Charles d’Orléans (1394–1465) was nephew of the French King Charles VI, a prince of the blood, and perhaps the best of the fifteenth-century poètes courtois. This scholar and gentleman had the great misfortune to be captured by the English at Agincourt in 1415 and spent twenty-five years in England as a prisoner of war (in various castles, including the Tower of London). He began writing verse in captivity (
Livre de la prison) and continued to do so after his return to France where he made his residence at Blois a centre of literary activity. Three of his rondels were set by Debussy in 1904.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 2013
CDA68021/4
