The Nesle Tower Affair (L'affaire de la tour de Nesle), in which the daughters-in-law of King Philip IV were accused of adultery, left a deep mark on French history. The punishments imposed on those involved were horrific in their cruelty. The Nesle Tower is etched in the collective subconscious as a den of high society infidelities. The affair marked the end of the reign of Philip IV and his dynasty, the end of a dark period, full of tragedies. What was was was.
Philip IV, known as “Philip the Beautiful,” was not eager for sensual pleasures. After the death of his beloved wife, Jeanne I, Queen of Navarre (Navarre, in French), in 1305, at the age of 32, under unclear circumstances, the king felt no need to remarry and remained faithful to her memory, even though he was only 37. The beloved Jeanne, who married Philip when she was only 11 years old (the groom was 17), bore him seven children, of whom four survived, three sons and a daughter, all of whom became kings, the three sons being kings France And the daughter of the Queen of England.
Summarize:
King Philip IV (1268-1314) and Queen Jeanne I (1273-1305) had four children:
- Louis X, “the Stubborn” (1289-1316)
- Philip V, “the Long” (1293-1322)
- Charles IV, “the Beautiful” (1294-1328)
- Isabel of France, Queen of England, “The She-Wolf” (1295-1358)
The background to the affair: Forced marriage
Philip IV – Philip the Fair – married his three sons, Louis, Philip, and Charles, to three distinguished princesses. However, Philip IV, the grandson of Louis IX, known as “Saint Louis,” was careful to choose French princesses for them, not foreign ones. Not only that, the three girls were also descendants of Louis IX.
The eldest, Louis, married on September 23, 1305, Marguerite, daughter of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy Agnes of France, the last daughter of Louis IX – Saint Louis. Marguerite was, therefore, the granddaughter of Saint Louis. Philip and Charles were married by their father to two of Marguerite's cousins, the sisters Jeanne and Blanche. The two sisters were the daughters of Count Otto IV of Burgundy and Countess Mau (Matilde) of Artois. Philip married Jeanne on 21 January 1307. Charles married Blanche on 2 February 1308. Philip IV married his only daughter Isabel to the King of England, Edward II, in the hope of resolving the tensions that existed between England and France regarding Aquitaine (Aquitaine, in French) and Flanders (Flanders, in French). Edward II married Isabel on January 25, 1308. Three married couples, then, Louis and Marguerite, Philip and Jeanne, Charles and Blanche, Edward and Isabel. But political interests one thing and personal happiness another.
Isabel was very unhappy in her marriage. Edward II had offended her from the very beginning of their relationship when he devoted all his attention to the knight Piers Gwaston and showered him with favors, gifts, and bounties. Piers Gwaston bewitched the king. Much has been written about the fateful relationship between the two. Isabel could not compete with Piers, whom many at court hated and loathed because of the special treatment he received from the king. Piers Gwaston did as he pleased in the kingdom. This preference, combined with the arrogance and insolence of his protégé, would cost him his life.
Historians disagree about Edward II's sexuality and his relationship with Gwaston. Some claim that he was homosexual and Gwaston was his lover, while others say that this argument is unfounded. In any case, Isabel was a neglected woman despite bearing her husband the king four children. Isabel was only 12 years old when she was forced to marry Edward II. At the beginning of her reign, she tried to maintain a reasonable relationship with her husband and support him. The beautiful, elegant, wise, educated, cunning, and cruel Isabel even placed herself on Gwaston's side. But when, after the murder of his first lover, Piers Gwaston (1312), the king took a second lover for him, her patience ran out. Isabel took a lover and went out with him openly against her husband and the king.
And what about the other couples who were forced to marry? Marguerite of Burgundy was not happy with Louis, the eldest son of Philip the Beautiful, who abandoned her in favor of “Le jeu de paume,” the first form of tennis. And not only that. Louis X was called “the stubborn one” and also “the irritable one,” and the shapely and fiery Marguerite, alert and witty, with a thirst for life and pleasure, did not find a suitable partner in him. There are even stories of endless conflicts and quarrels.
Philip and Jeanne – Historians cannot say with certainty whether their marriage was happy. It was most likely so. It has been argued that Philip wrote love letters to Jeanne throughout their marriage. They also had five children in a short period of time. In any case, Philip V stood by his wife, Jeanne II of Burgundy, in her difficult moments. He also proved to be extremely generous towards her, giving her expensive jewelry and many palaces.
Charles and Blanche? Detailed information is not available, but it is likely that Charles IV and Blanche of Burgundy did not have much fun together. It is said that the beautiful Blanche, who was only 12 years old when the marriage was forced upon her, pleasant and cheerful, became bored with her philandering husband. The young Blanche was apparently influenced by her cousin Marguerite, who swept her down the slippery slope of amusement towards the abyss.
The three sisters-in-law, Marguerite, Jeanne and Blanche, good friends, graceful and elegant girls, brought a cheerful spirit to the solemn royal court. Marguerite and Blanche preferred to have fun. In the dark, arched halls of the Palais de la Cité, the seat of the monarchy at the time, there were sounds of music and verses of poetry. Merchants, who brought luxurious fabrics and intoxicating perfumes, were welcomed. Deep-slit dresses revealed a daring fold and highlighted the princesses' cuteness, as they walked with carefree, restless pride, celebrating their youth, as if there were no tomorrow.
Marguerite and her cousin Blanche took two lovers, two brothers, each from her beautiful lover, Philippe and Gauthier d'Aunay, knights of the royal house. Marguerite and Philippe, Blanche and Gauthier. The meetings are held in the Nesle Tower (la tour de Nesle), opposite the tower The Louvre, under the patronage of Jeanne. The Nesle Tower, named after the nearby Hôtel de Nesle, a mansion owned by King Philip IV, where the three married couples reside. Jeanne, moderate, wise and cautious, soft and quiet, did not risk adultery but covered up the affairs of her cousin Marguerite and her sister Blanche. The beautiful life lasted two and a half years.
Whispered rumors have begun to circulate about handsome young men being hosted by the dapper, debauched princesses at Nell's Tower. Nothing to worry about, yet. Just suspicions. No proof until...
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The Migdal Nell Affair
The shocking story of the Nell Tower affair is usually opened with a visit by the King and Queen of England to the King of France between May and July 1313. Twice 13, does not bode well… The King of England at the time was Edward II and the Queen was Isabel, sister of Louis, Philip and Charles. The King of France was, as mentioned, Philip IV – Philip the Fair, father of the four, three sons and a daughter.
The three sons, Louis, Philippe, and Charles, honored their sister Isabelle and the king's wife, Edward II, with a marionette performance. An ironic hint that the heroes of the affair would be nothing more than puppets, marionettes whose desires would rule them, pulling their strings? Isabelle gave her brothers and sisters-in-law embroidered belt purses, a work of art, a fashionable item at the time that testified to the aristocratic status of its owner.
In December of that ill-omened year, 1313, Edward II and Isabel held a royal banquet in London to celebrate their return. Isabel was astonished to notice that two of the magnificent belt purses she had given her hosts were worn by two knights in the king's service, the brothers Gauthier and Philippe Donnay.
Isabel the humiliated! At the beginning of her journey alongside her husband, the King of England, she had to deal with the close relationship between her and his lover, Piers Gwaston. He was murdered in 1312, and Isabel gave birth to Edward II's first son about six months later. The couple's relationship improved, and it seems that the king continues to fulfill his duties as a spouse. But the memory of the insults that Isabel suffered in the early years was not erased. The wedding ceremony and the coronation ceremony were a mask of humiliation when the groom and king, Edward II, publicly demonstrated his love for Piers Gwaston. Isabel remained on the sidelines...
And now, how did Isabel feel when she saw the purses in the possession of Philip and Gauthier? Not only had the treasures and jewels that her father had given to her husband the king as a dowry gone to his close friend, the knight Piers Gwaston, but now the belt purses that she had given to her sisters-in-law had gone to the two knights Gauthier and Philip Donna… Her husband had a very close relationship with Piers Gwaston and preferred him over her. To please him, he gave him her gifts. The two brother knights, Gauthier and Philip, undoubtedly enjoyed the favor of the two princesses, Marguerite and Blanche… Moreover, it was customary to give belt purses as a gift of love. The two hated sisters-in-law are happy, content, enjoying all the best in the world, while she, humiliated, insulted, is forced to fight for her place... and perhaps she also harbored the plan, which was gradually being woven, to shame the sisters-in-law in order to pave the way to the French crown for her eldest son, whom she had given birth to a year earlier.
In April 1314, Isabelle returned to visit her homeland, this time alone, and revealed her suspicions to her father, King Philip the Fair. The latter, pious, puritanical, and strict, was furious and insulted. Secret surveillance confirmed his daughter's words. The two illegitimate couples, Marguerite and Gauthier, Blanche and Philip, had been secretly debauching for about three years in the Tower of Nell. Jeanne was their confidant and said nothing, an accomplice to the crime. Historians also largely confirm the accusations. Philip the Fair had all those involved arrested.
The Nesle Tower (la tour de Nesle), originally called the Philippe Hamelin Tower, after the person in charge of its construction, quickly acquired the name “Nesle” because of its proximity to the Hôtel de Nesle. The Nesle Tower, one of the four towers of the wall on the banks of the Seine River, a wall with which Philip Augustus surrounded the Paris, and the Hôtel Nell, next to it, where the married couples lived before the affair broke out, no longer exist today. However, the sign indicating the location of the tower can be seen, on the Quai de Conti, next to the “Institut de France” (l'Institut de France, quai de Conti).
The place of the Nelle Tower is now occupied, after several incarnations, by the Mazarin Library, or “La Mazarin” for short, which is part of the Institute of France.
Execution of the lovers
The Dona brothers were interrogated under torture and, after pleading guilty, were convicted of insulting the honor of the monarchy. Acts of adultery by the wives of princes and kings not only dishonor their husbands, but also raise serious suspicions about the paternity of their descendants. According to the prevailing view at that time, the purity of lineage was passed down through inheritance, and therefore, any violation of it put the royal dynasty in danger. An heir of inferior origin who ascended to power – woe to the kingdom.
An illustration of the issue would be provided when Louis X died in 1316. His wife, Clement of Hungary, gave birth to a son after his death, who died, under unclear circumstances, five days after birth. Among the claimants to the throne were Louis X's brother, Philip V, Jeanne's husband. He was opposed by Louis X's daughter, also named Jeanne, whose family was interested in her accession to the throne. Louis X, on his deathbed, recognized Jeanne as his legitimate daughter. Marguerite gave birth to Jeanne five years after her marriage to Louis, so that her conception occurred at the same time that she began her extramarital affair with the knight Philip Donnay. Was Jeanne the daughter of Louis X or Philip Donnay? Philip would argue that Jeanne was not the daughter of Louis X but the daughter of Philip Donnay, with whom Marguerite had been unfaithful. He will also enlist the help of Salic law, which includes, among other things, an expansion of the ban on women ascending the throne.
Doubts about the legitimacy of the claimants to the crown – does this risk, however important at the time, justify the horrific punishment inflicted on Gauthier and Philippe Donnay? It is impossible to fathom the barbaric abuse. The punishment of the unfortunate brothers included a breaking wheel, castration, flaying, pouring molten lead, being dragged by horses, beheading, hanging, and exposing their remains in the open air for weeks. Many people came to watch the public execution in the square of the town of Pontoise, a favorite of the Capetian kings, about 25 km northwest of Paris, on that bitter and hasty day, April 19, 1314.
Prison sentence for brides
Marguerite and Blanche were tried before the Parliament of Paris and convicted of adultery. The sentence was life imprisonment. Marguerite was considered the main culprit in the affair because she had carried off Blanche, who was younger than her. And most importantly, the seriousness of her crime was all the greater because she was the wife of the eldest son, the heir apparent, who was destined to ascend the throne after the death of her father. Marguerite had her hair cut off, as was customary in such cases at the time, was dressed in sackcloth and taken in a carriage covered with black cloth to the fortress of Château-Gaillard (la forteresse de Château-Gaillard), inNormandyAll her assets were taken from her.
Thus, wearing a sackcloth over her body and bound in chains, Marguerite spent her days in a wind-swept tower and died of pneumonia in 1315. According to another version, she was murdered on the orders of Louis X, who ascended the throne upon the death of his father in 1314. Louis X refused to free his wife and sought to get rid of her in order to marry Clement of Hungary and become heir to the throne. A third version claims that Marguerite was smuggled out by her powerful family and lived secretly in a castle in Normandy, under the protection of her cousin Marie de Couches, until her death in 1333. The Château de Couches (Le château de Couches), where, according to this version, Marguerite lived, was named “Marguerite de Couches Castle”. Burgundy".
In 1311, as mentioned, Marguerite gave birth to Jeanne, whose father is unclear, her legal husband Louis or her lover Philippe. The latter had four children by his wife, Agnes de Montmorency. Jeanne II, Marguerite's daughter, could not become Queen of France but would become Queen of Navarre and would have eight children.
Blanche underwent a similar ordeal to Marguerite: deprivation of property, shaving, wearing sackcloth, and being transferred to the same fortress. Blanche's treatment was, however, less severe. The cell in which she was imprisoned was less exposed to gusts of wind. After eight years of imprisonment, Blanche received permission to move to a convent. She first lived in the convent of Gavray, in Normandy, and then in the abbey of Maubuisson, near Pontoise.
Her husband Charles IV ascended the throne in 1322 and obtained an annulment from Pope John XXII. He also refused to release her, seeking to get rid of her in order to marry Mary of Luxembourg. Since adultery was not a ground for annulment, the Pope used another excuse. Blanche's mother was Charles' godmother, which, according to church law, made the marriage null and void.
In 1314, Blanche gave birth to a son, named Philippe, who was recognized by Charles. A year later, while imprisoned in the fortress, she gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne, whose father was probably a jailer there. The son died at the age of 8, the daughter at the age of 6. Blanche did not live long either, dying in 1326 at the Mauvesson Abbey, where she was also buried. Blanche was strong and did not give up. She collaborated with her husband in annulling their marriage and had an affair in the fortress with one of the guards, to whom, as mentioned, she bore a daughter. However, the prolonged imprisonment undermined her health, and lead poisoning at the Mauvesson Abbey, which claimed many lives among its nuns, completed the work of the executioner.
As for Jeanne, she was also tried before the Parliament but was acquitted of adultery and convicted only of silence and collaboration. Philip's wife was imprisoned in the Château de Dourdan, about 46 km southwest of Paris, the stronghold of the Capetian dynasty, to which Philip IV and his sons belonged. Philip supported his imprisoned wife and his intervention on her behalf, combined with that of her influential mother, bore fruit. Thus the Parliament declared Jeanne's innocence and she returned to her husband's bosom and the royal court after eight months of imprisonment, a few weeks after the death of Philip the Fair in 1314. Philip the Fair did not recover from a fall from a horse during a hunting trip and died shortly afterwards.
Louis X, the eldest son, ascended the throne but did not live long. After Louis X's death, his wife Clémence of Hungary gave birth to a baby boy, who survived only five days. Louis's brother, Philip, ascended the throne as Philip V. Upon Philip's coronation in 1317, Jeanne was also crowned queen, and accompanied her husband throughout his short reign.
Historians disagree about Philip's motives for supporting his wife. Some say that Philip did not want to give up Burgundy, which he had received through his marriage, while others say that Philip was truly in love with his wife. Either way, and perhaps the two motives were intertwined, Jeanne became queen, as the wife of Philip V, known as "Philip the Long". In 1319, five years after the affair, Philip gave his wife the Tower of Nell and the Hôtel Nell. When she was widowed in 1322, she moved into the tower and died a year later.
Political results
The scandal severely tarnished the credibility of French noblewomen and led to the adoption of the Salic Law. Thus, in 1316, Philip V came to power. The barons who supported him opposed the accession of Jeanne, Marguerite's daughter, whose father was unclear. Philip V and his successor, Charles IV, died without sons. Their daughters were not allowed to ascend to the throne because of the same precedent set by Philip V. The Salic Law, reinforced by the Tower of Nell affair, prohibited women from ascending to the throne.
Upon the death of Charles IV in 1328, Philip VI of Valois, nephew of Philip IV, the deceased king’s closest relative, ascended to the throne. Thus began the Valois dynasty and ended the Capetian dynasty. These “accursed kings,” as the writer Maurice Drouot called them, brought about their own downfall.
Some say that the Tower of Nell incident precipitated the death of Philip the Fair. Alongside the phrase “the Capetian miracle,” which admires a dozen kings from the same dynasty who ruled one after the other, from 987 to 1316, the phrase “the cursed kings” was born. Legend has it, and perhaps it is true, that Jacques de Molay, head of the Templar Order, who was burned at the stake on March 18, 1314, by order of Philip the Fair, cursed him and his descendants before he died. How, if not for a curse, could Philip the Fair’s contemporaries explain the end of the dynasty? How did the strongest of the Christian kings, the father of three sons, fall victim to the betrayal of his daughters-in-law, fall from a horse, how did the three sons not live long, leave no male children, and the kingdom was dragged into the Hundred Years’ War?
In 1337, Edward III of England, son of Edward II and Isabel, claimed the French throne as the only grandson of Philip the Fair. This claim precipitated the outbreak of The Hundred Years' War. Edward III, who grew up in the shadow of his scheming mother, Isabel, sister of Louis, Philip and Charles, who had caused the execution of the two lovers and the ruin of the lives of her sisters-in-law, was not willing to give up the crown of France. In 1330, the same Edward executed his mother's lover, Roger Mortimer, who ruled England with her, in order to seize power. He did not harm his mother and was content to remove her from the royal court. The marriage of his mother Isabel, a French princess, to his father Edward II, King of England, which was originally intended to bring peace between the two countries, did not achieve, ironically, the opposite.
cultural heritage
The historical adultery affair gave rise to a legend about a mysterious queen, sometimes Marguerite, sometimes another, who would lure men to the Tower of Nell and, after they had become her lovers, would throw them into the Seine River, for the sake of discretion, wrapped and sewn in a sack. Echoes of the legend are found in medieval poems and later works, novels and plays. Thus, in 1848, Frédéric Gaillardet's successful play, "The Tower of Nell," was performed more than eight hundred times (a peak in the 19th century).
The audience was hungry for medieval plots and demanded more and more of them. The director of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin asked Alexandre Dumas to make some minor changes to the play and signed him as its official author. Frédéric Guerdat sued Alexandre Dumas and won. The success of the play inspired many painters of the period whose pictures were displayed in galleries and museums. The play also spawned many films, most of which were called “The Tower of Nell,” including those by Albert Capellani (1909), Febo Mari (1925), Gaston Roudès (1937) and Abel Gance (1955).
Maurice Drouot's seven-volume series of historical novels, "The Cursed Kings" (or "The Damned Kings"), which he wrote, with the help of a team of writers, between 1955 and 1977, is very well known. The series is based on the legend that Jacques de Molay cursed not only Philip IV but also his advisor Guillaume de Noguera (who, by the way, was already dead before the stake...) and Pope Clement V, for thirteen generations. The first volume in the series, dedicated to Philip IV, "The Iron King", tells in detail the story of the Tower of Nell.
The successful book series was adapted into a television series, first in 1972, before the seventh volume was released, under the direction of Claude Brama. In 2005, a new television series, under the direction of José Dayan, was released on French Channel 2. A year later, it was released in Canada. Here is the first episode of the series:
The Migdal Nell affair continues to interest contemporary authors. The last novel in the series, “The Knights,” by Juliette Benzoni, a novel called “Olivier, or the Treasures of the Templars", tells the story of the Migdal Nell affair from the perspective of fictional characters from Marguerite of Burgundy's entourage. This book by the queen of the French historical novel also received a paperback edition.
And we will end with a final example of the bountiful harvest that the unfortunate affair has produced, in Nicole Buffeteau’s novel, “The Forgotten Prisoner of Stout-Gayar", in which the author discusses Marguerite and Blanche, especially Blanche.
Wow, reality surpasses all imagination and all literary invention. What an affair/affairs!!! Thank you Dr. Orna Lieberman for the in-depth historical work you did and the instructive, captivating and clear writing you presented here. I read with bated breath until the end, and the words resonate.
Thank you very much. There is much more to Binduri. The dark passions are similar to those in the Bible. The plot is also very biblical in terms of the themes – a struggle for the crown, a struggle for the birthright. The belief in curses. The cruelty of the customs, such as the execution of lovers and the exposure of carcasses to the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. The medieval world is very similar to that world.
Wow, thank you very much!!! There's nothing like a little gossip – especially from the bedroom – to spice up history…
Those interested in expansions on a historical level, including the implications that seemingly “small” or isolated events had on historical development in the following centuries, should read historian Barbara Tuchman’s book “A Far-sighted View: The Turbulent 14th Century.”
And the biblical context you brought up here is interesting because…:
For those who remember (from their studies, not from life…), it was the Israelites who demanded “a king like all the nations,” and the structural flaws in the concept were already clear and well-known, and Samuel had already detailed and clarified them well in his response. Until then, they had been doing very well as genealogically connected tribes, with every now and then a judge/leader or another who, in the course of events, put him at center stage.
Later, in the 17th and 18th centuries, when thoughts of nationalism and democracy began to emerge in Europe and North America – in response to the “deterioration” and corruption of the monarchy as a “reasonable” solution to government, which is well illustrated in the fascinating story of the language and its implications/results even centuries later – there were many political thinkers who extolled the “Hebrew Republic” (that pre-monarchical tribal republic) as a political-practical solution for countries that began to think in the direction of, and even to base themselves on, a democratic-federal structure, such as the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and of course the USA. The Dutchman Petrus Cunaeus wrote the “Hebrew Republic” in the 17th century regarding the Netherlands. Carlo Sigonio wrote “The Hebrew Republic” about Italy as early as the 16th century (and was persecuted by the church for this. The book was actually published to the public only at the beginning of the 18th century), and Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense” during the American War of Independence, which also deals largely with adapting the republican structure of the pre-monarchical Jewish people to the needs of “federalization” of the 13 colonies.
So not only in the field of the creation of monotheistic religions did the Bible have a great and very long-term influence (to this day, and also for the foreseeable future...), but also in the fields of political thought, law, and social behavior.
There's nothing like studying on Saturday...
In short, the goldsmiths have always been adulterers and lechers, like most presidents in the current era.
Fascinating. Thank you very much.
Fascinating and not dissimilar to today's reality. Thanks to the amazing website, its editor, and its writers.
Thanks for the interesting article. Since most of the people involved in the story were named Philippe or Jean, it would have been appropriate to add another identifying word, or a nickname, or a patronymic, and so on, to every mention of a first name.
I really didn't expect such a response. I was aware of the problem and therefore made every possible effort. Next to each king's name, there is an identifying reference. Also, above are the names of the kings with all the identifying nicknames. I also repeated the plot lines many times. The reader can also make a little effort. Not everything should be demanded of the writer, who dedicated and invested time, thought and resources, all to make it easier for the reader.
I hope this “stumbling block” didn’t spoil your reading pleasure too much.
A book about Isabelle de France has just been published by a French historian, an expert on the Middle Ages, which presents her in a much more positive light than is customary.
Isabelle de France – Reine d'Angleterre
Sophie Brouquet (Auteur) Paru le 20 août 2020 Biography (broché)
https://livre.fnac.com/a14711899/Sophie-Brouquet-Isabelle-de-France-Reine-d-Angleterre