The she-wolf of France

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The she-wolf of France (original title: La Louve de France ) is a historical novel by the French writer Maurice Druon from 1959. It was published in German in 1960 and reached its 8th edition in the same year (12,000 copies). "The she-wolf of France" is the fifth part of the novel cycle "The unfortunate kings" ( Les rois maudits ), which appeared in seven volumes from 1955. It deals with the prehistory of the Hundred Years War between England and France in the years 1337 to 1453. The title character is the English Queen Isabella , wife of King Edward II and daughter of the French King Philip the Fair , who was also called the "she-wolf of France" .

action

The story begins in 1324 when the rebellious Baron Roger Mortimer, who was held captive by Edward II in the Tower of London , breaks out and flees to France. Eduard sends his wife to France to extradite Mortimer from her brother, the French King Charles IV . She, disappointed and humiliated by her homosexual husband, instead begins a love affair with Mortimer. With him and with the support of Dutch princes , she returned to England with troops in 1326. In a brief civil war , the universally hated Edward II was ousted and murdered in 1327 at the instigation of Mortimer and Isabella. Mortimer swings as regent for the underage son of Edward and Isabella, Edward III. , to the de facto ruler of England. But he soon made himself hated and in 1330 Eduard III. disempowered and hanged in London. Isabella then no longer plays a public role.

But since with the death of Charles IV of France in 1328 the royal house of the Capetians has no direct male heirs, a dispute about succession breaks out. The French barons choose a cousin of Charles IV and a nephew of Philip the Fair, Philip VI , with the ad hoc justification that the crown cannot be passed on to female descendants . (from the Valois branch line ) to the king. Edward III. For his part, as the son of Isabella and thus direct grandson of Philip the Fair, lays claim to the French throne, initially only with diplomatic means, but since 1337 also with the attempt to conquer France militarily. That triggers the Hundred Years War.

The main character of the novel is not Isabella, but the French Baron Robert von Artois , who - historically - was more or less involved in most of the events described. He supported Mortimer and Isabella in conquering England. He ran the election of Philip VI. to the king and was then his closest adviser. In 1331 he fell out of favor when he tried to forge documents and probably also with poisoning to win his decade-old inheritance process for the County of Artois . He finally fled to England and was instrumental in urging Edward III to enforce his claims to the throne through war. He fought as a commander in the British armies invading France. He fell at the siege of Vannes in Brittany in 1342 and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral in London.

German edition

The novel cycle The Unlucky Kings has been published in a new German translation since 2007. In addition to the opening volumes The Curse of the Flames (Parts 1 and 2 of the cycle), The Poison of the Crown (Parts 3 and 4) and, in 2008, Lily and Lion with The Wolf of France as a kick-off, as well as the two remaining volumes.

literature

  • Maurice Druon (from the French by Heinz von Sauter): Lily and Lion , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2008. ISBN 978-3-596-17420-1