In this visually rich volume, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany reconstructs the art collection and material culture of the fourteenth-century French queen Clémence de Hongrie, illuminating the way the royal widow gave objects as part of a deliberate strategy to create a lasting legacy for herself and her family in medieval Paris.
After the sudden death of her husband, King Louis X, and the loss of her promised income, young Clémence fought for her high social status by harnessing the visual power of possessions, displaying them, and offering her luxurious objects as gifts. Clémence adeptly performed the role of queen, making a powerful argument for her place at court and her income as she adorned her body, the altars of her chapels, and her dining tables with sculptures, paintings, extravagant textiles, manuscripts, and jewelrythe exclusive accoutrements of royalty. Proctor-Tiffany analyzes the queen's collection, maps the geographic trajectories of her gifts of art, and interprets Clémence's generosity using anthropological theories of exchange and gift giving.
Engaging with the art inventory of a medieval French woman, this lavishly illustrated microhistory sheds light on the material and social culture of the late Middle Ages. Scholars and students of medieval art, women's studies, digital mapping, and the anthropology of ritual and gift giving especially will welcome Proctor-Tiffany's meticulous research.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology and Nomenclature
Introduction
1 The Life, Times, and Art of an International Queen
2 Systems of Exchange: Moving Art and Material Culture
3 The Body, the Altar, and the Table: Possessions and Sites of Identity Proclamation
4 The Queen’s Manuscripts and Identity
5 Gift Giving in the Gothic World
6 The Queen and Ritual Gift Giving
7 Gifts to Individuals, Near and Far
Conclusion: Good and Glorious Exchange
Appendix 1: The Testament of Clémence de Hongrie
Appendix 2: The Inventory of Clémence de Hongrie
Appendix 3: Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
“Clémence de Hongrie is a particularly inviting subject as both her testament and the inventory made after her death in 1328 still exist. Mariah Proctor-Tiffany enlivens these texts by considering the idea of movement: provenance of materials in the objects the queen commissioned, the sources of gifts she received, and the destinations of those she bestowed on others. This study, as finely detailed as the documents and the objects they describe, goes beyond the case study to enrich our understanding of the nature and functions of collecting and the bonds created by exchange, among women and with men, in France and across Europe.”
—Joan A. Holladay, author of Illuminating the Epic: The Kassel Willehalm Codex and the Landgraves of Hesse in the Early Fourteenth Century
