In the first part of the book, the author seeks to uncover the internal connections between Charles’s youth in France, the political and representational activities of John of Luxembourg at the Parisian court in the first half of the fourteenth century, Charles’s own positions during the Hundred Years’ War, and the form and purpose of the Parisian festivities at the beginning of 1378. In the concluding section of this part, the author offers a detailed analysis of the responses to the Paris meeting of the “two Charleses.”The second part of the book, likewise grounded in contemporary written sources and visual material, comprises more than a dozen carefully crafted case studies. Drawing on the latest findings in archaeology, cultural anthropology, and iconography, the author reconstructs the organisation of royal festivities and banquets, the accommodation of guests, human–horse relations, dining practices, recipes of dishes consumed by Charles IV and his retinue in Paris, the significance of relics for royal representation, as well as contemporary fashion, hygiene, and the courtly etiquette of gestures.
Author(s):
František Šmahel
Publisher: Argo
Publication Type: monograph
Language: Czech
Place: Praha
Year: 2006
Pages: 400
ISBN: 80-7203-765-X