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The emergent reputation for sanctity of Isabelle of France (sister of Louis IX) was central to the development of larger Capetian claims to enjoy a unique favour in the eyes of God. Around 1260, Isabelle was the spiritual star of the court, as reflected in a series of texts written by bishops, friars such as Thomas of Cantimpré and Guibert of Tournai, and popes Innocent IV and Alexander IV. In the last decade of her life, however, her saintly reputation faded due to her refusal to become a nun and to her battles with the Franciscan Order over the rule for her abbey of Longchamp.

Chroniclers such as Primat writing about the Capetians in the 1270s made little mention of holy women, but in the 1280s, spurred on by canonization hearings for Louis IX, there was a flurry of literary attempts to shape perception of recent events around Isabelle of France and Elizabeth of Spalbeek, most importantly in writings by Agnes of Harcourt and William of Nangis. Moreover, far to the south the Franciscan chronicler Salimbene wrote of Douceline of Digne as well as the prophecies of an unnamed Italian holy woman concerning Philip III and Charles of Anjou.

After 1314 new scandals at the Capetian court focused on women as dangers, including Philip IV’s attack on his own daughters-in-law but also charges of sorcery against the royal cousin Mahaut of Artois. Most dramatically, Margueronne of Bellevillette emerged from prison with new self-accusations of sorcery and poisoning. After the death of the last Capetian king in 1328, chroniclers worked to re-imagine earlier female figures either as holy voices or dark forces. In the case of Isabelle of France, such chroniclers created the false impression that she had been a nun of Longchamp. Elizabeth of Spalbeek was given a more positive spin in a new French translation of William of Nangis’s earlier account. And Paupertas of Metz’s story was shortened in such a way as to make her into a more diabolical figure, while Marguerite Porete was represented in ways that made her seem like a more obvious threat to the kingdom.

Beginning with a little story about Queen Blanche of Castile, the illness of her daughter Isabelle of France, and the prayers of a holy woman who may have been Lutgard of Aywières, the introduction sets up the book by surveying the historiography of French royal power and women’s holiness, laying out the overall argument, and providing brief chapter previews.