Between History and Fiction: Revisiting the Affaire de la Tour de Nesle

Abstract

The imprisonment for adultery in 1314 of the Burgundian daughters-in-law of Philip IV of France (the Affaire de la Tour de Nesle) reminds us that the “interstitial” positions occupied by royal women were precarious. At first glance, the princesses’ downfall seems the predictable result of their acts. However, chronicle accounts raise questions about their guilt. The Grandes Chroniques de France omits almost entirely the calamitous formation of leagues of angry barons against Philip IV in 1314, weaving a few disconnected references to the revolt with the story of the princesses, scapegoating the princesses to avoid criticizing Philip IV. La Chronique metrique de Philippe le Bel expresses doubts about the princesses’ guilt, and, correlated with other evidence, these doubts appear reasonable, even if they do not prove innocence. Attention to material obscured by chronicles offers insight into the forces, disguised by official history, that controlled the lives of medieval royal women.