< 샤를 7세의 정부>아그네스 소렐(Agnès Sorel)

Agnès Sorel (1422^[1] – 9 February 1450), known by the sobriquet Dame de beauté, was a favourite mistress of King Charles VII of France, by whom she bore three daughters.^[2] She is considered the first officially recognized royal mistress.^[3] She was the subject of several contemporary paintings and works of art, including Jean Fouquet's Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels.

 

Agnès Sorel as Madonna lactans  by Jean Fouquet

 

 

때로는 '담 드 보테'(Dame de Beauté)라고 불리기도 하는데, 왕이 그녀에게 보테쉬르마른에 있는 영지를 하사했기 때문이다.

투렌의 프로망토에서 하급 귀족의 딸로 태어난 소렐은 어렸을 때 샤를 7세의 처남인 앙주의 르네의 아내이자 시칠리아 여왕인 로렌의 이자벨을 모시게 되었다. 1444년부터 죽을 때까지 소렐은 왕의 공인된 정부로서 최초로 반공식적인 지위를 부여받았다. 그후 왕의 정부들은 프랑스 역사에서 매우 중요한 역할을 맡게 되었다. 소렐의 출세는 1444년 낭시의 호화로운 궁전에서 축제가 열렸을 때 시작되었다.

 

이 축제에서 왕은 소렐의 눈부신 아름다움에 매혹되었으며, 이후 그녀는 죽을 때까지 왕의 사랑을 받았다. 왕은 소렐에게 재산과 성과 땅을 하사했고, 왕비의 지위와 명예를 확보해주었다. 국왕이 정부를 공적으로 인정한 것은 프랑스에서는 처음 있는 일로, 이 조치는 국민을 분개시켰고 질시와 음모를 불러일으켰다. 따라서 소렐이 넷째 아이를 낳은 직후에 이질에 걸려 급사하자 독살이라는 추측이 나돌았다.

 

부르고뉴의 역사가들은 나중에 루이 11세가 된 왕세자가 소렐을 독살했다고 공공연히 비난하기까지 했으며, 그후 자크 쾨르(루이 11세의 측근 참모임)의 적들은 그에게 뒤집어씌울 죄를 찾다가 이 소문을 이용해 그를 공격했다. 소렐 독살죄는 왕의 마음을 그에게서 돌려놓을 가능성이 가장 큰 죄였기 때문이다.

 

전설은 프랑스 왕국 최초로 왕의 공식적 정부였던 이 여성의 신원을 전혀 다르게 묘사하고 있다. 이에 따르면 소렐이 태어난 연대는 1409년경이며 왕과 처음으로 불륜 관계를 맺은 것은 1433년이라고 한다. 소렐은 군사 행동을 벌이도록 왕을 부추겼을 뿐 아니라(소렐이 왕을 부추겨 노르망디 정복에 몸소 참여하게 한 것은 분명함) 높은 지위에 있는 동안 현명한 조언자들을 왕의 주위에 모아놓음으로써 왕으로 하여금 타고난 게으름에서 벗어나 잔 다르크의 사명을 계속 추진하게 했다고 한다.

 

나중에 이루어진 조사 결과 샤를 7세는 전설에 나오는 1433년보다 10년 뒤에야 소렐을 처음 만났다는 사실이 밝혀졌기 때문에 이 낭만적인 전설은 그야말로 지어낸 이야기가 되었다.<다음백과>

 

^{* 깊이 있는 자료 볼 수 있는 곳:}blog.daum.net/elara1020/8465813   엘의 주절주절

 

Life in the royal court

The daughter of soldier Jean Soreau and Catherine de Maignelais, Sorel was twenty years old when she was first introduced to King Charles.^[3] At that time, she was holding a position in the household of Rene I of Naples, as a maid of honour to his consort Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. Sorel then went on to serve as the lady-in-waiting for Marie d'Anjou, Charles VII of France's wife. She would soon become his mistress.^[3] The King gave her the Château de Loches (where he had been persuaded by Joan of Arc to be crowned King of France) as her private residence.^[4]

 

Soon, her presence was felt at the royal court in Chinon where her company was alleged to have brought the king out of a protracted depression.^{[citation needed]} She had a very strong influence on the king, and that, in addition to her extravagant tastes, earned her powerful enemies at court.^[4] Sorel would become the first officially recognized royal mistress.

Children and death

Agnès Sorel was the model for this Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, by Jean Fouquet (c. 1450)

 

Agnès gave birth to three daughters fathered by the King: Marie possibly born the summer of 1444,^[5] Charlotte and Jeanne. (Charlotte's son, Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, in turn married Diane de Poitiers, herself ultimately a famous royal mistress.) While pregnant with their fourth child, she journeyed from Chinon in deep midwinter to join Charles on the campaign of 1450 in Jumièges, wanting to be with him as moral support.

 

There, she suddenly became ill and after giving birth died on 9 February 1450 at the age of 28.^[6] While the cause of death was originally thought to be dysentery, scientists have now concluded that Agnès died of mercury poisoning.^[7] She was interred in the Church of St. Ours, in Loches. Her heart was buried in the beautiful Benedictine Abbey of Jumièges.^[8]

 

Charles' son, the future King Louis XI, had been in open revolt against his father for the previous four years. It has been speculated that he had Agnès poisoned in order to remove what he may have considered her undue influence over the king. It was also speculated that French financier, noble and minister Jacques Coeur poisoned her, though that theory is widely discredited as having been an attempt to remove Coeur from the French court.

 

In 2005 her remains were exhumed and examined by French forensic scientist Philippe Charlier,

who determined that the cause of death was mercury poisoning, but offered no opinion about whether she was murdered.^[7] Mercury was sometimes used in cosmetic preparations or to treat worms

and might have brought about her death.

 

Her cousin Antoinette de Maignelais took her place as mistress to the king after her death.

 

Legacy

A 16th-century portrait after Jean Fouquet's 'Virgin and Child'

 

Sorel plays a main part in Voltaire's La Pucelle. Two Russian operas from the late 19th century also portray her, along with Charles VII: Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans and César Cui's The Saracen.  She is also a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.^[9] Two garments use Sorel's name in their descriptors, Agnes Sorel bodice, Agnes Sorel corsage and a fashion style named after her as well, Agnes Sorel style, which is described as a "princess" style of dressing.^[10]

 

* 정보 -책   54~55쪽