What do you think?
En la forêt de longue attente et autres poèmes
"C'est peut-être avec lui que s'éteint dans nos Lettres la lignée des trouvères. Charles d'Orléans aura été plus qu'un prince amateur de poésie, comme François Iᵉʳ, par exemple, composant à ses heures. Neveu du roi Charles VI, cousin germain de Charles VII et père du futur Louis XII, Charles d'Orléans fut (comme son parent René, duc d'Anjou, roi de Sicile) un prince-poète." Gérard Gros.
528 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2001
About the author
Charles d'Orléans
46 books3 followersCharles of Orléans was Duke of Orléans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans, on the orders of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. He was also Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont-sur-Oise and of Blois, Lord of Coucy, and the inheritor of Asti in Italy via his mother Valentina Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. He is now remembered as an accomplished medieval poet owing to the more than five hundred extant poems he produced, most written during his 25 years spent as a prisoner of war.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 21, 2025
Il me faut souvent
Plus penser que dire
Sans montrer comment,
Où mon coeur aspire... ~Rondeau 46
(I often have to
Think more than to say
Without showing how,
Where my heart aspires...)
What do you do when you're captured at the 1415 Battle of Agincourt and imprisoned by the English amidst the tumultuous Hundred Years War? You write poetry, bien sûr—and good thing Charles I d'Orléans did just that, for it was to be a long 25 years of political captivity.
Perhaps it was oddly fitting, for by then the 21-year old Duke had already had an eventful life; starting with the murder of his father—younger brother of King Charles VI—followed by the death of his Milanese mother Valentina Visconti the year after. Bound to traditionally avenge his father, Charles became leader of the Armagnac faction at the tender age of 13, against the English-allied Burgundians. Not to forget he'd also married (at not even 12!) his first wife, his 16 year-old (and widowed!) cousin—then married his 2nd wife after her passing.
The Duke's mostly lenient confinement yielded a plethora of delightful romantic and melancholic poems (including some in English), which continued into his older years.
The poems in this 'bilingual' collection tend to rhyme in the original Old French—printed on the left side—which is sometimes lost in the modern French. A few times I thought the modern word choice was disappointing and lost too much of the original, but they are a joy to read either way.
He was released in Nov 1440—a curious 8 days after the execution of Gilles de Rais, who'd fought alongside Jeanne d'Arc who’d helped liberate Orléans from the English in 1428, thus curbing English dominance since Agincourt. She'd also helped crown his cousin Charles VII, while he himself was deemed by some as the rightful heir and Charles VII illegitimate -_-
Fittingly, his favorite residence was Blois, which Jeanne had visited after the Orléans victory to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before continuing her mission.
Last but not least, the son he finally had—after 22 years of marriage to his 3rd wife (!)—became King Louis XII and is referenced in Machiavelli's The Prince.
Plus penser que dire
Sans montrer comment,
Où mon coeur aspire... ~Rondeau 46
(I often have to
Think more than to say
Without showing how,
Where my heart aspires...)
What do you do when you're captured at the 1415 Battle of Agincourt and imprisoned by the English amidst the tumultuous Hundred Years War? You write poetry, bien sûr—and good thing Charles I d'Orléans did just that, for it was to be a long 25 years of political captivity.
Perhaps it was oddly fitting, for by then the 21-year old Duke had already had an eventful life; starting with the murder of his father—younger brother of King Charles VI—followed by the death of his Milanese mother Valentina Visconti the year after. Bound to traditionally avenge his father, Charles became leader of the Armagnac faction at the tender age of 13, against the English-allied Burgundians. Not to forget he'd also married (at not even 12!) his first wife, his 16 year-old (and widowed!) cousin—then married his 2nd wife after her passing.
The Duke's mostly lenient confinement yielded a plethora of delightful romantic and melancholic poems (including some in English), which continued into his older years.
The poems in this 'bilingual' collection tend to rhyme in the original Old French—printed on the left side—which is sometimes lost in the modern French. A few times I thought the modern word choice was disappointing and lost too much of the original, but they are a joy to read either way.
He was released in Nov 1440—a curious 8 days after the execution of Gilles de Rais, who'd fought alongside Jeanne d'Arc who’d helped liberate Orléans from the English in 1428, thus curbing English dominance since Agincourt. She'd also helped crown his cousin Charles VII, while he himself was deemed by some as the rightful heir and Charles VII illegitimate -_-
Fittingly, his favorite residence was Blois, which Jeanne had visited after the Orléans victory to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before continuing her mission.
Last but not least, the son he finally had—after 22 years of marriage to his 3rd wife (!)—became King Louis XII and is referenced in Machiavelli's The Prince.
February 5, 2021
Un recueil qui ramène aux origines musicales de la poésie, surtout dans les rondeaux si rythmés et, par définition, à refrain. En revanche, le recours quasi systématique à l’allégorie et les thèmes vagues et convenus de l’amour et de la mélancolie paraissent maintenant un peu mièvres et artificiels
September 16, 2026
il en a vécu des choses le pauvre…
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews