King René d'Anjou and His Seven Queens

About this book

Edgcumbe Staley’s work is a sprawling, fact‑laden biography that treats the life of René I, the flamboyant French prince of the mid‑fifteenth century, as a series of vivid episodes drawn from court chronicles. The opening pages plunge the reader into a rapid succession of names, titles, and incidents, royal births, tournaments, pilgrimages, and scandals, each linked to one of René’s seven consorts, from Yolanda d’Arragona to Marguerite d’Anjou. Staley frames René’s many titles, King of Jerusalem, Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence, and his manifold talents as a soldier, poet, architect, and patron, then proceeds to catalogue the deeds, marriages, and intrigues of his queens, interspersed with colorful asides about troubadours, highwaymen, and courtly games. The result is a dense, encyclopedic portrait that reads more like a chronicle of courtly life than a conventional narrative, offering a panoramic view of French Renaissance politics and culture.

The text is written in a Victorian‑era scholarly voice, marked by long, clause‑heavy sentences and a penchant for digressive commentary. Staley’s style mixes earnest historical exposition with occasional rhetorical flourish, reflecting the 19th‑century taste for moralizing biography and antiquarian detail. Readers who relish exhaustive reference material, enjoy the page‑turning of names and titles, and have a taste for the ornate prose of early historical writers will find this volume rewarding. It especially appeals to students of late medieval France, admirers of chivalric culture, and anyone fascinated by the tangled alliances of royal women in the age of the Renaissance.