I lived from 1394-1465.
I was from France, and am in the European category.
I was influenced by poets Homer, Owen Suffolk.
Charles of Valois, Duke of Orléans (November 24, 1394 – January 5, 1465) became Duke of Orléans in 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis, Duke of Orléans on the orders of John the Fearless. He was also Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont 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 poet owing to the more than 500 extant poems he produced, most written during his twenty-five years spent as a prisoner of war in England after being captured at the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
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Ascending to the title of Duke at the age of fourteen after the assassination of his father, Charles was expected to carry on his father's leadership against the Burgundians, a French faction which supported the Duke of Burgundy. The latter was never punished for his role in Louis' assassination, and Charles had to watch as his grief-stricken mother Valentina Visconti succumbed to illness not long afterwards. At her deathbed, Charles and the other boys of the family were made to swear the traditional oath of vengeance for their father's murder.
During the early years of his reign as Duke, the orphaned Charles was heavily influenced by the guidance of his father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, for which reason Charles' faction came to be known as the "Armagnacs".
A depiction of Charles' imprisonment in the Tower of London from an illuminated manuscript of his poems. After war with the Kingdom of England was renewed in 1415, Charles was one of the many French noblemen wounded in the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415. Captured and taken to England as a hostage, he remained in captivity for the next twenty-five years, being kept at various places including Wallingford Castle. The conditions of his confinement were not strict; he was allowed to live more or less in the manner to which he had become accustomed, like so many other captured nobles. However, he was not offered release in exchange for a ransom, since Henry V. of England had left instructions forbidding any release: Charles was the natural head of the Armagnac faction and in the line of succession to the French throne, and was therefore deemed too important to be returned.
It was during these years that Charles wrote most of his poetry, including melancholy works which seem to be commenting on the captivity itself, such as "Le Foret de Longue Attente". A few of the songs are in English; and though they show considerable proficiency in a foreign language, they are no very favourable specimens of the author's capacity of employing it for poetic composition. It is well known that Charles amused himself during his captivity by some attempts (rather awkward ones it is true) at his favourite rondeau in the English tongue.
Finally freed in 1440 by the efforts of his former enemies, Philip the Good and Isabel of Portugal, the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy, he returned to France, "speaking better English than French" according to one source. Meeting the Duchess of Burgundy after disembarking, the gallant Charles said: "M'Lady, I make myself your prisoner." At the celebration of his third marriage, with Marie of Cleves, he was created a Knight of the Golden Fleece. His subsequent return to Orléans was marked by a splendid celebration organized by the citizens.
He made a feeble attempt to press his claims to Asti in Italy, before settling down as a celebrated patron of the arts.
Charles appears in Shakespeare's play Henry V as the "Duke of Orleans".
Popular poetry
Go forth, my hert, with my lady;
Loke that we spare no business
13 lines, 4 comments
The year has changed his mantle cold
Of wind, of rain, of bitter air;
12 lines, 2 comments
Against the coming of May
That is ful of lustyness,
15 lines
Strengthen, my Love, this castle of my heart,
And with some store of pleasure give me aid,
14 lines, 2 comments
Well thou showest, gracious spring,
what fair works thy hand can bring;
25 lines
Gentle Spring! in sunshine clad,
Well dost thou thy power display!
25 lines
Now Time throws off his cloak again
Of ermined frost, and wind, and rain,
16 lines
To make my lady's obsequies
My love a minster wrought,
37 lines
La temps a laissé son manteau
Da vent, de froidure, et de pluye,
15 lines
Bien monstrez, printemps gracieux,
De quel mestier savez servir;
26 lines
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