RENE or RENATE'S I., surnamed "the good," titular king of Naples and Sicily, the on of Louis II., duke of Anjou and count of Provence, was h. in 1408 at Augers. Rene's paternal grandfather, Louis I., duke of Anjou, and second son of John the good, king of France, had been adopted in 1380 by Joanna I., queen of Naples, as her successor; and on his death, a few years afterward, his son, Rene's father, was crowned king of Naples and Sicily. He, however, did not derive any substantial advantages from this recognition of his presumed rights; and when, on his death and that of his eldest son, Louis II., Rene, as the next heir, endeavored to make good his pretensions to the great Neapolitan heritage, he found himself involved in disastrous disputes with numer ous other aspirants to the coveted throne. Rene had married Isabella of Lorraine, and through her was also a claimant of the rich territories of Lorraine, and consequently brought upon himself the enmity of his wife's brother-in-law, the duke of Burgundy, who laid equal claim to the heritage of the ducal house of Lorraine. The best years of Rene's life were spent in the fruitless effort to establish these pretensions; but when, in 1442, his powerful rival, Alfonso of Aragon, took Naples, after a protracted siege, the struggle was virtually decided; and Rene recognizing at length the futility of his schemes, retired to his hereditary dominions in and thenceforth occupied himself with the administration of his territories, and with the cultivation of poetry and painting, in both of which he attained a degree of proficiency above the average of his age, as is shown by the poems and illuminated illustrations by his hand still preserved in the imperial library at Paris. In 1445 Rene gave his beautiful daughter Margaret in
marriage to Henry VI. of England, and at the same time obtained from his royal son in-law the restitution of Anjou and Maine, which had remained in the hands of the English since the successful wars of Henry V. This did not. however, prevent Rene from taking part in the wars of Charles VII. against the English in 1449; but after a brief stay with the army, Rene, wearied with the excitement and discomforts of war, retired to Aix in Provence, where for many years he attracted to his court the cultiva tors of song and romance, while he encouraged manufactures, and augmented the resources of the province by the introduction a improved methods of agriculture, and the importation of various useful trees and plants, and died in 1480, universally regretted by his subjects, among whom the memory of "the good king Rene" was long held in great veneration. Rene's sons had died before: him; and so with him the house of Anjou became extinct, its territorial dominions lapsed to the French crown, and have since that period formed an integral part of France. •