d'Orléans Charles

Born in 1394, Charles d’Orléans was a prince of the French royal house and one of the best-known poets of 15th-century France. He became Duke of Orléans after his father’s murder and was drawn into the political struggles of the time, but his literary reputation rests on his ballades, chansons, and rondeaux.

His life changed dramatically after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when he was captured by the English. He spent about twenty-five years in captivity, and many readers connect the reflective, melancholy tone of his poetry with those long years away from home. After returning to France, he continued to write and became associated with a refined courtly culture in which poetry was both personal expression and social art.

Charles d’Orléans died in 1465. Today he is valued not just as a historical nobleman but as a poet whose work moves easily between elegance, sadness, playfulness, and quiet observation.