The death of Anne de Brittany, on 9 January 1514, set into motion the most elaborate royal funerals France had ever seen. The funerals of her body and heart were unique in their scale and duration, but also built upon long-established customs for royal funerals and ceremonies of entry, as well as religious processions. As duchess of Brittany and two-time queen of France (to Charles VIII and Louis XII), Anne was symbolically important. Her marriages brought enduring peace and unity between France and Brittany. Her funerals offer insights into the increased centrality of the royal government in France during the transition from the late medieval to the early modern period.

In part one, Jacques Santrot describes the immense administrative achievements of Anne's household from the moment of her death through the final funeral services, held in Nantes on March 23. The text is deeply rooted in primary sources, which is its greatest strength. The first chapter covers the immediate treatment of Anne's body and the organization of the long funeral procession from Blois to St. Denis, where it was interred. Santrot develops a number of interwoven threads, all of which highlight the multiple meanings of the royal funeral—its political and social significance, its religious significance, and the administrative and financial achievements it represents. These funerals were theatrical spectacles. Their unprecedented scale, elaborate decorations, and dramatic lighting focused participants and viewers on the body of the queen, thus emphasizing the glory of the monarchy.

From Blois to the gates of Paris, the queen's presence was represented by the coffin, surrounded by a halo of candlelight. From Paris to St. Denis, a richly dressed effigy was set on top of the coffin, assuring viewers of the symbolic continuity of the monarchy. The queen's officers successfully moved, clothed, fed, and housed thousands of participants along the entire route, ultimately including 12,000 to 13,000 people in Paris. At each stop a portable funeral chapel was erected, hangings were provided to decorate each church, and the death knell was rung. Santrot estimates that more than 7,000 solemn and low masses were celebrated over the seventy-four days of funeral ceremonies. Additionally, he estimates how much the queen's household spent on fabric and candles to emphasize the enormous investment they made in communicating her political significance. Santrot points out that the records do not indicate how willingly each community participated in the ceremonies, although some must have benefited financially and/or had their status enhanced by interaction with the royal court.

The shorter second chapter examines the funeral of Anne's heart, which was processed to Nantes, via the Loire River, for interment in the Carmelite chapel, alongside her parents and previous dukes of Brittany. Although more modest in scale than the funeral of her body, it represented an impressive investment of resources. Anne's heart, resting in sealed boxes, covered by costly funerary clothes, and topped by an effigy of the heart's elegant gold and enameled coffin, was carried by her chamberlain, the chancellor of Brittany, Philippe de Montauban. The multiple funerary and memorial processions and masses celebrated the unique identity of Brittany as well as recognized the continuity of the French monarchy. Santrot concludes with a history of the heart's coffin, now housed in the Dobrée museum, in Nantes, of which he is the director.

The strength of this work is Santrot's ability to move between the contemporary narratives, letters, reports, account books, illustrations, and material objects with ease, placing them in a broader historical context. Given the impressive secondary bibliography, I would have appreciated more attention to the historiography of Anne and her court, particularly to more recent studies that take advantage of gender analysis. While well supported in the text, the conclusion does not adequately emphasize the political significance of the funerals for the French monarchy and early modern state building. Nevertheless, the extraordinary detail and use of sources will intrigue a variety of audiences. It will be of particular value to those who research late medieval and early modern royal courts and administrations, royal processions of entry, early expressions of divine-right absolutism, and funerary traditions.