COMING SOON – Of Princes and Poets, the second in our new imprint HISTORIA

Of Princes and Poets

One of the great love stories of 16th-century Europe.

Or was it? Yes, it must be. But…

Of Princes and Poets – James V  and Queen Madeleine of Scotland. A great romance of the Auld Alliance, Of Princes and Poets is a story that has slipped out of sight in all the turbulent history of the 16th century. It is James’s daughter Mary Queen of Scots who usually steals the limelight from Madeleine, sometimes known as the Summer Queen.

Principal players

Princes: James V, François I; (supporting roles) Henry VIII, Charles V Holy Roman Emperor.

Poets: Pierre de Ronsard, Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, James V, Clément Marot.

Female lead: Madeleine of France and Queen of Scotland.

James V of Scotland and Madeleine of France: a swashbuckling young Scottish king and a lovely but delicate young French princess.

He was determined to meet her and was not prepared to leave France and return to his own kingdom until he should have seen her. To achieve this, his other commitments and royal contractual obligations were simply put aside. As for Madeleine, she was overwhelmed on meeting him, this dashing knight errant come to France from the far north to find her.

Pierre de Ronsard

And all this was witnessed at first hand by a twelve-year-old French boy, Pierre de Ronsard. He had been a page to two of the French king’s sons. He was later to become a page to Madeleine herself and travel with her on her final voyage to Scotland. Ronsard knew Madeleine well. In later life, after his dramatic experience in Scotland, he was destined to become one of the most celebrated and prolific of poets that France produced. He was a Poet of Princes and a Prince of Poets.

Of Princes and Poets is a story that is less well known in all the history of battles and intrigues of the 16th century. It is one which, if mentioned at all, has sometimes been reduced to a single sentence. In this period Henry VIII’s ominous and frightening presence loomed in the background. Two young people, through their clearly visible love and passion for each other, succeeded in convincing a hitherto reluctant François I, King of France, that he should finally agree to their marriage.

And he was then to celebrate it in no small way. James and Madeleine, scorning the might of the English state, determined to be themselves. They set sail from France to Scotland, little knowing it was their fate to be participants in the passing of an old order.

The authors

Christine Jimack is a former Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow. She has written books and articles on French poetry of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, concentrating in particular on Deschamps, Marot and Ronsard.

Peter Terrell is a lexicographer, translator, editor and publisher who has worked on a wide range of dictionaries and language books.

published by
HISTORIA, an imprint of LEXUS BOOKS
softback with flaps, 224pp
£14.99
B format, 198×129
ISBN 9781904737827

See also Scotland’s Turmoil – the first in our HISTORIA imprint – Johnnie Gallacher zigzags his way through two frenetic centuries of Scottish history. Topics include the Rough Wooing, Mary Queen of Scots, John Knox, witch-hunts, Highland clan feuding, the Bishops’ Wars, Cromwell’s invasion of Scotland, MacColla, the Montrose Wars, Royalists and Covenanters, kings and queens, battles: Flodden, Dunbar, Bothwell Brigg, Killiecrankie, Dunkeld, Worcester, also Argyll’s uprising, the Williamite Revolution, the Glencoe Massacre, the Darien Scheme and the Union of the Crowns.

Investigate Scotland’s culture and language in our Scottish Interest books –  What’s in a Scottish Placename?, ScotlandSpeak and Edingow and Glasburgh.

Take a look at our imprint – VOICES – memoirs of remarkable people