Les Rois maudits

The nephew of Joseph Kessel, great-grandson of Antoine Cros — the third and last king of Araucanía (in present-day Chile) — and great-grandnephew of the poet Charles Cros, Maurice Druon received the Prix Goncourt in 1948 for his novel Les Grandes Familles. But it was with the historical and literary saga Les Rois maudits, the product of a collaborative workshop, that he achieved lasting fame. Among the collaborators he thanks in his preface are Gilbert Sigaux, Matthieu Galey, Pierre de Lacretelle, José-André Lacour and Edmonde Charles-Roux.

The principal contributor was undoubtedly Georges Kessel, Joseph Kessel’s brother. A journalist, he had married the actress Janine Crispin in 1938, who would later appear in the 1973 television adaptation of Les Rois maudits.

The series’ title came from Joseph Kessel, who also contributed to the writing of several chapters of the saga.

Cited by George R. R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, as the absolute model of the historical novel, Druon’s epic opens at the beginning of the fourteenth century with the largest trial in recorded history: that of the Templars. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Order, dies at the stake pronouncing his terrible curse upon the King of France, the Pope, and the great men of the kingdom: “Cursed, all cursed, to the thirteenth generation of your line!”

A fine complete set of the new edition, published on the appearance of the seventh and final volume, Quand un roi perd la France.

From the library of Maurice Druon (bookplate).