1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie listener discretion advised. In the 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: fourteen forties, a scandal overtook the French court of Charles 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: the seventh. It was the women and the salacious way 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: they were dressing. One contemporary was outraged by quote openings 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: in dresses in the front through which one can see 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: the breasts and nipples of women, and long furred trains, chains, 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: and other things which are quote displeasing to God and 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: to the world with good reason. While this first trend 10 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: reporter kept things general, another chronicler wasn't afraid to name names. 11 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: He accused one person of leading the charge towards tainting 12 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: the court's moral decency. Agnes Currell, King Charles the sevenths 13 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: official mistress. 14 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 2: According to that source, Agnes quote wore trains a third 15 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 2: longer than any princess of the realm, headdresses, higher by half, 16 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 2: costlier dresses, all of this encouraging the debauchery and dissolution 17 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 2: that she produced and initiated. She left her shoulders bare 18 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 2: and in front her breasts. She promoted lasciviousness among men 19 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 2: and women frittered away time, day and night to lead 20 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 2: people astray. It was a pity that in most of 21 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 2: France and the adjacent marches, the entire sovereign sex dirtied 22 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 2: itself following her morals, and the nobility of the realm 23 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 2: did the same, given almost entirely over to vanity at 24 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 2: her urging and example, I personally first came across Agnasarel 25 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 2: when I saw a portrait of a strikingly beautiful, pale 26 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 2: woman with a fashionably high forehead and her her left 27 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 2: breast exposed. A tidbit frequently repeated on the Internet is 28 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 2: that she had her dresses specifically tailored to expose her 29 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 2: favorite breast. That idea is fun, but unfortunately it's not 30 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 2: really something that appears in any academic sources. When you 31 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 2: see a painting of her with a breast out, it's 32 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: actually because she was used as a model for a 33 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 2: specific rendition of Mary and the Infant Jesus, which are 34 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 2: known as Madonna lactans or nursing Madonna's. Of course, using 35 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 2: such a scandalous figure as a model for the Holy 36 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 2: Mother was controversial enough, but more on that later. Agnes 37 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 2: Sorel was a polarizing figure, and not just for her 38 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 2: exposed skin. Born in relative poverty, Agnes managed to rise 39 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 2: through the ranks of the French court to become Charles 40 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 2: the Seventh's personals mistress. Having an affair with the most 41 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 2: powerful man in France was controversial enough, but what shocked 42 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 2: the court even more was that, for the first time 43 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 2: in French history, Charles the seventh formalized the role. Unlike 44 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,359 Speaker 2: previous royal mistresses, who may have gotten a pension or 45 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 2: a few gifts behind the scenes, but kept their status 46 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 2: under wraps, Charles the Seventh made Agnes an officially designated 47 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 2: mistress with a salary, benefits, political power, and a public role. 48 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 2: In doing so, as one writer put it, quote, the 49 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 2: King had raised up a poor girl and put her 50 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 2: in a position of such triumph and power that her 51 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 2: station might be compared to that of the great princesses 52 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 2: of the kingdom. The king had created a new role 53 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 2: for women in court and set a precedent for French 54 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 2: kings to follow. It's unclear exactly why the king had 55 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 2: become so devoted to Agnes that he was willing to 56 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 2: establish an official position just for her, but one factor 57 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 2: behind the decision was undeniable. Agnes's extraordinary beauty, as historian 58 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 2: Tracy Adams wrote, quote blonde, blue eyed, pale, and thin, 59 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 2: with a narrow waist and high round breasts, Agnes embodied 60 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 2: the contemporary ideal of beauty. She was nicknamed Belle by 61 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 2: many members of the court, while others referred to her 62 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 2: role as the quote mistress of beauty because of her 63 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 2: strikingly good looks. But not everyone was taken with Agnes. 64 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 2: Not only were her revealing outfits and her vanity the 65 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 2: subject of disdain. Many thought that her official position in 66 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 2: court was an insult to the queen. One chronicler took 67 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 2: pity on Charles the Seventh's wife, Maria Vanjous, for having 68 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 2: to witness a quote tramp, a little servant of low birth, 69 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 2: being and living in intimacy every day with the Queen, 70 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 2: having Agnes's quarter in the King's hotel better maintained and 71 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: outfitted than the Queen's own, having all royal honors and 72 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 2: services for Agnes as if she were the queen. Although 73 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 2: Agnes's newly created role brought her fame, riches, and power 74 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 2: beyond her wildest dreams, it also put a target on 75 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 2: her back at a time when the French court was 76 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 2: divided by bitterly feuding factions. Agnes's privileged position represented a 77 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 2: political threat. She could persuade the king who to promote 78 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 2: and who to depose. In this power struggle, Agnes's enemies 79 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 2: would consider drastic measures to bring her down, even murder. 80 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 2: I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. The beginning 81 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 2: of Agnes Sorel's life is a mystery, starting with when 82 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 2: she was born. Some historians think she was born fourteen 83 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 2: twenty five, while others believe she was born in fourteen 84 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 2: oh nine or fourteen ten. While we don't know much 85 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 2: about her early life, some contemporaries believe she came from 86 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 2: modest origins. She was born in the region of Pickhardy, 87 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 2: and her father was a counselor to a minor nobleman. 88 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 2: Her father could have facilitated her entry into the court. 89 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 2: Perhaps that nobleman might have mentioned Agnes to the royal family. 90 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 2: Even with those family connections, Agnes's quick rise to power 91 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 2: was uncommonly meteoric. Agnes ended up in a position in 92 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 2: the household of Renee, the first of Naples, as a 93 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 2: maid of honor to his consort Isabel Duchess of Lorraine. 94 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 2: Agnes started in fourteen forty four, making only ten livres 95 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 2: per year. Despite the paltry salary, she seemed to be 96 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 2: one of Isabel's favorites. According to one source, Isabelle had 97 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:17,119 Speaker 2: given Agnes so many gifts that she maintained the estate 98 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 2: of a princess. A few months later, she was promoted 99 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 2: to lady in waiting for Marie d'anjous, Charles the Seventh's 100 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 2: wife and Isabella's sister in law. It's unclear when exactly 101 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 2: Agnes first met Charles the Seventh. One option is that 102 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 2: the king met Agnes at a convocation celebrating a truce 103 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 2: with the English in the spring of fourteen forty four. 104 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 2: The French and the English had been fighting the One 105 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 2: Hundred Years War since thirteen thirty seven in fits and starts, 106 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 2: before finally agreeing to a truce almost one hundred years later. 107 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 2: The king invited the Duke of Suffolk, as well as 108 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 2: the rest of the English delegation to France as a 109 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 2: gesture of goodwill. Agnes, as a member of the court, 110 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 2: attended the festivities. The king might have noticed Agnes's striking 111 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 2: beauty One contemporary called her one of the most beautiful 112 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 2: women he had ever seen. It's also possible that Agnes 113 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 2: had already met the king in fourteen forty three. Many 114 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 2: historians believed that Charles the seventh started his affair with 115 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 2: Agnes while on vacation at Isabelle's chateau at Somour in 116 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 2: Anjou back in September of fourteen forty three, since their 117 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 2: travel itineraries were shown to overlap. In any case, by 118 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 2: the time the affair got under way, Agnes and Charles 119 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 2: were inseparable. As one scholar recalled, he fell so much 120 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 2: in love that he could not even spend an hour 121 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 2: without her, whether at table, in bed, at council, she 122 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 2: was always by his side. Later, in fourteen forty four, 123 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 2: the king had given her a property, but so Marne, 124 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 2: inspiring her nickname the Mistress of Beauty, that Christmas, Agnes 125 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 2: joined the royal family in Nance for the holidays. Agnes's 126 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 2: assent was striking, according to historians tracing Christine Adams quote. 127 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 2: Chroniclers seem not to know what to make of the 128 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 2: fact that a woman with no dynastic claim to power 129 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 2: had gotten herself set up in great estate within the 130 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 2: space of a few months. In the following years, the 131 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:44,599 Speaker 2: luxuries Agnes received only multiplied. In fourteen forty six, the 132 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,199 Speaker 2: king gifted her a large swath of land to oversee. 133 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 2: In fourteen forty seven, she was awarded a pension of 134 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:56,199 Speaker 2: three thousand libres. Agnes didn't keep all of this money 135 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 2: for herself. She donated much of it to foundations across France, 136 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,560 Speaker 2: and she also used her wealth and power to help 137 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 2: her family. She set up a lifelong pension for her 138 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 2: mother and secured positions for her four brothers in the 139 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 2: King's household. This newly amassed wealth attracted some ire from 140 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 2: those around her. A contemporary complained that Agnes not only 141 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,560 Speaker 2: had been given her own household at court, but that 142 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 2: her accommodations were better ordered and appointed than the queen's. 143 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 2: But Agnes's life of luxury would be put into jeopardy 144 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 2: when the king's son, the Dauphin, began jocking for more power, 145 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 2: much to his father's chagrin. As the Dauphine and his 146 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 2: allies started plotting to take the king down, Agnes would 147 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 2: soon become a target. Charles the seventh reign had been 148 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 2: controversial since the beginning. He rose to the throne in 149 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 2: turbulent times. The English were still occupying much of France, 150 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 2: and his father disinherited him, prompting a succession crisis. A 151 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 2: coup allowed Charles to become the king after the fourteen 152 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 2: twenty two death of his father, whom we actually covered 153 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 2: a few years ago in the episode Charles the Beloved, 154 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 2: the Mad, the Fool. But the chaos would cast a 155 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 2: permanent shadow over Charles the seventh rule. Chroniclers called him indecisive, ineffectual, 156 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 2: and even ugly. They said he had protruding lips, beady eyes, 157 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 2: a long nose, and an uneven posture that he had 158 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 2: to cover up with long tunics. He had even more 159 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 2: trouble coming from his immediate family. The king and his son, 160 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 2: the Dauphin, had already been beefing since the early fourteen forties. 161 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 2: Charles the seventh and his son always had a fraught relationship. 162 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 2: The king would constantly ignore and belittle his tryhard son, 163 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 2: stoking his resentment. Historian Tracy Adams writes that Charles the 164 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 2: Seventh was a quote controlling father, hesitant to award much 165 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 2: responsibility to an ambitious son who very much wanted to 166 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 2: prove his medal. This simmering tension came to a boiling 167 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 2: point in fourteen forty when the Dauphint teamed up with 168 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 2: a group of lords hoping to overtake the throne from 169 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 2: his father. Charles the Seventh put down the revolt, and 170 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 2: father and son actually seemed to reconcile for a short period, 171 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 2: but a few years later the Dauphin's relationship with the 172 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 2: king took a turn for the worse yet again. This 173 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 2: drama centered around a man named Pierre de Brezet, a 174 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 2: high up member of the court. In fourteen thirty seven, 175 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 2: Pierre was promoted to Seneschal of Anjou and captain of Agers, 176 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 2: and he continued to amass political power over the following years, 177 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 2: which made the prince incredibly jealous. But it wasn't until 178 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 2: fourteen forty four that the rivalry between Pierre and the 179 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 2: Dauphant was in full swing. Pierre hadn't given the Defont 180 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 2: sufficient provisions for a battle against the Swiss Federation, and 181 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 2: he had recalled many of his soldiers. Despite Pierre's mistake, 182 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 2: the Daufant managed to still win the battle, insulting the 183 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 2: Dauphant's military achievement, the king promoted Pierre to second in 184 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 2: command instead of his own son. The prince took Pierre's 185 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 2: promotion personally and vowed to exploit the political turmoil afflicting 186 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 2: the French court to depose Pierre and the rest of 187 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 2: the king's allies one by one. Charles the Seventh's temperament 188 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 2: only made the atmosphere more tense, seeming to favor one 189 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 2: faction over the other, according to his mercurial temperament, not 190 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 2: a great approach for a leader, one contemporary wrote. The 191 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 2: watchful king, with his subtle regard, would play the factions 192 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 2: off against each other and profit from the situation, keeping 193 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 2: everything within his gaze. He created a situation where all courtiers, 194 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 2: no matter how great, felt threatened, had no idea where 195 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 2: they stood, and lived in constant fear of losing favor. 196 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 2: Not a great work environment. Agnes was a key figure 197 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 2: in this dispute. Agnes bore three daughters by the king, 198 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 2: cementing her place in court and her public role as 199 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 2: the King's mistress. As the king's closest confidante, she could 200 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 2: convince him to promote certain members of the court to 201 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 2: positions of power. She and Pierre incidentally were close allies. 202 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 2: A contemporary wrote that one cannot help but see a 203 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 2: correlation between the favor of Pierre and that of the mistress, 204 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 2: which developed, as mathematicians say, one as a function of 205 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 2: the other. Knowing that the Dauphant was targeting him, Pierre 206 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 2: began to try to turn the king against his son 207 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 2: for good. Pierre hired Guillam Mariette, an officer at the 208 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 2: Dauphine's court, to sow seeds of discord between the king 209 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 2: and his son. Guillem was ordered to tell the king 210 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 2: to watch his back because the Dauphant was planning to 211 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 2: overthrow him and destroy Pierre. That plan backfired. The Dauphant 212 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 2: discovered the scheme when Guillam was arrested for an unrelated charge, 213 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 2: and the police found written instructions from Pierre hidden in 214 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 2: Guillem's boot that detailed precisely what Guillam should say to 215 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 2: sway the king against the prince. That document mentioned Agnes, 216 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 2: implicating her in the plot. Guillem was supposed to use 217 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 2: her as a tool to influence the king. In these instructions, 218 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 2: she was referred to by a code name Helias, which 219 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 2: evokes the brilliance and power of the sun, as well 220 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 2: as Heloise, the legendary lover of Abelard, who represented an 221 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 2: ideal of courtly love, so not a particularly difficult code 222 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 2: to crack. With the conspiracy against the Prince out in 223 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 2: the open, Pierre was put on trial in Paris. Agnes 224 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 2: went to Paris for the only time in her life, 225 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 2: actually during the trial, which was no coincidence given her 226 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 2: close relationship with Pierre and the trial's infamy. Agnes's trip 227 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 2: to Paris was one of her only public appearances, and 228 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 2: Parisians were shocked by the openness with which she inhabited 229 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 2: her role as mistress to the King, taking it as 230 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 2: an insult to common decency and to the reputation of 231 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 2: the Queen. The anonymous journal of a bourgeois of Paris 232 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,679 Speaker 2: described her arrival harshly, writing, there came to Paris a 233 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,199 Speaker 2: young lady of whom it was publicly said that she 234 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 2: was the lover of the King of France, without faith, 235 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 2: without law, without truth, to the good Queen he married, 236 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 2: and it even appears that she had great status, like 237 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:27,719 Speaker 2: a countess or duchess. She came and went often with 238 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 2: the Good Queen of France without shame of her sin, 239 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 2: from which the Queen had much sorrow in her heart. 240 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 2: While Pierre was not convicted of treason, the trial confirmed 241 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,880 Speaker 2: Agnes and Pierre as legitimate threat to the prince. As 242 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 2: one contemporary wrote, the Dauphant believed that Pierre was quote 243 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 2: destroying everything with the help of Agnes, through whom he 244 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 2: held the king in subjection. Worse, the prince feared that 245 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 2: his father would divorce the Queen and Mary Agnes instead, 246 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 2: leaving him out of the line of succession. The queen 247 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 2: and the king were second cousins, which should have prevented 248 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 2: them from getting married in the first place, but the Pope, 249 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 2: as was common at the time, chose to overlook it 250 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 2: if it was politically expedient, though Charles could have the 251 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 2: marriage annulled on those grounds. By the time of Pierre's trial, 252 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 2: it seemed as if the king had already taken decisive 253 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:32,479 Speaker 2: steps to oust his wife from court. According to Tracy 254 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 2: Adams in fourteen forty five, the king had cleared his 255 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 2: wife's Anjou family out of the government, which, in addition 256 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 2: to Agnes's presence, may have suggested to the Daufin that 257 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 2: still more sweeping change was coming. In the beginning of 258 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 2: her time as the king's mistress, Agnes had remained under 259 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 2: the prince's radar, But now that her alliance with Pierre 260 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 2: had been revealed so publicly, her political influence u represented 261 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 2: a legitimate threat. This bad blood with the king's son 262 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 2: would prove dangerous for Agnes, even deadly. In fourteen forty nine, 263 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 2: the rivalry between Agnes and the Dauphont would come to 264 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 2: a head. As one contemporary wrote, the hatred of Charles 265 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,640 Speaker 2: the seventh against his son came from the fact that 266 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,399 Speaker 2: the prince had many times blamed and murmured against his 267 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 2: father because of beautiful Agnes, who was in the good 268 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 2: graces of the king much more than was the Queen. 269 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 2: A good and honorable woman, the Dauphont was full of spite, 270 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 2: and through spite advanced her death. Indeed, one day, ostensibly 271 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 2: defending his mother's honor, the Prince Louis berated Agnes before 272 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 2: drawing his sword and chasing her to his father's bed. 273 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 2: Shortly after that event, the prince was exiled from court, 274 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 2: which many blamed on that violent outburst. One chronicler wrote 275 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 2: that Agnes, who had escaped from the hands of the 276 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 2: Dauphin was, according to common opinion, the reason that the 277 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 2: Dauphin had to flee. Intensifying Agnes's lack of safety, political 278 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 2: strife forced the king to head out to the battlefield. 279 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,199 Speaker 2: By fourteen forty nine, both England and France had broken 280 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 2: that little truce. The English seized the town of Fougerae 281 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 2: at the Norman border, and in May fourteen forty nine, 282 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 2: Charles headed there to try to reclaim it, leaving Agnes behind. 283 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 2: The king was gone for months as he and his 284 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 2: army tried to keep the British forces at bay. By 285 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 2: January fifth, the king had made his way to the 286 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 2: north of France, fleeing to a Benedictine abbey near Roua 287 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,160 Speaker 2: after winning a battle a few weeks earlier. There he 288 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 2: could relax, and shortly after he arrived, according to a chronicler, 289 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 2: he found a demoiselle named the Belle Agnes. It turned 290 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 2: out that Agnes had crossed two hundred miles of frozen 291 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 2: landscape while heavily pregnant to meet up with the king. 292 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 2: It's not clear exactly why she embarked on that perilous journey. 293 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 2: When contemporary said that she wanted to warn the king 294 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 2: and tell him that some people wanted to betray him 295 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 2: and deliver him into the hands of his enemies, the English, 296 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 2: and in response to her warnings, the king quote did 297 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 2: nothing but laugh. Not long after arriving at the monastery, 298 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 2: Agnes suffered a flux in her stomach. As the pain worsened, 299 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 2: she began fearing death. One monk reported that she repented 300 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 2: her transgressions, recalling Mary Magdalene, and that she called on 301 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 2: God and the Virgin to help her as her health worse, 302 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,360 Speaker 2: and she gathered her friends around her and said, quote, 303 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 2: it is a small thing rotting and feted our fragility, 304 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:12,880 Speaker 2: after crying out. She died on February eleventh, fourteen fifty 305 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 2: Agnes's sudden death, in conjunction with her sudden appearance at 306 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 2: the monastery, raised suspicions across the court. Was she poisoned? 307 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 2: Could the rivalry between Agnes Pierre and the prince have 308 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 2: turned deadly? Contemporaries certainly thought so. One reported that in 309 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 2: fourteen fifty six, a team of armed men arrested the 310 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 2: prince after Agnes's death or unknown reasons, Some thought that 311 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 2: the king deposed the prince because he had destroyed the 312 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 2: province of Dauphine through heavy taxation. But this one chronicler 313 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 2: also alluded to another motive, quote, the Daufi had already 314 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 2: caused the death of a demoiselle named the Belle Agnes, 315 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 2: who was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and 316 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 2: with whom the king his father was entirely in love. 317 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 2: These speculations of foul play had no concrete evidence to 318 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 2: back them up, and for centuries the cause of Agnes's 319 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 2: death was unknown. In two thousand and five, a forensic 320 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 2: specialist and his team examined Agnes's remains and found that 321 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:34,400 Speaker 2: Agnes died of a massive overdose of mercury that could 322 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,959 Speaker 2: only have occurred as a result of poisoning. The specialist 323 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 2: concluded quote, Thus, Agnes Sorel's poisoning has been confirmed by 324 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 2: an investigation worthy of the best to detective or historical novels. 325 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 2: No one can say whether the poisoning was voluntary or 326 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:56,639 Speaker 2: not vile crime. We are waiting for historians to solve 327 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 2: the mystery and unmask the guilty party. When Agnes died, 328 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 2: Charles the Seventh had two tombs erected, one where Agnes 329 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 2: passed away that enclosed her heart, and another at Notre 330 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 2: Dame de Loche which held her body. Before her death, 331 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 2: Agnes had donated a statue of Mary Magdalene to the 332 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,640 Speaker 2: collegiate Church of Loche, along with one of her ribs 333 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 2: and some hairs. Agnes's deathbed devotion to Mary Magdalen, along 334 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,640 Speaker 2: with these gifted relics, hint at the way she conceptualized 335 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 2: her own life. Even though Agnes may have seen herself 336 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,360 Speaker 2: as Mary Magdalene, she would be immortalized in art as 337 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 2: the Virgin Mary. French painter Jean Fouquet was commissioned to 338 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 2: paint a portrait of Mary, and he used Agnes as 339 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 2: a model the painting that I alluded to in the 340 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 2: introduction of this episode. Historian Susie Nash writes that the 341 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,360 Speaker 2: first incomplete version of the painting may have been commissioned 342 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 2: by Charles the Seventh to imagine an alternate future for Agnes. 343 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 2: Quote Agnes as queen and Agnes as mother to a 344 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 2: son a future king, all in the guise of the Virgin. 345 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 2: This portrait of the Virgin Mary as a mediator between 346 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,920 Speaker 2: God and Earth was an apt image to encapsulate Agnes's 347 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 2: power and beauty. As Adams writes, the image reflects in 348 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 2: a sacred register the principal functions of the royal mistress, 349 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 2: who was the mediator par excellence, the person whose good 350 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 2: will was more valuable than any other courtier because of 351 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 2: her special access to and influence with the King. That's 352 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,160 Speaker 2: the story of Agnes Sorel. But stick around after a 353 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 2: brief sponsor break to hear about a mystery surrounding her tomb. 354 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 2: In fifteen twenty five, almost a century after Agnes's death, 355 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 2: something strange happened to the tomb that encased her heart. 356 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 2: According to the Royal History of the abbey, written by 357 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 2: a monk, a new epitaph suddenly appeared engraved in the stone. 358 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 2: The epitaph Laud's Agnes, calling her an unaffected and mild dove, 359 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 2: whiter than a swan, rosier than a flame, mild enough 360 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 2: in speech to calm any courtly spat. This epitaph was 361 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 2: identical to the one engraved at her other tomb. In 362 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 2: loche someone must have gone to both tombs, noticed the 363 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,440 Speaker 2: difference in the engravings, and had them fixed. But who 364 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 2: could have done it and why was the first tomb 365 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 2: only amended seventy five years after Agnes's death. The monk 366 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 2: doesn't speculate. Tracy Adams proposes that it could have been 367 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 2: the King of France. Then Francois the First. Francois may 368 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 2: have heard of Agnes from stories at court, and he 369 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 2: had the opportunity to visit both tombs around the time 370 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,959 Speaker 2: that the first tomb was re engraved. There's no concrete 371 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 2: evidence to suggest that Francois the First was the culprit. Still, 372 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 2: he would have had good reason to honor Agnes's memory. 373 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 2: He would claim that quote, a court without women is 374 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 2: like a year without spring, and he had an official 375 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 2: mistress of his own, extending Agnes's legacy. Noble Blood is 376 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 2: a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. 377 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 2: Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with a 378 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,479 Speaker 2: ditiontional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, 379 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 2: Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The show is edited and 380 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 2: produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il Kaali 381 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,440 Speaker 2: and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. 382 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 2: For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 383 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.