In the past, to my knowledge, there have been no eighteen-year-old princes who have had to take over the helm in such a sorry situation. A father taken prisoner, nobility diminished by defeat, two enemy armies camped out in the country, as Lancaster is still there above the Loire, several provinces laid to waste, no finances, grasping, divided and hated advisors, a brother-in-law in a fortress but whose most active partisans are raising their heads more than ever, a simmering capital that a handful of ambitious bourgeois is inciting to riot. Add to this that the young man is of sickly disposition, and that his conduct in battle did nothing to improve his reputation.
At Chauvigny, still that same evening, as he had decided to return to Paris by the shortest route, Saint-Venant asked him: ‘Which title, monseigneur, should give to your person those who will speak in your name?’ and the dauphin answered: ‘The one I have, Saint-Venant, the one designated me by God: lieutenant general of the kingdom.’ Which were wise words indeed.
That was three months ago. Nothing is completely lost, but neither does anything show any sign of improvement, quite the contrary. France is coming undone. And in less than a week we are to find ourselves in Metz, where I really don’t see, I must confess, what great good could come out of it, except for the emperor, nor what great work could be accomplished there, between a lieutenant of the kingdom, but who is not the king, and a pontifical legate, who is not the pope.
Do you know what I have just been told? The season is so fine, and the days so warm in Metz, where they are expecting more than three thousand princes, prelates and seigneurs, that the emperor, if this mild spell continues, has decided that he will give the Christmas feast outdoors, in a walled garden.
To dine outside at Christmas, in Lorraine, one more thing that had never before been seen!
Translator’s notes and historical explanations
1. The Holy See was in Avignon from 1309 to 1378, moved there by Clement V, a French pope who wanted to stay in France and who built a papal palace in Provence. Gregory XI left Avignon and returned the Holy See to Rome, the Vatican, where it remains today.
2. Fratricelles, Fraticelles or Fraticelli were members of the mendicant orders of Franciscan monks; Gyrovagues were also a type of wandering monk.
3. Coutiliers were knife-bearing foot soldiers or armed guards; army valets or batmen were initially referred to as goujats, the term now meaning boor or churl.
4. The Golden Seal of the Holy Roman Empire, a spherical, symbolic object, also known as the Golden Bull; both terms usually refer to the imperial ordinances, edicts or laws of the Empire.
5. My lord of Spain; the title of monsieur usually designated the king’s oldest living brother.
6. Louis X, called the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn (Hutin in French).
7. ‘De jure or de facto’ means well grounded in law or in fact (legitimately or effectively).
8. The galero is the ecclesiastical scarlet hat worn by cardinals.
9. The County or Country of Dauphiny, formerly known as the Viennois.
10. Janissaries were soldiers of the Ottoman army.
11. Demoiselle, a maiden or young noblewoman.
12. Chatellanies or castellanies were the smallest division of land in medieval times.
13. The écu was a large gold coin similar to the franc d’or, whereas sols, deniers, pounds and gros were all silver coinage.
14. The Spinning Sow, from the French La Truie qui File, a not unusual name for an inn at the time.
15. Machine here refers to the contraptions – catapults or trebuchets for example – used in siege warfare.
16. Quarteniers commanded each quartier or neighbourhood, while cinquanteniers and dizainiers ran subdivisions of those quartiers.
17. The Langue d’Oil or the northern provinces which spoke the Oil dialect, and the Langue d’Oc, or the southern provinces, specifically the Occitan region, which spoke the Oc dialect.
18. La chambre des comptes.
19. Canons Regular were priests living under Augustinian rule, i.e. in society rather than in a monastery.
20. The ban and the arrière-ban were the components of the king’s conscription army, the ban being his knights and barons, and the arrière-ban the rest of his vassals, often foot soldiers, sometimes translated as the ward and the rear ward.
21. A limner was an image maker or manuscript illuminator; the notion of artist is anachronistic.
22. Livre tournois, or the pound of the city of Tours.
23. The three estates were the clergy, the nobility and the commoners or bourgeois.
24. Fardiers were goods vehicles, carts.
25. Perrinet le Buffle or Perrinet the Buffalo, clearly a nickname to emphasize his strength.
26. A cervellière was a close-fitting hemispherical iron skullcap, cervelle meaning brain in French.
27. An embrasure is a narrow, vertical arrow slit typical of medieval defensive architecture.
28. One quintal, sometimes translated as a hundredweight, is equal to 100 kilograms.
29. Passementerie is decorative trimming, for example, gold and silver lace and braid.
30. The mark was a unit of weight equivalent to 8 troy ounces or 249 grammes.
31. ‘Le jour de la Saint-Bavard’, a fictional feast day, bavard meaning talkative.
32. Hippocras, a sweet, spicy drink similar to mulled wine.
33. A gambeson was a quilted jerkin or doublet, a form of light armour.
34. ‘On va fricoter le Friquet’, fricoter meaning to cook up (grill), or to have shady dealings with someone, hence the pun.
35. Called a ‘lin’, a very grand form of barge with sails and oars.
36. A hanap is an ornate medieval drinking vessel or goblet.
37. Angoumois was a county corresponding to the modern Charentes region; its capital was Angoulême.
38. Bulls were papal edicts or mandates. (cf. Golden Bull)
39. A curule chair is a folding seat with curved legs and no back, used mainly by high officials.
40. Fouage or hearth tax, based on the number of hearths per household.
41. Laigle, a Norman market town now called l’Aigle, ‘the Eagle’.
42. A poleyn was part of the suit of armour, a metal kneeguard.
43. A banner was a company of soldiers riding under a particular flag or banner.
44. The old French engeignerie corresponds to the modern engineering, i.e. the science of building machines, for siege warfare for example.
45. Greaves were pieces of armour covering the shin and calf; cuisses were pieces of armour that protected the front of the thigh.
46. Cubitières were pieces of armour that protected the elbows.
47. There were 20 sols or sous in a pound, and 12 deniers to a sol.
48. Epaulement, parapet or breastwork.
49. A fougasse was a large, directional land mine set off by fuse; saps were covered trenches.
50. Parade as in a military parade, and orgueil, meaning pride.
51. Fascines were long faggots of wood used for lining trenches.
52. Ballisters were crossbowmen.
53. Venerer or huntsman.
54. A viguier was an officer to whom counts delegated part of their authority over their lands, and who thus administered those counties.
55. An octroi was a town or city toll, collected as one passed through one of the town gates.
56. Voulges were curved-bladed polearms also called pole cleavers; halberds were pikes with a blade combining a spearhead and a battleaxe.
57. The arrière-ban were civilians called up for military service by the king.
58. Bascinet was a type of open-faced helmet.
59. Jeu de paume, a game also called real tennis, and ancestor of the modern sport of tennis.
60. ‘Montjoie Saint-Denis’ was the battle cry of French soldiers, Montjoie meaning Mons Jovis, in the direction of, and Saint Denis, whose banner was the oriflamme.
61. A camail or aventail was
a mail neck and throat protection attached to the bascinet.
62. A bidau was a foot soldier armed with a spear, lance and dagger.
63. Saltire is a division into four parts by a diagonal cross, gules is the heraldic term for tincture red.
64. A bachelier, or bachelor, was a young gentleman who had not yet received either land or title and was therefore obliged to ride under the banner of another knight.
65. Captal was a medieval feudal title in Gascony, meaning first chief.
66. An abatis was a system of defence consisting in stacking up trees lengthways to form a protective barrier. Here the image is of felled people rather than felled trees.
67. Frères Mineurs and Frères Prêcheurs are bodies of monks, Franciscans and Dominicans respectively.
BY MAURICE DRUON
The Accursed Kings
The Iron King
The Strangled Queen
The Poisoned Crown
The Royal Succession
The She-Wolf
The Lily and the Lion
The King Without a Kingdom
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com
Maurice Druon, The King Without a Kingdom
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends