~Agnes Sorel: The Lady Of Beauty~

[Heathcliff]

Agnès Sorel was the first official royal mistress in France. She created a position that would be coveted by many other women through the centuries. When she meets Charles VII (Joanna d'Arc's king Charles), she's very young and a lady in waiting of Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. Agnès was an educated, refined and fashionable woman who was very aware of her assets. Charles, in the other hand, was far from handsome and for many years was known for his indecision and lack of charisma. Certainly someone pleasant but far from being a strong leader and powerful king. When he reached his forties, Charles changed and became more sure of himself. Some historians claim it was Agnès doing but other are sure this transformation begin before they met.

A fair and lovely young woman and a newly self assured king. Before they knew it, they were living a passionate love story. But many resented Agnès and her influence over Charles. Her taste for fashion and finery made her the center of mockery and scorn of her peers and even the French people. Her habit of giving strategic positions to her family members and friends didn't help her reputation either. The Dauphin, Louis, hated her fiercely and didn't hide his feelings for her or even for his father's weakness, who he thought manipulated. He wanted to rule and impatiently waited for an opportunity to win the throne.

Pregnant with her fourth child, Agnès decided to travel to be with her lover, away at war in Rouen. In her way home, while staying in a local manor at Jumièges (Normandy), she is seized by violent cramps in her middle section. A few hours later she dies in agonizing pain and her child follows some weeks after. She was twenty-eight years old.

A distressed Charles VII orders two magnificent tombs: one for her heart and the other for her body. And quickly, he replaced her by her cousin, Antoinette Maignelais, also a fair maiden who resembled Agnès...



Agnès Sorel's death always seemed suspicious and if many looked at the Dauphin as the main suspect, nothing could be ever proved. And several other people had as many reasons to eliminate the royal mistress as the king's son...

In 2004 a team of French scientists decided to examine Agnès skeleton who survived all those centuries of church renovations and grave robbing. They could not prove if she was murdered or not, but one thing was sure, her body contained very high levels of mercury who was a perfect poison. The same product was also used for worms treatment those days. A dosage accident is considered but her doctor was one of the most renowned of the realm. Accident or murder? We'll never know...

Considered by many of her contemporaries as the most beautiful woman in the world, Agnès Sorel continues to fascinate. I for instance would love to see more of her in historical fiction.

~credits to the source