Maurice Druon - The She-Wolf

Harper Voyager

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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New York, NY 10007

www.harpercollins.com

First published in Great Britain by Rupert Hart-Davis 1960

Arrow edition 1988

First published in ebook in Great Britain 2014

Copyright © Maurice Druon 1955

Jacket layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014

Cover illustration © Patrick Knowles

Maurice Druon asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007492251

US Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007591879

Version: 2015-01-07

‘History is a novel that has been lived’

E. & J. DE GONCOURT

‘It is terrifying to think how much research is needed to determine the truth of even the most unimportant fact’

STENDHAL

‘She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, That tear’st the bowels of thy mangled mate …’

THOMAS GRAY

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

Foreword

The Characters in this Book

Family Tree

The She-Wolf of France

Prologue

Part One: From the Thames to the Garonne

1. ‘No One ever Escapes from the Tower of London’

2. The Harassed Queen

3. Messer Tolomei has a New Customer

4. The False Crusade

5. A Time of Waiting

6. The Bombards

Part Two: Isabella in Love

1. Dinner with Pope John

2. The Holy Father’s Penance

3. The Road to Paris

4. King Charles

5. The Cross of Blood

6. The Happy Year of 1325

7. Each Prince who Dies …

Part Three: The Disinherited King

1. The Hostile Spouses

2. The Return to Neauphle

3. The Queen in the Temple

4. The Council at Chaâlis

Part Four: The Cruel Invasion

1. Harwich

2. The Shining Hour

3. Hereford

4. Vox Populi

5. Kenilworth

6. The Camp-kettle War

7. The Grass Crown

8. ‘ Bonum Est ’

9. The Red-hot Poker

Historical Notes

Footnotes

A Note for English Readers

Author’s Acknowledgements

By Maurice Druon

About the Publisher

Over the years, more than one reviewer has described my fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire , as historical fiction about history that never happened, flavoured with a dash of sorcery and spiced with dragons. I take that as a compliment. I have always regarded historical fiction and fantasy as sisters under the skin, two genres separated at birth. My own series draws on both traditions … and while I undoubtedly drew much of my inspiration from Tolkien, Vance, Howard, and the other fantasists who came before me, A Game of Thrones and its sequels were also influenced by the works of great historical novelists like Thomas B. Costain, Mika Waltari, Howard Pyle … and Maurice Druon, the amazing French writer who gave us the The Accursed Kings , seven splendid novels that chronicle the downfall of the Capetian kings and the beginnings of the Hundred Years War.

Druon’s novels have not been easy to find, especially in English translation (and the seventh and final volume was never translated into English at all). The series has twice been made into a television series in France, and both versions are available on DVD … but only in French, undubbed, and without English subtitles. Very frustrating for English-speaking Druon fans like me.

The Accursed Kings has it all. Iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, deception, family rivalries, the curse of the Templars, babies switched at birth, she-wolves, sin, and swords, the doom of a great dynasty … and all of it (well, most of it) straight from the pages of history. And believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets.

Whether you’re a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon’s epic will keep you turning pages. This was the original game of thrones. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire , you will love The Accursed Kings .

George R.R. Martin

THE KING OF FRANCE:

CHARLES IV, called the Fair, fourteenth successor to Hugues Capet, great-grandson of Saint Louis, third and last son of Philip IV, the Fair, and Jeanne of Navarre, formerly husband of Blanche of Burgundy and Count de la Marche, aged 29.

THE QUEENS OF FRANCE:

MARIE OF LUXEMBURG, eldest daughter of Henry VII, Emperor of Germany, and of Marguerite of Brabant, aged 19.

JEANNE OF ÉVREUX, daughter of Louis of France, Count of Évreux, brother of Philip the Fair, and of Marguerite of Artois, aged about 18.

THE QUEEN DOWAGERS OF FRANCE:

CLÉMENCE OF HUNGARY, Princess of Anjou-Sicily, niece of King Robert of Naples, second wife and widow of King Louis X Hutin, aged 30.

JEANNE OF BURGUNDY, widow of King Philippe V, the Long, daughter of Count Othon of Burgundy and of Countess Mahaut of Artois, aged 30.

THE KING OF ENGLAND:

EDWARD II Plantagenet, ninth successor to William the Conqueror, son of Edward I and of Eleanor of Castille, aged 39.

THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND:

ISABELLA OF FRANCE, wife of the above, daughter of Philip the Fair and sister of the King of France, aged 31.

THE HEIR TO THE THRONE OF ENGLAND:

EDWARD, eldest son of the above and future King Edward III, aged II.

THE HOUSE OF VALOIS:

MONSEIGNEUR CHARLES, grandson of Saint Louis and brother of Philip the Fair, uncle of the King of France, Count of the Appanage of Valois, of Maine, of Anjou, of Alençon, of Chartres and of Perche, Peer of the Kingdom, ex-Titular Emperor of Constantinople, Count of Romagna, aged 53.

MONSEIGNEUR PHILIPPE, Count of VALOIS and of Maine, eldest son of Charles of Valois and of his first wife Marguerite of Anjou-Sicily, future King Philippe VI, aged 30.

JEANNE OF VALOIS, Countess of HAINAUT, daughter of Charles of Valois and of Marguerite of Anjou, sister of the above, wife of Count Guillaume of Hainaut, aged 27.

JEANNE OF VALOIS, Countess of BEAUMONT, daughter of Charles of Valois and his second wife Catherine de Courtenay, half-sister of the above, wife of Robert III of Artois, Count of Beaumont, aged about 19.

MAHAUT DE CHÂTILLON-SAINT-POL, Countess of Valois, third wife of Monseigneur Charles.

JEANNE, called THE LAME, Countess of VALOIS, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy and Agnes of France, sister of Marguerite of Burgundy, granddaughter of Saint Louis, wife of Monseigneur Philippe, aged 28.

THE HOUSE OF NAVARRE:

JEANNE OF NAVARRE, daughter of Louis X Hutin and of Marguerite of Burgundy, heir to the Kingdom of Navarre, aged 12.

PHILIPPE OF FRANCE, Count of ÉVREUX, husband of the above, son of Louis of France, Count of Évreux, and cousin-german of Charles the Fair, future King of Navarre, aged about 15.