50.5 - Anne of France

Battle Royale: French Monarchs

Also called Anne de Beaujeu or Madame la Grande, this princess inherited all the best traits of her father the Universal Spider. Like him she was cunning and ruthless, yet she also had an eye for art and literature, updating the court for the new Renaissance era. Sadly for France, as a woman she would never become queen, but she did rule the realm for almost a decade on behalf of her little brother Charles VIII.
Yet still, in the modern day, Anne of France is usually overshadowed by other great women of the 16th Century like Anne of Brittany, Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria. But did you know they all got their start at Anne of France's court? It's time to shed some light on a forgotten matriarch, and see how she ranks compared to our kings!
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Meanwhile, on the Mistress series - head to our Patreon to hear about the first official royal mistress Agnès Sorel, stay tuned for her successor Antoinette de Maignelais, coming next week, and support the podcast in the process!
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CATEGORIES
Ben and Eliza each give a score out of 10 for the first 4 categories. The 5th is determined by maths! The result is a total score out of 100.

1. Enchanté: The shallow, first-impressions round: How fabulous and iconic an image have they passed down to us?
2. En Garde: (A.K.A. “Selfish Wins”) How well did they gain and increase their personal power, either through scheming, statesmanship or good old fashion battles?
3. Voulez-Vous: (A.K.A. “Selfless Wins”) How much would we want to live under their regime? How well did they better the world around them through law reforms and cultural projects?
4. Ouh-Là-Là: How pearl-clutchingly scandalous were the events of their life, both in their time and down through the ages? How mad, bad and dangerous were they to know?
5. La Vie en Throne: How many years did they reign, and how many of their children survived them?

For more details on the scores, how they are calculated and how our kings are ranking, visit our website.