#capetian house of anjou

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Empresses (2/5) ↬ Catherine de Valois-Courtenay (before 15 April 1303 – October 1346)

The official Neapolitan investigation into Andrew of Hungary’s murder targeted Johanna’s closest supporters and left her isolated and vulnerable. Her aunt, Catherine of Valois, took advantage of that vulnerability to become the queen’s confidant in order to make certain that one of her sons would be Naples’s next king. At first, it appeared that this son would be Robert, the eldest of the Tarantini, who for a time seemed to be winning the competition between the Angevin princes for power and whom Johanna requested a papal dispensation to marry. Soon, however, Louis gained the upper hand, and Johanna’s requests for dispensations began to identify him as her intended. — From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples by Elizabeth Casteen Of the many relatives who chose to avail themselves of the glittering social whirl of the capital, one stood out: Joanna’s aunt, Catherine of Valois, widow of Robert the Wise’s younger brother Philip, prince of Taranto. Catherine was Joanna’s mother’s older half-sister (both were fathered by Charles of Valois). Catherine had married Philip in 1313, when Philip was thirty-five and she just ten. Catherine was Philip’s second wife. He had divorced his first on a trumped-up charge of adultery after fifteen years of marriage and six children in order to wed Catherine, who had something he wanted. She was the sole heir to the title of empress of Constantinople. … Catherine was twenty-eight years old, recently widowed, and a force to be reckoned with when the newly orphaned Joanna and her sister, Maria, first knew her at the Castel Nuovo in 1331. Shrewd, highly intelligent, and vital, Catherine was supremely conscious of her exalted ancestry and wore her title of empress of Constantinople as though it were a rare gem of mythic origin. Even the death of her husband, Philip, in 1331 had not dissuaded her from persisting in her efforts to reclaim the Latin Empire for herself and her three young sons: Robert, Louis, and Philip. A series of shockingly inept leaders had left the Byzantine Empire vulnerable to attack from the west, and this state of affairs was well known in Italy. Moreover, Catherine was used to getting her way. — The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

[histoireettralala]

Louis VII and his great vassals

Philip Augustus owed a considerable debt to his father, not least for extending royal authority into the principalities. Louis forged links which brought the great vassals closer to a monarchy which was becoming more than one among equals, establishing the suzerainty of the Capetians. Previously the magnates had rarely attended court, only doing homage, if at all, on their borders, and providing small contingents for military service, if any. Even in the Plantagenet lands, Louis advanced the royal position. Henry Plantagenet came to Paris to give homage in return for recognition in Normandy, something previous dukes had avoided. He went again as king in 1158, acknowledging that for his French lands: "I am his man." The Plantagenet sons made frequent visits to Paris to give homage. They offered Louis lands in return for recognition, weakening their grasp on vital border territories.

Even the practice of magnates having significant functions in the palace went into decline, but now a new sort of link began to be forged. The role of the magnates was altered by the emergence of large assemblies, sometimes local, sometimes broader. The assemblies at Vézelay and Etampes, in preparation for the Second Crusade, were an important step in the significance of something akin to national assemblies.

Louis's resistance to Frederick Barbarossa also paid dividends: in Flanders, Champagne and Burgundy. Barbarossa saw Louis as a 'kinglet', and coveted the lands between their respective realms, threatening and cajoling his French neighbours. Hostile relations developed between the kings, especially during the papal schism. Again Louis's Church policy gave him advantages. His favoured candidate for the papacy, Alexander III, carried the day, and Churches in the danger area turned to him as protector, as did some of the lesser nobility. The lord of Bresse offered himself as a vassal: 'come into this region where your presence is necessary to the churches as well as to me.'

Nor was Louis easy to push against his will. Even the count of Champagne experienced the king's wrath: 'you have presumed too far, to act for me without consulting me'. Louis's third marriage, to Adela in 1160, cemented his improving relations with the house of Champagne. He had transformed French policy to ally with the natural enemies of Anjou. Adela's brothers, Theobald V count of Blois, Henry the Liberal count of Champagne, Stephen count of Sancerre, and William who would be archbishop of Reims, became vital supporters of the crown; Theobald and Henry also married Louis's two daughters by Eleanor. The crown therefore did not have to face Henry II alone. When in 1173 Louis encouraged the rebellion by Young Henry, he could call to his support the counts of Flanders, Boulogne, Troyes, Blois, Dreux and Sancerre.

In the south Louis attempted to improve his position through marriage agreements. His marriage to Eleanor gave him an interest in Aquitaine, which was not completely abandoned after the divorce. He married his sister Constance to Raymond V count of Toulouse in 1154. In 1162 Raymond declared: 'I am your man, and all that is ours is yours.' It is true that Raymond' s marriage failed, his wife complaining 'he does not even give me enough to eat', and that Raymond flirted with a Plantagenet alliance, but only to join Richard against his father. By 1176 he had returned to the Capetian fold.

Louis used marriage as a prospect to cement relations with Flanders. Louis had brought Flanders into the coalition against Henry II, and now agreement was made for his son Philip to marry Isabella of Hainault, the count of Flanders' niece. The dukes of the other great eastern principality, Burgundy, were a branch of the royal family. As Fawtier has said, it was 'the only great fief over which royal suzerainty was never contested' - at least until the time of Philip Augustus. At Louis VI's coronation, three princes of the realm had refused to give homage. By the accession of Philip Augustus, liege homage of the great vassals to the crown had become the expected practice.

Vassals of the princes sometimes turned directly to the king for aid rather than to their own lords. Many in the south sought Louis's protection, including the viscountess of Narbonne, who declared: 'I am a vassal especially devoted to your crown'. Roger Trencavel received the castle of Minerve from Louis and did homage for it, though he was a vassal of the count of Toulouse, and the castle was not even the king's to give. William of Ypres, though a vassal of the count of Flanders, asked Louis to enfief his son Robert. Under Louis, not only were the great vassals brought closer, but Capetian influence was filtering through to a lower stratum of vassals.

Jim Bradbury - Philip Augustus, King of France, 1180-1223

[venicepearl]

Jadwiga (1373 or 1374 – 17 July 1399), also known as Hedwig, was the first woman to be crowned as monarch of the Kingdom of Poland. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts than among the Angevins.

In 1375, it was planned that when becoming old enough, she would marry William of Austria and she lived in Vienna from 1378 to 1380. Jadwiga's father is often thought to have regarded her and William as his favoured successors in Hungary after the 1378 death of her eldest sister, Catherine, since the following year the Polish nobility had pledged their homage to Louis' second daughter, Mary, and Mary's fiancé, Sigismund of Luxembourg. However, Louis died, and in 1382, at her mother's insistence, Mary was crowned "King of Hungary". Sigismund of Luxembourg tried to take control of Poland, but the Polish nobility countered that they would be obedient to a daughter of King Louis only if she settled in Poland.

Queen Elizabeth then chose Jadwiga to reign in Poland, but did not send her to Kraków to be crowned. During the interregnum, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, became a candidate for the Polish throne. The nobility of Greater Poland favored him and proposed that he marry Jadwiga. However, Lesser Poland's nobility opposed him, and they persuaded Queen Elizabeth to send Jadwiga to Poland.

Jadwiga was crowned king in Poland's capital, Kraków, on 16 October 1384. Her coronation either reflected the Polish nobility's opposition to her intended husband, William, becoming king without further negotiation, or simply, emphasized her status as the monarch. With her mother's consent, Jadwiga's advisors opened negotiations with Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was still a pagan, concerning his potential marriage to Jadwiga. Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo, pledging to convert to Catholicism and to promote conversion of his pagan subjects. Meanwhile, William hastened to Kraków, hoping to marry his childhood fiancé, Jadwiga, but in late August 1385 the Polish nobles expelled him.

Jogaila, who took the Catholic baptismal name Władysław, married Jadwiga on 15 February 1386. Legend says that she had agreed to marry him only after lengthy prayer, seeking divine inspiration. Jogaila, now styled in Polish as, Władysław Jagiełło, was crowned King of Poland on 4 March 1386 as Jadwiga's co-ruler. Jogaila worked closely with his wife in that role. In any case, her real political power was limited.

She remained passive when the rebellious nobles of the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia murdered her mother in early 1387. After that, Jadwiga marched into the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which had been under Hungarian rule, and persuaded most of the inhabitants to become subjects of the Polish Crown. She mediated between her husband's quarreling kin and between Poland and the Teutonic Order.

After her sister Mary died in 1395, Jadwiga and Jogaila laid claim to Hungary against the widowed Sigismund of Luxembourg, but the Hungarian lords did not support their claim and Sigismund easily retained his Hungarian throne. Jadwiga died four years later due to postpartum complications.

In 1997, Jadwiga was canonized by the Catholic Church.

[trustkits]

Gallo lungo

The property has been on and off the market for years, most recently a public listing of the three islands in 2011 was for US$268,000,000. The island was described by the playwright’s wife, Isabella, in a book entitled, In mezzo al mare un'isola c'è. Isca has a villa and garden on the side facing the cliff (and, thus, not visible if sailing behind the island). The Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De Filippo purchased this island, which was later owned by his son Luca De Filippo. Members of the public are not allowed to land but can swim in the surrounding waters. He also installed a desalinization plant which provided a reliable water supply to and assisted in the development of the gardens,Īfter Nureyev’s death the islands were purchased from his foundation in 1996 by Giovanni Russo, a Sorrento hotelier who besides using them as a private residence also makes them available for private rental with a staff of 7 and a launch to take guests to and from the mainland. He redecorated the villa in the Moorish style and clad its interiors with 19th-century tiles from Seville. Shirley Hazzard in her book Greene on Capri recounts a visit to Massine.Īfter Massine’s death the islands were purchased in 1988 by Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who spent the last years of his life here. The villa featured the bedrooms facing Positano with a large terrace garden on the first floor facing Cape Licosa and Capri. With design advice from his friend Le Corbusier he constructed a villa on the site of the original Roman structure. The theatre was subsequently destroyed by a storm. Initially Massine restored and converted the old Aragonese Tower on Gallo Lungo into accommodation with a dance studio and featuring an open-air theatre. In 1922, he purchased Gallo Lungo and began converting it from a place of defense into a private residence. In 1919 the Russian choreographer and dancer Leonide Massine sighted the islands while staying with a friend in Positano. The town later sold the islands to a native of Salerno who sold them to Davide Pariato. Eventually with the establishment of the Republic of Italy ownership passed to the town of Positano. Responsibility for the islands then passed to Catalian Gilberto Squanes, the Miroballo family and then to the Marino Mastrogiudice before passing to the crown and then the Marquises of Positano. The wardenship was subsequently passed to Angelo Balbo in 1382 and in 1425 to Viviano Mirelli. The tower (today called the Aragonese Tower) was constructed around 1312 and occupied by a garrison of four soldiers. As he lacked sufficient funds he accepted an offer from Pasquale Celentano of Positano to lend the required funds, in return for being appointed warden of the fortification. To deter them, Charles wished to build a watchtower on top of the remains of a Roman tower on Gallo Lungo. Originally Gallo Lungo hosted a monastery and then a prison.ĭuring the reign Charles II of Naples (late 13th century), the Amalfi coast became subject to increasing attacks by pirates. Originally the site of an ancient Roman anchorage, in the Middle Ages the islands became medieval fiefdoms of the 13th-century Emperor Frederick II and the Capetian House of Anjou. The modern name, I Galli or The Cocks, references the bird-like form of the ancient sirens. The terms Sirenai and Sirenusai, from the Latin Sirenusae, meaning indicate both the sirens themselves and their residence. In ancient stories, the sirens were depicted as having bodies of a bird and human heads, but the medieval interpretations of the stories depicted them as mermaids. They are mentioned in the 1st century BC by Strabo, the Greek Geographer and by Straton of Sardis in 120 AD. One of them played the lyre, another sang, and another played the flute. Several sirens were said to have inhabited the islands, the most famous of whom were Parthenope, Leucosia, and Ligeia. Smaller islets include, nearer the shore, Isca and, midway between the main islands and Isca, a prominent rocky outcropping that juts above the water, Vetara. La Castelluccia, also known as Gallo dei Briganti.Gallo Lungo, which takes the form of a dolphin.The archipelago consists of three main islands:

[medieval-royalty]

Angevin Queens of Hungary 5/6:

Elizabeth of Bosnia, Queen of Hungary and Poland (c.1339-16 January 1387)

Elizabeth of Bosnia, also known as Elizabeth Kotromanic, was born between 1335 and 1340.  Her parents were Stephen II Kotromanic, Ban (ruler) of Bosnia, and his wife, Elizabeth of Kuyavia, who was a member of Poland’s Piast dynasty.  Around 1350, Elizabeth, having caught the interest of King Louis I of Hungary and his mother, Elizabeth of Poland, was sent to the Hungarian court.  There, in 1353, when she she in her teens, Elizabeth married Louis, who had lost his first wife, Margaret of Bohemia to the plague four years prior.  

     Elizabeth did not play much of a role at court for the first decade of her marriage, her powerful mother-in-law of the same name overshadowed her.  Louis did not have any children by his first marriage, and for more than a decade, him and Elizabeth were childless.  While Elizabeth remained childless, Louis recognized Stephen, his only surviving brother as his heir.  When Stephen died in 1354, his son John became to new heir, but he died in 1360.  Stephen’s other child, a daughter also named Elizabeth, was then recognized as heir, her being the only living descendant of Louis’s parents, besides Louis himself.  Elizabeth of Bosnia and Louis may have had a daughter born in 1365 who died the next year, but her existence in in dispute. 

     In the early 1370s, fortunes began to change for Elizabeth, she gave birth to three daughters in quick succession: Catherine, Maria, and Hedwig.  In the year 1370, Louis’ uncle, Casimir III, King of Poland died leaving no sons.  Louis became the new King of Poland, but preferred to stay in Hungary.  His mother moved back to her native country where she was regent until 1376.  This circumstance allowed the younger Elizabeth to play more of a role at court.  She seems to have taken an active role in her daughters’ upbringing, she even wrote a book for their education!  Unfortunately, no copies survive.  Elizabeth also commissioned a reliquary chest for St. Simeon in the Croatian city of Zadar, which survives to this day.  According to legend, she donated the chest for penance for stealing a finger bone from the mummified saint.  It’s more likely that she commissioned the chest to secure her and Louis’s connections to the city and the Church of St. Simeon.        

     Since Louis and Elizabeth had no sons, their eldest daughter Catherine was the heir.  Louis wanted to make advantageous marriages for his three daughters, as any one of them could end up on the throne of Hungary and Poland.  Catherine was betrothed to Louis, second son of King Charles V of France, Maria to Sigismund, second son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, and Hedwig to William, eldest son of Duke Leopold III of Austria.  In 1378, these plans were upset when Catherine died.  Louis now had to recognize Maria and Sigismund as his successors.  

     King Louis died in September 1382, when his eldest daughter, Maria was only eleven.  Elizabeth acted as regent, assisted by the powerful baron, Nicholas Garay.  Maria was quickly crowned as “King of Hungary”, the title “Queen” was only for consorts, and Elizabeth wanted it known that her daughter was Queen of Hungary in her own right.  Maria’s succession however, was not secure, and many of the Hungarian and Croatian nobles were not happy at the arrangement of female rule, and Elizabeth’s regency was troubled by constant revolts.

     This Polish did not want to be in union with Hungary, and wanted a monarch who would reside in their own country.  So instead of Maria, they chose her younger sister, Hedwig, to be their ruler in 1383.  Elizabeth agreed that she would send Hedwig to Poland to be crowned, but then the young girl would have to return to Hungary for the next three years.  However, in 1384, the Polish could not wait any longer, and demanded that Hedwig be sent to Poland.  Hedwig was sent, and she and Elizabeth never saw each other again.  Hedwig was crowned “King of Poland” in October 1384, to show that she was a monarch in her own right.  In Poland she became known as King Jadwiga.

     Elizabeth was opposed to Maria’s betrothed, Sigismund of Luxembourg, and wanted her daughter to marry Louis of France (her deceased daughter Catherine’s betrothed) instead.  In 1384, she started negotiating for this marriage.  In 1385, the betrothal to Sigismund was annuled, and Maria and Louis of France were married by proxy.  Not all of the Hungarian nobles agreed with this decision, causing more tensions to Elizabeth’s rule.

     King Charles III of Naples was the only remaining male Angevin, besides his young son, Ladislaus.  In 1382, he had his cousin, Queen Joanna I of Naples disposed and murdered, and took the throne.  Some of the Hungarian and Croatian lords wanted him as their king, so he invaded in the fall of 1385.  Sigismund of Luxembourg also invaded, and since Louis of France had not yet arrived to marry Maria in person, Elizabeth was left with no choice but to permit Sigismund to marry Maria.  This could of been because Charles of Naples wanted to seize the Hungarian throne, and Elizabeth thought that having her daughter married would prevent this from happening.

     This did not help, however.  Charles successfully invaded Hungary, and forced Maria to abdicate.  On New Year’s Eve 1385, he was crowned King of Hungary, Elizabeth and Maria were forced to attend his coronation.  Charles’s supporters returned to Naples by February, leaving him nearly defenseless.  As soon as they were gone, Elizabeth and Garay invited Charles to Buda Castle.  There, on 7 February 1386, he was stabbed according to Elizabeth and Garay’s orders.  Charles did not die right away, however.  Elizabeth and Garay had him imprisoned, and he finally died on 24 February, either from his wounds or poisoning.

     Maria and Elizabeth were restored, but there was still a lot of opposition.  She still did not agree with Sigismund, and did not want him recognized king.  Sigismund was not happy with this arrangement.  The Croatian lords who supported Charles, recognized his 9-year-old son, Ladislaus as the new king of Hungary.  With Maria, Garay, and others, Elizabeth set off to deal with them in July 1386.  On their way there, on 25 July 1386, they were ambushed, Garay and their supporters killed.  Elizabeth and Maria were captured.  Taking the blame for the recent events, Elizabeth begged the attackers to spare Maria’s life.

Elizabeth and Maria were imprisoned in Novigrad Castle, in Croatia, while their enemies decided what to do with them.  Charles of Naples’ widow, Margaret of Durazzo, insisted that Elizabeth be put to death.  In January 1387, Sigismund headed towards Novigrad to save the queens, but possibly just Maria.  A Venetian fleet was also trying to save Maria and Elizabeth.  When this news reached Novigrad, Elizabeth was strangled before Maria’s eyes soon before 16 January 1387.  Sigismund could have been behind her death, so that he could be King.  Elizabeth was secretly buried in St. Chrysogonus Church in Zadar, Croatia in February 1387.  Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary in March 1387, and in June of that year, Maria was freed from captivity.  Sigismund, however, remained the ruler, and Maria played little part in government from then on.                                                            

[beardedmrbean]

In regards to "The woman queen" I don't think most people realize that Queen=ruler of country and that women married to Kings aren't actually queens, they are Queen-Consorts. The same way that men married to Queens aren't actually Princes they are Prince-consorts. So they think they need to give women a female equivalent to king, not understanding that there already is one.

Yes and no, it depends upon where and when.

Contrary to what the historically illiterate people on the internet will say, odds are Liz Taylor is close enough on skin tone.

She also held the title of Pharaoh, as did several other women named Cleopatra they never tell you there was a bunch of them, also several other women who had that title iirc.

Then 13-14 centuries later we have (not in the mood to edit out all the wiki markings right now so deal)

Jadwiga (Polish: jaˈdvʲiɡa; 1373 or 1374 – 17 July 1399), also known as Hedwig (Hungarian: Hedvig), was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, reigning from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts than among the Angevins. In 1997, she was canonized by the Catholic Church.

Jadwiga was crowned king in Poland's capital, Kraków, on 16 October 1384.

_____________

They needed a king, the fiddly bits between the legs were irrelevant

Current year and even likely back when that was going on and the Dahomey were going round grabbing captives to sell into slavery, or use for human sacrifice queen worked for that whole thing.

Look at Liz #1

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603.

Lot of semantics I think, regional stuff, people making it more complicated than it needs to be.

That last one is about me.

Suppose in the end it doesn't matter how she's addressed only that she was part of a civilization that became powerful and wealthy by selling their neighbors into slavery.

[dwellordream]

“It is unlikely that any king ever received more valuable assistance from his mother than did Richard from Eleanor. The new English monarch empowered her to hold England until he could arrive to take charge himself, and as a crowned queen she symbolized lawful royal authority in the kingdom until his arrival for his coronation. With her strong personality, she could dominate royal officials and assure administrative continuity. Although official records fail to reflect Eleanor’s efforts on Richard’s behalf, contemporary writers vividly depict her exertions. 

One chronicler wrote, “Queen Eleanor, who for many years had been under close guard, was entrusted with the power of acting as regent by her son. Indeed, he issued instructions to the princes of the realm, almost in the style of a general edict, that the queen’s word should be law in all matters.” He concluded, “To make up for his many excesses, [Richard] took care to show his mother all the honor that he could, that by obedience to his mother he should atone for the offenses committed against his father.” Although Eleanor’s position in England’s government was not comparable to that of Philip II’s mother in France, who was proclaimed official regent while her son was away on crusade, she swiftly exerted herself on Richard’s behalf, securing the kingdom for him and remedying the late king’s abuses. 

Representing royal power, she gave legitimacy to the authority of the experienced and capable chief justiciar Ranulf de Glanvill, and his writs sometimes stated their authorization “by the queen’s precept.” The respect given Eleanor as queen-mother would give her a prominent part in English politics during the turbulent years of 1190–94, when the kingdom was threatened by her younger son John, count of Mortain, and by the Capetian king. She was a prominent force in England, enforcing royal directives, prohibiting a papal legate from entering the kingdom, attesting royal charters, and attending gatherings of the king’s great council.

…A chronicler described Eleanor after her release from captivity: “Circulating with a queenly court, she set out from city to city and castle to castle just as it pleased her.” The chronicler must have chosen the uncommon term “queenly court” instead of “royal court” purposely to draw attention to the extraordinary sight of a female exercising royal authority. The queen sent representatives to all the counties of England to take free men’s oaths of fidelity to their new king. These royal agents were ordered to release captives imprisoned by the king’s will alone, not by the law of the realm, and also those held for offences against the arbitrary forest law, while those lawfully imprisoned were to be released once they found sureties for their appearance at trial. 

The chronicler continued, commenting, “In her own person she demonstrated how grievous unjust imprisonment was for men, and how release aroused in them joyful revival of spirits.” He added that Eleanor freed prisoners because her own experience had taught her that “confinement is distasteful to mankind, and that it is a most delightful refreshment to the spirits to be liberated therefrom.” Certainly Eleanor could feel for those arbitrarily imprisoned by her late husband, but her proclamation was not a general amnesty emptying the jails, for conditions for prisoners’ release were specific and consistent with legal principles and practices. The monastic writer William of Newburgh, nonetheless, was disgusted that freeing them had unleashed “these pests” back onto society only to terrorize decent subjects more confidently in the future. 

Another chronicler commented more favorably, recognizing her action as redressing Henry II’s despotic deeds. She curbed “the depredations of those . . . charged with the care of the forests, intimidating them with the threat of severe penalties”; he also hails her ending of Henry’s habit of housing his horses in the stables of abbeys, remarking that she “distributed them with pious liberality.” Although Eleanor’s first concern in the weeks after Henry’s death was assisting Richard’s smooth accession to England’s throne, she did not forget a widow’s duty to provide prayers for her departed husband’s soul. She assigned income of the vacant bishopric of Winchester as alms on Henry’s behalf and also made grants to the nuns of Amesbury and to the Carthusian brothers for his soul.

In old age, Eleanor was finally fulfilling the role that her English subjects considered proper for their queens, tempering the king’s harsh rule with mercy and busying herself with spiritual matters. Eleanor met Richard at Winchester soon after his landing at Portsmouth on 13 August 1189 to join his entourage. When he learned that English castles on the southern frontier of Wales were being attacked by the Welsh, his first impulse was to march immediately to their relief, but heeding his mother’s counsel, he continued on his way to Westminster for his coronation. In preparation for the queen-mother’s participation in the coronation festivities, over £100 was spent on clothing, furs, horses and their harness, and other items to ensure that she and her entourage made an appropriately splendid impression. 

Her household now included a number of noble maidens in her care, among them Alix of France, Richard’s long-suffering fiancée and victim of Henry II’s lust; Count John’s betrothed, Isabelle, daughter of the deceased earl of Gloucester; and Denise of Déols, heir to the lordship of Berry and soon to be the bride of Andrew of Chauvigny, one of Richard’s Poitevin stalwarts. Andrew had ties of kinship with Eleanor through her Châtellerault ancestors, and his kinsmen had supplied officials for the counts of Poitou. Bernard de Chauvigny had served as the queen’s chamberlain during her first years in England, and Richard as count of Poitou had made Geoffrey de Chauvigny his chamberlain.

Eleanor acknowledged her ties to both Andrew and Denise by attending their wedding at Salisbury. Richard took care to ensure that his mother had adequate wealth for maintaining a standard of living appropriate for a great queen, although as duchess of Aquitaine she was already rich and powerful in her own right. The division of the duchy’s resources between Richard and his mother is unclear, but Eleanor evidently felt no constraint on making grants from Poitou’s revenues. As duke of Normandy, Richard granted his mother income from some Norman administrative agencies.

…In spring 1190, after Richard had crossed to Normandy, he summoned his mother, his brother John, his illegitimate brother Geoffrey Plantagenet, and several bishops to a great council at Nonancourt. This council’s purpose was to lay out plans for governing the new king’s lands during his expedition to the Holy Land, and he provided funds for his mother’s travel. Richard had taken the cross in 1187, and it is his leadership of the Third Crusade, 1190–92, that makes him the best known of all medieval English monarchs. 

During Eleanor’s voyage across the Channel her mind must have turned to her own hardships endured on the Second Crusade more than forty years earlier, and her memories would have aroused fears for her son’s safety. Making the crossing with Eleanor were noble maidens in her entourage, among them her granddaughter Eleanor of Brittany, the unfortunate Alix of France, and the daughter of the countess of Eu. Also traveling with her was a great lady, Hawise, countess of Aumale, Normandy, lady of Skipton and Holderness in northern England, and the widow of the earl of Essex. A strong-willed lady similar to the queen-mother, a contemporary described her as “a woman who was almost a man, lacking nothing virile except the virile organs.” 

Richard aimed to give her in marriage to William de Forz, one of his faithful knights in Poitou and a descendant of functionaries in the service of Eleanor and her predecessors. At the Nonancourt council, the new king made provision for his sole surviving brother during his absence on crusade. He handed over to John control of six shires in England and the county of Mortain in Normandy, and he confirmed his title of lord of Ireland, making him a dangerously overmighty subject in the British isles. Richard’s generosity to John in his strongly governed kingdom and his wealthiest French province gave his brother scope for causing trouble, although the king apparently felt confident that his weak character left him incapable of causing serious mischief. 

Establishing the new count of Mortain in so powerful a position led some of Richard’s subjects to surmise that he did not expect to return from his crusade, and they feared that if he did, “His brother, already no less powerful than he and eager to rule, would defeat him and drive him out of the kingdom.” Richard’s lavish grants to John seemed an implicit declaration of his intent that John should be his heir in case of his death overseas. He saw that an explicit statement, however, would have encouraged the count’s bad behavior, as Henry II’s unhappy experience with Young King Henry had shown. 

The Lionheart perhaps expected that two checks would discourage his brother from doing harm. One was their mother Eleanor’s influence, and the other was John’s oath to remain outside England during his brother’s absence from the kingdom, but neither worked as expected. First, Eleanor was away from England for several months in 1190–91, accompanying Richard as far as Chinon in Anjou, then crossing Aquitaine to Spain and across the Midi to conduct Richard’s bride to his camp at Messina in Sicily, where he was wintering before sailing to the Holy Land. 

The second precaution, Count John’s promise at Nonancourt not to return to England for three years, was soon undone apparently through Eleanor’s pressing Richard to free him from his oath. She hardly knew her youngest son, who had grown up during her long captivity, and like Richard, she underestimated his capacity for trouble-making, or perhaps she expected that John’s awareness of his advantage as Richard’s presumed heir would induce him to behave himself. In fact, John surfaced “in active mischief” once his mother was far from England on her long journey to Spain and Sicily, although open moves against the regency government would begin only after he heard of his brother’s formal declaration of young Arthur of Brittany as heir late in 1190.

Once the queen-mother returned to the Anglo-Norman realm in 1191 she exerted her maternal pressure on her last-born son, succeeding in preventing him from rushing off to join Philip II following the French king’s premature return from the crusade in anger and frustration at Richard. At Nonancourt, the Lionheart named two chief justiciars to govern England jointly in his absence, but this scheme promptly collapsed on the death of one of them, William de Mandeville, earl of Essex. The king then began tinkering with his plan that ultimately would leave one of the co-justiciars, William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, solely in charge of the kingdom. Longchamp’s power rested on his control over the royal seal as royal chancellor, a sign of Richard’s confidence that in effect handed over to him the administration of the realm. 

By limiting authority of the other co-justiciar, the bishop of Durham, to the north of England, Richard had given Longchamp an excuse to exclude him from Westminster, the center for royal administration. Finally in June 1190, Richard acknowledged Longchamp’s supremacy, declaring him chief justiciar of all England. On the same day that the king’s letter arrived, news came that the pope had conferred on Longchamp spiritual authority over the Church in the island kingdom as papal legate. One chronicler’s claims that Longchamp had “three titles and three heads” and that he had become “Caesar and more than Caesar” ring true.

Apparently Richard’s trust either created or encouraged an arrogance and ambition within his chancellor that would ultimately bring him to ruin. The issue of Richard’s marriage was doubtless a topic for discussion during the Nonancourt conference. It may have been at that time that he revealed to his mother his plan to marry Berengaria of Navarre, and he requested her to travel to Spain and bring his bride to him in Sicily. Among Eleanor’s weightiest concerns was the Lionheart’s marriage and the birth of a son and heir that would ensure dynastic continuity and preserve the unity of the Plantagenet holdings. She knew well the many dangers that lay ahead for a crusader king. 

Years earlier, Richard had been betrothed to Alix, daughter of Louis VII and half-sister of Philip II, but he had always balked at wedding the Capetian princess, probably because of his belief that his own father had seduced her. Despite Eleanor’s anxieties, Richard himself showed few worries about the succession, confident that he would survive the dangers of an expedition to the Levant and live long enough to sire heirs. His mother was wary of the potential heirs to Richard—his sole surviving brother, John, count of Mortain in Normandy; her grandson Arthur of Brittany; and Richard’s half-brother Geoffrey Plantagenet, a cleric in minor orders. 

At Messina in Sicily, before sailing for the Holy Land, the Lionheart would name his nephew, Arthur of Brittany as his heir. Eleanor considered the child Arthur unacceptable because of the ferocious hostility of his Breton mother toward her Plantagenet in-laws. Eleanor can hardly have had much sympathy for Geoffrey, her late husband’s beloved bastard son, and she opposed Richard’s honoring his father’s wishes by naming him archbishop of York. Before Geoffrey could be consecrated, he had to take priestly vows, making him less credible as a potential king, and like John, he was barred from entering the kingdom for three years. 

Notwithstanding any doubts that Eleanor harbored about her youngest son’s character, she apparently viewed him as the sole suitable successor to the English throne should Richard die without direct heir, and possibly her insistence that Richard release John from his obligation of remaining outside the kingdom reflects her concern for his succession. A chronicle from the crusader kingdom maintains that Eleanor was the instigator of Richard’s marriage to Berengaria because her hatred and resentment of the king of France and his offspring led her to prevent at any price her son’s marriage to a daughter of Louis VII. This work is a continuation of William of Tyre’s chronicle that had recorded the Antioch affair that had brought public attention to Eleanor’s troubles with her first husband. 

It is unlikely, however, that Richard Lionheart was “bullied into marriage by his formidable mother” or that she can be credited with negotiating his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre. Despite Eleanor’s feelings about Richard’s choice of a bride or her fears for the succession, her son’s marriage to a princess from the Pyrenean kingdom must be seen as his own plan.  Allying himself with Berengaria’s father, King Sancho VI (d.1194), and her brother, the future Sancho VII, formed part of a program for stabilizing Gascony. Richard saw the match as “an ingenious diplomatic device . . . in order to cut his way through a thicket of political problems,” probably proposed by him as early as February 1190 at a great council of the Gascon nobility at La Réole.”

- Ralph V. Turner, “The Queen-Mother: Richard’s Reign, 1189–1199.” in Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of England

[roehenstart]

Charles I (1288-1342), King of Hungary. Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber.

Also known as Charles Robert, he was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno. His father was the eldest son of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary. Mary laid claim to Hungary after her brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary, died in 1290, but the Hungarian prelates and lords elected her cousin, Andrew III, king. Instead of abandoning her claim to Hungary, she transferred it to her son, Charles Martel, and after his death in 1295, to her grandson, Charles.

[noosphe-re]

Etymology of ‘mafia’

The word mafia (Italian: [ˈmaːfja]) derives from the Sicilian adjective mafiusu, which, roughly translated, means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness" or "bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu (mafioso in Italian) in 19th century Sicily signified "fearless", "enterprising", and "proud", according to scholar Diego Gambetta. In reference to a woman, however, the feminine-form adjective mafiusa means 'beautiful' or 'attractive'.

Because Sicily was once an Islamic emirate from 831 to 1072, mafia may have come to Sicilian through Arabic, though the word's origins are uncertain. Possible Arabic roots of the word include:

ma'afi (معفي) = exempted. In Islamic law, Jizya, is the yearly tax imposed on non-Muslims residing in Muslim lands. And people who pay it are "exempted" from prosecution.

màha = quarry, cave; especially the mafie, the caves in the region of Marsala, which acted as hiding places for persecuted Muslims and later served other types of refugees, in particular Giuseppe Garibaldi's "Redshirts" after their embarkment on Sicily in 1860 in the struggle for Italian unification.

mahyas (مهياص) = aggressive boasting, bragging

marfud (مرفوض) = rejected, considered to be the most plausible derivation; marfud developed into marpiuni (swindler) to marpiusu and finally mafiusu.

mu'afa (معافى) = safety, protection

Ma àfir = the name of an Arab tribe that ruled Palermo. The local peasants imitated these Arabs and as a result the tribe's name entered the popular lexicon. The word mafia was then used to refer to the defenders of Palermo during the Sicilian Vespers against rule of the Capetian House of Anjou on 30 March 1282.

mafyá, meaning "place of shade". The word "shade" meaning refuge or derived from refuge. After the Normans destroyed the Saracen rule in Sicily in the eleventh century, Sicily became feudalistic. Most Arab smallholders became serfs on new estates, with some escaping to "the Mafia." It became a secret refuge.

The public's association of the word with the criminal secret society was perhaps inspired by the 1863 play I mafiusi di la Vicaria [it] ("The Mafiosi of the Vicaria") by Giuseppe Rizzotto and Gaspare Mosca. The words mafia and mafiusi are never mentioned in the play. The play is about a Palermo prison gang with traits similar to the Mafia: a boss, an initiation ritual, and talk of "umirtà" (omertà or code of silence) and "pizzu" (a codeword for extortion money). The play had great success throughout Italy. Soon after, the use of the term "mafia" began appearing in the Italian state's early reports on the phenomenon. The word made its first official appearance in 1865 in a report by the prefect of Palermo Filippo Antonio Gualterio [it].

(via Wikipedia)

[pol-ski]

Jadwiga of Poland & Władysław II Jagiełło

Costumes recreated by Elżbieta Radke

Jogaila, later Władysław II Jagiełło

(c. 1352/1362 – 1434), Grand Duke of Lithuania, King of Poland. Born a pagan, in 1386 he converted to Catholicism and was baptized as Władysław in Kraków, married the young Polish Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. In 1387 he converted Lithuania to Christianity.

During his reign, the Polish-Lithuanian state was the largest state in the Christian world. After he became King of Poland, as a result of the Union of Krewo, the newly formed Polish-Lithuanian union confronted the growing power of the Teutonic Knights. The allied victory at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, followed by the Peace of Thorn, secured the Polish and Lithuanian borders and marked the emergence of the Polish–Lithuanian alliance as a significant force in Europe. The reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is often considered the beginning of Poland’s Golden Age.

Jadwiga

(Hungarian: Hedvig; 1373/4 – 17 July 1399), was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, reigning from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts. In 1997 she was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Jadwiga’s cultural and charitable activities were of exceptional value. She established new hospitals, schools and churches, and restored older ones. Jadwiga promoted the use of vernacular in church services, especially the singing of hymns in Polish. The Scriptures were translated into Polish on her order. She was born to a family famed for its religious zeal. She attended Mass every day. In accordance with her family’s tradition, Jadwiga was especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An inscription engraved on her request on a precious chalice, which was placed in the Wawel Cathedral, asked Our Lady to place Poland under her protection.

[anastpaul]

Saint of the Day - 19 August - Saint Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop

Saint of the Day – 19 August – Saint Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop

Saint of the Day – 19 August – Saint Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop, Neapolitan prince of the Capetian House of Anjou, Franciscan Friar and Priest, Apostle of prayer, of penance and of the poor and the sick – born in February 1274 at Nocera, Italy and died on 19 August 1297 at Brignolles, Italy of natural causes, aged just 23. Also known as Louis of Anjou.Patronages –…

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Virtually Unknown Women (5/10) ↬ Agnès de Périgord (d. 1345)

Élie de Talleyrand was the brother of Agnes of Périgord, the mother of the three Durazzeschi princes, and was thus intimately involved in the politics and intrigues of the Neapolitan court. — From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples by Elizabeth Casteen Catherine’s freewheeling lifestyle and generally conceited demeanor excited the jealousy and resentment of another cadet branch of the family— that of John, now styled duke of Durazzo as a result of the recent transaction with his sister- in-law. John had also taken a French girl, Agnes of Périgord, as a second wife after his first, a princess of Achaia, had refused to consummate the marriage and been imprisoned for her temerity. Agnes came from very good stock— not quite as grand as Catherine’s, but still very distinguished and aristocratic— and she resented her sister-in-law’s unquestioned air of superiority. The rivalry between the two women only deepened when John died in 1336 and his lands and titles devolved upon Agnes’s eldest son, Charles of Durazzo, who was thirteen at the time of his father’s death. Agnes was devoted to Charles and very ambitious for his advancement. She knew that Catherine’s sons held a slight advantage in rank over hers, owing to their father’s having been older and therefore closer to the throne. But Agnes, while less flamboyant than Catherine, was every bit a match for the empress of Constantinople in terms of enterprise and calculation. — The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

[histoireettralala]

Medieval Brittany

Brittany was a region with strong traditions of independance, with an ethnic identity, a language and culture of its own. Formal integration into and continued interaction with the Carolingian empire, and with adjacent regions, nevertheless ensured that the political and social institutions of Brittany were similar to those prevailing elsewhere in western Francia. This was especially true of the eastern portion of the medieval duchy (the counties of Rennes and Nantes) which were within the Carolingian Breton march.

Brittany was severely affected by Viking attacks, and when ducal authority was re-established in the 930s (with the first ducal charters surviving from the 940s), it remained fragile. Dynastic disputes caused the political fragmentation of the duchy into counties. Comital authority was in turn diminished by the appearance of adulterine castellanies, which by the mid-twelth century constituted independant baronies. Comital authority further suffered from the pressures of resisting claims to overlordship pursued by both the dukes of Normandy and the counts of Anjou in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The process of fragmentation was halted and reversed from the mid-eleventh century, when intermarriage among the comital houses resulted in the ducal title vesting in one individual, Duke Alan IV (1084-1112). It remained for the ducal dynasty to revive central authority. The long and stable reigns of Alan IV and his son Conan III (1112-1148), ably assisted by the dowager-duchess Ermengard, daughter of Count Fulk IV of Anjou, saw progress in this direction.

A succession dispute following Conan's death not only undid the dukes' achievement, but also created the circumstances in which the claims to overlordship by neighboring princes could be fulfilled in the person of Henry II, king of England, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou. Between 1158 and 1166, Henry II annexed Brittany to his continental possessions, marrying his younger son Geoffrey to Constance, heiress of the duchy. The Plantagenet regime in Brittany further consolidated important links with the Anglo-Norman kingdom, which began with grants of lands in England to Bretons who had supported William the Conqueror in 1066 and later his son Henry I. The largest bloc of English lands, the honour of Richmond, pertained to the dukes of Brittany by hereditary right after 1146, but other Bretons held English lands in chief of the crown independantly of Richmond.

The Plantagenet regime came to an end in 1203, in consequence of King John's murder of his nephew Arthur, the son of Duke Geoffrey and Constance. From that point, Brittany was indisputably subject to Capetian authority, which could now be exercised directly. Brittany had at all times acknowledged Capetian sovereignty- even the Plantagenet rulers had rendered homage for the duchy to the kings of France- but typically of the principalities, this sovereignty was purely nominal until the early thirteenth century. Nevertheless, after the marriage of infant heiress, Alix, to Pierre de Dreux, a Capetian cadet, in 1213, Brittany was allowed a large measure of autonomy, subject to the continued acknowledgement of Capetian sovereignty, and the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries would see the golden age of ducal Brittany.

Elizabeth M. Hallam & Charles West- Capetian France, 987-1328

[venicepearl]

Queen Jadwiga's Oath, by Józef Simmler, 1867

Jadwiga of Poland (1373 or 1374 – 17 July 1399), also known as Hedwig, was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, reigning from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts. In 1997 she was canonized by the Catholic Church.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Dragon Dancer II: Chapter 1: The Gentleman

The light colored facade and fanciful decor of the hundred-year-old Hotel Le Royal Monceau in Paris was truly fitting for spring. Principal Hilbert Ron Anjou tipped his hat in appreciation of the sight and at the doorman who greeted him with “Welcome back, sir.”

Master list

“It is truly a pleasure to be back!” He gestured behind him. “This is my new special student.”

The doorman, dark-skinned and appearing to be in his thirties, regarded the teenage girl standing behind him. She wore a white jacket, her shapely brown legs curving out from a pleated yellow short skirt that some men might eye, hoping for a glimpse of a little more. She was less than impressed with the gracious amenities, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with the tassels of her hood strings.

The doorman grinned anyway. “Well, a fine student she is.” He earned himself a tip for remaining cheery rather than concerned about her gloomy expression.

Anjou checked in. Though his hair and beard were white, he didn’t move like a man that old. His spine was straight, his limbs strong, his manner energetic and jovial. His eyes were focused and crisp. His voice was strong, despite his happy smoking of a Cuban cigar.

The hotel staff were clearly smitten with him, losing their stiff professional manner and laughing at his jokes, eyes glittering with mirth. Even though he wore a custom tailored suit that cost more than most people made in a year and wore rings of rare crystals -- some of alchemical make, so rare and so precious, they might as well have been alien -- they treated him as a friend. 

That was Anjou’s charisma.

It wasn’t until they stepped into the gold mirrored elevator that that charisma faltered.

His student looked lost, unhappy, vulnerable, and achingly beautiful. Her slight figure added to her fae-like appearance. Anjou watched the elevator operator’s face flicker on her, his natural empathy and need to protect a fellow human welling up in his eyes.

The man surely had worked in this hotel long enough to know he shouldn’t ask questions. Anjou watched in wonder and allowed the man’s feelings to develop, chuckling internally as the sight of her worked its magic -- just as it did on Caesar on the Day of Liberty.

Like Caesar, this bellhop forgot where he was, forgot his duty, and was drawn into a disadvantageous position, risking his precious prize -- in this case, a tip.

“Uh… are you okay?”

She lifted her head, surprised to be addressed. Her wide eyes were like windows to her soul, easily read, hiding nothing.

“Yes… are… you alright?” He asked again, committing to his error.

She smiled at him. “Just a little sick from the flight. That’s all.”

Anjou’s eyes returned to the bellhop as he suddenly realized his blunder. To his credit, he didn’t apologize.

“I hope you understand sir…”

“Oh, I understand perfectly.” Anjou’s voice was so warm and reassuring that he might as well have reached over and patted this fully grown man on the head. “And I commend you on your brave spirit and humanity.”

Anjou took out his wallet and produced a tip of three hundred euros. “Here. Spend it well.”

The man let out a wheeze, eyes wide.”Yes. Thank you sir! Thank you… is there anything more I can…”

“I’ll take it from here.” Anjou interrupted, as the doors opened.

His student blessed the bellhop with one more smile, as she left the elevator. The man only broke her gaze after the doors attempted to close on him.

As soon as she arrived in her room, his student fled to her bedroom and shut the door. This was hard on her.  Normally, high ranking students were eager to get off campus and put their education to good use as well as take advantage of the plush amenities their rank afforded them. But she grew up in modest circumstances and only longed for things money couldn’t buy. 

She’d bewitched the other S-ranked student, Lu Mingfei, into a deep friendship with her. She’d drawn the leader of Lionheart into being her lover and lured Caesar Gattuso into practically handing over Day of Liberty to her. Had he not gotten her off campus, he might have found himself without a school.

Everything she had accomplished didn’t apply here, however. She had no friends, no lover, and no influence. As far as she was concerned, Paris was a desert. 

He pressed a key on his phone. The voice on the other end had a slight French accent over the otherwise impeccable English.

“Anjou, a day is too long to go without hearing your voice.”

“And it has been far too long, Capetian. The student and I have just arrived.”

“Excellent! Were there any problems?”

“None! The passport was flawless.”

“And the flight?”

“The weather could have not been better. Let’s hope it remains that way. Paris is making me fall in love all over again!” He chuckled. “Of course, every season is a good season in Paris. Have you located the others?”

“Yes, sir… they…”

Anjou stopped him. “Now, now… brief me tonight at dinner. I would like you to meet our young genius.” 

After a few more loving goodbyes and reminders not to be late, Anjou hung up the phone and went to the bedroom.

She was Charlotte to strangers, Carli to friends, Meixiu to her lover. She was a young woman of many names. He referred to her most often however, as “my dear”. She was dear to him, having come out from the jaws of death and through sands of time to return to his school like a little turtle dove.

Her scowl reminded him, however, that she was actually a hybrid. First Generation, S-ranked, and just as much dragon as she was human. She was not pleased with him. He’d disrupted her plans to spend time in Chizuru with Chu Zihang and made no mystery of her love-sickness. He weathered her glare. “You’re free to stay here and rest while I make arrangements and prepare for the briefing meeting tonight. The mission itself won’t start for a few weeks while we prepare. Try to have a good time.”

She’d taken these arrangements personally and turned back to the window without speaking to him.

After the Day of Liberty, Caesar said that once he’d gotten close enough, she’d drawn him into darkness so forbidding that he thought he had truly died. When he returned to the land of the living, he was breathless, disoriented. She fought him like a wildcat, and then shot him like a dog.

He would savor these moments when she was still under his wing. He got the feeling they would be a memory all too soon.

Anjou adjusted his tie, donned his light trench coat and went out, leaving the “Do not Disturb” sign on the door.

He enjoyed his walk around the city, admiring the art and architecture, the comings and goings of tourists and natives. Women pushed strollers dressed in tracksuits, older men sat in the square and played chess. It was this idyll that was threatened. He needed her here, but was determined to make her first mission as pleasant as possible before the coming storm.

Just as he predicted, the rain started as the sun began to fall. He only went to the bar on a rainy night.

His student dressed up for the evening, in a modest designer black gown and a string of pearls. The afternoon nap seemed to have done wonders. She was smiling again. Her eyes were brighter. They made their way to the bar on the hotel roof. 

The city’s sea of glittering lights and those of the Eiffel Tower drew a gasp from her.  He put his umbrella to the side and sat near the window. He smiled at the bartender. “How are you doing this year, my old friend?”

Capetian emerged from behind the bar, a glass on his platter. Thin and aged, his dark eyes weary under folds of skin, he smiled. “I’m well, old friend.”

The booths were lit by low hanging directional lamps between pools of shadow that provided privacy despite the open layout. It was next to impossible to hear what was going on at any other table. Something about the design of the place kept the noise down while at the same time, keeping close conversation clear.

The smell of the mint liquor wafted from the cocktail glass. Anjou raised his to his lips and sighed with nostalgia. His student eyed him, content to sit and watch him be happy. A menu was set before her and she looked it over.

The waiter, also older, and so pale he looked like a ghost in the lamplight, softly spoke. “I will be pleased to see to your needs this evening.”

She once again seemed shocked to be talked to. “Um… I need a little more time. Thanks.”

“I’ll take this year's caviar plate for a starter.” Anjou nodded.

The waiter bowed and faded back into the shadow.

Capetian took his seat next to Anjou, who produced a Havana cigar from his jacket pocket and snipped off the tip with a pocket knife. “The Bombay expedition was successful. We’ve found a dragon palace remarkably preserved under the slums. We are currently making our way through the catacombs. However, the dragon is not making it easy to find its chambers.”

He flicked his lighter against the cigar until the tip glowed. “We’ve never seen such a repository of draconic script. And the entry to the complex is predicated on our understanding of it. EVA has done her best with cataloging the known ciphers and arranging and organizing the unknown ciphers along with their context. But this requires a … human touch.” He let out a puff of blue-tinged smoke. “Have you arranged the safe house?”

His student turned to the waiter, ordering a mushroom risotto with a salad. But she was listening. He could tell.

Capetian described a spacious townhouse on the forested outskirts of Paris. At great expense, he’d purchased it, as well as leased the adjacent properties to provide maximum privacy and security for what was bound to be a long term project. He’d stocked the kitchen, installed a private network with direct access to EVA, and a complete off the grid power, water, and sewer system.

The waiter returned with the caviar platter. Anjou offered it to the student who cringed at the sight of the raw fish eggs. “Come now… you’re here to experience new things!” 

While she hesitantly spooned a bit of the roe onto a cracker, Anjou settled on the Kobe beef tartare for his order.

“Have you contacted any of our agents yet?”

“Not yet, I wanted to make sure that nothing came up at the last minute. We’re spread thin here, almost all the agents are occupied with their own projects, but they understand that none are more urgent and pressing than this one. They are willing and available.”

He smiled and nodded. “Your cooperation is deeply appreciated.”

Capetian turned to the girl, watching her clumsily taste caviar for the first time. “And the girl… is she ready?”

“Charlotte?” This time Anjou couldn’t help but laugh, earning him a surprised look from Capetian. Everywhere she went, this uncertainty about her talents followed. He was shaking with laughter, wiping away tears. “Charlotte is the least of my concerns. My biggest concern is your agents’ capability of handling her.”

Capetian’s jaw dropped, “Pardon…?”

Anjou leaned on one elbow, tilting the ash into a silver tray. “She is the winner of the Day of Liberty, S-ranked, and is an essential asset to this mission. I’ll be assigning Agent Robertson to her care and safety. I’ll expect your agents to guard her with their lives and cater to her every request while she works.”

He drew a long puff from his cigar, relaxing to the flavor, the smoke pooling a moment in his mouth. “She has already killed. She can do so again. If they don’t believe me, then they may see for themselves if they try anything improper.”

Charlotte’s gaze lowered and she lost all interest in the caviar.

Capetian swallowed. “Understood, sir.”

[medieval-royalty]

Angevin Queens of Hungary 3/6: 

Elizabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary (c.1305-29 December 1380) 

Elizabeth of Poland was the second of two surviving daughters of King Wladyslaw I of Poland and Jadwiga of Greater Poland.  Her older sister was Kunigunde, who became Duchess of Swidnica and Duchess of Saxe-Wittenberg by her two marriages.  Her only surviving brother was King Casimir III of Poland.

She was probably born between 1300 and 1305. Both of Elizabeth’s parents were members of Poland’s royal Piast dynasty.  Her father Wladyslaw, was from the Masovian-Kuyavian branch, and her mother was from the Greater Poland branch.  At the time of her birth, Poland was divided into multiple provinces.  Wladyslaw spent years reuniting the country, and was finally crowned King of Poland in 1320.            

That same year, the twice-widowed, but childless King Charles I of Hungary was looking for a new wife so he could continue his new dynasty.  Wanting to make an alliance with the new Polish King, Elizabeth, the only unmarried daughter, was a good candidate.  Elizabeth and Charles married on 6 July 1320, when she was about fifteen or a little older.  This marriage started a long period of corporation between Poland and Hungary, especially in trade and politics. 

Elizabeth gave birth to a son named Charles in 1321, but unfortunately he died the same year.  However, a few years later, she bore three more sons in quick succession; Ladislaus in 1324, Louis in 1326, and Andrew in 1327.  The oldest, Ladislaus died in 1329, making Louis his father’s heir.  Elizabeth’s next known child, Stephen wasn’t born until December 1332.   

On 17 April 1330, Elizabeth, King Charles, and their two sons, Louis, four and Andrew, two, where dining at their castle of Visegrad, when Felician Zah, a Hungarian nobleman stormed in and attacked the royal family in an assassination attempt.  Elizabeth, apparently trying to protect her sons, lost four fingers on her right hand in the attack and the king was wounded in the arm.  The two young boys seem to have been unharmed.  Immediately, the guards killed Zah on the spot.  Charles took brutal revenge on Zah’s family.  The exact reasons for the assassination attempt are unclear. Usually it is said that Elizabeth’s brother Casimir, who visited the Hungarian court a month earlier, raped Zah’s daughter /Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, Klara Zah, and Felician Zah wanted revenge.  However others think that the assassination attempt was part of a conspiracy of the Hungarian nobility to remove King Charles, who they considered an usurper.     

It appears that Elizabeth did not let this incident affect her too much, for she became on of the most powerful queens of her era.  She is believed to have introduced the first alcohol-based perfume to Europe, which to this day is known as “The Queen of Hungary’s Water”.  During her husband’s lifetime, she started opening religious houses, something she would continue for the rest of her life.  Many of the churches that opened in Hungary during her time were founded by Elizabeth and her son, Louis, who seems to have been greatly influenced by his mother.  Elizabeth was not that politically active during her husband’s lifetime, but after his death in 1342, her influence greatly expanded.   

Elizabeth’s second son Andrew, was married to Joanna, the heiress of Naples.  He was expected to rule Naples with his wife.  King Charles of Hungary had this marriage arranged because his own claim to Naples was stronger according to primogeniture.  Joanna’s grandfather, King Robert of Naples died in 1343, and in his will he bequeathed Naples entirely to Joanna, and made no mention of Andrew.  Pope Clement VI approved of this decision, and crowned Joanna as sole monarch of Naples.  Andrew informed Elizabeth, and she made a visit to Naples.  She was angry about her son’s exclusion and tried to bribe to pope into crowning him King of Naples.  She also gave Andrew a ring that was believed to protect him from blade or poison.  However, Andrew, never being crowned King was murdered in September 1345.  Whether Queen Joanna took part in the murder is disputed, but Elizabeth and Louis believed that she was guilty, and were determined to avenge Andrew’s death.  

Elizabeth was very close to her son, King Louis I of Hungary, and played a prominent role in his court for most of his reign.  Her brother Casimir had been King of Poland since 1333, and since he had no sons, he recognized Elizabeth and Louis as his possible heirs.  Casimir died in 1370, leaving only daughters, and Louis became the new king of Poland, due to his mother’s linage.  However he chose to remain in Hungary, and sent Elizabeth to Poland to be his regent there.   

Her regency in her native country was disastrous.  The Poles did not like being in union with Hungary.  Elizabeth was unpopular in Poland during her regency, and she faced uprisings.  Apparently, she forced heavy taxes on her subjects, who hated paying them.  In December 1376, a brawl broke out between the Poles and Hungarians, who Elizabeth had brought with her.  About 160 Hungarians were killed in the fight.  Fleeing for her life, Elizabeth returned to Hungary.     

Elizabeth spent her final years in a monastery outside of Buda, but still took a small part in politics, such as securing her granddaughter’s rights to the thrones of Hungary and Poland (Louis had no sons).  This formidable queen died on 29 December, 1380, well into her seventies.  She was buried in one of the monasteries which she founded.  King Louis, her only child alive at the time of her death outlived her by less than two years.