The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone Read Free Book Online

make decisions concerning the raising or lowering of taxes (subject to approval by the French throne in the case of Anjou and Maine), keep the peace, and ensure the loyalty of her husband’s subjects during his many absences. And she had to do all of this for large tracts of territory that were separated by nearly four hundred miles, a journey that took the fastest courier a full two weeks to cover on horseback. It took even longer for the household to make this trip: whenever theymoved from Anjou to Provence or back, Yolande and Louis eschewed the overland route and instead traveled with all of their possessions, family members, and servants by barge either up or down the Loire and Rhône (depending on whether they were coming or going), a cruise that could take as long as eight weeks. Yolande was also obliged to help Louis II raise and outfit an invasion force, after which it was her responsibility to continue to supply him through the port of Marseille, or to marshal additional ships and troops in the event of unforeseen difficulties.
    Emotionally and intellectually, Yolande’s upbringing was of great help in tackling these numerous duties. Even more important, she did not come to her marriage as an unprepared child of thirteen or fourteen, but rather as a secure and poised young woman of nineteen who understood the nature of rule.
    But it is one thing to understand how power works in a general way through observation, quite another to master the details, especially for regions as diverse culturally, economically, and politically as Anjou and Provence. The inhabitants of Louis II’s northern territories did not even use the same calendar as those of his Provençal subjects. * The feudal customs were different and the privileges granted to each baronage varied from place to place, sometimes from town to town. In Provence, exports of salt from the mines of Hyères provided a large source of income and had to be monitored; in Anjou there were rents on manors to be collected. Competent officials had to be identified and appointed to ensure the smooth functioning of each local government, and the opinions and grievances of the various regional councils had to be duly noted and addressed.
    A daunting undertaking for any young woman, but in this instance too Yolande’s path was smoothed by careful instruction from a highly experienced mentor: her mother-in-law, Marie of Blois. For the first four years of their marriage, Louis’s mother was a dominant presence in the life of the young couple, and her daughter-in-law clearly benefited from the older woman’s knowledge and contacts. There was no aspect of governance with which Marie was not familiar, and her grasp of finance was impressive. “For twenty-two years she had indeed administered with such order and foresight the income derived from Provence, Anjou, and Maine, that she wasable to support, in the name of her eldest son Louis, the war for Naples begun by his father, and to provide this son with the upkeep needed to maintain his royal status,” confirmed the official chronicler for the monastery of Saint-Denis. “Her intimate counselors insist that she had amassed from the revenue of these domains a private treasure of 200,000 écus of gold.” Even on her deathbed, Yolande’s mother-in-law left the young couple with a sage (and prophetic) example of her uncanny ability to anticipate and compensate for future adversity. “When her last hour approached, she devoutly received the final sacraments of the Church; after which she called her son to her and revealed to him this secret,” wrote the Monk of Saint-Denis, referring to Marie’s extensive savings. “The young prince, justifiably surprised, gently demanded why, during the time where he had recently been in distress, she had not been more generous with him. She responded that she had been afraid that he would be taken prisoner, and that she had always wanted to have money in reserve, to save him from the shame