King René d'Anjou and His Seven QueensStaley, Edgcumbe
History
King René d'Anjou and His Seven Queens
Staley, Edgcumbe
France -- Court and courtiers; René I, King of Naples and Jerusalem, 1409-1480
The day after her interment the Queen directs that with reverent
ritual a crown shall be placed over her head like that she placed over
René’s, upon their monument. Certain saintly relics which he and she
had been the means of rescuing from sacrilege, and had deposited in
the Church of St. Tugal de Laval, shall be displayed gratuitously to
“such _dames comtesses_ as may wish to become mothers.” Her “Breviary,”
“Psalter,” “Hours,” and other books of devotion, she bequeaths to the
Church of St. Tugal de Laval, for the use of daughters of her father’s
house at their marriage or when residing in Laval. Two gold rings she
particularly desires to be placed upon the relics of St. Nicholas
d’Angers, within his reliquary: “one, my wedding-ring, which my very
redoubtable lord and consort,--whom God absolve,--placed upon my
finger at our nuptials, with a small heart of diamonds and enamelled
with deep red roses.” The other ring had a large diamond mounted on
a fleur-de-lis, and the band bore the enamelled arms of Anjou. Queen
Jehanne did not forget her friends and attendants; for example, among
very many legacies, she left 200 _livres tournois_ each to three
ladies: Jacqueline de Puy du Jour, Catherine Beaufilz, and “_ma
petite_” Gindine de la Jaille, to provide them with trousseaux upon
marriage.
The body of the Queen was reverently shrouded in a plain linen
chemise, such as that with which she herself had assisted to cover King
René’s corpse, and over it was placed his robe of state. Hers was the
last lying in state of a Queen of Sicily, and every mark of homage and
respect was rendered her remains by high and low. Peasants and citizens
conspired together to show their grateful sense of her virtues and her
benefactions, and the country road from Beaufort to Angers was lined
with sympathetic crowds of mourners. Her passing was in the night
time,--so consonant with her love of seclusion and simplicity,--and the
whole country-side was ablaze with torches and bonfires. The Queen’s
burial was at St. Maurice’s Cathedral, in the tomb of her consort;
whilst her heart,--“so full of love and so tenderly beloved,”--in a
golden casket exactly like that of the King, was placed next his in
the Chapel of St. Bernardin. Upon a memorial tablet was inscribed the
epitaph: “Here lies the Heart of the very high and puissant Princess,
Jehanne de Laval, second wife of King René, and daughter of Guy, Count
de Laval.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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