Danse Macabre: François Villon. Poetry & Murder in Medieval France

Description

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. Acknowledgements iv A Note on the Poetry v Preface vii 1 Childhood Years, 1431-50 1 2 The Affair of the Pet-au-Deable, 1451-4 25 3 Death in Painting, in Poetry and in Practice, 1452-5 45 4 The First Exile, June 1455 to January 1456 73 5 The First "Testament", Villon's Legacies, 1456 91 6 Lust, Love and Larceny, December 1456 111 7 The Second Exile, 1457-60 131 8 Meung-sur-Loire, 1461 159 9 The Great Testament, 1462 179 Interlude. The Debate between Villon and his Heart 207 10 The Third Exile, 1463. Disappearance? 211 Notes 226 Select Bibliography 234 Further Reading 235 Index 238