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1496, Rene II. Rene II, grand-son of the more famous Rene I d'Anjou and Isabella da Lorraine (who got the parcel of Marcello) by their daughter Yolande (1428 - 1484), a later duke of Lorraine, played with "triumphe" cards according to his account book from 1495/96. "Au Roy, le 29 avril pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux francs. Encore audit seigneur roy le 1 Mai pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux florins d'or."

It seems, that this is the first note of the "triumphe game" in France. It's astonishing and perhaps part of a personal family story around the Michelino deck, that the related person is the grand-son of just this Isabella de Lorraine, who got the parcel of Marcello. However, the date is short after 1494, that means after the invasion of the French king Charles VIII. in Italy, when French soldiers surely became acquainted with the game."

(autorbis)

Biographical Commentary

René II, grandson of René d'Anjou and Isabelle de Lorraine, had alread before 1494 personal experience of Italy.

René had become famous all over Europe because of the Battle of Nancy, 1477, in which Charles the Bold was killed (perhaps Leonello's son Francesco d'Este was there then also, as he had grown up with Charles the Bold and information on him dries up after 1475). René entered Nancy in triumph the same day of the battle, where he passed under a sort of triumphal arch, which the citizens had constructed in haste out of the dried bones of the horses and other animals they had been reduced to eating during the war.

René II went to Venice in 1480 and signed a treaty with them, receiving 56,000 ducats and the title of "Captain General." He remained in Italy until 1481. When Venice went to war with Ferrara in 1482, they called on René's assisstance. René sent two lieutenants to Ferrara, but Venice asked for René himself the following year, and he came with 400 mounted knights and 1000 soldiers to besiege Ferrara from the spring to September, 1483, when he learned of the death of his cousin Louis XI (August 30), which he hoped would allow him to renew his claims upon Lorraine and Anjou, which Louis XI had inherited.

Thus René's connection to the triumphal concept occurs in three places - his familial connection to Isabelle de Lorraine, his triumphal entry into Nancy, and his playing Triumphs in 1496. It is noteworthy that the last date is after he had spent two or three years in Italy.

Ross Caldwell



More biographical material:




Rene II., Duke of Lorraine (1451 - 1508)

1496: Rene II, grand-son of the more famous Rene I d'Anjou and Isabella da Lorraine (who got the parcel of Marcello) by their daughter Yolande (1428 - 1484), a later duke of Lorraine, played with "triumphe" cards according to his account book from 1495/96. "Au Roy, le 29 avril pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux francs. Encore audit seigneur roy le 1 Mai pour jouer audit triumphe a Vezelise deux florins d'or."

It seems, that this is the first note of the "triumphe game" in France. It's astonishing and perhaps part of a personal family story around the Michelino deck, that the related person is the grand-son of just this Isabella de Lorraine, who got the parcel of Marcello. However, the date is short after 1494, that means after the invasion of the French king Charles VIII. in Italy, when French soldiers surely became acquainted with the game.

genealogy I

genealogy II

genealogy III

Reignment in Lorraine

House of Anjou-Lorraine

René I of Anjou (1431-1453) - (gave with the death of his wife Isabella the title to Jean II)

Jean II, son of the previous (1453-1470)

Nicolas, son of the previous (1470-1473)

Yolande, daughter of René of Anjou (1473), widow of Ferry II, Count of Vaudémont

House of Lorraine-Vaudémont

René II Count of Vaudémont, son of the previous (1473-1508)

(Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, invaded Lorraine in 1475. With the help of the king of France René II opposed Charles the Bold who died near Nancy in 1477)

Antoine, son of the previous (1508-1544)

Francis I, son of the previous (1544-1545)

etc. more


heraldic Rene II.
Shield of Rene II