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"She has was the most beautiful face you could imagine."

Pope Pius II

Charles VII was a sickly and frail child from childhood and became king by pure chance. He received the nickname Victor and felt his own power only after meeting Agnes Sorel, who became the first official favorite of the monarch in the history of France.

“I ascended the throne by the grace of God, but I created myself king by the grace of the beautiful Agnes,” said Charles VII.

Agnes Sorel (French Agn?s Sorel) - Dame de Beaut (French Dame de Beaut - Lady of Beauty), was considered the most beautiful woman of her era. She was destined to remain in history as the first officially recognized royal favorite, benefactor of the unfortunate and disadvantaged, and, finally, an example of tragic sacrificial love.

It is not known exactly where and when the most beautiful woman of the 15th century was born. For, if the chronicler, out of courtesy, said that Agnes was born in Fromenteau (which is why the demoiselle from Fromenteau was called - demoiselle de Fromenteau), he forgot to clarify which of the two cities he was talking about - Fromenteau in Picardy or Fromenteau in Touraine. Although it is Morento in Touraine that is most often attributed. Her biological age is determined by bone remains (research carried out in 2004) ranged from 23-27 years - the exact date of birth was lost somewhere between 1422 and 1426, and not as previously assumed - 1409.

In the 15th century, astrology was highly developed and astrological forecasts were an integral part of the medieval cultural society of that time, and if we proceed from the version that Agnes was born in 1422 from the Nativity of Christ, then the Sun stood in the constellation Pisces.

“When the Sun enters the sign of Pisces, extraordinary people are born, often bringing with them the gifts of poetry, music and books. Their refined nature is disgusted by everything coarse, too earthly...” wrote the medieval astrologer Tycho de Brahe in his “Book of Horoscopes.”

An unknown astrologer, who compiled the newborn’s horoscope, assured her parents that the baby would someday win the love of the monarch.

It is unknown how Agnes’s parents, advisor to the Duke de Clermont, Jean Soro and the daughter of the petty baron, Catherine de Menele, reacted to this prediction. In any case, they made a lot of efforts to arrange for their daughter to become a maid of honor at the court of Isabella of Lorraine, the wife of King Rene of Anjou - in such a high society, the young beauty had more opportunities to attract the attention of worthy gentlemen. However, Duchess Isabella went on a long trip to Italy, leaving young Agnes under the care of her mother Queen Yolanda, mother-in-law of King Charles VII. Yolanda, noticing the girl’s intelligence and extraordinary attractiveness, most likely immediately decided to use her for her own purposes. Agnes learned to speak expressively, sing, play the lute and harp, and inflame the male imagination with graceful poses and gestures. Possessing a naturally developed imagination and good taste, she knew how to dress in such a way that much more noble ladies in their luxurious outfits seemed like simpletons in comparison with her. In those days, knights had already brought powder, blush and carmine from the Arab East. But few of the ladies of the world knew how to use this delicately. Agnes knew how and, according to the chronicler Jean Chartier, even gave lessons to her patroness. By the age of twenty, she had developed into a perfect beauty with an incredibly thin waist and a high neck, on which, like the cup of a flower on a stem, sat a lovely head with high golden curls, shaved on the forehead and temples in the fashion of that time. Her face with childishly rounded cheeks seemed angelically innocent and vicious at the same time. So the artist Jean Fouquet, who captured Agnes in the image of the Madonna, managed to convey this characteristic feature her face was even accused of dangerously combining religious feelings with the erotic. In a word, Agnes was an ideal example of “la belle dame san mercy.”

And Agnes, who would soon be considered the most beautiful woman of the 15th century, was presented to the royal court...

History is delicately silent about how many gentlemen the beautiful maid of honor received the attention of before her most important meeting - with the French King Charles VII, but this is not important. The important thing is that by the age of twenty-two, despite court life, she maintained an impeccable reputation.

Her portraits now look a little strange: a pretty girl with a meek expression on her face and her breasts falling out of her dress. These are not the fantasies of artists, but a real fashion that Agnes Sorel introduced in France in the 15th century. The favorite of Charles VII is almost as famous as her contemporary Joan of Arc. The reason for this is not only the frivolous images of Agnes, but also her influence on the fate of France.

Agnes conquers the king

According to most well-known sources, the meeting between Karl and Agnes was arranged by his mother-in-law Iolanta. By that time, the king had five or six children from his legal wife, Mary of Anjou. Karl's wife did not shine with either beauty or other talents.

Iolanta reasoned this way: rather than wait until Karl himself finds a mistress, it is better to set him up with someone whom the powerful mother-in-law can control. She created at court a company of beautiful and devoted girls to Iolanta. They were ideal lovers and excellent spies.

Agnes captivated Karl, who was timid and not particularly experienced in matters of women, from the first meeting. She practically never left the king’s chambers and very soon had an unprecedented title - official mistress. Now her children received the royal name, and she received honors from the courtiers, participation in the political life of the country and use of the royal treasury.

Maria of Anjou did not grieve for long about her husband’s betrayal and decided that it would be wiser to make friends with her favorite - most likely, the queen’s mother insisted on this. He and Agnes became very close, shared all their secrets, and Karl could not get enough of the fact that peace and order reigned in his house.

Fashion without decency

Agnes loved to shock the public with provocative outfits. For her sake, Charles changed the law according to which only noble persons could wear precious stones.

The favorite came up with the styles of her dresses herself. She wore a six-meter train - even the queen's was shorter. But Agnes’s main innovation is considered to be her blatantly daring neckline.

First, she introduces into fashion a dress that slightly contains the breasts. Then he appears in public in an outfit where one breast is completely covered and the other is completely exposed. This is exactly how she is depicted in her most famous portrait as the Madonna. The ladies were horrified, but soon repeated the same extravagant styles.

Bare breasts became a trend; later Sorel's followers would show the world dresses with a wandering neckline - exposing one or the other breast, and with a double neckline, exposing both breasts at once. Then cosmetics will appear not only for the face: powder for the chest and lipstick for the nipples.

How to make a man get off the couch and win the war

While Agnes was buying expensive fabrics and furs, the country was going through a hundred years of war with England. Karl was not very interested in government affairs and preferred to spend his time drinking and making love. The people blamed the favorite for seducing their king from the true path.

Sorel's generous donations do not help the situation. To motivate the king to defend the state, Agnes uses a trick, which the French historian Brantome describes in his book “The Lives of Gallant Ladies.”

Agnes told Charles that as a child, an astrologer predicted that one of the brave and courageous kings would fall in love with her.

When we met, I thought that you were that same brave king: but it seems that I was mistaken: you are too pampered and almost not involved in the affairs of your poor kingdom. It seems to me that this courageous king is not you, but the English king, who creates such strong armies and captures such beautiful cities from you. Farewell! I go to him, apparently, the astrologer told me about him.

Karl, like any man, was furious at such words, jumped into his armor and set off to drive the British out of French lands. As the historian Henri Martin wrote in 1855: “Sorel urged the king to overcome his laziness.”

FRANCE'S FIRST LOVER

Magazine "Gala Biography"

Charles VII was a sickly and frail child from childhood and became king by pure chance. He received the nickname winner and felt his own power only after meeting Agnes Sorel, who became the first official mistress of a monarch in the history of France. “I ascended the throne by the grace of God, but I realized that I was a king by the grace of the beautiful Agnes,” said Charles VII.

Charles VII easily spoke about the power of a woman over himself, and this impossible, derogatory recognition for any man, and especially for royal dignity, did not cause a scandal for only one reason. The entire male half of the court, from the archbishop to the huntsman, agreed that the graces of the beautiful Agnes, if not superior, were quite comparable in importance to the royal regalia. Her breast is heavier than a royal cup, her figure is more majestic than a scepter, her curls are more delicate and softer than an ermine robe. And the possession of all this splendor together is capable of filling anyone with sovereign power and greatness. To the beauty’s credit, it should be noted that none of the courtiers was honored to personally verify the validity of their assumptions. Only Karl knew for sure. Little goose Karl, by the grace of the beautiful Agnes, realized himself as Charles VII the Victorious.
His mother nicknamed him little goose. Isabella of Bavaria is a smart, witty woman, but, alas, completely devoid of maternal instinct. Even though she gave birth to 12 children. Isabeau gave birth to children in the same way as any commoner would bake pies or knit stockings, or do any other routine female labor assigned to her. With exactly the same degree of inspiration and interest. Karl had the hopeless fate of being born the eleventh child in the family. The Royal Genealogical Book dates this event to 22 February 1403.
The child was born frail, with an excessively long cyanotic neck and the family Valois nose, which looked rather strange on the baby’s face. Due to weakness, the child could not scream, he only made some strange hissing sounds with his throat. “Gosling,” Isabella typed, and this nickname remained with Karl for many, many years. This is the tradition - all men royal family certainly had nicknames, and these nicknames did not always flatter their pride.
For example, Charles's father, Charles VI, was nicknamed the Mad. Alas. it was not a metaphor, but a diagnosis. At the age of thirty, Charles VI fell awkwardly from his horse, hit his head, and since then periodically fell into a state of madness, namely: he imagined himself to be a fragile precious vessel and was terribly afraid of being dropped. For this reason, the acquaintance of father and son was postponed for quite a significant period. It took place when the youngest Valois was already four years old. And although the doctors concluded that the king was in a state of enlightenment, the meeting with him scared the baby into hysterics. The little gosling was taken away and since then kept away from his parents' eyes. The frail, ugly, gloomy boy did not please his parents’ hearts, and the king and queen had no other reasons to care about his development and upbringing. The likelihood that the child would become the Dauphin, that is, the heir to the throne, was negligible - here Charles was ahead of his older brothers. In short, our hero had a difficult childhood and very modest prospects for the future. The title of Duke of Poitiers given to him did not promise either fame or great wealth...

Unexpectedly for everyone, Iolanta of Aragon showed interest in the boy. The nominal queen of the four kingdoms - Aragon, Sicily, Jerusalem and Naples - the Duchess of Anjou was a distant relative of Charles, it seems, the grandniece of his grandfather Charles V. Perhaps this woman, whom the chronicler of the royal house of Bodinha called nothing less than “the wisest and most beautiful of all Christians” princesses,” she really had extraordinary insight, or maybe she just took pity on the boy. But in 1413, when Charles was only 10 years old, Iolanta met Isabella of Bavaria, whom, by the way, she could not stand, and signed an agreement with her, according to which their children, that is, Charles and Maria of Anjou, should marry . Before reaching marriageable age, the boy came under the care of Iolanta.
Isabeau was only happy with this turn of events. By that time, her husband had completely lost his mind, and a very difficult, but at the same time incredibly exciting life began for Isabella. To understand how difficult and how fascinating it is, you need to have an idea of ​​the political situation of that time. Against the backdrop of a permanent war with England, the origins of which go back to the 11th-11th centuries, a Civil War: the party of the Bourgoignons against the party of the art-maniacs. Both sides wanted the same thing - power, that is, real power under a nominal and inactive king. Both were approximately equal in strength. Both were looking for an ally capable of providing them with an advantage. And both found it in the person of the English court. The British, meanwhile, had their own calculations. England, which at that time had significant possessions in France, dreamed of uniting both states under its crown. Therefore, the British alternately flirted with the Burgunnons and the Armagnacs.
Isabella, as the person closest to the still reigning king, was of interest to everyone. And she was interested in both those, and others, and others. Moreover, she was interested not only in political intrigues, but also in love pleasures. Are there any children here?
In a word, Karl moved to Anjou, to Iolanta. The future mother-in-law, unlike her own mother, paid a lot of attention to the development and upbringing of the boy. Having discovered in him a penchant for the humanities and music, Iolanta did everything to develop his talents. With the eradication of his shortcomings, the situation was worse. The fact is that Karl was, as they would say now, an absolutely unsportsmanlike boy. He stood awkwardly in the saddle, did not fence gracefully, and even walked askew. But Iolanta did not retreat. She seemed to foresee that very soon all this would be useful to him.
Although how could she know that in 1415 Charles’s elder brother would unexpectedly die, and a year later he would be followed by the second Dauphin - both blooming young men. And now Isabella calls the heir to court. But a 14-year-old teenager, even by the standards of the Middle Ages, is not yet quite a man; he still does not accept independent decisions. Iolanta made the decision and expressed it directly and simply, neglecting the etiquette befitting the correspondence of two noble persons. “A woman who has so many lovers does not need children. I did not feed and raise the boy so that you would now kill him under your care, as you did his older brothers, or make him an Englishman, as you yourself did, or drive him crazy, like his poor father. Try to take it away from me and you’ll be in trouble, you shameless person.”

And Zabella turned out to be even more shameless than Iolanta could have imagined. So much so that she was not afraid to publicly declare that the Dauphin was not the king’s son. And therefore has no right to the throne. Few people believed Isabella then. It was obvious that she was lying in the interests of the British, who had already finally decided on their sympathies and acted in concert with the Bourguignons. As for Charles, it seemed to him that he was absolutely indifferent whether he became king or not. But his mother’s betrayal hurt him and reminded him once again that he was unloved and unnecessary.
Aunt Iolanta, meanwhile, sent the young man to Poitiers and ordered him to declare himself regent. On his behalf, she composed an ardent appeal to the French people, which said that reigning king not himself, his hand is led by Isabella, who sold herself to the English, and the mission of the legal regent Valois is to free the fatherland from foreigners, restore order in the kingdom and provide his subjects with a decent life. The atrocities of the British on French soil were so bloody and ruinous that the appeal had an effect. The Armagnacs unanimously went over to Charles's side.
However, eleven whole years passed before the legal coronation in Reims. A lot has happened over the years. The enemy king Henry V died, the crazy father Charles died, the leader of the Bourguignons died, Maria of Anjou became Charles's wife, and, finally, the most important thing - God sent him Joan of Arc. The girl insisted that it was God who sent her, and he did this as if so that she, Jeanne, would help him do justice, that is, defeat the British and lead Charles to Reims for his legal coronation. There is a version according to which this entire performance was staged by mother-in-law Iolanta. It is likely, if only because Charles’s nomadic court and his army were supported by her money. But that's not the main thing. The main thing is that Zhanna succeeded in everything. On July 17, 1429, Charles was crowned in Reims. And the archbishop publicly called him “the anointed of the Lord,” “the son of the Most High,” “the shepherd of the nations,” “the right hand of the church,” “the first of all the kings of the Earth, surpassing in nobility and holiness all the kings of the Old and New Testaments,” and so on, etc. And all the nobles and commoners, the princes of the church and the nobles of the kingdom, knelt before him. How should Karl have felt at that moment? The boy, betrayed by his mother, who had just ascended the throne through battle, did he feel triumphant? Or maybe relief? Who knows. But, according to the chroniclers, Karl looked like a man experiencing discomfort. And, according to an old childhood habit, he kept craning his neck like a goose. He had a large, foreheaded head, but it gave the impression that the crown was too big for him. In a word, it hardly corresponded to the epithets that, according to the ceremony, “were bestowed by the archbishop. Charles the goose turned into Charles VII the Victorious, but it seems he did not recognize himself as such.

Ten years later, true love appeared in the monarch’s life. Charles, by the standards of the time, was already an elderly man. He already had five or six children born to Mary of Anjou. The wife was not distinguished by her beauty, intelligence, or pleasant disposition, and Karl visited her bedroom, presumably, solely out of gratitude to his mother-in-law. Of course, there were many lovely women at court. But Charles, even though he was a king, was awkward in dealing with ladies. It is known that he was very shy about his appearance, not without reason believing that the Valois family traits in his appearance took on some kind of completely caricatured embodiment. At the same time, his aesthetic criteria regarding women were too strict and were determined by the cult of “belle dame san merci”, traditional for medieval chivalry, that is, “a lady who knows no indulgence.” The medieval allegorical poem “The Romance of the Rose” gave very clear instructions regarding how this very lady should look. The eyes are blue or green, the pupils are excitedly dilated, the hair is golden, hip-length, the skin is the color of lily petals, the nose is small, straight, the mouth is also small and plump, the waist is thin, the chest is small but high. For such a woman it was worth breaking spears, composing sonnets and doing other crazy things. But there was no such woman in Karl’s circle. At least none of them met the knightly standard exactly. Something was missing from the register of her charms.

The fateful meeting took place under unknown circumstances. But it is known for certain that its organizer was Yolanta’s mother-in-law. It was she who was given the idea of ​​​​creating a “flying squad”, which was later adopted by other august persons. The idea turned out to be as simple as it was effective. Iolanta formed a brigade of beautiful, intelligent, and most importantly - undividedly devoted girls to their benefactress, arranged them at court, and sooner or later they all ended up in the beds of noble nobles. The girls thus got the opportunity to arrange their fate, and Iolanta - operational information. Women turned out to be excellent spies, even better than Franciscan monks. Agnes Sorel especially stood out among them. Iolanta noticed her in the retinue of her daughter-in-law Isabella of Lorraine, for whom Agnes was a maid of honor. The girl's parents had neither a significant position at court nor wealth. His father, Jean Sorel, held a modest position as an adviser at the court of the Count of Clermont, his mother, Catherine de Menyelai, owned the vast but unprofitable estate of de Verneuil. The main capital of the family was the daughter. The lovely Agnes would certainly make a decent match, and in view of this prospect, the status of maid of honor can be considered an excellent start for a 15-year-old girl. However, Agnes used the opportunities given to her in her own way. She was in no hurry to get married. The four years spent in Isabella's palace became her university. Agnes learned to speak expressively, sing, play the lute and harp, inflame the male imagination with graceful poses and gestures. Possessing a naturally developed imagination and good taste, she knew how to dress in such a way that much more noble ladies in their luxurious outfits seemed like simpletons in comparison with her. In those days, knights had already brought powder, blush and carmine from the Arab East. But few of the ladies of the world knew how to use this delicately. Agnes knew how and, according to the chronicler Jean Chartier, even gave lessons to her patroness. By the age of twenty, she had developed into a perfect beauty with an incredibly thin waist and a high neck, on which, like the cup of a flower on a stem, sat a lovely head with high golden curls, shaved on the forehead and temples in the fashion of that time. Her face with childishly rounded cheeks seemed angelically innocent and vicious at the same time. So the artist Jean Fouquet, who captured Agnes in the image of the Madonna, managing to convey this characteristic feature of her face, was even accused of dangerously combining religious feelings with the erotic. In a word, Agnes was an ideal example of “la belle dame san mercy.” And Karl, of course, could not help but pay attention to her. This is what Iolanta was counting on. She had no need to spy on her son-in-law. But she wanted to influence the king. And her clumsy daughter was decidedly unsuited for such a delicate mission.

And so, Iolanta arranged a meeting between the king and Agnes. Karl was so impressed that, contrary to custom, he immediately launched an attack. But the clever Agnes skillfully feigned fear and, turning her disarmed femininity towards Karl in the most spectacular pose, appealed to his knightly honor. I had to retreat. For almost a month, the court discussed the swollen veins on the king’s temples - a sign of extraordinary agitation. And then one day the king came out to the morning mass joyful. He smiled all day and all evening. He generously gave gifts to the jesters. I ordered several new outfits from the royal tailor. In a word, he behaved so unusually that this state of his was recorded by the court chronicler. Perhaps the chronicler thought that Charles had gone crazy, like his father. And Karl just fell in love. Very soon this connection became obvious to everyone. Karl, previously indifferent to luxury, suddenly became a real dandy. The royal treasurer Jacques Coeur ordered precious Utrecht velvet and Venetian purple silk for him. In those days, men wore short clothes. So, Karl’s outfit barely covered his hips, which, as contemporaries noted more than once, with his thin, crooked legs, was decidedly unsuitable for his figure. But with the advent of Agnes, Karl seemed to cease to have any complexes about his appearance. And in general I felt a taste for life and all kinds of entertainment for the soul and body. Every day there is new fun. Either a knightly tournament, or feasts with troubadours and minstrels. And the main decoration, the center of every gathering, was invariably the beautiful Agnes.
She adored outfits and designed the styles of her dresses herself. One of them, with an asymmetrical neckline that completely exposed her left breast, went down in history as “Agnes’s beautiful contrition for her sins.” And although the concept of fashion as such did not exist in the Middle Ages, Agnes, by her example, inspired ladies to imitate, and minstrels to create poetic introductions glorifying new styles:

If a woman is pretty,
Her skin is white and soft,
Let her tell her tailor
I designed the neckline for her like this,
That boldly opens its shoulders,
The chest is exposed to the limit.
After all, if the chest is naked,
She's more attractive.

And Gnes wore trains six meters long, although the queen herself was content with five. She decorated herself with diamonds, despite the fact that palace protocol allowed such luxuries only to the queen. But the protocol was revised due to the fact that, by the will of Karl, Agnes Sorel received the official status of favorite. A favorite is more than a mistress. Vassals are obliged to give her royal honors, she takes part in political life of the court, has the right to independently turn to the royal treasurer to cover her needs, and the children born to her from her relationship with the king receive the king’s family name. Indeed, all three daughters born to Agnes from Charles received the name Valois. And Agnes herself received the royal castle of Beauthe-sur-Marne (“Beauty on the Marne”) and the title of Dame de Beauthe, which is quite consistent with her captivating appearance, about which the Pope himself said that “this is the most beautiful face you can imagine” .
However, there were people on whom the charms of the beautiful Agnes did not work. For example, Archbishop Jean Junevel des Orsen. As the king's spiritual mentor, he repeatedly appealed to him, pointing out the extravagance and extravagance of his favorite and the courtiers imitating her. The pious Des Orsen found that the ladies of the court, although of noble origin, now resembled “painted donkeys put up for sale.” He sternly condemned the “hellish windows through which their breasts peek out” and the long trains that consume a lot of precious material, and rightly noted that “all these excesses now introduced at court affect the lords’ increase in taxes and taxes on the poor.” For clarity, the archbishop cited excerpts from the Royal Book of Expenses, in which every request to the treasurer ended with a note “for the needs of France.” A crystal service with gold leaves - for the needs of France, baldrics made of marten and ermine - for the needs of France, undershirts embroidered with gold - for the needs of France... “What need does France have for undershirts embroidered with gold?” - the Bishop asked reasonably. In response, Karl, not without challenge, wrote to his spiritual mentor: “If Beautiful Lady there will be dresses embroidered with gold, she will be in a good mood. If she is in a good mood, I will be in a good mood too. If I'm in a good mood, the whole of France will be in a good mood. Therefore, France has a direct need for beautiful dresses.” Of course, Agnes received dresses with gold, and everything she wanted, but meanwhile France was not in a very good mood.

And the English still ruled French soil. Quite vast, strategically significant territories remained under their control. The people were catastrophically poor under the yoke of unbearable taxes. And the generous alms distributed by Agnes for the needs of the church and the poor did not in any way reduce the people’s hatred of the royal favorite, who seduced the “most Christian king” from the true path. It is unlikely that Agnes was overcome by worries about the future of France; most likely, she acted at the instigation of Iolanta, but it was Agnes who forced Charles to change his gold-embroidered surcoat to armor and resume the war against the British. Historians support the legend according to which Agnes allegedly told the king a dream in which the brave Charles acted as the liberator of France. But when she woke up, she remembered that Rouen, Caen and Cherbourg were still in the power of the damned English, and this filled her with inexpressible sadness. The reliability of this legend can be questioned, but it is known for certain that the king nevertheless went to damned Normandy in order to launch an attack on the British from there. And he did it solely for the sake of Agnes’s beautiful eyes. For a ruler of the Middle Ages, Charles was surprisingly not warlike and preferred the harp to the sword. But Agnes had amazing power over him. She could inspire him to any deed, to any feat. And not at all because she had any special qualities. It was just his woman. For every man in this world there is a woman who can elevate his spirit and make him stronger. You just need to find her. Karl was lucky - he found it.

Agnes did not get to celebrate the victorious end of the Hundred Years' War. She died three years before this significant event for France. The death occurred a few days after Agnes gave birth to her fourth child. The girl was born weak and did not live a day, but as for her mother, it looked like she did not die a natural death. Perhaps she was poisoned. At least Karl was convinced that this was the case. Why would a healthy, thriving woman, who had successfully given birth three times before, die like this? And there is evidence that before her death the poor thing complained to a terrible fire consuming her from the inside, and her beautiful golden hair fell from her head like the petals of a disturbed rose... The royal treasurer Jacques Coeur and the king's eldest son, the Dauphin Louis, the future Louis XI, immediately fell under suspicion. The first was considered her friend, the second her enemy. But their guilt was not proven.
Agnes Sorel was buried with honors worthy of royalty. The heart was buried in the Notre-Dame Chapel in Jumiège, with a luxurious black marble tombstone and a white marble statue depicting Agnes with her hands folded in prayer, in which her heart was enclosed, erected on this site. The body rested in the collegiate church at the royal castle of Loches.
Soon after the funeral, Charles brought his cousin Agnes Antoinette de Meunier-lay closer to him. She was very similar to his late lover, but could not replace her. According to the chroniclers, very soon half a dozen more beauties appeared, “ready to try for the king, who tried so hard for France.” So little by little Charles assembled a harem that the Sultan himself could envy. Maintaining a crowd of young libertines was costly for the treasury. Charles was condemned for debauchery and extravagance. It is impossible to say for sure, but it seems that Karl was not driven by an insatiable thirst for pleasure. He hoped in vain that many beautiful women would give him that feeling of strength, that greatness of spirit that Agnes had once bestowed on him.

The mystery of the death of Agnès Sorel is revealed

Was Jacques Coeur guilty? Definitely not. For the simple reason that Agnès Sorel was not poisoned. For a long time, irrefutable proof of this was at least the fact that her daughter managed to live for six months. By the way, among doctors who paid attention to the symptoms of the disease described by the doctor who performed the autopsy, for a very long time there was an opinion that the beauty of beauties died as a result of dysentery, and the weakening of the body associated with the hardships of the grueling journey from Loches to Jumièges prevented her from overcoming her illness. Thus, Agnès Sorel died of natural causes, wanting to save her lover. A completely normal, noble and quite convenient version for everyone.

It would seem that's it. We can put an end to this. But in history, as we know, a period can very quickly turn into a comma...

This is what happened in 2004, when French scientists managed to lift the veil of secrecy from the circumstances of the death of Agnès Sorel. In any case, now the reasons for her death have become completely clear. To do this, a group of experts led by Philippe Charlier, a pathologist from the Lille University Hospital, had to exhume the body of the famous Frenchwoman. This operation took place in the town of Saint-Ours-des-Loches, where the body of the king’s former favorite rested in the local church. The ceremony took place in the presence of numerous eminent descendants of Agnès Sorel, in particular the Duke of Orleans, Prince Jacques de France and Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parma.

On September 28, 2004, the tomb of Agnès Sorel was opened, and researchers found her hair, seven teeth, a skull and fragments of skin. For about six months, they were studied by twenty-two specialists in eighteen laboratories: in Lille, Strasbourg, Paris and Reims. The unique experiment was led by Philippe Charlier himself.

The analysis clearly showed the presence in the remains of Agnès Sorel of a large amount of mercury, which has been used as a poison since ancient times. Philippe Charlier said that it was mercury that caused the rapid death that struck this woman in less than three days.

However, Philippe Charlier himself had no doubt about deliberate poisoning with a deadly poison: its content exceeded reasonable doses by ten thousand times, and there could be no error in the dosage of drugs.

Having had the opportunity to study the remains of Agnès Sorel in detail over the course of six months, scientists made many clarifications to the biography of this woman. First of all, it became clear that the year of her birth was between 1422 and 1426 (the year 1409 was definitely dropped). Consequently, the death of the king's favorite followed in the age interval between twenty-three years nine months and twenty-seven years nine months.

Forensic scientists tried to recreate the face of Agnes, whose captivating beauty, as even her enemies noted, became a legend. Research confirmed that she was indeed blonde and gave birth to four children. A facial reconstruction carried out on the well-preserved skull also revealed clear similarities with existing images of the woman, in particular with the image created by the 16th-century artist Jean Fouquet.

The fate of Agnès Sorel's burial was also restored. Her body was taken to Loches, where it was buried without any decoration (the king soon indulged in love affairs and preferred to give them to others). Despite the fact that Agnes was a believer and made many donations, the churchmen did not want to conduct a prayer service in honor of the scandalous person, and they decided to move the tomb away from the altar.

Oddly enough, Louis XI, who hated Agnes, did not allow her to be touched. Louis XV was just as categorical, but Louis XVI, who replaced him, granted the Church’s request. The worst thing happened after the Revolution: in 1793, the tomb was broken and the urn was thrown into the cemetery. A certain Poshol collected and preserved its contents. Then the prefect of the region, General Pommerel, sent the monument for restoration, and then placed it in a dungeon at the foot of the donjon in Loches. By his order, very bold words from Voltaire’s poems then decorated the pediment: “I am Agnes. Long live France and love! In 1970, for preservation purposes, the tombstone was placed in the royal castle of Losches.