THE “BLACK LEGEND” ABOUT VALENTINA VISCONTI IN THE FRENCH POLITICAL CULTURE AT THE TURN OF THE 14TH–15TH CENTURIES

The article deals with the analysis of the origins and features of the formation of the “black legend” about Valentina Visconti, the wife of Duke Louis of Orleans and the sister-in-law of Charles VI. The author studies in detail all the sources of the turn of the 14th–15th centuries, which retold rumors that the Duchess was a witch who brought a spell on the French king, and disputes the point of view prevailing in historiography, according to which the creator of that “black legend” was one and the only person – the Hennegau chronicler Jean Froissart. According to the author of the article, rumors about Valentina Visconti arose much earlier than Froissart took up the compilation of his “Chronicles”, they were initially oral in nature and were primarily associated with the political propaganda of the Dukes of Burgundy, who were trying to gain full power in the French Kingdom