◆Charles VII., son of the mad Charles VI., born 1403, crowned at Poitiers 1422, but only consecrated at Reims in 1429, after the capture of Orleans and the victories due to Jeanne d’Arc. The adversary of the Burgundians and the English under the Duke of Bedford and Henry V. of England. Died 1461. ◆Henry V. of England, reigned, 1413–1422. ◆Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable of France, the most famous warrior of the XIVth Century, and one of the greatest Captains of any age, was born about 1314 near Rennes of an ancient and distinguished family of Brittany. He was the great champion of France in the wars with the English, and the tales of his prowess are endless. Died 1380. [15] P. 21: ◆Béatrix, fourth daughter of Raymond-Béranger IV., Count de Provence. [16] P. 22: ◆Isabeau de Lorraine, daughter of Charles II., married René d’Anjou. [17] P. 24: ◆He called himself René de La Platière, lord of Les Bordes, and was ensign in Field Marshal de Bourdillon’s company; he was killed at Dreux. He was the son of François de La Platière and Catherine Motier de La Fayette. ◆Brantôme, in his eulogy of Bussy d’Amboise, relates that he reprimanded that young man for his mania of killing. The woman whom he compares here to Angélique was Marguerite de Valois. [18] P. 27: ◆Brantôme is unquestionably referring again in this paragraph to Marguerite de Valois and Bussy d’Amboise. [19] P. 28: ◆_Orlando furioso_, canto V. [20] P. 30: ◆That is why Marguerite de Valois turned away “that big disgusting Viscount de Turenne.” She compared him “to the empty clouds which look well only from without.” (_Divorce satyrique._) ◆This is very likely an adventure that happened to Brantôme, and he had occasion to play the rôle of the “gentilhomme content.” [21] P. 32: ◆According to Lalanne, the two gentlemen are Le Balafré and Mayenne. If the “grande dame” was Marguerite, she bore Mayenne no grudge, whom she described as “a good companion, big and fat, and voluptuous like herself.” [22] P. 37: ◆It is Madeleine de Saint-Nectaire or Senneterre, married to the lord of Miramont, Guy de Saint-Exupéry; she supported the Huguenots. She defeated Montal in Auvergne, and according to Mézeray, killed him herself in 1574. (See Anselme, t. IV., p. 890.) In 1569, Mme. de Barbancon had also fought herself; she, too, was formerly an Italian, Ipolita Fioramonti. [23] P. 39: ◆On the large square with the tower, in the centre of Sienna. [24] P. 40: ◆Livy, Bk. XXVII., Chap. XXXVII. [25] P. 42: ◆_Orlando furioso_, cantos XXII. and XXV. ◆Christophe Jouvenel des Ursins, lord of La Chapelle, died in 1588. ◆Henri II. [26] P. 44: ◆Ipolita Fioramonti, married to Luigi di Malaspina, of the Padua branch; she was general of the Duke of Milan’s armies. (Litta, Malaspina di Pavia, t. VIII., tav. xx.)