Court And Civic Society In The Burgundian Low Countries C. 1420-1530

The sense of a gulf between city and court has been perpetuated, in the case of the Burgundian Low Countries, by the long-standing influence of Johan Huizinga's Herfstij der Middeleeuwen. The foundation of the Burgundian curial Order of chivalry known as the Golden Fleece was proclaimed on the market place at Bruges on behalf of Philip the Good during the festivities of his wedding to Isabella of Portugal in January 1430. The ceremonies accompanying the formal Entry of a dynast into a subject city in later medieval Europe have generated a rich and varied literature in the last generation, particularly in the case of the Burgundian Netherlands. The book includes ceremonial events, such as the spectacles and gargantuan banquets that made the Burgundian dukes the talk of Europe, the workings of the court, and jousting, archery and rhetoric competitions. The regular contests of jousters, archers and poets in towns of the Low Countries were among the most distinctive features of festive urban society in the fifteenth century. The control that late medieval urban authorities sought to exercise over the sacred, articularly over cults of saints is a phenomenon identified in Italian city states as 'civic religion'. The Burgundian court developed a reputation as one of the most spectacular in Europe: the presence and function of ceremony in court and civic society require more detailed attention. This Volume Is The First Ever Attempt To Unite And Translate Some Of The Key Texts Which Informed Johan Huizinga's Famous Study Of The Burgundian Court, The Waning Of The Middle Ages, A Work Which Has Never Gone Out Of Print. It Combines These Texts With Sources That Huizinga Did Not Consider, Those That Illuminate The Wider Civic World That The Burgundian Court Inhabited And The Dynamic Interaction Between Court And City. Through These Sources, And An Introduction Offering New Perspectives On Recent Historiography, The Book Tests Whether Huizinga's Controversial Vision Of The Period Still Stands.covering Subjects Including Ceremonial Events, Such As The Spectacles And Gargantuan Banquets That Made The Burgundian Dukes The Talk Of Europe, The Workings Of The Court, And Jousting, Archery And Rhetoric Competitions, The Book Will Appeal To Students Of Late Medieval And Early Modern Europe And To Those With Wider Interests In Court Culture, Ritual And Ceremony. Front matter 1 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Note on coinage and monies of account 11 Abbreviations 12 Map of the Burgundian dominions, 1476 13 Introduction 14 I: Burgundian spectacles 49 II: The court 99 III: The Order of the Golden Fleece 143 IV: Entry ceremonies 178 V: Civic society and the Court: jousts, shooting fraternities and Chambers of rhetoric 223 VI: Civic religion and the court 252 Select bibliography 281 Index 284 This book is about the spectacles and ceremonies of society in the Low Countries. It is the first ever attempt to unite and translate some of the key texts which informed Johan Huizinga’s famous study of the Burgundian court in The Waning of the Middle Ages, a work which has never gone out of print. This book unites and translates some of the key texts which informed Johan Huizinga's famous study of the Burgundian court in 'The Waning of the Middle Ages', a work which is taught in many history courses throughout Europe and the USA