Notes
n o t e s introduction 1. Avril and Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peintures, 414–15, state that this book was offered to King Louis XII around 1503; the liminal miniature featuring the dedication of the book to the French king (fol. Av) confirms this. The French queen may well appear in two other miniatures in the book. On fol. 55r a miniature of a woman in a brocade dress wearing a black veil, identified as a noble married woman, is holding a girl in blue identi- fied as a chaste girl. In the center of a subsequent miniature (fol. 66v), which illustrates the chapter on second marriages, “The man” [“L’ome”] points to a female in a red dress with a cordelière-like belt and black veil-like headdress, identified as the second wife. This image may well refer to Anne of Brittany, whom Louis XII took as his second wife in 1499, after divorcing Jeanne de France. In the accompanying text, Reason states that human and divine law support the idea of second and third marriages if there has not been any abuse in the first marriage. 2. For further discussion of this topic, see C. Brown, “Like Mother, like Daughter.” 3. Book I offers remedies for prosperity (“Fortune prospere”), whereas Book II offers remedies for adversity or “Fortune aduerse.” 4. Rawski uses this title in his translation, Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul, III: 177. 5. François was born on 21 January 1503 and died in mid February 1503. See E. Brown, “The Children of Anne de Bretagne.” See the citation in note 7 below in which Rayson mentions Fortune’s “having taken away or never having given you a son.” 6. This anxiety was no doubt fueled by Anne’s failure to produce an heir during her marriage to Charles VIII in 1491–98. Charles-Orland was born in October 1492 but died in 1495. According to E. Brown, “The Children of Anne de Bretagne,” a son, Charles, lived less than a month in 1496; François was born and died in 1497. A daughter Anne was born and died on 20 March 1498. 7. This exchange provides a rather complicated assessment of the issue. Whereas Douleur complains that she has no male heir, Rayson suggests this is not so bad, since sons can bring difficulty and uneasiness, not to mention distraction to a king, whose responsibility of a kingdom requires great care: “You must understand that there is no public burden more weighty than a kingdom nor private burden heavier than a son” (for the 314 notes to page 3 French text, see fol. 165v). Rayson adds that a king’s subjects are freer as a result: “If you have no heir to your kingdom, you will not have a destroyer of your works. But you will have the people who will love you after your death in praising your name. And they will always pray for you. Know that Fortune has done better in having taken away or never having given you a son than in having given you a kingdom” (for the French text, see fol. 165v). All translations are my own unless otherwise noted. 8. “Can’t you understand that he has not forgotten to provide for great kingdoms and empires, which he has established to dominate, rule and govern all the things subject to them, each one in his way? Know for certain that he has not forgotten to do this, but has arranged through his divine prescience all things to come. Allow, allow, therefore, the one who does nothing without reason to manage your kingdom and all things and study virtue. And strive to do good works so that after you have reigned temporally you may reign eternally in Paradise. And through virtuous, lofty and magnificent deeds you might perpetuate your name and its glory as have done many good and virtuous kings and emperors, whose renown and memory will last until the end of the world” (for the French text, see fol. 165v). 9. According to Carraud, recent editor of Pétrarque, Les Remèdes aux Deux Fortunes/ De Remediis utriusque fortune (1354–1366), II, 43–45, the Remèdes were translated into French in 1378 by Jean Daudin for Charles V. The translation made for Louis XII, completed on 6 May 1503, was anonymous. Without having actually examined BnF ms. ffr. 625, Carraud suggests that the Daudin translation was...
OR
