Brewer's: Rene

(2 syl.). Le bon Roi René. Son of Louis II., Duc d'Anjou, Comte de Provence, father of Margaret of Anjou. The last minstrel monarch, just, joyous, and debonair; a friend to chase and tilt, but still more so to poetry and music. He gave in largesses to knights-errant and mistrels (so says Thiebault) more than he received in revenue. (1408-1480.)

“Studying to promote, as far as possible, the immediate mirth and good humour of his subjects ... he was never mentioned by them excepting as Le bon Roi René, a distinction ... due to him certainly by the qualities of his heart, if not by those of his head.” —SirWalterScott: Anne of Geierstein, chap. xxix.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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