or 1422, in the Castle of
Fromenteau in Touraine.[37] Her father, Jean Soreau, or Sorel, was
Lord of Coudon, and belonged to the lesser nobility. It was in this
beautiful country of forest and meadow-land, of silvery rivers and
meandering streams, that Agnes spent her early years, her education
being principally religious, for religion naturally held the first
place in a society which still retained faith in the supernatural. It
was customary at that time for girls of noble birth to complete their
education either at Court or at the castle of some princely person,
for such places were considered excellent schools of courtesy and
other virtues for the daughters as well as for the sons of the
nobility.

[37] Both the date and the place of her birth seem uncertain.
Some writers suggest 1415, and some 1420 or 1422, as the
date; whilst Froidmantel, in Picardy, is conjectured by some,
and Fromenteau, in Touraine, by others, as the place. (Du
Fresne de Beaucourt, _Hist. de Charles VII_, t. iv. p. 171,
note 4.)

Though the date is uncertain, it was at the Court of Lorraine that
Agnes became maid-of-honour to the Duchess Isabelle, wife of Rene,
Duke of Anjou and Lorraine, and Count of Provence, a prince
distinguished for chivalry and learning. This intellectual and
chivalrous atmosphere must have been peculiarly congenial to the
sympathetic and versatile nature of Agnes Sorel. We can picture her
listening to the Duke Rene reading his latest poem to one or two of
his brother-poets in the castle pleasaunce, or discoursing on
philosophy or statecraft, or attending some brilliant pageant or
sumptuous fete. Chivalry, though dead as an institution, still
survived as a recreation, and as an appeal from the past to the
cultured imagination, and Rene, mediaeval knight that he was in
sentiment, dearly loved the gorgeous spectacle of a tournament, with
the knight jousting in honour of his chosen lady. At this Court Agnes
also came under the influence of Yolande of Aragon, widow of Louis,
King of Naples and Sicily, great-granddaughter of King John of France,
mother of the Duke Rene, and mother-in-law of King Charles the
Seventh, a woman renowned for her extraordinary political capacity.
All these ties, and the remembrance of the French blood in her veins,
emphasised Yolande's dominant passion--the love of France,--and it may
well be that in this patriotic atmosphere Agnes Sorel became imbued
with a like passion,