Duke Rene of Anjou played a most impressive part in the stormy history of fifteenth-century France and Italy. He was the son and third child of Duke Louis II of Anjou and Yolande of Aragon, born on January 16, 1409, in their castle at Angers in the Maine-and-Loire region of western France. A brother, Louis, had been born in 1403, and his sister Maria (who was to marry Charles VI of France), in 1404. Rene grew up in Anjou and in Provence, another of his father's domains. In 1419 the ten-year-old was married to Isabel of Lorraine, who was only nine. Such youthful dynastic marriages were frequently resorted to in those days, as effective weapons in the constant struggles for power (whether on the level of diplomatic accommodation or ruthless warfare) in the course of which today's allies all too frequently became tomorrow's blood-thirsty enemies. Duke Charles of Lorraine, Rene's father-in-law, was at war with King Charles VII of France who was also involved in the Hundred-Years War with England. England's ally in this was the powerful Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good. Rene, when old enough to bear arms, joined the forces - including Joan of Arc - who were fighting for the King of France. When his father-in-law died in 1413 Rene inherited the Duchy of Lorraine. But a nephew of the deceased Duke also laid claim to this inheritance, with armed assistance from the Duke of Burgundy. That same year the contending parties met in battle at Buligneville, where Rene was defeated and captured. Duke Philip of Burgundy asserted his right to the valuable prisoner and took Rene to his fortress at Dijon. During Rene's imprisonment his young wife Isabel proved to be a most skillful advocate on his behalf. She even succeeded in obtaining Rene's temporary release from his dungeon, on his word of honor to return at the stipulated time (which he doubly guaranteed by leaving his two young children behind as hostages in Dijon).

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