Story summary
Trama e riassunto di Nei vicoli dei re
- 8 min di lettura
- 10 parts
- Audio a breve
A beaten clerk catches a stolen bundle in a dark Paris lane, and Cardinal Mazarin soon needs his silence.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · Ti invieremo un’email prima dell’addebito · Annulla online in due clic
Nei vicoli dei re in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 5 h 40 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 40 min slow
- Durata
- 80.400 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1902by Stanley John Weyman
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
Gratis per 3 mesi
Ottieni il riassunto completo di Nei vicoli dei re, gratis
- 200.000+ classici in eBook, audiolibri e riassunti in 15 minuti, e libri cartacei e a caratteri grandi al costo di stampa
- Fino a 5 lettori in casa tua con un solo piano
Nei vicoli dei re in short
In Kings' Byways gathers a dozen tales from more than two centuries of history, from the last Valois kings to the Terror. A clerk, a gambler, a widow, a page and a peasant all meet the powerful at a crisis, and each must decide what a promise or a life is worth. What you keep is a series of vivid scenes.
What Nei vicoli dei re is about
A clerk is thrown into a fountain, flogged through the gates and chased across Paris, all because he added a zero to a census. Minutes later a stranger flings a warm bundle into his arms. Is it a child, a king, or something else?
That is how In Kings' Byways begins. Stanley John Weyman wrote these tales of French court and street life, from the Wars of Religion to the Terror of 1794. Real kings and ministers walk beside invented clerks, gamblers, mothers and smugglers. Each tale is built on a single dangerous night or a single choice.
A chi è rivolto. Readers who love cloak and sword adventures, clever plots, and French history seen through ordinary people near the throne will enjoy these tales.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A thrown-out clerk stumbles into court politics
The first tale, Flore, opens in the summer of 1643, weeks after the old king's death. Prosper, a third clerk to the Bishop of Beauvais, has just married and thinks his fortune is made. Then a mistake in a census figure shames the Bishop before the Council. Within an hour Prosper is soaked, beaten and barefoot, and he runs for his life through the dusk.
Another runner hurls a bundle into his arms and darts away. Prosper tumbles through a door and feels the bundle stir. It is warm and alive. Next morning he sees a scrap of purple velvet with a gold crown and decides he has held the little King of France. His father-in-law speaks only of the Queen's missing spaniel.
Then Prosper learns the Bishop has offered five hundred crowns for the dog, and that Cardinal Mazarin is the Bishop's rival. Revenge now outweighs fear, and he goes looking for the thieves. A small man has become a piece in a very large game.
When great rivals fight, even a ruined clerk can hold the winning card.
- 2Inizia gratis per leggere
A gambler stakes his life and finds a rescuer
Crillon's Stake begins on a wet March night in 1587.
- 3Inizia gratis per leggere
A hanged man's family shelters a hidden stranger
For the Cause is set in November 1591, while Paris is held by the extreme Catholic League.
- 4Inizia gratis per leggere
A governor loses at cards and plans to gamble back
The King's Stratagem takes place at La Réole, where Henry of Navarre and the queen mother Catherine de Medicis are holding talks.
- 5Inizia gratis per leggere
A widow holds a town's fate in her hands
The House on the Wall is set in the summer of 1706, when an Austrian captain besieges the Flemish town of Huymonde.
- 6Inizia gratis per leggere
Two daring tales of loyalty from marsh and castle
Hunt, the Smuggler is set in 1696, just after a Jacobite plot to kill King William the Third.
- 7Inizia gratis per leggere
Sully's memoirs mix dry wit with sudden danger
The Diary of a Statesman is told by the Duke of Sully, minister to Henry the Fourth.
- 8Inizia gratis per leggere
The Terror closes in on a house and a barn
In A Daughter of the Gironde, it is July 1794 in Paris.
- 9Inizia gratis per leggere
Honor, cunning and love run through every tale
Across these stories the same few values keep returning.
- 10Inizia gratis per leggere
Voices, nights and bridges give each tale its shape
The stories are told in different ways.
Read all 10 key ideas now
3 months free, then 0,14 USD a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- Ti invieremo un’email prima dell’addebito
- Annulla online in due clic
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Prosper A clerk from Béarn, dismissed and beaten by the Bishop, who holds a dangerous secret about a stolen dog.
- Cardinal Mazarin A smooth, patient minister who works quietly to take the Bishop's place at the Queen's side.
- Claude de Bazan A country youth who gambles away everything in Paris and is saved by a bold courtier.
- Crillon A proud and fearless soldier at the court of Henry the Third who stakes his own life for a stranger.
- Henry of Navarre The cheerful Huguenot king, later Henry the Fourth, who wins by wit and courage.
- Sully The vain and loyal minister who guards his king against plots and tells his adventures with a straight face.
- Achille Mirande A stern Girondin republican who shelters his daughter's husband during the Terror and tests his honor.
- Jeanne A young Breton wife, bullied by her cowardly husband, who hides a fugitive in her barn.
How it ends (spoiler)
In Flore, the dog Prosper finds is not the Queen's own, and the Cardinal exposes it before the court, so Mazarin wins power and the Bishop falls. Prosper escapes to Rouen and later holds a farm. Bazan drinks the King's wine at a royal supper to avert a suspected poisoning, and survives. Henry forgives the Vicomte and takes Créance while its governor takes Lusigny. In the last tale, the Girondins spare Michel Tellier, who regrets only his lost five crowns.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of Nei vicoli dei re opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Domande su Nei vicoli dei re
What is In Kings' Byways about?
It is a collection of short historical tales set in France and nearby lands, from the Wars of Religion through the reign of Henry the Fourth and Cardinal Mazarin to the Terror of 1794. The tales follow clerks, peasants, nobles and ministers caught in dangerous affairs.
Is In Kings' Byways a true story?
No. Weyman invented most of the characters and incidents, but he placed them among real events and people such as Henry of Navarre, Crillon, Sully, Mazarin and Barbaroux. The settings and political crises are real.
Who are Crillon and Sully in the book?
Both were real figures of the period. Crillon was a brave soldier known as the brave Crillon. Sully was Henry the Fourth's chief minister, and his tales are told in his own proud, formal voice.
When did Stanley Weyman write this book?
Weyman wrote it as one of his many popular historical romances in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He died in 1928. The tales are short enough to read one at a time.
Is it easy to follow for a modern reader?
Yes, because each tale is short, has a clear hook and builds around one night, one object or one hard choice. The settings change, but the plots are easy to follow and the dialogue is lively.
Cita questa edizione
Weyman, Stanley John. In Kings' Byways. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-kings-byways.
Weyman, S. J. (2026). In kings' byways. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-kings-byways (Original work published 1902)
Weyman, Stanley John. In Kings' Byways. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-kings-byways.
@book{weyman2026kings,
author = {Weyman, Stanley John},
title = {In Kings' Byways},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-kings-byways},
note = {First published 1902}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian GrayGratis per 3 mesi
Ottieni il riassunto completo di Nei vicoli dei re, gratis
- 200.000+ classici in eBook, audiolibri e riassunti in 15 minuti, e libri cartacei e a caratteri grandi al costo di stampa
- Fino a 5 lettori in casa tua con un solo piano
