701st anniversary of Jean I, King of France and Navarre. If you haven’t heard of him, shame on you, because this monarch was a pinnacle in many areas of monarchy: he is the youngest French king in the entire history of this institution, and in fact, the only one to be proclaimed king from the day he was born. As a result, he is the only one to have held the lofty title for his entire life. Five days, to be exact. Which makes him the shortest reigning monarch in France, if you don’t count Louis XIX, who technically ruled for about 20 minutes, on August 2, 1830 (after his father, Charles X, signed an abdication, and until he signed an identical document himself) – but Louis XIX was seen by no one as a legitimate king, while our Jean was a king for all intents and purposes in the eyes of everyone. Well, except for those who probably poisoned him. “What poisoned them?! – you may ask, – a five-day-old baby?!” Well, France The early fourteenth century was a tough place for everyone, including child kings. Hold on tight and try to follow, because there will be plenty of Philipps and Jeannes (of both sexes) here.
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The Templar Curse
To understand the situation correctly, it is worth skipping back two kings – to the grandfather of the unfortunate baby – Philip IV, known as “the Beautiful” and “the Iron King”. It seems that everything worked out for him – he strengthened the French monarchy more than any other king before him, bent to his will the popes and overly independent feudal lords in his country, and when he felt strong enough – he crushed the Order of the Templars, burned their heads and looted their treasures. Along the way – he also looted the treasures of the Jews in his country and then expelled them. An unpleasant detail – standing at the stake, the head of the Templar Order cursed the king and his dynasty, or so the accepted legend says. But in the meantime – everything worked out for him, including succession arrangements – Philip had three adult, healthy and married sons, and his heir, Louis, had already had his first daughter, in other words – the fertility of the kings of the Capa dynasty continued to manifest itself in the next generation.
Then the curse began to work: first, it was discovered that the heir to the throne and the wife of the youngest son, Marguerite and Blanche, were adulterers, while the wife of the middle son, Jeanne, was assisting them in their amusements. The scandal was very loud – the lovers of the princesses were executed in a public and gruesome manner, the adulterous princesses were imprisoned in the gloomy fortress of Château-Gaillar, and the accomplice – was placed under house arrest on her mother’s estate. Fortunately for her, her husband, Prince Philippe, insisted on her innocence, and in the end he obtained a full acquittal for her and she was allowed to return to his arms and to the royal court. Meanwhile, King Philip IV died unexpectedly, on November 29, 1314, apparently from a stroke – and this despite his robust health. The Templar curse continued its work. Louis X, “the Irritable,” ascended the throne – a weak king, subject to the influence of cronies, and an unpleasant and not very intelligent man in general, although he did allow the Jews to return to France.
Louis's great wish was to get rid of his imprisoned and disgraced wife and remarry. He simply disowned their daughter, little Jeanne, and considered her illegitimate and illegitimate, although he did not take steps to establish this in official documents. It seems that the new king's plea fell on attentive ears - Marguerite died in her room a few days before his coronation ceremony, under more than suspicious circumstances, and less than a week after her death he had already married Princess Clementia of the Hungarian royal house, so that they were both crowned at the ceremony. Six months later, the queen became pregnant - everything looked very promising, but on June 5, 1316, Louis died suddenly. The official version blamed too-chilled wine, which the king had sipped too much after a particularly grueling game of tennis (Louis X is the first tennis player we know by name, by the way. Here you go, fans of the white sport, thank me later), but there were also some pretty loud whispers about poisoning, and fingers were secretly pointed at one of the most exalted and powerful feudal ladies in the kingdom, Mago, Countess of Artois and Burgundy, aunt of the late Marguerite and mistress of Blanche and Jeanne. Mago had excellent reasons to loathe Louis (he supported her rebellious nephew Robert, who sought to usurp the Countess of Artois from her) and to try and vacate the throne in favor of her daughter Jeanne, and her beloved son-in-law Philippe. Mago was known as a woman who wouldn't stop at anything, so no one dared to mess with her, and everything ended in whispers, but we know that the curses of the Burning Templars work.
From the 14th century straight to Game of Thrones
And here a problem of succession arose, for the first time since the founder of the dynasty, Hugh Capa, it was unclear who was supposed to inherit. In principle, it was Jeanne’s turn – the youngest daughter of the late Louis and Marguerite. However, Louis made sure to shout to everyone who would listen that he did not consider her a legitimate daughter, and his brother, Philip, went further and recruited nimble jurists who pulled from the abyss of oblivion the “Salic Law”, which stipulated that the ancient Frankish tribes did not allow women to inherit the monarchy. Doubts about the legality and the “precedent” that had been discovered in such a fortunate way kept the girl from power, but Philip’s problems were not yet solved – after all, the widowed queen was pregnant, and in the event that she gave birth to a son – he would be crowned king. Which indeed happened, and that is how we came to Jeanne I, who immediately earned the nickname “posthumously”.
In the meantime, Philip was content with the role of regent, but perhaps this did not satisfy Countess Mago – at the ceremony of Jean’s presentation to the French aristocracy, Mago was honored to hold the baby in her arms, and he – surprise! – died a few minutes later (opinions were divided between a smear of poison on his lips or nostrils, and a long, thick needle in his soft head) – and whoa! – who is this now sitting so beautifully on the French throne – it is Philip V, “the Tall” and his faithful wife Jeanne! Jacques de Molay, who cursed the king before his terrible death, rubs his hands with pleasure in the afterlife. Why? Because Philip died of an illness after only five years of a very wise and successful reign. The “Salic Law” he invented – knocked out his daughters – who were moved aside, to clear the order of succession for his younger brother, Charles the Great, who also left no male descendants, so when he died, after another six years – the direct Capa dynasty was cut off, and the monarchy passed to the Valois dynasty (descendants of Charles of Valois, brother of Philip IV the Handsome). The new king, Philip VI, was married to Jeanne “the Lame,” the rejected daughter of Louis X and Margaret of Burgundy, so she nevertheless gained the throne.
Incidentally, the “Saly Law” was used as a pretext to reject the claims of Edward III, King of England, whose mother, Isabel, was the daughter of Philip IV, and whose rights and the rights of her son were, ostensibly, greater than those of his nephews. When the French refused the English ambassadors a vote on the “ancient” law – and on the grounds that if a woman could not inherit the throne of France, then how much more so could she not bequeath it to others – they were astonished and wondered “Are not the kings of France born of women?” Laughter-laughter – this was the direct and official cause of the outbreak of the The Hundred Years' War. The Templars, hiding all over Western Europe, could have been very pleased. So pleased that it is said that when they beheaded Louis XVI in the French Revolution, someone in the crowd screamed: “Jacques de Molay, your revenge is complete!”
This story has a tragic appendix – in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, while the French King, John II (of the Valois dynasty, yes?) was a prisoner in England, an Italian young man named Giannino Belloni appeared in Provence, claiming to be none other than John I (of the Capa dynasty, yes?), who had survived. He said that Clementia’s associates feared an attempt to kill the baby, and switched him with another baby without even informing the queen-dowager, and he, Belloni, only recently discovered his true origins. Historians tend to think that he was an impostor, a tool in the hands of the populist Roman leader Colo di Rienzo, but one thing we do know – Josiah I, King of Hungary and Clementia’s nephew, was pleased to meet Belloni at his court and recognized him as his cousin. In any case, in 1360 he was imprisoned in Naples and died in prison three years later.
So, friends, remember the unfortunate Jean I, and read “The Cursed Kings"By Maurice Draun – the true inspiration of J.R.R. Martin. There it is a series of truly historical novels, and there this whole story and many others are described in a thousand times more immersive way."
Wow what a fascinating article!!!!