles d’Anjou-Orléans--Dance
songs--Letters--Collections, books, curios, etc.--Work as a
craftsman--Orders and Guilds--Agricultural tastes--The rose de
Provence--Workshops--“Les Comptes de Roy René”--La Cheminée du
Roy--Intercourse with his people--A troubadour King--Relics--A
famous winecup 17-29
CHAPTER II
YOLANDA D’ARRAGONA--I.
A Queen in labour--Natural children--Princess
Juanita--“La Gaya Ciencia”--Troubadours--Iolande de
Flandres--Bar-le-Duc--Highwaymen--Recruits--Fêtes
galants--Court of Love--Juan I., King of Aragon--A beauteous
damsel--L’Académie des Jeux Floraux--A royal Mainteneuse--Nails
in their heads!--“Plucking the turkey”!--“Quite as good as
you!”--“A gay woman”--A royal baptism--Princess Yolanda--The
Salic Law--A bridegroom-elect--Mauled by a wolf--A silver
throne--“The Queen!”--Bullfights--A royal trousseau--A
brilliant cavalcade--Louis II. d’Anjou--Attractive
girls--Castle of Montpellier--A royal progress--“The Loves
of Louis and Yolanda”--A King-suitor in disguise--An ardent
kiss--A royal marriage--Beautiful Arlésiennes--“A lovely
creature!”--A splendid dowry--Gardens at Tarascon--Legend of
St. Martha--A deadly dragon--State entry into Angers--The
castle and its contents--“Mysteries”--Inartistic
fare--Feastings--Yolanda Lieutenant-General of Anjou--English
invasion--Rabbit with a medallion--Isabeau de Bavière--A
wasp-like waist--Jewels--Catherine de Valois--Yolanda’s
first-born--The “Black Death”--Queen-Duchess Marie--Princess
Marie--Taxes and tax-gatherers--René d’Anjou born--St.
Renatus--The Queen’s enterprise--Cutting off his
tail!--Claimants for a throne--A piteous little Prince--A royal
betrothal--Henry V. of England--Louis II. in Italy--His death 30-66
CHAPTER III
YOLANDA D’ARRAGONA--II.
Royal mourning--Cardinal Louis de Bar--Yolande a
constitutional Sovereign--The Duke of Burgundy--Matrimonial
alliances--Tournaments--Princess Margherita di Savoia--Louis
III. fights for the crown of Naples--Queen Giovanna
II.--Princess Isabelle de Lorraine--A stick for a bad
woman!--René takes up arms--A vassal--Ordre de la Fidélité--The
Van Eycks--Treasures--Gardens at Bar-le-Duc--Floral
games--Fortune is a woman!--Battle of Baugé--Birth of Louis XI.
of France--Jeanne d’Arc--A panel of matrons--Slanders--Queen
Yolande’s daring--Charles VII. inert--René Duke of Barrois--A
débauché Prince--A young widow--Preux chevaliers--A
love-match--Princess Catherine de Champagne burnt to
death--René and Isabelle married--René Duke of Lorraine--Battle
of Bulgneville--A royal prisoner--A foisted child--A beretta
crown--Prince Jean--Duke of Calabria--Princess Marie de
Bourbon--Agnes Sorel, the most lovely girl in France--Queen
Yolande in private life--The Castle of Saumur--Queen Yolande’s
death--Her character--No trace of her grave--Théophaine la
Magine--A quaint epitaph--The stained-glass windows of Le Mans
Cathedral--“A good mother and a great Queen” 67-93
CHAPTER IV
ISABELLE DE LORRAINE
Child marriages--“The Pride of Lorraine”--A mailed
fist--Duchess’s bare feet--Satin skin--Cardinal matchmaker--Ten
considerations--Woman’s wit supreme--A charming boy--Jean “sans
Peur”--“Polluyon”--A Sovereign’s oath--“Noël! Noël!”--First
free Parliament in France--Veterans--Antoine de Vaudémont--“You
may go!”--Bulgneville--René a prisoner--Insecurity of life--The
Duke’s terms--Two boy hostages--La Tour de Bar--René’s
parole--Money the crux--René at Naples--The Golden Rose--A
royal artist--Music and song--Duchess Margaret dies--“Le Roi
est mort, vive le Roi!”--The sword of Lancelot--A very young
widow--Isabelle leads an army--Alfonso in check--King René
free--Women of Genoa--On the throne--A troubled land--“Cette
vraie Amazone!”--Fortune did not smile--“Too much blood”--A
dastardly outrage--Peace--Princess Marguerite betrothed--Black
armour--Jehanne de Laval--Black buffaloes--Grey hair--Splendid
tournaments--Ordre du Croissant--Double nuptials--Henry VI.
of England--Ferri carries off Yolande--Cupid’s “Lists”--The
spectre of war--Death of Queen Isabelle--“My heart has lost its
love!”--“Amour et Foy” 94-142
CHAPTER V
JEANNE D’ARC--“LA PUCELLE”
“Give me René!”--Village of Domremy--Village feuds--A busy
mother--A weird accouchement--Le Bois Chènus--Voices--St.
Michael--Mad Jehanne--A coarse kirtle--She touched the
hilt--Duke Charles’s strange visitors--A dash around
the courtyard--“Vive la nostre Royne!”--A pilgrimage
march--Priests and minstrels--A famous sword--Jeanne’s
oriflamme--A dissolute Court--Charles VI. at Chinon--A winning
hazard--Certain secrets--Jeanne’s double ordeal--Bishops
and matrons--“La Pucelle” so named by Queen Yolande--Filles
de Joie--White armour--An ultimatum--Divided counsels--The
siege of Orléans--“The Maid” wounded--En route to Reims--The
“Sacré”--Jeanne’s modesty--Her apotheosis--“Sire, I bid
you farewell”--René the hero--Jeanne the heroine--To
expel the hated English--The fall of Paris--“The Maid”
a prisoner--Deserted by everyone--A mock trial--A human
wreck--Burnt to death--A maiden’s heart and a white dove--“Ma
Royne est mort!” René’s lament--Charles’s remorse--The memory
of Jeanne d’Arc 143-173
CHAPTER VI
MARIE D’ANJOU
“The little Queen of Bourges”--A master-stroke--A lovely
bride, an ill-looking groom--An evil mother’s influence--Three
fair witches--Yolande’s prestige--Woman’s power in
France--Marie _v._ Agnes--Unhappy Charles VI.--The Châtelaine
de Courrages--A gallows and a flagellation--Marriage
of Charles and Marie--Impecuniosity--Never touched her
below the chin!--Jacques Cœur’s loyal succour--Terrible
disasters--A treacherous deed--Isabeau’s rage--Queen Marie’s
speech--A lovely bevy of Maids of Honour--Outrageous
fashions--Correcte’s crusade--“À bas les hennins!”--Scudding
stones--Plain chapelles--A faint-hearted King--Queen
Marie’s “I will”--Marie d’Anjou and Jeanne d’Arc--No place
for the Queen!--Agnes Sorel, “la Belle des Belles”--Serge
chemises--“The plaything of the most valiant King?”--Agnes’s
four daughters--A loving son--Boxed her ears!--Agnes’s heart
in gold--“Males femmes”--“Everything for France!”--Disasters
and delirium--Marie in shade and shine--A pillion--Poor
little Princess Margaret!--“A curse on life!”--A dissolute
Prince--Slander and hypocrisy--The Bastard of Orléans--A tryst
disturbed--The obscene Fête des Fous--A royal repast-Tours for
delicacies--A famous pack of cards--The Queen as a business
woman--Cocks and hens--Marie dies at Poitiers--“A good and
devout woman” 174-215
CHAPTER VII
GIOVANNA II. OF NAPLES
“Like Queen Giovanna!”--Anjou succession in Naples--A
lover suffocated--King Ladislaus--Many suitors--Hard to
please--A rare quality--Marriage ring torn off--Louis
d’Anjou’s advance--A poor old Queen--Butterfly courtesans--A
champion of physical beauty--A wily woman--The cord
of St. Francis--A base-born athlete--The chief of the
pages--The Queen’s master--Vampire kisses--Louis _v._
Alfonso--A romantic story--Fair Leonora--Not a tool of the
Queen--Fierce rivals--Pulled the Queen’s hands--Giovanna in
her lover’s arms--Flashing eyes--Beneath the lips--Superb
entertainments--Giovanna discovers the liaison--René bravest
of the brave--Treason--Duchess Covella Ruffo and her jewelled
poniard--René at Naples--“Il galantuomo Re”--The Jews--Alfonso
defeated and a prisoner--Belated pious deeds--Giovanna as
the Virgin Mary!--An embassy from Naples--Many claimants
for the throne--Isabelle a virago Queen--A macaroni
basket--“I’ll not fight with a woman!”--Colossal orgies--A
Spartan mother--Decisive battle of Troia--End of the Angevine
dynasty--Jean, Duke of Calabria, raises the flag in vain 216-252
CHAPTER VIII
MARGUERITE D’ANJOU
“The loveliest Princess in Christendom”--A storm-rocked
cradle--A child’s kiss--Troubadours and glee-maidens--An
eligible suitor--The love of all the boys--Neglected
education--A delighted grandmother--Marriage tangles--Philippe,
Count de Nevers, repudiated--Henry VI. of England looking for
a Queen--The “Three Graces of Armagnac”--Cardinal Beaufort
charmed with Marguerite--An unpainted face--“Oh fie! oh
fie!”--An autograph letter--Splendid nuptials--La Confrèrerie
de la Passion--Too poor to buy her own wedding dress--A
peachy blush--Fine fashions--Gold garter chains--Sumptuous
hair-dressing--A “Marguerite” flower-holder--A sorrowful
parting--A truly royal train--The entente cordiale--The Queen
short of ready cash--A stormy passage--Chicken-pox?--The
King’s ring--A famous tire-woman--Extraordinary
presents--Pageants--Queen Margaret crowned--“La Française”--The
Queen’s strong character--The Duke of York nonplussed--Pious
foundations--The King’s seizure--She had to play the
man!--The Prince of Wales--York’s dastardly insinuations--A
costly churching-robe--Civil war begins--Margaret leads
the Lancastrians in person--Success and failure--York’s
grey gory head--“Love Lady-Day”--Lord Grey de Ruthen’s
treason--King Henry a prisoner in the Tower--“Fie on thee, thou
traitor!”--The Queen in Scotland--King Louis’s double game--A
shipwreck--A common robette--Galant Sir Pierre de Brézé--“Une
Merrie Mol!”--The kiss of etiquette--Thorns--All the poets
sing of Margaret--All is lost!--Margaret at home again--Earl
of Warwick’s loyalty--A diplomatic marriage--The sea flouts
Margaret--Perjured Lord Wenlock--A treacherous blow--The Prince
murdered--“Bloody Edward”--The “she-wolf”--Hands tied behind
her back--King Henry killed--The Queen in a dungeon--René’s
pathetic letter--The great heroine of the Wars of the
Roses--Repose at Reculée--A lioness at bay--“The grim grey wolf
of Anjou”--A sad and lonely death 253-305
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
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
“René, King of Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Aragon, Valencia, Majorca,
Sardinia and Corsica; Duke of Anjou, Barrois, and Lorraine; Count of
Provence, Forcalquier and Piemont,” so runs the preamble of his Will.
To these titles he might have added Prince of Gerona, Duke of Calabria,
Lord of Genoa, Count of Guise, Maine, Chailly, and Longjumeau, and
Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson!
He was famous as a Sovereign, a soldier, a legislator, a traveller,
a linguist, a scholar, a poet, a musician, a craftsman, a painter, an
architect, a sculptor, a collector, a sportsman, an agriculturist, and
incidentally a chivalrous lover. About such a many-sided character
there is much to tell and much to learn. His times were spacious;
the clouds of Mediævalism had rolled away, and the Sun of Progress
illuminated the heyday of the Renaissance; art and craft had come into
their own. Venus disarmed Mars, Diana entranced Apollo, and Minerva
restrained Mercury, and all the hierarchy of heaven was captive to
the Liberal Arts. René d’Anjou, figuratively, seems to have gathered
up in his cunning hand the powers of all the spiritual intelligences
alongwith the life-lines of practical manifestations. He has come down
to us as the beau-ideal Prince of the fifteenth century.
“A Prince who had great and pre-eminent qualities, worthy of a better
future. He was a great Justicier and an enemy to long despatches. He
said sometimes, when they presented anything to signe, being a-hunting
or at the warre, that the Pen was a kinde of Armes, which a person
should use at all times”--so wrote the historian Pierre Mathieu, in his
“History of Louis XI.,” in 1614. He goes on to say: “The reign of so
good a Prince was much lamented, for he intreated his subjects like a
Pastor and a Father. They say that when his Treasurer brought unto him
the Royale Taxe,--which was sixteen florins for every kindled fire,
whereof Provence might have about three thousand five hundred,--hee
enformed himselfe of the aboundance or barenesse of the season; and
when they told him, that a mistrall winde had reigned long, hee
remitted the moiety and sometimes the whole taxe. Hee contented himself
with his revenues, and did not charge his people with new tributes. Hee
spent his time in paintings, the which were excellent, as they are yet
to be seen in the city of Aix. Hee was drawing of a partridge when as
they brought him newes of the loose of the Realme of Naples, yet hee
could not draw his hande from the work and the pleasure hee took here
in.… They relate that he dranke not wine, and when as the noble men of
Naples demanded the reasons, he affirmed that it had made Titus Livius
to lie, who had said that the good wine caused the French to passe the
Alps.… He was perhaps better suited to make a quiet State happy than to
reduce a rebellious one.”
King René’s career and work as a Sovereign, a soldier, a legislator, a
traveller, a poet, and a lover, are treated in full in the letterpress
of this volume. His work as an artist, a craftsman, an agriculturist,
and a collector, is here given under different headings, as
introductory to the expression of his personal talents.
I. ARTISTIC WORKS OF KING RENÉ.
René’s first efforts as a designer and painter were exhibited upon the
walls of his prison-chamber at Tour de Bar, near Dijon, 1431-1435.
Thence forward he decorated the walls and stain-glazed the windows of
his various castles and palaces--Bar-le-Duc, Nancy, Angers, Saumur,
Reculée, Tarascon, Marseilles, and Aix. Every _bastide_ and _maison_
inhabited by his Queens and himself was also similarly adorned, and
many coloured church windows were due to his gentle art. Alas that
so few vestiges of these admirable labours remain! French mobs are
proverbial for iconoclastic propensities, and no land has suffered more
than France from the suicidal mania of her _sans-culottes_.
To fresco-painting, portraits, and glass-staining, the Royal artist
added miniatures and penmanship. His “style” was formed and developed
successively under such personal tuition as that of the brothers Van
Eyck and Maistre Jehannot le Flament. Later on Jean Focquet of Tours
and Nicholas Froment influenced him. A letter is extant of King René,
addressed in 1448 to Jan Van Eyck, in which he asks for two good
painters to be sent to Barrois.
Visits to Rome, Florence, Naples, Milan, and other art cities of Italy,
very greatly enlarged René’s _métier_. Intercourse with Fra Angelico
da Fiesole, Fra Filippo Lippi, Paolo Ucello, the Della Robbia, and
many other Tuscan artists, quickened his natural talent and guided
his eye and hand. Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco Brunellesco, and
Cennino Cennini, and their works in _materia_ and literature, produced
great results in the receptive faculties of the King-artist. At Naples
he came in contact with Colantonio del Fiore, Antonio Solario--_Il
Zingaro_--and Angiolo Franco, and gathered up what they taught.
Besides these immense advantages as a personal friend of great ruling
Italian families, the Medici, the Pazzi, the Tornabuoni, the Visconti,
the Sforza, the Orsini, and many others, René had opportunities enjoyed
by very few. His own amiable individuality and his ample knowledge
were the highest credentials in the pursuit of art and craft. René
witnessed the consecration of the Duomo of Florence and the completion
of the guild shrine of Or San Michele, and he was enrolled as an
honorary member thereof. At Florence also he was thrown in contact with
world famous _scrivani_--writers and illustrators of manuscript. The
subsequent excellence of French miniaturists was largely due to King
René’s example and encouragement.
René’s more considerable paintings, which have been preserved, are as
follows:
1. _The Burning Bush_, part of an altar triptych, at the Cathedral
of Aix. Projected and begun by the King, it was finished by Nicholas
Froment, 1475-76, and for it the artist received no more than 70 gulden
(see illustration).
2. _Souls in Purgatory_, an altar-piece (7 × 5½), originally in
hospital chapel at the Chartreuse of Villeneuve les Avignon. It is
really a “Judgment,” with Christ and saints above the clouds, and
twenty-four little figures in and out torment. The building was
destroyed in 1793.
3. _La Divina Commedia_, an altar-piece (8 × 6), in the church of the
Célestins at Avignon in distemper. It was due to René’s vision of his
mistress, Dame Chapelle, upon the day of her death, which shocked him
so greatly that he painted this composition to remove the painful
impression he thus experienced.
4. _Saint Madeleine preaching_, now in the Hôtel Cluny. It was a
whimsical conceit connecting the story of the sisters of Lazarus
with René and his Queen Jehanne. It is conventional in treatment but
finished most beautifully (see illustration).
King René’s artistic speciality was miniatures. He illuminated many
manuscripts.
1. _Preces Præ_. The Latin “Hours” of King René, a manuscript of 150
sheets of fine vellum, written very beautifully in small lettering,
with superb capitals in gold and colours. The borders and miniatures
are exquisitely painted. It is bound in red morocco. This precious
volume was dedicated to Queen Isabelle, whose portrait is painted as
a frontispiece (see illustration). It was one of the King’s wedding
presents to his second Queen, Jehanne de Laval. The value of the
_Preces Præ_ is enhanced by numerous marginal notes of dates and
details written by René’s hand. At the end by way of _Finis_ is a
clock-face, upon which is painted “R et J,” under the words “En Un,”
all in a circle of gold. This treasure is now in the National Library
in Paris, and there is a copy almost exactly in duplicate in the
Imperial Library in Vienna. The date is 1454.
2. _Pas d’Armes de la Bergère._ A poem of Louis de Beauvau, Seigneur
de la Roche et Champigny, Grand Seneschal of Angers, Ambassador
to Pope Pius II., and a famous Champion in the “Lists.” It is a
pastoral allegory, and extols the courage and chivalry of many famous
knights--Ferri de Vaudémont, Philippe Lenoncourt, Tanneguy de Chastel,
Jean de Cossa, Guy de Laval, and others. It was put forth in 1448 after
the celebrated tournaments in Anjou, Lorraine, and Provence. King René
illuminated it with portraits and miniature paintings at Tarascon,
where he and Jehanne de Laval spent so many happy days ruralizing in
1457.
At Aix, in the Library, is a manuscript _Livres des Heures_, dated
1458; at Avignon, in the Church of the Cordeliers, is another of
the following year; at Poitiers, in the Library, is a “Psalter”; in
the Musée de l’Arsenal of Paris, a Breviary (see illustration)--all
exquisitely written and illuminated by the master-hand of the King.
II. LITERARY WORKS OF KING RENÉ.
The earlier works of the King are sufficiently remarkable as
exhibiting his serenity in adversity and his uprightness as a
legislator; his later poems are notable in revealing his chivalry as
a knight-adventurer, and his tenderness as a dainty troubadour. René,
whether as Sovereign, knight, or lover, led the taste of his age. His
personality attracted everybody, and his character elevated all in
fruitful emulation. His utterances and his writings, in spite of the
freedom of manners and the piquancy of speech, were conspicuous for
chastity of thought and delicacy of expression. Not a single dubious
word or doubtful reference disfigures his pages: a man and King was he
without reproach.
The works which René composed as well as decorated place him in the
forefront of poets. The principal are as follows:
1. _Regnault et Jehanneton_, or _Les Amours du Bergier et de la
Bergeronne_. It is an idyllic pastoral. The manuscript occupies seventy
sheets of fine vellum, written in black and crimson, very carefully
and finely. The miniatures and capitals are very numerous, and display
the greatest skill and taste in design and finish. This manuscript was
written at Tarascon, after René and Jehanne’s romantic sojourn at his
_bastide_ on the Durance.
2. _Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance_, or _Tracte entre l’Ame devote et
le Cœur_. In manuscript, written very carefully in black and scarlet,
with many exquisitely-painted miniatures and capital letters. This
“Morality” covers fifty-five sheets of the finest vellum. The Royal
writer was assisted by Jehan Coppre, a priest of Varronsgues. The
frontispiece by René represents the King, fully robed, seated in his
studio labouring with his pen and brush (see illustration).
3. _La Conquête de la Doulce Mercy_, or _La Conquête par le Cuer
d’Amour Espris_. This is a manuscript with 138 sheets of very smooth
vellum written in red, black, and purple, with sixty-two miniatures and
many capitals superbly painted. It is bound in red morocco, and is in
the National Library in Paris. It bears the date 1457. René both wrote
and illuminated it shortly before the death of Queen Isabelle.
4. _L’Abuzé en Court._ A manuscript covering fifty-seven sheets of
very fine vellum. Where and how King René got his “skins” we do not
know, but they are the finest and most perfect of any French or Italian
manuscripts of the period. The colour and grain of the skin are very
fine; only an artist-writer could have chosen such splendid folios.
This manuscript is bound in walnut-wood boards covered with crimson
velvet and embroidered. It contains fifty lovely miniatures and has
rich capitals. René has in this case recorded the exact date of
completion--July 12, 1473.
5. Very superb--perhaps King René’s _chef d’œuvre_--is _Le Tracte des
Tournois_, a full description of his splendid tournament at Saumur,
with the richest possible illustration. It is dedicated to Charles
d’Anjou, his brother, who died in 1470; he was Count of Maine and
Guise, and Governor of Lorraine. The frontispiece and two other
illustrations are reproductions of the Royal artist’s designs.
One of the most charming incidents in René’s long, useful, and moving
life was his intercourse with Charles d’Anjou, son of the first Duke of
Orléans, brother of Charles VI. of France. The young Prince was made a
prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and remained in captivity
in the Tower of London for twenty-five years. His constant complaint
was: “I mourn with chagrin that no one does anything to release me!”
This piteous appeal at length gained the heart of Duke Philippe of
Burgundy, who effected his deliverance in 1440. Between King René and
Duke Charles there passed, through spiritual affinity, a constant
succession of delightful poetic souvenirs--the prisoner of La Tour
de Bar and the prisoner of the Tower of London--comrades in sorrow,
companions in joy! The form these missives took was that of _rondeaux_,
or valentines, and in this category nothing could be more delicate and
sensuous. A very favourite ending of the poems was--
“Après une seule excepter,
Je vous servirai cette conte,
Ma douce Valentine gente,
Puis qu’amour veuilt que on’y contente.”
“With one only reservation,
I will send you this narration,
My gentle, natty Valentine,
Since your love so well content is mine.”
Charles d’Anjou died in 1465, greatly lamented by his poet-confidant.
King René composed and wrote, and also set to music, very many _motets_
and _caroles_ (dance-songs). The former are still sung in village
churches in Provence, and the latter danced at village fêtes.
René was famous, too, as a polite letter-writer. Between 1468 and 1474
he despatched thirty-seven missives to Pope Sixtus IV. and others,
chiefly relating to affairs in the kingdom of Catalonia.
At the Château d’Angers, as well as at those of Nancy and Aix, King
René had splendid collections of manuscripts and books. Rare works in
Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, and Latin, he collected in the several
departments of Scripture, Philosophy, History, Geography, Natural
History, and Physics. Writers and students naturally were attracted
to such a sapient Prince. Three of the former in particular attached
themselves to his patronage: Pierre de Hurion, Jehan de Perin, and
Louis de Beauvau; and with them was René’s chief collaborator--Hervé
Grellin.
III. CRAFTMAN’S WORKS OF KING RENÉ.
René was a great advocate for the combination and co-operation of the
arts and crafts. In no sense was he a free-trader: his policy was
to encourage native enterprise and to check destructive intrusion
of aliens. To consolidate commercial interests and to safeguard
industries, he established “Orders” or “Guilds” for workers. For
example, at Tarascon he instituted “The Order of the Sturgeon,”
for fisherfolk, which held an annual festival in July, called _La
Charibande_, specially in honour of _Le Roy des Gardons_--“King of
Roaches.” At Aix the King established “The Order of the Plough,” for
agriculturists, and their fête-day was the Festival of the Assumption.
He could hold the coulter with any of his farm labourers, and greatly
delighted in matches of strength and speed. René’s interest in
agriculture and stock-rearing did very much to make Anjou and Provence
fruitful States. He naturalized the sugar-cane, and introduced many
new trees and plants: the rose de Provence; the _Œillet de Poëte_--our
Sweet William; the mulberry; and the Muscat grape.
As patron of crafts, René especially encouraged workers in tapestry,
vestments, costumes and tournament decorations, goldsmiths, jewellers,
medalists, armourers, and masters of wood, stone, and metal, with
operatives in textiles. In Provence, at Aix and Marseilles, he had
workshops which he himself superintended, and where such instructors
were employed as Jehan de Nicholas, Guillaume le Pelletier, Juan
d’Arragona, Jehan le Gracieux, Luigi Rubbotino, Henri Henniquin,
and Jehanne Despert. These may be names only, but their fame may be
learnt by the study of useful industries in France. The _Comptes de
Roy René_,--René’s business-books,--at Angers are full of orders,
instructions, payments, etc., to work-people of all sorts and kinds.
At each of King René’s residences, and more especially at Aix, he
designed and erected a raised architectural loggia, or terrace, which
at once gained the name of _La Cheminée du Roy_. Here he was wont to
spend a good deal of his time in the enjoyment of the fresh air and
the contemplation of the persons and avocations of his subjects within
range. Here, too, he gave audience to all sorts and conditions of his
subjects, passing the time of the day merely to many, but with some
of them entering fully into matters proposed for his consideration.
Craftsmen, tradesmen, and merchants, were accustomed to pass that way
to expose commodities, and exhibit novelties which might tempt the
Royal patronage. One salient object of this amiable habit was that, as
he put it, “my children may see their father, and take cognizance of
my state of health and my pursuits.” René lived and worked among and
for his people, and none who approached him ever went away empty or
dissatisfied. Nothing pleased him better than a morning salutation or
an evening serenade by troubadour-jongleurs and other makers of music
and of fun. Sometimes the municipal authorities made courteous protests
to their liege Lord for the creation of crowds and obstruction to the
free circulation of the traffic. To all such representations the King
turned a ready ear, but also turned their pleas into subjects for
good-humoured merriment.
“You see,” he used to say, “I am something of a troubadour myself, and
life’s serious moods require joyous elevation.”
René was great in loving-cups, or, more correctly, their contents.
Nothing pleased him more than to hand to anyone who had interested
or amused him a delicious beverage, and often enough in the utmost
good-humour he bade the recipient keep the cup as a memento of his
interview--and “mind,” he added, “you drink my health and Queen
Jehanne’s sometimes.”
René’s consideration of and generosity to his servants and attendants
was proverbial. The _Comptes_ are full of instructions to his
Treasurers to pay such and such sums of money or other benefactions.
To Jehan de Sérancourt, an equerry, for example, he gave a purse of
200 ducats, “for thy skilful care of my favourite charger.” To Alain
le Hérault, a valet and barber “a gold snuffbox and fifty ducats for
his daughter’s confinement.” He was very fond of quoting the example of
Marie d’Harcourt, mother of his son-in-law Ferri de Vaudémont, who died
in 1476. She was affectionately called “the Mother of the Poor.” “She
was rightly called; am not I, then, father too?”
René was a great collector of works of art and curios, although, by
the way, he was obliged very frequently to distribute his treasures
in order to raise money for his warlike enterprises and philanthropic
pursuits. A speciality was the acquisition of relics of saints and
other venerable objects. In 1470 he and Queen Jehanne assisted at the
translation of a piece of the True Cross, which he had obtained in
Italy, to the Church of St. Croix at Angers. Lists of such treasures,
and, indeed, of the treasures in general of his house, may be read in
_Les Comptes de Roy René_. Many originally came from King John the
“Good” of France, René’s great-grandfather, handed down by Louis I. and
Louis II. of Sicily-Anjou.
René had a penchant for rock-crystal objects and miniature carvings in
wood. Among the former he possessed a very famous winecup, upon which
he engraved the following quaint conceit:
“Qui bien beurra
Dieu voira.
Qui beurra tout d’une baleine
Voira Dieu et la Madeleine!”
“Whoso drinks me
God shall see.
Whoso at one good breath drains me
Shall God and the Magdalen see!”