CAROLUS REX 1337-1380

Virginia Chieffo Raguin


NOTE: THE PAGES BELOW HAVE MANY ILLUSTATIONS THAT CANNOT BE DISPLAYED IN THIS SNEAK PEEK. THE PRINTED BOOK CONTAINS ALL OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.


Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, when there were still kings and queens and castles, there lived a boy named Charles. He was not a very big boy, but neither was he a very small boy. One day he would grow up to be a king and then everyone would call him King Charles V

CAROLUS REX QUINTUS

This meant that there had already been four kings of France who had exactly the same name. Charles would someday be a very great and famous king, so that he would even be called:

CHARLES THE WISE

This meant that he thought and worked very hard and that he loved books very, very much.

Right now, however, Charles was just plain Charles. He lived, just like many other boys and girls in the capital city of France, called Paris. Paris was an old, old city with one big island and many smaller ones in the middle of a deep river called the Seine. Many bridges crossed from one bank to another. All around the city, a high wall kept everyone safe from danger.


Inside the wall, narrow streets crowded together, meeting to form wide market places where everything imaginable could be bought and sold. Charles loved the markets. Ducks, chickens, and geese shouted and honked and flapped their wings. Furry gray rabbits sat very quietly moving their noses. Funny fat pigs pushed and grunted. Crabs snapped and pinched each other with their two strong claws. Shiny fishes, flopped and skipped and looked out with round, round eyes. All types of sausages hung from the ceilings. Brilliant red apples and glowing yellow ones, crisp orange carrots, and big floppy leeks with their fresh white bottoms and deep green stems crowded together on the stands.


Most of all, of all the stands in the market, Charles loved the baker's. Piled up high in all the corners, were heaps of different sized loaves of crusty brown bread.


Some were long and thin.


Some were shorter, but much fatter.


Some were like great round wheels.


And some were so big that they were taller than Charles himself!


Charles lived in an old stone castle with damp gray walls. It wasn't very pretty, and it wasn't very warm. (When Charles grew up he would build one of the most beautiful castles in the world. But Charles wasn't grown up yet.)


No one in Paris could think about building a new castle then because they were having a war. This particular war was a very long, very sad, and very complicated war. Later, people called it THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR, because it lasted almost one hundred years.


Charles was one of the most unhappy little boys in all of Paris, because his papa, who was the king, had gone away to fight in that very long and very sad war. King Jean (which in French, means King John) was away for a long time. Charles waited and waited each day for his papa to come home. He waited for the day when they would sit together under the big chestnut tree and look at the beautiful pages of his favorite book of animals, the BESTIARY. There he could find all sorts of real and even make-believe animals, like the lion who roars in the desert, or the geese who hatch from sea shells, or the wonderful phoenix who never dies but builds a great fire around himself and then flies up made young again by the flames.

He waited for his papa to come home so that they could walk together into the great cathedral of Notre Dame.

There they could look at the tall statues of heroes, prophets, and saints; Moses with his long beard and tablets of the law, Daniel with his scroll under his feet, Samuel holding the baby Jesus in his arms, King David playing his harp, and John the Baptist carrying a lamb.


He waited for his papa to come so that they could go to the special bookcase and take out the GREAT CHRONICLES OF FRANCE (this is another way of saying the history of France). In the big book they would see the pictures all in gold and bright gleaming colors; kings and queens dressed in long robes with shining crowns on their heads, knights dressed all in silver armor, and mighty castles with flags flying from all roof tops.


Charles waited to walk with his papa across the bridge of the Seine, to see the horses bringing people to the great city and to see the boats floating on the river filled with cloth made by the workers of Paris.


He waited for his papa to call for a fine tall horse, and a small gentle pony. Then they would ride out of the city walls into the fresh green meadows. There they could see the bright flowers, the birds singing as they flew to their nests, and just perhaps, the soft brown eyes of a deer who watched them as they rode by.


Charles waited and waited each day, but still King Jean was far away. One day Charles was sadder than ever. Today was his birthday and he wished and wished with all his heart for one special present. He wanted his papa to come home to share his birthday. Charles went to the great market and bought a great big birthday cake, round and fat and full of raisins, figs, and cherries.