Published between and , the series has been adapted as a miniseries twice for television in France. American author George R. Set in the 14th century during the reigns of the last five kings of the direct Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois , the series begins as the French king Philip the Fair , already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar.
The first six novels of Les Rois maudits were published in France by Del Duca between and , and the final volume was released by Plon in The initial six books were first issued in English translated by Humphrey Hare between and , by Rupert Hart-Davis in the United Kingdom and by Scribner's in the United States, with periodic reprints through the s. Between and , HarperCollins reissued the entire series in print and audiobook , including the last instalment The King Without a Kingdom , which had never previously been published in English.
French King Philip the Fair rules with an iron fist, but is surrounded by scandal and intrigue. Philip's daughter Isabella, Queen of England , plots with the ambitious Robert of Artois to catch the wives of her three brothers— Marguerite , Jeanne and Blanche —in their suspected adulterous affairs. Robert's own motive is to avenge himself on Jeanne and Blanche's mother, his great aunt Mahaut, Countess of Artois , who he believes has stolen his rightful inheritance.
Philip's younger brother Charles, Count of Valois , resents the power and influence of the common-born Guillaume de Nogaret , Philip's prime councillor and keeper of the seal , and Enguerrand de Marigny , Philip's Chamberlain. Marguerite and Blanche are sentenced to life imprisonment for their crimes, and their lovers Gautier and Philippe d'Aunay are tortured and executed.
Jeanne, innocent of adultery herself but complicit in the scandal, is imprisoned indefinitely. Philip fears that Molay's curse is to blame; soon enough, he suffers a cerebral hemorrhage and collapses during a hunt, and dies days later. Seeking to remarry and father a male heir, Louis sends Robert of Artois to compel Marguerite to sign a statement, in exchange for her freedom, that her marriage to Louis was never consummated and that her daughter Jeanne is illegitimate. She refuses, and Louis' plan to secure an annulment and marry the beautiful Clemence of Hungary is further stalled by the papal conclave 's failure to elect a new pope.
