Agnès Sorel and the French Monarchy

History, Gallantry, and National Identity
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64189-352-7
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, 164 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Gender and Power in the Premodern World

Agnès Sorel (1428–1450), beautiful favourite of Charles VII of France and first in the long genealogy of French royal mistresses, was mysteriously poisoned in the prime of life. Agnès, part of a network of royal “favourites,” is equally interesting for her political activity. And yet, no scholarly study in English of her exists. This study brings her story to an English-speaking audience, examining her in her historical context, that is, the factional struggle for power waged against Charles VII by the dauphin Louis and the king’s final routing of the English. It then traces Agnès’s afterlife, exploring her roles as founding mother of the tradition of the French royal mistress and foil for the less popular holders of the “office”; as erotic fantasy figure for nineteenth-century historians “re-inventing” the Middle Ages; and, most recently, as poignant victim for fans of the true crime genre.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Adams, Tracy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Why a New Study of Agnès Sorel?

Part One: What We Know About Agnès Sorel and How We Know It

Chapter One: Who Was Agnès Sorel?

Chapter Two: The Primary Sources

Chapter Three: The First Royal Mistress in Historical Context

Part Two: The Spectacular Afterlife of Agnès Sorel

Chapter Four: Communicative Memory: The Melun Diptych and the Saviour Narrative

Chapter Five: Cultural Memory: Agnès as Celebrity

Chapter Six: Agnès la Gallante

Chapter Seven: History, Gallantry, and National Identity

Conclusion: Agnès as Modern Celebrity

Über Autor(innen)

Adams, Tracy
Tracy Adams is Professor in European Languages and Literatures at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is the author of Violent Passions: Managing Love in the Old French Verse Romance (2005), The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria (2010), Christine de Pizan and the Fight for France (2014), and co-author with Christine Adams of The Creation of the French Royal Mistress: From Agnès Sorel to Madame Du Barry (2020).