In the Shadow of Burgundy
The Court of Guelders in the Late Middle Ages

A wide-ranging study of the late medieval court of Guelders in the Low Countries.

Gerard Nijsten (Author), Tanis Guest (Translated by)

9780521820752, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 February 2004

496 pages, 49 b/w illus. 1 map
23.6 x 16 x 3.2 cm, 1.038 kg

"Specialists on the medieval Low Countries should already be familiar with Nijsten's work, so the intended market is presumably the burgeoning wider field of Court Studies. This will be well served by this fluent translation of a thoroughly researched, methodologically up-to-date and carefully written consideration of cultural life at one of the many princely courts of the Low Countries." Sixteenth Century Journal Paul Arblaster, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

In recent years the study of medieval courts has become a flourishing field. The courts of kings and popes, or of the Burgundian dukes, have usually attracted most attention. This book offers by contrast a wide-ranging study of a little-known, medium-sized court - that of Guelders in the Low Countries. Guelders offers an excellent vantage point for the study of European late medieval court culture. It was surrounded by the vast territories of the dukes of Burgundy, and it felt the growing power of the Valois dukes, yet the duchy managed to remain independent until 1473. Rich archival sources - including a long and virtually unbroken series of ducal accounts - reveal much about the rise of territorial or 'proto-national' awareness and about the role of the court in this process. The book also conveys the striking cultural and political richness of the court, poised between French and German spheres of influence.

Foreword
Brief chronology of the history of the counts and dukes of Guelders
Introduction
Part I. Court: 1. The social framework: functions and functionaries
2. A medium-sized court on its travels
3. Finances at the court: in search of money
4. The ideal prince
Part II. The Arts: 5. Music and musicians
6. Literature: the written and the spoken word
7. Books: readers, writers and illuminators
8. Visual and applied arts
Part III. Court Culture: 9. Construction and consolidation: the duke and his court
10. Construction and consolidation: the dukes and the wider context
11. Court culture and the forming of a 'territorial' consciousness
Appendix: Reconstruction of the book collection of Duke Arnold and Duchess Catherine
Sources and bibliography.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Medieval & Renaissance music [c 1000 to c 1600 AVGC2], History of art: Byzantine & Medieval art c 500 CE to c 1400 [ACK]