The monument to King René, which she at last came to share in blessed memory, had his effigy reclining, and at his feet a sculptured lion, symbol of courage; at Jehanne’s feet were carved two hounds, emblematic of fidelity. The Chapel of St. Bernardin thus became the royal mausoleum of the last Anjou dynasty—René, with his father and mother, his two wives, his eldest son, and his two daughters, in holy company; and so they remained for 300 years, until that cataclysmatic year 1793, when every holy stone was tumbled down and every reverent memorial defaced. The memorial chapel was for centuries a thing of beauty. King René himself painted the glass windows and designed the tomb. Soon after his marriage with Jehanne de Laval he employed Francesco Laurana and Pietro da Milano to decorate the chapel.
Soon after the death of King René, Sieur Guillaume de Remerville,—his Treasurer at Aix,—voiced the universal sorrow and permanent regret of all the royal servants of his lord in a beautiful funeral ode, which he dedicated to “Queen Jehanne, his worshipful mistress”:
“Pleurez, petits et grands! Pleurez!
Car perdu avez le bon Sire.
Jamais ne le recouverierez—
Sa mort sera grief martyir.”
“Weep little, weep great, weep all!
For we have lost our good Lord.
Ne’er more his form to recall—
Hearts broken by his mord.”