OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



and was admitted to the King's Council when he 

 was but twenty-seven. In war, administration, 

 and finance, he proved himself equally trust- 

 worthy and skilful, and to these qualities he 

 added others of a brilliant intellectual nature. 

 He advanced from one post of trust to another, 

 until the king himself presented him with the 

 keys of the city and castle of Rouen. Thus he 

 became Senechal of Normandy, an honour which 

 remained in his family. One of his grandsons, 

 Louis de Breze, a son of Charlotte, daughter of 

 Agnes Sorel and Charles the Seventh, was the 

 husband of Diane de Poitiers. 



Jacques Cceur, whose life was so intimately 

 associated with the Court during Agnes's life- 

 time, and so sadly marred .and ended after her 

 death, was the son of a simple merchant of 

 Bourges. Following in the wake of many 

 adventurous and ambitious merchants of the 

 time, he journeyed to the East and amassed a 

 large fortune, which he placed at the disposal 

 of the king. This enabled Charles to carry on 

 the war in spite of his impoverished exchequer, 

 and to make a final and successful effort against 

 the English. But, like many another on whom 

 Fortune has smiled, evil tongues and envious 

 hearts began, ere long, their vampire work, and 

 after the death of his friend and patroness, Agnes 

 Sorel, Charles made no effort on his behalf, but 

 left him at the mercy of his calumniators in the 

 same base and heartless way in which he had 

 abandoned Joan of Arc. Jacques, his f goods 



1 60 



