History Literature / TheAccursedKings

* KnightTemplar: Ironically enough, Philippe IV, Enguerrand De Marigny and Guillaume de Nogaret are a perfect example. The three of them commit atrocities for what they think is the good of the realm. Philippe IV and Marigny at least show doubts about who in the realm benefita from they actions, while Nogaret was never plagued by doubt.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The first six books are third-person narration [[SwitchingPOV told through the eyes of various (and alternating) protagonists]]. The seventh book is entirely written as a series of monologues written in first-person by the same character. It also consists in an independent plot set a decade after the previous books and doesn't involve any of the original cast.

* LovableSexManiac: Subverted with Robert. While he seems to have a reputation for womanizing and propositions his wife's cousin after they start conspiring (due to her being in a SexlessMarriage), he turns down Beatrice's advances (until she agrees to help him) and seems attached to his wife.

* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Jeanne of Burgundy, Phillipe of Poitiers' wife, is not punished as severely as her sister Blanche and her sister-in-law Marguerite for her involvement in the Tour de Nesle Affair, because while they comited adultery, she only covered it up for them. Thus, while they are imprisoned in the grim Château Gaillard, Jeanne is only kept in house arrest at Dourdan.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Charles of Valois and Robert of Artois during Charles IV's reign. Robert continues on this role at the begining of Phillipe VI's reign.

* CorruptChurch: Priests and clerics are often just as venal and scheming as their secular peers.
-->'''de Bouville (on learning the remaining cardinals can't be bought):''' They're not [[FauxHorrific honest]], are they?
-->'''Cardinal Dueze:''' Oh no, have no fear. But they belong to Marigny.

-->'''d'Artois:''' I've never seen a man crawl with such arrogance!

-->Yet one knows, in one's heart of hearts, that this furtive wisdom will have no effect on one's action.

* BigEater: Both Robert and Mahaut d'Artois. Mahaut starts getting so fat that by the end of the series that she walks with a cane and has to be bled almost daily. Not played for laughs.

** It depends on one's definition of "cool". Louis X and Charles IV think of Charles of Valois as one. His other nephew Philippe V correctly sees him as a dangerously incompetent ruler (and unsurprisingly his aforementioned brothers are any better) and looks up to his other uncle Louis of Èvreux, a moderate and wise ruler of his counties.

* TheDitz: Louis X, Philippe's eldest, is dumb as a brick. Blanche de Bourgogne is a more straightforward example.

%%* LovableSexManiac: Subverted with Robert. While he seems to have a reputation for womanizing and propositions his wife's cousin after they start conspiring, he turns down Beatrice's advances (until she agrees to help him) and seems attached to his wife.

* OddFriendship: between Eudeline, the linen-mistress of Vincennes, and Queen Clémence of Hungary. It's very much in Clémence's character to [[FriendToAllLivingThings befriend a servant]], but managing to win over Eudeline--[[spoiler:Loius X's first, the mother of his bastard, and who was still in love with him for a very long time]]--shows the depth of that character.

* PrinceCharmless: Pretty much Louis X, who has neither the intelligence nor the personal charisma to be anything more than a lackluster throne-warmer.

* WomanScorned: Beatrice falls for Robert d'Artois hard. But when his political maneuvering and constant voyages (not to mention his wife, who he seems genuinely attached to in spite of his famous philandering) get in the way of their affair, she starts meddling in his affairs. [[spoiler:It gets her strangled to death and her face kicked so as to be unrecognizable.]]

** Robert's entire arc may be one. He commits CrimeAfterCrime to get the county of Artois back and every attempt fails miserably. He even [[spoiler: murders Mahaut and her daughter to get the heirs out of his way]] and ''still'' the county is not in sight. He kickstarts a goddamn civil war to have the chance to occupy Artois, but [[spoiler:he dies]] after the first battle without achieving anything.

* UnwittingInstigatorofDoom: By giving the county of Artois to Mahaut instead of Robert, who was the rightful heir, Phillip IV installed a bitter feud that would poison his own bloodline, extinguish his dynasty, and start The Hundred Years War.

* HeelRealization: Explored with Robert. When his case against Mahaut for ownership of his beloved Artois begins going poorly, he takes a long, loving look at the county he ''does'' lord over, mulling on whether it really matters where his corpse decomposes, if this crusade of his is really worth all it's taken to see it through. But this realization is fleeting, and he knows it, and in the end it changes nothing.

* TheMarvelousDeer: While hunting, Philippe IV briefly sees a deer with St. Hubert's cross between its antlers [[spoiler: before he tumbles off his horse due to a brain aneurysm.]]

* NoSympathy: The only consolation Charles gets from his father after bursting into tears at the news of his beloved wife's adultery is "You were a very poor husband, so you might at least pretend to be good prince."

* OnlySaneMan: Louis of Evreux and Phillippe of Poitiers become this in Louis X's court. Louis of Evreux qualifies more since he doesn't want to have anything to do with the battle of wits at court and is TheWisePrince in his domains. Philippe of Poitiers is more involved in what happens at court (far more than his idiotic brothers) [[spoiler: and gets corrupted by the very tempting occasion of grab the crown.]]

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Played dead straight with Marie de Cressay's mother and brothers' when they learn that she's pregnant and married to Guccio, notwithstanding that he saved their asses multiple times, that they were feeding off his charity, and that he had more money that they could ever have. Guccio barely escapes with his life and is forced to flee Paris, while Marie is placed in a convent until she gives birth [[spoiler: to Giannino, who will impersonate the little King Jehan the first at his baptism]]. His uncle Tolomei muses that [[DisproportionateRetribution had they caught him the only retribution they would have garnered would be to pay a very cheap fine]] for killing [[LatinLover a Lombard who was a seducer of noblewomen]].

* PetTheDog: Robert, scoundrel though he is, has great affection for his lifelong companion Lormet, who was, at one point or another, Robert's bodyguard, strangler, and nurse. Robert's rare acts of genuine kindness are often for his loyal minion's benefit.

* PuppetKing: Louis X and Charles IV are two puppets in the hands of their uncle Charles of Valois, and that quite never changes.
** Edward III of England is a puppet in the hands of his mother and Lord Mortimer during his minor age. He resents the hella out of his regents and gets rid of them (his mother included) as soon as he comes of age.
* PuppyLove: Some betrothed couples are blesses with a ChildhoodFriendRomance.
** Edward III of England met Philippa of Hainaut as children and were head over heels for each other. His mother Isabella gladly betrothed him to her as she needed her father's swords in her rebellion;

** Louis X had an affair with the servant Eudeline before his marriage, and she bore him a daughter;

* ShaggyDogStory: The bonus chapter depicting the life of Giannino Baglioni, [[spoiler:the real Jehan I.]]
** Robert's entire arch may be one. He commits CrimeAfterCrime to get the county of Artois back and every attempt fails miserably. He even [[spoiler: murders Mahaut and her daughter to get the heirs out of his way]] and ''still'' the county is not in sight. He kicks a goddamn civil war to have the chance of occupy Artois, but he does after the first battle without achieving nothing.

* TortureTechnician: Guillaume de Nogaret personally oversees the torture of the two squires accused of being Marguerite and Blanche's lovers, and it's stated that he does this frequently.

** Hugues de Bouville towards the royal family.

* TheUnfavorite: Although Philippe IV doesn't show fondness for any of his children, Louis X is clearly the case.

* VictoryIsBoring: As Charles de Valois discovers, [[spoiler: when he finally gets rid of his arch-enemy, Enguerrand de Marigny]].

* TheWisePrince: Philippe de Poitiers, although on his way to the throne he [[KickTheDog kicks several puppies]]. [[MoralEventHorizon Hard]]. Later, Edward III turns out to be this.

* YouNeedToGetLaid: The gist of Marguerite de Bourgogne's last words to her sister-in-law Isabelle de France. Turns into a MyGodWhatHaveIDone for Isabelle much later when she does.

* AccidentalInnuendo: A self-congratulatory Robert tells Lormet "Beautiful things are women's asses, you can even find a [[CountryMatters county]] in them!" after hi EngineeredHeroics with the Daunet brothers.

** Louis X had an affair with the servant Sideline before his marriage, and she bore him a daughter;

* TheNeedsOfMany: the justification behind Philippe IV rather cruel policies. He wanted to concentrate power in the crown, instead of leaving so much open space for the feudal lords as it brings more and more instability. Also he doesn't want the Church and the Knights Templar to be a state within a state.

%% * HenpeckedHusband: Hugues de Bouville. It ends badly.

* GirlInTower: The three princesses accused of adultery. Joan has it better, as she was just covering her sisters-in-law's affair, and is our in arrest in a comfortable keep. The other two who are caught almost ''in flagrante'' have it much worse in the HellHolePrison of Château Gaillard

* KnightTemplar: Guillaume de Nogaret is a perfect example, ironically enough.

* MorallyBankruptBanker: Oddly enough, averted with Tolomei the Lombard banker, the worst we see him do is engage in a form of insider trading.

** This is what Louis X and Charles IV think of Charles of Valois. His other nephew Phillipe V correctly sees him as a dangerously incompetent ruler (not that his aforementioned brothers are any better).

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Several.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: For all the evil they've committed together, Madame Mahaut's lady-in-waiting/master poisoner, Béatrice, believes that she'd be out of a job if her mistress learned that she is [[TheHeretic a Satanist who holds to a pact with the Devil]]. For an interesting contrast, Mahaut's ''slightly'' less villainous niece, Robert, finds himself quite fascinated by Béatrice's unholy lusts and passions, but still can't bring himself to believe or join her in them... [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope until he comes around to exactly that, following Béatrice's instructions to enlist the Devil's favour in his master stroke to reclaim Artois.]]]]

* LovableSeManiac: Subverted with Robert. While he seems to have a reputation for womanizing and propositions his wife's cousin after they start conspiring, he turns down Beatrice's advances (until she agrees to help him) and seems attached to his wife.

%% * OnlySaneMan: Louis of Evreux and Phillippe of Poitiers become this in Louis X's court.

%% * PuppetKing: Charles IV, and Edward III during his minority.

The series has been adapted for television twice, in 1972 and in 2005, both only covering the six first books.

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!Tropes in this work:

* MurderTheHypothenuse: Mortmer realizes that for Isabelle to be so insistent Hugh Despenser the Younger get a CruelAndUnusualDeath, she must have really hated him for taking her husband away from her and therefore still felt something for Edward. He decides to have Edward murdered as a consequence.

** Jacques de Molay, who curses the Iron King, his sycophants, and his bloodline in the eponymous scene. Later, Hugh Despenser the Elder also goes this way, who refutes every charge against him and goes to his execution firm in the belief that his enemies are in the wrong.

* FatalFlaw: Pride, stubbornness, and vengeance for Robert. He is the rightful heir of Artois, and ''nothing'' will convince him to let this go; certainly not his own conscience. Even when he's attained positions and honours far beyond this county, righting this wrong remains his end goal and consumes his ambitions, driving him to commit crimes he refuses to back down from. Even Philip VI, the king Robert made, with whose patronage Robert stood as the eminent peer of the kingdom, who offers Robert ''every favourable way out'', cannot sway his destructive course. [[spoiler:His judges mull over this during his trial, which he is absent for, having fled the king's overtures rather than face the music and move on.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Louis X becomes a much better king (and a much better human being) in the months preceding his death. Downplayed with Edward II, for whom much the same applies, but only after having been deposed and isolated.