Agnès Sorel and the French Monarchy
History, Gallantry, and National Identity
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Arc Humanities Press
Published:31st Jul '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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.
Tracy Adams’s newest publication is succinct yet dense and informative. In her trademark style, she challenges the historical record. The monograph’s titular subject is Agnès Sorel, the fifteenth-century beauty celebrated as the first famous royal mistress in France, but the subtitle conveys the ingenuity of Adams’s study. With an interdisciplinary scope, she surveys art, literature, historical records, and even forensic evidence to track Agnès’s biography and fame. Most provocatively, Adams teases out the personal interpretations and underlying motivations influencing chroniclers, artists, authors, and historians who write about Agnès Sorel. It is ultimately a book about how those who create history are themselves influenced by the contexts in which they live and record.
-- Joan E. McRae * Speculum 99, no. 1 (2024): 183-84 *Cette étude est bien plus qu’une simple biographie, elle est une mythographie d’Agnès Sorel, qui donne plus largement des clés de compréhension d’un objet historique de plus en plus observé, celui des maîtresses royales. Si elle n’est en rien spécifique à la monarchie moderne française, cette figure souvent énigmatique et toujours fantasmée demeure un enjeu politique, culturel et identitaire majeur dans notre pays.
-- Laurent Guitton * Le Moyen Âge 130 (2024): 1097-11ISBN: 9781641893527
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 8mm
Weight: unknown
168 pages
New edition