The French Court

To accompany premiere recording of the ?Josquin mass on Quem dicunt homines. Brief review & summary of the literature for popular audience. [CD title "The Spirit like a Dove"]

Available on Spotify, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k94-9Uq_PYN9qZQ5QvagabVBqkAlq05e4) etc

History is written and perceived at many levels: popular, theoretical, empirical. The last of these categories, particularly for the medieval and early modern periods, is derived in large part from accounts, inventories, financial and legal transactions. These are rarely the inspirational materials which feed popular and theoretical histories. But empirical accounts are crucial to historians attempting to piece together the complete picture of any given historical period or place, filling in the gaps not included in the grandiose chronicles, state-sponsored narratives, or self-justificatory memoirs. Thus, less glamorous, less heroic, less vocal figures are usually left out of the popular vision of the past.

There are a lot of doors in the world of the court, many of them shut. He who holds the keys controls access to the treasure within-in the case of the Chambre du Roi, the monarch himself. Entrusting a set of keys to someone involves-literally-trust. So whom did the King of France trust? Who was given authority to regulate proximity, the sine qua non for the acquisition of power and wealth? Perhaps these were the personal favourites of the monarch, men he had grown up with. Or perhaps they were men of exalted rank and ancient lineage, qualities which, as explained by Castiglione, would compel them to act in an upright manner so as not to sully family honour. 1 Or even more narrowly, perhaps the sovereign would depend on princes of his own blood, whose sense of dynastic honour was tied up even more completely with his own.

Ce colloque pluridisciplinaire et transchronologique a pour objet le statut et les fonctions des femmes à la cour de France : les dames des suites d’honneur, les épouses des grands officiers et ministres, les officiers féminins des maisons royales, les marchandes et autres femmes qui ont séjourné de manière régulière ou irrégulière à la cour.

Nous proposons d’étudier l’évolution de leur présence à la cour et les fonctions qu’elles y occupaient ainsi que l’impact de leur présence sur les structures et la vie quotidienne de l’entourage royal. Les engagements des femmes, leurs objectifs, leurs stratégies et leur marge de manœuvre, constituent un autre volet, comme leur rôle dans la gestion des intérêts familiaux et des carrières curiales ainsi que leur mécénat architectural, artistique et culturel. Nous nous interrogeons aussi sur la représentation et l’imaginaire qui s’attachent aux femmes de la cour dans la littérature et l’historiographie.

History is written and perceived at many levels: popular, theoretical, empirical. The last of these categories, particularly for the medieval and early modern periods, is derived in large part from accounts, inventories, financial and legal transactions. These are rarely the inspirational materials which feed popular and theoretical histories. But empirical accounts are crucial to historians attempting to piece together the complete picture of any given historical period or place, filling in the gaps not included in the grandiose chronicles, state-sponsored narratives, or self-justificatory memoirs. Thus, less glamorous, less heroic, less vocal figures are usually left out of the popular vision of the past.