A Queen in labour--Natural children--Princess Juanita--“La Gaya Ciencia”--Troubadours--Iolande de Flandres--Bar-le-Duc--Highwaymen--Recruits--Fêtes galants--Court of Love--Juan I., King of Aragon--A beauteous damsel--L’Académie des Jeux Floraux--A royal Mainteneuse--Nails in their heads!--“Plucking the turkey”!--“Quite as good as you!”--“A gay woman”--A royal baptism--Princess Yolanda--The Salic Law--A bridegroom-elect--Mauled by a wolf--A silver throne--“The Queen!”--Bullfights--A royal trousseau--A brilliant cavalcade--Louis II. d’Anjou--Attractive girls--Castle of Montpellier--A royal progress--“The Loves of Louis and Yolanda”--A King-suitor in disguise--An ardent kiss--A royal marriage--Beautiful Arlésiennes--“A lovely creature!”--A splendid dowry--Gardens at Tarascon--Legend of St. Martha--A deadly dragon--State entry into Angers--The castle and its contents--“Mysteries”--Inartistic fare--Feastings--Yolanda Lieutenant-General of Anjou--English invasion--Rabbit with a medallion--Isabeau de Bavière--A wasp-like waist--Jewels--Catherine de Valois--Yolanda’s first-born--The “Black Death”--Queen-Duchess Marie--Princess Marie--Taxes and tax-gatherers--René d’Anjou born--St. Renatus--The Queen’s enterprise--Cutting off his tail!--Claimants for a throne--A piteous little Prince--A royal betrothal--Henry V. of England--Louis II. in Italy--His death 30-66 CHAPTER III YOLANDA D’ARRAGONA--II. Royal mourning--Cardinal Louis de Bar--Yolande a constitutional Sovereign--The Duke of Burgundy--Matrimonial alliances--Tournaments--Princess Margherita di Savoia--Louis III. fights for the crown of Naples--Queen Giovanna II.--Princess Isabelle de Lorraine--A stick for a bad woman!--René takes up arms--A vassal--Ordre de la Fidélité--The Van Eycks--Treasures--Gardens at Bar-le-Duc--Floral games--Fortune is a woman!--Battle of Baugé--Birth of Louis XI. of France--Jeanne d’Arc--A panel of matrons--Slanders--Queen Yolande’s daring--Charles VII. inert--René Duke of Barrois--A débauché Prince--A young widow--Preux chevaliers--A love-match--Princess Catherine de Champagne burnt to death--René and Isabelle married--René Duke of Lorraine--Battle of Bulgneville--A royal prisoner--A foisted child--A beretta crown--Prince Jean--Duke of Calabria--Princess Marie de Bourbon--Agnes Sorel, the most lovely girl in France--Queen Yolande in private life--The Castle of Saumur--Queen Yolande’s death--Her character--No trace of her grave--Théophaine la Magine--A quaint epitaph--The stained-glass windows of Le Mans Cathedral--“A good mother and a great Queen” 67-93 CHAPTER IV ISABELLE DE LORRAINE