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Francois Villon (1431 - ?1465) is one of the great enigmas of French medieval history: a lyric poet of beauty and depth, he was also a murderer, pimp, thief and denizen of the underworld of 15th-century Paris. This study places Villon in the context of medieval France from the death of Joan of Arc, describing the appalling condition of the country during the Hundred Years War, the time when Gilles de Rais - the original Bluebeard - was practicing his diabolical craft of child abuse and alchemy.
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P
ARIS in the middle of the fifteenth century w as a dark pl.ac®BWie midst of the I kindred Years War, the city was gripped hy famine. Ikinds of discharged soldiers rampaged, pillaging and raping wherever they went. People were in constant fear of being rohhed or having* their properties looted. Starving wolves crossed the Seine and killed Parisian babies for food. Above the mêlée C«iIles de Rais - the original Bluebeard 7 practised his diabolical craft of child abuse and alchemy Into this world, and in the same year as the execution of Prance's heroine and hope Joan of Arc, was born Francois Villon ( 14.3 l-l46a?). I le grew up to be one of the great enigmas of French medieval history: a lyric poet of surpassing beauty and depth, he was also a murderer, pimp, thief and deni/en of the seething underworld of contemporary Paris. Born into a peasant family, Villon was adopted by a priest and sent to university. Very soon he took his first steps on a life of crime when he was publicly flogged outside the home of a young woman he had slandered. In 1455 lie became involved in a scuffle which ended w ith his killing a priest. The rest of his short life was .1 round of arrests, imprisonment and torture, save for a heady period at the chateau of C.haHcs, Due d’Orléans, one of the most civilised and artistic courts in I urope. I le.was finally implicated in a killing of w hich he was probably innocent. I le fled, never to be seen again. I his biographical tour J r fo rer takes apart the man and his age, seeking out the truth behind the poet's crimes, and the truth within the criminal’s poetry. Scandal, iniquity, poverty and great art are here. To read it is to be transported to another world.
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ÜÇ)aca6re François Villon Poetry & Murder in Medieval France
AUBREY
BURL
SUTTON PUBLISHING
First published in the United Kingdom in 2 0 0 0 by Sutton Publishing Limited •Phoenix Mill Thrupp •Stroud •Gloucestershire •GL5 2BU Copyright © Aubrey Burl, 2 0 0 0 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright holder. Aubrey Burl hereby asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 -7 5 0 9 -2 1 7 7 -3
‘Je congnois tout fors que moy mesmes’ I know everything except myself François Villon, P o ésies D iv erses, 6
Typeset in 1 0 .5 /1 3 .5pt Sabon. Typesetting and origination by Sutton Publishing Limited. Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin, Cornwall.
Contents A ckn ow ledgem en ts A N ote on the Poetry P reface
iv V
vii 1
1
C h ild h ood Years, 1 4 3 1 -5 0
2
T he A ffair o f the P et-au -D eable, 1 4 5 1 -4
25
3
D eath in Painting, in P oetry an d in P ractice, 1 4 5 2 -5
45
4
T he First E xile, /wwe 2455 to Jan u ary 1456
73
5
T he First ‘T estam ent ’, Villon’s L egacies, 2456
91
6
Lust, L o v e an d Larceny, D ecem b er 1456