The Scandal of the Silk Purses

The Scandal of the Silk Purses

In the early 1300s, a scandal rocked the French monarchy to its core and inadvertently contributed to the end of the Capetian dynasty.

1314 was a tumultuous year for France; the final act in the destruction of the Knights Templar was played out when Grand Master Jacques de Molay was burned to death. He was said to have cursed Philip IV, King of France, and his descendants from the flames. Philip IV would be dead within a year, and his dynasty’s rule over France would end in 1328.

Philip’s eldest son and heir, Louis, was married to Marguerite de Burgundy. Louis seems to have been a hard person to live with—his nickname was Louis the Quarreler—and the marriage was said to have been very unhappy.

The second son, Philip, was married to Marguerite’s cousin, Jeanne d’Artois.

Charles, the youngest, was married to Jeanne’s sister, Blanche d’Artois.

On an earlier visit to France, Isabella of France, wife of Edward II of England, had given silk purses to her sisters-in-law.

When she visited again in 1314, Isabella saw two of these silk purses on the belts of two knights of the French court, brothers Gautier and Philippe d’Aunay. When Isabella brought this to her father’s attention, the matter was investigated, and the brothers were put under surveillance.

The two knights, it seems, were meeting with two of the princesses in secret. The whole scandal became known as the Tour de Nesle Affair, as the clandestine meetings were supposed to have taken place in this small palace on the outskirts of Paris.

When confronted in a secret court, Marguerite and Blanche confessed to adultery with the d’Aunay brothers. Their heads were shaved, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Blanche’s sister, Jeanne, fared better; she was also arrested and placed under guard. Her marriage with Philip was a very happy one, and it seems she was only guilty of knowing of the affairs. Philip defended his wife, and with Philip’s support, Jeanne pleaded her innocence to the king and was allowed to return to her husband and the court.

The two knights were arrested, and after being questioned and tortured, they confessed to the adultery and were condemned to death. The unfortunate brothers were castrated and ‘broken on the wheel"—they were strapped to large wheels, which were spun while their limbs were shattered with iron bars. And finally, they were decapitated.

It has been suggested that the Tour de Nesle Affair was all an elaborate plot to destabilise the French monarchy, but most historians believe the adultery took place. The harsh punishments reflected the need for queens and princesses to be above reproach and the parentage of their children to be beyond question. The scandal cast a long shadow on the last years of the Capetian dynasty, with neither of the three brothers producing a son to carry on their line.

Sources:

The Romance of Adultery: Queenship and Sexual Transgression in Old French Literature, Peggy McCracken

Capetian France, 987–1328, Elizabeth M. Hallam and Judith Everard.

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