Un miroir au prince enluminé du milieu du XIVe siècle : l’Avis aus roys [thesis]

Description

The Avis aus roys, read in five manuscripts up to now, is a little-known text belonging to the mirrors for princes literary genre. This genre teaches future princes and kings how to rule in the best possible way. This work is inspired by Giles of Rome's De Regimine Principum and by the Liber de informatione principum, and seems written for a young prince from the Valois lineage around 1347 to answer to the concerns of this period. The manuscripts remain discreet on their origins as both author and sponsors are not being clearly identified. The future John II the Good may have required the writing of this treaty from royal confessor Pierre de Treigny from Burgundy to make sure his sons would conform to the image of an ideal prince. The time seemed to be right as the Valois dynasty was not only contested but facing military struggles as well. As an answer to the Crecy defeat and according to the reformers, the author of the Avis aus roys suggests to make a better selection for the Hôtel officers, and to increase the prince's dignity as well as his relationship with God. Among the Avis aus roys copies, the manuscript M.456 of the Pierpont Morgan Library, which is datable to the mid-XIVth century, is the closest to the original writings. This copy is exceptional due to its iconographic content unequalled in the mirrors literary genre. In this codex, some parisian artists have constantly looked to highlight royalty by emphasizing the educational aspect of the text and covering the political and military matters of the period.