HarperCollins The Poisoned Crown, Fiction, Paperback, Maurice Druon
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Brand: HarperCollins
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Product ID: 9780007491292
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Dimensions: 129x198mm
Keywords: king,royalty,monarchy,france,epic,saga,sagas,medieval,times,historical,fantasy,male,14th century,westeros,iron throne,intrigue,murder,war,battle,fiction,series
ISBN: 9780007491292
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Author: JPS
Rating: 5
Review: The Poisoned Crown - the not entirely accurate English translation of “Les poisons de la Couronne” - is book three of Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings series. Most of the action of the six books that make up the initial Accursed Kings series takes place between 1314 and 1328 in France. During this short period of time, five Kings occupied the throne in quick succession, with the three sons of Philip the Fair dying after short reigns with no adult male in a position to succeed them, something that had not happened for well over three hundred years. This volume follows the Iron King (Philip IV the Fair), which focused on the last year of the reign of this strong, hard and capable King, and the Strangled Queen, which was about the murder of Louis X le Hutin’s (an unflattering nickname which meant headstrong and argumentative in old French) first wife and the power struggle between his uncle Charles de Valois and Enguerrand de Marigny, respectively the younger brother and the chief minister of the Iron King. The Poisoned Crown picks up the narrative where the end of the Strangled Queen left it. It tells the story of the last ten months or so of Louis X’s (the eldest son of Philip the Fair) very short and yet disastrous reign. It also shows to what extent he was weak, easy to influence, incapable, cruel and almost entirely unsympathetic and pathetic. As you will see in this instalment, this incompetent King accumulates blunders during his short reign, with his Treasury permanently empty and royal expenses paid by borrowing ever more from the Lombard bankers. His attempt at chastening the rebellious Flemish ends in waste and ridicule. It is followed by widespread unrest and rebellion, as Robert III of Artois stirs up the nobles against his aunt Mahaut Countess of Artois in their endless fight for this rich prize. Added to this, bad weather leads to two poor crops in a row and two consecutive famines which neither the King nor his officers even try to alleviate. The general picture is one of widespread mismanagement, incompetence and corruption. Just about all of the characters are once again historical. They are remarkably well described in an easy to read style. Also just like the previous books (and the next ones!), this one is superbly well-researched. Notes have been kept to a minimum (only twenty one in this volume, for instance) although they are extremely informative. Some of the characters which readers had glimpsed in the previous book take a more central role and are accordingly more detailed. This is particularly the case of the saintly Clemence of Hungary, the Angevin princess and second wife of Louis X whose strong influence on her weak and useless husband seems to have limited the damage that he could create. It is also the case of Louis’ younger brother Philip Count of Poitiers, who, contrary to his brothers, had inherited his father’s brains, but perhaps also his ruthless ambition. Again, two more characters in this book are the “old” (for the time, since he is about sixty when life expectancy was around forty) Lombard uncle, who has now become the captain general and chief representative of all Lombard companies in France, and his young nephew Guccio Baglioni. The latter plays once again a significant role as part of the French embassy to bring Clemence from Naples to Paris and ends up by being sent to Avignon for his own safety where the papal election had been deadlocked for more than two years. His adventures, and his love affair, may be the main bit of fiction contained in this book although there really was a Guccio Baglioni. The book’s climax is the demise of the pathetic Louis X at age 27. He is poisoned by his unscrupulous, murderous and scheming cousin Mahaut d’Artois. Her motivation is to get rid of a King who favours her nephew Robert III and replace him by the King’s younger brother Philip who is also her son in law and whose support she is counting upon. This is the where Maurice Druon has fictionalised his story. Even there, however, he did not completely invent it. At the time, the unexpected demise of the King did give credence to rumours, perhaps disseminated by Robert III, that Louis had been poisoned and that Mahaut was the culprit. Nothing was ever proven, although if anyone had a compelling reason to get rid of Louis it clearly was her. The book ends with his window pregnant and his uncle Charles Count of Valois and his brother Philippe Count of Poitiers lining up to be regent for the next monarch. Five stars for this volume, since it is just as good as the others.
Author: Roman Clodia
Rating: 3
Review: This third of the series concentrates on the second half of Louis X's short reign. Druon's formula continues to make this a fun, light way of learning about the Capet dynasty but there are times where I yearned for more depth, political analysis and less historical soap opera. Guiccio still manages to be practically everywhere and know everyone of importance; the king's new wife is a one-dimensional angel; and the struggle between Mahaut and Robert over Artois continues. With poisonings, conspiracies, pregnancies, a secret marriage and now a contested succession the story never flags. Druon sticks closely to documented history (even apologises at one point for making crude note of the size of the king's penis but saying it's in the source he's using at this point so he can't leave it out!), it's just a shame he's no literary stylist. Still, I'm invested enough in the story to continue on to book 4.
