Louis X is dead, poisoned by Mahaut d'Artois. Her plan is to clear the path to the French throne for his brother Philippe, her own son-in-law. But their uncle Charles Valois has the same plans for himself - if Queen Clementia gives birth to a boy, he'll be regent. If a girl, who knows...Philippe is away at Lyon, trying to make the conclave to elect a new Pope ASAP. But the cardinals are being quite fussy. So he locks them inside of a church for over a month until they elect exactly the man Philippe intended them to elect - cardinal Jacques Duèze, Pope John XXII.Back in Paris, Philippe's first order of business is to exclude little Jeanne, Louis' daughter with the adulteress Marguerite, from the royal succession (in order to clear the path for himself) by recreating, or rather creating, the ancient Salic Law...(view spoiler)["Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,That owe yourselves, your lives and servicesTo this imperial throne. There is no barTo make against your highness' claim to FranceBut this, which they produce from Pharamond,'In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant:''No woman shall succeed in Salique land:'Which Salique land the French unjustly glozeTo be the realm of France, and PharamondThe founder of this law and female bar.Yet their own authors faithfully affirmThat the land Salique is in Germany,Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,There left behind and settled certain French;Who, holding in disdain the German womenFor some dishonest manners of their life,Establish'd then this law; to wit, no femaleShould be inheritrix in Salique land:Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.Then doth it well appear that Salique lawWas not devised for the realm of France:Nor did the French possess the Salique landUntil four hundred one and twenty yearsAfter defunction of King Pharamond,Idly supposed the founder of this law;Who died within the year of our redemptionFour hundred twenty-six; and Charles the GreatSubdued the Saxons, and did seat the FrenchBeyond the river Sala, in the yearEight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,Did, as heir general, being descendedOf Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,Make claim and title to the crown of France.Hugh Capet also, who usurped the crownOf Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir maleOf the true line and stock of Charles the Great,To find his title with some shows of truth,'Through, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare,Daughter to Charlemain, who was the sonTo Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the sonOf Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth,Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,Could not keep quiet in his conscience,Wearing the crown of France, till satisfiedThat fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:By the which marriage the line of Charles the GreatWas re-united to the crown of France.So that, as clear as is the summer's sun.King Pepin's title and Hugh Capet's claim,King Lewis his satisfaction, all appearTo hold in right and title of the female:So do the kings of France unto this day;Howbeit they would hold up this Salique lawTo bar your highness claiming from the female,And rather choose to hide them in a netThan amply to imbar their crooked titlesUsurp'd from you and your progenitors." (hide spoiler)]
More of 2.5 to 3 stars for me, really.This sequel is really well keeping the same recipe form the other two sequels. It has the same characters with a really questionable morality, same action consisting of killing royal persons simply because power looks so fantastic and simple men facing the tough situations created by said royalty. They were a few things which bothered me. Believe me, I can resist many things; I am a big fan of cruelty and bloody murders. But I will never see in a good form really young arranged marriages. I know this things happens even nowadays. Not long ago I've read an article about said marriage between a four-year old girl and a five-year old boy in the gypsy community. I understand, this is an medieval mentality. But I simply can't bear these things who seem utterly grotesque for me, what happens between Isabelle of Poitiers and the little "Dolphin".The second part of the story was the only one which really pumped the action. The revolt in the Artois province was the only interesting thing, really. And I expected a full showdown between Robert d'Artois and the regent, but that never happened and I was really disappointed.In the third part of the story everything happened just for Philip to get the crown. Queen Clemence's son died (view spoiler)[ he really didn't, and the story accentuates this thing a few times and the babysitter was no one else but Marie de Cressay. How fortunate, right? Not really. Because, when I thought that Bouville can be good, he turns suddenly into master of complots and makes everything to send Marie back to her home and Guccio away from her. No, I just can't stand it.But the final chapter. It was the only thing that really made me give a bit of a plus to the rating. It was phenomenal, and simply because the ceremony was interruped without success. But who cares, really, because Philip is the king, vive le roi and so on. I start to hate him too.Because, I don't really know why, but I guess these books' purpose is to make every single character involved in it antipathetic to the reader in one way or another.I made a goal in finishing this series, but this book didn't really leave me with a big cliffhanger, so for the next few months I don't have a really big urge in continuing this series. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about La Ley De Los Varones (2006)?
El cuarto libro de los Reyes malditos narra de cómo Felipe V, el Largo, se hace del poder en un combinación de buenas intenciones y de aprovechar la ambición o lo intereses de otros. El drama del hijo de Luix X y como la sucesión en el trono arruina vidas ajenas a ella.También narra la elección del papa Juan XXII en una situación dominada por el Felipe V que le valió el sobrenombre de "Felipe Puertas Cerradas". La elección del papa se puede imaginar de manera muy diferente a como se hace hoy en día, pero en este caso se demuestra una lucha encarnizada por el poder eclesiástico que se definió por los motivos equivocados.Muy buen libro y ya quiero empezar con el quinto libro.Nigger
—Superiu
Jusqu'à date, le meilleur. Philippe de Poitiers est vraiment le roi le plus intéressant depuis Philippe le Bel et c'est vraiment intéressant de voir les nobles un peu rustres se faire remettre à leur place même si ce n'est que temporairement. C'est vraiment les manigances de tous les personnes qui sont intéressantes, légèrement différent des livres précédents où tu les voyais manipulés Louis X sans problème, là ils ont, pour une fois un ennemi à leur taille. Jacques Duèze qui devient pape c'est aussi très intéressant. Ainsi que le segment où il fait un clin d'oeil à la rumeur voulant que Jean I soit toujours en vie.
—Sebastien
For a translated book, I really loved this novel, and the following five books in the seven book series (the seventh apparently has not been translated from French yet, and there's no way I'm corrupting my budding Spanish language skills by attempting to read a novel in French). I am normally super wary about reading translated works, because, understandably, something always gets lost in the translation. This translator, Humphrey Hare, back in 1958 when he was doing his thing, did a fantastic job.I am reviewing the series as a whole in this entry, so beware: there are spoilers.First, the characters are well developed and compelling. Almost everyone in the first novel except two of the main characters are killed off by the end of the sixth book, and by killed off I mean: burned at the stake, quartered, poisoned (so much poisoning!), strangled, suicided, bungled with a red-hot poker up the arse (sorry, King Edward II) and driven mad. If you like The Song of Ice and Fire because it's nontraditional in that major characters die and it's awful and exciting and it keeps you on your toes, you'll like this book series. In fact, George R.R. Martin has an endorsement on the new 2013 addition, calling this series "the original Game of Thrones." And before they die, each character is his own tyrant, with his unique story, and the ways that their lives intertwine are well described. My favorite is Robert of Artois, who is also the novelist's favorite. I won't tell you how he dies.Second, the novel is fast paced. Action abounds. This series is a definite page turner. Each novel ends at the beginning of some new twist of fate or folly or force. I gobbled these books up in less than a month.Third, the vocabulary is rich and it makes reading on a Kindle super enjoyable because you can think, "Wait, Kindle, what does catamite mean?" And then Kindle informs you, "That's a boy groomed for sexual purposes, a 'pubescent boy who was the intimate companion of a young man in ancient Rome, usually in a pederastic relationship,'" and you're like, right ON! So not only are you learning about the early 1300s of the French dynasty and the plot twists of how destructive the Capets were, but you're also picking up new (okay, archaic) and exciting words! I loved the use of archaic terms. They added to the Medieval tone of the story.The only sort of downer to this book is that the author uses foreshadowing like a blunt axe. "From that kiss, she would go on to mother the King of France!" "How their hears would break, if they knew then that they would not see each other again but once in their lives, and then, only after ten years have passed from this romantic farewell." I am not even certain that I can correctly label what he does as foreshadowing; it's more akin to ruining some major plot twists with a single sentence. But since this is, after all, historical fiction, I guess he's entitled.Five stars. Recommended strongly.
—Jessica
