The Accursed Kings Series Books 1-3: The Iron King, The Strangled Queen, The Poisoned Crown Kindle Edition

I discovered this series in a Wall Street Journal article, then I read George RR Martin's introduction. He got a lot of the inspiration and ideas for Game of Thrones from this series. I have read the first four books already (in less than two weeks) and have found the stories engaging and enlightening. The royals of that time truly did live differently than their serfs and servants. It is "nice" to see that politics and conspiracies have been around for a long time and were not invented by the Democrats and Republicans of our era. These are historical novels so some liberties have been taken with actual history but only enough to enhance the story and make them more readable. You really get the gist of what happened and how these people lived. The seven books were written in french from 1955 to 1977. The english translations in these books feel very natural and modern in style. Highly recommended for students of history, political intrigue and GoT.

If George R.R. Martin's endorsement isn't compelling enough, it's pretty hard to think that my recommendation will win the day but I'll give it a shot. A lot of historical novels struggle with the magnitude of the task: the vast sweep of interconnecting events, the need to explain the significance and complicated customs/ways of thinking that are bizarre to modern readers, and the challenge of making five characters from history — in a time where every third person was called Louis or Phillipe or Jean — distinctive individuals whose concerns are sufficiently engaging to make them stand out from each other in a story and keep the reader immersed in the events of their lives. These books do this; so much so that, upon finishing the third book, I immediately acquired the remaining books in the series. The author has managed to find key characters that can make the dry facts of history come alive and — even though we know how things turn out because this is history, not a fantasy with a pseudo-historical setting — personal. I once had a university professor claim that all of the great wars had, at their core, an instance of personal enmity. Reading these books has reminded me of his assertion. These books really do bring the times alive and show that, while people and politics remain consistent, the means they have at hand vary quite dramatically. There are few heads of state today who can have their arch enemies burned alive in the public square and it is a rare instance when someone has no hesitation in poisoning a head of state who is not to their liking. Books like this remind us that we live in different times and yet, that the things that drive us remain the same.

. . . titles of the first three of Druon’s eight novels re-creating lives of the Capet dynasty of France, ca. 1300, give a clear indication of the general plot of each. The Iron King is Phillip the Fair (Philip IV of France), a reformer shifting power in France from the old feudal system to a somewhat less rigid body politic that gave great power to a few able but low-born men eager to share power. Intrigues abound as those who lost power, wealth, and status under the Fair’s policies plot to recover what had been their feudal rights. The Strangled Queen is the wife of Philip’s son Louis, the Hutin, who comes to the throne following his wife’s discovered adultery and sentence of life imprisonment, heir-less and ill-advised by those who had suffered under his father’s rule. The Poisoned Crown follows the plot that results in Philip IV’s second son, Philippe, coming to the throne. Weaving through all three books is the side story of Tolomei, the Lombard banker, and his nephew Guccio, whose lives are spent lending money and collecting debts, falling in love, uniting a king’s daughter to the ruler of another kingdom, and holding secrets that give them increasing power and influence, survivability in the troubled times they navigate. The entire series is overshadowed by the curse of the Knights Templar, who had lost their riches, status, and many of their lives under the rule of The Iron King, the curse of the Templar Grand Master as he died on the flaming pyre, watched by all of the city of Paris, the curse extending to King Philip IV and his successors for thirteen generations, even including the Pope who had approved the persecution of the Templars. George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones, credits The Accursed Kings as being the ‘original’ of his fantasy series. Good reading, both

This is Medieval Machiavellian power politics at its absolute best. I first read these books twenty years ago and our old paperbacks have started to fall apart because they've been enjoyed by the many people who have borrowed them. I am now reading them again on Kindle and find them just as wonderful the second time around.Some characters you love, some you hate but they are all fascinating.

Not as good as I hoped

An excellent series that brings mediaeval history to life.

An excellent translation of Maurice Druon's first three books about the last Capetian kings of France and the road to the Hundred Years war between France and England. It is very lively, well-researched and has a huge cast of interesting characters. The only two downsides for me were that the author had neglected several important and interesting episodes that occurred during the course of the first three books and his portrayal and characterization of women is rather archaic (then again it was written nearly 70 years ago so it's not altogether surprising).

I am a history person and know a lot about the history of the British monarchy but very little of the French dynasties. They always seemed to be bit players in our history until the 100 years war. These 3 books in one purchase start with Philip V (the fair) known as the Iron King and then his son took the throne as Louis X. His wife Marguerite had been unfaithful to him so not sure about the paternity of his daughter Jeanne. He arranges to have her strangled in jail so that he can marry again and produce a legitimate heir. He marries Clemence of Hungary who seems a willing doormat and possible breeder but then Louis is poisoned by his aunt as Clemence is pregnant with an heir or heiress. In the final book, we find a squabble of who will be regent whilst Clemence prepares to give birth. Louis has two brothers, Philippe and Charles, two uncles Charles of Valois and Louis of Evreux and a cousin Robert of Artois all wanting to be head of the country. Philippe makes his move to consolidate his position and the in-fighting begins. I am so fixated on this that I have downloaded the other 4 books in the series. Well recommended!!1