The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time

by John Kelly

Joanna’s fair skinned, blond beauty—a combination troubadours called “snow on ice”—was one of the great wonders of the medieval world. “Fair and goodly to look upon” is how Giovanni Boccaccio described the young queen. “Exquisite and enchanting,” declared Petrarch. “More angelic than human,” added the chevalier de Brantome. For the gallant young cavalier Galaezzo Gonzaga of Mantua, words alone failed to describe Joanna’s loveliness. After a single dance with the Neapolitan queen, the cavalier fell to his knees and vowed to “go through the world until I have overcome in battle two knights whom I swear I will present to you in recompense.” Presently, two Burgundian knights arrived in Joanna’s court, accompanied by a note from ardent young cavalier Galezzo.* In character, the young queen was typically Neapolitan, which is to say that both her subjects—who believed Joanna to be kind and good-hearted—and her brother-in-law, King Louis of Hungary—who called Joanna that “great harlot that . . . ruleth over Naples”—had a point.