Visualizing Justice in Burgundian Prose Romance
Text and Image in Manuscripts of the Wavrin Master (1450s-1460s)
By (author) Rosalind Brown-Grant
This book explores the textual and visual representation of justice in a corpus of chivalric romances produced in the mid-15th century for noble patrons at the court of Burgundy.
This is the first monograph devoted to manuscripts illuminated by the mid-fifteenth-century artist known as the Wavrin Master, so-called after his chief patron, Jean de Wavrin, chronicler and councillor at the court of Philip the Good of Burgundy. Specializing in the production of pseudo-historical prose romances featuring the putative ancestors of actual Burgundian families, the artist was an attentive interpreter of these texts which were designed to commemorate the chivalric feats of past heroes and to foster their emulation by noble readers of the day. Integral to these heroes’ deeds is the notion of justice, their worth being measured by their ability to remedy criminal acts such as adultery, murder, rape, and usurpation. In a corpus of 10 paper manuscripts containing the texts of 15 romances and over 650 watercolour miniatures, the stylised, expressive images of the Wavrin Master bring out with particular clarity the lessons in justice which these works offered their contemporary audience, many of whom, from the Burgundian dukes downwards, would have been responsible for upholding the law in their territories. Chapters are devoted to issues such as the nature of just war and how it is linked to good rulership; what forms of legal redress the heroines of these tales are able to obtain with or without the help of a male champion; and what responses are available in law to a spouse betrayed by an adulterous partner. The book will be of interest to scholars of medieval art, literature, legal and cultural history, and gender studies.
- By (author) Rosalind Brown-Grant
Other Titles in this Series
A spectacle for a Spanish Princess
The Festive Entry of Joanna of Castile into Brussels (1496)
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Illustrated Manuscript Production and Noble and Princely Book Ownership in the Burgundian Netherlands (1400-1550)
Volume 16
Women at the Burgundian Court / Femmes a la Cour de Bourgogne
Presence and Influence / Presence et Influence
Volume 17
La Chambre des comptes de Lille de 1386 a 1419
Essor, organisation et fonctionnement d'une institution princiere
Volume 20
Marie de Bourgogne/Mary of Burgundy
Reign, 'Persona', and Legacy of a Late Medieval Duchess / Figure, Principat et Posterite d'une Duchesse Tardo-Medievale
Volume 31
Noblesses transregionales
Les Croy et les frontieres pendant les guerres de religion (France, Lorraine et Pays-Bas, XVIe et XVIIe siecle)
Volume 30
Entre la ville, la noblesse et l’Etat
Philippe de Cleves (1456-1528), homme politique et bibliophile
Volume 13
Ecrire le voyage au temps des ducs de Bourgogne
Actes du colloque international organise les 19 et 20 octobre 2017 a l'Universite du Littoral - Cote d'Opale (Dunkerque)
Volume 33
Books in Transition at the Time of Philip the Fair
Manuscripts and Printed Books in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century Low Countries
Volume 15
La guerre, le prince et ses sujets
Les finances des Pays-Bas bourguignons sous Marie de Bourgogne et Maximilien d'Autriche (1477-1493)
Volume 28
Gestion et administration d’une principaute a la fin du Moyen Age
Le comte de Bourgogne sous Jean sans Peur (1404-1419)
Volume 23
Powerbrokers in the Late Middle Ages
The Burgundian Low countries in a European Context: Les courtiers du pouvoir au bas Moyen-Age. Les Pays-Bas bourguignons dans un contexte europeen
Volume 4
Pour la singuliere affection qu’avons a luy. Etudes bourguignonnes offertes a Jean-Marie Cauchies
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Ambassades et ambassadeurs de Philippe le Bon, troisieme duc Valois de Bourgogne (1419-1467)
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La noblesse au service du prince
Les Saveuse: un hostel noble de Picardie au temps de l'Etat bourguignon (v. 1380-v. 1490)
Volume 27
Jean Molinet et son temps
Actes des rencontres internationales de Dunkerque, Lille et Gand (8-10 novembre 2007)
Volume 22
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