One of the most politically powerful and influential people in the years preceding the Renaissance. His array of titles included King of Hungary, Sicily and Aragón, as well as Duke of Calabria, Anjou and Lorraine (see Lorraine, Dukes of). It is likely that d’Anjou took part in Joan of Arc’s reconquest of France. Although there is little direct evidence linking the two together, one of Joan of Arc’s strongest supporters was Iolande d’Anjou, René’s mother.
D’Anjou was also a prolific writer, painter and student of Cabbalah. He was particularly interested in the subject of the Grail and owned a cup of red porphyry which he claimed had been used at the wedding at Cana The themes of Arcadia and the underground river Alpheus appear for the first time in d’Anjou’s poems.