Writing Royal Entries in Early Modern Europe 9782503536026, 2503536026

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Writing Royal Entries in E arly M odern E urope

EARLY EUROPEAN RESEARCH General Editors Andrew Lynch, University of Western Australia Claire McIlroy, University of Western Australia Editorial Board Emilia Jamroziak, University of Leeds Matthias Meyer, Universität Wien Juanita Feros Ruys, University of Sydney Jon Vidar Sigurdsson, Universitetet i Oslo Nicholas Terpstra, University of Toronto

Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of the book.

Volume 3

Writing Royal Entries in E arly M odern E urope Edited by

Marie-Claude Canova-Green and Jean Andrews, with Marie-France Wagner

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Writing royal entries in early modern Europe. -- (Early English research ; 3) 1. Ceremonial entries--Europe--History--16th century--Sources. 2. Ceremonial entries--Europe--History--17th century--Sources. 3. Ceremonial entries--Europe--History--16th century--Historiography. 4. Ceremonial entries--Europe--History--17th century--Historiography. 5. Rites and ceremonies in literature. 6. Reportage literature--History and criticism. I. Series II. Canova-Green, Marie-Claude editor of compilation. III. Andrews, Jean, 1962- editor of compilation. IV. Wagner, Marie-France editor of compilation. 809.9'3352621-dc23 ISBN-13: 9782503536026

© 2013, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2013/0095/64 ISBN: 978-2-503-53602-6 Printed on acid-free paper

Contents

Illustrations ix Preface xi The Material Form and the Function of Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries (1547–51) Hélène Visentin

Le Statut textuel de l’entrée royale ou solennelle sous le règne d’Henri IV : le cas particulier de l’entrée du roi à Moulins en 1595 Marie-France Wagner

Les Inscriptions poétiques du livret de Jacques de Cahaignes et l’éloge  latin du duc de Joyeuse lors de son entrée solennelle à Caen (1583) John Nassichuk

Travelling with a Queen: The Journey of Margaret of Austria (1598–99) between Evidence and Reconstruction Maria Ines Aliverti

(Failed) Early Modern Madrid Festival Book Publication Projects: Between Civic and Court Representation David Sánchez Cano

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) Alexander Samson

Florentine Festivals for the Entry of Archduke Leopold V of Austria in 1618 Sara Mamone and Caterina Pagnini

1

31

51

71

93 113 129

Contents

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French Royal Entries and the Antique (1515–65) Richard Cooper

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora’s Depiction of the Aztec Emperors for the Viceregal Entry into Mexico City of 1680 Jean Andrews

The Return of the Elector as King: Johann von Besser’s Record of the Berlin Entry in May 1701 of Elector Friedrich III as Friedrich I, King in Prussia Sara Smart

The Politics of Translation: Arthur Golding’s Account of the Duke of Anjou’s Entry into Antwerp (1582) Elizabeth Goldring

A Question of Authenticity: Pierre Matthieu, Creator of Entries and Historiographer Royal Margaret M. McGowan

Querelle littéraire sur le motif du troisième arc de triomphe érigé pour l’entrée des ducs à Aix-en-Provence en 1701 Claire Latraverse

Malaise dans la cérémonie : Marie de Médicis à Marseille Daniel Vaillancourt

Le Theatre des bons Engins de Guillaume de La Perrière : une ‘écriture’ de l’entrée de Marguerite de Navarre à Toulouse en 1535 Claudie Balavoine

From Object of Curiosity to Subject of Conversation: Mlle de Scudéry and the Paris Entry of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa (1660) Marie-Claude Canova-Green

L’Entrée royale dans l’œuvre romanesque de Mme de Villedieu Nobuko Akiyama

Entries and Festivals in Late Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth‑Century Florence as Precedents for Court and Theatre in England (1600–20) J. R. Mulryne

153

177

201

225

245

259 281

303

323 341

357

Contents

Le Motif de l’entrée solennelle dans l’œuvre d’Agrippa d’Aubigné Louise Frappier

Entrées farcesques et burlesques : le politique travesti Claudine Nédelec

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375 385

Index 405

Illustrations Figures Figure 1, p. 77. Frontispiece, A briefe discourse of the voyage and entrance of the Queene of Spaine into Italy (London: John Wolfe, [1599]). London, British Library, shelfmark: C.114.d.5.(8). Figure 2, p. 78. Frontispiece, Giovanni Battista Grillo, Breve trattato di quan­ to successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria n.s. dalla città di Trento fine d’Alemagna, e principio d’Italia fino alla città di Genoa (Naples: Costantino Vitale, 1604). Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, shelfmark: K 5405. Figure 3, p. 80. Frontispiece, Biagio Zerlij, Narratione del viaggio della serenis­sima Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna, cominciando da Ferrara, Ostiglia, Man­ tova, Cremona, & Lodi, per sino à Milano (Cremona: Barucino de Giovanni, 1599). Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, shelfmark: Misc 8° 997. Figure 4, p. 87. Frontispiece, Vera et fedele relatione del passagio del passaggio della ser.ma principessa Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna. Per lo stato della serenissima Signoria di Venetia (Verona: Angelo Tamo, 1599). Verona, Biblioteca Civica, shelfmark: CV 429. Figure 5, p. 121. Anon, To the reader. Beholde here (gentle reader) a brief abstract of the genealogie of all the kynges of England (London: Giles Godet, 1560). London, British Library, shelfmark: G. 6456, fol. 26. Figure 6, p. 185. Suor Isabella Piccini, Moctezuma, in Istoria della Conquista del Messico, […] scritta in Castigliano […] e tradotta in Toscano da un’ Accademico della Crusca, trans. by Filippo Corsini (Florence, 1690). London, British Library, shelfmark: 1446.k.18. Figure 7, p. 219. ‘Palais Royal de Berlin’, from Jean Baptiste Broebes, Vuës des Palais et Maisons de Plaisance de Sa Majeste le Roy de Prusse (Augsburg, 1733). Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, shelfmark: Gr 2ºNy 5056:R, Tafel 2.

x

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 8, p. 309. Emblème i, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins, auquel sont contenuz cent Emblemes moraulx. Composé par Guillaume de la Perrière Tolosain (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 9, p. 310. Emblème xcii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 10, p. 311. Emblème c, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 11, p. 312. Emblème lvii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 12, p. 312. Emblème lxxiiii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 13, p. 313. Emblème vii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 14, p. 315. Emblème liii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 15, p. 316. Emblème lxxxiii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 16, p. 317. Emblème xxii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Figure 17, p. 318. Emblème xl, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]).

Plate Plate 1, p. 195. Juan y Miguel González, Visita Cortes a Motecuçuma (detail). Madrid, Museo de América. c. 1698.

Table Table 1, p. 20. Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Royal Entries (1547–51).

Map Map 1, p. 72. The Italian Itinerary of Margaret of Austria from Trento to Genoa (1598–99), showing the locations where the main triumphal entries took place: 1. Trento 2. Ferrara 3. Mantua 4. Cremona 5. Lodi 6. Milan 7. Pavia 8. Genoa. Illustration by Federico Bianchi, based on the Italiae novissima descriptio by Giacomo Castaldi (Antwerp, 1570).

Preface Marie-Claude Canova-Green

I

n Renaissance and early modern Europe royal and ducal entries to capital cities were significant political occasions as well as occasions for the display of a variety of artistic and performance skills in the visual arts, music, dance, writing, and scenography. In very many cases, the event was recorded in official publications, some of them lavishly illustrated, but also in more private and informal forms of narrative. In addition municipalities often kept detailed accounts of the proceedings for future reference. These occasions also caught the imagination of poets, novelists, and pamphleteers, who used the entry and the genre of the entry text as a framework for the satirical or eulogistic depiction of fictional events. The aim of this collection of essays is to investigate the diverse status of the entry text.1 The genre included richly illustrated manuscripts, commissioned as a gift for the royal visitor; brochures in small format giving brief factual accounts of what went on; lengthy erudite tomes with long passages or verse in Latin and Greek which took months to put together; administrative records listing the names of artists and artisans, describing the quest for an appropriate theme and detailing the monuments to be constructed, with dimensions, materials used, and costs; official reports from foreign ambassadors often reluctant to admit to being impressed and to acknowledge the splendour of the occasion; accounts of variable length in private correspondence, diaries, journals, and memoirs, which left out any factual or official information and concentrated instead on 1 

There have been few studies so far devoted to the phenomenon of recording royal entries, notable examples being Lardellier, Les Miroirs du paon, pp. 179–319; McGowan, ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance’; and Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘The Early Modern Festival Book’.

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recounting the makeshift nature of some or all of the arrangements and the various hitches in the proceedings, the lack of time or simply the bad weather. Some were administrative documents produced by the local authorities in charge of the event which are still in local archives, others were intended to constitute an official record for public consumption and aimed at wide distribution, still others circulated only in private circles. In some cases, there was no reporting, no official publication, for reasons stemming from local indifference, political infighting, or lack of state initiative. A consideration of the nature of these sources and their diffusion brings to light a number of significant oppositions. Administrative and personal records were handwritten documents which were meant to be filed, as in the case of town council minutes, or had a limited circulation at best, as with ambassadors’ reports or private letters. Official records, on the other hand, were generally printed, but these could also include sumptuous manuscript accounts, written on vellum paper and bound together as a book. Only a few individuals could be the fortunate recipients of such accounts, which ‘had the portability of the book but the exclusiveness of the manuscript’.2 Most official records, however, were massproduced and intended for a wider distribution. Their format varied a great deal. There were, for instance, leaflets or newsletters designed to get the basic news out as cheaply and rapidly as possible, and very often anonymously; slightly longer and more costly entry booklets published in quarto or octavo opuscules; as well as full-scale, illustrated entry albums which might run to over a hundred pages and frequently appeared months after the entry. These great quarto or in-folio accounts were obviously intended for a more erudite and less popular readership than the ephemera mentioned above. Another opposition seemingly pits the programmatic texts, written in advance of the entry, such as the printed ‘programmes’ distributed on the day to privileged spectators as aids to understanding the spectacle, or the handwritten instructions given to workmen and other helpers, against the accounts and reviews written afterwards. In many instances, however, the latter, too, were also partly written before the actual event, often on the basis of the programmatic texts which acted as sources for the architectural descriptions, the official speeches delivered, or the order of the procession. Information as to the preparations for the entry could also be included at this stage. It only remained for the reviewer to fill in the blanks so to speak, by adding specific details regarding the actual proceedings, inserting the text of the royal or ducal personage’s answers, mentioning inevitable disputes 2 

Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early Modern European Festivals’, p. 20.

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of precedence, or livening up the account with on-the-spot anecdotes.3 The notinfrequently crowded page layout of certain parts of the account, notably towards the end of the volume, bears witness to this compositional technique, which was evidently meant to facilitate the rapid publication of the information and to retain the newsworthiness of the event. The more lavish accounts were more carefully and painstakingly put together, but they, too, had to be published rapidly. All the accounts seem to have shared, albeit in varying degrees, three main functions: commemoration, information, and glorification. First of all entry texts commemorated an event; then they related and described it; finally they praised and glorified some of its participants, be they prince or city. The primary function of the more numerous ephemera was undoubtedly one of information, as shown by the assertions repeated in them regarding the need to appear in print as soon as possible after the event, as well as to relate facts faithfully. Only in this way could the link with the politics of the moment be maintained. In the case of the more elaborate entry albums, however, this descriptive function was superseded by the other two missions of glorification and commemoration of the event. It could even be said that as unique objects conceived with memoria in mind, the great in-folio accounts took over a function which had previously belonged to the sumptuous, commemorative manuscript. The question of the authenticity of these documents as historical records has to be raised. All claimed to be first and foremost works of history, that is to consist of factual reporting. Yet, whether they were private reports or official publications issued by the body organizing the event or sponsored by the government with a view to controlling the circulation of the royal image, the various records of the entry betrayed the motivations and ambitions of the organizers, the writers, and the participants. Some accounts were exercises in self-aggrandisement on the part of the inventors and the writers, often the same person, who displayed their ingenuity and erudition and strove to outdo predecessors in the genre. Others were used to promote their originators’ identities as members of particular social groups, or to demonstrate the prestige and suitability of the host city. The majority of official records were unsurprisingly panegyrics of the visiting king or prince, whose past achievements and future ambitions they helped to publicize. A small number of publications even went as far as to transform a modest reception, unreported at the time, into a splendid affair, worthy of the record books, in a bid to encourage support for a beleaguered ruler. In fact, very few of these texts were simply records of the event. Rather they were a rewriting, a reshaping of the event, 3 

Lardellier, Les Miroirs du paon, pp. 185–226.

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one which sought to leave a perfect representation of the entry and spelled out the ‘correct’ interpretation for future readers, and indeed, the many texts printed beforehand to be distributed on the day could only narrate what the organizers wanted or expected the spectators to see, not what they actually witnessed. In addition, writers of entry texts plagiarized as a matter of course, transcribing a source common to many existing texts or copying from already published texts. In fact, some of these writers produced accounts of entries without having witnessed the entry in question or even visiting the city where it took place. Where they had been present, they often availed themselves of existing accounts in order to make up for the failings of their own memories or the lack of attention paid, at the time, to parts of the proceedings which later proved to be of relevance to the written account. In most cases, the political and symbolic importance of the entry not only required the subsidized publication of an official record of the event; it also dictated the wide distribution and the mass consumption of the record. Judicious publishing choices, state-controlled marketing in some cases, the presentation of customized copies to foreign dignitaries, adaptations, translations even, were the means to ensure wide circulation at home and abroad. In some instances texts published locally were reprinted elsewhere, notably in the capital city, as in the case of the French royal entries held in the wake of the siege of La Rochelle in the late 1620s. They could also be carried in regular issues of such fledgling periodicals as the Mercure françois or the Gazette de France so as to be circulated throughout the kingdom and allow a much vaster public to have access to the information.4 But this raises new questions regarding the appropriation and the manipulation of the entry and its record, as both could now be used to further other national, or local, causes. Similarly, while obviously encouraged by the European-wide circulation of official records and engravings, the adoption by a foreign state of the thematic and visual motifs of a prestigious festival was as much a way to enhance the prestige of the state doing the adopting as it was to recognize the status if not the superiority of the state in which the festival originated. A case in point is the use of Florentine sources for the wedding festivities of Princess Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine in London in February 1613 and their entry into Oppenheim the following month. Another aim of this collection is to examine the narrative transformations of the royal entry text and the dissemination of information about the event by means of unusual channels, such as prose fiction, be it romanesque or burlesque 4 

See Jouhaud, ‘Imprimer l’événement’.

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literature, dramatic works, epic poetry, emblem collections, or other forms of iconic representation. Here, too, writers were often seen to stray from a simple description of the event. The desire to present factual information was subject to and instrumentalized by a variety of other intentions. Other generic and rhetorical conventions applied, other agendas became apparent. Alternative ­mondain, feminine, or dissident perspectives determined the slant of the account, in a reinterpretation of the official narrative usually provided by scholars and historians. In one particular instance, the report skirts the description of the ceremonial aspect of the entry to focus instead on the private antics of a disorderly crowd, while the factual narrative, such as it is, becomes a launch pad for a moral and political disquisition on curiosity. Elsewhere, having lost most of its informative content, the description merely serves a decorative function, rich in dramatic effects. More critical appropriations ranged from an understanding of the implications which entries and other festivals embodied of exclusiveness and the exercise of unfettered authority, to an outright denunciation of entries as perverted forms of ritual, whose magnificence and pomp were built on the suffering, death, and general misery of the people. Consideration is also given to the playful or transgressive use of the genre of the royal entry text to celebrate or challenge political authority, as illustrated by a number of satirical or frondeur pamphlets from seventeenth-century France. The collection is divided into four sections, the first of which focuses on the varied status of the printed record. In the opening essay, Hélène Visentin analyses the uses and functions of the different types of printed accounts published during the reign of Henri II of France, ranging from the simple plaquette to the lavishly illustrated festival book. Marie-France Wagner further investigates the status of the printed text before turning her attention to Antoine de Laval’s highly subjective account of Henri IV of France’s entry into Moulins in 1595, an interesting example of an entry text written before the actual event took place. The account by Jacques de Cahaignes of the entry of the duke of Joyeuse into Caen in 1583 is the topic of the paper that follows by John Nassichuk, who shows the extent to which iconographical descriptions and the interpretation of Latin inscriptions have replaced the narration proper in the printed text. Maria Inès Aliverti then draws on the cluster of texts detailing the journey of Margaret of Austria through Italy in 1598–99 to investigate the problems posed by the description of a royal progress as a genre, and suggests that, notwithstanding their obvious limitations, these accounts are to be considered as forerunners of the genre. Finally, David Sánchez Cano examines the probable reasons for the surprisingly small number of festival books printed in Madrid in the siglo de oro, and puts forward the state of printing and engraving in early modern Spain, the

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limits of royal authority, a disinclination towards propaganda, or the conflict between civic and court representation as probable influencing factors. The essays in the second section all investigate the manner in which entries and their official records were used as propaganda by the cities staging the event, as well as by the ruler whose entry it was. Alexander Samson’s essay traces the ways in which the legal and political context of the marriage of Philip II of Spain and Mary Tudor in 1554 was filtered through their royal entry into London in August of the same year. Caterina Pagnini and Sara Mamone discuss the visit to Florence in 1618 of archduke Leopold V of Austria and why the standard entry was replaced by other celebrations, notably Jacopo Cicognini’s maritime fable Andromeda. Richard Cooper investigates the expansion of antiquarian decor in French royal entry ceremonial in the sixteenth century and shows how the albums recording these local events can, in fact, elevate them to national and even international status as documents of taste and instruments of propaganda. A fourth example by Jean Andrews relates to the strategy used by Sigüenza y Góngora, both in the triumphal arch he designed for the Spanish viceroy’s entry into Mexico in 1680 and the accompanying livret to publicly invoke Aztec iconography and preColumbian history to justify separate criollo identity and Spanish-born identity within the Spanish Empire. But perhaps the most striking example of entry as propaganda in this collection is Sara Smart’s discussion of the entry into Berlin of Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg as king of Prussia in 1701. Smart analyses the way the official report of Friedrich’s entry celebrated his role as patron and the expansion of Berlin, while at the same time underlining the military core of the new monarchy. Elizabeth Goldring rounds off this section with an examination of the festivities held in Antwerp in 1582 in honour of the duke of Anjou and discusses the likely involvement of the earl of Leicester in the production of the English account, as well as the circulation of this text at the Elizabethan court and its appropriation by later writers. The third section of the collection is dedicated to a discussion of the authenticity of such works as historical records. Drawing upon a close reading of the writings of Pierre Mathieu, Margaret M. McGowan explores the problems and contradictions encountered by the modern scholar in attempting any reconstruction of royal entries from the early modern period. Similar conclusions are drawn by Claire Latraverse, whose investigation of the dispute between a local historian and Chasteuil, who was commissioned to report on the entry of Louis XIV’s grandsons into Aix-en-Provence in 1701, brings to light a fundamental opposition between the necessity of stylistic amplitude and embellishment and the exigencies of true reporting. Daniel Vaillancourt offers another example of the caution to be exercised in dealing with such works by focusing on the various mis-

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haps during the journey of Maria de’ Medici through southern France in 1600, and the manner in which they were reported in non-official publications. The last section is dedicated to the transformations undergone by the royal entry text in its appropriation by contemporary literature and culture. In her reassessment of La Perrière’s Theatre des bons engins, Claudie Balavoine shows how this collection of emblems largely reworks themes and figures characteristic of royal entries. Hence her suggestion that Le Theatre might have been originally conceived as a ‘paper entry’ for Maguerite de Navarre to compensate for the lack of decorations in Toulouse in 1535. But its private nature and ‘hieroglyphic’ form might also have made it easier for La Perrière to convey more openly machiavellian views on power. Marie-Claude Canova-Green’s and Nobuko Akiyama’s essays both have as their subject the uses and functions of the description of royal entries in women’s fiction in late seventeenth-century France. Canova-Green shows that Mlle de Scudéry’s rather mondain account of the entry of Louis XIV and his queen into Paris in 1660 finds its true end in the context of a discussion on curiosity, while Akiyama points out the often purely decorative function of Mme de Villedieu’s descriptions of entries, or their use to highlight character traits in the protagonists. J. R. Mulryne explores the thematic and visual debts to Renaissance Florence of festivals at the court of Prince Henry Stuart, before turning his attention to the theatre to show how, in Women Beware Women, Middleton uses the dichotomy between public space and private space, underlining princely magnificence to critique oppressive power-relations as well as expose the corruption and compromises of contemporary London society. In the essay that follows, Louise Frappier examines the motif of the triumphal entry in two works by the Protestant writer and fighter Agrippa d’Aubigné and discusses the legitimacy of its use in historical discourse and epic poetry. The final essay by Claudine Nédelec explores the parodic use of the genre of the royal entry text in seventeenth-century France and distinguishes between three main categories of works: the carnivalesque entry, the frondeuse entry, and the satirical entry, to underline the ambiguity of the laughter raised. Interestingly, what her study reveals is that the most transgressive texts were not written when the ritual began to lose its symbolic and persuasive force, but precisely when it was endowed with its greatest efficacy by its users. The essays collected here are for the most part the end product of a three-day conference held in December 2007 at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, in London. This conference had the important purpose of bringing together scholars who share an interest in festival culture in the early modern period. It was an exciting opportunity to explore an hitherto little-studied aspect of the subject, namely not only the status of the printed text as a record of the

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entry, but also the nature and the uses of its appropriation by a variety of literary and polemic works. As such it will usefully complement current information on royal entries, further our understanding of the characteristics and purpose of the entry text, but also help open up another field of investigation.

Works Cited Secondary Studies Jouhaud, Christian, ‘Imprimer l’événement: la Rochelle à Paris’, in Les Usages de l’imprimé: xve–xixe siècle, ed. by Roger Chartier (Paris: Fayard, 1987), pp. 381–438 Lardellier, Pascal, Les Miroirs du paon: rites et rhétoriques politiques dans la France de l’Ancien Régime, Études et essais sur la Renaissance, 44 (Paris: Champion, 2003) McGowan, Margaret M., ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance: The Status of the Printed Text’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 29–54 Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ‘The Early Modern Festival Book: Function and Form’, in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, Publications of the Modern Hum­ an­ities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), i, 3–18 —— , ‘Early Modern European Festivals — Politics and Performance, Event and Record’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Performance, ed. by J. R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 15–25

The Material Form and the Function of Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries (1547–51) Hélène Visentin

I

n a collection that studies how the ritual of triumphal entries was recorded in writing as well as the textual strategies used in the documents dealing with these ceremonies, it seemed useful to work on the forms and functions of the written text by focusing on the study of very particular objects: the corpus of printed accounts of Henri II’s triumphal entries into his kingdom (1547–51). This study uses the material gathered in the course of research for a critical edition of accounts of triumphal entries under Henri  II and François  II (1547–60) with my colleague Benoît Bolduc, in the Groupe de Recherche sur les Entrées Solennelles (GRES).1 While the artistic and literary content of Henri II’s entries has been amply studied by using the analysis of emblematic and iconographic programmes in parallel with the study of the development of the ritual as a display of humanist culture,2 there are fewer studies of the status of the album for the royal entry and the various printed forms connected to it, and the existing studies are less thorough,3 1 

To be published by Éditions Honoré Champion (Paris). The research for this article was made possible by a Major Collaborative Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: Groupe de Recherche sur les Entrées Solennelles, 1515–1615 (directed by Marie-France Wagner). 2  See especially the studies by Chartrou, Les Entrées solennelles et triomphales à la Renaissance; McGowan, The Vision of Rome in Late Renaissance France, pp. 312–42; Bryant, The King and the City in the Parisian Royal Entry Ceremony; Wintroub, A Savage Mirror; Wintroub, ‘L’Ordre du rituel et l’ordre des choses’; Capodieci, ‘Sic itur ad astra’. 3  As far as we know, W. McAllister Johnson is the first to have critically studied the albums

2

Hélène Visentin

and yet it is precisely during the reign of Henri II that the accounts of ceremonial entries gave rise to important publications in the form of bound books composed of several richly illustrated folio gatherings, known in the English-speaking world as ‘festival books’. Speaking of the official account of Henri II’s entry into Lyons (1548), Richard Cooper emphasizes the novelty of the enterprise: ‘no municipality in France had yet attempted to commission an official printed account of a civic ceremony, and certainly not of those proportions. […] To move to a long quarto volume illustrated with fifteen full-page woodcuts was a major innovation’.4 In a similar vein, Lawrence Bryant, who has analysed Henri II’s 1549 entry into the capital at some length, takes the nature of the album into account in passing: ‘the first such livret printed for a Parisian entry’.5 In Art and Power: Renaissance Festivals, 1450–1650, Roy Strong states that it is precisely towards the middle of the sixteenth century that court festivals became a veritable political weapon: ‘That they were becoming so is reflected by the fact that around 1550 major books dedicated to festival events with lavish illustrations began to appear’. He continues: ‘The real starting point for this development were the volumes dedicated to Prince Philip’s entry into Ghent and Antwerp in 1549 and Henri II’s entries into Lyons, Paris and Rouen in 1548, 1549, and 1550’.6 It is the care in typographical composition, the precious illustrations, the rich descriptions, and the large number of leaves in the albums of Henri II’s triumphal entries that make them particularly interesting. These albums are an innovation in the world of French publishing; still, other forms of printed accounts of entries were in circulation and attracted less attention because of the importance given to these luxurious albums. Thus the corpus of all these various forms of printed accounts deserves to be examined, all the more so as festival books or livres d’entrée (entry books) refer to quite different realities. I am not mainly concerned of Renaissance triumphal entries: Johnson, ‘Essai de critique interne des livres d’entrées français’. Other, more recent studies have analysed the entry album as a genre: Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early Modern European Festivals’; Lardellier, Les Miroirs du paon, particularly Part ii, ‘Les Relations d’entrées: information, rhétorique et politique’, pp. 179–320; McGowan, ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance’. For the status of accounts of triumphal entries under François Ier, see Kemp, ‘Transformations in the Printing of Royal Entries’. Richard Cooper tackles the question of festival books under Henri  II in Cooper, ‘Court Festival and Triumphal Entries under Henri II’, pp. 66–67. 4  Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper, pp. 133–34. 5  Bryant, ‘Politics, Ceremonies, and Embodiments of Majesty in Henri II’s France’, p. 135. 6  Strong, Art and Power, p. 97. In Appendix i, Strong focuses on the development of the festival book genre: ‘The turning point was the great series of entries of Philip II and Henri II in 1548–50, which prompted major publications on a scale not seen before’ (p. 175).

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here with the content and ideas of these books, but rather with the material form of these printed accounts. In other words, I will attempt to answer the following question: how, and in which format and under what conditions, were the entries of Henri II printed? Then I will examine the uses and functions of these printed documents to suggest other lines of investigation. In the course of our research in municipal libraries and archives, Benoît Bolduc and I have been able to list approximately forty-six triumphal entries executed by Henri II in the provinces of his kingdom and neighbouring territories during his reign.7 Forty of them8 took place between 1547 and 1551 during three important trips whose main objective was to display and reinforce the authority of the new monarch.9 Only seven out of these forty-six royal entries were accompanied by one or more printed documents, a count derived, needless to say, from the accounts we have today. These are the entries into Reims (1547), Beaune (1548), Lyon (1548), Paris (1549), Rouen (1550), and Orléans and Tours (1551). In fact the overwhelming majority of Henri II’s entries are recorded in documents — which are often plentiful — either from the municipal administration (records of council deliberations, accounts of expenses, minutes, legal documents), or diplomatic sources, mainly letters from ambassadors and legates and available in archives. 10 7 

This figure contradicts the number of twenty-nine entries that Denise Glück proposed some time ago in Glück, ‘Les Entrées provinciales de Henri II’, p. 216. Out of the forty-six entries we have counted, four could not be confirmed by archive documents, which have disappeared: the entries into Blois, Vendôme, Pontlevoy, and Saumur. However, Benoît Bolduc and I were able to verify that these entries did take place by checking other historical sources. 8  And not thirty-three, as claimed by Le Roux, ‘Henri III and the Rites of Monarchy’, 116. Bryant counts a minimum of twenty-eight undertaken by Henri II during the first two years of his reign (Bryant, The King and the City in the Parisian Royal Entry Ceremony, p. 31), a fact corroborated by Ian D. McFarlane: ‘the fact is that during the first two years of his reign Henri II effected nearly thirty Entries in the country at large’ (The Entry of Henri II into Paris, ed. by McFarlane, p. 15). 9  In 1548, Henri II went to visit the borders of his kingdom, passing through Champagne, Burgundy, and Dauphiné; the trip led him as far as Turin, as Piedmont was then occupied by France. On the way back, he made his first great entry into Lyons (23 September 1548); the Parisian entry, which was put off many times, would take place only on 16 June 1549. In 1550, after the victory over the English at Boulogne, Henri II set out for Normandy; he made a triumphal entry into Rouen on 1 October 1550. Finally, from as early as December 1550 until August 1551, the king took up residence in Touraine and Anjou, accompanied by English ambassadors, for the signing of the peace treaty after the capture of Boulogne. 10  Richard Cooper has made good use of this diplomatic correspondence in his edition of Henri II’s entry into Lyons (see the annexes in Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper) and in a recent article about the entries of Cardinal Farnese into Avignon and

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These documents attest to the historicity of the entries, for which there are no other extant sources, and this enables us to bring to light entries into small provincial towns otherwise neglected because of their location. These documents are, however, quite variable in their size and interest: most consist essentially of accounts of expenses which are useful for reconstituting the organization of these public ceremonies in great detail.11 Manuscripts that show the defining features of a true entry account are rare.12 As far as provincial entries go, all we really have to show is one example for the entry of Henri II into Nantes ( July 1551).13 The text adopts the official style of municipal records and suggests that the author was connected to the municipal authorities and that his manuscript had been prepared for publication. This isolated example immediately leads us to wonder — given the multiple entries Henri II undertook within his kingdom — why there are not more accounts of entries (particularly entries into provincial cities), since the municipal archives abound in documents that could have been used as material for narratives. The existence of these records gave the idea of reconstituting these events to a generation of historians at the end of the nineteenth century, as, for example, Albert Babeau had done in the case of the entry of Henri II into Troyes orchestrated by the Florentine-born artist, Dominique Ricouvri, known as Le Florentin (1501–70?), who often resided in Fontainebleau.14 Carpentras: Cooper, ‘Legate’s Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese’. 11  Jacky Provence has shown the importance and richness of the information these docu­ ments can give us for the entry of Henri II into Troyes: Provence, ‘La Comptabilité de l’éphémère’. 12  For the entries into the ‘great’ cities of the kingdom, there is often an account in the town records written to preserve the memory of the layout of the urban space, which served as the setting for the entry. See, for example, the account of Henri II’s entry into Paris (16 June 1549) transcribed in the Registres des délibérations du bureau de la ville de Paris, ed. by Guérin. Regarding the entry of Henri II into Rouen, we would put the following luxurious manuscript, prepared for commemorative purposes, in a class by itself: L’Entrée du […] roy de France Henri deuxiesme (forty vellum pages), published by Louis de Merval. 13  The manuscript account of Henri II’s entry into Nantes, written by Bonaventure de Maubreil and entitled La très-heureuse et agréable Entrée du magnanime et puissant Roi de Valois en son noble pays et duché de Bretagne, et spécialement en la plaisante et forte ville de Nantes, le dimanche 12e jour de juillet 1551, was copied by Claude Juchault, a magistrate and deputy mayor of the city of Nantes in the seventeenth century, in a manuscript entitled Livre contenant les matières les plus notables des registres et papiers du greffe de la ville et communauté de Nantes, depuis le 24e jour de février 1562 jusques au huitième jour de juillet 1648 […]. This document was published as Entrée du roi Henri II à Nantes, le 12 juillet 1551, ed. by Rathouis. 14  The archival sources for Henri II’s entry into Troyes are rich and abundant (see Troyes, AM, fonds Delion, Layette 55, 8 to 31, and the accounts of expenses, series K8). Albert Babeau reconstituted the entry from archive sources in Les Rois de France à Troyes au seizième siècle,

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Now let us consider the corpus of printed accounts of Henri II’s entries. The seven entries mentioned above produced a total of seventeen printed texts: we have inventoried and described them in the annexed table (Table 1).15 This table provides information about the writer of the account (if known), the title of the work, the format, the number of illustrations, the typography, and the place and name of the printer-bookseller. We have also given the date of the printer’s privilege and the length of time accorded to it. As one might expect, the entry into Reims for the coronation of the king16 and those which took place in the three great cities of the kingdom (Lyon, Paris, Rouen) gave rise to a large number of texts compared to the entries into Beaune, Tours, and Orléans: for each of the latter we have found just one text. Thus it seems important to establish a distinction between these texts, the better to understand their uses and functions. In general, scholars distinguish two categories of texts: on the one hand, booklets or small books, and on the other, grandes relations (large account books). The number of leaves and the presence or absence of illustrations differentiate these two forms of texts. Drawing from a study of roughly four hundred festival books in Europe published between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly observes that ‘the factual account and the illustrated factual account were the two most widespread types of festival book’.17 More recently, Pascal Lardellier has suggested a similar dichotomy between the small occasional brochures or canards (tabloid newspapers) and the large folio collections by using the typology formulated some time ago by Jean Jacquot in Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, which distinguishes between petites bro­ chures assez grossières (small, roughly done pamphlets) and les ouvrages bien édités (well-produced works).18 In his study, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, Jean-Pierre Seguin pointed out the difficulty of classifying printed documents relating to triumphal entries because of their tendentious nature.19 For this from Revue de Champagne et de Brie, 9 (Paris: Henri-Menu; Babeau, Les Rois de France à Troyes); chapter 3 is devoted to the entry of Henri II. On Dominique Le Florentin, see Turquois, ‘Repères chronologiques sur la vie de Dominique Ricouvri’. 15  For the purposes of this article, we have not taken account of occasional texts, usually poems, which constitute a different genre compared to entry books and booklets. 16  For the entry relative to Henri II’s coronation, we have deliberately set aside the texts which only relate the ritual of the coronation and do not describe or only mention in passing the entry into Reims. 17  Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Festival Books in Europe’, p. 190. 18  Lardellier, Les Miroirs du paon, pp. 189–91. 19  Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 55.

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reason, in order to better categorize the corpus of accounts of Henri II’s triumphal entries, I propose we distinguish not two but three categories. This classification will enable me to make some useful observations and clarify some important issues concerning printed accounts of Henri II’s triumphal entries into his kingdom. I. I will put texts in small format into one category: quarto or, more frequently, octavo, composed of one gathering or quire of four to eight leaves — what William Kemp calls an ‘entry leaflet’,20 Elizabeth Armstrong a ‘newsletter’, and Jean-Pierre Seguin a pièce d’actualité (a current affairs document) or bulletin d’information (news bulletin).21 According to Seguin, ‘[à] de très rares exceptions près, les pièces traitant de sujets d’actualité qui comportent plus de huit feuillets n’offrent pas les caractéristiques de bulletins d’information’ (with very few exceptions, documents over eight leaves dealing with current affairs do not display the characteristics of news bulletins).22 As they are part of the occasional genre and the literature of reporting, these texts were often composed rapidly and cheaply in order to appear as quickly as possible, to inform and to take advantage of the newsworthy aspect of the event. Four texts in our corpus belong to this category.23 1. Concerning Henri II’s triumphal entry into Reims, we list a printed document in quarto format containing four leaves that falls within the province of pontifical diplomacy: Triunfi, ordine, pompe et ceremonie fatte alla santa untione, et sacra incoronatione del Christianissimo Henrico, di tal nome secondo Re di Francia […],24 published in Rome by Gironima de Cartulari in 1547. In fact it 20 

‘As a type, I define an entry leaflet or newsletter as a text that was printed on the recto and verso of one sheet or half a sheet, producing a quarto or an octavo containing from four to eight leaves’ (Kemp, ‘Transformations in the Printing of Royal Entries’, p. 113). 21  Kemp, ‘Transformations in the Printing of Royal Entries’, pp. 113–14; Armstrong, Before Copyright, p. 113; Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, passim. 22  Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 9. In Histoire générale de la presse française, short printed documents under eight leaves long are considered as part of the occasional genre (‘Des origines à 1814’, in Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. by Bellanger, i (1969), p. 29). 23  Here a clarification is necessary. The only printed document that has come down to us for Henri II’s entry into Tours, titled L’Entree du tres heureux et joyeulx advenement du Roy, printed in octavo format, is often cited by scholars as a printed document of four leaves (Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. by Bellanger, i, 37; Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 120). However, to the best of our knowledge, only one copy of this text exists, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and it is incomplete. In its original form, this album must have had more than one gathering and several illustrations, as announced in the title page. 24  Triunfi, ordine, pompe et ceremonie fatte alla santa untione. We consulted this relatively rare document in Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, pièce 17541; there is another copy of this document in the Biblioteca Casanatense (Roma, Bibl. Casanatense, RM0313).

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is an official letter, dated 29 July 1547 at the end of the text; it came from Reims where the court was still in residence, three days after the entry and coronation of the king in this city. What immediately strikes us is the very compact typography of the opuscule, similar to the news bulletins published in the first decades of the sixteenth century. On the first page, a woodcut — a blason de France moderne — separates the title from the text itself. The text, in small italics, is extremely dense, filling each page with more than six hundred words on average, which is very high. The tone is that of a report, or even a diplomatic dispatch: the goal is to inform and communicate a piece of news. The author is very probably the nuncio, Hieromino Dandino25 or his secretary (and not the legate, Cardinal Girolama Capodiferro, who was sent to France in April 1547 after the death of François Ier, as Capodiferro is named at the end of the account), who was present at Henri II’s coronation, as the opuscule described below indicates (La Intrata del re chris­ tianissimo Henrico. II. nella citta di Rens et la sua incoronatione). The coronation of the new king was a diplomatic event of sufficient importance for the report to be circulated in foreign countries in printed form, particularly in the tense political context, in which the pontiff was trying to reinforce his alliance with France against the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. 2. During his first trip, which led him as far as Piedmont, Henri II crossed Champagne, then Burgundy, where he made entries into Dijon, Beaune, Châlons-sur-Saône, Mâcon, and Bourg-en-Bresse, successively. For this series of entries, we possess only one printed text, relative to the entry into Beaune, titled La Prinse d’un fort à l’entrée du Roy Henri second de ce nom, faicte en la ville de Beaulne.26 This opuscule, which mainly describes the martial entertainment organized for the king’s arrival, has all the characteristics of a leaflet  —  an octavo document composed of a quire of four leaves. It was published by Jehan André, a Parisian bookseller who specialized in the publication of occasional writings.27 Significantly, the title of this document follows exactly the title style of news bulletins relating military feats, a flourishing form of publication under François Ier.28 However, the printing privilege is dated 20 September 1548, that is, roughly two months after the event it relates (‘le XVIII. Jour de Juillet dernier 25 

Correspondance des nonces en France, ed. by Lestocquoy. Berardier, La Prinse d’un fort à l’entrée du Roy Henri second de ce nom. 27  Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 50. 28  For example, La Prinse et aussault de Pavie, in-8°, 4 leaves; La Prinse et assault de la ville de Naples, in-8°, 4 leaves; La Prise de Tournehan et de Moutoyre, in-8°, 4 leaves; La Prise de Nice en Savoye, in-8°, 4 leaves. These titles are cited from Jean-Pierre Seguin’s bibliography in Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II. 26 

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passé’ as the title emphasizes), which leads one to think of a later publication that would nonetheless coincide with the date of the entry into Lyon, give or take a day. This suggests that a publishing strategy may have been at the origin of this publication, taking advantage of the commercial potential aroused by the first ‘great’ entry of the king into one of the most important cities of the kingdom. 3. As for the Parisian entry, we possess the Publication du jour de l’Entrée du roy treschrestien Henri deuxiesme de ce nom, en la ville de Paris capitalle de son royaulme, a small printed octavo document of two leaves with a permission to print dated 8 April 1548/9 granted to the booksellers Jehan André and Gilles Corozet: [À] monseigneur le prevost de Paris ou son lieutenant, […] qu’il vous leur donne permission de imprimer le cry de l’entrée du roy à Paris, publiée ce jourd’hui par le crieur juré de ceste ville, prevosté et viconté de Paris, accompaigné de Michel Gaultier et autres trompettes, et ordonner deffenses estre faictes à tous de l’imprimer jusques à six moys, sur peine de confiscation des livres autrement imprimez, et d’amende arbitraire. ([To] M. the Provost of Paris or his deputy, […] may it please you to give them permission to print the proclamation of the king’s Entry into Paris, published this day by the official crier of this city, provostship and viscounty of Paris, accompanied by Michel Gaultier and other trumpets, and to order that it be forbidden for all [others] to print it until six months shall have gone by, under penalty of confiscation of the books so printed, and of a fine to be decided).

We will add a small quarto document of four leaves to this category, briefly describing the tournament organized for the occasion of Henri II’s triumphal entry into Paris: L’Ordre et les articles du tournoy entrepris pour la solemnité du tresheureux couronnement & triumphale entrée du treschrestien Roy Henry, second de ce nom, which has a permission to print dated 2 April 1548/9. At the end of the text, we read: ‘et veult le Roy que ces presens articles soyent imprimez, affin d’estre publiez par tout son royaume’ (and the king wants these present articles to be printed, in order to be published throughout his kingdom). Traditionally, the entry into the capital took place shortly after the coronation of the new king. Postponed for political reasons, then planned for 15 May 1549 and postponed once again for a month, the Parisian entry was planned a long time in advance and constituted a long-awaited event. Thus the printing of these short documents (and by several printers-booksellers), similar to news bulletins, was meant to ensure that the news would spread and contribute to arousing expectations among the subjects of the kingdom.29 Ordered by Henri II, these publications 29 

We should include here the following document: Articles contenans les causes qui ont meu le Roy nostre sire Henry deuxiesme de ce nom. The Bibliothèque nationale de France used to have

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d’information (news publications) were a way of publicizing the traditional royal entry into the capital. II. The printed accounts in the second category are similar to the format of the booklet or short entry album, in general a quarto or octavo opuscule composed of one or two quires at the most, numbering between eight and sixteen leaves. Of modest appearance, these booklets were nonetheless more costly to produce than the entry leaflet. According to Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘by far the commonest kind of festival book is the plain prose narrative in the vernacular, closely printed, usually in octavo format, simply bound between paper covers […], devoid of stylistic pretensions and without illustrations’. 30 The author describes them as ‘unpretentious little books’ and ‘little books of simple text, devoid of illustrations’. We possess this type of printed document for every one of Henri II’s great entries into his kingdom. 1. For the coronation entry, an Italian opuscule has come down to us: La Intrata del re christianissimo Henrico. II. nella città di Rens et la sua incoronatione.31 It consists of two letters, reproduced in print and bound in a small octavo volume of sixteen leaves, from the press of the Venetian printer Paolo Gherardo for the bookseller Comin de Trino di Monferrato. Both letters come from Villers-Cotterêt. The first letter, dated 8 August 1547, describes the king’s entry, while the second, dated 10 August, relates the ceremony of the coronation. This factual account, no doubt written by the Venetian ambassador Matteo Dandolo and addressed to Marco Antonio,32 serves the function of diplomatic correspondence, publicly circulating an international news story: the coronation of the king of France — a piece of news all the more important as Henri II, at the beginning of his reign, was envisaging an alliance with the Venetian Republic against Emperor Charles V. 2. For the entry into Lyon that took place on 23 September 1548 we have an anonymous octavo booklet composed of twelve leaves with signature bearing the following title: Le Grand triumphe faict a l’entrée du Treschrestien, & tousjours victorieux Monarche, Henri second de ce nom Roy de France, En sa noble ville et cité a copy of this document mentioned in the works of Maurice Roy (see the bibliography of The Entry of Henri II into Paris, ed. by McFarlane, p. 85). 30  Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Festival Books in Europe’, p. 183. 31  The French translation of this brochure was published as L’Entrée du Roi très chrétien Henri II, ed. by Krafft. 32  This could be Marcantonio Trivisano, elected doge of Venice in June 1553 as successor to Francesco Donato. A member of the Venetian aristocracy, Marcantonio Trivisano held a number of public offices before being named doge, and was one of the most important figures of the Venetian Republic.

Hélène Visentin

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de Lyon, Et de la Royne Catherine son espouse. As far as we know, there are three editions of this text: a) a completely anonymous, undated edition, with no place of publication nor indication of any printer; b) an edition published in Paris by Benoist de Gourmont with a permission to print dated 6 December 1548 for a period of six months; and c) another edition of the text, published by Arnoul Langelier with a privilege dated 8 December 1548, for the period of a year. The completely anonymous edition is particularly interesting for us, all the more so as a royal edict of 11 December 1547 obliged publishers to indicate their names and addresses on the title pages. It is thus a clandestine publication whose text was written a while after Henri II’s entry into Lyon. More particularly, this edition of the Grand triumphe differs from the two Parisian editions by its typographical arrangement, specifically characterized by the way the titles are emphasized and the insertion of vignettes at the head of the chapters (in A2: king under a canopy surrounded by four men; in B1: the title Les antiquitez et Eschaffaulx, qui furent préparez pour ladicte entrée in a cartouche (the artefacts and platforms, which were prepared for the said entry); in C3: men on horseback entering the gates of a city). All this gives it a well-spaced appearance, easy to read and attractive, as if this work had been prepared above all to stir up interest and respond to the demands for news — in other words, for commercial reasons. Le Grand triumphe favours the enumerative style typical of occasional literature and seems to have been quickly written. It concisely reconstructs the main elements of the entry, suggesting a report of the official visit of Henri II. As this account follows closely enough the information given by the records of the consulate and the official account, we may suppose that the author was connected to the municipal authorities, and perhaps actually was one of them. At any rate, everything suggests rapid publication, hence the absence of official authorization. The generic woodcuts comment on the text in an approximate way and represent typical scenes of archaic design; there is no doubt that existing woodcuts were used here, part of an interchangeable stock; they bear a certain likeness to the woodcuts used in earlier official brochures from Lyon, like the bulletins from the press of Noël Abraham, a printer at the very beginning of the sixteenth century who had the monopoly of official accounts of the actions of Louis XII during the first Wars of Italy.33 Thus this anonymous edition of the Grand triumphe might in fact be the first edition, and it is quite possible that it was published in Lyon: not only does the note to the readers (Aux Lecteurs, sig. Aii) give more than their 33 

As Jean-Pierre Seguin remarks, expensive woodcuts could be used for a very long time (Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 13). See Cooper, ‘Noël Abraham, publiciste de Louis XII, duc de Milan’.

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due to the inhabitants of Lyon ‘qui feirent si bien leurs apprestz, & meirent si bon ordre, que l’entrée fust tres magnifique’ (who made their preparations so well, & and acted in such good order, that the entry was very magnificent),34 but the title repeats the heading of certain occasional pamphlets published in Lyon in the 1530s (for example La Grant triomphe faicte des Nobles Princes Mr. Le Daulphin et le Noble Duc Dorléans).35 Finally, this text, published without authorization, may be one of the illicit texts referred to in the consular records, as well as in the printing privilege of the official account, La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entrée, which expressly alludes to works having been published ‘sans autorité de Justice et sans que l’Imprimeur y mette son nom’ (without the authority of justice and without a printer’s imprint).36 3. For the entry into the capital that took place two years after Henri II acceded to the throne (15 June 1549) there exists an octavo album of sixteen leaves in Gothic characters entitled Les Grands triumphes faicts a l’entrée du treschrestien et victorieux Roy Henri second de ce nom en sa noble ville cité et université de Paris.37 We have found three undated editions of this album: one published in Paris by Germain de La Fosse, with privilege (but the date of the permission to print is not specified); another one in Rouen by Jean Le Prest, with a permission to print dated 6 July 1549; and finally we have recently located at the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris the so-called lost edition mentioned by Paul Le Vayer in Les Entrées solennelles à Paris des rois et reines de France, des souverains et princes étrangers, ambassadeurs.38 This text (which was sold in Paris by the bookseller Jean Laumussier) exhibits exactly the same layout as the Germain de La Fosse 34 

This same note ‘Aux Lecteurs’ appears in the Arnoul Langelier edition, Le Grand triumphe faict a […] Henri second de ce nom. 35  Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. by Bellanger, i, 41. 36  Excerpt from the printing privilege. Moreover, the consular records specify that ‘seront faictz commandementz à ceulx qui ont imprimé lesd. entrées cy-devant, qu’ilz ayent à les brusler, comme imprimées contre vérité et sans auctorité de justice’ (those who previously printed the above-mentioned entries will be commanded to burn them, as printed documents contrary to truth and without the authority of justice) (Document BB69, fol. 54v; from the edition of La Magnificence, ed. by Guigue, p. 189). 37  The Bibliothèque nationale de France (site François Mitterrand) possesses a document entitled Entrée de Henri II à Paris (BnF, Rés. Lb31 126 and Lb31 21(alpha)) which is in fact an incomplete copy of Les Grands triumphes [..]. It consists only of quire C, and the signatures have been scraped off. 38  Le Vayer, Les Entrées solennelles à Paris des rois et reines de France, notes a third edition, Paris: Laumussier, [n.d.], located at the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris (BHVP), Réserve 550558, in octavo, with Gothic characters.

Hélène Visentin

12

edition. It is interesting to note that this booklet uses the title and structure of the 1548 relation from Lyon described above (Le Grand triumphe faict a l’entrée du Treschrestien, & tousjours victorieux Monarche, Henri second de ce nom Roy de France, En sa noble ville et cité de Lyon), with just a few variations. That is what explains why the account of Les Grands triumphes has often been confused with the account from Lyon entitled Le Grand triumphe, as if it were a supplementary edition. And yet, if one compares the two texts, there is no doubt that the account from Lyon was used as a narrative model for the description of the Parisian entry. For example, the first paragraph of the Note to the readers, which appears as signature A2 in the Germain de la Fosse edition, uses, almost word for word, the Note to the readers of the Lyon edition, as well as certain parts of the text. From this perspective, we may wonder why Les Grands triumphes was printed in Gothic characters. This gothique bâtarde (Gothic typography in bastard size) was becoming rarer and rarer in the mid-sixteenth century, and it gives an archaic look to the publication at a time when readers had become familiar with Roman typography, which had become the norm. We can only explain the recourse to bastard size Gothic font by the publisher’s wish to differentiate his edition from the edition of Le Grand triumphe that he was counterfeiting. Or we may entertain another hypothesis: the edition was aimed at readers from the milieu of the magistrature and the hauts fonctionnaires de l’état (senior civil servants).39 As for the Parisian entry of 1549, we must also add an account written in Latin by John Stewart, De adventu Henrici Valesii Christianissimi Francorum Regis in Metropolim Regni sui Lutetiam Parisiorum Oratio habita a nobilissimo et generosissimo iuuene Ianne Stevarto Scoto, Nonis Iulii, In gymnaso Prelleorum, published in quarto format in Paris by Matthieu David. This opuscule of ten leaves is written in the form of a harangue whose author, the principal of the College de Reims in Paris and an eyewitness of the royal entry, wanted to write pour faire voir sa joie (to show his joy), as he explains in the dedication to the king: j’ai voulu te montrer ma reconnaissance en faisant voir ma joie de quelque manière, et également faire un discours sur un sujet conforme aux travaux auxquels mes précepteurs P. Ramus et Aud. Taleus m’ont rendu zélé et aux gouts auxquels je prends plaisir dans mes moments de loisir (I wanted to show you my gratitude by showing my joy in some way, and also to make a speech on a subject true to the works for which my preceptors P. Ramus and Aud. Taleus gave me such enthusiasm, and to the tastes that give me pleasure in my moments of leisure). 39 

Official court documents and legal texts are printed in gothique bâtarde. See Martin, ‘Politique et typographie’, pp. 190–91.

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

13

This text, which gives us both a description of the entry and a panegyric of the king, also appears to be an exercise in rhetoric. 4. The entry into Rouen is related in an account of sixteen leaves, L’Entrée du Roy nostre Sire faicte en sa ville de Rouen le mercredy premier de ce moys d’Octobre, pareillement celle de la Royne, qui fut le jour ensuivant, published in Paris by Robert Massellin, with a privilege dated 11 October 1550 and thus obtained nine days after the event, for the fairly short period of three months.40 As the publication date of the official account is dated 9 December 1550, we may be certain that the short album was in circulation before the publication of the official entry album. The description contained in this small volume is very close to the summary conserved in the municipal records. This conformity, as well as the insistence on the fact that the author wrote an eyewitness account (‘selon que de [ses] propres yeulx [a] veu’; according to what his own eyes beheld), add to the veracity of the text published by Le Hoy, which follows the same order. 5. We should end this part by mentioning the account of Henri II’s triumphal entry into Orléans (1551), La magnificque et Triumphante entrée de la noble ville et cité d’Orleans, faicte au treschrestien Roy de France, henry deuxiesme de ce nom, Et à la Royne Catherine son espouse, which fills a total of twenty leaves without any illustrations.41 In fact, the account of the entry written by François Corcher, procureur au Châtelet, is not itself very long and respects the factual style of such texts; however, the author lengthened his own account by inserting within it several poems composed for the event and the text of the harangues addressed to the King and the Queen during the entry. We might suppose that the author used his position at the Châtelet and his connections in Paris to have the account of the Orléans entry published by a well-established Parisian printer ( Jean Dallier). III. Now that I have described the news bulletins and booklets relative to triumphal entries in some detail, I will take up more briefly the third category devoted to ‘great’ quarto accounts. The three main ones concern Henri II’s entries into Lyon, Paris, and Rouen, and each has been published in a facsimile edition.42 The official account of Henri II’s entry into Lyon was published by Guillaume Rouillé, with a privilege to print for a period of two years registered by the consular authorities on 25 January 1548/9. The printed document is composed of 40 

Jean-Pierre Seguin considers this printed document a news bulletin (Seguin, L’Infor­ mation en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, p. 120). 41  Corcher, La magnificque et Triumphante entrée. 42  For Henry II’s entry into Lyons: Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper; for Henry II’s entry into Paris: The Entry of Henri II into Paris, ed. by McFarlane; for Henry’s entry into Rouen: L’Entrée de Henri II à Rouen, ed. by McGowan.

Hélène Visentin

14

forty-four leaves and fifteen full-page woodcuts: La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entree de la noble & antique Cité de Lyon faicte au Treschrestien Roy de France Henri deuxiesme de ce Nom […]. For the Parisian entry, the official account, also composed of forty-four leaves, appeared in 1549 under the following title: C’est l’ordre qui a este tenu a la nouvelle et joyeuse entrée que […] le roy treschrestien Henri Deuzieme de ce nom, à faicte en sa […] cité de Paris […] le sezieme iour de Iuin m.d. xlix. At least five editions of this work exist (see Table 1). Inserted in the first edition of Jacques Roffet and Jehan Dallier, the privilege to print dated 31 March 1548 (1549 new style) for the period of one year suggests that the official account had been planned in advance and was very certainly written beforehand by Jean Martin, who also designed the entry. The account closely follows the text of the Registres des délibérations du bureau de la ville de Paris,43 so much so that one may wonder if the registers are not in fact a copy of the printed account. Unlike the Lyon entry, for which no official account had been anticipated, the Parisian entry was immediately perceived as an event to be memorialized. Finally, for the Rouen entry, which took place on 1 October 1550, we have the following account: C’est la deduction du somptueux ordre, plaisants spectacles et magnifiques theatres dressés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen, ville metropo­ litaine du pays de Normandie, à la sacree majesté du treschristian Roy de France, Henri second, leur souverain seigneur, et à tresillustre dame, ma dame Katharine de Medicis, la Royne, son espouse […]. This very fine quarto of sixty-seven unnumbered leaves includes a total of twenty-nine woodcuts, five of them in a double-page format. What is surprising here is the great number of illustrations compared to the Parisian account (eleven illustrations in C’est l’ordre qui a este tenu […]) and the Lyon account (fifteen illustrations in La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entree […]). Published by the bookseller Robert Le Hoy, who obtained a publication privilege on 5 August 1550 registered by the Parlement on 3 September 1550 (a privilege that he cedes in part to the Dugord brothers; the achevé d’impression is dated 9 December 1550/1), the book was printed by Jean Le Prest, one of the highest quality printers in Rouen in the middle of the sixteenth century. In the three cases above, comparing the dates of the permission to print to the date of the event enables us to bring to light the preparation time that was needed to compose a ‘great’ entry album. For example, for the Lyon entry, the printing privilege dated 25 January 1548/9 indicates a waiting period that is relatively late compared to the date of 23 September 1548, when the event took 43 

Registres des délibérations du bureau de la ville de Paris, ed. by Guérin, pp.  164–79; Godefroy, Le Cérémonial françois, i, 858–70.

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

15

place.44 The sponsor of La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entrée is the municipal elite of Lyon, as the transaction between the city magistrate-councillors and the bookseller Guillaume Rouillé in January 1548/9 attests.45 In particular, Guillaume Rouillé took great care of the preparation of the book; moreover, he did not shrink from signing a contract with Bernard Salomon, a successful and therefore expensive artist, for the woodcuts.46 A specialist in the production of books in small formats, Guillaume Rouillé had a reputation for demanding high quality typography,47 and La Magnificence is one of his first works to appear in quarto format. It is the first time that a French entry album establishes a contiguous relationship between text and image in this way. The full-page woodcuts, which divide up the main segments of the entry while giving a certain rhythm to the narration, are inserted where one narrative unity ends, and they illustrate the text.48 Moreover, the visual apparatus of the book, which includes the frequent use of rather imposing, ornate decorated letters and tailpieces, belongs completely to the symbolic and critical apparatus of the book. We have every right to be surprised that the members of the consulate called upon Guillaume Rouillé and not the printer Jean de Tournes, an active collaborator of Maurice Scève and Bernard Salomon. There are two possible explanations for choosing Rouillé, who was the main competitor of Jean de Tournes.49 First of all, Guillaume Rouillé was at the head of one of the large bookselling houses that dominated publishing in Lyon, at the heart of the international network of the book trade, and he had a close relationship with the world of bankers; this meant that he actively participated in municipal life, as he was appointed as a municipal magistrate and rector of the Hôtel-Dieu three times. Consequently, Guillaume Rouillé was close 44 

It is important to note that, in the first instance, the publication of an official account appeared to be an attempt to counteract these illicit publications, as can be seen in the municipal records of the city of Lyons for 21 December 1548, published in an appendix to the edition of La Magnificence, ed. by Guigue, pp. 188–89, BB68, fol. 287v; BB69, fol. 54v). 45  Order and bill of the bookseller Guillaume Rouillé 10 January 1548/9 (La Magnificence, ed. by Guigue, pp. 303–04, CC987, no. 30). 46  Bernard Salomon was in charge of the illustrations for the account of the entry of Cardinal Farnese into Carpentras. See Sharratt, Bernard Salomon: illustrateur lyonnais, pp. 118–22. 47  In Baudrier, Bibliographie lyonnaise, following many scholars, Henri-Louis Baudrier attributes the actual printing to Jean de Tournes, whereas recent research has shown that the type was probably composed by Philibert Rollet and Barthélémy Frein. 48  Chatelain and Pinon, ‘L’Intervention de l’image et ses rapports avec le texte’, p. 244. 49  For Guillaume Rouillé, a prominent bookseller in Lyons, see Davis, ‘Publisher Guillaume Rouillé, Businessman and Humanist’.

Hélène Visentin

16

to the milieu of urban patricians in Lyon. Secondly, this ambitious publisher had recently specialized in the translation of works into Italian. And then, from the very start, the publishing project of La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entrée — an innovative publishing project for France — included a translation into Italian, announced in the printing privilege of 25 January 1548/9. The entry album in Italian also came from Guillaume Rouillé’s press in a quarto format of fifty-eight leaves, including exactly the same woodcuts.50 The main point of interest of this entry album in Italian lies in the description of the comedy La Calandra in the first four gatherings of the work (sig. M-P), a comedy entirely financed by the Florentine colony. The possibility that this description circulated autonomously cannot be excluded. Thus the circulation in Italian of the account of the entries of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici served a political purpose: furthering French ambitions in Italy. Thanks to this initiative, Guillaume Rouillé hoped to take advantage of the event by winning an Italian readership, and above all the powerful Florentine community.51 In short, we see that the Lyon account, in the form completed by Guillaume Rouillé, may have served as model for future publications of accounts of entries, and may have helped to perpetuate a genre. And the fact that the first great entry album was printed in Lyon, a major European centre for printing, is not coincidental either. As Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly rightly reminds us: ‘The history of the book as an object in a particular territory determines the nature of the festival book rather than the nature of the festival itself ’.52 Now, at the end of this classification, we can make a few concluding observations. First, as the triumphal entries of Henri II took place at a time when printing was in full expansion, at first glance we may well have expected a larger production of printed accounts in the form of brochures in a small format schematically retranscribing the order of the entry and the different elements of the iconographic programme. Without rejecting the hypothesis that certain printed documents may have been destroyed or lost, it nonetheless seems that a very lim50 

La Magnifica et triumphale entrata del Christianiss, trans. by F. M. The Italian text closely follows Maurice Scève’s account but is not, however, a literal translation; the occasional liberties taken with the original text correspond in general to clarifications and explanations for the Italian public. For example, there are a few digressions describing the figures and mottoes of the king and queen; for the provost of the merchants, a point of information is added to say that primieramente marciava un homo di justicia (primarily marked it out as a man of justice); concerning the quarter of Saint-Vincent, we read: ‘San Vincent, dove habitano i traficanti sopra la Sona’ (St Vincent, where the merchants lived on the Saône). 52  Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early Modern European Festivals’, p. 21. 51 

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

17

ited number of Henri II’s entries gave rise to accounts in any printed form at all, in an era when we see, inside an increasingly efficient and complex news publishing network, the diffusion and multiplication of publications that transmit news. The small number of brochures or entry leaflets concerning Henri II’s entries that have come down to us is thus especially striking, while the important deeds of dignitaries of the kingdom often occasioned the production of news bulletins. In short, it seems that there was a clear break with the preceding reign in the nature of printed documents concerning the ritual of the royal entry. In a recent article, William Kemp, a specialist in the history of the book and a scholar in the GRES team, analysed the material form of printed accounts of royal entries in the reign of François Ier. After making a clear distinction between entry leaflets (one leaf printed on both sides) and booklets and/or entry books (more than eight leaves) Kemp shows that the great majority of printed works published between 1515 and 1535 is in fact composed of small occasional documents that can be contained on one page, simply composed, folded once (quarto) or twice (octavo).53 The Wars of Italy in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries had favoured the circulation of this presse d’information.54 In fact the event of a triumphal entry in the era of Henri II was no longer part of the ‘news circuit’ as it was under François Ier: out of four leaflets we have listed, one of them was due to a foreign initiative and the other, about the entry into Beaune, was not published to inform. The majority of occasional writings published during the reign of Henri II relate isolated facts concerning the war (particularly the capture of Calais in 1558), diplomatic negotiations, treaties, or edicts; and we note the disappearance of the short printed documents that related news of the king’s entries — documents intended to inform and, like news reporting, to be published rapidly to keep up with events.55 Thus it seems that the advent of the entry album supplanted the production of small documents, marking the end of publishing linked to this kind of news. We may well wonder if the government wanted to dominate printed production relating to Henri II’s entries the better to control the way in which the royal image circulated through the kingdom.56 53 

‘Overall, it seems that most of the printed accounts of royal entries, beginning with those printed in the 1490s, were done on one sheet so as to get the basic news out as rapidly and economically as possible’ (Kemp, ‘Transformations in the Printing of Royal Entries’, p. 114). 54  Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. by Bellanger, i, 35. 55  See the bibliography in Seguin, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II. 56  See Cosandey, ‘Entrer dans le rang’, p.  28: ‘La monarchie est surtout soucieuse de contrôler le cérémonial et de ne point en laisser l’initiative aux corps ou aux particuliers. C’est dans ce but encore qu’elle interdit toute publication de relation qui n’ait pas été visée par les

18

Hélène Visentin

Second, while most of the printed documents dealing with royal entries in the reign of François Ier paved the way for the entry or were an integral part of it, as those texts were hastily prepared to respond to the demand for news, printed documents concerning the entries of Henri II prolong the entry — as we can see from the dates on which the printing privileges were granted. In this sense, the ‘great’ festival book or entry album takes over the function of commemoration of the event, which had previously belonged to the manuscript.57 We note, moreover, an escalation in the material form of official albums concerning the three great entries of Henri II (Lyon, Paris, Rouen). Illustrated books conveyed the solemn nature of the event; their rarity, their small printings, and their cost made them precious; the poets who composed them and the successful artists who participated in their illustration added to the prestige of these books. We must, then, conclude that under Henri II the recourse to the printed document suggests a will to keep significant events of the reign alive in memory and to emphasize their solemn character. The entry album is a ceremonial publication that was used as an instrument of propaganda in the form of an image to be conserved in memory. I will cite as evidence here the publication of Les Pourtres et Figures du sumptueux Ordre, plaisantz spectacles, et magnifiques Theatres, dres­ sés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen, [...] Faitz à l’entrée de la sacrée Maiesté du treschrestien Roy de France, Henry second, [...] Et à tresillustre Dame, ma Dame Katherine de Medicis la Royne, son Epouze. Qui fut es jours de Mercredi et Jeudi, premier et second jour d’Octobre. Mil cinq cens Cinquante, published in Rouen in 1557 by Jean Dugort. This is, in fact, a reprinting of certain verses of the famous illuminated manuscript of Henri II’s entry into Rouen and the complete set of woodcuts from C’est la Deduction du somptueux ordre, most of these representing the triumph of Henri II in the form of a ‘Paper Triumph’. The ten-line poem (dizain) placed at the beginning of the book asks the reader to ‘Gouste[r] ces vers, | qui touchent sa grandeur [of Henri II] | Soubz qui resemble | un Cesar en son temps’ (Taste these verses, That evoke his grandeur [of Henri II], Who resembles a Caesar in his time). In fact we must place this publication in the context autorités compétentes, et scellée du grand sceau’ (The monarchy wishes above all to control ceremonial, and not leave the initiative to bodies or individuals. This is its goal, once again, when it forbids the publication of any account which was not approved by the competent authorities, and stamped with the great seal). 57  See the triumphal entries into Paris of Marie d’Angleterre (1514) and Claude de France (1517), manuscripts by Pierre Gringore, recently edited by Cynthia J. Brown (Gringore, Les Entrées royales à Paris, ed. by Brown), and the manuscript album for François Ier’s entry into Lyons (1515), L’Entrée de François Premier, roy de France en la cité de Lyon, ed. by Guigue.

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

19

of European diplomacy. In 1556, Charles V had abdicated in favour of his son Philip II of Spain, after signing the truce of Vaucelles with France; September 1556 marked the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand I, the Germanic Holy Roman Emperor; and in 1557, hostilities began between France and Spain (for example, the battle of Saint-Quentin). To get a better understanding of the printing of entry albums under Henri II, it seems important to locate their publication in a broader context: we must take account not only of the rapid growth in publishing which created a desire to emulate each other’s achievements between different publishers, but also the entries of Philip II in Italy and the Low Countries that were proceeding at the same time in the years 1548/9. These entries were part of the creation of an expanded market for such texts. We read in Brantôme’s Memoirs: Quasi en mesme temps que ces belles festes se faisoyent ez Païs-Bas, et sourtout à Bains, sur la reception du roy d’Espagne, se fit l’entrée du roy Henri, tournant de visiter pays de Piedmont et ses garnisons, à Lion, qui certes fut des belles et plus triomphantes, ainsi que j’ay ouy dire à d’honnestes dames et gentilshommes de la cour qui y estoyent.58 (Almost at the same time as these festivals were taking place in the Low Countries, and especially in Bains, for the reception of the King of Spain, King Henry, returning from his lands and its garrisons in Piedmont, made his entry into Lyon, which was certainly one of the finest and most triumphant, as I have heard from honest ladies and gentlemen of the court who were present.)

Thus it is hardly surprising that the arrangements for the publication of the official account of Henry II’s entry into Lyon (late November-December 1548) corresponds to the beginning of the great voyage of Philip II and Charles V in Italy and the Low Countries. In conclusion, the printed account of entries under Henri II is a carefully controlled and supervised object, not a kind of news publication: a simple printed document published as an ‘on-the-spot report’ cannot be up to the task of representing the splendour of the festivities. The printed account here reveals the conscious exercise of political power and serves to construct the monarch’s renown. The goal is to mediatize not the event, but the image of the king. Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts) Translated by David Ball 58 

Brantôme, Œuvres complètes, ed. by Lalanne, ix (1876), p. 317.

Roman

Lyon, In-4˚, 44 fols Lyon [Maurice Scève], La Magnifi­ Guillaume Rouillé 15 ills 23 September cence de la superbe et trium­ 1548 phante entree de la noble & antique Cité de Lyon faicte au Treschrestien Roy de France Henry deuxiesme de ce Nom […], 1549

Roman

Roman

In-8˚, 4 fols

Denys Berardier, La Prinse Paris, d’un fort à l’entrée du Roy Henry Jehan André second de ce nom, faicte en la ville de Beaulne […], n.d.

Beaune 18 July 1548

La Magnifica et triumphale Lyon, 58 fols Guillaume Rouillé 15 ills entrata del Christianiss. Re di Francia Henrico secondo di questo nome fatta nella nobile & antiqua Città di Lyone […], 1549

Italic

Reims 25 July 1547

In-8˚, 16 fols + 1 unnumbered fol.

Type

La Intrata del re christianissimo Venice, Henrico. II. nella città di Rens Paolo Gherardo et la sua incoronatione, 1547

Format Italic

Printer

Triunfi, ordine, pompe et cere­ Rome, Gironima In-4˚, 4 fols monie fatte alla santa untione de Cartulari et sacra incoronatione del Chris­ tianissimo Henrico II […], 1547

Location and Author (if known), title, date of event date of publication

Table 1. Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Royal Entries (1547–51).

Dated 25 January 1549

Dated 25 January 1548/9 and granted for two years

Dated 20 September 1548 and granted for three months

Privilege

Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon: Rés. 355883

BnF (site Tolbiac): LB31-14

Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale de Dijon: L Br. II 345

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) (site Tolbiac): Rés. LB31-131

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine: 17541

Edition consulted

20 Hélène Visentin

a) In-8˚, 11 fols

b) In-8˚, 12 fols

c) In-4˚, 12 fols

b) Paris, Arnoul Langelier c) n.p.

Format

a) Paris, Benoist de Gourmont

Printer

c) In-4˚, 38 fols 11 ills

e) similar to d) e) Paris, Jehan Dallier and Jacques Roffet

d) In-4˚, 38 fols d) Paris, Jacques Roffet 11 ills

c) Paris, Jehan Dallier

Paris [ Jean Martin], C’est l’ordre a) Paris, a) In-4˚, 41 fols 16 June 1549 qui a este tenu a la nouvelle et Jacques Roffet 11 ills joyeuse entrée que […] le roy treschrestien Henry Deuzieme de ce nom, à faicte en sa […] cité de b) In-4˚, 41 fols Paris[…] le sezieme iour de Iuin b) Paris, Jehan Dallier 10 ills M.D. XLIX, n.d

Lyon Le Grand triumphe faict a 23 September l’entrée du Treschrestien, & 1548 tousjours victorieux Monarche, Henry second de ce nom Roy de France, En sa noble ville et cité de Lyon […], 1548

Location and Author (if known), title, date of event date of publication

Roman

Roman

Type

Edition consulted

d) Dated Chantilly 31 March 1548/9 for one year

e) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-20 (C)

d) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-20; Rés. 4-LB31-20 (A)

c) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-20 (B)

b) BnF (site Tolbiac): 4-LB31-20 (D)

b) Dated 31 March 1548/9 and grant­ ed for one year c) No privilege

a) Paris, Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris (BHVP): Rés. 550872

c) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 8-LB31-13 (A)

a) Dated 31 March 1548/9 and granted for one year

c) No privilege

b) Dated 8 December b) Paris, Bibliothèque 1548 and granted de l’Arsenal: for one year 8-H-12589

a) Dated 6 December a) BnF (site Tolbiac): 1548 and granted Rés. 8-LB31-13 for six months

Privilege

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries 21

Paris, André Roffet (no edition has been found)

Printer

c) Paris, Jehan André d) Lyon, J. Gillet

Paris, Jehan In-8˚, 4 fols + André and Gilles 2 white fols Corrozet

c) 1548/9

d) 1549

I. Lormier, Publication du jour de l’Entrée du roy treschrestien Henry deuxiesme de ce nom, en la ville de Paris capitalle de son royaulme, 1549

d) In-8˚, 4 fols

c) In-8˚, 4 fols

b) Paris, Ponce b) In-8˚, 4 fols Roffet and Jacques Roffet

In-4˚, 4 fols

Format

b) n.d.

L’Ordre et les articles du Tournoy a) Paris, entrepris pour la solennité du très Ponce Roffet heureux couronnement et triom­ and Jacques phante Entrée du très chrestien Roy Roffet Henry, second de ce nom […], n.d.

Articles contenans les causes Paris 16 June 1549 qui ont meu le Roy nostre sire Henry deuxiesme de ce nom treschrestien, a faire la Procession generale a Paris, ville capitale de son Royaume, le quatriesme jour de Juillet 1549, 1549

Location and Author (if known), title, date of event date of publication

Roman

Roman

Type

BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-17

Edition consulted

Dated 8 April 1548/9 BnF (site Tolbiac): and granted for six Rés. 8-LB31-19 months

d) No privilege

c) Dated 2 April 1548 and granted for six months

b) Dated 2 April 1548 and granted for six months

a) Dated 2 April 1548 and granted for six months

Privilege

22 Hélène Visentin

Rouen 1 October 1550 Roman

Roman

In-8˚, 16 fols L’entrée du Roy nostre Sire faicte Paris, en sa ville de Rouen le mercredy Robert Massellin premier de ce moys d’Octobre […], 1550

Italic

In-4˚, 67 fols; Rouen, Jehan Le Prest, 29 ills Robert Le Hoy, and Frères Dugord

[Claude Chappuys (?)], C’est la deduction du somptueux ordre, plaisants spectacles et magnifiques theatres dressés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen..., à la sacree majesté du treschristian Roy de France, Henry second […], 1551

In-4˚, 10 fols +1 r.

c) In-8˚, 16 fols

c) Paris, Jehan Laumussier

BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-22

c) BHVP: Rés. 550558

b) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 8-LB31-115

a) BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 8-LB31-21

Edition consulted

Dated 11 October 1550 and granted for three months

BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 8-LB31-24

Dated 5 August 1550 BnF (site Tolbiac): Achevé d’impression: Rés. 4-LB31-25 9 December 1550/1

c) ‘Avec Privilège’ (on the title page)

b) Dated 6 July 1549

b) In-8˚, 16 fols

Privilege

b) Rouen, Jean Le Prest

Type

a) In-8˚, 16 fols Gothique a) ‘Avec Privilège’ bâtarde (on the title page)

Format

a) Paris, Gemain de la Fosse

Printer

John Stewart, De adventu Paris, Henrici Valesii Christianissimi Matthieu David Francorum Regis in Metropolim Regni sui Lutetiam Parisiorum […], 1549

Les Grands triumphes faicts Paris 16 June 1549 a l’entree du treschrestien et victorieux Roy Henry second de ce nom en sa noble ville cite et université de Paris, n.d.

Location and Author (if known), title, date of event date of publication

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries 23

[Guillaume Vincent de Clamecy], Tours, Jean Rousset L’entrée du tres heureux et joyeulx advenement du Roy, puissant et magnanime Henry de Valoys, en sa ville de Tours […], 1551

François Corcher, La magni­ ficque et triumphante entrée de la noble ville et cité d’Orleans, faicte au treschrestien Roy de France Henry[…], 1551

Tours 5 May 1551

Orléans 4 August 1551

Roman

Type

Roman

Roman In-8˚, 4 fols, 1 ill. Incomplete copy

In-4˚, 24 fols; 29 ills 

Format

Paris, Jean Dallier In-8˚, 20 fols and Orléans, Eloy Gibier

Rouen, Les Pourtres et Figures du Jean Dugort somptueux Ordre, plaisantz spectacles, et magnifiques Theatres, dressés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen, Ville metropolitaine du païs de Normandie. Faictz à l’entrée de la sacrée Maiesté du treschretien Roy de France, Henry second […], 1557

Printer

Rouen 1 October 1550

Location and Author (if known), title, date of event date of publication Privilege

BnF (site Tolbiac): LB31-36

BnF (site Tolbiac): LB31-35

BnF (site Tolbiac): Rés. 4-LB31-26

Edition consulted

24 Hélène Visentin

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

25

Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Recueil de 21 pièces relatives à Henri II, Catherine de Medici, et Charles IX, pièce 17541 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Réserve des livres rares, Lb31 126 and Lb31 21 (alpha) (Entrée de Henri II à Paris) Roma, Biblioteca Casanatense, RM0313 Troyes, Archives municipales, fonds Delion, Layette 55, Series K8

Primary Sources Articles contenans les causes qui ont meu le Roy nostre sire Henry deuxiesme de ce nom, à faire la Procession générale a Paris, ville capitale de son royaume le quatriesme jour de juillet 1549 (Paris: Roffet, [n.d.]) Babeau, Albert, Les Rois de France à Troyes au seizième siècle (Troyes: Lacroix, 1880) Berardier, Denys, La Prinse d’un fort à l’entrée du Roy Henri second de ce nom, faicte en la ville de Beaulne, le xviii. jour de Juillet dernier passé, 1548 (Paris: André, [n.d.]) Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Œuvres complètes de Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, publiées d’après les manuscrits avec variantes et fragments inédits pour la Société de l’Histoire de France par Ludovic Lalanne, ed. by Ludovic Lalanne, 11 vols (Paris: Renouard, 1864–82) C’est l’ordre qui a esté tenu à la nouvelle et joyeuse entrée, que treshault, tresexcellent, & trespuissant Prince, le Roy treschrestien Henry deuxieme de ce nom, à faicte en sa bonne ville & cité de Paris, capitale de son Royaume, le seizieme jour de Juin M. D. XLIX (Paris: Dallier, 1549) C’est la deduction du somptueux ordre, plaisants spectacles et magnifiques theatres dressés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen, ville metropolitaine du pays de Normandie, à la sacree majesté du treschristian Roy de France, Henri second, leur souverain seigneur, et à tresillustre dame, ma dame Katharine de Medicis, la Royne, son espouse […] (Rouen: Le Hoy, 1551) Correspondance des nonces en France, Dandino, della Torre et Trivultio (1546–1551): avec des documents relatifs à la rupture des relations diplomatiques, 1551–1552, ed. by Jean Lestocquoy, Acta nuntiaturae Gallicae, 9 (Rome: Presses de l’Université Grégorienne, 1966) Corcher, François, La magnificque et Triumphante entree de la noble ville et cité d’Orleans, faicte au treschrestien Roy de France, Henry deuxiesme de ce nom, Et à la Royne Catherine son espouse, le 4 jour d’Aoust M.D.L.I. Ensemble plusieurs harangues faictes audict Seign­ eur (Paris: Dallier, 1551) De adventu Henrici  Valesii Christianissimi Francorum Regis in Metropolim  Regni sui Lutetiam Parisiorum Oratio habita a  nobilissimo et generosissimo iuuene IANNE STEVARTO Scoto, Nonis Iulii, In gymnaso Prelleorum (Paris: David, 1549)

26

Hélène Visentin

L’Entrée de François Premier, roy de France en la cité de Lyon, le 12 juillet 1515: publiée pour la première fois d’après le manuscrit de la bibliothèque ducale de Wolfenbüttel, ed. by Georges Guigue (Lyon: Société des Bibliophiles lyonnais, 1899) L’Entrée de Henri II à Rouen, 1550, ed. by Margaret M. McGowan, Renaissance Triumphs and Magnificences (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarium, 1990) Entrée du roi Henri II à Nantes, le 12 juillet 1551, ed. by Henri Rathouis, Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Nantes et du Département de la Loire inférieure, 1 (Nantes: Guéraud, 1859) L’Entrée du Roi très chrétien Henri II dans la ville de Reims et son couronnement, trans. by Hugues Krafft (Reims: Monce, 1913) L’Entrée du Roy nostre Sire faicte en sa ville de Rouen le mercredy premier de ce moys d’Octobre, pareillement celle de la Royne, qui fut le jour ensuivant (Paris: Masselin, 1550) L’Entree du tres heureux et joyeulx advenement du Roy, puissant, et Magnanime Henry, de Valoys, en sa noble ville de Tours, plaisant jardin de France, le cinquiesme de may 1551: Contenant au long, et à la verité le triumphe, et presents faictz par ceulx de ladicte ville, tant au Roy, que à la Royne. Avecq les Figures de ladicte entrée (Tours: Rousset, [n.d.]) L’Entrée de Henri II, roi de France, à Rouen, au mois d’octobre 1550. Imprimé pour la première fois, d’après un manuscrit de la bibliothèque de Rouen, ed. by Louis de Merval (Rouen: Boissel, 1868) The Entry of Henri II into Paris, 16 June 1549, ed. by Ian D. McFarlane, Medieval and Re­ nais­sance Texts and Studies, 7 (Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renais­ sance Studies, 1982) Godefroy, Théodore, Le Cérémonial françois, contenant les cérémonies observées en France aux sacres et couronnemens des roys et reines, 2 vols (Paris: Sébastien Cramoisy, 1649) Le Grand triumphe faict a l’entrée du treschrestien, & tousjours victorieux monarche, Henri second de ce nom, Roy de France, en sa noble ville et cité de Lyon, et de la Royne Catherine son espouse (Lyon: Langelier, 1548) Les Grands triumphes faicts a l’entrée du treschrestien et victorieux Roy Henri second de ce nom en sa noble ville cité et université de Paris (Paris: Laumussier, [n.d.]) Gringore, Pierre, Les Entrées royales à Paris de Marie d’Angleterre (1514) et Claude de France (1517), ed. by Cynthia J. Brown, Textes littéraires français, 577 (Genève: Droz, 2005) Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. by Claude Bellanger, 5 vols (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1969–76) La Intrata del re christianissimo Henrico. II. nella città di Rens et la sua incoronatione (Vinegia: Gherardo, 1547) La Magnifica et triumphale entrata del Christianiss. Re di Francia Henrico secondo di questo nome fatta nella nobile & antiqua Città di Lyone à la sua serenissima conforte Chaterina alli 21. di septemb. 1548; Colla particulare descritione della Comedia che fece recitare la Natione Fiorentina à richiesta di sua Maesta Christianissma, trans. by F. M. (Lyon: Rouillo, 1549) La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entree de la noble & antique Cité de Lyon […], ed. by Georges Guigue (Lyon: Trévoux, 1928)

Printed Accounts of Henri II’s Triumphal Entries

27

L’Ordre et les articles du tournoy entrepris pour la solemnité du tresheureux couronnement & triumphale entrée du treschrestien Roy Henry, second de ce nom, nostre souverain Seigneur, et de la Royne son espouse nostre souveraine Dame, envoyez de par sa majesté, à messeigneurs de la Court de Parlement de Paris, et publiez par les Heraux de France, sur la pierre de Marbre du Palays dudict  lieu, le premier jour du mois d’Avril.  1548 (Paris: Rofet, [n.d.]) Les Pourtres et Figures du sumptueux Ordre, plaisantz spectacles, et magnifiques Theatres, dressés et exhibés par les citoiens de Rouen, [...] Faitz à l’entrée de la sacrée Maiesté du tres­ chrestien Roy de France, Henry second, [...] Et à tresillustre Dame, ma Dame Katherine de Medicis la Royne, son Epouze. Qui fut es jours de Mercredi et Jeudi, premier et second jour d’Octobre. Mil cinq cens Cinquante (Rouen: Dugort, 1557) La Prinse et assault de Pavie faicte par Monsieur de Laustret, lieutenant general du Roy nostre sire […] (Rouen: [Brenouzeth (?)], 1527) La Prinse et assault de la ville de Naples, avec la desconfiture de larmee de mer, et pareillement les noms des princes prisoners Faicte par monsieur de Lautrec nouvellement ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], 1528) La Prinse d’un fort à l’entrée du Roy Henry second de ce nom, faicte en la ville de Beaulne, le XVIII. jour de Juillet dernier passé, 1548. Redigé par escript par maistre Denys Berardier greffier de la chancellerie de Beaulne, & receveur des deniers communs de ladicte ville (Paris: André, [n.d.]) La Prise de Nice en Savoye, par ung gentilhomme du pais: avec une lettre envoyee par le Roy dennemarc; au treschrestien roy de France (Rouen: Lhomme, 1543) La Prise de Tournehan et de Moutoyre, et de plusieurs aultres Chasteaulx et forteresses […] (Paris: Real, 1542) Publication du jour de l’Entrée du roy treschrestien Henry deuxiesme de ce nom, en la ville de Paris capitalle de son royaulme (Paris: André, 1549) Registres des délibérations du bureau de la ville de Paris, ed. by François Bonnardot and others, 20 vols (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1883–1984), iii: 1539–1552, ed. by Paul Guérin (1886) Scève, Maurice, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, September 1548, ed. by Richard Cooper, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 160 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medi­ eval and Renaissance Studies, 1997) Triunfi, ordine, pompe et ceremonie fatte alla santa untione, et sacra incoronatione del Christianissimo Henrico, di tal nome secondo Re di Francia, nella Citta di Reins, alli. 25. & 26. Di Guglio m. d. xlvii. Con li nomi & di Pari, Duchi, Conti, Principi, & Signori del Regno di Francia, quali sono intervenuti alla detta incoronationae (Roma: de Cartulari, 1547), in Recueil de 21 pièces relatives à Henri II Catherine de Medici, et Charles IX (Bibliothèque Mazarine, pièce 17541)

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Secondary Studies Armstrong, Elizabeth, Before Copyright: The French Book-Privilege System, 1498–1526, Cambridge Studies in Publishing and Printing History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) Baudrier, Henri-Louis, Bibliographie lyonnaise: recherches sur les imprimeurs, libraires, relieurs et fondeurs de lettres de Lyon au xvie siècle, 12 vols in 8 (Lyon: Brun, 1895– 1921) Bryant, Lawrence M., The King and the City in the Parisian Royal Entry Ceremony: Politics, Ritual, and Art in the Renaissance (Genève: Droz, 1986) —— , ‘Politics, Ceremonies, and Embodiments of Majesty in Henri II’s France’, in Euro­ pean Monarchy: Its Evolution and Practice from Roman Antiquity to Modern Times, ed. by Heinz Duchhardt, Richard A. Jackson, and David Sturdy (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1992), pp. 127–54 Capodieci, Luisa, ‘Sic itur ad astra: narration, figures célestes et platonisme dans les entrées d’Henri II (Reims 1547, Lyon 1548, Paris 1549, Rouen 1550)’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 73–109 Chartrou, Josèphe, Les Entrées solennelles et triomphales à la Renaissance, 1484–1551 (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1928) Chatelain, Jean-Marc, and Laurent Pinon, ‘L’Intervention de l’image et ses rapports avec le texte à texte à la Renaissance’, in La Naissance du livre moderne (xive–xviie siècles): mise en page et mise en texte du livre français, ed. by Henri-Jean Martin (Paris: Cercle de la Librairie, 2000), pp. 234–69 Cooper, Richard, ‘Court Festival and Triumphal Entries under Henri II’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Performance, ed. by J. R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 55–75 —— , ‘Legate’s Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Carpentras, 1553’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 133–61 —— , ‘Noël Abraham, publiciste de Louis XII, duc de Milan: premier imprimeur du roi ?’, in Passer les monts: Français en Italie, l’Italie en France (1494–1525); xe colloque de la Société française d’étude du seizième siècle, ed. by Jean Balsamo, Bibliothèque Franco Simone, 25 (Paris: Champion, 1998), pp. 149–76 Cosandey, Fanny, ‘Entrer dans le rang’, in Les Jeux de l’échange: entrées solennelles et divertis­ sements du xve au xviie siècle, ed. by Marie-France Wagner, Louise Frappier, and Claire Latraverse, Études et essais sur la Renaissance, 67 (Paris: Champion, 2007), pp. 17–46 Davis, Natalie Zemon, ‘Publisher Guillaume Rouillé, Businessman and Humanist’, in Editing Sixteenth Century Texts: Papers Given at the Editorial Conference, University of Toronto, October 1965, ed. by Richard J. Schoeck (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966), pp. 72–112

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Glück, Denise, ‘Les Entrées provinciales de Henri II’, L’Information d’histoire de l’art, 10 (1965), 215–18 Jacquot, Jean, Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, 3 vols (Paris: CNRS, 1956–1975) Johnson, W. McAllister, ‘Essai de critique interne des livres d’entrées français au xvie siècle’, in Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, ed. by Jean Jacquot, 3 vols (Paris: CNRS, 1956– 1975), iii (1975), pp. 187–200 Kemp, William, ‘Transformations in the Printing of Royal Entries during the Reign of François Ier: The Role of Geofroy Tory’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 111–32 Lardellier, Pascal, Les Miroirs du paon: rites et rhétoriques politiques dans la France de l’Ancien Régime (Paris: Champion, 2003) Le Roux, Nicolas, ‘Henri III and the Rites of Monarchy’, in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen WatanabeO’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), i, 116–121 Le Vayer, Paul, Les Entrées solennelles à Paris des rois et reines de France, des souverains et princes étrangers, ambassadeurs, etc. (London: Imprimerie nationale, 1896) Martin, Henri-Jean, ‘Politique et typographie: le triomphe de la lettre romaine en France et ses conséquences’, in La Naissance du livre moderne (xive–xviie siècles): mise en page et mise en texte du livre français, ed. by Henri-Jean Martin (Paris: Cercle de la Librairie, 2000), pp. 162–233 McGowan, Margaret M., ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance: The Status of the Printed Text’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 29–54 —— , The Vision of Rome in Late Renaissance France (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) Provence, Jacky, ‘La Comptabilité de l’éphémère: l’exemple des entrées troyennes’, in Les Jeux de l’échange: entrées solennelles et divertissements du xve au xviie siècle, ed. by Marie-France Wagner, Louise Frappier, and Claire Latraverse, Études et essais sur la Renaissance, 67 (Paris: Champion, 2007), pp. 141–64 Seguin, Jean-Pierre, L’Information en France, de Louis XII à Henri II, Travaux d’humanisme et Renaissance, 44 (Genève: Droz, 1961) Sharratt, Peter, Bernard Salomon: illustrateur lyonnais, Travaux d’humanisme et Renais­ sance, 400 (Genève: Droz, 2005) Strong, Roy, Art and Power: Renaissance Festivals, 1450–1650 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984) Turquois, Michel, ‘Repères chronologiques sur la vie de Dominique Ricouvri, dit Le Florentin (né vers 1505–† 1570 ou 1571)’, in Le Beau xvie siècle troyen: aspects de la vie politique, économique, artistique, littéraire et religieuse à Troyes de 1480 à 1550, ed. by Pierre-Eugène Leroy (Troyes: Centre Troyen de Recherche et d’Études Pierre et Nicolas Pithou, 1989), pp. 233–38

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Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ‘Early Modern European Festivals: Politics and Performance, Event and Record’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Per­formance, ed. by J. R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 15–25 —— , ‘Festival Books in Europe from Renaissance to Rococo’, The Seventeenth Century, 3 (1988), 181–201 Wintroub, Michael, ‘L’Ordre du rituel et l’ordre des choses: l’entrée royale d’Henri II à Rouen (1550)’, Annales: histoire, sciences sociales, 56 (2001), 479–505 —— , A Savage Mirror: Power, Identity, and Knowledge in Early Modern France (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006)

Le Statut textuel de l’entrée royale ou solennelle sous le règne d’Henri IV : le cas particulier de l’entrée du roi à Moulins en 1595 Marie-France Wagner Gardez ce livre comme une Medaille du bon heur de ce grand Alexandre François. Usez-en comme d’une riche tapisserie de l’histoire de ses der­ niers troubles, des merveilles de la valeur du Roy, des grands effects de sa Magnanimité et Clémence, des plus genereux des Princes de sa maison.1

D

e la bibliothèque municipale d’Angers à celles de Lyon, Metz ou Limoges, la promenade sera essentiellement littéraire, d’une entrée royale ou solennelle à une autre, d’une bibliothèque à une autre, d’un fond patrimonial à un autre. Le substantif ‘patrimoine’ oriente donc notre réflexion. ‘Il sert à désigner des choses du passé transmises à la postérité en raison de leur intérêt historique et esthétique’.2 L’entrée royale ou solennelle a perdu certes sa valeur d’usage au xxie siècle et, bien avant déjà, pour acquérir une valeur patrimoniale — différente de celle de l’Ancien Régime —, que lui assigne la protection, la conservation-transmission grâce à son statut textuel, aux traces matérielles et culturelles du passé, aux narrations et descriptions, aux gravures, dessins et placards illustrés. Il reste donc les livrets très précieux de ces entrées royales, événements remarquables dédiés au roi Henri IV,3 qui permettent de recomposer, de restituer 1 

Matthieu, ‘Aux Lecteurs’, in Matthieu, L’entrée de […] Henri IIII, Roy de France & de Navarre, p. 4 non paginé. 2  Leniaud, L’Utopie française, p. 1. 3  Nous ne tiendrons compte dans cet article que des entrées royales et solennelles du règne d’Henri IV. Le Groupe de recherche sur les entrées solennelles dans les villes françaises à la Renaissance, que je dirige, est en train de terminer l’édition des entrées des règnes de

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l’événement de l’entrée, dont il ne reste de tangible, par exemple, dans l’espace urbain, que la ruelle Royale à Metz et la rue du Vert galant à Abbeville. Un même souci habite tous les auteurs des entrées : laisser un témoignage à la postérité. L’auteur de l’entrée de Rouen justifie son travail de relationniste pour éviter que ‘la plupart des choses les plus mémorables qui s’y sont faictes […] demeurent cachées et ensevelies dedans la fosse de l’oubly’. 4 Leur postérité, certainement. La nôtre peut-être. Mais nous avons bien du mal à recomposer le fragmentaire que nous récoltons, les reliques que nous avons retrouvées. D’une part, il y a le vieillissement du livret, l’usure du temps du récit de l’entrée, la patine qui recouvre le récit, le rituel qui avait eu lieu dans une ville à présent redessinée, remodelée par des plans urbains axés sur la circulation automobile. D’autre part, les interventions successives des générations qui ont utilisé les textes, en les annotant, expurgeant, rééditant, recomposant, réécrivant. 5 À l’origine, le patrimoine était lié aux structures familiales, économiques et juridiques d’une société stable, enracinée dans l’espace et le temps.6 Le second terme qui fait corps avec le patrimoine est la mémoire. En quelque sorte les deux substantifs sont très proches à l’époque : ‘La mémoire de type ancien est pour ainsi dire “sans passé”, reconduisant ‘un éternel héritage’.7 Les concepts du patrimoine et de la mémoire se rejoignent autour des notions de postérité, d’héritage, de filiation. Le geste d’écrire fait déjà référence à un geste public en quête de lecteurs. L’expérience de l’entrée se fait par le récit d’actes accomplis, par le récit de l’événe­ ment qui nous a été légué. Dans une première partie de notre étude, nous allons rendre compte de la complexité du statut textuel de l’entrée royale ou solennelle, ainsi que des auteurs de ces récits et leurs motivations. Dans une seconde partie, nous analysons le cas particulier de l’entrée de Moulins et tentons de montrer comment cette singularité, construit un savoir-édifier littéraire, c’est-à-dire une mise en abîme de l’entrée. En effet, dans l’entrée royale, la ville propose en général François 1er, Henri II et François II, Charles IX, Henri III, Henri IV. Les entrées relatives au mariage d’Henri IV et Marie de Médicis seront regroupées dans un volume à part. Cette collection paraîtra en sept volumes aux Éditions Classiques Garnier. Pour faire cette recherche, nous avons obtenu une importante subvention du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, que nous tenons à remercier. 4  [Anonyme], ‘Au lecteur’, en Discours de la joyeuse et triomphante entrée de […] prince Henri IIII, p. 3 non paginé. 5  C’est le cas des deux manuscrits d’Abbeville. 6  Choay, L’Allégorie du patrimoine, p. 1. 7  Hartog, Régimes d’historicité, p. 137. L’auteur précise : ‘de l’autre “la nôtre”, qui a été saisie par l’histoire et transformée par elle’.

Statut textuel de l’entrée royale ou solennelle sous Henri IV

33

sa propre exaltation autant que celle du héros du jour et, par conséquent, pour qu’elle ne se perde, les auteurs ont voulu la fixer par l’écriture et la gravure, le texte et l’image.

Le Statut textuel du livret d’entrée Les relations d’entrées royales et solennelles du règne d’Henri IV apparaissent sous diverses formes matérielles  : imprimées ou manuscrites  ; publications d’importance abondamment illustrées, ainsi que manuscrits et placards illustrés ; livrets plus modestes ou de circonstance  ; imprimés tirés des Registres des délibérations de la ville ou du Matrologe de la ville. Quelle que soit leur forme, ces relations sont officielles et leurs textes contiennent les récits d’un événement passé dont le livret garde les traces. La médiation du scriptural et du pictural impose un décalage temporel et spatial entre l’événement qui s’est déployé dans la ville et celui qui a été transmis. Ainsi, le livret ‘présente les choses comme elles doivent être comprises et moins comme elles ont été vues’.8 De plus, il offre ‘presque toujours le texte du programme préalablement préparé, et livré après coup dans la perfection’.9 Il dit donc aussi comment l’entrée doit être ‘remémorée’10 dans toute sa complétude. L’image, fixant un portrait ou une séquence, impose une façon de voir. Par conséquent, ‘l’impact de l’entrée repose sur un système de compréhension différée’.11 Le récit de l’entrée mêle la vérité des sources factuelles à la fiction de ses ré­ écri­tures.12 Ces relations renferment à la fois l’historiographie d’Henri IV, une historiographie en miroir,13 ‘une leçon politique’,14 ‘une source pour l’histoire urbaine’,15 des informations sur la culture humaniste et le savoir de l’époque. Cette littérature spéculaire est un reflet de la réalité de l’époque. L’érudition y joue son rôle lorsque les citations de la littérature, ancienne et contemporaine, se trouvent mêlées aux figures de rhétorique amplificatrices pour composer l’image du roi et de la société française qui passe forcément par le livret. 8 

Johnson, ‘Essai de critique interne des livres d’entrées français’, p. 192. Jouhaud, ‘Quelques réflexions sur les placards imprimés et leurs réceptions’, p. 407. 10  Jouhaud, ‘Quelques réflexions sur les placards imprimés et leurs réceptions’, p. 407. 11  Blanchard, ‘Le Spectacle du rite’, p. 479. 12  Nassichuk, Vérité et fiction dans les entrées solennelles. 13  Jouhaud, Sauvez le Grand Siècle, pp. 274–76. 14  Lignereux, Lyon et le roi, p. 61. 15  Alazard, ‘Les Livrets d’entrées royales’. 9 

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Le livret d’entrée est fabriqué à partir d’un vaste répertoire textuel. Les textes périgraphiques, en général non paginés, contiennent le privilège d’imprimer, l’épître dédicatoire au roi ou au gouverneur et l’avis aux lecteurs. Nettement délimités, ils sont introduits par un titre. Dans un avertissement liminaire dont l’usage est inhabituel, Pierre Matthieu mentionne l’oubli du nom du capitaine de la compagnie des enfants de Lyon. Tous ces textes sont donc postérieurs à la relation de l’entrée proprement dite. Cette narration de longueur variable est interrompue par l’énumération de la composition du cortège qui est décidée à l’avance d’un commun accord de toutes les parties à Rouen par exemple. Mais un arrêt de la cour du Parlement vint deux jours après modifier l’ordre de marche. Se sentant lésée par ce problème de préséance, la cour des Aides décida de ne pas défiler.16 Ce récit peut aussi être interrompu par les harangues des représentants de la ville ou du roi, reproduites en totalité pour la plupart. Certaines sont émaillées de citations latines ou même grecques comme à Abbeville, pour appuyer l’argumentation. L’efficace de la parole passe par l’éloquence et la rhétorique. L’accueil du roi, de la reine ou d’un Grand s’exprime dans un langage qui doit être en rapport avec la dignité du personnage reçu et qui révèle la maîtrise de l’art oratoire par le porte-parole. La cérémonie de la harangue est précédée d’une gestuelle que tous les auteurs mentionnent : le porte-parole se met à genou en signe d’obéissance et de soumission. Abondent aussi dans la relation les versifications diverses, comme les distiques élégiaques, et les inscriptions lapidaires reproduites. Par conséquent, de nombreuses hybridations textuelles ornent le récit. Par exemple : de l’Antiquité grecque ou romaine, les citations tirées des poèmes homériques et virgiliens, des Odes d’Horace et Épigrammes de Martial  ; les références historiques, puisées dans l’Histoire romaine de Tite-Live, la Pharsale de Lucain, l’Histoire naturelle de Pline l’Ancien ; les fables d’Ésope ; les allégories moralisées des Métamorphoses d’Ovide ; les sentences du rhéteur Ménandre ou de l’historien Plutarque. Des références sont puisées dans la Bible ou proviennent de sources chrétiennes tirées de Clément d’Alexandrie ou d’Eusèbe de Césarée. Enfin, les sources de la Renaissance sont tirées, entre autres, de la Divine Comédie de Dante, des Adages d’Érasme, des poèmes de Du Bartas et de Du Bellay, ainsi que Les Hiéroglyphiques de Pierio Valeriano, Les Emblèmes d’Alciat, et les Devises héroïques de Claude Paradin. Le livret d’entrée est donc bien un assemblage de textes appris et connus, insérés ou imbriqués dans le récit des faits, pour constituer une complexité d’éléments, un mélange dynamique de lettres et d’images. Le texte peut aussi être une déco16 

Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen, BM, Registre A.21, fols 197v, 200, et 201.

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ration littéraire, car un texte à lire ou à traduire est d’abord vu. Les inscriptions, surtout en latin et en grec, sont donc à première vue des dessins et des ornements pour les lecteurs qui n’ont pas la connaissance de ces langues. Ainsi, les habitants ayant vécu dans la fièvre des préparatifs peuvent lire et relire les programmes dans les livrets d’entrée.

Les Auteurs des livrets et leurs motivations Les entrées royales et solennelles du règne d’Henri IV sont pour la plupart des œuvres signées. Pierre Matthieu, avocat du roi, signe l’entrée du roi à Lyon, ainsi que celle de Mme de la Guiche ; Simon Descoustures, également avocat du roi, est l’auteur de l’entrée du roi à Limoges ; Gilles Bry, avocat à la cour du Parlement, signe l’entrée du roi à Angers ; Jean Feraud, avocat d’Avignon, est l’auteur de l’entrée du cardinal-légat Octave Aquaviva. Des magistrats comme Josse Beauvarlet, siéger au présidial d’Abbeville, et François Lemaître, conseiller au présidial d’Orléans, sont les auteurs respectifs de l’entrée du roi et de l’entrée du prince de Condé, alors héritier potentiel de la couronne. Antoine de Laval, géographe du roi, est l’auteur de l’entrée du roi à Moulins. Enfin, René Beaulart, greffier de Caen, signe l’entrée du roi et de la reine à Caen. Certaines œuvres sont collectives comme les trois placards illustrés de l’entrée à Paris, l’entrée du roi à Rouen et l’entrée du roi à Metz. D’autres encore sont anonymes, tirés des Registres de la ville, il s’agit de l’entrée du duc de Savoie à Dijon et de l’entrée de Bellièvre à Lyon. Le statut professionnel des auteurs est donné dans les relations, en résumé, trois sont avocats du roi, l’un est géographe du roi, l’autre est avocat à Avignon, deux œuvrent au présidial, l’un comme conseiller et l’autre comme siéger, et le dernier est greffier. Les auteurs sont pour la plupart procureur ou magistrat de province, donc juristes.17 Ces relationnistes sont des officiers ‘moyens’18 du roi

17  Le statut social et professionnel des auteurs des entrées confirme le changement de perspective et l’objectif des entrées, qui se politisent radicalement sous Henri IV. 18  ‘L’officier “moyen” serait celui qui n’appartenait pas à l’élite des cours souveraines, et qui ne se confondait pas avec l’élite des cours souveraines, et qui ne se confondait pas pourtant avec les simples avocats, qui dominait sans conteste les bas officiers basochiens et la troupe besogneuse des huissiers, notaires ou procureurs. On peut toutefois proposer des termes institutionnels précis, il s’agirait des officiers de justice des présidiaux et aussi des conseillers de bailliages et de sénéchaussées’. Cassan, ‘Avant-propos’, dans Les Officiers ‘moyens’ à l’époque moderne, dir. par Cassan, p. 10.

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qui ‘glorifient à la fois le passé de leur province et l’ordre monarchique’.19 Tout en rédigeant une histoire de leur ville et de leur région, Descoustures à Limoges,20 Matthieu à Lyon ou les auteurs de l’entrée à Metz21 font également l’apologie de la monarchie. Ils rappellent les divers ordres de chevalerie, les armoiries du roi ou de ses ancêtres, et brossent un portrait élogieux du roi, restaurateur et pacificateur de l’État, vertueux, clément, juste et pieux. La puissance de l’expression figurative ouvre de la sorte un dialogue à la gloire du roi, à sa renommée. Les relationnistes exposent avec exactitude leurs intentions et leur motivation dans les épîtres dédicatoires au roi et les avis aux lecteurs. Dans le préambule adressé au roi, ils affirment dans un langage officiel leur fidélité au monarque. Pierre Matthieu termine son adresse ‘Au Roi’ en souhaitant dans des propos hyperboliques que Dieu entende ses prières et accorde longue vie au roi vertueux, ‘qui tant longue qu’elle puisse estre ne sera encor que trop courte pour le besoin que la France a de la presence et de l’authorité d’un si bon, si grand, si juste et si vaillant Prince’.22 Dans sa pièce liminaire ‘Aux lecteurs’, il certifie que son témoignage est vrai et authentique. Ainsi, il y développe ses idées sur la nature de l’histoire qu’il donne à lire, en particulier sa conviction qu’elle est de portée générale tout en étant l’histoire du roi, et qu’elle est fondée sur des sources qui autorisent le récit. Matthieu se distingue ainsi de l’annaliste qui consigne les événements récents en y mêlant des légendes et des miracles.23 D’ailleurs, il évoque sa défiance au sujet de ‘quelque annaliste’.24 Dans l’adresse ‘Au lecteur’ de Rouen, l’auteur exprime un sentiment semblable se qualifiant de ‘grave historien’, sérieux et réfléchi, c’est-à-dire qui a le souci de dire la vérité. Du grave historien la fidelle escriture Faict veoir à ces neveux le rare et le plus beau Des faicts des anciens ; comme sur un tableau Leurs combats bien dressez le peintre nous figure.25 19 

Les Officiers ‘moyens’ à l’époque moderne, dir. par Cassan, p. 11. Descoustures, Discours contenant l’antique fondation. 21  Fabert, Voyage du Roy à Metz. 22  Matthieu, L’entrée de […] Henri IIII, Roy de France & de Navarre, p. 3 non paginé. 23  Huppert, L’Idée de l’histoire parfaite, p. 16. 24  Matthieu vise probablement Paul Émile, qui prétend que Charlemagne est ‘tuteur et régent’ et non pas roi (Matthieu, L’entrée de […] Henri IIII, Roy de France & de Navarre, p. 82). ‘La présentation de l’histoire de France restait, pour l’essentiel, une version classique des Grandes chroniques’ (Huppert, L’Idée de l’histoire parfaite, p. 35). 25  Discours de la joyeuse et triomphante entrée de […] prince Henri IIII, p. 4 non paginé. 20 

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Ces praticiens de l’histoire exposent leur souci d’authenticité dans la recherche des faits et de leur véracité. Cette quête passe par des thèmes puisés dans la mythologie, l’astronomie et la météorologie. Et aussi dans les topoi du manque de temps ou du roi thaumaturge, dans les réactualisations de la figure allégorique en symbiose avec l’architecture qu’elle décore. À Avignon, l’allégorie de la vérité côtoie la figure de la ville.26 À Limoges, l’exactitude des sources apparaît sous la plume de Descoustures qui, à défaut de la copie du texte, n’a pu transcrire la harangue de l’évêque. À Orléans, Lemaître affirme qu’il a perdu la mémoire de certaines inscriptions. De cette littérature de circonstance et de témoignage ressort une ‘constante épistémologique’, celle de l’autopsie : ‘Il s’agit en effet de l’œil comme marque d’énonciation. D’un “j’ai vu” comme intervention du narrateur dans son récit, pour faire preuve’.27 En général, toutefois, le narrateur n’intervient qu’à de rares occasions, sauf dans l’entrée de Moulins où Antoine de Laval est très présent et fait part abondamment au lecteur de ses émotions.

Le Cas particulier de l’entrée du roi à Moulins le 26 septembre 1595 Nous analysons plus précisément le livret, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée an sa ville de Moulins an Bourbonnois, composé de deux parties. La première, très courte, comprend la dédicace au roi et la suivante, bien plus longue, contient le récit de l’entrée qui s’intitule : Discours, sur l’interprétation des Eloges, Devises, Emblêmes, et Inscriptions de l’arc Trionfal erigé à l’antrée du Roy en sa ville de Moulins le 26. Septambre 1595.28 Le livret de l’entrée, comptant quinze feuillets, est inséré dans un traité sociologique et de conseils sur différents métiers, sa particularité est d’avoir été entièrement rédigé avant la cérémonie. L’auteur, né dans le Forez et mort à Moulins,29 s’appelle Antoine de Laval, gendre de Nicolas de Nicolay, géographe du roi,30 dont il épousa la belle-fille Isabelle de 26 

Feraud, Bref recueil et sommaire discours. Hartog, Le Miroir d’Hérodote, pp. 396–97. 28  Dorénavant, nous utiliserons pour cette entrée la référence suivante : Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée. 29  Né en 1550, il est mort en 1632. Henri Faure affirme qu’il eut comme précepteur JeanPapire Masson, ‘l’un des hommes les plus savants de son temps […] qui lui inspira le goût de l’antiquité classique et surtout de l’histoire’ (Faure, Antoine de Laval et les écrivains bourbonnais de son temps, pp. 291–92. 30  Dussourd, Histoire de Moulins, pp. 75–81. On apprend entre autres que lors du séjour de la Cour de Charles IX et de Catherine de Médicis à Moulins en 1566, Nicolas de Nicolay 27 

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Buckingham.31 Très attaché à son territoire, Antoine de Laval, sieur de Bélair et maître des eaux et forêts du Bourbonnais, souhaitait que sa ville prospérât. Il obtint à son tour le brevet de géographe du roi et accéda à la capitainerie du parc de Beaumanoir et du château de Moulins.32 Il avait rassemblé, dans sa bibliothèque et son cabinet du château, ‘un grand nombre de chartes, de cadres d’armées, de plans de villes et de fortifications, d’armes, de portraits, de peintures, de livres écrits en diverses langues’.33 Le roi appréciait ses visites au château de Moulins et ‘prenait plaisir à examiner les œuvres que l’auteur avait collectionnées dans sa bibliothèque qui était des plus célèbres’. En ‘homme de terrain’, Henri IV ‘trouvait les cartes régionales plus éloquentes que les longs discours’.34 Dans sa dédicace au roi, l’auteur, qui fut chargé par le maire et les échevins de la ville de préparer l’entrée,35 énonce les intentions et les motivations qui le poussèrent à entreprendre la rédaction de l’entrée : la devotion de ce peuple, et mon zele ardant au service de vôtre Majesté ont fait naître ce discours, et que vous desirés savoir le sans de l’apareil que céte ville a dressé par ma conduite à vôtre antrée, que vôtre Majesté me commande de luy interpreter moy-même.36

Fort de l’appui des Moulinois qui, restés fidèles au roi durant les troubles de la Ligue, suivaient ainsi l’exemple de leur gouverneur Gilbert de Chazeron, l’auteur répond à une commande royale qui exige de fournir tout le programme, dont il était à la fois : ‘l’Architecte, le Peintre, le Menusier, le Poëte, et le Manœuvre’.37 eut comme commande d’écrire une description de la province intitulée Générale description du Bourbonnois, qui reste encore précieuse aujourd’hui. 31  N. de Nicolay épousa la veuve de son ami Buckingham et adopta l’enfant. Isabelle était donc d’origine anglaise par son père et hollandaise par sa mère, Jeanne de Steltink (Thuillier, ‘Peinture et politique’, p. 190 n. 11). 32  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 393v. 33  Henri IV et la reconstruction du royaume, p. 249. Selon Faure, A. de Laval avait rassemblé de nombreux documents dans sa bibliothèque, qui était ‘à la fois un musée et une bibliothèque où il recevait souvent la visite des rois, des princes, des seigneurs, des ambassadeurs, bref de toutes sortes de personnes d’honneur et de qualité’ (Faure, Antoine de Laval et les écrivains bourbonnais de son temps, p. 293). Ce dépôt cartographique fut anéanti dans l’incendie du château de Moulins le 2 juin 1755. Longeon, Les Écrivains foréziens du xvie siècle, p. 398 n. 42. 34  Babelon, Henri IV, p. 757. 35  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 383v. 36  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 382. 37  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384v.

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De plus, il précise pour justifier sa dédicace : ‘je feroy tort à vôtre brave et Royalle humeur de chercher aillieurs (sic) un Parrain pour vous offrir ce qui ne peut convenir qu’à vous même’.38 À la fois concepteur et réalisateur de l’entrée, il est aussi l’auteur du livret, ainsi que commentateur et traducteur de toutes les inscriptions latines et grecques. Il rappelle en effet ce devoir interprétatif à la fin de son récit, tout en insistant sur l’urgence de l’accomplir rapidement : ‘Et me commandant à l’heure même de luy expliquer le sans de toute céte œuvre, j’an ébauchay la presante interpretation à la hâte, pour la presanter à sa Majesté’.39 Cet échéancier très serré se lit comme une véritable contrainte temporelle à laquelle sont soumises toutes les tâches qui sont perçues alors comme des obligations. De toute évidence, le roi très pressé n’aura pas eu l’occasion d’apprécier les multiples inscriptions et devises qui ornaient les architectures. En ce qui concerne la cérémonie de l’entrée en tant qu’événement, l’auteur reste très peu disert. Il donne quelques informations dans le dernier paragraphe. En provenance de Lyon, le roi, sa suite et ses troupes arrivèrent par le faubourg des Carmes, où se trouvait le couvent. Selon la coutume, le souverain fut accueilli à une lieue de la ville par les compagnies en armes de Moulins et de ses faubourgs, soit quelque quatre mille hommes au total. C’est à partir du faubourg des Carmes que le cortège se forma pour entrer dans la ville. L’auteur mentionne que le roi en homme de guerre apprécia et ‘monstra de prandre un singulier plaisir’ à voir toutes ces troupes ; puis, il poursuit que le visiteur prestigieux loua même ‘notre petit appareil’ et que, pour exprimer son admiration, il aurait prononcé, en latin, ce vers tiré des Métamorphoses d’Ovide : ‘L’art surpassait la matière’.40 Au cours de la relation, l’auteur livre également son souci de satisfaire le peuple par l’ajout de vers en français ; il écrit ‘ces vers François pour donner quelque chose à la ferveur du peuple qui y veut avoir part’.41 En revanche, c’est contre son gré qu’il se plie à la traduction qu’il rechigne à faire, car c’‘est une des plus grandes corvées que j’aye à faire que de trahir (ainsi apelé-je le traduire) les vers Latins an François’,42 mais aussi par respect de la langue latine, la langue française n’ayant 38 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 382r–v.. 39  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 396. 40  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 396. Citation tirée d’Ovide, Les Méta­ morphoses, texte établi et trad. par Lafaye, ii. 5. 41  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 391. Le problème de la traduction est sou­levé dans l’article de Margaret M. McGowan (McGowan, ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance’, p. 36). 42  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 391v.

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pas, selon lui, la même faculté ‘pour la beauté des mots’.43 Quant à la traduction qu’il propose des vers grecs, il la juge ‘platte au pris des pointes Grecques’. 44 De plus, toujours en ‘tres-humble et fidele et tres-obeïssant’45 serviteur du roi, l’auteur harangua les Ambassadeurs vénitiens de passage à Moulins.46

Le Récit d’Antoine de Laval Antoine de Laval construit le récit de l’entrée du roi à Moulins sur un enchaînement à deux niveaux : les faits historiques se trouvent sans cesse commentés, interprétés par des jugements personnels, fort éloignés de la neutralité. Ces signes providentiels servent de tremplin à l’épanchement des sentiments et angoisses de l’auteur, ils s’amplifient et se métamorphosent pour exprimer sa sensibilité. Malgré les peines, la morosité ou la colère, l’économie des émotions n’affecte pas la raison de l’auteur dont la fidélité demeure indéfectible et la volonté reste tout entière soumise à l’obéissance au monarque. La manière d’écrire de l’auteur détonne dans la série d’entrées du règne d’Henri IV et traduit la présence continue de l’énonciateur. Cette subjectivité permet d’émettre des doutes sur la véracité même de l’entrée, même si le roi passe vingt-quatre heures à Moulins. De plus, les repères temporels comme les dates et les événements historiques corroborent la réalité du discours. Laval propose dans sa narration d’expliquer le sens des figures et de louer la lignée du premier Bourbon : l’Interpretation des Figures, Amblêmes, Inscriptions, et Devises de l’Arc trionfal, que j’ay desseigné pour vôtre Antrée an la ville qui se dit bien-heureuse d’étre la premiere et originaire sujète de la Royalle Maison de vos ancêtres, dont vous étes aujourd’hui le chef tres-auguste.47

Le récit révèle que la cérémonie avait été prévue dès octobre 1594. Mais elle fut repoussée à plusieurs reprises jusqu’au 26 septembre 1595, à cause de l’incertitude du départ du roi pour la Picardie à la suite de la rupture de la trêve avec l’Espagne. Faut-il le rappeler l’Espagne appuyait les Ligueurs. L’auteur mentionne que les divisions entre Français sont symbolisées par les couleurs des écharpes, le blanc est le signe du ralliement au roi, le noir celui du ralliement au duc de Mayenne 43 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 386. Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 389v. 45  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 382v. 46  Les Vénitiens sont des alliés d’Henri IV depuis 1589 (Garrisson-Estèbe, Henri IV, p. 151). 47  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 382v. 44 

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après l’assassinat des Guise et le rouge celui du ralliement aux Espagnols. Il écrit : ‘Qu’antre François de même Nom, de même Religion, de même sang, et qui ne different an rien qu’an l’écharpe ; les uns attachés au blanc, les autres au noir du caprice, (car le Rouge est un trop perfide et dénaturé angagement)’.48 Cette situation conflictuelle se prolongea durant toute l’année à la frontière de la France et du Brabant, occupée par les troupes espagnoles qui défiaient les régiments français. L’auteur rappelle à la toute fin de la relation que, le 27 septembre, le roi ‘partit pour s’an aller en dilijance au secours de la Picardie, menassée par l’ennemi’.49 La narration s’attarde sur les préparatifs, longs et laborieux, de la ville qui expliquent les raisons pour lesquelles la solennité architecturale de l’entrée royale prévue n’a pas pu être réalisée. Alors qu’‘une petite esperance que le roi pourroit venir à la mi-décembre’ 1594,50 ‘fondoit comme la glace d’une nuit’51 à l’annonce du premier contrordre, suivi rapidement d’un second. Longuement décrits de manière hyperbolique, ces deux contretemps mettent à rude épreuve l’ardeur créatrice de l’auteur : la tentative d’assassinat du roi par Jean Chastel52 et le passage par Moulins de trois ambassadeurs vénitiens. Laval affirme que cette agression violente contre la personne du roi s’alliant aux ‘assidues incommodités de la guerre’ suffisait ‘pour troubler les esprits’ des Moulinois. De plus, il poursuit pour faire part de sa pétrification personnelle : ‘J’avoue pour mon regard (qui suis en transe de céte aprehansion) que céte alarme me glaça si fort, que je devins comme Niobe’.53 Pour appuyer son exacerbation, Laval cite le vers d’Ovide : ‘Il n’y a plus rien de vivant dans ses traits’.54 Peu après cette première interruption importante, les circulaires royales intiment l’ordre de recevoir le groupe d’ambassadeurs vénitiens, en route pour Paris et passant à Moulins. Cette visite impromptue éloigna Laval de son dessein, embarrassé et désappointé car, explique-t-il, elle ‘nous rand aprantifs Italiens’.55 Ainsi, pour exécuter fidèlement les ordres royaux, il harangua, dans leur langue, les ambassadeurs.

48 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 385. Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 396. 50  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384. 51  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384. 52  L’attentat eut lieu à Paris le 27 décembre 1594. Le roi ne fut que légèrement blessé à la lèvre. 53  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384v. 54  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384v. Citation tirée d’Ovide, Les Méta­ morphoses, texte établi et trad. par Lafaye, v. 305. 55  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 387. 49 

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L’annonce imminente de l’arrivée du roi, prévue pour le 8 février 1595, interrompit brutalement et radicalement l’élaboration descriptive du premier programme et obligea l’auteur, fort contrarié et d’humeur chagrine, à en concevoir un second. Il ne supprima pas le premier au profit du second, bien au contraire, il poursuivit sa relation en enchaînant la description du second programme, et évoque avec fébrilité à la fois l’urgence de narrer tout en détail et la volonté de faire voir, de démontrer, de compiler, voire d’amalgamer. Le fait de vouloir conserver la description du premier appareil architectural justifierait en somme l’accueil modeste annoncé au début de la relation. Aussi crains-je qu’il ne doive pas étre permis aus petites villes de ce Royaume de contre-imiter ce grand Monde de Paris, ces grandes villes de Rouan, Lyon, et autres, pour tracer les moindres lignes des Arcs trionfaus, deus à la reception de si grande et auguste Majesté, comme est celle de nôtre grand Henry, l’Alexandre de nôtre âge.56

En effet, l’auteur émit des craintes au sujet de la comparaison, que le roi pourrait être tenté de faire, entre les réceptions fastueuses organisées par les grands centres français et l’accueil plus simple de la ville de Moulins. Ce n’est ni la mauvaise volonté de la ville, ni le manque de fidélité envers le roi, qui explique la retenue, mais plutôt le manque de temps. Pressé par l’ardeur et la hâte de créer, le narrateur exprime la fougue de son activité littéraire dans la description du programme architectural. Les idées nombreuses fusent, abondent et se bousculent dans son esprit, tant et si bien que la main, tenant la plume, ne peut suivre le bouillonnement de la création pour tout transcrire, tout noter. L’auteur doit donc s’en tenir à l’essentiel, tout en prenant soin de réitérer sans cesse sa bonne foi et sa fidélité au roi au cours de cette intense production intellectuelle. Je prans le charbon et desseigne moy-même ce que mon ardeur et mon zele extrême à represanter la grandeur de sa Majesté, me peurent fournir de suget. Anquoy certes j’avoue franchemant que ma main ne peut jamais suffire à l’abondance des conceptions qui m’affluoient, pour le grand et infiny merite du suget, dont l’Idée m’est perpetuellemant an l’ame. Toutesfois pour ne me perdre an ces inexplicables détours de divers argumans, je m’attache au plus presant que je figure ainsi.57

56  57 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 383. Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 384v.

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Le Rêve d’architecture d’Antoine de Laval: art de mémoire et patrimoine L’auteur décrit un premier ensemble architectural magnifique, composé de trois rangées d’arcs de triomphe, chaque rangée comprenant trois arcs décorés de figures triangulaires ou pentagonales. Cette construction ainsi que ses décorations et ses figurations sont conçues sous le symbolisme des nombres impairs (trois, cinq, sept et neuf ), que les anciens louent. Dans les Bucoliques, entre autres, Virgile justifie ce choix en poursuivant : ‘Dieu prend plaisir au nombre impair, pource que sa division n’est jamais sans demy’.58 Laval prend même le soin de reproduire de sa plume deux demi-cercles enlacés, qui forment un cercle parfait. Cette figure de perfection se déploie dans un commentaire sur l’unité du peuple. La première rangée d’arcs de triomphe, d’ordre dorique, est réservée aux allégories de Religion et de Valeur, ‘d’essance inseparable d’avec les bons Princes’. La seconde rangée, d’ordre corinthien, est attribuée aux victoires du roi et à la prise de quelques villes. Ce rang d’arcs doit être logé à cent pas du premier et être composé d’une grande colonne de Trajan et d’un obélisque, pour lequel l’auteur doit freiner son enthousiasme au sujet de sa hauteur : ‘Revenant à mon Obelisque, lequel mon ardeur alloit plus elevant que ne pouvoit la main, ny l’artifice des Artisans’.59 Toutes les descriptions regorgent de détails et d’informations qui se déploient en une série d’énumérations amplificatrices sur lesquelles se greffent des histoires entremêlées d’une suite d’emportements émotifs. La troisième rangée devait être encore plus majestueuse et diversifiée que les deux premières, mêlant trois ordres d’architecture : le toscan, l’ionique et le dorique. L’ardeur descriptive et l’effervescence créatrice du relationniste sont interrompues par la visite des ambassadeurs vénitiens. Le relationniste entreprend la description du second programme, qui est ‘rac­ courci’, n’étant composé que d’une seule architecture, qualifiée de ‘petit pié’. Le premier étage repose sur des colonnes d’ordre toscan, le deuxième étage est d’ordre dorique et le troisième d’ordre ionique. En effet, le temps mis à la disposition de l’auteur ne lui permit que ‘d’ébaucher prontemant une grosse structure de neuf arcs, à trois pour rang, les uns sur les autres’.60 Si nous insistons sur ces architectures, c’est que sous la plume de Laval, elles constituent le dispositif spatial du récit qui rappelle en quelque sorte un art de la 58 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 385. Citation tirée de Virgile, Bucoliques, texte établi et trad. par Saint-Denis, viii. 75. 59  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 387. 60  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 387v.

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mémoire. En effet, ce dispositif est créé par la géométrie de l’espace architectural d’inspiration vitruvienne, comme le précise l’auteur,61 donc romaine. Il sert de cadre monumental prestigieux à l’événement en train de s’écrire, l’auteur y déposant et y disposant une accumulation de figures, d’emblèmes, de devises et de décorations que la description fait voir aux lecteurs. Les architectures plantent en quelque sorte le décor du récit, pour lequel l’auteur emprunte également à Vitruve le lexique de l’ornementation architecturale : corniche, colonne, frise, architrave, frontispice, tympan, niche, piédestal. Ces différents lieux architecturaux se contextualisent au fil de la narration et, ainsi, s’enrichissent de connotations éthiques et morales que la puissance figurative de la rhétorique amplifie, embellit, tout en scellant la fiction et la réalité discursive. Dans ce dispositif scénique du discours se succèdent les figures les plus hétéro­clites dans un langage, tantôt énigmatique et hermétique, comme celui des emblèmes ou des devises, des symboles obscurs, voire cabalistiques, comme ‘des plus mysterieus Hieroglyphiques des Egyptiens’.62 Un langage tantôt allégorique, celui des figures mythologiques peintes. À la voûte d’un arc apparaît la figure d’Hercule/Atlas portant sur ces épaules un globe terrestre, parsemé de fleurs de lys, un vers de Virgile l’explique : ‘et il gouverna le monde pacifié par les vertus de son père’.63 Ou encore le tableau d’Apollon qui est enrichi ‘de chapeaus de fleurs de soucis, d’heliotropes, de lyres à l’antique, de lauriers, d’Arcs, de carquois et de flammes’.64 Un langage tantôt transparent, comme celui des chapeaux de triomphe, de laurier ou de lierre, des trophées des victoires et des couronnes antiques. Le rêve d’architecture de Laval se lit donc comme un prétexte spatial, un support harmonieux et signifiant, dont l’ordonnancement se lit précisément, dans ce dispositif la proximité des figures, des devises et des emblèmes établit ainsi un dialogue entre l’espace architecturé, les mots et les images. De l’art de la mémoire toujours, l’entrée de Laval conserve les nombreuses références culturelles, voire érudites qui renvoient à un discours antérieur que tout lecteur idéal doit connaître. Ces références fonctionnent en quelque sorte comme des pré-textes. La narration de Laval est l’une des plus érudites du règne d’Henri IV. L’auteur déploie son savoir et étale sa culture humaniste dans les 61  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 387v. Laval cite Vitruve, De L’architecture, texte établi et aug. par Gros, iv (1992), chap. 2, ‘Des ornements et des colonnes’. 62  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 386v. 63  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 389. Citation tirée de Virgile, Bucoliques, texte établi et trad. par Saint-Denis, iv. 7. 64  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 393.

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multiples citations qui se lisent comme des textes appris et connus, qui sont réactualisés, motivés à nouveau dans l’entrée. Laval fait donc œuvre de ‘compilateur’, donc d’antiquaire, qui comble les lacunes des sources narratives grâce aux documents juridiques, aux traités architecturaux, aux recueils d’emblèmes, aux inscriptions,65 puisées dans les œuvres des poètes et des historiens de l’antiquité. Il forge le tableau du roi vertueux, juste, prudent et pieux : en empruntant les vers de Pindare, tirés des Néméennes, pour indiquer la supériorité de la parole sur les actes, mais essentiellement ceux des Pythiques, qui fonctionnent comme modèle social et comme maximes politiques.66 Le mérite provient de Valère Maxime, le courage invincible de Stace, l’amitié de Cicéron, le fait que le roi ‘embellit tout de ses doigts’ de Théocrite. Ainsi, Antoine de Laval puise aux sources littéraires disponibles pour étayer, authentifier et valoriser sa pensée qui, tout entière, honore le roi. L’histoire est soumise à celle du roi, à ses victoires, pour diffuser dans le monde entier la gloire d’Henri IV, comme en témoignent les figures de Minerve, Victoire, Mémoire et Renommée. Il s’agit pour Laval d’appuyer savamment la filiation du premier Bourbon. ‘Le patronyme se réfère à la lignée, le blason au patrimoine, base matérielle de la reproduction de la lignée’.67 De plus, toutes les fables, toutes les histoires sont vues par le petit bout de la lorgnette royale. Laval rappelle la généalogie du duché des Bourbons en détaillant les devises68 et l’Ordre de chevalerie de la ceinture d’espérance, fondé par Louis II de Bourbon. D’ailleurs, tout le second étage de la construction architecturale est réservé à la lignée d’Henri IV. Entre les colonnes des arcs, sur l’intervalle de gauche sont peints les écussons des Bourbons et de leur alliance. Et sur celui de droite sont reproduites ‘plein de devises de la maison de Bourbon comme la Ceinture, Le Chardon, les pots de feu, Le Cerf volant, la Janette, la Colonne, l’Épée flambant’.69 La plupart de ces emblèmes sont ornementaux, par contre celui de la ceinture qui représente l’espérance est développé dans des élucubrations savantes. Toutes ces compilations byzantines sont basées sur des citations des recueils de lois connus sous le nom de Code Justinien et de Code Théodosien, qui reprennent mot à mot les textes que les glossateurs ont érigés en lois. Laval mentionne le jurisconsulte Alciat après avoir fait un long développement sur les significations du baudrier et 65 

Huppert, L’Idée de l’histoire parfaite, pp. 11–12. Girot, Pindare avant Ronsard. 67  Descimon, ‘Un langage de la dignité’, p. 71. 68  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fols 390v,391. 69  Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 392v. 66 

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les détenteurs de celui-ci. Vient renforcer cette filiation la numismatique prise sur les médaillons des empereurs Hadrien pour l’‘espérance publique’ ou de Claude pour l’‘espoir du peuple romain’ ou encore d’Auguste pour l’‘espérance auguste’. L’auteur émaille sa narration d’inscriptions françaises ou latines qui font allusion à cette lignée. Par exemple, le sizain suivant réitère en l’affirmant la ferveur du peuple pour le monarque présent, mais aussi pour la lignée des ducs, ses ancêtres : Grand Monarque indonté, fruit de la tige sainte De nos Ducs tes ayeuls, que la petite anceinte Des murs de ton Moulins se bien-heure de voir : Ces arcs, pour toy Cesar, ont trop peu d’artifice, Leur plus bel ornemant, est le pur sacrifice Du cœur de tes sujets pour te mieus recevoir.70

La culture humaniste très étendue de Laval déploie une somme de connaissances qui constitue le ciment fictif du récit de l’entrée, riche en références profanes ou sacrées, comme les sentences, les emblèmes, ainsi que les héros mythologiques moralisés qui abondent. La littérature est par conséquent le champ ouvert de l’éloquence politique. En outre, le langage des sources littéraires est un prétexte qui, dans le contexte de l’entrée, acquiert un sens anagogique. C’est sans aucun doute dans l’Énéide, épopée de la fondation de la nation romaine, que l’auteur puise les citations les plus nombreuses. Ces dernières servent à louanger le roi, à construire sa mémoire par la médiation de la gloire, comme en témoigne, par exemple, la description du bouclier richement gravé du héros, à représenter les princes du sang qui rendent grâce au roi et à énumérer les cadeaux offerts au roi et à ses officiers, comme témoignage de l’affection des sujets à l’égard de leur monarque.

En conclusion Alors que les entrées royales et solennelles sont des œuvres de circonstance et de témoignage, l’entrée à Moulins est celle d’un auteur qui aurait pu témoigner, mais la temporalité de l’énonciation du récit précède celle de l’événement. La cérémonie de l’entrée a été écourtée probablement faute de temps pour sa réalisation, de plus, le roi devait repartir le lendemain pour Paris et la frontière picarde. Cette relation s’interprète comme une mise en abîme de la cérémonie d’entrée qui insiste, dans 70 

Laval, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée, fol. 391.

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sa composition littéraire, sur la filiation et l’historiographie. Elle se lit comme un don du savoir d’Antoine de Laval entièrement mis au service du roi. Le récit brosse, selon la coutume de l’entrée, un portrait du roi vertueux, juste, clément et pieux, issu d’une lignée fondée en quelque sorte à Moulins, le mariage d’Antoine de Bourbon et de Jeanne d’Albret y ayant été célébré en 1548. Le territoire moulinois se trouve donc symboliquement lié à la fondation de la dynastie par le premier Bourbon. L’entrée est un vaste prétexte pour faire l’étalage d’un savoir qui reflète probablement les trésors contenus dans la bibliothèque d’Antoine de Laval et sert à faire la propagande de la monarchie. Université Concordia, Montréal

Œuvres citées Manuscrits et livres rares Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale, Registre A.21

Sources imprimées Descoustures, Simon, Discours contenant l’antique fondation de la ville et cyté de Lymoges, avec un sommaire des choses plus remarquables qui s’y sont passées lors de l’entrée du Roy tres-chrestien Henri IIII. Roy de France, et de Navarre Seigneur Vicomte de Lymoges le xx. d’Octobre 1605 (Limoges: Bureau, 1607) Discours de la joyeuse et triomphante entrée de très-haut, très-puissant et très magnanime prince Henri IIII de ce nom, très-Chrestien Roy de France et de Navarre, faicte en sa ville de Rouen, capitale de la province et duché de Normandie, le Mercredy saiziéme jour d’octobre 1596 (Rouen: du Petit Val, 1599) Fabert, Abraham, Voyage du Roy à Metz: L’occasion d’iceluy; Ensemble les signes de res­ jouyssance faits par ses habitans, pour honorer l’entrée de sa Majesté (Metz: [s.n.], 1610) Feraud, Jean, Bref recueil et sommaire discours du triumphe faict en la ville d’Avignon, à l’entrée et réception de Monseigneur Illustrissime et Reverendissime cardinal de Aqua viva, creé Legat en la Legation d’Avignon, par nostre Sainct Pere le Pape Clement Huitiesme de ce nom, à Lyon (Lyon: Pillehotte, 1594) Henri IV et la reconstruction du royaume (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1989) Laval, Antoine de, Au roy, sur le discours de son antrée en sa ville de Moulins an Bourbonnais, dans Desseins de professions nobles et publiques, contenans plusieurs traictés divers et rares et, entre autres, l’Histoire de la maison de Bourbon, avec d’autres beaux secrets historiques […] (Paris: L’Angelier, 1912), fols 382–96 Matthieu, Pierre, L’entrée de tres-grand, tres-chrestien, tres-maganime, et victorieux prince, Henri IIII, Roy de France & de Navarre : En sa bonne ville de Lyon, le IIII. Septembre l’an 1595 (Lyon: Michel, 1596)

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Ovide, Les Métamorphoses, texte établi et trad. par Georges Lafaye, 3 tomes (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1969–1972) Virgile, Bucoliques, texte établi et traduit par E. de Saint-Denis, nouvelle édition rev. et aug. par Roger Lesueur (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1992) Vitruve, Vitruve: De L’architecture, texte établi et aug. par Pierre Gros, 10 tomes (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1969–2009), iv (1992)

Études critiques Alazard, Florence, ‘Les Livrets d’entrées royales: une source pour l’histoire urbaine’, dans Images et imaginaires de la ville à l’époque moderne, dir. par Claude Petitfrère, Collection Sciences de la ville, 15 (Tours: Université François-Rabelais, 1998), pp. 35–47 Babelon, Jean-Pierre, Henri IV (Paris: Fayard, 1982) Blanchard, Joël, ‘Le Spectacle du rite: les entrées royales’, Revue historique, 627 (2003), 475–519 Cassan, Michel, dir., Les Officiers ‘moyens’ à l’époque moderne: pouvoir, culture, identité (Limoges: Presses universitaires de Limoges, 1998) Choay, Françoise, L’Allégorie du patrimoine (Paris: Seuil, 1992) Descimon, Robert, ‘Un langage de la dignité: la qualification des personnes dans la société parisienne à l’époque moderne’, dans Dire et vivre l’ordre social en France sous l’Ancien Régime, dir. par Fanny Cosandey, Recherches d’histoire et de sciences sociales, 105 (Paris: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 2005), pp. 69–123 Dussourd, Henriette, Histoire de Moulins d’après la chronique de ses habitants (ClermontFerrand: Volcans, 1975) Faure, Henri, Antoine de Laval et les écrivains bourbonnais de son temps (Genève: Slatkine, 1968) Garrisson-Estèbe, Janine, Henri IV (Paris: Seuil, 1984) Girot, Jean-Eudes, Pindare avant Ronsard: de l’émergence du grec à la publication des quatre premiers livres des ‘Odes’ de Ronsard, Travaux d’humanisme et Renaissance, 355 (Genève: Droz, 2002) Hartog, François, Le Miroir d’Hérodote: essai sur la représentation de l’autre (Paris: Galli­ mard, 1991) —— , Régimes d’historicité: présentisme et expériences du temps, Librairie du xxie siècle (Paris: Seuil, 2003) Huppert, George, L’Idée de l’histoire parfaite (Paris: Flammarion, 1973) Johnson, W. McAllister, ‘Essai de critique interne des livres d’entrées français au xvie siècle’, dans Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, dir. par Jean Jacquot, 3 tomes (Paris: CNRS, 1956–1975), iii (1975), pp. 187–200 Jouhaud, Christian, ‘Quelques réflexions sur les placards imprimés et leurs réceptions entre la Ligue et Fronde’, dans Le Livre et l’historien: études offertes en l’honneur du Professeur Henri-Jean Martin, dir. par Frédéric Barbier et d’autres (Genève: Droz, 1997), pp. 403–13 —— , Sauvez le Grand Siècle ?: présence et transmission du passé (Paris: Seuil, 2007)

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Leniaud, Jean-Michel, L’Utopie française: essai sur le patrimoine (Paris: Mengès, 1992) Lignereux, Yann, Lyon et le roi: de la ‘bonne ville’ à l’absolutisme municipal, 1594–1654, Époques (Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2003) Longeon, Claude, Les Écrivains foréziens du xvie siècle: répertoire biobibliographique, Thèses et mémoires, 1 (Saint-Étienne: Centre d’études foréziennes, 1970) McGowan, Margaret M., ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance: The Status of the Printed Text’, dans French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, dir. par Nicolas Russell et Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 29–54 Nassichuk, John, Vérité et fiction dans les entrées solennelles à la Renaissance et à l’âge classique (Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2009) Thuillier, Jacques, ‘Peinture et politique: une théorie de la galerie royale sous Henri IV’, dans Études d’art français offertes à Charles Sterling, dir. par Albert Châtelet et Nicole Reynaud (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1975), pp. 175–205

Les Inscriptions poétiques du livret de Jacques de Cahaignes et l’éloge latin du duc de Joyeuse lors de son entrée solennelle à Caen (1583) John Nassichuk

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eux mois avant de se rendre à Rome ‘par le commandement et aux depens du Roi pour faire le voyage de Nostre Dame de Lorette’, le duc de Joyeuse, nouveau membre de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit,1 doté du pre­ stige que lui conférait avec éclat la faveur royale, fit son entrée solennelle à Caen. Henri  III l’avait nommé Amiral de France deux ans auparavant, lui accordant aussi les titres de lieutenant général et gouverneur de Normandie.2 Le sieur de Bourgueville rapporta en effet que, le 5 avril 1583, le duc ‘fut reçu avec toutes 1 

L’Estoille, Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III, éd. par Lazard and Schrenck, iv (2000), p. 65 (janvier 1583) : ‘Le premier jour de l’an 1583, le Roy fist la solennelle celebration et cerimonie de son Ordre du Saint-Esprit, aux Augustins à Paris, en la maniere accoustumée ; et, le lendemain, après le service des morts, fust solennellement enterré le manteau de l’Ordre du feu messire Philippes Stroszy, confrere dudit Ordre, mort au conflict naval, pres la Terzère. Furent faits nouveaux chevaliers dudit Ordre, les ducs de Maienne, de Joieuse, et Despernon’. 2  Bourgueville de Bras, Les Recherches et antiquitéz de la province de Neustrie, pp. 197–98 : ‘L’an 1581. Le Roy porta tant de Faveur à un jeune Seigneur d’Arques. Et luy fut si agreable de luy faire espouser Madame Marguerite de Lorraine sœur de la Royne. Et le voulant honorer de quelque grand estat de marque, le créa Duc de Joyeuse et Admiral de France. Et d’autant que comme nous avons escrit en nos recerches de ceste Province. Il ny souloit avoir d’antiquité qu’un Gouverneur et Lieutenant general de sa Majesté. Et un Lieutenant general et Gouverneur de sadicte Majesté en son absence. Il créa ledit Sieur Duc de Joyeuse son beau frere Lieutenant general et Gouverneur en Normandie, faisant gratuite recompense aux Seigneurs de Carrouges, d’O et la Milerée, qui estoient Lieutenants et Gouverneurs en chef, chacun en son district, et encores les maintenoit ses Lieutenants audit pays en l’absence dudit Seigneur de Joyeuse’.

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démonstrations de joie, tant en théâtre, infanterie, son de cloches et artillerie et le Te Deum chanté en l’église Saint-Pierre et tous autres applaudissements’.3 Les Registres de la Ville de Caen contiennent aussi plusieurs documents concernant la préparation et le déroulement de cette journée.4 Ainsi, une lettre du roi Henri III, datée du 14 mars, annonce l’arrivée prochaine du duc à Caen.5 Dans sa lettre, Henri demanda à la ville d’organiser un bon accueil au gouverneur de Normandie, son beau-frère. Ensuite, un avis daté du 25 mars informa les échevins de l’arrivée du duc de Joyeuse à Rouen et son intention de se rendre sous peu à Caen. À ce moment-là la ville députa vers le duc deux hommes, afin de ‘connaître ses volontés’.6 Elle engagea en même temps trois adeptes de la plume, Jacques de Cahaignes, docteur en médecine, Jean Rouxel de Bretteville, ancien échevin de la ville et poète, et un certain Etienne Le Fanu, avocat et poète, à composer quelques pièces de vers, en latin et en français, pour servir d’inscriptions en l’honneur du duc lors de son entrée.7 La ville embaucha également des ‘maistres peintres’, ‘par le commandement des échevins gouverneurs’, pour préparer des tableaux. De manière remarquable, les Registres produisent une description assez détaillée de ces images. La présente étude examinera les descriptions des tableaux contenues dans les Registres de la ville, en les comparant à celles du livret de l’entrée, paru à Caen la même année et rédigé par le médecin Jacques de Cahaignes, l’un des trois auteurs d’inscriptions embauchés par la ville dans les semaines qui précédèrent l’arrivée du duc.8 En soulignant la place prépondérante accordée à l’écriture et aux descriptions dans la confection de ce petit livret, l’analyse suggérera l’existence d’un rapport étroit entre les deux documents. Le livret, qui accorde peu de place en effet aux précisions contextuelles comme celles qui paraissent dans le récit du sieur de Bourgueville, ressemble par endroits davantage à une composition prosi3 

Bourgueville de Bras, Les Recherches et antiquitéz de la province de Neustrie, p. 198. Ce chroniqueur note par erreur que l’entrée eut lieu en 1584 : ‘Et en l’an 1584. Monseigneur le Duc de Joyeuse Admiral de France, fist son entrée en ceste ville de Caen, comme Lieutenant general, et Gouverneur souz sa Majesté en ceste Province’. 4  L’historien de Caen, Carel, Histoire de la ville de Caen. Voir la note 1 aux pp. 163–64. 5  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 3. 6  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 1. Les deux députés nommés sont M. Lepetit, procureur du roi, et M. Gosselin. 7  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 3. 8  Ce livret a été republié avec une brève introduction par Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs. T. Gentry reproduit la relation de l’entrée du duc de Joyeuse qui se trouve à Caen, Archives de Caen, Mancel MS 54, pp. 74–76.

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mètre qu’à une véritable chronique. Un texte latin important, en hexamètres dactyliques, fut composé par l’un de ces trois auteurs des inscriptions, Jean Rouxel de Bretteville, pour cette occasion. La dernière partie de l’étude présentera ce poème en soulignant les passages qui se réfèrent à l’entrée d’Anne de Joyeuse à Caen.

Le Livret de Jacques de Cahaignes Le récit du livret consiste essentiellement dans la description et l’interprétation des tableaux et des inscriptions qui apparurent aux trois arrêts effectués par le cortège ducal en marche vers la cathédrale. Ces trois arrêts sont : (1) la porte Millet, point auquel le duc franchit l’enceinte de la ville ; (2) la maison de la ville, au ‘Pont Saint-Pierre’ ; (3) la cathédrale Saint-Pierre elle-même, dernier arrêt non loin de la maison de la ville, destination finale du cortège, dans laquelle Anne de Joyeuse entendit chanter le Te Deum comme le rapporte le sieur de Bourgueville. À chacune de ces trois stations s’offrit à la vue du duc un tableau muni d’inscriptions ; la disposition du livret suggère ainsi une sorte de triptyque, dont l’ordre reflète les trois points nodaux de l’entrée. Le Bref recueil de l’entrée contient précisément quinze citations, pour la plupart très brèves, réparties équitablement entre les trois principaux moments de la procession. Ces petits fragments de texte sont démarqués comme étant, pour certains, les inscriptions qu’arbora l’architecture éphémère, pour d’autres, les devises incorporées aux tableaux décoratifs. Des quinze inscriptions, douze sont en latin, deux en prose et dix en vers. Les trois inscriptions françaises sont de la plume d’Etienne Le Fanu, qui signe aussi, de l’abréviation ‘Fanu’, le premier des deux passages en prose latine. Il s’agit d’un ‘tableau d’escriture’ selon les Registres de la ville, qui se dresse à côté de la porte Millet. L’autre inscription en prose latine, située à la fin du trajet du cortège, à l’extérieur de la cathédrale Saint-Pierre, porte la signature ‘Cahaignes’. Parmi les inscriptions en vers latins, trois portent cette même signature ‘Cahaignes’, les trois autres sont signées ‘Roussel’. Quant aux quatre devises étroitement associées aux tableaux peints, elles sont toujours de la longueur de fragments de vers ou de distiques et demeurent toutes anonymes dans le livret. Les trois inscriptions signées ‘Cahaignes’ sont en hexamètres, alors que celles qui sont signées ‘Roussel’ apparaissent en distiques élégiaques. Une seule inscription (un distique) est anonyme.9 9  L’attribution de ce distique est l’objet de ma contribution au troisième volume des Cahiers du GRES. Voir Nassichuk, ‘A propos d’une inscription latine dans le livret de l’entrée d’Anne de Joyeuse à Caen’. La disposition du recueil des Poemata réserve une section modeste — une séquence de cinq pièces — aux poèmes de Rouxel associés à l’arrivée du duc de Joyeuse à Caen. Cette section comporte les trois distiques signés ‘Roussel’ qui apparaissent dans le livret, la ver-

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Selon l’auteur du livret, le duc de Joyeuse fit son entrée dans la ville de Caen par la porte Millet. Une fois à l’intérieur de la ville, il reçut l’hommage conventionnel d’un poêle de ‘velours violent doublé de satin vert’, orné en broderie des armoiries ducales. Les officiers de la maison de ville portèrent ce poêle devant Anne de Joyeuse jusqu’à l’église Saint-Pierre. Jacques de Cahaignes décrit la configuration de symboles qui accueillit le duc : Et sur l’entrée de ladite porte Millet avoient esté mises les armes du roy et au des­ soubz celles de mondit seigneur et aux deux costez celles de Normandie et de la ville avec des chappeaux de triomphes. Et plus bas trois tableaus au milieu desquelz estoit une inscription contenant ce qui s’en suyt.10

Il s’agit bien de l’inscription en prose latine signée ‘Fanu’, qui annonce solennellement l’arrivée du duc de Joyeuse ‘pair et admiral de la France et de la Normandie’. Cette décoration éphémère semble avoir été conçue pour impressionner le lecteur par sa valeur traditionnelle. En effet, elle précise que le gouverneur de Normandie arriva flanqué de deux cents chevaliers et qu’il fut reçu bien honorablement de la ‘population de Caen qui ne déroge jamais à sa fidélité à l’égard des princes et des légats de princes’.11 Elle constitue aussi, selon toute vraisemblance, l’un des trois tableaux évoqués par l’auteur du livret. Les Registres de la ville font état de deux ‘tableaux’ et d’un ‘tableau d’escriture’, commandés pour la porte Millet dans les préparatifs de l’entrée ducale.12 L’inscription en prose correspond sûrement au ‘tableau d’écriture’, qui figure au milieu des deux tableaux illustrés. En outre, les deux images qui flanquent le ‘tableau d’escriture’ sont ellesmêmes accompagnées chacune d’une inscription qui convient au thème évoqué. D’abord, l’auteur expose rapidement la signification de l’un de ces deux tableaux. Pour renforcer l’explication, il reproduit le distique de Jean Rouxel qui apparaît en dessous de l’image :

sion alternative du distique non signée et une longue pièce encomiastique, en 170 hexamètres dactyliques, adressée au duc amiral de France et gouverneur de la Normandie. De ces cinq pièces, seul l’éloge du duc ne parut pas dans ou avec le livret — or la longueur de ce texte suggère qu’il s’agit, non d’une inscription ornementale, mais bien d’une pièce présentée au duc par le poète lors de son arrivée. 10  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 2. 11  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 2: ‘ob auspicatiss(imum) eius in urbem adventum pop(ulus) Cad(omensis) fidei observantiaq(ue) ergo, qua in principes principumq(ue) legat(i) usus est hactenus’. 12  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8.

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Et à l’un des costez estoit un tableau monstrant les deux puissances que le Roy a donnees audit seigneur tant sur la mer que sur ceste province de Normandie par la verge d’Aaron accompagnée de ces vers : Hac concussit Aron terram, concussit et undam Et Deus arbitrio subdit utrumque meo.13 (Avec celle-ci Aaron frappa la terre et l’onde Et Dieu les plaça, toutes les deux, sous mon arbitrage)

Ce distique apparaît verbatim, sous le titre Virga Aronis, dans les deux éditions des Poemata de Rouxel.14 Le deuxième tableau peint, situé de l’autre côté du ‘tableau d’escriture’, élabore ce thème du pouvoir qui exalte la souveraineté exceptionnelle du nouveau gouverneur. Ici, le tableau est accompagné d’une brève devise latine non signée. Deux vers français signés ‘Fanu’ sont placés en dessous de la devise dont ils élucident le sens : Et de l’autre costé un autre tableau representant une main tenant un gouvernail avec ce mot : Dum rectum clavem teneam. Et au dessoubz ces vers : Mais que le gouvernail retienne droictement Je ne douteray l’orage ny le vent.15

Il convient de remarquer que cette description des deux tableaux, qui souligne le rapport entre les inscriptions poétiques et les images peintes, correspond à celle qui apparaît dans les Registres de la ville, à ceci près que le livret de l’entrée néglige de mentionner le motif de la nuée qui assure en quelque sorte l’effet de symétrie des images.16 Jacques de Cahaignes consacre toutefois un paragraphe entier à la glose de l’image du gouvernail, empruntant la métaphore conventionnelle du ‘navire de l’État’ : Lequel tableau fut mis pour signifier l’asseurance que la Normandie doit avoir en la personne dudit Seigneur. Car volontiers la chose publique est comparée au navire, et le gouverneur d’icelle au Pilote et l’authorité dont il use au gouvernail de Navire.17 13 

Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 2. Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 7. 15  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 3. 16  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Plus deux tableaux pour la porte Millet, de la même hauteur et largeur, à l’un desquels est représenté un bras sortant d’une nuée, tenant la verge d’Aaron, et en l’autre est représenté un bras sortant d’une nuée, lequel tient un gouvernail, ensemble leurs écritures, 6 écus’. 17  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 3. 14 

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Ces lignes reflètent l’effort de l’auteur du livret, qui fut aussi l’un des organisateurs de l’événement, pour assigner une portée symbolique générale et cohérente à l’ensemble des images et des mots qui s’offrirent à la vue d’Anne de Joyeuse lorsqu’il franchit le seuil de la ville. Une telle stratégie narrative appartient sans doute, dans une certaine mesure, à la rhétorique de l’éloge, sinon de l’apologie. Tout permet de croire que Jacques de Cahaignes s’intéresse à la portée esthétique de l’œuvre à laquelle il contribua directement. C’est sans doute ce regard expert sur l’esthétique de la fête de Caen qui l’amena à organiser l’ensemble de son récit autour des inscriptions. Celles-ci constituaient dès lors la clé sémantique à partir de laquelle il se permit d’interpréter les images. Cette glose, qui clôture la description des ornements festifs de la porte Millet, marque aussi la fin du premier tiers de la relation de l’entrée. Il se dégage de ce document une particularité, à savoir qu’aucune narration, aucune description circonstancielle, ne renseigne le lecteur de manière précise sur le trajet de la procession, sur l’accueil que la foule réserva, sur la préparation de l’itinéraire du cortège. Au lieu de s’arrêter à ces éléments de contexte, l’auteur passe sans intermède à une nouvelle description de lieu et surtout de tableaux et d’ornements festifs. Ainsi, il note que, dans la ville, le cortège du duc de Joyeuse devait se diriger vers le pont Saint-Pierre, où il devait rencontrer un nouveau décor symbolique, décrit dans le détail par Jacques de Cahaignes, qui précise que les ‘escussons ou armoiries’ apparurent une nouvelle fois à la maison de ville, deuxième arrêt significatif du cortège ducal. À cet endroit figurait en effet, derrière les armoiries du duc de Joyeuse, une grande voile dont l’enflure portait la devise latine : Et velis, et anchora (à la voile et à l’ancre). Ce segment de vers demeure tout aussi anonyme que l’était le fragment latin de la porte Millet expliqué par l’inscription française d’Etienne Le Fanu, car, sans doute, la description le présente comme partie intégrante de l’image. Cette fois, l’inscription explicative est elle aussi rédigée en latin, signée ‘Cahaignes’ : ‘Nec mora lenta nimis, nec festinatio praeceps’ (Sans délai trop long, ni empressement précipité).18 Ici, l’expression gnomique donne voix à un principe de bonne gouvernance, qui anticipe, selon l’espérance des habitants de Caen, la sagesse et la prudence d’Anne de Joyeuse. En dessous de cette première série d’images symboliques, ‘d’escussons ou d’armoiries’, qui ornaient la maison de ville au pont Saint-Pierre, trois nouveaux tableaux attendaient le regard du duc. Le premier de ces trois tableaux représente, selon l’explication de Jacques de Cahaignes, ‘le desir qu’avoit le peuple Normand de vivre en patience, soubz le gouvernement dudit seigneur’.19 Dans ce tableau 18  19 

Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 4. Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 4.

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figurait l’image allégorique de la Paix, ‘laquelle avoit un pied sur la gorge, et l’autre sur le ventre de Mars, renversé dessus ses armes, et enchaîné’. L’auteur précise encore que cette Paix victorieuse tenait ‘d’une main la chaîne, et de l’autre un rameau d’olive’. Ici, le souvenir de l’organisateur de la fête se rapproche une nouvelle fois de la description qui se trouve dans les Registres de la ville.20 Le tableau apparaît au-dessus d’une inscription latine, aux résonances virgiliennes et horatiennes, signée ‘Cahaignes’. Cette inscription comporte trois hexamètres, qui expliquent la portée symbolique de l’image : Te duce sub longa Normania pace quiescat, Marsque jacens super arma, et centum vinctus ahenis Post tergum nodis, fremat horridus ore cruento.21 (Avec toi comme chef, puisse la Normandie se reposer le temps d’une longue paix, Et puisse Mars, gisant sur ses armes, les mains liés par cent nœuds airains derrière le dos, frémir, horrible, le visage sanglant.)

Dans ce cas, le rapport entre l’inscription et le tableau qui la couronne peut se lire comme une véritable construction emblématique, car les vers servent non seulement à préciser le contenu de l’image, mais aussi à l’interpréter. Après cette proclamation générale, le deuxième des trois tableaux décrits par Jacques de Cahaignes reprend le motif marin récurrent dans l’iconographie de l’entrée. Ce tableau représente Neptune, ‘lequel, explique l’auteur, frappant la terre de son trident, en faisoit sortir un Pegase, qui de son pied fendant la terre descouvroit une fontaine’.22 Remarquons que dans les Registres, la description de ce tableau précède celle du tableau de Mars, ce qui permet de croire que l’auteur du livret organise sa matière de façon à bien souligner la progression des idées. En revanche, les Registres décrivent en premier lieu le tableau qui devait occuper le plus d’espace. Entre le livret et les Registres, la correspondance est de nouveau exacte, à ceci près que les Registres indiquent les dimensions du tableau.23 Dans l’interprétation que propose le livret de l’entrée, le geste de Pégase symbolise la largesse du duc, le soutien qu’il apportera aux hommes de lettres ainsi qu’à l’université de Caen : 20 

Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Un autre tableau à côté d’icelui, auquel il y a une déesse de paix tenant en sa main un olivier et un Mars sous ses pieds enchaîné et couché sur ses armes avec un ciel et paysage lequel contient 9 pieds de haut et 6 de large, 8 écus’. 21  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 4. 22  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 4 23  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Et premièrement pour un tableau contenant en hauteur 12 pieds et 8 pieds de largeur, auquel il y a un Neptune avec un rocher, un cheval ailé, un ciel, une mer, et un char traîné de chevaux marins, étant planté en la maison de la ville’.

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Par Neptune audit tableau estoit signifié mondit seigneur, en consideration de son estat d’admiral et par le Pégase lequel du pied ouvroit la fontaine des muses, estoit dénoté l’honneur, excité de la faveur et bienveillance que mondit seigneur porte aus bonnes lettres, moyennant lequel l’Université de ce lieu sera rendue plus célèbre et florissante.24

Dans ce cas, l’interprétation de Jacques de Cahaignes a plus de portée que les quatre alexandrins signés ‘Fanu’, qui, allégués pour appuyer l’explication, profèrent la référence conventionnelle au Parnasse, haut lieu mythique de l’inspiration et du savoir.25 Professeur de médecine, il exprime le souhait que le duc favorisé du roi saura faire bénéficier l’université dont il revendique la dignité. Ainsi, en décrivant le troisième tableau de la maison de ville, il souligne le caractère absolu des pouvoirs accordés au duc. Alors que les Registres proposent une description quelque peu technique de ce tableau,26 le livret offre une description plus simple,27 suivie d’une explication qui en éclaire littéralement la symbolique : Et pour donner signification dudit tableau, par la porte coulisse on doibt entendre le gouvernement de ceste province, et par l’ancre, celuy de la mer : auxquelles deux charges mondit seigneur a esté estably par sa majesté, icelle apres Dieu demeurant seule superieure. Ce qui est signifié par le foudre.28

Il est possible que l’écart terminologique observé entre les versions des Registres et du livret permette d’entrevoir des distinctions entre deux expériences visuelles du même événement. Néanmoins, la proximité manifeste des deux sources écrites est toujours évidente. Cette partie du livret semble révéler une certaine hésitation de la part de l’auteur. En effet, un distique latin, non signé, sépare la description et l’interprétation du troisième tableau de la maison de ville : Carbasa Neptunus, Mars oppida vertat utrumque Froeno, supra tantum nostri sunt tela tonantis.29 24 

Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 5. Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 5: ‘Ce Neptune françois avecques son trident, | Nous fait naistre ny un coursier pour la guerre, | Mais un Pégase ailé, qui tout soubdainement | Parnasse et son ruisseau descouvre en ceste terre’. 26  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Un autre tableau étant avec iceux, de la même hauteur et largeur, dont sort du ciel un foudre. Il y a aussi une main tenant une corde laquelle tient enlacés une treille et un ancre avec du paysage, 6 écus’. 27  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 5: ‘Au troisième estoit figurée une main laquelle par deux liasses joinctes ensemble, tenoit une porte coulisse, et une ancre, et au haut en une nuée monstroit un foudre’. 28  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, pp. 5–6. 29  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 5. 25 

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(Que Neptune renverse les voiles, Mars les villages : je restreins les deux ; seuls les traits de Jupiter surmontent ceux de mon bras.)

Malgré l’absence de signature, il est possible d’identifier l’auteur de cette inscrip­ tion. Un distique semblable, presque identique, apparaît au premier livre de l’édition posthume des Poemata de Jean Rouxel : Carbasa Neptunus, Mars oppida vertat, utrunque Est fraenare meum : soli concedo Tonanti.30 (Que Neptune renverse les voiles, Mars les villages ; il m’appartient de restreindre les deux : je cède la place au seul Jupiter.)

L’omission de la signature dans le livret suggère peut-être que le distique de Roussel aurait été modifié par une deuxième main.31 Autre hypothèse possible, Roussel aurait lui-même remanié le distique après sa parution originelle dans le livret. Quoi qu’il en soit, la construction de ce passage indique que l’auteur du livret organise sa matière de façon à bien en faire ressortir le contenu symbolique. Dans la description et l’interprétation des tableaux qui apparurent au duc de Joyeuse lors de son arrêt à la maison de ville au pont Saint-Pierre, les inscriptions occupent une nouvelle fois la place centrale. Ces trois descriptions de tableaux, entremêlées de citations et de gloses qui renseignent sur la portée symbolique des images, constituent la totalité de la narration concernant l’ornement festif à la maison de ville. Encore ici, après l’efficacité de tout ce détail iconographique et la citation des mots gravés, l’auteur passe directement, sans transition narrative qui rende compte du déplacement du cortège, à la description d’un nouvel arrêt. Il s’agit cette fois de la destination ultime du défilé cérémoniel. Jacques de Cahaignes décrit les splendeurs visuelles, les tableaux et les inscriptions qui attendirent le duc devant la cathédrale dans laquelle il devait entendre chanter le Te Deum. Son regard croise pour la troisième fois les mêmes armoiries que celles qui ornaient la porte Millet et la maison de ville. Également ici, trois tableaux à devises, assortis d’inscriptions et des gloses explicatives, s’offrent au regard d’Anne de Joyeuse. Lorsque l’auteur décrit le premier de ces trois tableaux, il déploie une formule qui le rapproche sensiblement des modalités d’expression utilisées dans les 30 

Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 5. Une telle hypothèse est d’autant plus probable que Jacques de Cahaignes, dans le recueil d’éloges des citoyens de Caen qu’il publia deux décennies après la mort de Rouxel, note que certains vers qui paraissent dans les Poemata de ce dernier sont en réalité de sa propre main (Cahaignes, Elogiorum civium Cadomensium centuria prima). 31 

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Registres de la ville. Cette fois-ci, il inclut une référence chiffrée au sujet de la taille du tableau : Sur le portail de l’eglise saint Pierre, outre les susdites armoiries posees ainsy qu’a esté dit, y avoit un tableau contenant 25 pieds de lon monstrant une pyramide assise près d’un havre de mer : à la poincte de laquelle estoit un phare ou flambeau, et une croix, avec ce mot escript au bas : Undique portus […].32

Pour exprimer le sens de cette devise énigmatique, Jacques de Cahaignes reproduit les quatre alexandrins signés ‘Fanu’ qui auraient accompagné le tableau : Et en terre et en mer ceste grand Pyramide, Monstre de tous costez le port tant desiré Ainsy vostre faveur nous servira de guide, Car vostre œil nous promet un repos asseuré. FANV.33

La précision concernant la taille du ‘premier’ tableau, c’est-à-dire du tableau central qui était aussi le plus grand, reproduit les dimensions exactes des Registres.34 Or, malgré l’identité de renseignements qui lie les deux documents, la description dans le livret trahit un regard plus compréhensif et sans doute même une volonté de cohérence, qui évalue la portée esthétique, la figuration des symboles, de l’ensemble. Le détail concernant la ‘pyramide’ anticipe en effet l’explication dans le livret, qui suit la citation de ‘Fanu’.35 L’organisation des trois tableaux au portail de l’église Saint-Pierre était analogue à celle des tableaux qui ornaient la porte Millet. Deux petits tableaux accompagnaient de part et d’autre la grande image de la pyramide. En décrivant cet assemblage de symboles complémentaires, les Registres de la ville évoquent enfin la figure de la pyramide reproduite dans le tableau central.36 A cette pre32 

Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 6. Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 7. 34  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Un autre tableau étant au portail de Saint-Pierre, contenant 25 pieds de haut et 8 de large, auquel il y un phare, une croix et une porte, un ciel, mer et paysage, 8 écus’. 35  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 7: ‘Par lequel tableau n’estoit signifié autre chose que le commandement que mondit seigneur a en la mer et en la terre et qui tout ainsy que la pyramide par son flambeau sert d’adresse aux naviguants esgarez, et par la croix denote que c’est un lieu de piété et devotion. Aussy l’authorité de mondit seigneur ne tend qu’à reduire toutes choses, soit en mer ou en terre, au port de tranquillité, et au bon et asseuré repos’. 36  Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres, xxiv, fol. 8: ‘Pour deux tableaux des 2 côtés d’icelle piramide à l’un desquels est représenté un signe du ciel, un chien marin et un prêtre avec ciel, terre et mer, et en l’autre y est représenté un signe céleste avec ciel, terre et mer et une figure 33 

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mière description factuelle, le livret de l’entrée ajoute une explication qui élucide le rapport entre le ‘chien marin’, qui apparaît dans le premier des deux tableaux d’accompagnement, et les manifestations astronomiques : De chasque costé de ladite pyramide estoit un tableau, le premier monstroit une mer avec la figure d’un chien marin, et une terre avec le portraict d’un chien domestique, et au-dessus un ciel où estoit representée l’estoile nommée Canis.37

Deux hexamètres latins signés ‘Cahaignes’ dans le livret, inscription placée ‘en dessous’ de l’image des chiens de la mer, de la terre et du ciel, expliquent ce symbole à trois éléments, qui figure la sainte protection que l’amiral de France, véritable avatar de la volonté royale et céleste, assure à son peuple sur la terre normande et sur la mer. Les hexamètres, liés par une construction anaphorique, annoncent qu’Anne de Joyeuse exerce son autorité dans les trois royaumes de la création : Anna tibi tellus, Domino tibi servit et aequor, Anna tibi quondam coelum sublime patebit.38 (Pour toi, Seigneur roi, Anne garde la terre, pour toi la mer ; Anne t’ouvrira aussi quelquefois les hauteurs du ciel.)

Ce premier tableau constitue donc un avertissement général, auquel le second tableau, décrit dans les deux documents, ajoute une précision qui souligne davantage la particularité de la culture marine, propre à la région. Un distique de Jean Rouxel accompagne la deuxième image, que l’auteur du livret décrit ainsi : Au second estoit l’estoile du pôle avec ceste inscription : Cynosura, laquelle nous fait entendre la situation de chasque lieu par terre, et par mer sert de conduitte aux navires.39

Le même terme latin apparaît en tête du distique imprimé verbatim dans les Poemata de Rouxel : Quo jacet ora situ doceo, rego vela per altum, Implorant nostram lubrica, fixa fidem.40 ( J’enseigne dans quel endroit se situe la rive, je guide les vaisseaux par la haute mer ; les lieux glissants, les lieux fixes aussi, implorent mon aide fidèle.) un quart d’astrolabe, avec l’écriture dedans iceux tableaux contenant chacun 5 pieds de haut et 4 pieds de large, 6 écus’. 37  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, pp. 7–8. 38  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 8. 39  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 9. 40  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 9, et Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 6.

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Anne de Joyeuse serait donc l’astre qui illumine la Normandie et son peuple, c’est-à-dire la lanterne de la royauté de France dans ses régions septentrionales et marines. Gouverneur de cette province, il se voit appelé à protéger les intérêts de celle-ci dans la stabilité et dans le mouvement, dans la tradition comme dans la nouveauté, sur la terre et sur l’onde. Cette troisième panoplie de symboles et d’inscriptions présente un ensemble thématique organisé autour du motif géographique et l’amirauté du duc. Le livret composé par Jacques de Cahaignes accorde, on le voit, un privilège exclusif à la description et explication des images, ainsi qu’au rapport des inscriptions avec celles-là. Pour cette raison aussi, il ressemble très peu à une chronique de l’événement qui se déroula à Caen le 5 avril 1583. Il est raisonnable de qualifier ce document descriptif à l’aide d’une métaphore empruntée au domaine de l’art visuel. Le ‘recueil’ constitue en effet une sorte de triptyque, conçu dans le souci apparent de la symétrie de l’ensemble : trois assemblages de tableaux nantis de devises incorporées à l’image, et surtout d’inscriptions explicatives et complémentaires. De toute évidence, l’écriture, comme motif et comme méthode, revêt un statut particulier dans l’organisation de ce texte. Incorporée au spectacle visuel de l’entrée, elle sert à la fois de devise, d’ornement symbolique, comme les images, et d’inscription, voix écrite qui accompagne les tableaux pour en dévoiler la portée significative. Elle sert aussi d’instrument à la glose explicative qui permet à l’auteur de résoudre les énigmes que créent parfois les inscriptions poétiques. Au niveau de la narration même de l’entrée, en effet, le document ne donne pas l’impression d’un rapport ‘naïf’ de spectateur qui relate sur le vif ses impressions. Tout suggère qu’il subsiste une proximité étroite entre le contenu des Registres de la ville de Caen et celui du livret de l’entrée. Il est tout à fait possible que Jacques de Cahaignes ait pris connaissance des Registres et même qu’il ait rédigé le livret en s’y reportant fréquemment. Cependant, la comparaison des deux documents révèle plusieurs divergences qui mettent en valeur la relative indépendance du livret par rapport au livre de raison du conseil municipal. D’une manière générale, les observations de l’auteur tendent à mettre en valeur ce qu’il convient d’appeler l’‘esthétique’ de l’entrée du duc de Joyeuse à Caen. Au lieu d’énumérer simplement les divers éléments de chaque assemblage imagé, de chaque tableau mentionné dans les Registres de la ville, le livret vise à dégager des effets d’ensemble, et des continuités, d’ordre proprement thématique. La richesse descriptive de ce petit document, qui fourmille d’ekphraseis et de gloses poétiques, permet à l’auteur de minimiser l’importance de tout élément proprement narratif dans sa relation de l’entrée. C’est bien l’une des particularités de ce curieux document que l’on ne trouve, dans le livret même, aucune mention, ni des préparatifs, ni même de la progression du cortège à travers

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la ville. L’événement fut peut-être moins joyeux que le sieur de Bourgueville ne le prétendit. Une inscription latine à la fin du livret, signée ‘Cahaignes’, sert de prosopopée par laquelle le peuple de Caen, sérieusement éprouvé par les guerres, les impôts et la famine, implore la clémence du duc : ‘pour recommander le povre peuple de Normandie accablé et totalement ruiné, à raison des tailles, subsides, imposts, taxes et autres inventions […]’.41

Le Panégyrique de Jean Rouxel Dans l’oraison funèbre qu’il prononça lors des obsèques de Jean Rouxel,42 Jacques de Cahaignes fait part à l’auditoire d’une anecdote qui concerne les poésies occasionnelles que Rouxel composa pour l’arrivée d’Anne de Joyeuse à Caen. Cette anecdote évoque notamment la réaction approbatrice du poète royal Jean Dorat lorsque celui-ci ‘lut et relut’ le ‘très-célèbre’ poème que Rouxel avait préparé à l’intention du duc : Recitatum mihi est Joannem Auratum, Poëtam Regium, cum illud nobilissimum Ruxelii Poëma, Duci Jucundiano, huc cum imperio venienti consecratum legisset et relegisset, semel et iterum exclamasse, magnae spes altera Romae : ac si innituisset, quod ipse in Poësi primas, Ruxelius vero secundas esset habiturus.43 (On m’a raconté que le poète royal Jean Dorat, lorsqu’il lut et relut le célèbre poème de Rouxel, dédicacé au duc de Joyeuse à l’occasion de son arrivée ici investi du pouvoir de la couronne, s’exclama une première fois, puis à plusieurs reprises : ‘ô, autre espoir de la grande Rome !’ et s’il insistait qu’il était lui-même le premier en matière de poésie, il disait également que Rouxel devait être considéré le deuxième.)

Jacques de Cahaignes n’hésite pas à ajouter qu’il est possible, en réalité, que les poésies de Rouxel soient d’une qualité égale ou supérieure à celles du poète royal.44 41  Genty, Bref recueil […] de l’entrée faicte par messieurs, p. 11: ‘Ex illo quo te Cadomus excepit apparatu, Dux opt., singularem eius in te propensionem metire. Nunc vero propius aspice civium egestatem, rusticorum squallorem et maciem, totius denique provinciae deformitatem. Audi justas populi tributis et vectigalibus oppressi querimonias, easque regiae majestati renuntia. Tam pium officium afflicto populo tuamque opem imploranti denegare non debes’. 42  Voir sur la vie et l’œuvre de ce poète latin, Duhamel, Essai sur la vie et les œuvres de Jean Rouxel, 56 pp. 43  Cahaignes, De morte Joannis Ruxelii oratio funebris, habita Cadomi, die 7. Octobris 1586, dans Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 292. 44  Cahaignes, De morte Joannis Ruxelii oratio funebris, habita Cadomi, die 7. Octobris 1586, dans Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 292: ‘Meum non est de tantis Poëtis judicium facere. Aequi

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Le poème ‘très-célèbre’ auquel il fait référence correspond vraisemblablement à la pièce intitulée Ad illustrissimum ducem Jocundianum Tribunum Maritorum, Normaniae praefectum, qui ouvre la deuxième édition posthume des œuvres du poète.45 Il s’agit d’un poème en 168 hexamètres dactyliques, dans lequel Rouxel fête l’arrivée du duc, chante son éloge et lui vante les splendeurs de la Normandie et de son peuple. À un moment difficile pour la Normandie trahie par les Belges lors de la guerre aux Pays-Bas, quel poète, se demandait l’auteur, saurait chanter des carmes joyeux ? Telle du moins était sa pensée, déclare-t-il, lorsque Phébus lui ordonna d’ouvrir son chant en l’honneur de l’avènement du duc (1–12). Subitement, le poète sent se renouveler en lui ‘le taon de la fureur poétique’ ; aussi voit-il les Muses qui viennent toutes joyeuses à sa rencontre (13–18). C’est le duc lui-même qui, accompagné de Vertu et de Gloire, ramène à Caen la ‘docte cohorte’ des Muses (19–24). Le poète joint sa voix à celle du peuple normand pour inviter Anne de Joyeuse à se plonger dans la foule des mortels et à devenir ‘un pilier de soutien pour son peuple et pour lui-même’ (25–28). Premier à saluer le nouveau gouverneur, le père Océan s’avance et étale devant les pieds de son ‘maître’ les plaines de la mer dont il lui transmet aussi les rênes (29–32). L’Océan livre à la Normandie les richesses de l’onde, et les vents se calment, apaisant aussi les citoyens (33–38). À l’occasion de l’entrée, Phébus lui-même, qui souhaite voir Anne de Joyeuse, émerge de la surface marine plus tôt que d’habitude, puis se couche plus tard que de coutume ; la Nature entière félicite le nouveau gouverneur (39–43). L’auteur invite le duc à bien noter les applaudissements de la foule qui l’accueille, témoignage de l’affection que le peuple lui porte. Aussi implore-t-il le beau-frère du roi de ne pas mesurer l’amour des Normands à l’aune d’une ornementation festive bien trop pauvre pour un aussi grand personnage. Aucun apparat, en effet, ne saurait répondre de manière adéquate à la splendeur de sa présence : Quo nos communia plausu Gaudia testemur ? nostros quae copia sensus Pandat, et eximium turbae civilis amorem ? Ne populi studium parvo metire paratu : tamen rerum aestimatores ita forte censeant, in Ruxelii Poëmatibus nihil unquam deesse, nihil unquam redundare: in Aurati Poëmatibus aliquid saepissime desiderari’ (Il ne m’appartient pas de prononcer un jugement sur de tels poètes. Néanmoins, les gens équitables pourraient très bien considérer que dans les poésies de Rouxel il n’y a jamais carence ni excès, alors que très souvent les poésies de Dorat laissent quelque chose à désirer). 45  Rouxel, In cadomensi academia, pp. 1–7. Dans la première édition des poèmes de Rouxel, Poemata (1600), cette pièce apparaît à la deuxième place, pp. 10–17, après le long dialogue en hexamètres intitulé Deploratio status Gallici.

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Si te digna petis, meritis par gloria pompae Nulla sit.46 (Par quels applaudissements ne témoignons-nous pas De notre joie collective ? Avec quelle abondance effusive ne montrons-nous pas Nos sentiments à ton égard, et l’amour extraordinaire de la foule urbaine ? Ne mesure pas l’ardeur du peuple à la modestie de l’apprêt ornemental : Si tu recherches des choses dignes de toi, une gloire de pompe égale à tes mérites, Sache qu’il n’en existe aucune.)

Cette protestation modeste n’indique pas forcément que la festivité avec laquelle Caen accueillit le duc fut jugée inférieure au mérite du grand personnage, car il se peut que le poète veuille attirer l’attention du prince justement sur le faste de la circonstance. En outre, l’humilité qui transparaît dans ces vers lui permet d’ajouter une remarque édifiante, selon laquelle il convient de mesurer non la grandeur du spectacle urbain mais la sincérité de l’esprit dont il procède. Puisque ‘la vertu méprise les vains bruits de l’applaudissement populaire’, Rouxel invite Anne de Joyeuse à contempler le véritable trophée ‘qu’aucune époque ne saurait effacer’ : l’affection et la fidélité de son peuple (48–52). Il l’invite à contempler ensuite la joie manifeste dans l’expression des parlementaires présents ainsi que la liesse évidente du peuple dont les rangs nombreux remplissent les rues de la ville : Ecce vides noster quam laeta fronte Senatus Excipiat fascesque tuos, submittat et illis Ipse suos, et te dominum summissus adoret ? Aspicis ut plebis confertae densus inundet Ordo viis, omnisque tuis in vultibus aeta Haereat, et tacitas pervadant gaudia mentes ?47 (Vois-tu donc avec quelle expression de joie notre Sénat Accueille tes faisceaux, leur soumet les siens propres Et, soumis, t’adore comme son maître ? Remarques-tu comment les rangs serrés du peuple débordent Les rues, comment les citoyens de tous les âges s’accrochent, silencieux, A ton expression, l’esprit pénétré de la joie de ta venue ?)

Selon le poète, ce spectacle est la preuve manifeste de l’amour que l’on porte au nouveau gouverneur de Normandie. Il ajoute que le peuple se présente bien 46  Ad illustrissimum ducem Jocundianum Tribunum Maritorum, Normaniae praefectum, dans Rouxel, Poemata (1636), pp. 2–3, vv. 43–48. 47  Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 3, vv. 53–58.

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nombreux, en ‘plusieurs miliers’. Une telle précision relève certainement d’une exagération destinée à seconder l’esprit de l’éloge. L’allégresse de l’occasion montre que les citoyens aiment réellement le duc sans le craindre (59–62). Son arrivée annonce non la guerre, mais la paix ; aussi Caen la contemple-t-elle comme Delphes l’arrivée d’Apollon (63–66). La deuxième partie du poème est consacrée à l’éloge et à la description de la Normandie, pour renseigner le duc sur la valeur ancienne de son peuple. Autrefois, déclare-t-il, les Normands étaient connus comme issus de l’‘extrême nord’, puissants à la bataille (67–69). Ce peuple qui fit trembler le pays de Thulé, imposa son joug aux habitants de la Bretagne et de l’île britannique (70–75). Cette force invincible ne brilla pas seulement dans les régions du Nord, mais subjugua également les populations de Calabre et de Sicile (76–81). Si la fortune souriait de nouveau aux Normands, s’ils devenaient de nouveau célèbres à Rome, celle-ci les craindrait, car la pieuse crainte des dieux les a toujours protégés contre l’ennemi (81–85). Au duc donc de contempler l’honneur de son peuple, célèbre dans le Nord comme dans le Midi (86–88). Or, la prouesse à la guerre est loin d’être le seul mérite des Normands. Ils sont aussi d’excellents magistrats, des hommes de loi justes et équitables en temps de paix (89–95). Aucune région du monde n’ignore quelle fut la justice du héros normand, Rollon,48 dont la gloire est éternelle (96–100). La Normandie réclame encore aujourd’hui la protection de celui qui fut le modèle que tout prince doit suivre (101–05). Elle demande aussi au duc de Joyeuse de marcher dans les pas de Rollon, de se montrer clément en apprenant les souffrances d’un peuple qui veut lui obéir (105–09). La troisième partie de ce poème décrit la misère actuelle de la Normandie. Elle rejoint en cela le ton de la dernière inscription latine du recueil de Jacques de Cahaignes. Brisés par la tristesse, les paysans et les citadins de tous les rangs souffrent, vivant dans des conditions déplorables, tout en demeurant pourtant fidèles à l’autorité de leur prince (109–18). Le peuple normand a donné autrefois des preuves insignes de sa loyauté au royaume de France, comme lors des conflits entre la France et l’Angleterre (119–26). C’est bien le même esprit qui prévaut aujourd’hui, car le peuple maintiendra toujours sa fidélité au roi (127–30). La Normandie demande seulement que l’on limite ses peines (130–32). Le roi de France a confié au duc de Joyeuse des charges importantes de gouverneur d’une vaste région, comme preuve de sa confiance profonde (132–39). Plus proche du roi que ne l’est tout autre prince, le duc jouit d’un respect et d’un privilège 48 

Il s’agit du premier comte et ‘fondateur’ de Normandie. Sur l’identité de ce personnage, voir Saint-Pierre, Rollon devant l’histoire ; Douglas, ‘Rollo of Normandy’ ; Musset, ‘L’Origine de Rollon’.

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uniques dans le royaume—grâce à son mariage récent, il peut donner des ordres à ses pairs (140–45). Le peuple normand le prie donc d’intervenir en son nom auprès d’Henri  III, pour alléger ses souffrances (145–51). Cette demande conduit le poète à donner voix à l’espoir que l’arrivée du duc lui inspire : Sed nulla tot annos Laxamenta malis dantur, nisi mole gravatam Iam releves, oneri succumbat. Magna salutis Adventu spes facta tuo ; micat aethere Phoebus Blandior, afflatur tellus meliore Juventa : Optatum per te Normanis auguror aevum.49 (Mais comme pendant tant d’années, nul répit n’a été donné à ses maux, si tu ne la déchargeais pas enfin du poids qui lui pèse, elle s’affaisserait sous ce fardeau. Une grande espérance de santé lui vient de ton arrivée, au ciel le Soleil brille d’une clarté plus douce, un souffle de Jeunesse meilleure touche la terre : j’augure grâce à toi l’époque tant désirée par les Normands.)

Le poème se clôt sur une note optimiste, l’auteur appelant de ses vœux une nouvelle époque de prospérité et de bonheur dans la province normande. Or, loin de présenter un chant festif et léger, ces vers dressent le bilan d’une période de privations et de souffrances dans une région trop souvent habitée et traversée par les soldats. L’appel qu’ils formulent est surtout celui de la paix et de la stabilité qui permettront au peuple, tant des villes que des campagnes, de reprendre un train de vie coutumier et productif, dépourvu du fardeau insupportable des impôts de guerre. Ainsi, le texte se lit comme une pièce de circonstance rédigée sur le patron des livrets parfois présentés à de nouveaux souverains de provenance étrangère, lors de leur arrivée dans un royaume ou un duché qui vient d’entrer en leur possession grâce à une alliance politique ou matrimoniale.50

49 

Rouxel, Poemata (1636), p. 6, vv. 152–57. Le cas du duc de Joyeuse, récemment marié à la sœur du roi, correspond de près à une telle situation. Pour un exemple de la poésie de circonstance rédigée pour l’édification d’une épouse royale d’origine étrangère, voir la réplique ‘A la royne’ dans les Vers chantez et recitez à l’Hyménée du Roy Charles IX, attribués à Etienne Jodelle. Cette réplique en 193 alexandrins présente l’éloge de la France, la déploration de ses maux, un aperçu historique. Ici, le poète espère que l’arrivée d’une princesse Habsbourg marquera le début d’une période de paix et de prospérité: ‘Les grandes causes aussi qui tous ces Dieux esmeurent, | Lors que par tel destin tel dessein ils conclurent, | Pour après tant de maux dans la France honorer | Un bien, dont on pouvoit tant de biens esperer’. 50 

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Le panégyrique du duc de Joyeuse par Jean Rouxel constitue un document important sur l’entrée ducale à Caen en avril 1583. Il contribue en effet à l’état des connaissances sur Caen au xvie siècle en donnant des renseignements sur l’esprit de la ville à cette époque et le discours officiel avec lequel elle accueillit le beau-frère du roi. La facture élégante, soigneusement élaborée, de la longue pièce que Rouxel adressait au duc, témoigne de l’importance symbolique de l’événement. Ce témoignage précieux corrobore aussi l’impression laissée par la description des tableaux et des inscriptions, à la fois dans les Registres de la ville et dans le livret de Jacques de Cahaignes. Enfin, le concours du poète royal Jean Dorat à la constitution du poème, évoqué par Cahaignes lui-même dans l’oraison funèbre de Rouxel, souligne sans doute le caractère solennel et public, voire officiel, de cette composition en hexamètres qui semble avoir joui d’une certaine renommée à l’époque. L’ensemble des deux documents, le poème de Rouxel et le livret de Cahaignes, émane d’un noyau humaniste et lettré, engagé par la ville à façonner la représentation écrite de l’événement du 5 avril. Ce complexe documentaire livre à la fois une description esthétisée de l’entrée qui ressemble de près à une composition prosimètre rigoureusement organisée en trois temps, et une déclamation latine qui informe le lecteur ducal sur le passé glorieux, les misères présentes et le caractère fort de ce peuple de la ‘province de Neustrie’. Université de Western Ontario

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Œuvres citées Manuscrits et livres rares Caen, Archives de Caen, Collection Mancel, MS 54 Caen, Archives du Calvados, Registres de la Ville de Caen

Sources imprimées Bourgueville de Bras, Charles de, Les Recherches et antiquitéz de la province de Neustrie, à présent duché de Normandie, comme des villes remarquables d’icelles: mais plus spéciallement de la ville et université de Caen (Caen: Le Fèvre, 1588) Cahaignes, Jacques de, Elogiorum civium Cadomensium centuria prima (Caen: Basse, 1609) Duhamel, Léopold, Essai sur la vie et les œuvres de Jean Rouxel, poète et jurisconsulte caennais au xvie siècle (Caen: Pagny, 1862) L’Estoille, Pierre de, Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III, éd. par Madeleine Lazard et Gilbert Schrenck, Textes littéraires français, 420, 465, 487, 522, 542, 559, 6 tomes (Genève: Droz, 1992–2003), iv (2000) Genty, T., Bref recueil que j’ay faict de l’entree faicte par messieurs de la ville de Caen à Mon­ seigneur le duc de Joyeuse le mardy 5 d’avril 1583 (Rouen: Gy, 1900) Rouxel, Jean (de Breteuil), Joannis Ruxelii in cadomensi academia eloquentiae et philo­ sophiae professoris regii poemata (Caen: Cavelier, 1636) —— , Poemata (Rouen: Parvival, 1600) —— , Poemata (Caen: Cavelier, 1636)

Études critiques Nassichuk, John, ‘A propos d’une inscription latine dans le livret de l’entrée d’Anne de Joyeuse à Caen, le 5 avril 1583’, dans Des entrées solennelles de l’Ancien Régime et des ri­tu­ els imaginaires, dir. par Marie-France Wagner avec la collaboration de Mirella Vadéan (= Cahier du GRES [Groupement de recherches économiques et sociales], 3 (2008)), pp. 71–74 Carel, Pierre, Histoire de la ville de Caen sous Charles IX, Henri III et Henri IV (Paris: Champion, 1886) Douglas, D. C., ‘Rollo of Normandy’, English Historical Review, 57 (1942), 414–36 Musset, Lucien, ‘L’Origine de Rollon’, dans Lucien Musset, Nordica et Normanica: recueil d’études sur la Scandinavie ancienne et médiévale, les expéditions des Vikings et la fon­ dation de la Normandie (Paris: Société des Études Nordiques, 1997), pp. 383–87 Saint-Pierre, Louis de, Rollon devant l’histoire (Paris: Peyronnet, 1949)

Travelling with a Queen: The Journey of Margaret of Austria (1598–99) between Evidence and Reconstruction Maria Ines Aliverti

M

argaret of Austria’s ceremonial travel through Italy, from Trento to Genoa in 1598–99, to marry Philip  III, is established as a major topic for research in Renaissance festival studies. It has been studied by Bonner J. Mitchell, who has written two fundamental books on the subject. The first, published in 1986, considers the entire journey of the young princess in the context of the Italian Renaissance progresses of foreign sovereigns; the second, published in 1990, reproduces in facsimile a number of festival accounts relating ceremonies in Ferrara in the course of 1598. It especially focuses on the Ferrarese entry of Margaret, on 13 November and on the two marriage ceremonies performed by Pope Clement VIII, on 15 November: that of Margaret to Philip III, king of Spain, and that of Albert, archduke of Austria, to Isabel Clara Eugenia, infanta of Spain, with proxies standing in for Philip III and his sister.1 Mitchell’s work has been more than a simple starting point, especially for his accurate evaluation of the printed sources relating to Margaret’s journey.2 1 

Mitchell, The Majesty of the State, pp. 189–208; Mitchell, 1598: A Year of Pageantry. I drew considerably on Mitchell’s work in the course of my previous research on Margaret’s entry into Genoa, and the ensemble of printed and manuscript sources related to the entire journey of the queen of Spain: Aliverti, ‘Festivals in Genoa’. There I edited [Mancini], Descrizzione dell’arco trionfale fatto in Genova; Italian original text and English translation, pp. 310–29. Please note that here and in the subsequent entries related to printed sources, printers and publishers are listed in the style in which they are given on the original title-pages.   For a critical survey of the major printed sources see also Aliverti, ‘Il viaggio italiano di Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna’. In September 2006 I was enabled, thanks to the support 2 

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Map 1. The Italian Itinerary of Margaret of Austria from Trento to Genoa (1598–99), showing the locations where the main triumphal entries took place: 1. Trento 2. Ferrara 3. Mantua 4. Cremona 5. Lodi 6. Milan 7. Pavia 8. Genoa. Illustration by Federico Bianchi, based on the Italiae novissima descriptio by Giacomo Castaldi (Antwerp, 1570). © Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti – Università di Pisa.

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From the abundant mass of narrative records connected to festive events in 1598–99, I have thought it right to choose descriptive sources which seem to have been examined relatively little: the printed descriptions concerning not entries and ceremonies in a single town, but the journey in itself interpreted as an itinerary punctuated by ceremonial and more or less triumphal events. Though this volume is dedicated to the triumphal entry, and to the related and specific genre of description, a focus upon texts presenting a broader topic and a less defined pattern might help shed light on diverse strategies concerning the composition of festival books. I will not go into details here about the European historical context in 1598, as it is well known: the complex political drama of Ferrara ‘devolved’ to the Papal States, effected in January, the Peace of Vervins concluded between Henri IV and Philip II in May, the endowment of the Low Countries to the Spanish infanta and to her intended husband, Albert of Austria, the cold war after Vervins, complicated by the long agony of Philip II and by his death on 13 September. Many printed descriptions were issued at the time concerning the different major or minor centres along Margaret’s journey dedicated either to single entries or to the ensemble of ceremonial and festive events taking place in a city. This corpus of printed sources consists both of descriptions that may be considered as original and of different editions of the same description issued in cities other than those where the entry had taken place.3 The enormous amount of published work produced in 1598 about ceremonial events connected to the ‘Devolution’ of Ferrara and to the transit of the Queen of Spain through Italy has been already considered in its general aspects.4 More recently Elisa Battilla’s research has expanded this abundant bibliography, bringing the sum of identified editorial production for the 1598 events to the very respectable size of almost one hundred printed livrets connected with the festivals in 1598, produced in Italy and intended for a wide circulation.5 of MURST (the Italian Ministry of Higher Education and Research), to organize a conference in Pisa focused entirely on Margaret of Austria’s journey and covering several additional aspects of it, such as entries into various Italian cities, festivities in Spain, and so forth: Il viaggio in Italia di Margherita d’Austria, ed. by Aliverti. This publication will also include transcriptions of various archival sources. 3  This is the case with the official description Reale, La felicissima entrata della serenissima regina di Spagna, which was republished by Vittorio Benacci in Bologna, by Pacifico da Ponte in Milan, by Angelo Tamo in Verona, by Francesco Tosi in Firenze, by Girolamo Concordia in Pesaro, and by Lodovico Larducci in Venice. 4  By Prof. Mitchell and by myself in earlier publications, see nn. 1 and 2. 5  Battilla, ‘Le fonti a stampa italiane’.

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It is worth noting that printed general accounts of Margaret’s ceremonial travel are relatively few compared with the entire number of descriptions concerning festivities for the Queen; moreover none of them provide a full account of her itinerary: the last part of the journey, even when announced on the frontispiece, is sometimes recorded as a simple summary of places and events (Figures 1–3).6 The Historica narratio by Jean Boch, published in Antwerp in 1602 and dedicated to the journey of Archduke Albert and Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia from Spain to Flanders in 1599, also describes the journey of Albert and Margaret from Northern Italy to Spain (1598–99). But this part of the account, which is intended by Boch as an introduction to the main topic of his festival book, is not original and the author dwells at length on the descriptions of entries into various Italian cities published at the time, from which he quotes extensively.7 The two descriptions concerning the passage of the Queen through Venetian territory are interesting in more than one way.8 In both cases describing a ‘passage’ and focusing on a ‘territory’, as the title-pages announce, was the only available option. As a result of the plague affecting the Austrian lands, the Queen with her large retinue and the other escorted potentates accompanying her had not been allowed to enter Italy through the Travis Pass (Tarvisio) crossing Venetian territory and then making her entries into various cities. The immense cortege passed four miles from Verona without entering the city. No entry into any city was actually made on Venetian territory. The authors of these descriptions had thus made a virtue of necessity. Nevertheless in doing so, they had fatally oriented their attention towards the territory, being in a certain sense compelled to take it into account. With this in mind, we are forced to admit a first important point: the description of a royal progress as a printed genre poses a number of problems. 6 

A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H.  W., 16 pp.  (= BL, C.114.d.5.(8.)) (see Figure 1 for frontispiece); Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria, 72 pp. (= BnF, K 5405) (see Figure 2 for frontispiece); Zerlii, Narratione del viaggio della serenissima Margherita d’Austria, 12 pp. (= Parma, Bibl. Pal., misc. 8° 99 7) (see Figure 3 for frontispiece). 7  Bochius, Historica narratio. This festival book was also translated into Spanish. Jean Boch (1555–1609) was secretary of the Senate of Antwerp. 8  Two competing descriptions were printed of the journey and the reception of the queen of Spain in the territory of Venice, from Dolcè to Isola della Scala (4–9 November 1598):   1. Moretti, Passaggio della serenissima regina Margarita d’Austria, 16 pp.  (= Verona, Biblioteca Civica, CV 228); the British Library copy, BL, 9930 bbb. 46, is accessible at . Another edition of the same account was printed in Milan: Moretti, Cerimonie, 8 pp. (= Parma, Bibl. Pal., misc. 8° 99 6).   2. Vera, et fedele relatione del passaggio della […] Margherita d’Austria, 38 pp. (= Verona, Biblioteca Civica, CV 429) (see Figure 4 for frontispiece).

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In 1598 publications were available as an example or source of inspiration concerning other celebrated royal tours: the journey of Philip II from Spain to Brussels in 1548–49, the royal tour of France of Caterina de’ Medici with her son King Charles IX on the way to Bayonne between March 1564 and May 1566, the journey of Henri III from Kraków to Lyons, across northern Italy, between June and September 1574. These descriptions, conceived as formal commemoration in print, were in most cases placed outside the commercial publishing market as they were commissioned and financed by the princes themselves or by other institutional authorities in order to shape in the public eye the general political and ideological meaning of the enterprise.9 Manuscript chronicles or journals existed for every royal journey, kept by various writers as part of their duties as courtiers and/or as those responsible for etiquette. For instance, we have for the journey of Albert of Austria from Brussels to Spain, the manuscript travel journal of Gilles du Faing, who was a member of the Archduke’s household (this diary has never been published in its entirety).10 Another journal, compiled by Giovanni Battista Clario, a physician at the court of Graz, was edited and published only in recent years.11 Therefore we can argue that in 1598 descriptions of royal travels made by freelance authors may be considered a rarity and that no editorial pattern existed to support this sort of initiative.12 The importance of a published model, and the resultant necessity of dis­ tinguishing published and manuscript sources must be underlined. Printed texts contribute, much more than manuscript texts do, to the diffusion of literary patterns and models and to shaping collective mentality, as manuscripts are often only available in their printed version centuries later. Descriptions of entries, for 9  The univocal character of this sort of project is evident in the fact that, for instance, the celebrated work by Calvete de Estrella, El felicíssimo viaje d’el […]príncipe don Phelippe, was widely disseminated, while a second semi-official account by Álvarez, Relación del camino y buen viaje que hizo el príncipe de España, was issued in so few copies that we may suspect that nobody was really interested in supporting the publication, or indeed that this publication was in a certain sense implicitly boycotted. 10  Gilles du Faing, Mémoire de ce qu’a passé au voyage de la roÿne et de l’archiducq Albert despuis son partement des Pays-Bas pour Espaigne, et des choses succédées aux séjours et retour de leur Altezes Sérénissimes, mesmes aux entrées faictes en leurs pays et estats, in Brussels, BrB/KBB, MS 18033, published incompletely by Baron de Reiffenberg as Itinéraire de l’archiduc Albert, ed. by Reiffenberg and de Ferdinand, pp. 1–33. 11  Clario, Relatione delle cose successe nel viaggio da Graz a Trento (= Innsbruck, UB, MS 987), dated 20 March 1600. 12  In this context, the term ‘freelance’ refers both to unofficial and to semi-official individual publications.

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instance, were recognized as a true literary genre, and normally satisfied certain well-established compositional rules. During the second half of the sixteenth century, royal journeys as a true genre of free publication took their first steps in a book market which progressively broadened its interest to new genres. Undoubtedly the few printed accounts concerning Margaret’s journey, more than other similar accounts related to 1598 events, have to be considered as forerunners of an original textual practice, with all the limitations that I shall try to highlight here. In order to evaluate the consistency of our accounts, testing the way in which they intend to shape a specific textual pattern, I have selected the following criteria: • The consistency of the publication project relative to the journey • The position (real or supposed) of the author: his situation and practical means as a preliminary condition in order to achieve his purpose • The textual approach to the temporal and spatial continuity of the journey and the distribution of the events described or quoted • The ideological factors concerning the author and the publisher: political or religious points of view, questions of competence especially regarding ceremonial rules or etiquette, self-promotion, etc.

The Consistency of the Publication Project Relative to the Journey We shall focus on the three main descriptions (Briefe discourse, Figure 1; Breve trattato, Figure 2; Narratione del viaggio, Figure 3). The information conveyed in titles and subtitles already suggests that these three publications intend to reach an ambitious target. Nevertheless, if the frontispieces are very promising, offering a great deal of specific information about of content, the inside text is often incongruous with it. This incongruity may depend on the consistency of the project. The English publisher John Wolf might have had a strong motivation to fulfil the obligation of producing a text corresponding to the frontispiece (Briefe discourse, Figure 1).13 He was a well-known publisher among the italianate 13  Title and subtitle display the following elements of information: conciseness of the account (A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H. W.); main topic (‘voyage and entrance of the Queene’); specification of land and borders (‘into Italy’); contents (‘triumphs and pomps’) and names of cities (‘Ostia, Ferrara, Mantua, Cremona, Milane’) in which the feasts described by the author occurred; complementary topics (‘also the report of the voyage of the Archduke Albert into

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Figure 1. Frontispiece, A briefe discourse of the voyage and entrance of the Queene of Spaine into Italy (London: John Wolfe, [1599]). London, British Library, shelfmark: C.114.d.5.(8). Reproduced by permission of the British Library, London.

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Figure 2. Frontispiece, Giovanni Battista Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria n.s. dalla città di Trento fine d’Alemagna, e principio d’Italia fino alla città di Genoa (Naples: Costantino Vitale, 1604). Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, shelfmark: K 5405. Reproduced by permission of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

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milieu of the Catholic reformers who had emigrated from Italy and were living in London.14 In this sense he had a potential public of learned people expecting to be informed accurately and completely without rhetorical pomp. In fact, we shall see that the English description is the most complete both in terms of the quantity and distribution of detailed information and the variety of matters addressed. The initials H. W. inscribed in the title-page correspond to those of a translator (and author?), which implies that the author could not or would not be recognizable to a wider public. The seriousness of the project is underlined by the reference to foreign sources used by the author and/or translator in order to complete the account with a report of the voyage of Archduke Albert. The description published in Naples in 1604 (Breve trattato, Figure 2), some years after the narrated facts, is described in the frontispiece as a collection of a great deal of interesting information related to the major events of the journey.15 In consequence, the author’s ability as a collector of information is put into focus, so his name is fully presented and he is given his doctoral title. Costantino Vitale was not a very important publisher and he was active in Naples from the late sixteenth century. In the frontispiece of the Narratione del viaggio written by Biagio Zerli (Figure 3), the conciseness of the description (it is actually the shortest of the accounts considered here) is not made plain. The focus is on the festivities in Cremona and in Mantua, though almost complete mention is made of the major and minor stops between Ferrara and Milan. Here also the name of the author, this time qualified by his provenance, appears on the frontispiece.16 The printer Almaigne’); generic reference to a complementary source text (‘translated as well out of French as Dutch’); author’s and/or translator’s name indicated by his initials: H. W. 14  John Wolf (Wolfe / Woolfe / Volfeo etc.) printed another anonymous account relating the 1598 festivities in Ferrara: The Happy Entraunce of the High Borne Queene of Spaine. In 1591 he had printed Guarini’s pastoral drama, which in 1598 was staged in Mantua in honour of Margaret of Austria: Guarini, Il pastor fido. On Wolf ’s activity as printer of the italianate milieu see Bellorini, ‘Le pubblicazioni italiane dell’editore londinese John Wolfe’. 15  The title and subtitle display the following elements of information: conciseness of the account (Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria); main topic (‘quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita’), place at which the description of the journey begins (Trento); place at which the description ends (Genova); specification of border (‘Trento fine d’Alemagna, e principio d’Italia’); contents (‘intrate […], feste, archi trionfali, e presenti […] et di ogn’altra cosa, che gl’occorse’); author as a reliable (see his academic title) collector of information (‘raccolto per il dottor Gio:Battista Grillo’); focus on the most important topic (‘con le particolarità del sponsalitio fatto nella città di Ferrara’); further specification of contents (‘con un notamento particolare del numero delle genti’). 16  The title and subtitle display the following elements of information: main topic (‘viag-

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Figure 3. Frontispiece, Biagio Zerlij, Narratione del viaggio della serenissima Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna, cominciando da Ferrara, Ostiglia, Mantova, Cremona, & Lodi, per sino à Milano (Cremona: Barucino de Giovanni, 1599). Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, shelfmark: Misc 8° 997. Reproduced by permission of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Italy.

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Barucino de’ Giovanni, probably of Jewish origin, was involved in the production of other printed descriptions concerning Margaret’s journey, as a result of a sort of joint venture with other publishers.17 The Narratione, issued in 1599, may be a sort of self-compensation for not having published a full account of the Queen’s entry into Cremona. In fact, due to serious damage following a long spell of extremely wet weather, the Apparati in Cremona were unsuitable for memorial records and two detailed descriptions of the entry were left in a manuscript form. A short journalistic livret, the brief account published by Bonfadino in Rome, cannot be considered to be an official publication.18 In the case of Zerli’s narrative, the origins of the author may have helped promote the publication in the Venetian area.

The Position of the Author Let us take into account what we have called the author’s (real or supposed) position, that is, his actual means and circumstances and how these influenced his achievement of his purpose.19 The unnamed author of the Briefe discourse was probably present on most of the journey and may well have attended in person many festive ceremonies. Even if he does not positively assert it, he systematically adopts the plural pronoun when his report deals with the progress, implicitly making himself a member of the royal travelling party (‘we followed on our voyage’, ‘we arrived’, ‘we departed’, ‘our voyage’, ‘our troope’, etc.)20 or he writes that he has gio della serenissima Margherita d’Austria’); place at which the narrative of the journey begins (Ferrara); place at which the narrative ends (Milano); intermediate stops in the itinerary (Mantova, Cremona, et Lodi); further specification of contents (‘dove s’intende il sponsalitio […] con le cerimonie, et ricevimenti’); author as collector of information from various sources (‘raccolto da diversi per Biagio Zerlij’); provenance of the author (veronese). 17  Barucino re-edited in Cremona the following livrets relating 1598–99 festivities: Felicis­ sima entrata di n.s. p.p. Clemente ottavo nell’inclita città di Ferrara, 1598; Guido Mazenta, Apparato fatto dalla città di Milano per ricevere la serenissima regina, d. Margarita d’Austria, 1599; Entrata reale fatta in Milano dalla serenissima regina, d. Margarita d’Austria, 1599; Relatione dell’arrivo in Spagna della serenissima regina Margarita d’Austria, 1599. 18  La solennissima entrata fatta dalla regina di Spagna. 19  The various contents of these three livrets cannot be treated in detail, this is especially the case given the length of Grillo’s text. 20  ‘From Trento we followed on our voyage, and passed thorough foure or five Villages belonging to the Venecians, and were all generally defrayed by the said Venecians’ (A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H. W., p. 2); ‘Departing out of the territory of the Venecians, wee [sic] arrived at Ostia’ (p. 2); ‘we departed from Revere, towardes Ferrara, downe alongst the River, with great

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been personally informed by other courtiers (‘as I have been credibly informed by […]’).21 It is worth noting that this sort of reference to personal involvement is omitted in the descriptions proper concerning entries and entertainments as if these passages of the text deserved a more detached and objective style of reporting. Moreover the quality and completeness of the information conveyed in his text — some interesting details about difficulties along the way, the finesse of some observations especially about musical entertainments — strongly suggest a high degree of education and earlier worldly experiences. He probably followed the Queen’s progress from Trento. Like Du Faing, he might have been a courtier in the retinue of a great Flemish prince who joined Albert of Austria in the north of Italy (probably Charles of Lorraine, duke of Aumale, or the count of Berlaymont). His Flemish connections would be consistent with having used Flemish or French sources, as declared in the frontispiece of the livret. This livret has no dedication, which is not astonishing, as the author intended to remain anonymous. At the end of the text he makes his adieu to the ‘courteous reader’, beseeching him to content himself with reading what he had written and hoping nevertheless to be encouraged by the reader’s appreciation to continue his narrative in a further livret.22 The dedication of the Breve trattato, dated 10 January 1604, confirms the author’s ambition.23 Giovanni Battista Grillo addresses his account to Juan multitudes of Boates’ (p. 3); ‘the honours and favours by his Holinesse shewed to the Queene were scarce ended, when order was given for following on our voyage towards Mantua […] and notwithstanding that we had great travell and trouble to passe and repasse on the one [and] the other side of the river Po, so for the rainie wether, as for the little commoditie and meanes which were found for passage of such a great number of horses and mules, laden with the baggage of our troope’ (p. 8); ‘the said Duke of Mantua […] spent in the defraymen of our troopes above 50,000 crownes’ (p. 11); ‘The morrow after […] we tooke our way towards Cremona’ (p. 11); ‘The morrow following, we continued our voyage towards Marignan’ (p. 13). 21  ‘The said comedy [Guarini, Il pastor fido, staged in Mantua], besides the castle of artificial fireworkes, and besides the triumphall arkes which were in good number excellent well made, and over and above the present of the litter, did cost above 25.000, crownes of gold as I have been credibly informed by a principal Officer of the said Duke of Mantua’ (A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H. W., pp. 10–11). 22  ‘Since, there was not any other feastings made in Millain, except those Comedies of small importance. For the rest, I beseech the courteous reader, to content himselfe to passe away the time with reading of this: which if it bee thankfully and kindly taken, will encourage me to take the paines to make the discourse of the other entrances at Millain, [even] yet not spoken of ’ (A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H. W., p. 14). 23  Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria, pp. 3–5.

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Alonso Pimentel y Enríquez, VIII, count of Benavente who, in 1598 at the time of Margaret’s wedding, was viceroy of Valencia (1598–1602) and, in 1603, had been entrusted with the government of the Spanish kingdom of Naples. In the text there are two courteous references to don Pietro Castelletto who was regent in 1598 (before the arrival of Viceroy Lemos).24 His son, don Luigi Castelletto, had been sent to attend the ceremonies in Ferrara, where, as Grillo says, he had made a magnificent show. The purpose of the author is evident: self-promotion addressed both to the old and new governor by means of a Spanish festal/political event in which they both were involved. In his dedication, Grillo writes that he was detained in Mantua for business and there he decided to gather complete information on every incident in the queen’s progress. He probably moved from Mantua to Ferrara, went back to Mantua and then accompanied the royal travellers as far as Milan where, he says, he fell ill and was therefore unable to move on 3 February 1599, when the Queen and her cortege left Milan on route to Genoa. Grillo shows a great deal of accuracy in drawing, especially for the first part of the journey, on both printed sources (the livrets published at the time) and on first-hand reports. In any case, he is able to convey a great deal of information in a fluent historical narration, in which the official account of the ceremonies is happily interspersed with occasional details and unofficial news.25 To him we are indebted for the most accurate description of the intermedi staged between the acts of the celebrated pastoral drama Il pastor fido. Was he present at the performance? We know that being there was an almost universal aspiration. In the Gonzaga Archive (Archivio di Stato di Mantova) there still are letters from various correspondents containing passionate requests for invitations. The description of the theatrical performance is so detailed that we have to suppose that either Grillo was part of the audience or he had access to a truly first-hand source, coming from someone involved in the organization of the performance. I have often asked myself if there might be some familiar relationship between our author and the homonymous and younger composer and organist who is known to have spent his early life in Graz, probably in the service of Margaret’s brother, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. But no document confirms this supposition. Grillo is aware that he has composed an original text, even if he affects a courtly understatement about his personal skills. His text, collected from various 24 

Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria, pp. 21–22, 26. 25  Battilla, ‘Le fonti a stampa italiane’, points out that Grillo, in relating the festivities for the queen in Mantua, partly draws on a previous printed source, namely Ferrante Persia, Relazione dei ricevimenti fatti in Mantova.

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sources, is presented by him as being unito (coherent), seguito (continuous / chronological) and ordinato (well-ordered). This cohesion makes his work commendable and agreeable for the reader, compared with the bulletins and brief news items that normally circulated in similar circumstances. The accurately reproduced sequence of the Queen’s progress through Italy, the well-ordered description of the content of the various events are intended as a specific quality of the work and a solid mark of its ‘historical’ value. Biagio Zerli, the author of the Narratione del viaggio, is not a very reliable source. He might have been a clerk in the pay of the publisher Barucino. He was a minor literary figure and, nourishing literary ambitions,26 he probably intended to enhance his personal fame by connecting his name to these major historical events. The first part of his description, the voyage from Ostiglia to Ferrara, lacks accuracy. He probably was able to attend the various public ceremonies in Ferrara, but only those which took place outdoors, because the information he is able to give for the indoor ceremonies is very generic. Indeed we cannot be sure that he was there at all and that he did not receive news from someone else, as he does not seem to exploit specific printed sources to describe the feasts in Ferrara. He relates the Queen’s progress to Mantua and to Cremona, even if, at least in the case of Mantua, he undoubtedly gathers information from other printed accounts. Although the frontispiece promises to narrate the journey as far as Lodi and Milan, the description actually ends with Margaret’s sojourn in Cremona. At the beginning of the text the author refers to the most benevolent readers Ai benignissimi lettori (to his most benevolent readers), but the text itself contains two references to a V. S. (Vostra Signoria, your lordship) for whom the description was originally intended, in the form of a letter.

A Textual Approach to the Temporal and Spatial Continuity of the Journey and the Distribution of the Events Described or Quoted If we consider the contents of the three descriptions we can see that the proportion of attention given to real phases of the journey and that given to single events is in some cases incongruous. While great events and important stops (Ferrara and Mantua) are dominant, even in this respect the treatment is different in the three descriptions. For instance, Zerli’s Narratione del viaggio dedicates only a page and a half to Ferrara; he concentrates his attention on Mantua, dedicating almost six pages, a 26 

In association with his son Francesco, he composed a pastoral drama and published it in 1593 using the press of Sebastiano and Francesco Dalle Donne, the latter a publisher involved in festival book production for Margaret: Stefanello egloga pastorale.

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good half of his livret, to the Gonzaga festivities. He is not concerned with the journey in itself and does not give any details of the route or itineraries. Grillo’s description of the events in Ferrara and in Mantua is well-balanced:27 ten pages for Ferrara and twenty-seven pages for Mantua. The relative disproportion here is compensated for by the fact that the twelve pages dedicated to the detailed description of the intermedi are conceived as a sort of diversion.28 Grillo actually provides very detailed accounts of the various stops but he does not devote time to the progress between one stop and another. Both these narratives (Narratione del viaggio, Breve trattato) openly reveal that they depend, in different proportions, on printed sources more than on personal experience or objective reporting: in fact, in describing triumphal arches and inscriptions, especially for the entry into Mantua, they conform to the conventions, taking inspiration from the established practice of the official descriptions of entries. As we have anticipated, the English description (Briefe discourse) seems to be shaped following a more original pattern. For this unnamed author, objective reporting is a major concern: times and places are marked accurately, different stops are accorded proportionate attention, and he does not give an account of the apparati, evidently considering this sort of detail not only superfluous but also unsuitable for his text. Sometimes a vivid eye-witness account is given of the difficulties along the way, especially the bad weather or rivers to be crossed. All these features make the reader participate in the progress. At other times the author reveals his feelings, which we can imagine are shared by the other travellers, such as when they arrive in the territory of Mantua, and enjoy ‘the triumphs and honours’ prepared for them by the Duke, after having been troubled and uncomfortable when crossing the Po. Notwithstanding, while appreciation of natural scenery has no part in his description, we know that recording this sort of feeling was not common at the time in the diaries of travellers.

Ideological Factors Concerning the Author Finally we move on to consider briefly some ideological factors concerning the author (political or religious points of view, questions of competence, especially regarding ceremonial rules or etiquette, self-promotion, etc.). I shall limit myself to quoting just two examples that seem very informative. 27  Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria, pp. 20–30. 28  Grillo, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria, pp. 44–55.

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The first concerns the English description. It is difficult in the context of the objective narration provided by the unnamed author to find some recognizable ideological mark outside the assumption that he belongs to the noble and gentle world forming part of the royal retinue, but it seems to me that a specific religious conviction emerges in the way in which he defines or does not define the identity of the states along the journey. Here he seems to discard his usual accuracy. The borders and jurisdictions of the bishop-princes of Bressanone and Trent are not mentioned. The new borders and possessions of the papal states due to the devolution of Ferrara in January 1598 are neither described nor noted (except La Stellata, the nature of whose boundary is not specified).29 This lack of information is probably intentional; it would confirm the ideological position of the author as a Catholic sharing Reformation ideals and thus reluctant to admit, in any respect, the temporal power of the Church of Rome. The Briefe discourse, published in London, obviously was intended to be in harmony with the principles of a Reformed public. But probably and more specifically it was intended for the Italianate milieu of the intellectuals who had emigrated to London as a consequence of their dissent from the Church of Rome, with whom the publisher John Woolf was associated. This might be the reason why the author, who was probably in the service of some Catholic prince, did not allow his name to appear on the book. Our last example concerns a kind of ideological censorship, pertaining to etiquette, that the same text undergoes when published in different states and 29 

Borders and states are indicated in A Briefe Discourse, trans. by H. W., as we briefly quote here. In the itinerary from Trento to Mantua: ‘From Trento we followed on our voyage, and passed thorough foure or five villages belonging to the Venecians (p. 2); ‘the borders of the Duke of Mantua’ (p. 2 ); ‘Departing out of the territories of the Venecians, we arrived at Ostia, a little towne of the Duke of Mantuas on this side of the river Po’ (pp. 2–3); ‘at Revere, at the Castell and Towne of the sayde Duke of Mantua’ (p. 3). From the Gonzaga territory to the Papal States: ‘we departed from Revere towardes Ferrara downe alongst the river [Po]’ (p. 3). No boundary is specified when landing at Isola (ponte Lagoscuro) near Ferrara on 12 November 1598: ‘i[s]land of the bridge of the Darklake, three Italian miles from Ferrara’ (p. 4); no reference to the Papal States is made when entering into Ferrara on 13 November 1598. In the progress from Ferrara to Mantua mention is made of La Stellata: ‘Stellade a towne of his Holinesse’ (p. 8). Here the entry into the duchy of Mantua is signified by a sort of release: ‘all our troubles and labours were forgotten’ (p. 8). After Mantua, on the way to Milan: ‘Bozzulo, a walled town of the Lord Iulio Caesar Gonzaga, kinsman to the said Duke of Mantua’ (p. 11). Bozzolo had been declared a town and duchy by imperial decree on 10 February 1594. After Bozzolo ‘the one [queen’s] and other [archduke’s] court was begun to be defrayed by his catholicke Majesty throughout al the townes and villages of his said Majesty to Millan’ (p. 11); ‘Pirregneton [Pizzighettone] a strongholde of his Catholick maiestie’ (p. 12); ‘Marignan a strong Castell belonging to the Marques of Marignan’ (p. 13).

Travelling with a Queen

Figure 4. Frontispiece, Vera et fedele relatione del passagio del passaggio della ser.ma principessa Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna. Per lo stato della serenissima Signoria di Venetia (Verona: Angelo Tamo, 1599). Verona, Biblioteca Civica, shelfmark: CV 429. Reproduced by permission of the Biblioteca Civica di Verona.

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addressed to different groups of readers. This is the case with the description of the passage of the Queen of Spain through Venetian territory written by Giovanni Pietro Moretti and published in Verona (Passaggio) and then in Milan (Cerimonie). As we have said, the two narratives concerning this passage (Passaggio or Cerimonie, and Vera et fedele relazione, Figure 4) are very interesting from the point of view of travel description. Both these accounts (and particularly Moretti’s) contain the only two sets of authentic descriptions of landscape in all the contemporary literature on Margaret’s travel. The style of doctor Moretti is a bourgeois style, especially evident when he deals with ceremonial matters (rank and rules of precedence) or when he makes an effort to translate in terms of the bourgeois way of life the complicated courtly world. He is so aware of his difficulties that he openly declares them in the dedication A’ Lettori (to the readers) which opens the livret published in Verona. In this edition we find that the queen and her mother, the archduchess of Austria, were simply mentioned as la Madre (the mother) and la Figliuola (the daughter). When Moretti’s livret was republished in Milan by Pandolfo Malatesta (the official press of the Milanese Senate), the dedication containing the apology of the author was, significantly, suppressed, and the text underwent a process of correction to render it more in keeping with court etiquette. The appellation of ‘daughter’ used for the Queen seemed too informal to be acceptable in the state of Milan, so the term la Figliuola was systematically replaced by the more formal title: la Regina (the queen). It is quite curious that the informal appellation is uncritically adopted by Grillo, in his account published in Naples, where he records the progress of the Queen through Venetian territory. As he used Moretti’s livret, he evidently drew on the edition printed in Verona. Moretti’s original text (Passaggio) aimed to bring the illustrious visitors closer to the large crowds that had rushed to greet them in the countryside near Verona. The familiar names of mother and daughter were an implicit appeal to the feelings of the reader, showing the normality of these women who had appeared almost as if they were goddesses. Other small but significant differences between these two editions of Moretti’s text deserve study in order to understand the influence of the publishing context even on less noticeable ideological questions (excluding the main question, visibly concerning the dedication). The two accounts printed in Verona (Passaggio and Vera et fedele relatione) relating the progress of the Queen in Venetian territory could not properly be defined as publications due to the fact that their authors were completely freelance. The Serenissima Repubblica and the Governors of Verona were undoubtedly concerned by official memorial record, and at least in the case of Moretti’s Passaggio the licenza de’ superiori (the official permission of the authorities) is

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quoted in the frontispiece. Both of these texts, as with other records with an official memorial function, were evidently produced for mass consumption and wide circulation. Nevertheless the informal style that the authors employ was in keeping with a book-reading and book-buying market politically and religiously freer and more commercially oriented. Università di Pisa

Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Bruxelles / Brussel, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique / Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, MS 18033 Innsbruck, Universitätbibliothek, MS 987 London, British Library, C.114.d.5.(8.) (available at the Warwick University / British Library project ‘Treasures in Full: Renaissance Festival Books’, coordinated by J.  R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring [accessed 15 May 2012]) London, British Library, 9930 bbb. 46 (available at the Warwick University / British Lib­ rary project ‘Treasures in Full: Renaissance Festival Books’, coordinated by J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring [accessed 15 May 2012]) Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, K 5405 Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, misc. 8° 99 6 Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, misc. 8° 99 7 Verona, Biblioteca Civica, CV 228 Verona, Biblioteca Civica, CV 429

Primary Sources Álvarez, Vicente, Relación del camino y buen viaje que hizo el príncipe de España D. Phelipe nuestro señor [...] que passó de España en Italia, y fue por Alemania hasta Flandres donde su padre el emperador y rey don Carlos nuestro señor estava en la villa de Bruselas ([Medina del Campo: Guillermo de Millis], 1551); modern edn, Relación del camino y buen viaje que hizo el Príncipe de España Don Phelipe, ed. by José María de Francisco and Paloma Cuenca, in Juan Cristobál Calvete de Estrella, El felicíssimo viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso Príncipe Don Phelippe, ed. by Paloma Cuenca (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V, 2001), Appendix Battilla, Elisa, ‘Le fonti a stampa italiane: aspetti della bibliografia materiale sul viaggio e sulle feste per Margherita d’Austria’, in Il viaggio in Italia di Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna (1598–1599) [accessed 14 May 2012]

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Bochius, Joannes, Historica narratio profectionis et inaugurationis serenissimorum Belgii principum Alberti et Isabellæ Austriæ arciducum: et eorum optatissimi in Belgium adventus, rerumque gestarum et memorabilium, gratulationum, apparatuum, et specta­ colorum in ipsorum susceptione et inauguratione hactenus editorum accurata descriptio (Antwerpen: Moretus, 1602) A Briefe Discourse of the Voyage and Entrance of the Queene of Spaine into Italy: With the Triumphes and Pomps Shewed Aswell in the Cittyes of Ostia, Ferrara, Mantua, Cremona, Milane, as in other boreughes and townes of Italy; Also the Report of the Voyage of the Archduke Albert into Almaigne, trans. by H. W. (London: Wolfe, 1599) Calvete de Estrella, Juan Cristobál, El felicíssimo viaje d’el muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe don Phelippe […] desde España à sus tierras dela baxa Alemaña (Antwerpen: Nucio, 1552); modern edn, El felicíssimo viaje del muy alto y muy poderoso Príncipe Don Phelippe, ed. by Paloma Cuenca (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V, 2001) Clario, Giovanni Battista, Relatione delle cose successe nel viaggio da Graz a Trento della ser.ma Margherita arcid.sa d’Austria, et sposa dell’ invittissimo re di Spagna don Filippo iij. mentre era condotta in Spagna, in Elisabeth de Felip-Jaud, ‘Ein fürstlicher Brautzug durch Tirol (1598): Eine Reisebeschreibung, verfaßt von Giovanni Battista Clario’, Tiroler Heimat: Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Volkskunde, 61 (1997), 113–45 Ferrante Persia, Relazione dei ricevimenti fatti in Mantova alla maestà della Regina di Spagna dal serenissimo signor Duca l’anno 1598 del mese di novembre (Mantova: Osanna, 1598) Grillo, Giovanni Battista, Breve trattato di quanto successe alla maestà della regina d. Margarita d’Austria n.s., dalla città di Trento fine d’Alemagna, e principio d’Italia fino alla città di Genova: si dell’intrate superbe che fece per ogni luogo che passò, come delle feste, archi trionfali, e presenti che gli furno fatti da molti principi, et di ogn’altra cosa, che gl’occorse. Raccolto per il dottor Gio Battista Grillo napolitano; con le particolarità del sponsalitio fatto nella città di Ferrara per mano della Santità di papa Clemente ottavo; con un notamento particolare del numero delle genti ch’erano con la M. S. & altri Principi ch’erano seco, con quel che si spendeva giornalmente nella città di Milano (Napoli: Vitale, 1604) Guarini, Giovanni Battista, Il pastor fido: Tragicomedia pastorale di Battista Guarini. Al sereniss. d. Carlo Emanuele. Duca di Savoia &c. dedicata. Nelle reali nozze di S.A. con la sereniss. infante d. Caterina d’Austria (London: Volfeo, 1591) The Happy Entraunce of the High Borne Queene of Spaine, the Lady Margarit of Austria, in the Renowned Citty of Ferrara (London: Woolfe, 1599) Itinéraire de l’archiduc Albert de la reine d’Espagne Marguerite d’Autriche et de l’infante Isabelle en 1599 et 1600, tirée d’une relation contemporaine manuscrite, ed. by Frédéric A. Reiffenberg and Thomas de Ferdinand, Nouveaux Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Belles-Lettres de Bruxelles, 14 (Brussels: Hayez, 1841) [Mancini, Giacomo], Descrizzione dell’arco trionfale fatto in Genova nel passaggio della maestà della Regina Catolica, e del serenissimo Alberto arciduca d’Austria (Genova: Pavoni, 1598; ed. by Franco Vazzoler and repr. in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, and

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Margaret Shewring, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), i, 310–29) Moretti, Giovanni Pietro, Cerimonie trionfi et ricevimenti fatti dalla serenissima signoria di Venetia nel passaggio della serenissima Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna per il territorio veronese: havuti dall’eccell. sig. dottor Moretti (Milano: Malatesta, 1598) —— , Passaggio della serenissima regina Margarita d’Austria per il territorio veronese (Verona: Donne & Vargnano, 1598) Reale, Fusoritto, La felicissima entrata della serenissima regina di Spagna, donna Margarita d’Austria. Nella città di Ferrara il dì 13. novembre 1598: havuta dal cavalier Reale (Ferrara: Baldini, 1598) La solennissima entrata fatta dalla regina di Spagna, nelle città di Cremona e di Lodi, et il superbissimo apparato fatto in Milano di statue, et porte, et archi trionfali (Roma: Bonfadino, 1598) Stefanello egloga pastorale: del pastore incognito; con intermedii apparenti (Verona: Sebastiano, et Francesco dalle Donne fratelli, 1593) Vera, et fedele relatione del passaggio della ser.ma principessa Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna: per lo stato della serenissima Signoria di Venetia (Verona: Tamo, 1599) Zerlii, Biagio, Narratione del viaggio della serenissima Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna, cominciando da Ferrara, Ostiglia, Mantova, Cremona, & Lodi, per sino à Milano: dove s’intende il sponsalitio di S. M. & il sponsalitio del serenissimo arciduca Alberto d’Austria; con le cerimonie, & ricevimenti fatti sì da Sua Santità, come dal serenissimo signor Duca di Mantova, & ne gli altri luochi sudetti (Cremona: de’ Giovanni [Zanni], 1599)

Secondary Studies Aliverti, Maria Ines, ‘Festivals in Genoa in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’, ed. by Maria Ines Aliverti, with contributions by Carlo Bitossi and others, in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), i, 217–370 —— ,‘Il viaggio italiano di Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna (1598–1599): le descri­ zioni a stampa’, in La Memoria de los libros: estudios sobre la historia del escrito y de la lectura en Europa y América, ed. by Pedro M. Cátedra and María Luisa López Vidriero, Serie maior, 4–5, 2 vols (Salamanca: Instituto de la Historia del Libro y de la Lectura, 2004), ii, 321–36 —— , ed., Il viaggio in Italia di Margherita d’Austria regina di Spagna (1598–1599): ingressi, feste e cerimonie [Atti delle giornate di studio, San Giuliano Terme, 22–23 set­ tembre 2006] (Pisa: PLUS, forthcoming) Bellorini, Maria Grazia, ‘Le pubblicazioni italiane dell’editore londinese John Wolfe (1580–1591)’, in Miscellanea, ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo, Pubblicazioni della facoltà di lingue e letterature straniere con sede in Udine, Università di Trieste, 1–2, 7, 3 vols (Udine: Arti Grafiche Friulane, 1971–77), i, 17–65

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Mitchell, Bonner J., 1598: A Year of Pageantry in Late Renaissance in Ferrara, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 71 (Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1990) —— , The Majesty of the State: Triumphal Progresses of Foreign Sovereigns in Renaissance Italy, 1494–1600 (Firenze: Olschki, 1986)

(Failed) Early Modern Madrid Festival Book Publication Projects: Between Civic and Court Representation David Sánchez Cano*

A

s the capital of an empire stretching across Europe and over the Atlantic ocean, we would expect Madrid in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to be the centre of an abundant production of richly illustrated festival books promoting Spanish Habsburg propaganda. Such festival books, when possible lavishly illustrated, should record the enormous efforts put into the preparations, the extravagance of the decorations, and the brilliance of the participants. Yet a quick glance at the major bibliographies suffices to show that, compared to the rest of Europe, printed festival books not only appeared late in Madrid but also in smaller print runs and in smaller editions.1 Moreover, even though contemporaries in Spain valued the power of the image highly, the few festival books that did come out were rarely illustrated with woodcuts or engravings. Various explanations have been put forward for this. I would like to review some of them and propose one of my own, before looking in detail at the festival book projects, failed and realized, for royal entries in Madrid. The most obvious and immediate reason given for the low number of festival books is the general situation of printing in Spain in the early modern period.

*  This article draws for the most part on my unpublished doctoral dissertation on early

modern royal entries in Madrid: Sánchez Cano, ‘Festeinzüge in Madrid, 1560–1690’. 1 

On early modern festival books in general see Watanabe-O’Kelly and Simon, Festivals and Ceremonies, and Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early Modern European Festivals’; for Spain the standard bibliography is still the pioneering work by Alenda y Mira, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas públicas en España.

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Already low in comparison to Germany, Italy, or France since the period of incunabulum, book production in Spain declined continuously from around 1580 into the seventeenth century.2 At the beginning of the sixteenth century for example, Venice alone had approximately 150 print shops, while the whole Iberian peninsula could only boast about thirty. These were, moreover, widely but thinly distributed instead of concentrated in a major centre (such as Paris, Lyons, or Venice). Even at the end of the sixteenth century Madrid, which had rapidly become the major printing centre in Spain, had only ten print shops in comparison to a declining Venice with forty.3

From Printing to Propaganda During the whole of the seventeenth century, the inferior quality and low quantity of national paper manufacturing made the importation of paper, principally from Genoa, necessary, significantly increasing the costs of book production.4 Rampant inflation in Spain meant that competition from areas where printing was technically and economically more advanced was devastating, particularly from the Low Countries, as well as from Italy and later on from France. Many books written in Spain and in Spanish even had to be printed abroad, a wellknown example being Juan Christoval Calvete’s description of Prince Philip’s journey to Italy and the Netherlands and his triumphal entries there, printed in Antwerp.5 Printers in Spain thus were forced to concentrate on certain niche areas where competition was less fierce (such as local religious themes) and did not compete on the international European market. The printing of illustrations was hindered by similar reasons.6 The profession of engraver received such little esteem in Spain that engravers were not organized into guilds till late in the eighteenth century. During the early modern period there were no masters, examinations, guild officials, etc., as was obligatory in other 2 

Carrete Parrondo, ‘La ilustración de los libros’, p. 308. Santander Rodríguez, ‘La imprenta en el siglo xvi’, pp. 95–96, and Sarría, ‘La imprenta en el siglo xvii’, pp. 142, 182. 4  Hidalgo Brinquis, ‘La industria papelera en la España de Cervantes’. 5  Calvete de Estrella, El felicíssimo viaje d’el […]príncipe don Phelippe. On the phenomenon of books in Spanish and/or by Spanish authors printed outside of Spain, see Moll, ‘El libro español impreso en Europa’. 6  Carrete Parrondo, ‘El grabado y la estampa barroca’, pp. 204, 226, 228, 231, 232; see also Carrete Parrondo, Historia del Grabado en España, pp. 137–38. 3 

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trades and arts. The craft was practised freely and contracts made individually between clients and engravers; there are no records of engraving workshops set up until the eighteenth century. The few local engravers could not compete economically against the massive import of foreign prints, as well as technically against foreign engravers who set up business in Spain. Spanish engravers likewise resorted to focusing on niche markets, such as locally venerated religious images or portraits of local personalities. The economic hurdles and the long periods of time needed for making prints meant that a conspicuously low number of festival books visually documented the decorations and events. The number of illustrated printed books even sank during the seventeenth century, constituting only about five per cent of total book production, parallelling the documented general decline in printing in Spain.7 The printing and engraving situation, as well as that of book manufacturing, however were factors, but not the exclusive reasons for the lack of festival books. There might not have been much of a way, but there also was little will. It seems to me that an underlying cause was the general Habsburg attitude towards Repräsentation, in the German sense of the term: the external symbolizing of power in public spheres. The Spanish Habsburg court was definitely not a ‘theatre state’, as Clifford Geertz defined it, and pomp did indeed serve power, not the other way around.8 The Spanish Habsburgs did not pursue a well-planned and wide-ranging strategy of propaganda as might have befitted their political claims. This could be because rulers who felt secure did not have to make efforts to strengthen their legitimacy, just as the Spanish Habsburgs never had the need to build fortifications around their capital Madrid. The political instrumentalization of courtly efforts in cultural fields, fittingly termed by Jürgen von Kruedener Prätention (pretention) as opposed to Repräsentation, was especially practised by smaller courts who sought prestige and could not compete militarily.9 We see the lack of both in the severe, unornamented architecture — the so-called estilo desornamentado — best exemplified in the El Escorial monastery-palace;10 in the cheap building materials used in the exteriors of royal palaces such as El Buen Retiro (even though the interior was richly decorated);11 in the reluctance of nobles to erect their palaces at the seat of the court in Madrid;12 in the austere 7 

Carrete Parrondo, ‘La ilustración de los libros’, p. 308. Geertz, Negara, p. 13. 9  Kruedener, Die Rolle des Hofes im Absolutismus, pp. 18–24. 10  Kubler, Building the Escorial, pp. 15–17. 11  Brown and Elliott, A Palace for a King, pp. 71–72 and chap. 5, pp. 107–48. 12  Rodríguez-Salgado, ‘The Court of Philip II of Spain’, p. 213. 8 

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clothes and lack of trappings in state portraits;13 or in court ceremony, which particularly strove to distance and remove the ruler from public view.14 Propaganda initiatives were few and, as we shall see, primarily came from individual figures. The attitude towards propaganda, moreover, varied widely among the generations of Habsburg rulers in Spain.15 Charles V inherited the Burgundian emphasis on pomp, employing an international team of humanists to disseminate the festivals held in his honour around Europe. His son Philip II in comparison shunned display, did not commission an official biography, hardly used the arts to promote his image, and avoided spectacle. His was unquestionably a conscious decision, while his son Philip III’s incompetence ruled out any purposeful propaganda programme in the years that followed. It is only with Philip IV and his favourite, the Count-Duke Olivares, that we see strong efforts being made to promote political claims via cultural messages. As a young minor noble in Seville, Olivares had already deliberately practised the generous patronage of artists and writers in order to accumulate social prestige,16 a policy he continued on a grander scale under Philip IV. It was Olivares who masterminded the Salón de los Reinos (Hall of Realms), an elaborate ensemble of state propaganda with its twelve commissioned monumental battle paintings celebrating Spanish victories installed in the Buen Retiro Palace outside Madrid in 1635.17 Court festivities also abounded during Olivares’s years in power, such as the many festivities directed by him to honour the visiting Prince Charles of England in 162318 and the series of festivities held between 15 and 24 February 1637 at the Buen Retiro palace19 — and as we shall see below, efforts to publish a festival book were at their strongest in these years. After Olivares’s fall from power the propaganda machine he had set up remained more or less in place, but even it could not cover up the continuing political and economic decline under Philip IV and Charles II. The lack of a will towards Repräsentation resulted generally in fewer festivals, festival decorations, and festival books. My suggestion of such a disinclination towards Repräsentation is in no way firmly anchored, but tentatively put forward. 13 

Davies, ‘The Anatomy of Spanish Habsburg Portraits’, pp. 69–70. Elliott, ‘Philip IV of Spain’; see also Elliott, ‘The Court of the Spanish Habsburgs’. 15  Lenaghan, Images for the Spanish Monarchy, pp. 6–7. 16  Elliott, The Count-Duke of Olivares, pp. 20–22. 17  Brown and Elliott, A Palace for a King, chap. 6, pp. 149–200. 18  Sánchez Cano, ‘Entertainments in Madrid for the Prince of Wales’. 19  See the festival description by Sánchez de Espejo, Relacion ajustada en lo possible, a la ver­ dad, y repartida en dos discursos, as well as Brown and Elliott, A Palace for a King, pp. 199–213. 14 

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I suspect that one of the main reasons for weak propaganda, aside from a lack of state initiative and a reluctance towards using pomp, lay in the limits of Habsburg authority to impose national objectives on local actors. As Ruth Mackay has demonstrated in her analysis of royal authority and civic resistance in Castile during the 1630s and 1640s, the Spanish monarchy in the seventeenth century cannot adequately be described as absolutist. Instead, the crown and municipalities interacted in a dialectic of authority and privilege, central power and local autonomy, obedience and resistance.20 In their understanding, city councils, guilds, private individuals, and even commoners were not practising resistance, not even passive resistance, when they put up opposition to royal directives, rather they were protecting long-established rights. They operated according to the wide-spread legal principle of Obedézcase, pero no se cumpla (to be obeyed, but not complied with). In the case of festivals, the nature of political organization in Spain meant (perhaps to a greater extent than in other areas of Europe) that festivals, including court ceremonies and spectacles, were financed, organized, and put on by city councils acting quite independently. Various actors with different, sometimes conflicting, interests took part in the organization of a festival. In Madrid this was compounded by the ongoing conflict between the resident court and civic institutions. Conflict likewise arose when the city council forced the guilds to contribute financially to the festivals. Even though the royal court, resident in Madrid since 1561, increasingly occupied Madrid — its city council, its urban space, its symbols of identity21 — in the examples we will look at there was a surprising lack of initiative on the part of the court to immortalize important festivals by means of festival books.

Civic Representation and Individual Festival Book Projects In his Brief Dialogue on the Antiquity and Notable Qualities of the Noble and Crowned Town of Madrid […] from 1637 the chronicler Rodrigo Mendez Silva extensively lists the royal entries that occurred in Madrid from the fourteenth century to the present.22 Just as with the purported Roman origin of the town, the allegedly ancient Visigothic churches, or the royal personages born in Madrid, the royal entries of kings, queens, or other dignitaries constituted one of the town’s outstanding distinctions. The exalted social position of the visiting personage 20 

Mackay, The Limits of Royal Authority, pp. 1–20. Jurado Sánchez and others, ‘Espacio urbano y propaganda politica’. 22  Mendez Silva, Dialogo compendioso de la antigüedad. 21 

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bestowed on the city a special honour, which was marked by the city council with a welcoming reception. Consequently, it was for royal entries that the Madrid city council made the most effort in terms of entertainments and decorations. Only festivities celebrating the town’s locally born patron, San Isidore the Labourer, or the annual Corpus Christi entertainments — a supremely civic event — were equally lavish. A permanent record in the form of a festival book was only produced of course when the efforts and the Prätention of the city justified one. Thus for example the royal entries of Elisabeth of Valois in Alcalá de Henares23 and Toledo24 in 1560 were described in extensive printed festival books, while for the entry in the minor town lying between them — Madrid — a brief two-page manuscript description sufficed.25 It might conceivably have been commissioned and written for a planned modest publication that never came to fruition. After the court settled permanently in Madrid one year later in 1561, the situation changed drastically. Not only was the first print shop opened in 1566 but also a series of festival books were published, all written by the humanist Juan López de Hoyos (? – c. 1583, Madrid). These were descriptions of the exequies for Prince Carlos (1568) and for Queen Elisabeth of Valois (1569), as well as of the entry of Anne of Austria in 1570. All these court occasions were minutely described by López de Hoyos (in books of 112, 218, and 262 pages, respectively) but not accompanied by any illustrations, not even illustrated frontispieces, a sign of the lack of graphic artists in Madrid at the time. López de Hoyos had planned and contributed to all of these festivities, so that he was well-placed to write their descriptions. Moreover, he headed the civic Latin grammar school in Madrid, was closely connected to the city council, and purportedly composed a manuscript treatise on Madrid’s coat-of-arms and its other antiquities.26 His position as semi-official chronicler of the city is reflected, as we would expect, in the lengthy excursuses on the city’s history, arms, and distinctions in the festival books. The initiative for writing and publishing these festival books came not from the court but solely from the city council, which remunerated López de Hoyos for his efforts in 1568 and 1569; in 1571 it rewarded him with the hefty sum 23 

El Recibimiento. Gomez de Castro, Recibimiento; this entry is also related in a manuscript description by Sebastian de Orozco (or Horozco) in his ‘Noticias curiosas sobre diferentes materias, recopiladas y anotadas por el Licenciado Sebastian de Orozco’ (Madrid, BN, MS 9175, fols 230v–249r). 25  ‘El resçibimiento y fiestas que se hizieron en Madrid a la Reina doña Ysabel Nuestra Señora’, manuscript in Madrid, Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, MS 17,129; repr. in González de Amezúa y Mayo, Isabel de Valois, Reina de España, iii (1949), pp. 443–47. 26  Alvar Ezquerra, ‘López de Hoyos, corógrafo de Madrid’, p. 19. 24 

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of three hundred ducats for his description of Anne of Austria’s entry. 27 These books appeared at a moment when the minor town of Madrid had seen itself suddenly catapulted into being the seat of the court; ambitious plans to make Madrid into a proper royal residence by improving its architecture, establishing religious institutions, and stimulating its economy were being drawn up to justify this new status and, most importantly, to persuade the transient court to remain in Madrid permanently. The efforts made in publishing the festival books during the 1560s and 1570s belonged to this project. A comparison of the festival books describing the entry of Anne of Austria into Burgos and Segovia in the same year of 1570, before her arrival in Madrid, throws into relief the municipal motivation behind them. Like other Castilian cities, Burgos had petitioned the King, as recounted in its festival book, to be chosen as the venue of the marriage or at least of a triumphal entry.28 The city council also ordered the participating artists to emphasize the historical heroes of Burgos and their many services to the Castilian crown. Consequently the first four triumphal arches were dedicated to the city’s founder, Diego (Rodriguez) Porcelos; the medieval hero, El Cid, who had lived in Burgos; the first Count of Castile, Fernán Gonzalez; and the Castilian kings Alfonso VI and Alfonso VIII. At the request of the city council, the Queen entered the city through the Gate of St Martin, a more circuitous and uncomfortable route, which took her past the houses of these city heroes. Throughout, the festival book repeatedly stresses the loyalty of Burgos to the crown. Segovia likewise organized a lavish royal reception and was moreover the site of the wedding ceremonies. Just as in Burgos, the iconographic programme of the decorations heavily emphasized civic heroes and monuments, including the aqueduct, and the festival book stressed the loyalty of the city towards the king.29 Both cities had seen themselves recently eclipsed in the political, economic, cultural, and even demographic spheres by the new royal seat Madrid; the receptions accorded Anne as well as the lengthy festival books were obvious attempts at regaining the favour of the crown. The next important festive occasion in Madrid occurred in 1599 with the entrance of Queen Margaret of Austria. No descriptions of this entry were printed, even though the Madrid city council staged a relatively opulent reception with three triumphal arches, colossal statues, and a fantastic fountainstructure. Nevertheless, a long thirty-three-folio manuscript description exists 27 

Alvar Ezquerra, ‘López de Hoyos, corógrafo de Madrid’, pp. 26, 29, 36. Relacion verdadera del recebimiento. 29  Baéz de Sepúlveda, Relacion verdadera del Recibimie[n]to que hizo la ciudad de Segovia. 28 

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in the Madrid Municipal archive which includes the inscriptions of the many, often abstruse, emblems and their interpretation, most probably written by the inventor of the iconographic programme and director of the festivities, Jerónimo Ramírez.30 It was undoubtedly drawn up in preparation for a printed description, yet no traces of this publication project can be found in the archives or in the minutes of the city council, and no known directives from the court exist to this effect. The manuscript in the Municipal archive, moreover, is a copy from the later seventeenth century bound together with other, much briefer, mentions of noteworthy festival occasions. Since it includes at the end the fees paid to various poets and musicians, this copy itself was probably not meant to be published, even if the original description by Ramírez was. Once again, the court as well as the city council did not launch an initiative to produce a permanent record of the festivities. More likely it was Ramírez himself who composed the description in hopes of publishing it and seeing his endeavours recognized. In 1615 Princess Elisabeth of Bourbon, the wife of the future Philip IV, triumphally entered Madrid. Being only a princess, not a queen, the city council had initially planned only a modest reception. During the preparations the current favourite, the duke of Lerma, instructed the city council several times to augment the lavishness of the preparations, even ordering a triumphal arch to be set up at the last moment. After the festival, the court once again made no plans to eternalize the event and publish a description of entry. It was the city council however that three months after the entry decreed: de lo mucho que ymporta que se escriva e ymprima las fiestas que se hicieron para la entrada de la serenissima princessa nuestra señora para que aya memoria dello se acordo que don Francisco de Urbina hijo de el Señor Diego de Urbina lo escriva y haga ymprimir que hecho se le gratificara.31 (since it is very important that the festivities celebrating the entry of the magnificent princess are written down and printed, in order to have memory of them, it is agreed that Francisco de Urbina, son of Señor Diego de Urbina, will write the text and have it printed, and afterward he will be rewarded.)

30 

‘Libro de noticias particulares, asi de nacimientos de Principes, como de muertes, entradas de Reyes y otras cosas’, manuscript in Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, ASA 4–122–15, fols 34r–67v. On this manuscript see Tovar Martin, ‘La entrada triunfal en Madrid de Doña Margarita de Austria’. 31  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, xxxiv (23 March 1615).

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The city council had required extensive prodding to step up its efforts for the reception but obviously now wanted to see those efforts made public and eternal. Another reason for fixing the festivities in print probably stemmed from the conflicts that had occurred between the city council and the court during the preparations. Several times the council had ordered reports on the previous entries of queens in 1570 and 1599 to be retrieved, in order to determine the privileges of the council. Publishing a description of the festivities would ensure that these rights were publicly and permanently fixed. However, Francisco de Urbina did not bring out a description of the festivities, but only a modest eightpage pamphlet on one of the four triumphal wagons, one he had presumably designed. If any of the decorations deserved a description, then this wagon did; the ‘Galley of the City’, was the most sumptuous of the four — and moreover designed around a civic theme. The text offers no information on the publisher or date but responds to the council’s decree in its title: ‘Report to this most noble Town of Madrid, […] so that Your Lordships can Comprehend the Emblems, Devices, and Inscriptions on the Wagon’.32 Why the book project resulted in such a meagre result is unknown; no further traces of the city council’s initiative exist. Up to this point all the festival descriptions mentioned, whether in printed or manuscript form, had been composed by participants in the preparations, that is, the inventors of the iconographic programmes. In 1623, on the occasion of Prince Charles of Wales’s visit to Madrid, we see the rise of privately-printed short pamphlets, in Spanish relaciones reporting on all the events considered newsworthy during his stay, including his royal entry.33 The hastily prepared triumphal entry, without festival decorations, is narrated in no less than four separate pamphlets, as well as in three chronicles and a lengthy manuscript description.34 As with all privatization, this meant that neither the court nor the city had control over the 32 

Urbina, Memorial para la muy noble Villa de Madrid Don Francisco de Urbina. On the relaciones reporting Charles’s visit see Ettinghausen, ‘Prince Charles and the King of Spain’s Sister’, as well as Ettinghausen, ‘The Greatest News Story since the Resurrection?’. 34  The relaciones are: Relacion del gran recibimiento que la Magestad Catolica; Entrada en publico del principe Carlos de Inglaterra en la Corte de Madrid; Segunda relacion de la suntuosa entrada; and Relacion de lo sucedido en esta Corte, all reprinted in Relaciones de actos públicos celebrados en Madrid, ed. by Simón Díaz, pp. 199–209. The chronicles are González Dávila, Theatro de las Grandezas de Madrid; Leon Pinelo, Anales de Madrid, ed. by Fernández Martín, pp.  246–47; and Soto y Aguilar, Jornada madrileña del príncipe de Gales, ed. by Morales, pp.  25–28; the manuscript (published in Almansa y Mendoza, Obra periodistica, ed. by Ettinghausen and Borrego, pp. 328–46) is Andrés Almansa y Mendoza, ‘Discurso Politico y relacion de la venida y Entrada del Principe de Gales en nuestra Ciudad’, in Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, MS 9–1506–15. 33 

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way the descriptions were presented. For all the censorship limiting criticism and all the need these proto-journalists had to ingratiate themselves with the authorities, they primarily served the interests of the market. Publicity could however have its monetary rewards: the journalist Andrés de Almansa, for example, was paid the tidy sum of forty-five ducats for his dedication to the city of Madrid at the beginning of one of his pamphlets describing a bullfight during the Prince’s stay,35 while the royal chronicler, Gil González, Dávila petitioned the city council twice for remuneration for his book on Madrid, which included a description of Prince Charles’s entry.36 In comparison to the inventors of the iconographic programmes and direct participants, however, these authors lacked inside information, sometimes misinterpreting the more obscure interpretations and decorations. Illustrations of any kind were naturally missing from these pamphlets, which by definition were unbound, short, and cheap, even if precisely for these reasons they were also widely-disseminated. For the entry of Marianne of Austria into Madrid on 15 November 1649, the city council staged one of the most opulent and coherent festivals in the history of Madrid festival culture. The series of four triumphal arches erected by the city, excluding an additional fifth arch financed by the silk traders, were united by an iconographic programme based on the four continents and the four elements. The political subtext aimed to strengthen claims to a world monarchy after the debacle (for Spain) of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.37 It is no coincidence that Madrid festival culture was at its peak during this period, under the reign of Philip IV, and that the propaganda initiatives stimulated by the royal favourite Olivares were continued. We see the court here intervening in the preparations more decisively and energetically than during other previous or subsequent occasions, above all by imposing on the city council the appointment of a highranking courtier, Lorenzo Rámirez de Prado, to direct the festivities. With a mixture of coercion, threats, and devious intrigue, Rámirez de Prado pushed through his plans for the festivities, including the financing of a fourth triumphal arch, something the city council long resisted, but which the quadruple iconographic programme necessitated. 35  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, xxxix (10 May 1623): the dedication must be the one in Relación de las fiestas de toros y cañas, in Relaciones de actos públicos celebrados en Madrid, ed. by Simón Díaz, pp. 234–35. 36  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, xxxix (26 May 1623), and Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, xxxix (2 August 1623); the book is the chronicle mentioned above by González Dávila, Theatro de las Grandezas de Madrid. 37  Chaves Montoya, ‘La entrada de Mariana de Austria en Madrid’.

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The main source of information for the entry is a printed description of a hundred and eighteen pages describing precisely the decorations and rituals, the Noticia del Recibimiento i Entrada de la Reyna Nustra Señora.38 The book entirely lacks the learned excursuses on aspects of civic history and civic symbols prevalent in the municipally-initiated festival descriptions of the 1560s and 70s. It also unfortunately lacks illustrations, except for an allegorical frontispiece with Mercury, Hymenaeus, and Fama, engraved by Pedro de Villafranca, drawn by Francisco Rizzi, and designed by Rámirez de Prado. Together with the intimate knowledge of the decorations, including their measurements and the meanings of the emblems, the authorship of the frontispiece suggests strongly that Rámirez de Prado also wrote the anonymous description,39 as several bibliographers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries claim.40 Rámirez de Prado undoubtedly possessed the intellectual and literary qualities, as his extensive library and previous publications demonstrate,41 but might have had his reasons for remaining anonymous. A few months after the entry, Rámirez de Prado sent a letter with a copy of the entry description, presumably just off the press, mentioning in the letter that the description had been written on the order of His Majesty the King.42 This would be the only case known to me where the initiative for a festival book came directly from the court. The city council thanked Rámirez de Prado, yet in its session a few days later noted that ‘faltan algunas cosas principales en horden a los regocijos y grandeça del dicho Recibimiento’ (some essential aspects relating to the entertainments and magnificence of the reception) were missing) in the Noticia and ‘combiene aya noticia muy pormenor de las demonstraciones que esta villa hiço’ (it is proper that there be a very comprehensive description of all the efforts this city made). The council therefore decided ‘se saque y ymprima otro libro o Relacion que comprehenda todo lo que sucedio’ (to bring out another book or report covering everything that occurred) and named councilmen to petition for 38 

Noticia del recibimiento i entrada de la Reyna Nustra Señora Doña Maria-Ana de Austria. On the case for Ramírez de Prado as author, see Varey and Salazar, ‘Calderón and the Royal Entry of 1649’, p. 4. 40  Among them Antonio, Bibliotheca hispana nova, ii (1788),p. 9. 41  On Ramírez de Prado (1583–1685), see Entrambasaguas, Una familia de ingenios, and Fayard, Los miembros del Consejo de Castilla, pp. 207, 496; on his library of 8951 books and manuscripts see the contemporary printed catalogue: Inventario de la Libreria del Señor D. Lorenzo Ramirez de Prado (in Madrid, BN, R-5760) as well as Entrambasaguas, La Biblioteca de Ramírez de Prado. 42  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, lxiii (8 March 1650). 39 

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a printing licence and for writing the festival book.43 Apparently the city council saw its role in the festivities as insufficiently acknowledged in Ramírez de Prado’s description and intended to correct this — in its eyes — serious deficit. A few weeks later, the Council of Castile issued the printing licence for ‘un libro con estampas de los arcos y demas ornatos’ (a book with engravings of the arches and other decorations), with the condition however that Ramírez de Prado should direct the publication.44 The city council initiated the book project and blatantly ignored this stipulation, as a few weeks later a decree from the king restated that any publication of the entry was to be exclusively directed by Ramírez de Prado, as well as ordering the city council to turn over all funds allocated towards the printing and the engraving to him. The city countered that un hijo de esta villa (a son of this town)45 had already begun writing the text and appealed against the decision. It presumably gave up the fight, as no further traces of the civic counter-book-project exist. The court, too, did not push to have the monies designated for the new book used for a more lavish, illustrated entry description with engravings, thus losing a unique opportunity for self-promotion. The conflict in 1649 seems to have put a curse on future festival book projects in Madrid. Even though no cost was spared during preparations for the entry in 1680 of Marie-Louise of Orléans, only a few privately-printed pamphlets briefly describe the event. After the entry, as Maria Teresa Zapata has shown, the committee in charge of preparations made plans for a luxurious book on the festivities — which never came to fruition.46 Six hundred reams of paper marca imperial for 4272 ducats were ordered from an Italian trader at the court, Juan Bautista Pichinini, who was to bring it from Genoa. The city council planned to finance the publication by selling cloth left over from the costumes tailored for the festivities but unfortunately found no buyers. Before the end of 1680 the paper arrived at the port of Alicante and remained there, exposed to humidity, in spite of Pichinini’s increasingly desperate appeals. After eight years of pleading and waiting, Pichinini finally had the paper shipped to Amsterdam and sold there at a great loss (for 695 ducats) for musket cartridges in 1688. It seems to me supremely ironic that the paper initially ordered to extol the glories of the Spanish Monarchy ended up being fired back at its soldiers from its enemies’ muskets. For the engravings, the city council ordered fifty-eight copper plates from the northern port of Santander; they, too, were probably imported from abroad and 43 

Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, lxiii (13 March 1650). Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, lxiii (31 March 1650). 45  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, lxiii (31 March 1650). 46  Zapata, La entrada en la corte de María Luisa de Orleans, pp. 197–208. 44 

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not produced there. The council signed a contract with several artists (Claudio Coello, Diego González de la Vega, José Donoso, and Matias de Torres) for engravings of the front and reverse sides of the triumphal arches which had been created by these same artists, plus engravings of the paintings decorating them. The arches were to occupy a whole sheet of paper, the paintings approximately a half to a third of a yard (42 x 28 cm). Work began after the entry in 1680, was still not finished in 1683, and in 1685 various of these artists plus other new ones received several payments. The project, though, ground to a halt at some point, almost certainly due to financial difficulties. It is indicative of the situation of printing in Spain at this time that the paper and presumably the copper plates had to be purchased outside Madrid and from abroad. As the historian of prints and graphic reproduction Juan Carrete Parondo notes, the insurmountable problem facing the production of illustrated books lay in the shortage of engravers and the very long time it took to cut plates.47 Nevertheless, it is thanks to this failed book project that the only known image of a triumphal arch from early modern Madrid has come down to us: the engraving of the front of the triumphal arch on the Puerta del Sol.48 Ten years later, during preparations for the entry of Marianne of Neuburg in 1690, the organizing committee suddenly recalled the 1680 book project. Pichinini and the artists were summoned and asked about the progress of their work, and the Italian was ordered to now turn over the reams of paper (obviously the city council was ignorant of the fate of the paper). On 31 May 1690 the committee decided that Thomas de Oña and Joseph de Ledesma were to write an account of the entry;49 both poets had been involved in composing the inscriptions and devising the emblems for it. As one of the artists involved (the painter and biographer Antonio Palomino) later wrote, the committee, having decided to publish an account of the entry, mandó a cada uno de los autores de las ideas de su ornato, delinear la suya, elogiándola, no como que el autor habla en ella; sino como que hablan los señores capitulares, a quienes la Villa cometió esta diligencia: la cual no tuvo efecto, por los varios accidentes, que sobrevinieron, y mudanza de superiores, y capitulares en su Ayuntamiento.50 47 

Carrete Parrondo, ‘La ilustración de los libros’, p. 308. Madrid, BN, Inv 70.861. 49  Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, ASA 2–64–3, fol. 80r (31 May 1690). 50  Palomino de Castro y Velasco, El Museo Pictórico y Escala Optíca, ii, 158 (p. 663 of the 1947 repr. edn). 48 

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(instructed each of the inventors of the decorations to describe and praise it, writing not as the author of it but as though they were the councilmen designated by the city for this task; this was never finished, due to various accidents and the transference of superiors and councilmen in the city government.)

Obviously Oña and Ledesma were to incorporate these descriptions by the creators of the decorations in their festival book, which possibly should also have included illustrations. The three anonymous manuscript descriptions of individual decorations and their emblems in the municipal archive were presumably the descriptions mentioned by Palomino and ordered by the council. Since the festival book was never realized Palomino published his own description in his pedagogical treatise Museo Pictorico y Escala Optica many years later in 1724.51 We might be tempted to think that a resurgent city council in the last two cases, 1680 and 1690, was once again energetically promoting its festival efforts, but this would be to ignore the slow transformation in the relationship between the court and civic institutions in Madrid during the second half of the seventeenth century: the court gradually took over not only the civic administrative institutions but also the civic symbols. For example, the patron saint of the city, Saint Isidor the Labourer, a local personality not canonized till 1622, or the local figure of the Virgin of Atocha, increasingly became identified as religious figures of the monarchy. For the organization of festivals, particularly the annual Corpus Christi celebrations, this meant after 1676 the appointment of an organizing committee headed by a member of the Council of Castile. However other members of the committee, although nominally city councilmen, were also members of the court and actually represented the interests of the court more than that of the city. And yet, encroaching court dominance of a formerly purely civic matter such as the organization of festivals and triumphal entries, still did not mean — as the failed book projects in 1680 and 1690 demonstrate — that the court was able to promote its image more forcefully. Aside from financial problems and a lack of will to see the book projects through, the more profound reason might lie in the Spanish Habsburgs’ lack of inclination towards Repräsentation; however, this is a question that has to be studied more deeply. Independent Scholar, Madrid

51 

Palomino de Castro y Velasco, El Museo Pictórico y Escala Optíca, ii, 153–58 (pp. 637– 63 of the 1947 repr. edn).

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, MS ASA 2–64–3 Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, MS ASA 4–122–15, fols 34r–67v (‘Libro de noticias particulares, asi de nacimientos de Principes, como de muertes, entradas de Reyes y otras cosas’) Madrid, Archivo de la Villa, Libros de Acuerdos, xxxiv (23 March 1615) —— , xxxix (10 May 1623) —— , xxxix (26 May 1623) —— , xxxix (2 August 1623) —— , lxiii (8 March 1650) —— , lxiii (13 March 1650) —— , lxiii (31 March 1650) Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Inv 70.861 Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 9175, fols 230–49 (Sebastain de Orozco, ‘Noticias curiosas sobre diferentes materias, recopiladas y anotadas por el Licenciado Sebastian de Orozco’) Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, R-5760 Madrid, Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, MS 17,129 (‘El resçibimiento y fiestas que se hizieron en Madrid a la Reina doña Ysabel Nuestra Señora’) Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, MS 9–1506–15

Primary Sources Alenda y Mira, Jenaro, Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas públicas en España, 2 vols (Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1903), i: 1402–1726 Almansa y Mendoza, Andrés, Obra periodistica, ed. by Henry Ettinghausen and Manuel Borrego, Nueva biblioteca de erudición y crítica, 20 (Madrid: Castalia, 2001) Baéz de Sepúlveda, Jorge, Relacion verdadera del Recibimie[n]to que hizo la ciudad de Segovia (Alcalá de Henares: Gracian, 1572) Calvete de Estrella, Juan Cristobál, El felicíssimo viaje d’el muy alto y muy poderoso príncipe don Phelippe […] desde España à sus tierras dela baxa Alemaña (Antwerpen: Nucio, 1552) Entrada en publico del principe Carlos de Inglaterra en la Corte de Madrid: grandioso recebimiento que le hizo la Catolica Magestad del Rey don Felipe IIII nuestro Señor (Sevilla: de Lyra, 1623) Gomez de Castro, Alvar, Recebimiento que la Imperial Ciudad de Toledo hizo a la Magestad de la Reyna nuestra señora doña Isabel, hija del Rey henrico II de Francia (Toledo: de Ayala, 1561) González Dávila, Gil, Theatro de las Grandezas de Madrid (Madrid: Yunti, 1623) González de Amezúa y Mayo, Agustín, Isabel de Valois, Reina de España (1546–1568): estudio biográfico, 3 vols (Madrid: Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales, 1949)

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Inventario de la Libreria del Señor D. Lorenzo Ramirez de Prado ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], c. 1665) Mendez Silva, Rodrigo, Dialogo compendioso de la antigüedad, y cosas memorables de la Noble, y Coronada Villa de Madrid (Madrid: Martín, 1637); repr. in Relaciones de actos públicos celebrados en Madrid (1541–1650), ed. by José Simón Díaz (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Madrileños, 1982), pp. 442–48 Noticia del recibimiento i entrada de la Reyna Nustra Señora Doña Maria-Ana de Austria en la muy noble i leal coronada villa de Madrid ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], 1650) El Recebimiento, que la Universidad de Alcalá de Heneares hizo a los: reyes Nuestros Señores, cuando vinieron de Guadalajara tres días despues de su felicicismo casamiento (Alcalá de Henares: Gómez de Castro, 1560); repr. in Relaciones de los Reinados de Carlos V y Felipe II, ed. by Amalio Huarte y Echenique, 2 vols (Madrid: Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1941), i, 141–60 Relacion del gran recibimiento que la Magestad Catolica del Rey nuestro Señor don Felipe III hizo al Principe de Gales, en su Corte, y villa de Madrid, Domingo a diez y nueve dias del mes de Marco, en este presente año de 1623 (Valladolid: Morillo, [n.d.]) Relacion de lo sucedido en esta Corte, sobre la venida del Principe de Inglaterra (Valencia: Sorolla, 1623) Relacion verdadera del recebimiento, que la muy noble y muy mas leal ciudad de Burgos, […] hizo a la Magestad Real de la Reyna nuestra señora, doña Anna d’Austria […] (Burgos: de Junta, 1571); repr. in Relaciones de los Reinados de Carlos V y Felipe II, ed. by Amalio Huarte y Echenique, 2 vols (Madrid: Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1941), i, 167–274 Relaciones de actos públicos celebrados en Madrid (1541–1650), ed. by José Simón Díaz (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Madrileños, 1982) Relación de las fiestas de toros y cañas ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], 19[?]), repr. in Relaciones de actos públicos celebrados en Madrid (1541–1650), ed. by José Simón Díaz (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Madrileños, 1982) Relaciones de los Reinados de Carlos V y Felipe II, ed. by Amalio Huarte y Echenique, 2 vols (Madrid: Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1941) Sánchez de Espejo, Andres, Relacion ajustada en lo possible, a la verdad, y repartida en dos discursos: el primero, de la entrada en estos Reynos de Madama Maria de Borbon, Princesa de Cariñan; el segundo, de las fiestas que se celebraron en el Real palacio del buen Retiro, à la eleccion de Rey de Romanos (Madrid: de Quiñones, 1637) Segunda relacion de la suntuosa entrada con palio del Príncipe de Inglaterra (Sevilla: Serrano de Vargas, 1623) Urbina, Francisco de, Memorial para la muy noble Villa de Madrid Don Francisco de Urbina dize, que para que V.S. se entere de los geroglificos, empresssas, y motes que contenia la Galera […] ha querido hazer este memorial a V.S. de lo que contenia ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], [n.d.])

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Secondary Studies Alvar Ezquerra, Alfredo, ‘López de Hoyos, corógrafo de Madrid’, in Imprenta, libros y lectura en la España del ‘Quijote’, ed. by José Manuel Lucía Megías (Madrid: Artesenal, 2006), pp. 19–45 Antonio, Nicolás, Bibliotheca hispana nova: sive hispanorum scriptorum qui ab anno md ad mdclxxxiv floruere notitia, 2 vols (Madrid: de Ibarra, 1788) Brown, Jonathan, and John H. Elliott, A Palace for a King: The ‘Buen Retiro’ and the Court of Phillip IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980) Carrete Parrondo, Juan, ‘El grabado y la estampa barroca’, in Juan Carrete Parrondo, El grabado en España (siglos xv al xviii), Summa Artis, 31 (Madrid: Espasa-Calpa, 1992), pp. 201–393 —— , Historia del grabado en España, 2nd edn. (Madrid: Cátedra, 1990) —— , ‘La ilustración de los libros: siglos xv al xviii’, in Historia ilustrada del libro español: de los incunables al siglo xviii, ed. by Hipólito Escolar, 3 vols (Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, 1994), ii, 271–360 Chaves Montoya, Teresa, ‘La entrada de Mariana de Austria en Madrid en 1649’, in El teatro descubre América: fiestas y teatro en la casa de Austria (1492–1700), ed. by Andrea Sommer-Mathis, Colección Relaciones entre España y América, 19 (Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992), pp. 73–94 Davies, David, ‘The Anatomy of Spanish Habsburg Portraits’, in 1648: War and Peace in Europe, ed. by Klaus Bussmann and Heinz Schilling, 2 vols (München: Bruckmann, 1998), i: Art and Culture, pp. 69–79 Elliott, John H., The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986) —— , ‘The Court of the Spanish Habsburgs: A Peculiar Institution’, in Politics and Culture in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of H. G. Könisgberger, ed. by Phyllis Mack and Margaret C. Jacob (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 5–24 —— , ‘Philip IV of Spain: Prisoner of Ceremony’, in The Courts of Europe: Politics, Pat­ ron­age, and Royalty, 1400–1800, ed. by Arthur G. Dickens (London: Thames and Hudson, 1977), pp. 169–89 Entrambasaguas, Joaquín de, La Biblioteca de Ramírez de Prado, Colección bibliográfica, 3–4, 2 vols (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1943) —— , Una familia de ingenios: Los Ramirez de Prado, Revista de Filología Española, 26 (Madrid: Instituto Antonio de Nebrija, 1943) Ettinghausen, Henry, ‘The Greatest News Story since the Resurrection? Andrés de Almansa y Mendoza’s Coverage of Prince Charles’s Spanish Trip’, in The Spanish Match: Prince Charles’s Journey to Madrid, 1623, ed. by Alexander Samson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 75–90 —— , ‘Prince Charles and the King of Spain’s Sister — What the Papers Said’ (Inaugural Lecture, University of Southampton, 28 February 1985) Fayard, Janine, Los miembros del Consejo de Castilla (1621–1746) (Madrid: Siglo xxi, 1982); trans. as Les membres du conseil de Castille à l’Epoque Moderne (1621–1746) (Genève: Droz, 1979)

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Geertz, Clifford, Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali (Princeton: Prince­ ton University Press, 1980) González Dávila, Gil, Teatro de las grandezas de Madrid (Madrid: Yunti, 1623) Hidalgo Brinquis, Maria del Carmen, ‘La industria papelera en la España de Cervantes’, in Imprenta, libros y lectura en la España del ‘Quijote’, ed. by José Manuel Lucía Megías (Madrid: Artesenal, 2006), pp. 97–123 Jurado Sánchez, José, and others, ‘Espacio urbano y propaganda politica: las ceremonias publicas de la monarquia y Nuestra Señora de Atocha’, in Madrid en la época moderna: espacio, sociedad y cultura, ed. by Andrés Garcia Lorca (Madrid: Universidad Autónoma, 1991), pp. 219–63 Kruedener, Jürgen von, Die Rolle des Hofes im Absolutismus, Forschungen zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 19 (Stuttgart: Fischer, 1973) Kubler, George, Building the Escorial (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982) Lenaghan, Patrick, Images for the Spanish Monarchy: Art and the State, 1516–1700 (New York: The Hispanic Society of America, 1998) Leon Pinelo, Antonio, Anales de Madrid (desde el año 447 al de 1658), ed. by Pedro Fernández Martín, Biblioteca de estudios madrileños, 11 (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Madrileños, 1971) Mackay, Ruth, The Limits of Royal Authority: Resistance and Obedience in SeventeenthCentury Castile, Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) Moll, Jaime, ‘El libro español impreso en Europa’, in Historia ilustrada del libro español, ed. by Hipólito Escolar, Biblioteca del libro, 54, 60, 66, 3 vols (Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, 1993–96), ii: De los incunables al siglo xvii, ed. by Juan Carrete Parondo (1994), pp. 499–521 Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Antonio, El Museo Pictórico y Escala Optíca, 3 vols (Madrid: de Bedmar, 1724; repr. Madrid: Aguilar, 1947) Rodríguez-Salgado, Mia, ‘The Court of Philip II of Spain’, in Princes, Patronage, and the Nobility: The Court at the Beginning of the Modern Age c. 1450–1650, ed. by Ronald G. Asch and Adolf M. Birke, Studies of the German Historical Institute, London (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 205–44 Sánchez Cano, David, ‘Entertainments in Madrid for the Prince of Wales: Political Functions of Festivals’, in The Spanish Match: Prince Charles’s Journey to Madrid, 1623, ed. by Alexander Samson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 51–73 —— , ‘Festeinzüge in Madrid, 1560–1690’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Technische Universität Berlin, 2006) Santander Rodríguez, Teresa, ‘La imprenta en el siglo xvi’, in Historia ilustrada del libro español, ed. by Hipólito Escolar, Biblioteca del libro, 54, 60, 66, 3 vols (Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, 1993–96), ii: De los incunables al siglo xvii, ed. by Juan Carrete Parondo (1994), pp. 95–140 Sarría, Amalia, ‘La imprenta en el siglo xvii’, in Historia ilustrada del libro español, ed. by Hipólito Escolar, Biblioteca del libro, 54, 60, 66, 3 vols (Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, 1993–96), ii: De los incunables al siglo xvii, ed. by Juan Carrete Parondo (1994), pp. 141–200

(Failed) Early Modern Madrid Festival Book Publication Projects

111

Soto y Aguilar, Diego de, Jornada madrileña del príncipe de Gales: fiestas de toros y cañas en su honor, ed. by Diego Ruiz Morales, Colección Carmena, 7 (Madrid: Unión de Bibliófilos Taurinos, 1967) Tovar Martin, Virginia, ‘La entrada triunfal en Madrid de Doña Margarita de Austria (24 de octubre de 1599)’, in Archivo Español de Arte, 244 (1988), 385–403 Varey, John E., and Abdón M. Salazar, ‘Calderón and the Royal Entry of 1649’, Hispanic Review, 34 (1966), 1–26 Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ‘Early Modern European Festivals — Politics and Performance, Event and Record’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Performance, ed. by J.  R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 15–25 —— , and Anne Simon, Festivals and Ceremonies: A Bibliography of Works Relating to Court, Civic, and Religious Festivals in Europe, 1500–1800 (London: Mansell, 2000) Zapata, Teresa, La entrada en la corte de María Luisa de Orleans: arte y fiesta en el Madrid de Carlos II (Madrid: Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispánico, 2000)

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) Alexander Samson

W

hen the future Philip II arrived in England in the summer of 1554, Mary I’s controversial decision to marry him had already provoked a major rebellion, headed in the event by the Kentish gentleman Sir Thomas Wyatt, son of the poet and Henrician courtier.1 The popularity or not of a Spanish marriage was bound up with anxieties about Mary’s gender and English sovereign independence in the context of England’s first married queen regnant. Their progresses, entries, and meetings were carefully choreographed to assuage native fears, present a glorious blason of dynastic success, and encode the nature of the new relationship between England and Spain. Philip dressed in an English style, invested with the Order of the Garter and served by an English household; as well as distributing generous gifts and pensions to English councillors and their wives, he cultivated an image for himself as king of England.2 This campaign to win acceptance from his new subjects appeared to enjoy some success, as one early commentator, don Juan de Figueroa, noted: ‘Satisfizo muy mucho su vista a los ingleses, que se le tenian pintado de muy diferente disposicion y manera’ (his aspect greatly pleased the English, who had had him represented to them very differently in terms of his manner and bearing).3 What is most surprising is that an entry arranged by a Reformer appeared to welcome Philip as their new king. It suggests that he was not the religiously divisive figure he later became, the bigoted, Catholic fanatic of the Black Legend, but rather an experienced, young 1 

See Loades, Two Tudor Conspiracies. Matthews, ‘Portraits of Phillip II as King of England’. 3  Colección de documentos inéditos, iii (1843), pp. 520–21. 2 

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Renaissance prince, whose arrival heralded new possibilities for Englishmen to participate at the heart of events in European affairs and the exploration of new worlds beyond Europe. Philip and Mary made their royal entry into London on 18 August 1554. They rode through London ‘the quene of the right hande, and the king of the left’.4 Mary’s occupation of the dominant male position on the right is fixed upon in this as in other accounts and repeated the superior status accorded to her at their marriage ceremony and on subsequent public occasions, underlining that marriage did not undermine her status as England’s queen and sole sovereign ruler. At the drawbridge were the two giants, Corineus Britannus and Gogmagog Albionus, holding a tablet with the verses, in John Elder’s translation: O noble Prince, sole hope of Caesar’s side, By God apointed all the world to gyde, Right hartely welcome art thou to our land, The archer Britayne yeldeth the her hand, And noble England openeth her bosome Of hartie affection for to bid the welcome. But chiefly London doth her love vouchsafe, Rejoysing that her Philip is come safe. She seith her citisens love thee on eche side, And trustes they shal be happy of such a gide: And al do thinke thou art sent to their citie By th’only meane of God’s paternall pitie, So that their minde, voice, study, power, and will, Is onlie set to love the, Philippe, still.5

The change in favour of British history in relation to the pageant of 1522 welcoming Philip’s father, that is, the replacement of Hercules and Samson by figures from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Britanniae, an invocation of a British myth of origin, was an assertion of English identity. Corineus was an ally of the Trojan Brutus, who had helped defeat the primitive giant inhabitants of Albion, amongst whom was the giant Gogmagog. These mythic genealogies made an impact on Muñoz, for example, who simultaneously reiterating the Arthurian and caballeresco identification, also from Monmouth’s Historia, described how, 4 

‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 146. On the significance of this see Samson, ‘Changing Places’. 5  ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 146. The argument also works of for the Latin original, since although the words are feminine in gender in Latin, tota Britannia, nobilis Anglia, the relationship represented is that of a lover.

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) 115 En esta tierra fueron las fabulas del rey Lisuarte dela mesa rodonda. Y las adevinanças y pronosticos de Merlin, que nacio en esta tierra. Esta fue poblada de gigantes quando la destruycion de Troya. A la qual vino un Capitan nombrado Bruto, con cierta gente desde Troya, y descendio en ella donde vencio a los gigantes, y los echo della, y del nombre deste Bruto se llamo Bretaña.6 (In this land the tales of King Arthur of the Round Table took place and the prophecies and prognostications of Merlin, who was born here. It was populated by giants at the time of the destruction of Troy from where a captain named Brutus with certain people came and conquered the giants and expelled them and had descendence and from the name of this Brutus comes the name Britain.)

There is a subtle tension in the poem between national self-assertion and effeminization, an unmanning of the English. The narrative undercuts the oppositional assertion of an ancient English identity. The verses are addressed to a lover and throughout the poem the language is gendered so as to represent the relationship between Philip and his new kingdom as that between him as male and the kingdom as female. The poem is framed by a providential reading of Philip’s coming, explicitly stated to be in order that he may ‘gide’ her. The return according to God’s will of natural order, with the exclusion of the female from political authority and Philip’s taking control of Britain, cuts against the emphasis on an independent national identity. The poem explicitly upholds the Habsburg claim to universal empire and is supportive of the realization of Philip’s imperial aspirations through dynasticism in England. This assertion in a joint entry, which scarcely referred to Mary, is significant. In the last pageant of the series an enthroned virgin delivered a crown into the hands of Philip. The entry culminated in a symbol of the alienation of English sovereignty. The alderman principally responsible for these pageants was the Protestant Richard Grafton. At a meeting on 22 May 1554, he had been entrusted with the preparation of the triumph. The Court of Aldermen’s records for this date state: ‘Mr. Barthelet, Mr. Grafton and Mr. Heywood7 were appoynted to take paynes to sett such theire devyses and opynyons for such pageauntes and other open demonstrations of joye as they shoulde think meate […] at the commynge of the prynce of Spayne’; their record for 9 June recorded that ‘the Cytie paeaunts were holy referryd to Mr. Grafton and his companyons devysors of the same’.8 6 

Muñoz, Viaje de Felipe Segundo, ed. by de Gayángos y Arce and Zarco del Valle, pp. 80–82 [sig. e vi v]. 7  John Heywood (1496/7–c. 1578), Catholic playwright and poet, who wrote a number of poems celebrating Mary. 8  Kingdon, Richard Grafton, Citizen and Grocer of London, p. 63.

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Richard Grafton had been the printer of the Great Bible in 1539, the first licensed vernacular translation of holy writ, whose frontispiece had depicted Henry VIII distributing Bibles inscribed with the words Verbum Dei. The illustration was based on Holbein’s title-page for the Coverdale Bible of 1535. The fact that a religious radical was placed in charge of the project is in itself surprising. The eulogy at the outset of the pageant series was balanced by dissident moments, which gave expression to oppositional voices. These were limited to religious issues, however, and in no sense represented attacks on Philip’s sovereignty. [The] conduit in Graciouse strete was newe paynted and gilded, and aboute the winding turred was fynely portrayed the ix wourthies and king Henry the eight and Edwarde the vjth in their tabernacles, all in complet harnesse, some with mases, some with swordes, and some with pollaxes in their handes; all saving Henry the eight, which was paynted having in one hand a cepter and in the other hand a booke, whereon was wrytten Verbum Dei.9

The recycling of this evangelical symbol for the tableau of Henry and the Nine Worthies was provocative. A tableau at St Paul’s also bore the tag Verbum Dei, this time however orthodoxly subordinated to the allegorical figure of Veritas.10 Grafton’s act of provocation was not referred to in the Catholic John Elder’s ‘Letter’. But it was recorded in the Protestant [Tower] Chronicle of Queen Jane and two years of Queen Mary. The incorporation of Mary’s two apostate predecessors, Henry VIII and Edward VI, in the symbolic space of Philip’s London entry was necessarily controversial, uncovering a tension between Grafton’s loyal celebration of the King, ‘happy of such a gide’, and the opposition provoked by religious conviction. The representation of Henry and Edward there could not eschew the ideological and theological conflict implicit in Philip’s arrival in London. Conflict erupted through the text and situated Henry and Edward firmly in the context of it. They were depicted in ‘their tabernacles’. Reformers identified themselves with the Jews of the Old Testament and frequently employed analogies relating their persecution and tribulations to biblical precedents. It was a characteristic rhetorical strategy, employed to counter traditional Catholic claims to authority harking back to a pre-Church purity, an era when direct personal revelation discovered the meaning of providence, opposed the consecrated institutional interpretations of holy writ based on the authority of apostolic tradition. The image of the book held by Henry resonated with notions of ‘sacred appointment’ in direct opposition by implication to Mary. It re-enacts 9 

The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, pp. 78–79. See King, ‘The Royal Image’, pp. 108–11, 118–19.

10 

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) 117

visually their explicit association with the Verbum Dei. Mary’s absence from the text, although she featured on the panel, was significant. It reiterated the separation from Henry VIII and Edward VI, which the image already implied. John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments focused specifically on the configured exclusion of Mary. Henry was ‘delivering the same book (as it were) to his son King Edward, who was painted in a corner by him’: according to the bishop of Winchester, ‘he should rather have put the book into the queen’s hand (who was also painted there)’.11 The monarch in his or her relationship to the pageants created the meanings of an entry. The celebration was activated by the sovereign at the centre of the spectacle. Philip believed that he had been received with displays of great affection. Writing from Hampton Court on 2 September to his sister Juana, the princess dowager of Portugal, regent of Spain, he recorded that ‘since then [the wedding] we have visited London, where I was received with universal signs of love and joy’.12 Although Philip may have missed it: ‘after the king was passed, the bushoppe of Winchester, noting the book in Henry the eightes hande, shortely afterwards called the paynter before him, and with ville wourdes calling him traytour, askte why and who bad him describe king Henry with a boke in his hand, as is aforesaid, thretenyng him therfore to go to the Flete’.13 This passage has been crossed out in the Tower Chronicle. Stephen Gardiner interpreted the painting as offensive, an act of disobedience ‘agaynst the quenes catholicke proceedinges’.14 The person who the painter perhaps did not betray was Richard Grafton. Grafton’s printer’s licence had been rescinded by Mary on her accession for his publication of the proclamation declaring lady Jane Grey queen. On the biblical frontispiece to which the pageant alluded, the Great Bible printed by Grafton in 1539, Henry delivers the text to Cranmer on the left and Cromwell on the right who in turn pass it on to the clerical estate and magistrates respectively. The people represented at the bottom have the Bible read to them. They are not depicted reading it themselves. It represented the proper order of the Henrician theocratic state, with the king authorizing the transmission of the Verbum Dei through the estates and it eventually filtering through to the people. Henry’s commitment to an evangelical agenda was less certain than it was represented as being by reformers. Richard Morison, one of the team of propagandists patronized 11 

Foxe, The Acts and Monuments, ed. by Pratt, vi (1877), pp. 557–58. Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers […] England and Spain, ed. by Tyler, xiii (1954), p. 53. 13  The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 78. 14  The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 78. 12 

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by Thomas Cromwell both to sell religious change and to persuade the king to license more radical innovation, in a typically deft example of praising perfection where it is wished for rather than where it exists, eulogized his sovereign for he ‘woll rather be at utter enmitee with all prynces, then suffer the knowledge of goddes word, to be taken out of his realm’.15 The project to produce a translation based on Tyndale’s, which was more acceptable to the conservative Henry, had been undertaken by Richard Grafton, Edward Whitchurch, and Myles Coverdale in 1538. Both these friends of Grafton were in prison by the time of the entry for offences relating to their religious beliefs. John Rogers was burnt a few months later, becoming the first victim and martyr of the Marian persecution. Coverdale survived after King Christian of Denmark interceded on his behalf, claiming him as one of his subjects. In spite of the fact that Henry had licensed a vernacular Bible for use in every church in England, he had soon promulgated injunctions limiting their use, because readers ‘taking and gathering divers Holy scriptures to contrary senses and understanding, do wrest and interpret and so untruly allege the same to subvert and overturn as well the sacraments of Holy Church as the power and authority of princes and magistrates, and in effect generally all laws and common justice’.16 Readers were enjoined to ‘quietly and reverently read the Bible and New Testament quietly and with silence by themselves secretly at all times and [in] places convenient for their own instruction and edification to increase thereby godliness and virtuous living’.17 Grafton referred briefly to the pageant which he had designed in his Chronicles (1572): ‘the Citie was bewtified with sumptuous pagiaunts and hanged with rich and costly silkes and cloth of Gold and silver’ and alluded to his fear that Mary would not only ‘bring in the Pope, but also by the mariage of a straunger […] bring the Realme into miserable servitude’.18 This sounds like ex post facto self-justification, since there is no doubt that Grafton was an effective propagandist in the London Entry underlining Philip’s title to the Crown. The image of Henry with the Verbum Dei was subjected to immediate revision and erasure, even though the entry itself was dismantled only two days later on 20 August: ‘At the Courte yt was agreed that the Chamebelyn shall cause all the Cyties 15 

Morysine, An Exhortation to styre all Englyshe men, fol. 25v. See also Walker, Plays of Persuasion, p. 209. 16  ‘Limiting Exposition and Reading of Scripture’, April 1539, in Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. by Hughes and Larkin, i (1969), pp. 284–86. 17  Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. by Hughes and Larkin. 18  Grafton, An Abridgement of the Chronicles of England, fol. 181r. The second half of the quote is referred to by Streitberger, Court Revels, p. 207.

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) 119

pageauntes to be taken downe with conveynyente spede’.19 Even before this the painter ‘paynted him shortly after, in the sted of the booke of Verbum Dei, to have in his hands a newe payre of gloves’.20 This passage in the Tower Chronicle was again crossed out. The revision of the representation and concealment of a key part of it, caused the painter fear ‘lest he should leave some part either of the book, or of the “Verbum Dei,” in King Henry’s hand, he wiped away a piece of his fingers withal!’.21 The focus of the account in the Acts and Monuments is on this anecdote: ‘I pass over and cut off other gaudes and pageants of pastime showed to him in passing through London […] having other graver things in hand’ (no pun intended).22 John Elder’s Letter Describing the Arrival and Marriage of King Philip, his Triumphal Entry into London, The Legation of Cardinal Pole, &c.,23 omits it, and it is similarly disregarded in the anonymous Italian pamphlet La solemne et felice intrata.24 The first pageant, a triumphal arch built by the merchants of the Steelyard was topped by a mechanical equestrian statue of Philip which mounted and wheeled around as the procession passed by. At Cornhill, there was a second pageant consisting of four celebrated Philips; Philip of Macedon, Philip the Roman Emperor, and the dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good and Philip the Bold. At Cheapside, Orpheus reduced to civic order maskers dressed as lions, wolves, foxes, and bears, and underneath were verses addressed to Philip: ‘Anglia que solo gaudet dicente Philippo’ (England […] Whose chiefest joye is to hear thee, Philip, speke).25 Foxe interpreted this allegorically with the ‘English people resembled to brute and savage beasts, following after Opheus’s harp, and dancing after king Philip’s pipe’.26 The fourth pageant repeated a genealogical device, suggested in 1501 by the allusion to Philip and Mary’s common ancestor John of Gaunt. The depiction of trees sprouting from the chests of John of Gaunt and Alfonso X in 1522 was replaced in 1554 with a tree sprouting from Edward III who was depicted with a ‘close crowne on his head’ and ‘a ball imperial in his lefte’ hand,

19 

The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 79. The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 79. 21  Foxe, The Acts and Monuments, ed. by Pratt, vi, 558. 22  Foxe, The Acts and Monuments, ed. by Pratt, vi, 558. 23  ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 147. 24  Anglo, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy, p. 327. 25  ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 148. 26  Foxe, The Acts and Monuments, ed. by Pratt, vi, 558. 20 

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‘of whom both their majesties are lineally descended’.27 The substitution of John of Gaunt for an English king stressed Philip’s Englishness, while it emphasized the English Crown’s imperial status. At the apex of the tree ‘was a quene of the right hande, and a king of the left, which presented their majesties’ and ‘above that, in the heigth of al, wer both their armes joined in one, under one crown emperial’.28 This image of shared monarchy began to appear on the coinage from September 1554 and was seized upon by pamphleteers, who interpreted the floating crown as a symbol of the destruction of England’s discrete identity. It signified ‘geving to the prince of Spayne (under the name of king) as much auctorite, as if he were king of England in dead. As ye may see […] by the quoynid mony going abrode currant’.29 Another pamphlet claimed ‘the prince of spain hath optainid to have the name of the king of England and also is permittid in our english coins to join our english armes with the armes of spain and his fisnamy the quenes, the crowne of England being made over both ther heds in the midest, and yet upon nether of them both’.30 From Christmas 1556 the image which appeared on coins and charters reversed the respective positioning of Philip and Mary, with Philip now situated on Mary’s right hand. This reversed the precedence that was constantly noted in the accounts of the marriage and entry.31 The verses underneath the genealogical device returned to the theme of which the Winchester scholars had written ‘Inque suum fontem Regia stirps redeat’ (that the royal stock return to its source), representing the coming of Philip as a homecoming: ‘Quos Deus ex uno communi fonte profectos | Connubio veterem voluit conjungere stirpem’ (Which both descended of one auncient lyne | It hath pleased God by mariage to combyne).32 This reiteration of a theme commonplace in the welcomes accorded to visiting ‘Spanish’ princes was complicated by the ambiguity concerning Philip’s future role as king consort. It could be interpreted as suggesting that his homecoming was a reclaiming of the crown itself from which he was descended. The genealogy would clearly strengthen 27 

‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 149. ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 150. 29  A Supplicacyon to the quenes Maiestie, fols 23v–24r. 30  See Richards, ‘Mary Tudor as “Sole Quene”?’, p. 915. See The Lamentacion of England, p. 10. Anne Hooper wrote to Bullinger on 11 April 1555 from Frankfurt: ‘Your Rachel sends you an English coin, on which are the effigies of Ahab and Jezebel’, that is, Philip and Mary, Original Letters Relative to the English Reformation, ed. by Robinson, i (1846), p. 115. 31  On their occupation of ritual space see Samson, ‘Changing Places’. 32  ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 150. 28 

Images of Co-Monarchy in the London Entry of Philip and Mary (1554) 121

Figure 5. Anon, To the reader. Beholde here (gentle reader) a brief abstract of the genealogie of all the kynges of England (London: Giles Godet, 1560). London, British Library, shelfmark: G. 6456, fol. 26. Reproduced by permission of the British Library, London.

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any such claim to a title in the crown. The final pageant in Fleet Street represented a king and queen encircled by the figures of Justicia, Equitas, Veritas ‘wyth a boke in her hande, whereon was written Verbum Dei’, and Misericordia.33 Here was the proper Catholic subordination of God’s Word to Truth with which Gardiner had been exercised as early as 1546.34 According to Elder, Sapientia descended to crown both Philip and Mary, however, the verses below stated: ‘Si diadema viro tali Sapientia donet, | Ille gubernabit totum foeliciter orbem’ (If Wisdome then him with hir crowne endue, | He governe shal the whole world prosperously).35 In the La solemne et felice intrata, a young virgin enthroned delivers the crown received to Philip, as the verses suggest.36 It was an image in which Mary delivered the English crown into the hands of the foreign Philip. Apparent here in the English records of the entry was a fulfilment of the rumours of overrunning by strangers, central to the propagandist strategies of the Wyatt rebellion. An early Elizabethan representation of their co-monarchy places Philip in the superior right-hand position, perhaps out of a desire to underline that sovereignty had been alienated through a foreign match in Mary’s reign. However, the iconography is ambiguous with a set of contradictory elements: the imperial crown perches precariously on Mary’s head while Philip wears an open diadem, however, he holds the sword and she the sceptre, while both have their hands resting on the orb. Over both of their heads are their joint arms in accordance with the representation established in their royal entry (see Figure 5).37 The fear of overrunning by strangers was reflected in the Tower Chronicle’s picture of the numbers of Spaniards in London for the entry. ‘At this tyme ther was so many Spanyerdes in London that a man shoulde have met in the stretes for one Inglishman above four Spanyerdes, to the great discomfort of the Inglishe nation’.38 Yet again this passage is crossed out in the manuscript. Renard was warning the Emperor in September: ‘They proclaim loudly that they see they are going to be enslaved, for the Queen is a Spanish woman at heart and thinks nothing of Englishmen, but only of Spaniards and bishops. Her idea, they say, is to 33 

‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 151. On the problem of ‘God’s truth against what they call God’s Word’, see the entry at Kew, TNA, SP 10/1/105. 35  ‘John Elder’s Letter’, in The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 151. 36  Anglo, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy, p. 337. 37  For a discussion of Godet, Brief Abstract of the Genealogie and Race of All the Kynges of Englande, see Metzger, ‘Controversy and “Correctness”’, pp. 443–48. I would like to thank Susan Doran for drawing my attention to this image. 38  The [Tower] Chronicle, ed. by Nichols, p. 81. 34 

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have the King crowned by force and deprive the Lady Elizabeth of her right’.39 The Venetian ambassador reported that the people had begun to think that ‘the Queen, being born of a Spanish mother, was always inclined towards that nation, scorning to be English and boasting of her descent from Spain’.40 One of her servants believed by 1556 that the marriage had been a betrayal. This day oone William Harrys, a Carpenter and Gonner, and the Quenes Majesties servant, being brought before my Lordes and examyned certain lewde woordes that he was accused to have spoken, confessed that spake thiese woordes uppon Maundye Thurdsdaye last, sitting in an alehowse at Detforde; viz.:–‘The Quene hathe given this daye a great almose, and given that awaye that shuld have paide us oure wages; she hath undone us and hath undoone this realme to, for she loveth another realme better thenne this’.41

In spite of the distrust of Philip’s intentions and the rumours disseminated by anti-Marian propagandists, his attitude in a letter to his father written on 16 November 1554, was far from Machiavellian: ‘I am anxious to show the whole world by my actions that I am not trying to acquire other peoples’ states, and your Majesty I would convince of this not by my actions only, but by my very thoughts’.42 Although this may have been his intention, there were political pressures to do so. By 1555 the duke of Alba was recommending that Philip make himself ‘absolute master’ of England by choosing as replacements for the ailing Lord Chancellor and Treasurer, candidates who were not the Queen’s men: Lo de Inglaterra, por amor de Dios, que Vuestra Magestad quiera ser señor absoluto de aquel Reino y mandalle con el pie. Dícenme que está para morir el Canciller y Tesorero. Son dos oficios que Vuestra Magestad ha de poner de mano y mirar muy bien los que pone y que no dependan de la Reina.43 (In relation to England, for the love God, may your Majesty wish to become absolute master of that kingdom and rule with ease. They tell me that the Chancellor and 39 

Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers […] England and Spain, ed. by Tyler, xiii, 60. Renard to Emperor, 18 September 1554. 40  Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts […] in […] Venice, ed. by Brown and others, vi (1877), p. 560. 41  Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers […] England and Spain, ed. by Tyler, xiii, 265. St James Palace, 20 April 1556. 42  Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers […] England and Spain, ed. by Tyler, xiii, 97. Philip to Emperor, 16 November 1554. 43  Epistolario del III Duque de Alba, i: 1536–1567 (1952), p.  320. Alba to Philip, 28 October 1555, Milan.

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Lord High Treasurer are about to die. They are two posts which your Majesty must become involved in filling, look carefully who fills them and that they are not dependents of the Queen.)

The appointments were announced on New Year’s Day 1556. Nicholas Heath, bishop of York, was created Lord Chancellor and Lord Paget, a favourer of Philip from early on, Lord Privy Seal.44 England’s international image after the marriage reflected a perception that English sovereignty had been alienated by the marriage. Pole told the Venetian ambassadors that the papacy would be restoring to them [Alba and Philip] in integrum what they have forfeited, for they are deprived not only of the fiefs of the Church, which are the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, England, Ireland, and so many privileges (gratie) in Spain, conceded them by the prodigality of our predecessors (God forgive them for it) […] not only should temporal princes not be obeyed, but not even the Pope, were he to order anything contrary to the honour of God, as in that case, he does not act as the vicar of Christ, but like sinful man.45

England and Ireland were papal fiefs forfeited by Philip. Mary’s assiduous cultivation of England’s imperial status, whose foundation was the explicit denial of the papacy’s claim to have held England as a fief since John, was not accepted by one of her principal councillors. Perhaps this is unsurprising given that this advisor was Cardinal Pole, whose rejection of the Supremacy had provoked Henry VIII to execute his mother and brother. The argument that Alba was not obliged to obey the pope, because in commanding contrary to the ‘honour of God’ he acted like a ‘sinful man’, is surprising in that it repeated reformers’ arguments about justifiable disobedience. The settlement Philip had negotiated, obtaining from Pole a blanket dispensation for the holders of ex-monastic properties, greatly allayed the fears of Lords and Commons and had facilitated the reunification. Philip’s embarcation on a policy of actively selling ecclesiastical property in Spain in the early 1550s, by virtue of a bull issued by Julius III on 1 February 1551 allowing him to alienate half a million ducats of jurisdictions, households, and income belonging to monastic orders demonstrated that he had no objection to the wholesale confirmation of the holders of ex-ecclesiastical property in their titles. It was his diplomacy which expedited the process of reunification so that 44 

Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, iii (1721), p. 284. Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts […] in […] Venice, ed. by Brown and others, vi, part ii, 838–39. 45 

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it could be effected in his first parliament.46 During the 1550s, the royal treasury sold jurisdiction in Castile to five to six villages per annum belonging to the Benedictine, Hieronymite, Bernardine, and Augustinian orders. The notion of anti-Spanish sentiment as popular is contradicted by the evidence of courtiers in Philip’s retinue. It was the tensions within the King’s and Queen’s own households which spilled over into violence. A letter from an anonymous nobleman paints a depressing portrait of relations: ‘hay cada día en palacio cuchilladas entre ingleses y españoles. Y ansí ha habido algunas muertes de una parte y de otra’ (every day there are stabbings in the palace between the English and Spanish. And as a result there have been deaths on both sides).47 The violence which he stated had claimed lives, was en palacio (in the palace). One Spaniard complained: ‘The English hate us Spaniards worse than they hate the Devil, and treat us accordingly’.48 Another commented ‘estamos entre la más mala gente de nación que hay en el mundo; digo, entre aquellos que están en número de cristianos, y ansí son estos ingleses muy enemigos de la nación española’ (we are amongst the worst people of any nation in the world, I mean those numbered amongst Christian peoples, and in this way these English are great enemies of the Spanish nation).49 These witnesses were both noblemen whose contact with a people who did not speak their language must have been very limited. There was undoubtedly popular hostility, but it fed on opposition to Philip and Mary both at home and abroad that was both political and literate. This was addressed in their first parliament by an act ‘wherby they may be prohibited to blowe abroede suche shamefull sclanders and lyes as they dayly invent and imagine of her Highnes and the Kinges Majestie her most lawfull Housbande’.50 The printed propaganda that flooded into England from exiles on the continent was literate, theologically sophisticated, and far from popular in character. University College London

46 

Nader, Liberty in Absolutist Spain, pp. 119–30. Muñoz, Viaje de Felipe Segundo, ed. by de Gayángos y Arce and Zarco del Valle, ‘Tercera Carta’, p. 118. 48  ‘Los ingleses no nos pueden ver a los españoles más que al Diablo, y ansí nos tractan’. Muñoz, Viaje de Felipe Segundo, ed. by de Gayángos y Arce and Zarco del Valle, ‘Segunda Carta’, repr. and trans. in English Historical Documents, v: 1485–1558, ed. by Williams, p. 207. 49  Muñoz, Viaje de Felipe Segundo, ed. by de Gayángos y Arce and Zarco del Valle, ‘Tercera Carta’, p. 118. 50  1 & 2 Philip and Mary, c. 10, 1554, Statutes of the Realm, iv (1819), p. 255. 47 

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Kew (London), The National Archives, SP 10/1/105

Primary Sources A Supplicacyon to the quenes Maiestie, 27 leaves (London: Cawoode, 1555) Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers, Relating to the Negotiations between England and Spain, ed. by Garrett Mattingly, Pascual de Gayangos, Martin A. S. Hume, and Royall Tyler, 13 vols (London: HMSO, 1916–54), xiii: Phillip and Mary, July 1554–November 1558, ed. by Royall Tyler (1954) Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, ed. by Rawdon Brown, G. Cavendish Bentinck, Horatio F. Brown, and Allen B. Hinds, 38 vols (London: HMSO, 1864–1937), v–vii, ed. by Rawdon Brown (1873–90) The Chronicle of Queen Jane, and of Two Years of Queen Mary, and Especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt, ed. by John G. Nichols, Camden Society, o.s., 48 (London: Camden Society, 1850) Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España, 112 vols (Madrid: 1842–96), iii (1843) English Historical Documents, ed. by David C. Douglas, 13 vols to date (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1953–), v: 1485–1558, ed. by Charles H. Williams (1967) Epistolario del III Duque de Alba Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, ed. by the 17th Duke of Alba, 3 vols (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1952) Foxe, John, The Acts and Monuments, ed. by Joseph Pratt, 4th edn, 8 vols (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1877) Godet, Brief Abstract of the Genealogie and Race of All the Kynges of Englande (London: Godet, 1560) Grafton, Richard, An Abridgement of the Chronicles of England (London: Tottel, 1572) The Lamentacion of England ([n. p.]: [n. pub.], 1557/8) Morysine, Richarde, An Exhortation to styre all Englyshe men to the defence of theyr countreye (London: Berthelet, 1539) Original Letters Relative to the English Reformation, ed. by Hastings Robinson, 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1846–47) Statutes of the Realm (1101–1713), Record Commission, 11 vols (London, 1808–28) Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. by Paul Hughes and James Larkin, 3 vols (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969)

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Secondary Studies Anglo, Sydney, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969) King, John N., ‘The Royal Image, 1535–1603’, in Tudor Political Culture, ed. by Dale Hoak (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 104–32 Kingdon, John A., Richard Grafton, Citizen and Grocer of London and One Time Master of his Company, Servant and Printer to Edward, Prince and King and First Treasurer General of Christ’s Hospital (London: privately printed, 1901) Loades, David M., Two Tudor Conspiracies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965) Matthews, P. G., ‘Portraits of Philip II as King of England’, The Burlington Magazine, 142 (2000), 13–19 Metzger, Marcia Lee, ‘Controversy and “Correctness”: English Chronicles and the Chronic­ lers, 1553–1568’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 27 (1996), 437–51 Muñoz, Andrés, Viaje de Felipe Segundo á Inglaterra y relaciones varias relativas al mismo suceso, ed. by Pacual de Gayángos y Arce and D. Manuel Zarco del Valle, Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 15 (Madrid: La Sociedad de Bibliófilos Españoles, 1877) Nader, Helen, Liberty in Absolutist Spain: The Habsburg Sale of Towns, 1516–1700, The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 108th ser., 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990) Richards, Judith M., ‘Mary Tudor as “Sole Quene”?: Gendering Tudor Monarchy’, The Historical Journal, 40 (1997), 895–924 Samson, Alexander, ‘Changing Places: The Marriage and Royal Entry of Philip, Prince of Austria, and Mary Tudor, July–August 1554’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 36 (2005), 761–84 Simpson, John, and Edmund Weiner, Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn, 20 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989) Streitberger, W. R., Court Revels, 1485–1559, Studies in Early English Drama, 3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994) Strype, John, Ecclesiastical Memorials: Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It, and the Emergencies of the Church of England, 3 vols (London: Wyat, 1721) Walker, Greg, Plays of Persuasion: Drama and Politics at the Court of Henry VIII (Cam­ bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Florentine Festivals for the Entry of Archduke Leopold V of Austria in 1618 Sara Mamone and Caterina Pagnini

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ach arrival of a famous personage with entourage in Florence in order to pay a visit to the grand-ducal family to whom they were related or to enter into political negotiations (marriages, military alliances, commercial agreements, etc.), was considered to present a unique and decisive opportunity for the implementation of Medicean strategic policy, to offer a focal point for that practice of self-celebration inherent to the tradition of the family since the time of Cosimo I. This staging of political life that was, at the same time, both representation and history and self-celebration and the historicization of memory, was a culmination, each time, of the process focused on the cult of Medici tradition and the awareness of their place in the world, which is at the heart of the Medici dynasty.1

The Medici Political Strategy: Entertainments for the Visit of Archduke Leopold V of Austria2 If the visit of eminent personages is considered to be one of the greatest opportunities for exhibition of the policy of the host state to the contemporary 1 

For a wide and deep reconstruction of the Medici tradition of spectacle and related policy see, amongst others, the following key works: Zorzi, Il teatro e la città; Mamone, Il teatro nella Firenze medicea; Mamone, Firenze e Parigi; Mamone, Dèi, semidei, uomini; Mamone, Serenissimi fratelli principi impresari. 2  Archival and other research for this first part of this chapter was carried out by Caterina Pagnini.

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political universe, it may be interesting to reflect on one of these particular events which took place in Florence, as an example to offer proof of the established practice and to demonstrate how, even in the case of less official visits, the ruling family worked hard to accommodate the important guest in order not to deny that tradition of hospitality and display that had been at the heart of Medici policy for centuries. The visit of Archduke Leopold  V of Austria,3 in 1618, being rather different from the official entries of royal figures, may be used to fully demonstrate how deeply rooted the Medici tradition of celebrating diplomatic visits was, representing, as it did, the main instrument at the service of the precise ideology of spectacle which was always at the heart of Medici political strategy. The first crucial point is that this visit passed as unofficial because of its close connection to delicate diplomatic issues. This was perfectly concordant with Leopold’s role, as the emperor’s brother (first of Matthias, then of Ferdinand of Habsburg) and the most important player in Habsburg political designs. Despite this, Leopold’s visit to Florence — correctly avoiding the typical entry style because of his peculiar diplomatic role — was celebrated with important festivals, and the main celebration of the series turned out to be one of the most magnificent spectacles of the time of Cosimo II, as we shall see. Leopold’s Florentine visit had a double aim: the main one, to confirm the alliance between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Holy Roman Empire at that delicate point which saw the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48); the second, no less important, was the more recent desire to strengthen this 3 

Leopold (Graz, 9 October 1586–Schwaz, 13 September 1632) was the twelfth son of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria von Wittelsbach of Bavaria; from his early years, he was destined by his family for a career in the church, a role that allowed him to develop great qualities of diplomatic skill, thanks to which he was widely used by his brother, the Emperor Ferdinand, as one of the most important political negotiators in the affairs of the empire. Not yet twenty years old, in 1598 he was created bishop of Strasbourg. He always retained his links to the Jesuit order, one of the reasons for his meteoric rise. At first he was employed in direct government of some regions of Germany. He proved to be an intransigent defender of the Catholic faith against Protestants. Then, for a brief period, he was in Innsbruck, at the court of Maximilian II, archduke of Austria. In 1611, thanks to the intercession if the Jesuits, he obtained the title of bishop of Passau. From that year, he became resident and active at the imperial court in Prague, where he played a leading role in the political events which led to the deposition of his uncle, Rudolph II, in favour of Matthias and then Ferdinand of Habsburg. Matthias became regent to the emperor on the death of the latter in 1619. Frederick V of the Palatinate (husband to Princess Elizabeth of England, daughter of James I) first succeeded to the throne, followed by his brother Ferdinand who, as Ferdinand II, was emperor from 1619 to 1637. For the political history of the Habsburg family see Bardazzi, ‘Sguardi fiorentini sull’impero’; Bardazzi, ‘Istoria del viaggio di Alemagna del serenissimo granduca’; Bardazzi, ‘Simili virtuosi, in così longo viaggio’.

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alliance through a marriage between the two dynasties, between Ferdinand II of Habsburg and Princess Claudia de’ Medici, who would, in fact, go on to marry Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, son of the duke of Urbino.4 History tells us that Ferdinand will, in fact, marry Princess Eleonora Gonzaga, who turned out to be the winning party in a parallel negotiation that was probably started precisely during this descent through Italy, since Leopold passed through Mantua on his way home to the Tyrol.5 However, the political plan to unite the Medici with the Habsburgs will only be delayed by this initial failure, since the widowed Claudia will go on to marry Archduke Leopold himself in 1626. Therefore, this first unofficial Florentine tour in 1618 and the acquaintance established with the whole Medici family was probably the basis for such an unexpected outcome eight years later.6 Leopold V arrived in Pisa on 27 February 1618, where Cosimo II and his family had gone because of a new relapse of the Grand Duke’s illness.7 The Archduke’s arrival on Shrove Tuesday fell just within the culmination of the pre-Lenten 4  The emperor Ferdinand II, who first married Marianne of Bavaria, who gave him seven sons (among whom was the succeeding emperor Ferdinand III), was widowed in 1616. Thus he was interested in negotiating a marriage with the Medici family, since Princess Claudia, Grand Duke Ferdinand I’s youngest daughter, was not yet married or engaged. In fact she married Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, duke of Urbino, in 1621. The couple had a daughter, Vittoria della Rovere, who in 1634 married her cousin, Ferdinand II, grand duke of Tuscany. See Bardazzi, ‘Le nozze di Leopoldo d’Asburgo e Claudia de’ Medici’. 5  This is confirmed by a letter from Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena to Caterina de’ Medici, duchess of Mantua, in which she confirms the arrival of her brother Leopold from Florence: ‘Ricevo la sua del dieci, con la quale ella si congratula meco della venuta di mio fratello’ (I receive your letter dated 10th in which your grace congratulates me on my brother’s arrival) (Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, fol. 6108, c. 3, letter from Maria Maddalena of Austria to Caterina de’ Medici, 20 March 1618). The Gonzaga negotiations were successful in the end: Ferdinand II married Eleonora Gonzaga on 4 February 1622. 6  Claudia, as previously stated, married Federico Ubaldo della Rovere in 1621, but she was soon widowed, a few years later in 1623. She returned to Florence and married the archduke Leopold V of Austria in 1626, with whom she had five children, among them Maria Leopoldina of Habsburg, soon to become Emperor Ferdinand III’s wife. Leopold, too, left her widowed early. He died of an attack of apoplexy in 1623. Leopold designated Claudia regent of Tyrol until their son Ferdinand Charles of Austria came of age in 1646. See Bardazzi, ‘Le nozze di Leopoldo d’Asburgo e Claudia de’ Medici’. 7  Cosimo II was elected grand duke of Tuscany on his father Ferdinand I’s death, in 1609. The young Cosimo was only nineteen, but his health was already weakened by tuberculosis. He would die at the age of thirty, in 1621, leaving eight children born of his marriage to Maria Magdalena of Austria, celebrated in 1608: Maria Cristina, Ferdinando, Giovan Carlo, Margherita, Mattias, Francesco, Anna, and Leopoldo.

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carnival festivals.8 The Grand Duke, being too infirm to welcome his illustrious relative in person, sent one of his chamberlains to greet Leopold outside the city walls, con caroza a sei cavalli (with a six-horse carriage),9 which took him to the royal palace on the Lungarno.10 Here the Archduke was finally received by the bedridden Grand Duke, to whom he brought the official homage of his brother, the emperor Matthias.11 After completing his official duties, Leopold was able to retire to his private apartments. He then had dinner with his sister Maria Magdalena and Cosimo’s two younger brothers, Cardinal Carlo and the nineteen-year-old don Lorenzo.12 The day after, having already seen to the most urgent diplomatic matters in Pisa, he was accompanied by Lorenzo on a visit to the nearby city of Livorno, where he had to settle some commercial affairs. While he was there, Lorenzo took him to visit the city, especially the harbour. Then they returned to Pisa.13 8 

The day after Leopold’s arrival in Florence was the first day of Lent, so Leopold immediately heard Mass with the whole grand-ducal family: ‘Et a dì detto, primo giorno di Quaresima, stando Sua Altezza bene, si levò del letto et andò alla messa in cappellina della Serenissima Arciducessa’ (that morning, being the first day of Lent, His Highness, finding himself well, rose from his bed and went to mass in the private chapel of the Grand Duchess) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 132r, transcribed in full in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 9  Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232. 10  The Medici Palace, formerly the Appiano Palace, in Lungarno Mediceo in Pisa, was built in the thirteenth century on the site of an existing medieval building. It was the residence of the Appiano family, Lords of Pisa from 1392 to 1398; then it was bought by the Medici in 1446, in the time of Piero il Gottoso. Lorenzo de’ Medici often stayed here, to recover from his illness on the Tuscan coast, accompanied by his circle of humanists, especially by his close friend Angelo Poliziano. 11  ‘Et condotto al palazo, venuto a fare reverenza a Sua Altezza che era in letto […]. Li si dette la ghuardia alemanna a servilo et da una notte in là licenziò per essere incognito’ (Then he was led to the palace to offer his obeisance to His Highness who was bedridden […]. He was given the German guard to serve him, and after one night he was given leave to be incognito) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 12  ‘Magniò con l’arciducessa […], andò a visitare il cardinale de’ Medici; […] magniò con al Serenissima Arciduchessa sempre ritirato, servito dalle dame; vi magniò con seco il cardinale et il principe don Lorenzo, la Serenissima da man ritta sotto Sua Altezza Serenissima, l’arciduca dirimpetto alla serenissima’ (He dined with the archduchess, […] then he went to visit Cardinal de’ Medici; he dined in private with the archduchess, served by her ladies; and the cardinal and prince don Lorenzo dined with them, Her Serene Highness on the right hand below His Serene Highness, the archduke on her left) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 13  ‘Et il dì detto [2 marzo], il detto arciduca Leopoldo partì di Pisa, con il principe don Lorenzo et il signore Francesco dal Monte et andò in carrozza a 6 cavalli a Livorno et non si

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Since his health was slowly improving the Grand Duke, who had already organized appropriate celebrations for his brother-in-law once they reached Florence, decided to enliven his guest’s temporary stay in Pisa by organizing a mock battle near the main bridge on the river Arno, the Ponte di Mezzo,14 a repeat of an event organized for carnival. The Grand Duke did not join his guest but viewed the spectacle from rooms in his palace, while his wife and the Archduke moved to another private palace nearer to the bridge where the battle was to take place. Leopold was greatly pleased with the spectacle offered, as we know from contemporary testimony: Et a dì detto [4 marzo] volendo Sua Altezza dare un po’ di ghusto al detto arciduca, comandò che si facesse la batallia del gioco del ponte e messosi a’ l’ordine la batallia generale, con le medesime scuadre et le medesime livree del Carnovale pasato, et detto arciduca andò a vedere con la serenissima arciduchessa a casa del comesario al luogho solito. Et cominciato la batallia fu un pezzo forte e ben combattuta, ma finalmente, dopo un gran contrasto, fu forza a quelli di verso il palazzo di Sua Altezza a perdere la batalia et di slogiare del ponte in tutto et per tutto, con poca lor reputatione. Et finito l’ora dela batallia, sonato le campane, ogniuno fu licenziato con molto gusto del detto arciduca.15 (And on the said day His Highness, wishing to give some pleasure to the said duke, ordered that the bridge battle game be played and a general battle order was issued with the same forces and the same livery as in the recent Carnival, and the said Archduke went with the Serene Archduchess to the comissioner’s house, the usual fece incontro alcuno […]. Fu alloggiato a casa il comesario delle galere Rucellai; magniò secho il principe do Lorenzo et il signore Francescho dal Monte, servito da’ Gabriel Tassi e da’ paggi; vedde tutto Livorno et il molo, et il sabato sera ritornò a Pisa incognito’ (That said day, [2 March] the said Archduke Leopold left Pisa with Prince don Lorenzo and Lord Francesco del Monte and went in the direction of Livorno in a carriage pulled by six horses, without meeting anyone on the way […]. He was lodged in the house of the prison governor Rucellai; he dined with Prince don Lorenzo and signor Francesco del Monte, served by Gabriele Tassis and his pages; he saw the whole of Livorno and the dock, and on Saturday evening he returned to Pisa incognito) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 14  The Middle Bridge, also called Conte Ugolino Bridge, links the centre of the city from one bank of the river Arno to the other. It linked the two sides of Pisa near the present Santa Cristina Church. In 1046 the bridge was moved eastwards from its original position and rebuilt in stone. In 1381 it was rebuilt again by Pietro Gambacorti, an architect belonging to one of the most important families in Pisa and the owner of the palace of the same name on the Lungarno. See Guerrieri, Bracci, and Pedreschi, I ponti sull’Arno dal Falterona al mare. 15  Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 233.

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place, to watch. Once the battle was commenced, it was a strong performance and well fought, but finally, after a great contest, it was necessary for those on the side of His Highness’s palace to lose the battle and to dislodge themselves from the bridge once and for all, with their reputation greatly diminished. The battle hour over, the bells having rung, all were released with great pleasure by the said duke.)

The same evening, to complete the festive day, Leopold was invited to attend the representation of a comedy in the royal palace, probably performed by a company of young boys of the city.16 The following day the Grand Duke, enjoying better health, dedicated his time to his guest and to the delicate diplomatic matters they had to deal with.17 Leopold finally left Pisa with don Lorenzo and the Grand Duchess on route to Florence, while Cosimo remained in the coastal city to benefit from the restorative climate. During the long journey to the capital of the Grand Duchy, the royal company stayed the night at the Medici Villa Ambrogiana,18 leaving again the day after on route to the Pitti Palace.19 Leopold’s official stay in Florence began with his 16  Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 233. 17  ‘Et a dì detto Sua Altezza stando bene, si levò et negotiò con detto arciduca et si licentiò et stettero tutto il giorno alegramente’ (and on the said day His Highness, being well, rose from his bed and negotiated with the said archduke, and he enjoyed himself and they gladly passed the whole day happily together) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 233). 18  ‘Et andorno la sera allogiare alla Ambrogiana, servito dalla casa et da’ servi et paggi di Sua Altezza’ (in the evening they went to stay at the Villa Ambrogiana, attended by His Highness’s household, servants, and pages’) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 131v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 233). The Medici Villa Ambrogiana, which takes its name from the family who previously owned it and sold the building to the Medici in 1574, was one of the most magnificent residences of the grand-ducal family. It was extensively restored after its purchase by Bartolommeo Ammannati and his chief assistant, Giovanni Antonio Dosio, according to the instructions of Francesco I. The building was placed in a particularly strategic area: besides being near the river Arno, it was in the centre of an extensive hunting ground which, with other seigneurial mansions at its outer extremities (Artimino, Poggio alla Malva e Montevettolini), embraced almost the whole Montalbano area. The villa was therefore used for the pleasure of the family, for hunting and also as a place to stay over on the long journey from Florence to Pisa. It was Cosimo III’s favourite residence, so much so that that he ordered Ferdinando Tacca to refurbish and remodel it in its entirety. 19  ‘Et a dì 6 di marzo, partì da Pisa il detto arciduca Leopoldo et andò a Firenze acompagniato dal principe don Lorenzo con il signor Francescho del Monte […]. Inoltre andò accompagniallo la Serenissima Arciducessa per fino a Firenze, fu allogiato a Pitti’ (On the sixth of March, the said archduke left Pisa and went to Florence, accompanied by Prince don Lorenzo with the

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visit to the Pitti Palace, where he was given rooms. He spent much of his first day admiring the renowned gallery, the gardens and the grand-ducal stables, ‘a veder cavalcare il signor Principe Don Lorenzo’ (watching Prince Lorenzo riding);20 then he visited the city, attended a service at the church of St Annunziata and a concert in the Cathedral.21 On 9 March the Archduke moved to the Villa Baroncelli at Poggio Imperiale, the residence of the Archduchess and her children. Here, Leopold met young Ferdinando (the future Ferdinand II), Giovan Carlo, Mattias, and the princesses Maria Cristina and Margherita, who honoured their royal uncle by performing a comedy by Andrea Salvadori, the court poet, titled Rappresentazione fatta dal Serenissimo Principe di Toscana al Serenissimo Leopoldo Arciduca d’Austria (Representation performed by his highness the prince of Tuscany for his highness Leopold, archduke of Austria).22 The playing of Salvadori’s comedy before a royal audience is evidence of the Medici practice of so called commedia dei principini (young princes’ comedies), that is to say the drama practice to which the young princes and princesses had to apply themselves for educational purposes. The plot of Salvadori’s play was focused on educational and metaphorical issues. We find a summary of the plot at the beginning of the unpublished libretto, in manuscript form, specifically composed for the occasion and inspired by the greatness and the noble political principles of the Habsburg imperial family: Invitano l’Ozio e il Piacere il Serenissimo Principe di Toscana [Ferdinando] a lasciare l’aspro sentiero della Virtù ed a seguire il lor viaggio tutto facile e piano. Egli magnanimamente li ribatte, e promette al Serenissimo Arciduca di voler imitare le Lord Francesco del Monte […]. Moreover the Most Serene Archduchess accompanied him as far as Florence; he was lodged in the Pitti Palace’) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 132v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 20  Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 133r, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232. 21  ‘Magniò sempre con l’arciducessa, vedde la galleria, le stalle di Sua Altezza, vedde scoprire la Santissima Annunziata’ (He dined with the archduchess; he went to the gallery [and to] His Highness’s stables; and he went to the unveiling of the Virgin of the Annunciation’) (Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 133r, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232). 22  ‘Visitò e’ fillioli di Sua Altezza; udì una commedia recitata da’ fillioli di sua altezza’ (He visited His Highness’s children; he attended a play performed by them) (Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea, p. 126). This play, which is available only in manuscript, is kept in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, Bibl. Estense, MS Campori Y S. 3. 24. The whole play, as yet unpublished, has been analysed and transcribed by Sarà, ‘I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento’.

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gloriose azioni degli Eroi di casa d’Austria e di quelle de’ Medici. Il suo Arcangelo custode, per secondare così nobil proponimento, gli conduce la Prudenza e la Giustizia, dalle quali nella sua infanzia nutrito apprenda l’arti che rendono i Principi gloriosi. Viene nellultimo l’Amor Divino, accioché con la Giustizia e la Prudenza impari a riverire la Religione e la Pietà cristiana.23 (Sloth and Pleasure invite the Most Serene Prince of Tuscany to leave the hard path of Virtue and follow their most easy and soft journey. He magnanimously repulses them, and promises the Most Serene Archduke that he wishes to emulate the glorious actions of the heroes of the house of Austria and those of the Medici. His Guardian Angel, to support such a noble proposition, brings him Prudence and Justice, nourished by whom in his infancy he learnt the arts which make princes glorious. At the very last, Divine Love appears, so that with Prudence and Justice he may teach how to revere Religion and Christian Piety.)

The comedy, which lasted around an hour, was performed by Prince Ferdinando as himself, with Giovan Carlo as Guardian Angel, Prince Mattias as Divine Love, the Princesses Maria Cristina and Margherita as Prudence and Justice, and three valets of the prince as Virtue, Pleasure, and Sloth. The performance Prològue, which was entirely sung, was given by an unknown professional singer, in the role of Happiness.24 As far as the scenery is concerned, the play was staged on the first floor of the residence. The backdrop was conceived ‘a uso di loggia con colonnati dipinta, con lumi et a finestre serrate’ (in the manner of a loggia painted with columns, with lights and closed windows).25 The costumes and the stage curtains and draperies were provided by the royal warehouse: ‘7 paia di guanti di capretto lavati e lavorati con seta […] e manopole di ermisino mandati a Baroncelli per servizo per i signori principini e principessine’ (Seven pairs of washed kid gloves worked with silk […] and ermine mittens sent to Baroncelli for the use of the princes and princesses).26 Leopold, who would leave Florence before the end of 23 

Sarà, ‘I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento’, pp. 218–20. See Sarà, ‘I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento’, pp. 217–19. 25  Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 141v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232. The play staged for the archduke’s visit to Florence was staged again on 22 May, and Tinghi’s description refers to this second staging, but Sarà rightly argues that this date may be wrong, it should instead be 12 May, Cosimo II’s birthday. See Sarà, ‘I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento’, pp. 220–21. 26  Firenze, ASF, Guardaroba 340, c. 107. This request was made for the second staging of the play, but it may easily serve for the first, perhaps even more so, since it was an official occasion aimed at honouring such an important personage, not a second staging for the family. For a comprehensive account of the Pitti Palace and its technical stage equipment see Fantappiè, ‘Sale per lo spettacolo a Pitti (1600–1650)’. 24 

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the month was very satisfied with this performance. The Grand Duke never came to meet him in Florence, but the Archduke was able to enjoy the company of his sister and his nephews and nieces who were pleased by his presence and tried to make him feel at his ease in every way, especially don Lorenzo. The main event planned to celebrate Leopold’s arrival in Florence was scheduled for the following evening, on 10 March in the Gherardesca Palace, a private palace and the residence of a nobleman, Ugo Rinaldi.27

Festivals for Archduke Leopold V: Andromeda, by Jacopo Cicognini (10 March 1618)28 The central point of the celebrations to honour the visit to Florence of the Archduke Leopold of Austria was the staging of the maritime fable Andromeda by Jacopo Cicognini, six intermedi inserted into a pastoral, probably the Bonarella by Giovan Battista Guarini.29 The comedy was played by the Storditi academicians, a recently-established ensemble to which Ugo Rinaldi and Alessandro del Nero belonged.30 The place in which the play was staged was not a Medici residence but the great hall of the Gherardesca Palace, Ugo Rinaldi’s house, Dietro SS. Annunziata (behind the Church of St Annunziata)31 (in Borgo Pinti, the 27 

Regarding the end of Leopold’s visit to Florence, the archduke, the day after the performance, left Pratolino to greet the whole Medici family, especially the little princes and princesses, then he left Florence for Mantua, via Bologna. See Firenze, BNCF, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino), c. 132v, transcribed in Fantappiè, ‘Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea’, ii, 232. 28  Archival and other research on this second part of the chapter was carried out by Sara Mamone. 29  For a comprehensive account of the life and works of Jacopo and Giacinto Andrea Cicognini see Castelli, ‘La drammaturgia di Jacopo Cicognini’; Castelli, ‘Influenze spagnole nella Firenze del xvii secolo’. See also Mamone, ‘Parigi, Lotti, Callot, Cicognini e Adimari’. 30  The Storditi (then probably named Rugginosi) officially came into being in 1621, shortly after the death of Cosimo II, under the protection of Carlo and Lorenzo de’ Medici. On 26 February 1615 in the drama hall of the Palazzo Pitti Il ballo di donne turche (The Turkish Ladies’ Ball) was staged, with music by Marco da Gagliano based on a libretto by Alessandro Ginori. It was played by sixteen noble Florentines, all experienced in singing and dancing, among whom were Alessandro del Nero, Ugo Rinaldi, and Lorenzo Strozzi. Alessandro del Nero would become the chief promoter of the academy, so that he became its ‘Prince’. He was also a favorite of Cristina of Lorena. See Sarà, ‘Andrea Salvadori e lo spettacolo fiorentino all’epoca della Reggenza’, pp. 167–68. 31  The Gherardesca Palace was built by Bartolomeo Scala, chancellor under the government of Lorenzo il Magnifico around 1480, under the supervision of Giuliano da Sangallo, who per-

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present Via Giusti, now the home of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Florence), which previously, during the carnival of 1616, had hosted the important staging of Aminta by Torquato Tasso, together with Orfeo dolente, the five musical intermedi composed by Domenico Belli, who would be the composer of the score for Cicognini’s Andromeda, just two years later. The author of the Orfeo libretto, though not mentioned, is almost certainly Gabriello Chiabrera.32 For the occasion, Belli dedicated his interludes to Ugo Rinaldi, who had staged Tasso’s pastoral in his residence, joining in the experience also as an actor, perhaps in the first nucleus of the Storditi. The importance of the Gherardesca Palace as the luogo teatrale (theatrical place) for high quality stagings, a place which was more privileged than the official Medici residences in this period, is the clear mirror of the Florentine spectacular reality, and the political situation as well, under the government of Grand Duke Cosimo II. After Ferdinando I’s death in February 1609, Florentine spectacular modes radically changed: direct central control over festival events progressively faded, so that even the activities of the Uffizi theatre, the official theatre, and the number of its technological stagings are drastically reduced. Under Cosimo II we witness a radical change in the management of large-scale productions, at least as far as large stage machinery is concerned. If we exclude the great dynastic episode, the festivals for the marriage between Cosimo II and Maria Magdalena of Austria, in 1608, which saw Giulio Parigi’s33 great debut with Il giudizio di Paride (The sonally funded the building of the wonderful courtyard. With the extinction of the Scala family, the palace was bought by Cardinal Alessandro de’ Medici. He belonged to a minor branch of the family known as the ‘Ser Bernardetto Medici’. Alessandro’s mother was in fact Francesca Salviati, sister to Maria Salviati, Cosimo  I’s mother. After he was elected pope, as Leo  XI, Alessandro gave the palace to his sister, Gostanza, the widow of Ugo della Gherardesca. From this point, the palace remained the property of the della Gherardesca family for approximately three centuries. See Ginori Lisci, I Palazzi di Firenze nella storia e nell’arte, i (1972), pp. 529– 36, and Pellecchia, ‘The Patron’s Role in the Production of Architecture’. At the time of the two performances mentioned here, Aminta with Orfeo dolente in 1616 and Cicognini’s Andromeda in 1618, the owner of the building was Simone Maria della Gherardesca (1588–1646), grand chancellor of the Knights of St Stephen, gentleman of the house of Grand Duke Cosimo II. See Mecatti, Storia genealogica della nobiltà e cittadinanza di Firenze. 32  See Tirabassi, ‘The Oldest Opera’, and Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea, p. xvii. 33  Giulio Parigi (1571–1635), an Italian architect, impresario and stage-designer working for the Medici court in Florence as his father, Alfonso Parigi, had frequently been employed before him, by the same court. Giulio Parigi was trained by his father and Bernardo Buontalenti, whom he replaced on his death as the Court Architect in Florence. See Il luogo teatrale a Firenze, ed. by Fabbri, Zorzi, and Trofani; Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici; Blumenthal,

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judgement of Paris), Florentine official spectacle is characterized by a detached sense of economy, especially as far as machinery is concerned. We can clearly see this in the staging of Solimano, an opera which, at the time, was produced thanks to thirty-year-old scenery recycled by Orazio Scarabelli, and it seems that the witness of this episode was Jacques Callot with his drawings.34 Since the central importance of spectacular life will fade, both due to important political questions (the instability of the international political situation, especially between France and Spain; as far as the Italian states are concerned war in Mantua; and the Thirty Years’ War in Europe) and to the increasing illness of the Grand Duke, Florentine spectacle became gradually removed from official culture to find its place in the establishments of lesser societal entities further away from the seat of central power, such as academies, confraternities, and the private palaces of noble families. So here we have this new kind of teatralità diffusa (diffused theatricalism) among the social fabric that, in replacing the official theatricalism, becomes the central point of Florentine theatrical life and a locus for staging innovation.35 This essential relationship between professionalism and dilettantism, linked through a mutual dialectical osmosis, is the basis of the 1618 staging: first of all the choice of place, that is a private palace which was perfectly set up to give important performances with complex sets and stage machinery such as the opera genre might demand; then the organizer himself, the noble Ugo Rinaldi, a dilettante, musician, and actor and someone not new, as we have seen, to such enterprises, experienced in the production of events of great resonance. To comprehend the project for the 1618 staging inside the Gherardesca Palace, such as the arrangement of the great hall in which, just a few years previously, in 1616, Aminta was accommodated, we may refer to Andrea Salvadori’s description of the staging of the court spectacle, Le fonti d’Ardenna,36 a Festa d’arme et di ballo (Feast of arms and dance), produced at Rinaldi’s in 1623 by the Rugginosi academicians (the name later adopted by the Storditi) under the principate of Alessandro del Nero. The layout of the hall which is described for this event might easily correspond to that for Andromeda in 1618: Giulio Parigi’s Stage Designs; Negro Spina, Giulio Parigi e gli incisori della sua cerchia; Buccheri, ‘Il ruolo della scenografia da Bernardo Buontalenti a Giulio Parigi’; Mamone, ‘Vita d’accademia tra tela e scena’. 34  See Mamone, ‘Le Miroir des spectacles’; Mamone, ‘Il risparmio e lo spreco sotto lo sguardo di Callot’. 35  See Mamone, Dèi, semidei, uomini, passim. 36  Salvadori, Le fonti di Ardenna, Festa d’arme, e di ballo.

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Era fabbricata la scena nella bellissima sala de Signori Conti della Gherardesca, abitazione per l’ordinario de Signori Rinaldi, né si alzava da terra più d’un braccio alla fiorentina, con tre comodi gradi per agiatamente discendere nell’orchestra, o vogliam dir piazza avanti il proscenio, ove si doveva battagliare e ballare.37 (The stage was erected in the most beautiful hall of their lordships the Counts della Gherardesca, the usual dwelling place of the lords Rinaldi, nor did it rise higher from the ground that one Florentine arm, with three comfortable steps to descend to the orchestra stalls, or we should say the place before the proscenium, on which there will be fighting and dancing.)

The perspective was open at the back of the stage to allow sight of the garden: ‘Sfondo reale fino al finto della prospettiva che rendeva maraviglia non piccola a’ riguardanti’ (A real scene at the back of the painted scenery, which caused no small astonishment in the audience).38 Settimanni’s Diary shows evidence of a similar staging for Aminta in 1616: ‘Si fece di nuovo la festa d’arme in casa de’ Rinaldi la quale fu bellissima cosa poichè era sontuosa d’apparati di scena bassa a due scalini di abiti di armi e di musica’ (The festival of arms was staged once more at Rinaldi’s house, which was a beautiful thing sumptuously made of machines for a two-step deep stage, and costumes, arms, and music).39 Having thoroughly investigated all the material we have at our disposal about the arrangements in Rinaldi’s great hall for the 1618 staging, omitting all reference to the insignificant comedy within whose acts Cicognini’s maritime fable was staged, every testimony to be referred to will concern the intermedi dealing with the story of Andromeda. Two excellent epistolary sources inform us about the complex staging organized by the Storditi academy, which gives us an important and complete vision of the professional and semi-professional world, made up of the artists and artisans who were at the heart of this staging. The first is the testimony given by the coordinator of the enterprise, Fra’ Ainolfo of the earls of Vernio, to the grand-ducal secretary Andrea Cioli.40 This refers to the difficulties and the speed of the work. The second is Giulio Caccini’s letter to Cioli himself, which describes the outcome of the spectacle.41 These two different points of view may be considered to 37 

Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS Miscell. 172, cited in Il luogo teatrale a Firenze, ed. by Fabbri, Zorzi, and Trofani, pp. 90–91. 38  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS Miscell. 172, cited in Il luogo teatrale a Firenze, ed. by Fabbri, Zorzi, and Trofani, pp. 90–91. 39  Firenze, ASF, Manoscritti 132 (Diario del Settimanni), c.  157 v, transcribed in Sarà, ‘Andrea Salvadori e lo spettacolo fiorentino all’epoca della Reggenza’, ii, 122. 40  Transcribed in Crinò, ‘Documenti inediti […] di Jacopo e di Giacinto Cicognini’. 41  Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, fol. 1370r, c.  57, letter by Giulio Caccini to

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be accurate chronicles of that material exercise of the theatrical art which represents the most fertile contribution by the lower levels of Florentine culture to the history of the modern spectacle. This is a considerable event which sees as the primary historical referent no less a figure than the emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg, brother both to the Archduke Leopold and the Archduchess Maria Magdalena, Cosimo II’s wife. The occasion was of crucial importance, so much so that the Grand Duke himself demanded that the representation should display the height of Florentine theatrical achievement, to the stupefaction of its audience. This is attested to by the same Cicognini in his annotations for the scene corresponding to the third intermedio: Maraviglia hanno ordinato (they ordered a marvel).42 Cicognini’s manuscript of Andromeda,43 filled with corrections and stage directions (so that we must consider it a stage manuscript not a printing one) refers to a querelle when it weighs up the possibility of cutting the entire last intermedio if the production should turn out to be too long: In evento che dopo l’atto quinto o al principio questi stessi recitanti non volessero intermedio questo intermedio si potrebbe levare et così dove gli Intermedi sono sei si ridurrebbero al numero di cinque et il musico avrebbe minor briga: essi leverebbono i tritoni et altri del coro di Anfitrite perciò faccino quello che li torna più comodo.44 (In the event that after the fifth act or at the beginning these actors did not want an intermedio, this intermedio could be taken out and thus where the intermedi are six their number can be reduced to five, and the composer would have less bother; this would take out the Tritons and others from Anfitrite’s chorus, this way allowing them to do what is most convenient.)

Among the various problems that the staging met with, there is one worthy to be told, regarding the stage costumes. The noble gentlemen who played in the comedy and the main singers for the intermedi had provided their own, at their own expense, and the results were obviously magnificent. The problem concerned the other performers, who were not so rich but had to take the main parts in the inter­ medi; they were always on stage but they could not provide their own costumes. Andrea Cioli, 10 March 1617/8, transcribed in Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea, pp. 127–28. 42  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 145v, partially transcribed and edited in Castelli, Manoscritti teatrali della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze. 43  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, cc. 130–67. 44  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 164r.

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The organizers therefore asked the Guardaroba Medicea to obtain costumes from the grand-ducal warehouses. But the warehouse officials sent old and worn costumes, so that Jacopo Cicognini strongly complained to the warehouse supervisor, accurately describing the poor attire of his performers, parono cani pezzati (they look like brindled dogs).45 To arrive at a final resolution of the problem, he decided to address the Grand Duke directly, who immediately ordered the warehouse supervisor Giugni to supply more appropriate costumes for the prestigious occasion, to contribute appropriately to the global decorum of the staging. As regards the other aspects of the staging, no particular problems occurred and the work proceeded without significant complications. Cosimo Lotti’s scenery turned out to be bella e ricca assai (extremely beautiful and rich),46 receiving master Parigi’s full appreciation. The final result would constitute the pinnacle of the two architects’ reputations, being more than appropriate to the political meaning of the occasion: L’architetto della prospettiva e delle macchine fu Cosimo Lotti, il quale, con l’esempio delle cose passate, si è portato in maniera che, dato la parità del sito non è stata punto inferiore alle passate, né di vaghezza, né di ricchezza, né d’invenzion’.47 (The architect for the backdrop and the machines was Cosimo Lotti who, referring to the example of previous realizations, worked in such a way that, given the parity of the site, it did not turn out to be in any way inferior to those of the past, not in beauty, not in richness, not in invention.)

In the end, Cicognini’s artistic satisfaction was complete, and his maritime fable Andromeda obtained the enthusiastic praise of Archduke Leopold and the grandducal family: Appresso la pastorale fu recitata da una quantità di giovani abili, nuovi accademici, detti li Storditi, i quali perché tutti hanno fatto a concorrenza nel vestirsi di lor propria borsa, come altresì gli altri nobili che hanno cantato, di lor borsa, assicuro Vostra Signoria Illustrissima che mai si è veduto nei tempi addietro in simil affari, né più vaghi, né più ricchi vestimenti di questi per comune parere di tutto il teatro. […] La musica poi fu tale che conforme alle passate, le quali hanno fatto sempre 45  Letter by fra’ Ainolfo dei conti di Vernio to Andrea Cioli, 2 March 1618, transcribed in Crinò, ‘Documenti inediti […] di Jacopo e di Giacinto Cicognini’, pp. 263–64. 46  Letter by fra’ Ainolfo dei conti di Vernio to Andrea Cioli, 2 March 1618, transcribed in Crinò, ‘Documenti inediti […] di Jacopo e di Giacinto Cicognini’, p. 264. 47  Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, fol.  1370r, c.  57, letter by Giulio Caccini to Andrea Cioli, 10 March 1617/8, transcribed in Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea, pp. 127–28.

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parere tediosa qualsivoglia favola, quantunque ben recitata, che meglio di questa non si potea né può desiderare: questa ha auto tanto di varietà per l’invenzione e la dolcezza dell’armonia sempre accompagnata da varietà di strumenti che realmente Messer Domenico Belli autor di essa può gloriarsi di aver mostrato quanto possa l’arte della musica accompagnata col giudizio: essendo per maggior perfezione di essa a cantare molti gentiluomini et in particolare il signor Francesco Bonsi, la più bella e più sonora voce che mai sia stata, almeno ai miei tempi, tra gentiluomini in questa città, con una grazia in maneggiarla indicibile, oltre a un altro giovane de’ Biffoli che vien su ora, Pompeo Conti e quattro fanciulletti nobili, due de’ Lenzoni e due de’ Rovai, e due altri allievi del suddetto autore il Belli, tutti squisiti.48 (The pastoral was performed by a group of experienced young actors, new academicians, called the Storditi who in mutual agreement had provided their costumes from their own purses, as the other nobles who sang had used their purses, I assure your Illustrious Lordship that there never was seen in times before this in similar affairs, neither more beautiful, nor richer costumes than those in which all those on stage appeared. […] The music, furthermore, compared to that of past spectacles, which have always seemed tedious whatever the fable, however well sung the music, better than this could not be made nor desired: this showed so much variety of invention and sweetness of harmony always accompanied by a variety of instruments that really Messer Domenico Belli the author of this may congratulate himself on having shown how much the art of music accompanied judiciously can achieve: the greatest perfection of this was the singing of many gentlemen and in particular Signor Francesco Bonsi, the most beautiful and sonorous voice there ever was, at least in my time, of all the gentlemen in this city, with an unspeakable grace in his phrasing, also another young man of the de’Biffoli whose hour has come, Pompeo Conti, and four noble boys, two of the de’Lenzoni and two of the de’ Rovai, and two other pupils of the said composer, Belli, all exquisite.)

Once again we must refer to Cicognini’s directions for the setting of the opera, these are included in the manuscript and refer to the staging of every intermedio, in order to understand what kind of spectacle appeared on the stage in front of the prestigious audience. In this precious source, Cicognini also gives us a precise and exhaustive definition of the spectacular genre named intermedio: Chiamasi anco intermedio quell’apparenza che vien a principio avanti la commedia perché è azzione fatta nel mezzo, cioè tra il silenzio dello spettatore e il principio dell’opera che si rappresenta.49 48  Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, fol. 1370r, c.  57, letter by Giulio Caccini to Andrea Cioli, 10 March 1617/8, transcribed in Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea, pp. 127–28. 49  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 133v.

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(That action is called an intermedio which appears at the beginning before a play because it is an action staged in that space, that is between the silence of the spectator and the beginning of the opera which is being put on.)

Then we find the complete description of Andromeda, with the staging instructions for every part of it. For the first intermedio: Calata la tela, il mare apparirà nel Foro, e le due prime case coperte appariranno scogli. Venere sovra il suo carro trainato da Cigni, o vero uscirà di sotto, et sederà sovra una Conchiglia.50 (The curtain having fallen, the sea will appear upstage, the first two houses will appear covered in rocks. Venus in her chariot drawn by swans, or in fact she will get out of it, and sit on a seashell.)

For the second intermedio: Dopo l’atto primo. Si aprirà il foro dove si vedrà prospettiva di mare con l’onde e scogli […]. Barchette alla Corsara e tra un atto e l’altro si possono fingere barchette che abbino moto […]. Il mare è scosso. Si deve placar Nettuno e l’Orca.51 (After the first act. The curtain will rise to show a view of the sea with waves and rocks […]. Little sailboats in pirate style, and between one act and another they can be made to seem to move […] The sea is calm. Neptune and the sea-monster must be placated.)

For the third intermedio: Un cavallo alato frenato da Perseo esce fuori e attraversa la scena. Sarà il cavallo di legno disornato e dipinto et che, armato di ferro et di dentro, avrà luogo agiato perché Perseo vi si posi. Avrà Perseo l’asta in mano, l’ale si moveranno, e qualche zampache lo si possa fare le tira Perseo movendo i fili degli Ingegni. Perseo, solo, canta, si move intanto con moto lento.52 50 

Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 132r. 51  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 134r. 52  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 139 r. The image of Perseus crossing the sky singing on his flying horse is one of the most spectacular moments in the staging. Caccini’s description seems to confirm the link with Callot’s four engravings, based on the scene of Andromeda’s rescue, but with some different decisions, even rethinks, about the question of dedicating the entire sky space to Perseus and Pegasus. The matter changes if we consider that Callot’s ‘proofs’ would have wanted to recreate with this restaging, in the final version for the engraving, the airborne movement of Perseus using the machinery, which would further confirm the direct link between the staging and the ‘visual record’ at the hand of the artist. See Mamone, ‘Vita d’accademia tra tela e scena’, pp. 219–21.

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(A winged horse ridden by Perseus enters and crosses the entire stage. It will be the wooden horse adorned and painted and which, internally constructed of iron, will then be operated so that Perseus can mount it. Perseus will have his lance in his hand, the wings will move and whatever strides the horse makes Perseus can operate by pulling the strings of the mechanism. Perseus, solo, sings, and moves slowly as he sings.)

For the fourth intermedio: Dopo il Terzo atto si faccia apertura del palco vicino al foro, comparirà un coro di Tritoni e finghino conche marine, ma sotto si faccia una sinfonia di cornetti e traversi et i Tritoni finghino di sonare con quelle chiocciole grandi dette conche marine.53 (After the third act, the platform near the backdrop will open, a chorus of Tritons will appear, with pretend seashells, but underneath a symphony of cornets and transverse flutes will be played and the Tritons will pretend to blow on those big snail spirals called seashells.)

For the fifth intermedio: Coro di Pescatori e Pescatrici […]. Passa il mostro marino […] et apre la bocca attraversando la scena fingendosi che vadia a divorare Andromeda. Partito il mostro ritorna il coro dei Pescatori al suo luogo.54 (A chorus of fishermen and fisherwomen […]. The sea-monster appears […] and crosses the stage with his mouth open as if he were going to devour Andromeda. When the monster exits the chorus of fishermen and women return to their places.)

The sixth intermedio is entirely dedicated to the triumph of Perseus, which resolves the fable: Dopo il quinto e ultimo atto dell’opera che si reciterà si farà il Sesto Intermedio […]. Vien Perseo, ha per mano Andromeda con il corteggio di molti.55 (After the fifth and last act of the opera which is sung the sixth intermedio will take place […] Perseus enters, he holds Andromeda by the hand with an entourage of many.)

53 

Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 147r. Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 150v. 55  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, c. 159r. 54 

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The great success of the Andromeda production represents the highest point of a long difficult path on which Cicognini had begun in the summer of 1611, more than six years before this staging of 1618. Cicognini was in Florence at that time, and he wrote a letter to Ferdinando Gonzaga in order to propose the staging in Mantua of his Andromeda, but through the correspondence we find that his project was rejected by the Duke. A few years after, in 1613 when he was living in Rome in the service of Cardinal Sauli, he submitted the same work to Enzo Bentivoglio in Ferrara. It seems that the lord of Ferrara accepted the proposal, since a few days after Cicognini intended to send him a manuscript copy both of Adone — written with a view to the two projected but then revoked marriages of the princesses of Tuscany (Caterina, daughter of Ferdinando I, to prince Henry Stuart and Eleonora, daughter of Ferdinando, to Philip III of Spain) — and Andromeda. The negotiation went on, at least in Cicognini’s mind, to the extent that, completely moved by his emotions, he wrote that he had already found a printer in Rome for his two works, convinced that he would be refunded by Bentivoglio for the expense of printing Andromeda, thirty Florentine scudi. But Cicognini’s excitement at the imminent fulfilment of his project was abruptly stopped by Ferrara, where his patron was evidently reconsidering the entire question; in a letter dated 22 August Cicognini complains about the prolonged silence of his lord, especially considering he has already paid an engraver to make the copper plates for his Andromeda, an extremely interesting matter we will examine later: ‘Mi duole del debito inutilmente fatto per l’inscrittione in rame e di aver dato materia ad alcuno di ammirare e ad altri di rallegrare; il che passa con mio infinito disgusto e poca reputazione’ (The debt uselessly incurred for the inscription on (copper) plates and the giving to some cause for admiration and to others cause for joy grieves me, this has resulted in my infinite disgust and poor reputation).56 Regardless of the various disappointments, Cicognini always tried in the following years to remain in touch with Bentivoglio, hoping to see his Andromeda staged in such a prestigious court. Writing in December 1616 from Bologna, he describes an intermedio marittimo (marine intermedio), almost certainly Andromeda again, to be inserted within the acts of Battista Guarini’s pastoral Bonarella,57 which 56 

Fabris, Mecenati e musici, p. 266. See Mamone, ‘Andromeda e Perseo’; Mamone, ‘Les Machines et l’indifférence du mythe’. 57  Guarini’s Bonarella should have been represented in Ferrara during the Carnival of 1612 as an Intermedio among the acts of Guidobaldo Bonarelli’s play Filli di Sciro. The staging never took place, so we have no information on it. See Carter, ‘Intriguing Laments’, pp. 35–37; see also the documentary sources transcribed and ed. by Fabris, Mecenati e musici, pp. 195 (doc. 104), 242 (doc. 287), 325 (doc. 530), 403–04 (doc. 826).

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project had not received any response from the patron as yet. We have no further information on this planned Ferrarese staging, since Cicognini’s correspondence with Bentivoglio is interrupted here, leaving us with the assumption that Andromeda was not staged in Ferrara. But Cicognini’s obstinacy would eventually bring a reward: seven years after its first commission, Andromeda was given in Florence to honour the visit of a Habsburg, perhaps within that same Bonarella mentioned above, the pastorale in cinque atti (pastoral in five acts) performed in 1618 by the Storditi academicians in the great hall of the Gherardesca Palace. The analysis of the complex tale of Andromeda, from 1611 to 1618, gave us occasion to approach Callot’s activity as engraver in relation to his Florentine employment at the Medici court as Cronista per immagini (chronicler in images) from 1612 to 1622, and his specific contribution to the iconographic representation of Cicognini’s marine fable: the four preparatory drawings held by the Drawings and Prints Cabinet of the Uffizi Gallery.58 The drawings, which describe the climax of the staging with Pegasus and Perseus on stage, demonstrate the clear inspiration behind the choice of subject, since Callot, in his Florentine years, was deeply acquainted with the artistic and theatrical world. His friendship with Giulio Parigi, whose workshop he was attending, and with Cosimo Lotti, Parigi’s most excellent pupil, is certainly at the heart of his artistic practice. With regard to the genesis of Andromeda and to all Cicognini’s efforts to see it represented at court, a path we have reconstructed above in detail until its final staging at Florence in 1618, we must return to the letter dated 22 August 1613, in which Cicognini regrets the silence of his patron Bentivoglio, concerning the possible printing of Andromeda with a view to its court representation in Ferrara. The point we are going to underline is Cicognini’s complaint about the money ‘inutilmente fatto per l’inscrittione in rame’ (uselessly spent on engraving on copperplate).59 That being so, we might suppose that Callot’s preparatory drawings could refer to this specific previous occasion, instead of the final staging in Florence, and this constitutes an extremely interesting deduction. But since Cicognini was in Rome at the time of this letter while Callot lived there only from 1608 to 1611, and by this date (1613) he was already in Florence, where he would remain until 1622, it is quite impossible for us to speculate on a long distance commission by Cicognini from Rome, considering the absolute uncertainty of 58 

These two drawings, kept in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi Gallery of Florence (GDSU), are listed as ‘Disegni preparatori riferibili all’Andomeda di Jacopo Cicognini, Firenze 1618’ (Firenze, Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, nn. 2660–61). The two drawings have been published and analysed in Castelli, ‘Note di protoregia in un autore del Seicento’. 59  Fabris, Mecenati e musici, p. 266.

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the negotiation with Bentivoglio. It is quite inconceivable that the commission for such a rich and complex series of engravings, such as the quality of Callot’s preparatory drawings undoubtedly suggests, could be arranged under these circumstances. Ternois himself attributes the making of the preparatory drawings to an early phase in the career of Callot, taking into account the cold use of red pencil, the nervous line, the predominance of curves, the exceedingly slender, over-rapidly sketched nude, all elements that confirm a dating rather too early, soon after 1617, to be related to the 1618 Florentine staging of Andromeda.60 Nonetheless, though Cicognini’s letter raises an extremely suggestive case, the staging portrayed in the sketches is almost certainly that of Cosimo Lotti, the architect for the 1618 event, a painter and rising star of Florentine stagecraft, although he still needed the supervision of his master, Parigi, at this time. Cicognini’s stage directions for the third and fifth intermedio can easily fit as subtitles to Callot’s sketches: ‘Un cavallo alato frenato da Perseo esce fuori e attraversa la scena […]. Passa il mostro marino […] et apre la bocca attraversando la scena fingendosi che vadia a divorare Andromeda’ (A winged horse ridden by Perseus enters and crosses the stage […]. The sea-monster appears […] and crosses the stage with his mouth open as if he were going to devour Andromeda).61 The production of Andromeda at Rinaldi’s in 1618 pictured in Callot’s drawings may be considered to be evidence of the frequent cross-contamination between Italy, particularly Florence, and Spain, because it is closely related to the play Perseo y Andromeda based on the fable by Calderón de la Barca performed in 1653 at the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid under the staging supervision of Baccio del Bianco, Cosimo Lotti’s apprentice. Lotti, who staged Cicognini’s Andromeda, worked for a long time at the Spanish court of Philip IV.62 Thus, Andromeda can be seen as one of the key elements in the network of international cultural exchange between Italy and Spain. This is not so much to suppose a primary Italian derivation for Calderón’s comedy, since the Perseus legend had a long tradition in Spain, rather an intermediary role for Lotti’s staging with regard to the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs. Università degli Studi di Firenze

60 

See Ternois, L’Art de Jacques Callot; Ternois, ‘Callot et son temps’; Ternois, ‘I due linguaggi di Jacques Callot’. Callot’s engravings have already been published in Castelli, ‘Note di protoregia in un autore del Seicento’. 61  Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, MS 2792, cc. 139r, 150v. 62  See Gentili, Mito e spettacolo nel teatro cortigiano di Calderón de la Barca, pp. 92–101.

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Firenze, Archivio di Stato, Guardaroba 340, c. 107 Firenze, Archivio di Stato, Manoscritti 132 (Diario del Settimanni) Firenze, Archivio di Stato, Mediceo del Principato Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Miscell. 172 Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, MS 2792 Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Capponi 261.i (Diario fiorentino di Cesare Tinghi, vol. i (1600–1615)) Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, nn. 2660–61 (‘Disegni preparatori riferibili all’Andomeda di Jacopo Cicognini, Firenze 1618’) Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Manoscritto Campori Y S. 3. 24

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—— , ‘Parigi, Lotti, Callot, Cicognini e Adimari: Andromède dans le spectacle florentin au temps de Cosme II’, in Andromède ou le héros à l’épreuve de la beauté, ed. by Françoise Siguret (Paris: Klincksieck, 1996), pp. 511–57 —— , ‘Il risparmio e lo spreco sotto lo sguardo di Callot’, in Sara Mamone, Dèi, semidei, uomini: lo spettacolo a Firenze tra neoplatonismo e realtà borghese (xv–xvii secolo) (Roma: Bulzoni, 2003), pp. 149–68 —— , Serenissimi fratelli principi impresari: notizie di spettacolo nei carteggi medicei; Carteggi di Giovan Carlo de’ Medici e di Desiderio Montemagni suo segretario (1628– 1664), Storia dello spettacolo, 3 (Firenze: Le Lettere, 2003) —— , Il teatro nella Firenze medicea, Problemi di storia dello spettacolo, 9 (Milano: Mursia, 1981) —— , ‘Vita d’accademia tra tela e scena’, in Sara Mamone, Dèi, semidei, uomini: lo spettacolo a Firenze tra neoplatonismo e realtà borghese (xv– xvii secolo) (Roma: Bulzoni, 2003), pp. 219–27 Mecatti, Giuseppe Maria, Storia genealogica della nobiltà e cittadinanza di Firenze (Napoli: Di Simone, 1754; facsimile repr. Milano: http://OrsiniDeMarzo.com, 1971) Negro Spina, Annamaria, Giulio Parigi e gli incisori della sua cerchia, Studi e testi di storia e critica dell’arte, 17 (Napoli: Società Editrice Napoletana, 1983) Pellecchia, Linda, ‘The Patron’s Role in the Production of Architecture: Bartolomeo Scala and the Scala Palace’, Renaissance Quarterly, 42 (1989), 258–91 Sarà, Daniela, ‘Andrea Salvadori e lo spettacolo fiorentino all’epoca della Reggenza (1621– 1628)’, 2 vols (unpublished graduation thesis, Università degli studi di Firenze, 1999– 2000) —— , ‘I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento’, Annali del Diparti­ mento di Storia delle Arti e dello Spettacolo, n.s., 9 (2008), 213–38 Solerti, Angelo, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600 al 1637: notizie tratte da un diario con apendice di testi inediti e rari (Firenze: Bemporad, 1905) Ternois, Daniel, L’Art de Jacques Callot (Paris: De Nobèle, 1962) —— , ‘Callot et son temps: dix ans de recherches (1962–1972)’, Le Pays Lorrain, 4 (1973), 211–48 —— , ‘I due linguaggi di Jacques Callot’, in Le incisioni di Jacques Callot nelle collezioni italiane (Milano: Mazzotta, 1992), pp. 13–50 Tirabassi, Antonio ‘The Oldest Opera: Belli’s Orfeo Dolente’, The Musical Quarterly, 25 (1939), 26–33 Zorzi, Ludovico, Il teatro e la città: saggi sulla scena italiana, Saggi, 587 (Torino: Einaudi, 1977)

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he campaigns of Charles  VIII and Louis  XII, who were followed about by hordes of poets and chroniclers, gave particular stimulus to writing about Italy, but antiquarian elements are very slender in the official journals. The entries of Charles  VIII to Paris, Lyons, Florence, Rome, and Naples had no specific classical, architectural, or other antiquarian theme or decor: Charles’s poet, André de La Vigne, makes brief mention of an obelisk in Rome and of the Coliseum1 and records the king’s visit to the Neapolitan grotto attributed to Virgil’s magical powers and to the half-submerged site of Pozzuoli.2 In Toul, Jean Pèlerin had been designing arches suitable for an entry, but no impact is seen in the entries of Louis XII to Lyons or Genoa in 1507, to Rouen in 1508 or to Milan in 1509. The authorities of Lyons had, however, planned to give an antique stamp to the king’s entry on his return from Italy in 1509, but the entry was cancelled. It was not, therefore, until 12 July 1515, when, on his way to reconquer Milan, François Ier made his entry into Lyons, that the designers, Jean Richer and Jean Yvonet, were able to put into effect the classicizing of the traditional medieval ceremonial. It is here that for the first time we find the actual erection of ‘une porte […] richement accoutrée en sorte d’arc triomphant’ (a gate […] richly decorated as a sort of triumphal arch) against the Porte de Bourgneuf,3 shown in the miniature to be a wide, almost flat, three-centred arch flanked by 1 

La Vigne, Le Vergier d’oneur, fol. F4r–v. La Vigne, Le Vergier d’oneur, fols G7v–G8. 3  L’Entrée de François premier, ed. by Guigue, p. 11. 2 

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pilasters and topped by a stage; the second arch à l’antique at Porte-froc, ‘paint à candelabres et fasson antique’ (painted with candelabra and in antique style),4 is seen in the miniature of similar form, but crowned by a pediment with dolphins above the stage; the organizers also included four Latin inscriptions in the entry. The impression given is that of a classical triumph being awarded to the new king in advance of his Italian campaign and in anticipation of his victory, but with the arches used as variants upon the theatre sets for the performance of playlets. The victorious entry into Milan in 1515 did not maintain this classical theme, nor did those of the queen to Paris in 1517 or of the king to Rouen in the same year. However, in 1520 François made a visit to Poitiers, of which Jean Bouchet, who may have been involved in the planning, has left an account. The city constructed a series of platforms for the enactment of playlets: one is described as being decorated with a paincture à l’antique (antique-style painting), perhaps something architectural; another as being covered ‘en voulte de verdure à l’antique’ (in a vault of greenery in the antique style), perhaps a pastoral setting; and the major one was a theatre in the round, an ‘escaffault en rond et garny de pilliers faictz et paincts de diverses couleurs à l’antique’ (round stage fitted with pillars built and painted in various colours in the antique style).5 In 1521 the king also visited Autun, where the local historian, Barthélemy Chasseneux, showed him and his entourage the ruins of the city,6 notably the pierre de Couhard, which gave rise to a lively discussion with Budé on the remote origins of Autun. Jean Thomassin recalls the visit to Langres by François Ier, who had ridden round the walls on horseback and had climbed on them too.7 When the king made his entry into Bordeaux in April 1526, a classical imprint was given to the ceremony by the erection of an arc de triomphe against the Porte Cailhau,8 but this gesture was counterbalanced by the king’s interest in the legendary tomb of Roland at Blaye, and those of his companions at Saint-Seurin. After the initial burst of entries in the first four years of his reign, François Ier and his subjects were too preoccupied with military campaigns and their consequences to make the major investment of money and energy needed for triumphal entries. The return of the hostage princes from Spain in 1530 and his 4 

L’Entrée de François premier, ed. by Guigue, p. 51; Lecoq, François Ier imaginaire, pp. 144– 48, 186–211. 5  Bouchet, Les Annalles d’Acquitaine, fols 76v–77. 6  Barthélémy de Chasseneux, Catalogus gloriæ mundi, fol. 45. 7  Thomassin, Panegyricus de civitate Lingonum, pp. 16–17. 8  Courteault, ‘L’Entrée de François Ier à Bordeaux en 1526’.

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marriage with Eleanor of Austria finally created a mood of national rejoicing, which expressed itself in festivities put on to greet the new queen and her stepchildren, as in the course of the next four years they made their leisurely progress through France. Records exist of over two dozen entries from this period: they bear witness to a concerted attempt by royal publicists to present the peace treaty in a positive light and they illustrate the survival of the traditional format of the ceremonial, fundamentally unchanged over three centuries, and at the same time the influence of classical and Italian models, especially those of Petrarch’s Trionfi and Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia, which transformed the decor and the thematic content, giving them a more markedly antiquarian flavour. As the royal party moved north from Bayonne, new elements were introduced, notably at Bordeaux, where ‘un grand echarffault en fasson d’arc triomphant’ (a large stage in the style of a triumphal arch) was erected, and the decor included four one-line inscriptions;9 at Angoulême structures were decorated à l’antique (in the antique style).10 Eleanor’s entry into Paris, designed by Guillaume Bochetel and published by Geoffroy Tory, was given an antique flavour. At each end of Pont Nostre-Dame estoient deux portaulx à l’antique (stood two portals in the antique style) bearing the arms of the royal couple, while houses on the bridge were decorated with ‘grosses Medailles doreez en grant nombre’ (large and numerous gilded medals),11 apparently portrait medallions derived from coins. During the civic banquet a gift was presented to the new queen, a pair of six-foot silver chandeliers, worth ten thousand livres, described as of pyramide (obelisk) shape and of antique design: ‘Et estoient les dicts chandeliers d’ouvraige à l’antique avec cors d’abondance servans de Drageoirs plains de Triumphes et Personages dansans’ (The said chandeliers were fashioned in the antique style with cornucopiae containing sweetmeats and decorated with festoons and dancing figures).12 In the course of her tour of Normandy in the winter of 1531–32, the queen made an important entry into Rouen in February. The traditional parade was given the flavour of a Roman triumph by the inclusion of twelve trumpeters ‘portans buccines tournez à la forme antique’ (carrying trumpets fashioned in the antique style) bearing and wearing laurel crowns, ushering in the equestrian figures of Honour, Triumph, and the winged figure of Fame, holding a buccine 9  L’Entree de la Reyne et de Messieurs les enfans de France, 8° (= BnF, Rés. Lb30 55), not paginated; Fournier, Variétés historiques et littéraires, pp. 247–59. 10  Castaigne, Entrées solennelles dans la ville d’Angoulême, p. 297. 11  Bochetel, L’Entree de la royne en sa ville et cité de Paris, 4° (= BnF, Rés. Lb30 59), fol. D4v. 12  Bochetel, L’Entree de la royne en sa ville et cité de Paris, 4° (= BnF, Rés. Lb30 59), fol. Fr–v.

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and wearing a costume decorated with tongues.13 Another figure in the parade was Theseus, carrying a shield with the Minotaur’s head and leading in six snakes, drawing a ‘chariot de triumphe enrichi de grosses moullures et frises antiques; au dessus estoit une chaire de triumphe fort riche en laquelle estoit assis Mercure’ (triumphal car decorated with elaborate antique mouldings and friezes; above was a triumphal throne on which sat Mercury).14 Succeeding triumphal cars contained Hercules Gallicus, Hebe, and Lucina with appropriate attributes; by contrast most of the inscriptions used on the triumphal route were taken from the Bible. This antiquarian flavour was echoed at Caen in April 1532, where the court watched heralds with buccines preceding figures representing the Nine Worthies escorting a triumphal chariot on which rode the god Mars.15 A further tour was made in 1533 in the south-east of France, in order for the court to be present in Marseille for the marriage of the duke of Orléans to Clement VII’s niece. Albums survive by the Lyonnais humanist Jean de Vauzelles describing the entry of the dauphin to Lyons on 26 May 1533,16 and that of the queen on the following day.17 These two accounts have not received the attention they deserve, not least because they mark a radical shift in the direction of antiquarian taste. Together with his associate, the lawyer and Latin poet Guillaume Meslier, Vauzelles imposed on the traditional framework an iconographical and thematic programme of almost two dozen tableaux which he put together in under a fortnight. Although there is still substantial biblical inspiration, including the image on the queen’s medal of Eleanor as the Ark of the Covenant, Arca Fœderis, the entries have a strongly antiquarian stamp, as might be expected in a Gallo-Roman city: the ystoires are set against a Corinthian triumphal arch,18 an obelisk,19 an ancient sepulchre,20 a step-pyramid,21 and an attempted reconstruction of the ara lugdunensis, the altar of Rome and Augustus at Ainay, as a symbol of the historic 13 

Les Entrees de la royne et de Monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. A4v (p. 40). Les Entrees de la royne et de Monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. A4v–B. 15  Bourgueville, Les Recherches et antiquitez de la province de Neustrie, pp. 163–64. 16  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin [BnF, Rés. Lb30 61]. 17  Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne [BnF, Rés. Lb30 62]. 18  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. B2; Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. B3. 19  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. B4r–v. 20  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. C. 21  Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. Fv. 14 

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piety of the ancient Druids.22 The memory of this altar was clearly important to Vauzelles, who signed both albums Reliquiæ Aræ Lugdunensis. In this context, in a rare adaptation of a classical tag, Vauzelles quotes Martial in telling barbarous Memphis (that is, Rome) to cease vaunting the wonders of its pyramids, since France (with Eleanor) surpasses them.23 The decor is also enriched with numerous inscriptions, and the albums with Latin distichs, most of which seem to have been composed by the planners. The antiquarian material does not necessarily derive from archæological sources. For instance, the principal event was a spectacle on the Saône,24 a traditional element used in both 1515 and 1530: on this occasion sea monsters containing fireworks accompanied a crowned dolphin with a young actor sitting on it, armed with a lance with a trophy at the end, with which the dauphin attempted to steal one wing from winged Fortune, who revolved on a pillar blowing on a trumpet: this image was not borrowed from some bas-relief, but from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.25 The same source provided Vauzelles with the inspiration for the large gold medal which he designed to present to the dauphin, of which a bronze cast survives in the Metropolitan Museum, New York: he found a hieroglyph in Colonna illustrating the festina lente crux, showing a half-seated figure holding a tortoise and a pair of wings.26 Vauzelles appears to have amalgamated this emblem with that of the anchor and dolphin to create an original image of the prince astride a crowned dolphin holding tortoise and wings. This is a fertile hybrid, because the wings are also emblematic of Fortune and thereby point forward to the splendid prospects of the dauphin, whilst the child on the dolphin also alludes to the Arion myth, which will be reused in the albums27 and in later texts on the death of the young François. The influence of Colonna is abundant and sets the style for these albums. The arch at Bourgneuf bears an inscription in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, inspired by those over the three doors in the Hypnerotomachia, one page after the festina lente hieroglyph.28 What is more, the Italian cut, from which this 22 

Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fols C2–C3. Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. C3. 24  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. Br–v; Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. B2r–v. 25  Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, fol. E5. 26  Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, fol. H7. 27  Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. E3v. 28  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. B2; Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, fol. H8. 23 

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idea is taken, bears on the right the inscription KOSMO∆OXIA, GLORIA MVNDI (glory of the world), which was used in Lyons on the temple at the Change,29 whilst the one on the left, QEO∆OXIA, GLORIA DEI (glory of God), appears in Lyons in Greek and Latin on the cathedral decorations.30 For the dauphin’s entry, just inside the city gates there was a figure of Daphne half-transformed into a tree, a reminiscence of the cut in the Hypnerotomachia of the transformation of the sisters of Phæton.31 At port Saint-Paul, Vauzelles designed a triangular obelisk, which clearly derives from the cut in Colonna of a triangular obelisk with its trinitarian symbolism,32 from the same chapter as the crux and the three doors, here creatively adapted to allude to the Three Gauls and to the three royal children.33 The albums also contain the exotic classical element of hieroglyphs, once again imitated from the intermediary literary source of the picture-script of the Hypnerotomachia. Vauzelles’ albums have a stylistic and thematic unity and a richness of invention and allusiveness that surpass those of the other provincial entries of 1530– 34, and compare favourably even with Bochetel’s livrets for the coronation and Paris entry. They also introduce a particular antiquarian Lyonnais flavour seen in pride in civic history and monuments and in the use of a major Italian humanist source. This flavour was sustained in entries elsewhere in southern France, such as in Le Puy (18 July 1533), where two arches were erected, one ‘faict à pilliers et archs triumphans et maçonneries à l’antique’ (built with pillars and triumphal arches and masonry in the antique style);34 or in Toulouse (1 August 1533), where the future emblematist Guillaume de La Perrière was commissioned, with two artists, to construct ‘arcs triomphans, theatres, galeries, eschaffaux et chariots triomphans’ (triumphal arches, theatres, galleries, stages, and triumphal cars);35 or again in the Gallo-Roman city of Béziers (13 August 1533), where an appropriately classical stamp was given by the erection of a triumphal arch at the Porte du Pont, which sported pilasters painted to look like porphyry and jasper,

29 

Vauzelles, L’Entree de la Royne, fol. Dv Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. D. 31  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fol. B3v; Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, fol. L3. 32  Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, fol. H5. 33  Vauzelles, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin, fols B4r–v. 34  Médicis, Le Livre de Podio ou Chroniques, ed. by Chassaing, i (1869), p. 356. 35  Toulouse, AM, AA 82, ‘Entrée de François Ier’. 30 

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supporting antique cornices.36 Although one Latin inscription was painted on it, describing the king as the firma felicitas (steadfast happiness) of his people, most of the others which had been composed were suppressed pour la contrariété d’aulcuns habitants (because of the opposition of certain citizens), and replaced by biblical or French texts.37 The court passed through Nîmes on 25 August 1533 en route for Marseille. As in Lyons, a group of humanists had been involved in planning the entry, notably the lawyer Antoine Arlier and two important collectors of antiquities, Jean Albénas and Jean Aguilhonnet. The planners not only repeated the Lyonnais idea of presenting commemorative medals, in this case to the queen and Montmorency, but they specifically sought to make use of the city’s Roman ruins to satisfy the king’s taste for the antique. They arranged for some of the modern buildings and debris which cluttered the amphitheatre to be cleared, and for some of its arcades to be reopened; shortly before the king’s entry they also filled the arena with sweet-smelling herbs to mask the stench. The amphitheatre also inspired the choice of gift for the king, ‘Parce que le roi prend plaisir aux choses antiques, on devrait lui donner le portrait des arènes en argent fin’ (since the king delights in antiquities, we should give him a model of the arena in pure silver).38 The premier consul was more explicit: M. le roy est un grand ystoriographe, il aime fort les antiquités. Si on lui fesait faire en argent les Arènes de Nismes en la sorte qu’elles sont, car c’est la plus antique chose qui soit en Languedoc et en France, ça coutera huit cens livres, mais c’est le cadeau de tout un diocèse à son roi.39 (The king is a great historiographer, he much likes antiquities. If we commissioned in silver the Arena of Nîmes as it is today, for it is the oldest thing in Languedoc or in France, it would cost eight hundred livres, but it is the gift of a whole diocese to its king.)

A silversmith was engaged and a design approved, but the work was not finished in time for the entry and indeed was not ready until eighteen months later in April 1535, when Arlier presented it to the king in Picardy.40 There seems to be no record of what became of this costly simulacrum. 36 

Domairon, Entrée de François Ier, pp. 15–18, 44–47. Domairon, Entrée de François Ier, p. 55. 38  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, p. 7. 39  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, p. 18. 40  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, pp. 57–58. 37 

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In 1517 an æs of Augustus and Agrippa had been unearthed in Nîmes, bearing the chained crocodile, palm, and the legend col. nem., releasing a wave of civic pride in the city council (similar to that which struck the Lyonnais on the discovery of the Claudian tables ten years later): here was evidence of the ancient local liberties of the city; here was a chance to reassert those local liberties against the growing hegemony of Paris. After almost twenty years’ deliberations, the city fathers resolved to replace the current city arms (a bull) with this type and obtained permission from François Ier during Arlier’s visit to Picardy in 1535.41 But the letters patent show that the local notables did not understand either type or legend: the crocodile is described as a couleuvre (grass snake), and the abbreviated legend is expanded as COLUBER NEMAUSENSIS (Nîmes snake).42 No original account of the entry survives, but the city archives show that a modern monument was commissioned to emulate the ancient ones, namely an inscribed stone column topped by a lead salamander,43 and that the royal route was to be graced with imitations of classical vases and with triumphal arches in wood and canvas.44 A mention in the accounts of payment for a chariot triumphant (triumphal car) suggests that there may have been an attempt to portray a Roman parade.45 There is, however, no contemporary corroboration of the king’s legendary visits to the subterranean vaults of the amphitheatre, or to the top of the Tour Magne, of his interest in Nîmois inscriptions, of his command to make further demolitions to clear the amphitheatre and the Maison Carrée, or of his possible trip to the Pont du Gard.46 On the return journey north the court passed through Dijon, where the queen made a formal entry on 19 January 1534. Claude Le Marlet’s rudimentary album reveals a desire to emulate the style of the royal tour, with a description of the city and its history,47 as well as of the Temple de Vertu and the Temple de la Paix; 41 

Gautier, L’Histoire de la ville de Nismes et de ses antiquitez, p. 64. Ménard, Histoire civile, ecclésiastique et littéraire de la ville de Nismes, iv (1753), pp. 86–87, 132–33. 43  Ménard, Histoire civile, ecclésiastique et littéraire de la ville de Nismes, iv, 126; Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, p. 33. 44  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, p. 24. 45  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, pp. 37, 40. 46  Bardon, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes, pp. 33–34, 39; Ménard, Histoire civile, ecclésiastique et littéraire de la ville de Nismes, iv, 127. 47  Le Marlet, De felicissimo Regine adventu Divione celebrato (= BnF, Rés. 8° Lb30 300), fol. A4. 42 

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there is an account of the gifts of silver statues of the king and queen embellished with lilies and so-called hieroglyphs,48 and a brief idea of the decorations at the city gate, involving fronds and an inscription.49 A new impulse was given to ceremonial by a series of Italianate festivals: the imperial entry into Rome in 1536, widely publicized, and the arrivals at the French court of both the legate Alessandro Farnese and the new Archbishop of Lyons, Ippolito d’Este. There is ample evidence of the emperor’s progress through France in 1539–40,50 via Bordeaux, Poitiers, Orléans, and Fontainebleau. François had written to the city councils of Poitiers and Orléans, instructing them to receive the emperor magnificently, and Poitiers obeyed him to the letter, with arches predominating in an antiquarian triumph.51 At the Porte de la Tranchée an arch was erected, crowned with two medallions representing the Gallic Hercules and his son Agathyrsus, the latter alluding to a legend preserved by Bouchet in his Annales that the Poitevins originated from descendants of Agathyrsus, the Agathyrsi, a Scythian tribe who painted their faces and limbs.52 Two more arches were aligned at each end of the rue des Cordeliers: the first in the form of an irenic rainbow, with two more medallions representing the Amazons;53 the latter, by Notre-Dame-la-Petite, topped by an eagle and displaying the two figures of French and German Gaul (salamander and phœnix), and a figure of Peace in the form of ‘una fontana ben fatta a l’anticha, sopra quale era una imagine detta P[ace] vestita di tela d’oro’ (a well-built fountain in antique style, above which was an image called Peace dressed in cloth of gold), from whose breasts issued red and white wine, a common trick in entries. To balance the three arches there were more traditional théâtres, from which speeches were delivered, but even these had classical features like festoons and inscriptions, as witness one described imaginatively as ‘ung theatre triumphant aorné de arcs de triumphes de toutes pars liez de taffetas, au meillieu duquel pendoit ung chappeau de singuliere triumphe’ (a triumphal theatre decorated with triumphal arches swathed all over in taffeta, in the middle of which hung a remarkable festoon).54 Over the portal 48 

Le Marlet, De felicissimo Regine adventu Divione celebrato, fol. Cv. 49  Le Marlet, De felicissimo Regine adventu Divione celebrato, fol. D3. 50  Paillard, ‘Le Voyage de Charles Quint en France’. 51  Cooper, ‘L’Histoire en fête’. 52  La solenne et triomphante Entrata de la Cesarea Maestà nella Franza (= BL, 1318.c.7.(5.)), p. 4; Triumphes d’honneur faitz par le commandement du Roy (= BnF, Rés. Lb30 81), fol. B. 53  La solenne et triomphante Entrata de la Cesarea Maestà nella Franza, p. 7; Triumphes d’honneur faitz par le commandement du Roy, fol. Cv. 54  Triumphes d’honneur faitz par le commandement du Roy, fol. B2v.

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to the bishop’s palace was placed an attempt at a classical inscription, in which the Senatus Populusque Pictaviensis (Senate and people of Poitou) wished felicitatem et immortalem gloriam (happiness and endless glory) to their guest.55 Forewarned like the Poitevins, the citizens of Orléans began to construct Eschaffaulx, Theatres, Colisees (stages, theatres, arenas), to the design of the royal treasurer, Philibert Babou, and in a short time they had traced a triumphal route adorned with ‘cinq portaulx, et arcs triumphans aussi beaulx, et manificques qu’on en ayt veu en France pour ouvraige subit, et de paradde’ (five portals and triumphal arches, as fine and magnificent examples of improvised pageant construction as ever seen in France).56 The emperor progressed through the five arches,57 described as constructed ‘d’une bonne invention de Architecture et tresplaisante, à l’antique’ (in well-conceived and pleasing architecture in the antique style). Contradicting an earlier report that the arches had been embellished with devises, the official account asserted that no such inscriptions or images were used for fear of misinterpretation, jealousy, and possible diplomatic incidents; the decor consisted instead of verdant fronds, to describe which the narrator cast about for words: ‘lesdictes treilles estoient toutes faicte à l’antique en festes Italiques, avec infinis chapeaulx de triumphe’ (these arbours were all made in the antique style of Italianate festoons with many wreaths).58 The king asserted to the nuncio that the decoration and refurbishment that he was doing in Fontainebleau was aimed at providing a worthy reception for the emperor. The Mantuan ambassador, Giovanni Battista da Gambara, went to see Fontainebleau (which did not impress him), but in his dispatch he gives some evidence of the temporary monuments erected for the entry: he singles out for mention a male and a female statue holding lamps, a column topped by statues of the three Graces, which was to be illuminated by burning oil during the visit, and abundant festoons of an imitation of an unidentified finish called orazzo, che fa un brutissimo effetto (which gives a very ugly impression).59 The author of the Cronique du Roy François Ier takes the opposite view, enthusing about the column and comparing the other decorations to un paradis, ou euvre divine (a paradise, or divine piece of work).60 However, after Charles V left France, all the eagles and 55 

Triumphes d’honneur faitz par le commandement du Roy, fol. C2v. Le Double et copie d’unes lettres envoyees d’Orleans (= BnF, Rés. Lb30 83), fol. A4. 57  Le Double et copie d’unes lettres envoyees d’Orleans, fol. A4r–v. 58  Le Double et copie d’unes lettres envoyees d’Orleans, fol. B. 59  Gambara, duke of Mantua, Paris, 28 December 1539 (Mantua, Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Archivio Gonzaga 638); see Smith, ‘La Première Description de Fontainebleau’. 60  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, p. 290. 56 

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statues and the column erected at Fontainebleau were promptly demolished, to the displeasure of the imperial ambassador. Several albums were published of the entry into Paris at New Year 1540, and there was sufficient interest for foreign editions to appear, besides the many pieces of occasional verse.61 According to Vasari, the entry was designed jointly by Rosso62 and Primaticcio, but it is clear that Girolamo della Robbia and Jean Cousin were also involved.63 It is not therefore surprising to discover a yet more accentuated classical and Italianate flavour to this entry, although, despite its wide dissemination in print, it is far from being the most original ceremony of the reign. Approaching from the east from Vincennes to the Bastille, Charles was confronted at the Porte St Antoine by an arch supported by two columns crowned by eagles;64 at each end of the rue St Antoine he passed under identical triple arches painted by Cousin, adorned with sixteen columns imitating black marble and with figures of imperial eagles, serpents, and sea monsters,65 which the Italian observer N[icolò degli] A[gostini] judged to be finer than Antonio da San Gallo’s arch erected in Piazza San Marco for the 1536 imperial entry into Rome.66 At the Porte Baudoyer were constructed the two gates of peace and war, in front of which a playlet was performed.67 At the Pont Notre-Dame, arches had been erected at each end of the bridge, in between which the houses on the bridge were decorated with ivy festoons, silver statues of fame, eagles, and antique heads which may have been medallions.68 Across the bridge a second play was enacted, representing the triumph of Peace over Discord, and the message was underlined by short inscriptions,69 and in the courtyard of the Louvre there was a massive 61 

Saulnier, ‘Charles-Quint traversant la France’. Vasari, Le Vite, ed. by Milanesi, v (1880), p. 70: ‘Ma le cose che fece il Rosso, d’archi, di colossi e altre cose simili, furono […] le più stupende che da altri insino allora fussero state fatte mai’ (But the things that Rosso built, whether arches, colossi or other similar things, were the most stupendous which had ever been built by others before then). 63  Roy, Peintures décoratives exécutées par Jehan Cousin père, pp. 4–6. 64  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, p. 307. 65  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, pp. 307–08; Roy, Peintures décoratives exécutées par Jehan Cousin père, pp. 9–10. 66  N. A., La sontuosa intrata di Carlo V (= BL, 1318.c.7.(4.)), fol. A3v. 67  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, pp.  308–10; Saulnier, ‘Charles-Quint traversant la France’, p. 220. 68  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, pp. 312–13; N. A., La sontuosa intrata di Carlo V, fol. A4. 69  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, pp. 310–12; Saulnier, ‘Charles-Quint traver62 

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gilded statue of Vulcan, holding a torch which burned during the banquet.70 The municipality sustained this antique theme by presenting to the emperor a silver statue seven feet high of Hercules and his two pillars.71 Although much of the decor and entertainments in Paris remained heraldic or chivalric, an attempt was made at the city gates and bridges to give a classical and mythological stamp to the entry. François neither made nor organized any more major entries after the reception of his brother-in-law, apart from a visit to Bourg-en-Bresse in 1541, at which some rudimentary arches were erected.72 Royal progresses had, however, shifted markedly during the 1530s from the medieval allegorical model towards the recreation of the Roman triumph in the procession, ystoires and monuments along the route. The notion of a triumphal procession of cars is most strongly marked in this period in Rouen (and in Caen), with the impulse deriving mainly from the Hypnerotomachia, Petrarch, and Mantegna. All’antica costume and laurel crowns become more common, and figures from classical history and myth gradually replace allegorical personifications in the saynètes, including machines such as sea monsters. But the biggest change is seen in the decor, where planners seek increasingly to recreate the Gallo-Roman past of their city, and to line the route with classical monuments decorated with hieroglyphs, arabesques, and inscriptions. Lyons erected an obelisk, and there were occasional columns, medallions, or festoons; but the dominant decorative feature is the triumphal arch, pioneered in Lyons in 1509 and 1515, and then imitated throughout the 1530s, culminating in Rosso’s admired designs for imperial entry into Paris. The scenographers who developed this taste were mainly French humanists like Bochetel, Vauzelles, and Arlier, using Italian models such as the Hypnerotomachia; but by the end of the decade Italian artists like Rosso and Bartolommeo del Bene began to play a more prominent role. Although the Paris entries of 1531 and 1540 contain interesting material, it is hard to deny that under François Ier more original and inventive designs appear in provincial entries such as those of Rouen, Poitiers, Lyons, or Nîmes. After his coronation in Rheims in 1547, the new king, Henri II, visited the eastern marches, Burgundy, Dauphiné, and Piedmont, before making a major sant la France’, p. 220. 70  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, p. 315; N. A., La sontuosa intrata di Carlo V, fol. A4. 71  Cronique du Roy François, ed. by Guiffrey, p. 305. 72  Extraict fidele des deliberations des syndics (= Paris, Bibl. de l’Arsenal, Rondel MS Ra 4 55), p. 5.

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entry into Lyons in September 1548.73 The spring of 1549 saw his entry into Paris and the coronation of his queen, Catherine de’ Medici;74 then the campaign to recapture Boulogne caused him to make a grand entry into Rouen in 1550,75 followed by visits to Dijon, Tours, and Orléans. Under Henri II, the traditional parade shed much of its religious character, and, by dressing up the members of the local militia and trade guilds as Romans, took on specific features of a classical triumph. This is most evident in Rouen, where the successive bands of soldiers, crowned in laurel and carrying a series of trophies, are directly inspired from the Mantegna Triumph of Cæsar. In Lyons and Paris, the figure of the mounted captain is modelled on equestrian statues like that of Marcus Aurelius, copied by Primaticcio for the royal collection at Fontainebleau; the planners in Carpentras went one stage further and erected outside the town hall a statue of a horse on which an actor sat in Roman armour and hair-cut, horse and rider painted in gilt to deceive onlookers into thinking that the whole thing was a statue ‘alla foggia di quel di Campidoglio in Roma’ (like the one on the capitol in Rome).76 A further classical detail was added to the parade in Lyons, where a series of duels was put on matching different weapons in a re-enactment of Roman gladiatorial combat; to rival this spectacle the planners in Carpentras put on a successful three-hour display of Roman wrestling.77 Having reviewed the parade outside the city, the king had to make his own progress into the city, and it is in the wealth of monuments erected along his route, arches, temples, porticos, columns and obelisks, all embellished with inscriptions, that the new antiquarian style in these three Gallo-Roman cities is most apparent. The entry of Charles V to Rome in 1536 was clearly an influence here, since Paul III had sought to retrace the ancient via triumphalis, leading the emperor through the major monuments to the Capitol, and constructing new temporary monuments in strategic places. One typical decorative element is the obelisk, which in Lyons conformed to illustrations of the Vatican obelisk, even though decorated with arabesques rather than hieroglyphs; by contrast, in Paris, no attempt was made to copy an 73 

La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entrée, ed. by Guigue; Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper. 74  The Entry of Henry II, ed. by McFarlane. 75  L’Entrée de Henri II à Rouen, ed. by McGowan. 76  La Magnifique et triumphante entrée de Carpentras, trans. by Blegier (= Avignon, BM, 8° 26. 586), fol. D2; see Cooper, ‘Legate’s Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese’. 77  La Magnifique et triumphante entrée de Carpentras, trans. by Blegier, fols E3v–E4.

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archaeological model, and Jean Martin drew on literary sources to reproduce the triangular obelisk on a rhinoceros from the Hypnerotomachia. Neither Rouen nor Orléans made any use of obelisks, but in Tours the planners copied the Lyons design of an obelisk topped by a crescent, and placed two of them on the architrave of the arch built at the city gate, on each side of the pediment.78 To match the obelisk, designers in Lyons and Paris erected victory columns in imitation of those of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, with an original twist in Paris where two columns were linked in the form of an H. To evoke the landscape of ancient Lyons or Paris, the designers made use of trompe l’œil perspectives. The example erected in the commercial heart of Lyons, the Change, appears to have been inspired by Sebastiano Serlio’s stage sets, against which a machine-play of the contest between Pallas Athena and Poseidon, inspired by a cameo in the Medici collection,79 was represented by actors dressed as classical statues coming to life.80 Perspectival paintings were prominent in the Avignon and Carpentras entries: in Carpentras most of the arches supported historical perspectives; the theatre in the Place de la Sonnerie in Avignon had a square perspective showing an arcade supporting a platform and inscription;81 and the two major monuments at the end of the procession, in the Place des Changes82 and the Place du Grand Horloge,83 make use of elaborate, painted classical architecture. A combination of classical architecture with sculpture is a constant in the three major entries, and it is sometimes associated with water, as in the two monumental fountains of Ponceau and of Les Innocents in the Paris entry. The landing-stage at Saint-Paul in Lyons, in sight of the confluence of Saône and Rhône, offered scope for statues of the two rivers, in imitation of those in the Vatican of Nile and Tiber, which were to be copied again in Paris both under the vault of the arch of Saint-Jacques and on the attic storey of Philibert de l’Orme’s triple arch at Les Tournelles.84 However, the dominant classical motif imported into the entry ceremony was the triumphal arch, of which there are five in Lyons and in Paris, one in Rouen 78 

Clamecy, L’Entree du tresheureux et joyeulx advenement du Roy (= BnF, Rés. 8° Lb31 35, incomplete), [p. 3]. 79  Bober and Rubinstein, Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture, p. 81 n. 41. 80  Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper, fols G3v–G4. 81  La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre (= BnF, Rés. Lk7 645), fol. D2. 82  La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. D2v. 83  La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. D3v. 84  The Entry of Henry II, ed. by McFarlane, fols 7v–8, 38v.

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and Tours, six in Orléans, two in Avignon, eight in Carpentras, and no less than twelve in Nantes. At the first main gate in Lyons, where Henri was welcomed by the city fathers, a triumphal arch was the place for the message of welcome, reiterating in statuary, and in no less than ten inscriptions, the themes of Lyons as a Roman colony and of her devotion to the king, and an invocation of his protection. Beside this arch ran a stretch of the city wall, une muraille à la rustique ruinée en plusieurs lieux: & au dess[o]us de laquelle estoient encor resté quelque fragmentz de cornices avec bases & demy Colonnes pour mieulx representer son antiquité.85 (a rustic wall ruined in various places: above which remained some traces of the cornices, bases and half columns to give a better impression of its antiquity.)

This theme of ruined antiquity, already introduced in the cracked obelisk, had clearly been carefully exploited here to mimic the spolia incorporated in Galloroman walls. The evocative power of this theme was not lost on the Paris designers, who in the illustration of the equivalent arch at Saint-Denis showed cracks in the adjacent city walls. Du Cerceau had expressed his interest in arches in the collection of engravings published in Orléans in 1549, containing a variety of designs including single, double, and triple arches, some with single or paired columns, some with attics or pediments, some with niches or medallions. However the six arches he designed for the 1551 entry into the city at ten days notice show less variety, Elsewhere there was greater invention, a popular type being the arch built on a bridge, like those at Saintes or Saint-Chamas. There were none in Lyons since the processional route did not cross the river, but in Paris a major decorative feature recalling the 1531 entry was the arch at each end of the pont Notre-Dame. This conceit was echoed in Rouen, which is otherwise lacking in arches, a miniature showing an arch at each end of the bridge. At Orléans Du Cerceau also built arches at each end of the long bridge, with an additional structure sporting ivy festoons halfway across at the bastille Saint-Antoine. It is a matter of regret that the Avignon album was not illustrated, because two ambitious monuments were built there composed of a variety of classical elements whose relationship to each other is not clear. In the Place des Changes a monument was constructed consisting of an Ionic hemicircle flanked by a painted curved portico, spanned by a Tuscan arch, above which was set ‘une lenterne, faicte à colonines, ouvrage sentant son antiquité’ (a lantern composed of little 85 

Scève, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, ed. by Cooper, fol. E3v.

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columns, conveying the antiquity of this construction),86 perhaps in imitation of the arch/temple in Lyons with its crowning rotunda. However, to the right of this complex was a painting of a staircase ‘divisé par degrés en forme et imitation d’Amphitheatre’ (divided into sections in the manner of an amphitheatre),87 on each side of which were cages containing a lion and a tiger. This curious medley may have been intended to represent a confused image of a Roman (amphi) theatre. No less ambitious, but easier to interpret, is the two-storied palace built in the place du Puits des Beufs: the ground floor was composed of pairs of columns arranged in three Corinthian arches with statues, while the upper storey was Ionic and crowned by a statue of Mercury.88 The remarkable feature of this building was its tower: Sur le quarré dudict edifice estoit elevée une tour, faicte à la semblance d’une qui est à Sainct Remis, chose pleine d’antiquité et bonne grace. Le pied de laquelle estoit illustré de batailles, trophées et chasses. Le second estage estoit de quatre colonnes, leur tierce partie avec quatre arcs percez à jour, au dessus un differant nommé coronation, ou lanterne, tout enrichi de Termes superbement paincts qui d’une main portoient la couverture de ladicte tour.89 (On top of the square base of the building was raised a tower looking like the one at St Rémy, which is very ancient and elegant. The base was decorated with reliefs of battles, trophies and hunting. The second storey comprised four columns supporting four open arches two-thirds of the way up, and above them another crowning feature called a lantern, embellished with finely painted Herms which supported with one hand the roof of the tower.)

The designers here have copied the nearby mausoleum of Glanum, which had been drawn by Du Cerceau, as a token of their pride in the antiquities of Provence. Apart from the silver model of the amphitheatre of Nîmes, this is the first example in France of the use in public ceremony of a copy of an existing Gallo-Roman monument, and it bears witness to the shift from fantasy to archaeology in the taste for the antique in Renaissance France. There was little time to put on triumphal entries for the short-lived François II, although ceremonies were recorded at Orléans and Chenonceau; similarly the cycle of entries planned for his successor, Charles IX, was delayed by political 86 

La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. D3. La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. D3. 88  La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. D4v. 89  La Magnifique Entrée du […] Monseigneur Alexandre, fol. Er–v. 87 

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problems and by the outbreak of war, but was finally carried out in an extensive royal tour of 1564–65, elaborating on the king’s personal motto of Pietate et Justitia (piety and justice).90 The design of this tour, celebrating the (temporary) return of peace to France, is less openly antiquarian in character than the entries of Henri II, including more vernacular and chivalric material, especially in the Bayonne festivities. In the Troyes entry designed by Jean Passerat91 no arches were built, the primary decorative feature being statues of Victoria and Fama; a so-called pyramid is featured, but only in order to attack the ancient love of extravagant monuments.92 The Lyons entry, organized by Antoine Giraud and a painter, Maître Thomas, is very low-key compared with the triumph of 1548, all of whose designers were now dead.93 The route and the locations of monuments were closely imitated from 1548: arches were built at Vaise, Bourgneuf, and the Porte St Jean (une Crotesque à mode d’Antique (a grotesque in the antique style)), another perspective was painted, a naval spectacle, and a mythological playlet were put on, the latter involving Apollo and the Muses instead of Diana. But the accent is more French than Roman, involving the legendary Gallic founders of cities, and praising the young monarch who seeks to restaurer les ruïnes d’un Royaume (restore the ruins of his kingdom). At Valence, Jehan de la Maison Neufve de Berry made more use of the past of this Gallo-roman city.94 One of the inscriptions displayed Felix temporum repa­ ratio (fortunate renewal of the times), accompanied by a picture of an emperor with right arm raised and left arm pointing to the Janus-headed figure of Time, and evidently inspired at least by the legend, and perhaps by a misreading of the type of fourth-century coins of Constans to Gratian. Another motto, Cives serva­ tos (citizens preserved), derives from a coin of Augustus. More interestingly, La Maison Neufve knows his Roman reliefs: he introduces the figure of Cybele, portraying her in a biga of lions holding a globe and approaching Attis, exactly as in the well-known taurobolic Roman relief which had recently been published by Du Choul.95 Arches were erected at Avignon96 and at Nîmes, where the king vis90 

Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France. Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 174–85. 92  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 183. 93  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 187–209. 94  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 212–26. 95  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 217–18. 96  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 229. 91 

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ited the Pont du Gard, and which was the occasion for an evening entertainment put on in a nearby grotto at the Château de Saint-Privat.97 The city fathers in Narbonne had little warning of the king’s arrival and were obliged to improvise.98 They made a virtue of necessity, proudly announcing the lack of monuments Vous ne verrés icy le colosse planté, La haute piramide, ou le bel arc vouté, (You will see here neither a colossus erected, nor a lofty obelisk nor a fine vaulted arch)

and calling attention to the beauty of the Porte Royale, in which were embedded numerous classical Roman epitaphs found when the bastions were built, of which the king did a tour: n’y avoit on voulu mettre aucun enrichissement pour ne pas cacher ce beau trésor de l’Antiquité, qui est aux pierres de la même entrée, lesquelles furent fort regardées et admirées de tous. 99 (no one had wished to add any embellishment so as not to mask the fine treasure­ house of antiquity contained in the stones of this gateway, which were much examined at admired by all.)

Since they had not had the time (or money) actually to construct anything, they recorded some of the projected unbuilt monuments, notably an arch celebrating the settlement of the town by Caesar’s tenth legion: statues were planned of Q. Marcius Rex, and of two supposed natives of Narbo, the Roman soldier and Christian martyr, St Sebastian, and the emperor Carus (who was indeed born in Narbo), and who was to have been portrayed wearing armour and a cloak (paludamentum, here called lacerna) and with radiate crown, ‘telle qu’il la porte en ses medailles’ (such as he wears on his coins) and with an imaginary inscription, ‘D. CAR NARB. ROMAN. IMP. AVG. NARBONA MATER P.’ (to Marcus Carus, august emperor of Rome, from his mother city Narbonne).100 The improvised Narbonne entry was surpassed by the sumptuous ceremonial prepared in Toulouse for 2 February 1565.101 The city fathers, forewarned as early 97 

Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 99; Ménard, Histoire civile, ecclésiastique et littéraire de la ville de Nismes, iv, 398–400. 98  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 234–45. 99  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 238. 100  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 240. 101  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 246–79.

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as September 1564, had at first intended to build a permanent marble arch ‘pour servir à la posterité de tesmoignaige et monument de la devotion de la ville’ (to serve for posterity as a monumental witness to the city’s devotion),102 but for lack of time they settled for a profusion of temporary classical monuments. The design was entrusted to a local humanist lawyer, Jean-Etienne Durand, who drew upon the local histories by Nicolas Bertrand and Antoine Noguier and was also able to enlist the future playwright Robert Garnier, the historian Pierre Paschal, the lawyer Etienne Forcatel, and a Hellenist, Duchemin. Durand planned for the king to watch the civic parade from a (heated) classical pavillion, bristling with columns, similar to those built for Henri II in 1548–50.103 The dominant architectural feature was the triumphal arch, of which there were as many as seven, in Doric, Corinthian, and Composite styles. The first (Corinthian) arch was an exultation of Monarchy, which is preferred to Democracy and Aristocracy and is exemplified by the two model monarchs, Alexander and Augustus, who are portrayed in statues and in paintings simulating reliefs of their victories.104 The second (Doric) arch of Charlemagne celebrates the Christian emperor’s success in defeating the pagan Saxons and Saracens and in bringing relics of the Apostles to Toulouse.105 The third (Corinthian) arch in the rue de la Porterie has a complex iconography: it celebrates the emperor Antoninus Pius, whose family came from Languedoc, the goddess Pallas Athena, formerly worshipped in Tolosa, which added the adjective ‘Palladia’ to its name because of its reputation for science, and the god Mercury, because of the city’s reputation in letters; but it also portrays the Garonne as a river-god (like those in the Lyons and Paris entries of 1548–49), set between a picture of the Pyrenees, where it rises, and the figure of Ocean, to where it flows, and illustrations of the rich variety of fish in the Garonne.106 Nearby stood a monument commemorating the kings and counts of Toulouse,107 and further on another arch in honour of the late Henri II.108 A triple Corinthian arch in honour of Charles IX at the Place du Salin109 was decorated with statues of Trajan (associated with Justitia) and of Constantine (associated with Pietas), 102 

Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 252. Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, p. 253. 104  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 255–56. 105  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 259–61. 106  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 261–64. 107  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 264–66. 108  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 267–69. 109  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 269–71. 103 

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and on the back a statue of Augustus dispensing Justice, and two obelisks with hieroglyphical emblems from Horapollo of piety and justice. The arch of the queen-mother at Perche-Pinte110 is in a quite different style, consisting of a Corinthian tetrapylon inspired by the Pyramid at Vienne, and topped by pedestals, herms, and the rainbow of Iris alluding to Catherine’s personal emblem. The final arch in the Place Saint-Estienne appears to have been another tetrapylon, in Composite style, erected to commemorate the capture of Le Havre in 1563.111 This rich diversity of design was reflected in triumphal columns of Pax and Victoria at the church of Saint-Barthélemy,112 and in a theatre in rusticated style on which the nine Muses perform, celebrating the tradition of the Jeux Floraux (Floral Games).113 But perhaps the most striking was the Perspective at the Porte de Posonville, near what was believed to have been the site of the lake into which the or de Toulouse (gold of Toulouse) was cast, and hence dedicated to the history of the ancient city. The king saw a representation of Roman Tolosa, avec son Capitole et Amphiteatre (with its capitol and amphitheatre) set against a background view of the Pyrenees, with much learned discourse about the city and its temples in antiquity and about the sacriligeous theft of gold, used here as propaganda against Huguenot despoiling of churches and destruction of relics.114 The quantity of decorations is remarkable — no fewer than twelve antique constructions covered in inscriptions in French, classical Latin, and even in Greek. This is by far the most ambitious of the entries on the royal tour, as well as being the most specifically antiquarian in inspiration: in order to honour the young king, Toulouse draws upon its Gallo-Roman past. Burdigala also had an illustrious reputation, preserved by Ausonius, which the jurats (city fathers) tried to exploit when receiving the new king. When Isabelle de Valois had passed through in December 1559 on her way to Spain, they had erected two portiques (portals) decorated with Doric columns and with a chapeau de triomphe (festoon).115 The entry of Charles IX on 1 April 1565116 was designed by the enamelist Léonard Limousin,117 perhaps with the aid of Elie Vinet. The 110 

Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 272–73. Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 273–74. 112  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 271–72. 113  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 266–67. 114  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 17, 256–59. 115  Braquehaye, Les Peintres, pp. 16–29. 116  Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 280–83. 117  Braquehaye, Les Peintres, pp. 29–37. 111 

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civic parade included twelve wailing captives, as in the Rouen entry of 1550 and in classical triumphs. At the Porte du Chappeau Rouge a triumphal arch was dedicated to Genius Civitatis, an idea taken from the Roman altar exhibited in the Château Trompette, with an inscription insisting on modern Bordeaux surpassing ancient Rome, and with figures of the river-gods, Garonne and Dordogne; at the Porte Médoc a second arch bore yet more river-gods. It was during this visit that Elie Vinet presented Charles with his newly composed history of Bordeaux, which made much of the Genius Civitatis altar and many other Gallo-roman inscriptions and monuments. The tour concluded in November at Tours, where two arches were constructed.118 There was, therefore, over three decades of royal entry ceremonial, a considerable expansion in antiquarian decor, ranging from increased use of features such as arabesques and medallions, herms and caryatids, festoons and wreaths, trophies and inscriptions, to the design and erection of classical monuments along the triumphal route — arches, obelisks, temples, theatres, perspectives, fountains, and statues. These antique elements coexist peacefully with a diminishing religious contribution, with chivalric and other military features, with theatrical interludes, with exotic and even American material, and with details from contemporary fashion. Traditional allegorical material is recast in classical idiom, with playlets performed such as those of Diana or Flora, Orpheus or Hercules. Under the influence of Roman models and contemporary Italian spectacles, French entries become more elaborate and more ostentatious, taking advantage of the services of prominent humanists and artists to provide the complex interweaving of highly allusive literary and iconographical material. The albums recording these local ceremonies elevate them to national and even international status as documents of taste and instruments of propaganda, which, despite the variations imposed by local traditions and topical events, have a unity of style of which the dominant characteristic is the cult of the antique. Brasenose College, Oxford

118 

Graham and McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France, pp. 381–89.

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books Avignon, Bibliothèque municipale, 8° 26. 586 London, British Library, 1318.c.7.(4.) London, British Library, 1318.c.7.(5.) Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Rondel MS Ra4 55 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Réserve des livres rares, 8° Lb31 35 —— , 8° Lb30 300 —— , Lb30 55 —— , Lb30 59 —— , Lb30 61 —— , Lb30 62 —— , Lb30 81 —— , Lb30 83 —— , Lk7 645 Toulouse, Archives municipales, AA 82 (‘Entrée de François Ier’)

Primary Sources A[gostini], N. [degli], La sontuosa intrata di Carlo V sempre augusto in la gran citta di Parigi (Roma: Blado, 1540) Barthélémy de Chasseneux, Catalogus gloriæ mundi (Lyon: Regnault, 1546) Bochetel, Guillaume, L’Entree de la royne en sa ville et cité de Paris (Paris: Tory, 1531) Bouchet, Jean, Les Annalles d’Acquitaine, faictz et gestes en sommaire de Roys de France et D’Angleterre, et des pays de Naples et de Milan (Paris: de Marnef, 1524) Bourgueville, Charles de, Les Recherches et antiquitez de la province de Neustrie, à present duché de Normandie, comme des villes remarquables d’icelle, mais plus specialement de la ville et université de Caen (Caen: Chalopin, 1833) Clamecy, Guillaume Vincent de, L’Entree du tresheureux et joyeulx advenement du Roy, puis­sant & magnanime Henry de Valoys en sa noble Ville de Tours (Tours: Rousset, 1551) Colonna, Francesco, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venezia: Manutius, 1499) Cronique du Roy François, premier de ce nom, ed. by Georges Guiffrey (Paris: Renouard, 1860) Domairon, Louis, Entrée de François Ier dans la ville de Béziers (Paris: Aubry, 1866) Le Double et copie d’unes lettres envoyees d’Orleans à ung abbé de Picardie contenant à la verité le triumphe faict audict lieu d’Orleans à l’entree et reception de l’empereur (Paris: Corrozet & Du Pré, 1540) L’Entrée de François premier, roy de France, en la cité de Lyon, le 12 juillet 1515, ed. by Georges Guigue, Société des bibliophiles lyonnais, 11 (Lyon: Société des bibliophiles lyonnais, 1899) L’Entrée de Henri II à Rouen, 1550, ed. by Margaret M. McGowan, Renaissance Triumphs and Magnificences (Amsterdam: Theatrum orbis terrarium, 1990; facsimile repr. of Paris, 1551 edn)

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L’Entree de la Reyne et de Messieurs les enfans de France: Monsieur le Daulphin et le Duc d’Orleans en la ville et cité de Bourdeaulx à grans honeur et triumphe ([n.p.]: [n. pub.], 1530) Les Entrees de la royne et de Monseigneur le Daulphin, lieutenant general du Roy, et gouverneur en ce pays de Normandie (Paris: Lotrian, 1532; facsimile repr. ed. by André Pottier, Rouen: Société des bibliophiles normands, 1866) The Entry of Henri II into Paris, 16 June 1549, ed. by Ian D. McFarlane, Medieval and Re­ naissance Texts and Studies, 7 (Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Early Renais­ sance Studies, 1982) Extraict fidele des deliberations des syndics […] de Bourg en Bresse (Bourg-en-Bresse: [n. pub.], 1541) La Magnifique Entrée du reverendissime et tres illustre seigneur, Monseigneur Alexandre, Cardinal de Farnez, Vichancellier du Sainct siege apostolique, et Legat de la ville et Cité d’Avignon, faicte en icelle le xvi mars 1553 (Avignon: Bonhomme, 1553) La Magnificence de la superbe et triumphante entrée de la noble et antique cité de Lyon, ed. by Georges Guigue (Lyon: Société des bibliophiles lyonnais, 1927) La Magnifique et triumphante entrée de Carpentras, faicte à tres illustre et tres puissant prince, Alexandre Farnes, Cardinal, Legat d’Avignon, Vicecchancelier du S.Siege Apostoli­ que, nouvellement mise en rithme françoise par M. Antoine Blegier, trans. by Antoine Blegier (Avignon: Bonhomme, 1553) Le Marlet, Claude, De felicissimo Regine adventu Divione celebrato (Dijon: Grangier, 1530) La solenne et triomphante Entrata de la Cesarea Maestà nella Franza (Bologna: Bonardi & da Carpi, 1539) Scève, Maurice, The Entry of Henri II into Lyon, September 1548, ed. by Richard Cooper, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 160 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medi­ eval and Renaissance Studies, 1997) Thomassin, Jean, Panegyricus de civitate Lingonum (Paris: Wechel, 1531) Triumphes d’honneur faitz par le commandement du Roy à l’empereur en la ville de Poictiers (Paris: Du Pré, 1539) Vauzelles, Jean de, L’Entree de monseigneur le Daulphin faicte en l’antique et noble cité de Lyon l’an mil cinq cens trente et troys, le xxvi de may (Lyon: Crespin, 1533) —— , L’Entree de la Royne faicte en l’antique et noble cité de Lyon l’an mil cinq cens trente et troys, le xxvii de May (Lyon: Crespin, 1533) La Vigne, André de, Le Vergier d’oneur (Paris: [n. pub.], [n.d.])

Secondary Studies Bardon, Achille, Ce que coûta l’entrée de François Ier à Nîmes (1533) (Nîmes: GervaisBedot, 1894) Bober, Phyllis Pray, and Ruth Rubinstein, Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: A Handbook of Sources (London: Harvey Miller, 1986) Braquehaye, Charles, Les Peintres de l’Hôtel de Ville de Bordeaux en des entrées royales depuis 1525 (Bordeaux: Féret, 1898)

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Castaigne, Jean-François Eusèbe, Entrées solennelles dans la ville d’Angoulême depuis François Ier jusqu’à Louis XIV, Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente, 2nd ser., 1 (Angoulême: Lefraise, 1856) Cooper, Richard A., ‘L’Histoire en fête: les humanistes promoteurs de la gloire du Poitou’, in Les grands Jours de Rabelais en Poitou: actes du colloque international de Poitiers (30 août–1er septembre 2001), ed. by Marie-Luce Demonet, Travaux d’humanisme et Renaissance, 408; Études rabelaisiennes, 43 (Geneva: Droz, 2006), pp. 13–30 —— , ‘Legate’s Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Car­ pentras, 1553’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 133–61 Courteault, P., ‘L’Entrée de François Ier à Bordeaux en 1526’, Revue historique de Bordeaux, 9 (1916), 69–79 Fournier, Édouard, Variétés historiques et littéraires, 10 vols (Paris: Jannet, 1855–64), viii (1857) Gautier, Hubert, L’Histoire de la ville de Nismes et de ses antiquitez (Paris: Cailleau, 1724) Graham, Victor E., and W. McAllister Johnson, The Royal Tour of France by Charles IX and Catherine de’ Medici: Festivals and Entries, 1564–66 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979) Lecoq, Anne-Marie, François Ier imaginaire: symbolique et politique à l’aube de la Renais­ sance française (Paris: Macula, 1987) Médicis, Étienne, Le Livre de Podio ou Chroniques, ed. by Augustin Chassaing, 2 vols (Le Puy-en-Velay: Marchessou, 1869–74) Ménard, Léon, Histoire civile, ecclésiastique et littéraire de la ville de Nismes, 7 vols (Paris: Chaubert & Hérissant, 1750–58) Paillard, Charles, ‘Le Voyage de Charles Quint en France’, Revue des questions historiques, 25 (1879), 506–50 Roy, Maurice, Peintures décoratives exécutées par Jehan Cousin père pour l’entrée à Paris de l’empereur Charles-Quint le 1er janvier 1540 (Sens: Duchemin, 1912) Saulnier, Verdun-Louis, ‘Charles-Quint traversant la France: ce qu’en dirent les poètes français’, in Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, ed. by Jean Jacquot, 3 vols (Paris: CNRS, 1956–1975), ii (1960), pp. 207–33 Smith, Marc H., ‘La Première Description de Fontainebleau’, Revue de l’Art, 91 (1991), 44–46 Vasari, Giorgio, Le Vite de’piu eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, ed. by Gaetano Milanesi, 9 vols (Firenze: Sansoni, 1878–85)

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora’s Depiction of the Aztec Emperors for the Viceregal Entry into Mexico City of 1680 Jean Andrews

C

arlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700) lived all his life in Mexico City. His city of birth and death was founded, according to Aztec myth, on the orders of the supreme god Huitzilopochtli in 1325, and it was given the name of México-Tenochtitlán.1 This Náhuatl nomenclature was retained initially by the conquering Spaniards when they engulfed the twohundred-year-old Aztec capital and was still occasionally invoked in Sigüenza’s time. Sigüenza was a criollo, that is a person of Spanish descent born and bred in New Spain (today’s Mexico). He joined the Jesuits in 1660 and took his initial vows but was expelled seven years later for conduct unbecoming to the dignity of the order (probably student pranks or high jinks of some sort).2 After this, he continued his theological training with the purpose of entering the secular priesthood. He was appointed to the chair of Astronomy and Mathematics at 1  The more correct modern term for the ruling people in pre-colonial Mexico is the Mexica. Sigüenza uses mexicanos to indicate the ruling indigenous pre-Columbian people in his festival text, rather than aztecas. In his own time, the term mexicano had expanded to indicate any indigenous ethnic identity as distinct from inhabitants of New Spain of European or African ethnic origin. Today it covers all Mexicans. For clarity, I have decided to retain ‘Aztec’ instead of ‘Mexica’ in most of this chapter. 2  See Mayer, ‘Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and Criollo Spirituality in New Spain’, pp. 156–60, for biographical information on Sigüenza.

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the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in 1672 and ordained a priest a year later. Over the thirty or so years of his adult and professional life, Sigüenza distinguished himself as a cosmographer, cartographer, historian of Mexico, and purveyor of occasional poetry for state and church. In his personal library he brought together the most extensive collection of Náhuatl codices in New Spain. These were left to him by Juan de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, a relative of the impoverished mestizo historian Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (1568–1648) who had been given a viceregal commission to write histories of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Ixtlilxochitl was a direct descendant of the conquistador Hernán (also known as Fernando) Cortés and the Aztec Emperor Cuitlahuatzin (Cuitláhuac) who succeeded Moctezuma and ruled for eighty days in 1520. His Relación histórica de la nación tulteca was written between 1600 and 1608.3 These and others of his works passed to Sigüenza whose collection contained the other important extant sixteenth-century volumes in Spanish and classical Náhuatl on Mexican history and indigenous culture by learned Spanish missionaries and Mexicans educated by the Spanish religious orders. His library in its entirety was the most considerable library on any erudite topic in Mexico City in the second half of the seventeenth century. His own output, published and in manuscript form, was prolific and extended from panegyric to formal history of Mexico and the Church in Mexico to astronomy to intellectual polemic to cartography. Of this vast life’s work, only about twenty texts have survived. At least as many more have been lost, including his monumental history of pre-Columbian Mexico. In 1680, Sigüenza was commissioned by the city fathers to design the concept and write the texts for a triumphal arch to be erected on the Calle Santo Domingo where it opened onto the Plaza Santo Domingo, opposite the Holy Office (Inquisition) building. Sigüenza insisted that this location was a ‘lugar destinado desde la antigüedad para la celebridad de este acto’ (a place designated from ancient times for the celebration of this act).4 The modern function was to welcome the new Viceroy, don Tomás de la Cerda, conde de Paredes and marqués de la Laguna and his wife, doña María Luisa Manrique de Lara, to MéxicoTenochtitlán. His distinguished coeval, the Hieronymite nun and much lionized ‘tenth muse’ of Spain, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, was retained by the Cathedral Chapter to invent a similar temporary monument to be stationed at the west door of the Cathedral, to which the viceregal party would proceed after the ceremony in the Plaza Santo Domingo. The viceroy, who would enter the city under a 3  4 

Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Obras históricas, ed. by O’Gorman. Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 357.

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bajo palio (under a canopy), an honour usually reserved for royalty, would emerge from the Calle Santo Domingo to receive the keys to the city in the Plaza Santo Domingo. Sigüenza notes that the viceroy entered the arch at exactly four fifteen p.m. on the evening of the thirtieth of November and as he did so, as the doors of the arch were opened to allow his passage, a loa or ode was read out to him, probably by an actress costumed as a celestial being: ‘apareció ésta entre unas nubes y dijo así’ (she appeared between clouds and proclaimed thus).5 The conde de Paredes was named viceroy on 8 May 1680. His arrival on New Spanish soil and journey to the imperial city of Mexico followed a long-established viceregal protocol.6 Sigüenza himself notes that the first ceremony of welcome in New Spain was enacted in México-Tenochtitlán on 15 December 1528.7 According to custom, the new Viceroy landed at Veracruz on 15 September 1680 and progressed through a series of welcome rituals until he arrived in Mexico City on 7 November. This progress had been carefully calibrated so that due respect was paid to the three founding cultures of New Spain: Spanish imperial power, acknowledged in Veracruz, where Cortés and his conquistadores first came ashore; the Tlaxcaltecas, one of the indigenous peoples who fought alongside the Spaniards against the Aztec Empire, in Tlaxcala; and criollo society, in the town of Puebla. The outgoing Viceroy handed over the sceptre of office to his successor at Cholula or Otumba, both sites of Spanish victories over the Aztecs and, once in México-Tenochtitlán, the new Viceroy paid a state visit to the Aztec park of Chapultepec and, in the culminating homage to the importance of the Church in New Spain, to the shrine of the Blessed Virgin at Guadalupe.8 It had been the norm in the Mexico City festivities, as with ceremonial entries elsewhere in Europe on which they were consciously modelled, to compare the viceroy, in the triumphal arch conceits, to figures from Classical antiquity: in his valour, his wisdom and his known and anticipated exploits. Following this pattern, the marqués de Villena was compared to Mercury on his arrival in 1640, the conde de Baños was likened to Jupiter in 1660, the Marqués de Mancera to Aeneas in 1664 and the duke of Veragua was equated with Perseus in 1673.9 Sor Juana duly chose to invoke Neptune in her arch text and conceit, though in a 5 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 262. See López Poza, ‘La erudición de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’, pp. 242, 247. 7  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, pp. 236, 262. 8  See Bailey, Art of Colonial Latin America, pp. 113–16; Keen, The Aztec Image in Western Thought, pp. 189–93. 9  López Poza, ‘La erudición de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’, p. 248. 6 

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manner playful enough to derive a genealogy linking the Marquess to both the Egyptian deity Isis and Alfonso X, el sabio (the wise), of Castile and León at one and the same time.10 This left the more religiously orthodox Sigüenza obliged to justify her invocation of the fingida (pertaining to a false religion and therefore to be condemned, particularly in Mexico where the indigenous belief system had not been completely stamped out) goddess Isis, in the third Preludio (prologue) to his festal text, by arguing that she was, in fact, not a goddess at all but a representation of the quintessence of the wisdom of the biblical figure Misraim, himself the father of the ‘real’ Neptune, Naphtuhim, or Nephtuim.11 Sigüenza went on to argue that Neptune was, in fact, the progenitor of all the indios occidentales (western Indians), that is the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, gleefully adding another plank to the prevalent late seventeenth-century criollo position: that their hybrid New Spanish culture was as ancient and venerable as that of Europe.12 One of Sigüenza’s proofs for this theory resides in the correct (according to his view) application of a prophecy of Isaiah which, in the Bible, refers to those beyond the borders of Ethiopia as it was then. This passage is translated in the Douay-Rheims Bible thus: Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a nation expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled.13

According to Sigüenza, this prophecy identifies the children of Neptune as the western Indians. He underlines this with reference to a series of historians of Mexico, laying especial emphasis on the account of Fray Juan de la Puente, in the third book of his Conveniencia de las dos monarquías católicas (1612). This work 10 

De la Cruz, Neptuno alegórico, p. 927. See Chronicles 1.  11; Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, pp. 248–50; Andrews, ‘The Negotiation of Mexican Identity’, pp. 38–40. 12  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, pp. 246–59; see Bailey, Art of Colonial Latin America, p. 113; Katzew, ‘Stars in the Sea of the Church’, pp. 336–37. 13  Isaiah 18. 2. The translation from Sigüenza’s original Latin, by Alfonso Castro Pallares, for the edition of the Theatro de las virtudes from which I have worked seems to contradict the substance of Sigüenza’s thesis. Pallares’s translation inverts the sense of the Douay-Rheims version: ‘Id, mensajeros veloces, a la nación de elevada talla y brillante piel, a la nación temida de lejos, nación que manda y aplasta y cuya tierra es surcada por ríos’ (Go, ye swift messengers, to the nation of raised height, to the nation feared from afar, the nation which commands and crushes and whose land is crossed by rivers). Garcidueñas, Prólogo, p. xv; Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 252. 11 

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offered an extremely negative view of the indigenous Mexicans, so much so that it is Puente’s authority which enables Sigüenza to provide the characterization of the miserable state of the Indians which ultimately justifies his argument: Se verá cuánto más se ajustan [the terms of the prophecy of Isaiah] a los miserables indios que a los españoles, y si algunos en particular a los de México, gente arrancada de sus pueblos, por ser los más extraños de su provincia, gente despedazada por defender su patria y hecha pedazos por su pobreza; pueblo terrible en el sufrir y después del cual no se hallará otro tan paciente en el padecer, gente que siempre aguarda el remedio de sus miserias y siempre se halla pisada de todos, cuya tierra padece trabajos en repetidas inundaciones.14 (It will be seen how much more applicable to the miserable Indians than to the Spaniards, and if to any in particular to those of Mexico, a people torn from their villages, to become the most outcast of their province, a people decimated because of their defence of their nation and torn apart by hunger; a people terrible in their suffering and after which there could not be found another as patient in their endurance, a people who always look forward to the remedy for their wretchedness and always find themselves trodden down by everyone, whose land undergoes travails through repeated flooding.)

More than a description of the miserable lives of the indigenous in Mexico at the time of the Conquest, this must be taken as an accurate description of the reality observed both by Puente in the early part of the seventeenth century and by Sigüenza towards its end. Though, like all educated denizens of Mexico-Tenochtitlán of his time, Sigüenza was as fluent in Náhuatl as he was in Latin, Greek, and Spanish, he was capable of making a clear distinction between the indigenous population living in conditions of poverty outside the metropolis and the Aztec history and cultural heritage associated with their society before the arrival of Cortés. Indeed, Sigüenza’s generation had inherited an elite culture which laid very precise emphasis on the continuity of tradition between the rule of the Aztecs in Mexico and the assumption of power by Hernán Cortés on behalf of the Spanish Habsburgs over a century and a half earlier. It was one of the ways of reinforcing the claim of Mexico/New Spain to a longevity of civilized culture which would lose nothing in comparison with that of the mother country/continent. In the early years of the conquest, the tactic of harnessing Aztec and other lore had been employed in the service of a different goal. Led by scholar-missionaries from the four major orders present in the sixteenth century, such as the Franciscans Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590), Fray Toribio de Benavente (known as 14 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 252.

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Fray Motolínia, ?1482–?1569) and Fray Jerónimo de Mendieta (1525–1604), the Dominican Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (1474–1566), the Augustinian Fray Agustín Gormaz Velasco (1508–89), and the Jesuit Fr. José de Acosta (1539– 1600), the Church used knowledge of indigenous or Náhua culture as an aide to conversion. The missionaries argued that they would most easily be able to convert the people and extirpate the old religion if they learned the indigenous languages and understood the basis of their culture. In this way, they managed to record and preserve, not always accurately or sympathetically, vital information on the Aztec and other cultures in Mexico at the time of conquest. Some, such as las Casas were exemplary defenders of indigenous rights, others, such as Gormaz Velasco and Fray Juan de Zumárraga (1468–1548), the Franciscan first archbishop of Mexico and founder of the Royal and Pontifical University, in 1551, less so. Another important factor in the interaction between the indigenous peoples and their conquerors in the early years of Spanish dominion was the encouragement of intermarriage between Spanish men, of all social positions, and indigenous women. This practice, known as mestizaje, was fomented partly as a means of propelling the colonization process forward and partly, amongst the lower classes, as a means of replenishing the population in the wake of the influenza and smallpox epidemics which decimated the indigenous peoples in the aftermath of invasion. As Spanish power solidified, the desirability of dynastic union with the indigenous nobility waned, and supplementation of the working population with black slaves from Africa and indentured and other labourers from Spain rendered the formal reliance on mestizaje more or less obsolete within half a century, though, of course, it did not lead to its obsolescence as a social phenomenon. The Spanish crown had rewarded leading conquistador officers by granting them American lands and the right to enslave the people living on those lands: the encomienda system. By 1542, however, the outcry, orchestrated by missionaries such as Bartolomé de las Casas, regarding the inhuman treatment meted out to the indigenous people and the wanton waste of human life on many of these encomendero estates led to the emperor Charles V instituting the Leyes de Indias (the Laws of the Indies, covering Spanish dominions in the New World and the Philippines), in an attempt to curb the worst excesses of this regime. These laws were only partially successful, largely because the vastness of the Spanish Empire in the New World made the changes impossible to enforce. The status quo did not, however, go unchallenged. A decade later, in 1550–51 a debate was held in Valladolid, in two sittings almost a year apart, between a team led by Bartolomé de las Casas and another led by Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (1490– 1573), a debate entirely dominated by Dominicans who had been put in charge

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of universities in Spain and the New World. While both sides upheld the right of Spain to colonize and evangelize the peoples of the New World, las Casas and his team argued, from Aristotelian principles, that the people of the New World were human beings of equal status with Europeans and must be treated as such, whereas Sepúlveda and his side insisted that the people of the New World were sub-human and must be treated humanely but as inferior beings. The Valladolid debate was inconclusive with both factions claiming victory. It did, however, result in modifications to the Leyes de Indias which attempted to copper-fasten the reforms introduced in 1542. Nevertheless, however patchy the effectiveness of these reforms, it could never be said that the Spanish Crown did not try to regulate its overseas dominions. When, in 1680, the year of Sigüenza’s triumphal arch, the last Habsburg monarch, Charles II, gave his approval to a publication which assembled all the Laws of the Indies into one four-volume edition, in nine books, the Recopilación de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias, it contained a total of 6385 laws enacted since the Laws of Burgos in 1512–13.15 By the mid-sixteenth century, the population of Mexico consisted of several distinct strands organized in a very clear pecking order. Overlaying the usual distinction between rich and poor was that of ethnic origin, and this ladder of privilege was very carefully constructed. At the top were the peninsulares (those born in Spain), then the criollos (Spaniards or, rarely, other Europeans born in the New World), the mestizos (those of mixed Spanish and indigenous blood), the indigenous people, and finally the African slaves and mixed-race people with African blood. Eventually a very complex system of social castes, the castas, would evolve in the Spanish Indies in order to define, with minuscule precision, what each grade of ethnic mixture entailed and whether or not a person might ascend the social ladder or would be obliged to move down a notch. In Mexico, most notably during the eighteenth century and partly in a spirit of scientific enquiry, this led to sequences of paintings representing each degree of miscegenation, the castas paintings.16 By the 1570s indigenous people were, for the most part, confined to repúblicas or congregaciones. In the republics they were allowed limited autonomy, in the congregations they were under criollo or peninsular oversight, often clerical.17 These settlements were established at a distance from the main urban centres dominated by peninsulares and criollos and serviced by the labour of mestizos (for domestic and light work) and black slaves (for heavier work). The 15 

See Archivo digital de la legislación en el Perú. See Katzew, Casta Painting. 17  See Brading, The First America, pp. 268–71; Lira and Muro, ‘El siglo de la integración’, pp. 344–52. 16 

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indigenous settlements in Mexico were frequently places of poverty, ignorance, and deprivation, and, as has been seen, were derided and despised by the Náhuatlspeaking educated, European-oriented professional class and nobility. However, where once the Church had exalted and preserved elements of Aztec mythology as a means towards effective indoctrination of the indigenous people, the criollo elite had by this time developed a strategy whereby Aztec iconography and preColumbian history were to be publicly invoked in justification of a separate criollo or Euro-Mexican identity within the Spanish Empire.18 In the first part of the eighteenth century, in the viceroyalty of Peru, this same continuity would be encapsulated in genealogy paintings which traced the throne of Peru from the Inca founder Manco Capac to the Spanish Bourbons.19 The first of these, now lost, was executed by the Cuzqueñan Agustín de Navamuel to a commission in 1727 to paint the twelve Inca monarchs and their Ñustas or princesses. Subsequent sequences followed a line of succession devised by the cleric Alonso de la Cueva in 1725, many of these attributed to the ‘School of Navamuel’, and incorporated the Habsburg and Bourbon kings of Spain into the sequence. The oldest and best known of these, the Efigies de los Incas o Reyes del Peru (c. 1740) is kept at the Convent of Our Lady of Copacabana in Lima.20 In New Spain, the practice of portraying the Aztec kings in conventional painting appears to have had its origins, interestingly, in Sigüenza’s triumphal arch.21 Of two extant seventeenth-century Mexican portraits of Moctezuma, the depiction of Moctezuma II now kept in the Museo degli Argenti of the Pitti Palace in Florence, executed between 1680 and 1791 and presented to Cosimo II dei Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was probably supervised by Sigüenza. He would have been in a position to put the material on Moctezuma from the Ixtlixochitl codex and the Tovar manuscript, both from his library, at the disposition of the painter. Though the portrait is unsigned, the painter may have been Antonio Rodríguez, a close friend of José Rodríguez Carnero, who executed the portraits of the Aztec monarchs for Sigüenza’s arch.22 The Pitti portrait represents Moctezuma as a young man of fine, athletic physique and chiselled but sensitive features. The physique seems markedly more 18 

See García Sáiz, ‘Nuevos materiales para nuevos expresiones’, p. 134. See Pastor de la Torre, ‘La escuela pictórica del Cuzco’, pp. 148–60. 20  Wuffarden, ‘Effigies of the Incas or Kings of Peru’. 21  Cuadriello, ‘El reino y la construcción del pasado’, pp. 85–87. 22  Gonzalbo, ‘Moctezuma’; Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 272. 19 

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Figure 6. Suor Isabella Piccini, Moctezuma, in Istoria della Conquista del Messico, […] scritta in Castigliano […] e tradotta in Toscano da un’ Accademico della Crusca, trans. by Filippo Corsini (Florence, 1690). London, British Library, shelfmark: 1446.k.18. Reproduced by permission of the British Library, London.

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European than indigenous, as do the features. Only the skin tone is consonant with indigenous ethnicity. The splendour and accuracy of his dress on the other hand: feather shield, half-mitred head-dress with quetzal feathers, gold jewellery and piercings, and feather-trimmed cloak and loincloth, cannot be questioned. Altogether the elegance of his stance indicates kingship, wealth, and culture. Only the sadness in his eyes and his frown intimate catastrophic defeat. This is a Moctezuma physically and historically sanitized but ethnographically correct, for criollo and European eyes. Interestingly, this portrait appears to have been copied quite soon after its arrival in Florence, by an Italian artist and nun, Suor Isabella Piccini, and included as an engraving, in Filippo Corsini’s Italian translation of Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneyra’s highly-regarded Historia de la conquista de México (1684), Istoria della conquista del Messico, which first appeared in Florence in 1690. The volume was subsequently republished three times in Venice, in 1704, 1715, and 1733.23 Solís y Rivadeneyra was in a grand tradition of official historians of Mexico who had never set foot in the land. He was named Cronista Mayor de Indias by Philip IV in 1660 and held that office until his death in 1684. Nonetheless, he was highly regarded as a playwright, poet, and wordsmith and this may account for the success of his work, as would an increasing interest among cultured circles in Europe in the great defeated peoples of the New World. Suor Isabella’s copy of Rodriguez’ portrait is mostly very faithful in reproducing the detail of Moctezuma’s attire, his pose, and his melancholy. If anything, her version accentuates the Europeanized physical beauty and elegance of the defeated emperor and renders his sorrow even more touchingly exquisite (Figure 6). Thus, a person of Sigüenza’s class, vocation, and education was the prisoner of a mighty paradox, in which the degraded state of the majority of the indigenous people of Mexico in their reservations and in the countryside represented the antithesis of the gilded history of noble actions which he had probably done more than anyone to research and preserve since the pioneering work of the Franciscan historian, Fray Juan de Torquemada (1557–1624), who published his monumental Monarquía Indiana in 1615. Though his coeval, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, refers to Mexico at the time of conquest, undoubtedly with her tongue firmly in her cheek given the context, as ‘este reino de los bárbaros indios’ (this kingdom of the barbarous Indians) in her paean of welcome for the new Viceroy, Sigüenza was always capable of much greater forthrightness.24 Indeed, twelve 23  Solís y Rivadeneyra, Historia de la conquista de México; Solís y Rivadeneyra, Istoria della Conquista del Messico, trans. by Corsini. 24  See Andrews, ‘The Negotiation of Mexican Identity’, p. 45.

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years later, the apparent quiescence of the Indians which he noted in tones of patronage and pity in the Theatro finally evaporated and his distaste of 1680 turned to violent revulsion. On the night of 7 June, after enduring months of natural disasters including flooding and pestilence, indigenous people entered the city and rioted. Though they were joined by disaffected poor criollos, mestizos, mulattos, and black slaves, the mutiny was Indian-led and inspired and is recorded as such by Sigüenza in the letter he wrote to Admiral Andrés Pez in on 30 August 1692, the Alboroto y motín de los indios de México (revolt and mutiny of the Mexican Indians), first published in 1932 in Mexico City.25 Thus, in 1680, the festivity to welcome the conde de Paredes provided Sigüenza with the perfect opportunity to parade two distinctions in public: that between the vibrancy of the imperial city of Mexico and the moribund Madrid of the ‘bewitched’ Charles II; and that between the real miserables indios and their glorious, regal ancestors. In passing, it is worth noting that the most important and magnificent civic or church festival held in Madrid in 1680 was one with a very backward-looking stamp: an auto da fé which was held on 30 June in the Plaza Mayor. Amid great pomp and magnificence, with the king and his first Queen María Luisa de Orléans in attendance, 120 prisoners were judged and 21 of those burnt to death. This event, part of the series of entertainments welcoming the new Queen to Madrid, but not recorded in a festival book, is celebrated in Francisco Ricci’s large-scale painting Auto da fé (1683), kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid.26 In contrast, in México-Tenochtitlán, the most significant ceremony was the entirely optimistic and culturally confident entrée joyeuse of the conde de Paredes. Sigüenza’s arch text carries the following title, most of which would have appeared on the arch itself: Theatro de Virtudes Políticas que constituyen a un príncipe: Advertidas en los Monarcas antiguos del Mexicano Imperio, con cuyas efigies se hermoseó el Arco Triunfal, que la muy noble, Imperial Ciudad de México erigió para el digno recibimiento en ella, del Excelentísimo. Señor Virrey Conde de Paredes, Marqués de la Laguna &c. Ideólo entonces, y ahora lo describe D Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Catedrático propietario de Matemáticas en su Real Universidad.27

25 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Alboroto y motín de los indios de México, ed. by Leonard; see Ross, ‘Alboroto y motín de México’. 26  See David Sánchez Cano, ‘(Failed) Early Modern Madrid Festival Book Publication Projects’, in this volume. 27  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 225.

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(Theatre of Political Virtues which constitute a prince: advertised in the ancient monarchs of the Mexican Empire, with whose effigies the triumphal arch has been adorned, which the very noble, imperial city of Mexico erected for the worthy reception of his excellency, the viceroy count of Paredes, marquess of La Laguna, etc. It was invented then, and is described now by don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, titular professor of mathematics at the Royal University.)

The inscription which appeared over the door in the central arch (la puerta prin­ cipal), is addressed to the viceroy in the following terms: A Dios óptimo máximo y a la eternidad del excelentísimo príncipe don Tomás Antonio de la Cerda, etc. Felicísimo y fortísimo padre de la patria a causa del glorioso presagio de las obras por el bien realizadas y como testimonio de público regocijo para que bondadoso y bueno, consulte con su pueblo todos y cada uno de los asuntos este arco ilustre por los retratos del emperador de la antigua nación la ciudad de México con los votos de todos y con alegría común con largueza y para su esplendor según el tiempo y fuerzas puso el día treinta de noviembre del año 353 de la fundación de México.28 (To God the optimum maximum and to the eternity of the most excellent prince, don Tomás Antonio de la Cerda, etc. Happiest and mightiest father of the motherland because of the glorious presage of the works well executed on his account and as testament to the public rejoicing so that generous and good, he might consult with his people on each and every matter this arch may illustrate through the portraits of the emperor of the old nation the City of Mexico with the prayers of everyone and with the joy of all with largesse and for her splendour according to time and forces erected on the thirtieth of November of the year 353 of the foundation of Mexico.) 28 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, pp. 270–71.

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Entirely consonant with his exaltation of the Mexican emperors, Sigüenza finishes the inscription with a date which recognizes the foundation of the city in 1325, rather than pointing to the change of power marked by Spanish conquest of 1521. This may also be a deliberate reminder to the viceroy that the seat of the government and monarchy he represents was a city which only became capital of Spain a mere one hundred and twenty years previously in 1561 and still left much to be desired in comparison with other European capitals or indeed with Mexico City itself. In the first chapter of his explanatory text, Sigüenza reports that his arch was ninety feet high, fifty wide, and twelve deep, made of a central arch and two lateral arches: an exuberant amalgam of neo-classical architectural influences and the opulence of New World raw materials.29 There were the obligatory Aztec hieroglyphs and imprese to satisfy the erudite: ‘con varios jeroglígficos y empresas concernientes al asunto, y que parecieron bien a los eruditos’ (with various hieroglyphs and imprese [or emblems] regarding the matter, with which the learned were pleased) though Sigüenza excuses himself from analysis of these and from any further detailed description of the structure of the arches.30 Instead, after a tribute paid to the vigilancia y solicitud nimia (vigilance and painstaking diligence) of the corregidor (the equivalent of mayor and chief magistrate) of Mexico City, Alonso Ramírez de Valdés who died before the arch took its final form, he moves on to explain the depiction and disposition of the portraits of the Mexican emperors on his arch: Animóse esta hermosísima máquina de colores, por las razones que dejo escritas en el Preludio  II, con el ardiente espíritu de los Mexicanos Emperadores desde Amapich hasta Cuauhtémoc, a quienes no tanto para llenar el número de tableros cuanto por dignamente merecedor del elogio acompañó Huitzilopochtli, que fue el que los condujo de su patria, hasta ahora incógnita, a estas provincias que llamó la antugüedad Anáhuc. Bisoñería fuera combinar estos doce Emperadores con los doce Patriarcas o con los signos celestes (empeño de más elegante pluma que la mía en semejante función)31 (This most beautiful and colourful machine was brought to life, for the reasons I have put in writing in my Preludio II, with the ardent spirit of the Mexican emperors from Amapich to Cuauhtémoc, to whose company not so much in order to fill 29 

See Curcio-Nagy, ‘Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the 1680 Viceregal Entry’. Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, pp.  263–64; jeroglificos may also be understood as Aztec glyphs, symbols used in Mexican culture, in sculpture and pictograms, to indicate royal authority, calendar years, and so on. 31  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 266. 30 

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out the number of panels but rather as deserving and worthy Huitzilopochtli was added, for he it was who led them from their homeland, even now unknown, to these provinces, known in antiquity as Anáhuc. It would have been an error of judgement to combine these twelve emperors with the twelve Patriarchs or with the celestial signs (the business of a more elegant pen than mine in such a function.)

According to Sigüenza, the Emperors were represented garbed in splendid and colourful feathers, this being the type of raiment for which the Aztec monarchs were, in his own time, best known. This description and its rationale might equally apply to the prevalence of feather adornment in the Pitti portrait. He goes on, after a brief digression to remind his readers that the most important adornment is, of course, the possession of virtue(s), to describe the effect of the paintings on the viewer: Con todo, anduvo tan liberal el pincel que no omitió cuanta grandeza les sirvió de adorno a Su Majestad, cuando hacían demostración magnífica del poder, para que suspensos los ojos con la exterior riqueza que los recomendaba discurriese el aprecio cuánta era la soberanía del pincel.32 (Withal, the painter was so liberal that he omitted no part of the grandeur which served as adornment to their majesty, when they made magnificent demonstration of their power, so that the eyes astonished by the external opulence which recommended them an appreciation might be conjectured of the great sovereignty of the painter.)

He then explains how he came to identify the individual qualities the portraits would attach to each emperor, basing his research, as ever, on indigenous texts and those produced in the early post-Conquest period. He argues, citing Pliny, that in antiquity, portraits were only rendered of those whose great actions merited their being lauded by posterity. He therefore attempts the same justification for his portraits of the Aztec emperors, while admitting, rather delicately, that there perhaps had to be a certain element of judicious exemption of the truth: Del nombre de cada Emperador o del modo con que lo significaban los mexicanos por sus pinturas, se dedujo la empresa o jeroglífico, en que más atendí a la explicación suave de mi concepto que a las leyes rigurosas de su estructura.33 (From the name of each emperor or from the way in which the Mexicans codified him in their paintings, the emblem or hieroglyph was deduced, with regard to which I devoted more attention to the soft explanation of my concept than to the rigorous laws of its structure.) 32  33 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 267. Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 268.

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Here his use of suave (soft) refers to the fact that his means of communication will be painting, much less direct and less complex than the emblem or impresa and therefore rather more malleable, given his purpose of presenting the Aztec emperors in a wholly positive light. From a different perspective, he also argues that painting is a more effective means of persuading the spectator to admire or adopt the particular moral virtue associated with the subject of the portrait than emblem or hieroglyph. In what might not unreasonably be taken for a selfdeprecating note, he implies in the last sentence of this chapter that this tactic is much more suitable to los ignorantes (the ignorant) than to los doctos (the learned). The north-facing façade of the arch, which is the side the Viceroy would approach through the Calle Santo Domingo, carried one large painting which covered the entire upper part of the arch. At the very top, the city of Mexico was represented as an Indian woman, in traditional dress, wearing a crown and seated in a prickly pear tree, a device which features in the city’s coat of arms. Below her, Mercury was shown holding a medallion portrait of the Viceroy, according to Sigüenza painted from life, and Venus, on the other side, held up a medallion portrait of the Vicerreine, which, in spite of much courtly rhetoric on the incomparability of her beauty, apparently was not taken from life. The viceregal couple are exhorted to enter the arch by the figure of Amor (Love) who, Sigüenza is at pains to point out, is not the bastard son of the fingida Venus, but the epitome of the quality of love, un afecto racional del alma (a rational emotion of the soul), as expounded by St Augustine.34 The Viceroy then enters, to receive a suave (soft) education on the correct conduct of a prince as epitomized in positive and noble attributes associated with the founding god Huitzilopochtli and his thirteen mortal successors in México-Tenochtitlán. The Theatro de las virtudes políticas, the theatre of political virtues Sigüenza has erected, offers a rather conventional list of the virtues proper to kingship and good government. Set in chronological order, according to the emperor and the virtue identified in his conduct, the sequence ran as follows: Huitzilopochtli— faith, Acampich—hope, Huizilihuitl—clemency, Chimalpopocatzin—self-sacrifice, Itzcohuatl—prudence, Motecohzuma Ilhuicaminan—piety, Axayacatzin— strength, Tizoctzin—peace, Ahuitzotl—good counsel, Motecohzuma Xocoyotzin— liberality, Cuitlahuatzin—audaciousness, Cuauhtémoc—constancy. Here, the case of Moctezuma may be taken as illustrative of Sigüenza’s treatment of all the emperors. In contrast to the Pitti portrait, where he is titled Moctezuma II, the most famous, and problematic, of the thirteen emperors is given his full Náhuatl 34 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 274.

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title in the arch representation: Motecohzuma Xocoyotzín. For his understanding of the reign and personal qualities of Motecohzuma, Sigüenza cites the conquistador and historian Bernal del Castillo (1492–1585), the court historian Antonio de Herrera (1549–1626), who never visited the New World, Acosta, Torquemada and his own manuscript (by which he means, no doubt, his own lost history of pre-Columbian Mexico). He also decorously compares Motecohzuma Xocoyotzín to the Roman emperors Titus, Theodosius, and Trajan. The quality he chooses to identify with this star-crossed emperor is that of generosity, though he also lauds the ‘grandeza de sus virtudes y acciones’ (the greatness of his virtues and actions) which, he notes, Castillo might well have omitted por cohonestar otras cosas (in order to vindicate other things (probably Spanish treachery)). He bases his choice of virtue specifically on a quotation from Torquemada, deciding to characterize Motecohzuma by a gentleness of spirit which he relates to kingly liberality: Era este Rey con los castellanos (teníanlo entonces prisionero en su palacio mismo) tan afable y amoroso, que jamás pasó día en que no hiciese merced a alguno.35 (This king was with the Castilians (they held him prisoner at that time in his own palace) so affable and loving, that a day never passed in which he did not perform an act of generosity towards someone.)

Scholarly though it was, and based on contemporaneous accounts of the fall of México-Tenochtitlán, Torquemada’s work was published in 1615, after almost a century of Spanish dominion. It may be said that it offers a courteous account of the naivety with which Motecohzuma is said to have conducted himself, at least initially, in his dealings with the Spaniards, perhaps also it provides a palatable version of conquistador behaviour in this instance. Thus, at Sigüenza’s behest, this nat­ uralmente dadivoso (naturally giving) monarch is depicted as follows by Rodríguez: Estaba adornado de imperiales y riquísimas vestiduras, sacando de la boca de un león muchas perlas, mucha plata, mucho oro, que esparcía por todas partes, con esta letra: de forti dulcedo (‘La dulcedumbre de la fortaleza’, o ‘De lo fuerte, la dulcedumbre’. Jud., cap. 14, vers. 14); no son muy apetecidos los sinsabores y amarguras de la pobreza. En el cielo ocupaba el sol el signo de León, derramando abundantes rayos de luz sobre la tierra; el mote: Non aliunde (no de otra manera), y la explicación esta décima: Este Monarca absoluto, que con la mano y el ceño 35 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 342.

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se supo hacer alto dueño del occidental tributo; como en el celeste bruto que debe al sol majestad, sin que la benignidad le minorase la alteza de su misma fortaleza se forjó su suavidad. (He was adorned in most rich and imperial robes, taking from the mouth of a lion many pearls, much silver, much gold, which he distributed all around him, with this legend: De forti dulcedo (‘the sweetness of strength’, or ‘from what is strong, sweetness’; Judges 14. 14); the tang and bitterness of poverty are not very appetizing. In the sky the sun was in the sign of Leo, casting abundant rays of light over the land; the motto: Non aliunde (not in any other way), and the explanation, this décima: This absolute monarch who with his hand and his look was able to become high master of the occidental tribute; as with the celestial brute who owes majesty to the sun, while allowing his benignity to take nothing from the height of his own strength he forged his softness.)

While this iconography of the defeated, imprisoned, and somehow docile but undiminished, Aztec monarch willingly lavishing the riches of his nation on all and sundry (understood, naturally, to refer to the conquistadores and their descendants) may scream irony or even possibly knowingness to the postcolonial consciousness, it would not have had such a resonance either for Sigüenza’s criollo elite or the incoming Viceroy and his peninsular dignitaries. Sigüenza’s aims, in no particular order, were to do his city proud; to show off his talents to the incoming Viceroy, a prospective patron; to display his conventional erudition and his special knowledge of the pre-Columbian history of Mexico; to represent his class and his criollo identity; to demonstrate, respectfully, to the representative of the last Spanish Habsburg king of Old Spain the uniqueness, vibrancy, wit, and verve of New Spain, and to instruct him, using the Aztec emperors as exemplars, in the virtues appropriate to good and wise governance. In his arch text he leaves for posterity an account of how and to what purpose ‘salí del empeño en que me

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puso mi patria en ocasión tan grande’ (I fulfilled the obligation my homeland placed on me on such a great occasion). The conde de Paredes remained in post until 16 June 1686. Over his six years in office, he and his wife became patrons of the originator of the other Mexico City arch, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Indeed, her first collection of poetry, the Inundación castálida, was first published in Spain, at the behest of its dedicatee, María Luisa Gonzaga Manrique de Lara, condesa de Paredes, in 1689.36 Sigüenza did not ostensibly attract the same level of patronage from the viceregal couple. Even so, 1680 proved to be an auspicious year for him, in more ways than one. A comet appeared over the city on 15 November 1680, a week after the informal arrival of the viceroy. In response, Sigüenza published a treatise, in January 1681, in which he attempted to counter superstitious responses to this phenomenon, his Manifiesto filosófico contra los cometas. He also wrote his Libra astronómica y filosófica in 1681, though it was only published in 1690. 37 These texts and the polemic they caused were, in large part, the making of his enduring intellectual reputation beyond Mexican shores. The Theatro de las virtudes políticas, in comparison, was a mere baroque bagatelle. This bagatelle did, however, have a pictorial afterlife of sorts. In 1698, the brothers Juan and Miguel González, specialists in the uniquely Mexican technique of shell-painting, that is a form of conventional painting in oil on canvascovered panel with mother-of-pearl overlay included in parts of the image, and usually complemented with copious use of gold dust, were commissioned by the count of Moctezuma, then viceroy of New Spain, to produce a narrative series on the Conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés which was then to be sent to Madrid as a gift to Charles II.38 La conquista de México in total consists of twenty-four separate paintings, narrating forty-nine episodes from the conquest of Mexico. According to María Concepción García Sáiz, Sigüenza’s intellectual influence on this project was profound, and she allows that Solís y Rivadeneyra’s recentlypublished and utterly comprehensive account of the conquest might well have provided the basis for much of the detail contained in the images.39 In particular, the resonances of the Theatro de las virtudes appear to be supremely evident in number twenty-one of the series, Visita Cortés a Motecuçuma (Cortés visits Motecuhçuma, Plate 1). 36 

Inundación castálida de la […] Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. See Robbins, ‘Comets and Cooking’. 38  They are now held by the Museo de América, Madrid; see Codding, ‘The Decorative Arts in Latin America’, p. 105, for a description of the technique of enconchado painting. 39  García Sáiz, ‘La conquista de México’. 37 

Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora’s Depiction of the Aztec Emperors

Plate 1. Juan y Miguel González, Visita Cortes a Motecuçuma (detail). Madrid, Museo de América. c. 1698. Reproduced by permission of the Museo de América.

195

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Here, Moctezuma, with other Aztec kings and nobility, receives Cortés, accompanied by conquistador officers and missionaries, in his palace. There is minimal distinction in the facial features or dress between the two parties, in keeping with the homogenizing agenda promoted by Sigüenza. The emperor indicates twin thrones, one of which will be his and the other which he will concede to Cortés to symbolize henceforward that there will be joint Aztec-Spanish sovereignty in the kingdom of the Mexica. On two of the walls, overhead, may be seen a series of portraits of Moctezuma’s predecessors, with the legend above them: ‘Demostración de los Reyes i Emperadores Mexicanos antes de Motecuhçuma Segundo’ (Display of the Mexican kings and emperors before Moctezuma the Second). The back wall shows the first six emperors: Acampich, Huitzilihuitl, Chimalpopoca (Chimalpopocatzin), Itzcohuatl, Motecuhçuma (Motecohzuma Ilhuicaminan), and Axayacatzin. Motecuhçuma is the first monarch in the sequence to wear the closed imperial crown; the first four wear an open crown. On the right hand side wall, over the twin thrones can be seen Tizoctzin and Ahuitzotl, Moctezuma’s immediate predecessor. The legends below these portraits are partially obscured by the coat of arms of Moctezuma, an eagle perched on a prickly pear, the eagle being also, conveniently, part of the coat of arms of Charles V and the imperial house of Habsburg. While these are, of necessity, far less detailed depictions than those described in Sigüenza’s festival text, there is nonetheless an absolute congruence between the symbols attributed to the monarchs in this painting and in the paintings placed in the Theatro arch. While the figures are very much late Baroque in terms of figure drawing, attitude, gesture, and attire, and not greatly distinguishable one from another, their attributes are clearly indicated both visually and, most often, in text at the foot of the painting. Sigüenza derives the symbols to be associated with the rulers from their Náhuatl names and/or from glyphs used to identify them in Aztec sculpture and pictograms. Thus: Acampich is shown with his cane or sceptre of office as the first monarch, his name indicating ‘he who holds canes in his hands’;40 Huitzilihuitl wears a tunic of the finest feathers, in keeping with his name/glyph,41 the legend underneath states pajarito de plumería (bird of rich feathers); Chimalpopoca is depicted with a rodela que hecha humo, as the legend beneath the image indicates, a round shield giving off smoke;42 Izoatl is drawn

40 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 295. Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 303. 42  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 310. 41 

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holding a snake with blades jutting out of its skin;43 Moctezuma I is represented with a bow and arrow as his name means ‘he who shoots arrows into the sky’;44 Axaycatzin’s name denotes ‘face surrounded by water’,45 so he is dressed in a tunic which looks like it is made of fish scales, accompanied by a legend cara aguada (watery face); Tizoctzin is depicted with an arrow piercing his leg, Sigüenza derives this from pictograms of the emperor46 and from the conflictive times in which he ruled; and Ahuitzotl is shown with the mythical animal, an ahuitzotl, from which his name and glyph come (an aquatic creature the size of a coyote, with monkey’s arms and legs, pointed ears, and grey fur which spiked once out of the water). In the image, he is depicted bestriding a creature that looks like a smooth-skinned green alligator with a mouse’s legs, tail, and snout. Sigüenza believed the ahuitzotl to be a kind of otter or coypu.47 This painting in particular and the sequence from which it comes in general reinforce the message enshrined in Sigüenza’s Theatro text and arch of almost two decades earlier. Moctezuma and his Mexican kings and nobles receive Cortés and his missionaries and adventurers as equals. The two parties are depicted in physical traits and sumptuousness of attire as being, as it were, two sides of the same coin, symbolized ultimately in the twin thrones and imperial eagle on the coat-of-arms above them. The arrival of the Spaniards is presented, for the late seventeenth-century criollo and Spanish metropolitan eye, as the natural extension to a royal dynasty, a transition achieved with consummate dignity and chivalry on both sides. This Europeanized Moctezuma would become, in the eighteenth century, the sage and benign hero of an opera, Montezuma, one of several on the subject, with a libretto by none other than Frederick the Great of Prussia (1755) who portrayed Montezuma as an enlightened despot, much like himself.48 Suor Isabella Piccini’s engraving in Solís y Rivadeneyra’s widely disseminated, and translated, history of the conquest of Mexico appears to have plenty to answer for. University of Nottingham 43 

Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 318. Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 321. 45  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 330. 46  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 335. 47  Sigüenza y Góngora, Theatro de virtudes políticas, ed. by Garcidueñas, p. 338. 48  Montezuma, composed by Carl Heinrich Graun, was premiered in Berlin in January 1755. The original libretto was written by Friederich II of Prussia and translated into Italian by Giampetro Tagliazucchi. 44 

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Works Cited Primary Sources Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Fernando de, Obras históricas: incluyen el texto completo de las llamadas Relaciones e Historia de la nación chichimeca en una nueva versión establecida con el cotejo de los manuscritos más antiguos que se conocen, ed. by Edmundo O’Gorman, Serie de historiadores y cronistas de Indias, 4, 2 vols (México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1975–77) Archivo digital de la legislación en el Perú, at [accessed 14 May 2012] De la Cruz, Juana Inés, Neptuno alegórico, in Juana Inés de la Cruz, Obras completas, ed. by Francisco Monterde (México: Porrúa, 1969), pp. 919–54 Inundación castálida de la única poetisa, musa décima, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, religiosa profesa en el monasterio de San Jerónimo de la Imperial Ciudad de México, que en varios metros, idiomas y estilos, fertiliza varios asuntos […] (Madrid: Infanzón, 1689) Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de, Alboroto y motín de los indios de México del 7 de junio de 1692, ed. by Irving A. Leonard (México: Museo Nacional de Arqueología, 1932) —— , Theatro de virtudes políticas, in Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Obras históricas, ed. by José Rojas Garcidueñas, Colección de escritores mexicanos, 2 (México: Porrúa, 1983), pp. 225–361 Solís y Rivadeneyra, Antonio de, Historia de la conquista de México, 2 vols (Barcelona: Piferrer, 1771) —— , Istoria della Conquista del Messico […] scritta in Castigliano […] e tradotta in Toscano da un’ Accademico della Crusca, trans. by Filippo Corsini (Firenze: [n. pub.], 1690)

Secondary Studies Andrews, Jean, ‘The Negotiation of Mexican Identity in 1680: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Neptuno Alegórico and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora’s Theatro De Virtudes Políticas’, in Mexico 1680: Cultural and Intellectual Life in the ‘Barroco de Indias’, ed. by Jean Andrews and Alejandro Coroleu (Bristol: Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Monographs, 2007), pp. 25–48 Bailey, Gauvin Alexander, Art of Colonial Latin America (London: Phaidon, 2005) Brading, David A., The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots and the Liberal State, 1492–1866 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) Codding, Mitchell A., ‘The Decorative Arts in Latin America’, in The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, ed. by Joseph J. Rishel and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 8–143 Cuadriello, Jaime, ‘El reino y la construcción del pasado: los cuadros de historia’, in Los siglos de oro en los virreinatos de América, 1550–1700: 23 de noviembre de 1999–12 de febrero del 2000, Museo de América, Madrid, ed. by Joaquín Berchez (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V, 1999), pp. 77–88

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Curcio-Nagy, Linda A., ‘Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the 1680 Viceregal Entry of the Marquis de la Laguna into Mexico City’, in Europa triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (London: Ashgate, 2004), ii, 352–57 García Sáiz, María Concepción, ‘La conquista de México’, in Los siglos de oro en los virreinatos de América, 1550–1700: 23 de noviembre de 1999–12 de febrero del 2000, Museo de América, Madrid, ed. by Joaquín Berchez (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V, 1999), pp. 384–89 —— , ‘Nuevos materiales para nuevos expresiones’, in Los siglos de oro en los virreinatos de América, 1550–1700: 23 de noviembre de 1999–12 de febrero del 2000, Museo de América, Madrid, ed. by Joaquín Berchez (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Con­ memoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V, 1999), pp. 127–39 Garcidueñas, José Rojas, Prólogo, in Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Obras históricas, ed. by José Rojas Garcidueñas (México: Porrúa, 1960), pp. vi–xix Gonzalbo, Pablo Escalante, ‘Moctezuma’, in The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, ed. by Joseph J. Rishel and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 376 Katzew, Ilona, Casta Painting: Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) —— , ‘Stars in the Sea of the Church: The Indian in Eighteenth-Century New Spanish Painting’, in The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, ed. by Joseph J. Rishel and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 335–473 Keen, Benjamin, The Aztec Image in Western Thought (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1971) Lira, Andrés, and Luis Muro, ‘El siglo de la integración’, in Historia general de México: ver­sión 2000, ed. by Ignacio Bernal and others (México: Colegio de México, 2000), pp. 309–62 López Poza, Sagrario, ‘La erudición de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz en su Neptuno Alegórico’, La Perinola, 7 (2003), 241–70 Mayer, Alicia, ‘Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and Criollo Spirituality in New Spain’, in Mexico 1680: Cultural and Intellectual Life in the ‘Barroco de Indias’, ed. by Jean Andrews and Alejandro Coroleu (Bristol: Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Monographs, 2007), pp. 141–80 Pastor de la Torre, Celso, ‘La escuela pictórica del Cuzco’, in Celso Pastor de la Torre, Perú: fé y arte en el virreynato (Córdoba: Obra Social y Cultural Cajasur, 1999), pp. 13–192 Robbins, Jeremy, ‘Comets and Cooking: Carlos de Siguenza y Góngora, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Intellectual Enquiry in Early Modern Mexico’, in Mexico, 1680: Cultural and Intellectual Life in the ‘Barroco de Indias’, ed. by Jean Andrews and Alejandro Coroleu (Bristol: Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Monographs, 2007), pp. 181–97 Ross, Kathleen, ‘Alboroto y motín de México: una noche triste criolla’, Hispanic Review, 56 (1988), 181–90 Wuffarden, Luis Eduardo, ‘Effigies of the Incas or Kings of Peru’, in The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, ed. by Joseph J. Rishel and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 465

The Return of the Elector as King: Johann von Besser’s Record of the Berlin Entry in May 1701 of Elector Friedrich III as Friedrich I, King in Prussia Sara Smart

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o the sound of ringing of bells, firing of canon, and cheering crowds, Friedrich Hohenzollern (1657–1713) made his triumphal entry into Berlin, his residential capital, on 6  May 1701. He had left the city six months earlier as Elector Friedrich  III of Brandenburg, and this triumph, staged by its citizens, was to welcome his return as Friedrich I, king in Prussia. The political and diplomatic negotiations that had preceded the coronation, which were lengthy and complex, had reached their conclusion in November 1700, when Friedrich received assurance from Emperor Leopold that he would support Friedrich’s creation of a Hohenzollern kingship in Prussia. The dynastic coup represented by the establishment of kingship and the elevation of the Hohenzollerns from electors to kings was the most significant achievement of Friedrich’s reign. It was an unambiguous statement of the increase in authority that had been won in the post-Westphalian Empire. Originally burgraves of Nuremberg, the Hohenzollerns became margraves of Brandenburg in 1415 as reward for loyalty to King, later Emperor, Sigismund.1 As Brandenburg was one of the seven electorates of the Holy Roman Empire, Margrave Friedrich I also assumed the title elector, becoming one of an elite group of seven princes responsible for the election of the emperor. By the second half of the seventeenth century Hohenzollern territory had expanded beyond Brandenburg, positioned in the north east corner of the Empire, to include the 1 

Kroll, ‘Stufen und Wandlungen der Fürstenherrschaft’, p. 10.

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Rhineland duchy of Cleves and the Baltic duchy of Prussia, situated outside the Empire and separated from Brandenburg by Polish territory. Although these territories sprawled in dislocated fashion across the Empire and beyond, together they constituted a considerable estate; in the Empire only the Habsburgs ruled over a larger area.2 The terms of the Peace of Westphalia may have been relatively favourable to Brandenburg, yet the state remained an auxiliary power in a period dominated by the struggle between the French and the Habsburgs, and, around the Baltic, between Sweden and Poland. Brandenburg achieved a position of influence due to the efforts of Friedrich’s father, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1620–88). His conviction that Brandenburg needed to develop militarily in order to negotiate such a complex political landscape led to the establishment of his famously disciplined standing army, which, despite problems with funding, he built up so that by the 1670s it comprised forty-five thousand men arranged in three hundred and two companies.3 The pragmatism with which he deployed it in shifting alliances with the French, the Emperor, the Poles or the Swedes, is well-documented.4 While Friedrich Wilhelm’s methods may not have led to the realization of all his territorial aspirations, they did succeed in achieving his principal aim, the advance of Hohenzollern prestige. Friedrich’s creation of the kingship pursued the same goal, if by other means. His plan to establish the monarchy dates back to the early years of his reign, if not earlier, a time when the traditional hierarchy of the Empire was in flux. In 1692 the Emperor created a new ninth electorship for Friedrich’s father-in-law Duke Ernst August of Hanover. In 1697 the Wettin Elector of Saxony became king of Poland. In addition, Friedrich’s brother-in-law, Georg Ludwig of Hanover, was set to succeed to the English throne; the Act of Settlement was passed in 1701. The Hohenzollern kingship was of crucial importance precisely because it enabled Friedrich to keep step with the advance of other ruling houses. Moreover, at a time when issues of rank and protocol played a dominant role in relations between states, Friedrich had felt himself publicly humiliated. Despite the fact that Brandenburg had made a considerable contribution to the imperial alliance in the Nine Years’ War, it was allowed only one representative at the negotiations leading to the peace, the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. To add insult to injury, this representative was not addressed as ‘Excellenz’, an honour denied, so argued the imperial envoys, because Friedrich’s rank as elector did not merit it.5 Seen 2 

McKay, The Great Elector, p. 43. Heinrich, Geschichte Preußens, pp. 111–14. 4  McKay, ‘Small-Power Diplomacy in the Age of Louis XIV’. 5  Schmidt, Friedrich I, pp. 103–04. 3 

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against this backdrop, the attraction of the royal title is self-evident. It was a sign of Hohenzollern contention, an assertion of authority that enhanced Friedrich’s prestige within the Empire and Europe as a whole. For all that Prussia lay outside the Empire, it was none the less necessary for Friedrich to obtain imperial sanction for the kingship; without it he could not have been sure that other states would acknowledge the elevation of the Hohenzollerns to kings in Prussia. Indeed the title in — rather than of — Prussia was a sign of the reluctance on the part of Poland, backed by the Papacy, to recognize the Hohenzollerns’ monarchical authority. Once sure of imperial backing, Friedrich and his court set out in December 1700 on the seven-hundred-kilometre journey from Berlin to Königsberg, the capital of Prussia, arriving twelve days later. On 18 January in the castle in Königsberg he crowned himself king and his wife, Sophie Charlotte, queen, after which the couple processed to the castle church for a lavish ceremony of anointing. He returned to Brandenburg in March, residing in Oranienburg and the numerous other palaces, either newly built or modernized, that surrounded Berlin, before making his triumphal entry to celebrate the dynastic coup in his capital city two months later. The vital significance of the coronation called for a careful record of the occasion and the accompanying festivities, including the triumphal entry into Berlin. This task fell to Johann von Besser, Friedrich’s chief master of ceremonies and court poet of many years’ standing. He had been closely involved in devising the ceremonial for the coronation and was skilled in projecting an image of the Hohenzollerns and their court that found favour with Friedrich. He was therefore ideally equipped to write the authorized version of events. The first edition of his Krönungs-Geschichte (History of the Coronation), published in 1702, contains an account of ninety-five pages which records all the major events from Friedrich’s departure from Berlin to his triumphal return. This is supplemented by a lengthy appendix of one hundred closely printed pages, focusing on the firework displays held in Königsberg and Berlin and the triumphal arches erected in these cities.6 Both the report and the appendix contain painstakingly detailed descriptions, no doubt because they represented the first official depiction.7 It was not until 1712 that a second edition (containing engravings of the coronation) was published.8 6 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702). All references are taken from this edition of the text. 7  Hänsel, ‘Die Bildnisse Friedrichs III./I.’, p. 51. 8  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1712); the edition includes: Der KöniglichPreüßischen Crönung Hochfeÿerliche Solemnitäten Auf allergnädigsten Befehl Seiner Königl.

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Besser’s Krönungs-Geschichte was thus a vital tool in publicizing Friedrich’s achievement. The work fulfils a variety of functions. Beyond reporting events, it presents a compelling case for the establishment of the new monarchy based on dynastic heritage, territorial extent, the magnificence of Friedrich’s court and, not least, on military strength.9 At the same time it is an evocation of the numinous quality of monarchy. Central to the account is Besser’s portrayal of Friedrich as the self-crowned but anointed king who owes his authority to none but God. The emphasis on the size of the court, the power of the army, and the glory of the king are central to Besser’s description of the triumphal entry contained within the body of the Krönungs-Geschichte. He focuses on the royal cavalcade, which made its way at one o’clock from Schönhausen, one of a number of palaces encircling Berlin, into the city. Typically, he presents the various groups that made up the procession in a list, in this case of twenty-four points. At the head he places companies of gendarmes and grand musketeers, after which follow a succession of coaches and led horses, drummers and trumpeters, pages, courtiers, and members of the royal family. At the centre he describes the King, in majestic splendour mounted on a costly stallion surrounded by lackeys and his Swiss guardsmen and accompanied by his chief minister and the commander of his life guards. The Queen’s entourage follows, Sophie Charlotte riding in a carriage drawn by eight horses. Behind her Besser lists three companies of life guards, eight carriages conveying her ladies-in-waiting and other ladies of the court, and finally a company of cuirassiers raised by the butchers’ guild. The procession was apparently greeted enthusiastically by the citizens of Berlin, some of whom, he relates, removed tiles from their roofs in order to gain a clearer view, as it made its way through the capital to Friedrich’s Schloss. From here the King watched a military march-past. The emphasis on the military is unsurprising given the centrality of the army to Brandenburg’s authority. In his treatment of any state occasion, Besser dwells at length on the details of the regiments in attendance. Predictably, he adopts the same technique in the account of the procession. It is equally typical of Besser’s work that he conveys the impression that a military ethos permeates all levels of society, uniting the Hohenzollerns with their subjects.10 In the case Majestæt in Preüßen In zwantzig Kupffer-Platten vorgestellet Durch Johann Georg Wolffgang. S. Königl. Maj. in Preüßen Hoff-Kupfferstecher und Mitglied der Academie der Künsten Berlin Anno 1712. Cum Privilegio Regis. 9  Smart, ‘Johann von Besser and the Coronation of Friedrich I’. 10  Smart, The Ideal Image, pp. 291–312.

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of the triumphal entry he achieves this by drawing attention to the thirty-nine companies of soldiers that were raised by the citizens and guilds of Berlin and the preparations that they undertook to greet their king appropriately. Besser’s account of their different uniforms suggests not just a concern to demonstrate the newly acquired royal status but also conveys a sense of the civic pride in these companies and the extent of the resources that funded them: Jede Compagnie war mit einer gewissen Art Band unterschieden; Und an Gemeinen sowol / als auch an Officirern / mit einer grossen Sorgfalt aufgeputzet absonderlich aber bey den beyden Compagnien Kauffleute / der Städte Berlin und Cölln; Der Compagnie der frantzöschen Cadets / und der Compagnie der frantzöschen Granadirer. Die Kauffleute waren in feinem weissem Tuch mit Silber / die frantzösche Cadets in blau / und die Granadirer in weiß mit roht gekleidet. Die ersten hatten eine silberne Tresse / die andern weisse Federn auf den Hütten / und die Granadirer trugen rohte Granadier-Mützen: auf denen der Preußische schwartze Adler / von geschnitzter Arbeit erhöhet stund / und mit seinem Halse den gewöhnlichen Bügel der Granadier-Mützen machte; mit dem Schnabel aber den Königlichen Namens-Zug hielte / der auf einem Schilde / vorn an dem Aufschlage der Mützen gehefftet war. Uberdiß hatten noch die Berlinschen Fleischhauer / […] eine Compagnie zu Pferde von Kürißirern gerichtet: die mit ihren schönen Pferden / hell-polirten Kürissen / und den gantz neuen langen Elends-ledern Colleten / auf welchen die Kürisse sassen / aller Augen an sich zohen / wie auch nicht minder mit ihren gantz neuen Paucken und Paucken-Decken.11 (Each company was distinguished by a certain type of ribbon, and both the men and the officers were dressed with great care, most especially, however, the two companies of merchants of the cities of Berlin and Cölln, the company of French cadets and the company of French grenadiers. The merchants were attired in fine white cloth with silver, the cadets in blue, and the grenadiers in white with red. The first had silver braid, the second white feathers in their hats, and the grenadiers wore red grenadier caps, upon which the Prussian black eagle stood carved in relief, his neck forming the usual rib of the grenadier cap, with the beak holding the royal signature, which was on a shield affixed to the front brim of the cap. In addition, the Berlin butchers […] had raised a company of mounted cuirassiers, who drew all eyes with their handsome horses, brightly polished cuirasses, and the wholly novel long elk-skin collars upon which the cuirasses rested, as well as with their completely new kettledrums and drum covers.12)

11  12 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), pp. 78–79. This translation was supplied by Pamela E. Selwyn, Berlin.

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The sense of military virility is endorsed by the inclusion of precise figures: the thirty-nine companies amounted to no fewer than eight thousand men. So as to underline the scale of the military presence in the entry, Besser concludes his account by stressing that for the march-past the thirty-nine companies joined with the regular regiments in a parade that took them through the streets of Berlin. In this way he lays claim to the fitness of Berlin to be the capital of Friedrich’s kingdom. According to his characterization of the city, it embodies the military ethos in which the ascent of Brandenburg-Prussia was rooted. A further key function of Besser’s account is to publicize support for the new kingship. To this end Besser records that the spectacular event drew an audience of fifteen thousand visitors. For similar effect, he gives precise details of the ambassadors in attendance representing the Emperor, the Palatinate, BraunschweigHanover, England, and the United Provinces; their presence functioned as a clear endorsement of the Hohenzollerns’ elevation by other powers. He goes on to assure the reader that other states both within and outside the Empire have sent their congratulations via letter, including Moscow and Denmark and the bishop of Würzburg. Given the reluctance of the papacy to acknowledge the kingship, the inclusion of Würzburg was a significant and — from Friedrich’s point of view — helpful indicator of division in the response of the Catholic Church. In contrast to the level of detail with which Besser depicts Friedrich and his court, the military, and the endorsement of Friedrich’s new status, the treatment of the triumphal arches in his account is cursory. We learn that there were seven arches, one situated outside the city walls and the other six inside. These were arranged in a straight line, like doors in a palace. Each one had been erected by specific groups, the first by members of the key institutions within Friedrich’s administration, the second by the Huguenot community, and the others by the towns that made up the capital city. The third and sixth arches were dedicated by Berlin and Cölln, respectively, the twin towns that straddled the Spree and constituted the original heart of the city. The other arches were funded by the citizens of the new towns, Dorotheenstadt (arch four) and Friedrichswerder and Friederichstadt (arch five), built by Friedrich Wilhelm and Friedrich in an effort to develop Berlin after its decline and loss of population in the Thirty Years’ War.13 Besser informs the reader in general terms that these are highly decorated with statues, paintings, and inscriptions. The level of detail in the appendix, however, is much higher. Besser provides the specifics of this decoration, information about the design of individual arches, 13 

In 1709, on the eighth anniversary of the coronation, these five towns were officially united under the title ‘Berlin’. See Escher, ‘Die brandenburgisch-preußische Residenz’, p. 370.

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as well as precise measurements. His detail is so exhaustive that sometimes there is no need for explanatory remarks, but usually he supplies a short commentary to clarify the significance of the description. The extent to which Besser’s depiction matched the reality of the occasion and whether the actual ornamentation of the arches corresponded in every particular to the plethora of images described in the appendix is impossible to say. What is certain is that the appendix offers insight into the detail of the planned iconography and its intended function. In the following analysis I shall focus on what this iconography reveals about three areas: first, the response to the establishment of a monarchy in a distant state and the presentation of relations between electoral Brandenburg and Prussia; second, the portrayal of the elector as king; and third, the celebration of Berlin as a royal city. As regards the first issue, a unifying theme linking the different arches is the indissoluble unity of Brandenburg and Prussia under Hohenzollern rule and an unquestioning assumption on the part of the citizens of Friedrich’s residential capital that, while Friedrich may be king in Prussia, the royal honour is theirs to share, that Friedrich is now their king too.14 These core sentiments, expressed in various ways in the series of arches, are the substance of the main section of the arch dedicated by the officials and courtiers. As befitted the status of the dedicatees, this is a particularly grandiose arch modelled, so Besser informs us, on the arch of Septimus Severus in the forum in Rome. Its central section is ornamented with a marble statue of Friedrich, deliberately echoing the famous bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the site of the Capitol, and is flanked by statues of Mars, Hercules and Minerva, and two female figures. The first, bearing a cushion with the royal crown and sceptre, represents Prussia, while the second, Brandenburg, wearing an electoral cap and mantle, greets the others. Hovering over both female figures are the eagles of Prussia and Brandenburg, a duo, with its implicit suggestion of power and mutuality, which makes frequent appearance in the Berlin festivities. Besser goes on to describe a kneeling female figure and child throwing flowers, an indication of the Berliners’ delighted acceptance of Friedrich’s new status and the hopes invested in their first king. Yet the emphasis is not so much on the advantages that come to Brandenburg as a consequence of the kingship, as on the joy it occasions in Prussia and the benefits that fall to the territory as a result of its association with Brandenburg. On the rear side of the arch, another female figure representing Prussia is depicted, this time in a position of supplication, offering a 14 

After his coronation Friedrich was determined to extend his royal authority to all his territories, which he regarded as part of his new kingdom. In addition, he gave the adjective ‘royal’ to the army and all organs of government. See Koch, Geschichte Preußens, p. 109.

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crown and sceptre to a Friedrich, accompanied by Minerva and Hercules. Besser defines the latter as an embodiment of the Königliche Tugend und Macht (royal virtue and power) characteristic of Friedrich’s father, whose wars and victories have led to Prussia’s Majestätische […] Höhe (majestic height).15 The unequivocal good that is derived from the Hohenzollerns is summed up in the inscription: INDIGENA. CONVENA. MIRARE. IN. UNO. FRIDERICO. REGI. PRUSSIAM. SUAM. SOLO. SALOQUE. POTENTEM. PRISCO. RESTITVENTE. NITORI. OMNIUM. REGUM. OMNIUM. AETATUM. REGIAS VIRTUTES. APPLAUDE. FAUSTOQUE. BENEPRECARE. OMINI.16

(At this our native assembly, admire the one Friedrich, the king, who is restoring his Prussia, strong on land and sea, to her ancient splendour. Of all the kings of all the ages, applaud his regal virtues, and pray for a favourable omen.17)

The idea of ineluctable progress and the triumph represented by the establishment of the monarchy is developed in the Berlin arch, which takes as its central theme the history of Brandenburg in Prussia. This was not a past of ‘ancient splendour’ as the above inscription might suggest, but a relatively short history dating back to the post-Reformation period. Prior to this, Prussia had been the territory of the Order of Teutonic Knights, which, in the thirteenth century, had conquered the Prussian lands around the Vistula. The knights imposed Christianity and encouraged Christian colonization, with the result that Prussia developed into a prosperous, largely German, colony with cities in Danzig and Königsberg.18 In the fifteenth century, the Order engaged in a series of wars with neighbouring Poland that resulted in Polish dominance. The Order lost its independence, West Prussia became a Polish territory, and while the Order held on to East Prussia, its status was reduced to a fiefdom of the king of Poland. A fundamental change in the government of East Prussia occurred in 1525, when the master of the Order, Albrecht von Hohenzollern, converted to Lutheranism, secularized the territory and became the first duke of Prussia.19 Albrecht, the son of Margrave Friedrich II of Ansbach and Kulmbach, did not belong to the same branch of the 15 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 17. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 18. 17  I am grateful to Steven Kennedy, Exeter University, for the English translation of the Latin inscriptions. 18  Carsten, The Origins of Prussia, pp. 53–72. 19  Koch, Geschichte Preußens, pp. 54–55. 16 

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Hohenzollern family as the electors of Brandenburg.20 None the less, it was the family connection that opened up the possibility to the electoral line of extending its authority in Prussia, an expansion that required the support of the Polish king. This was won in various ways. After the death of his first wife in 1534, Elector Joachim II (r. 1535–71) married Princess Hedwig of Poland, whose brother, King Sigismund II, accepted Joachim’s sons as secondary heirs to the duchy.21 Following the death of Duke Albrecht, Brandenburg’s co-enfeoffment was officially confirmed at the Polish Reichstag in Lublin in 1569, from which point Joachim added ‘duke of Prussia’ to his titles. The involvement of the electoral line in Prussian affairs was facilitated by the fact that Albrecht’s successor and only son, Duke Albrecht Friedrich, suffered from mental ill-health. In 1605 Joachim II’s grandson, Elector Joachim Friedrich (r. 1598–1608), managed to negotiate the guardianship of Albrecht Friedrich, which enabled him to act as regent. By this time, the Elector was related twice by marriage to the ailing Duke. In 1594 his heir, Johann Sigismund (r. 1608–19), married Albrecht Friedrich’s eldest daughter, Anna. Nine years later, Joachim Friedrich, by this time a widower, married Anna’s younger sister, Eleonore, an act that firmly cemented the electoral line’s planned succession. Johann Sigismund’s leanings towards Calvinism, which resulted in his conversion in 1613, signalled a new departure in Brandenburg’s confessional, political, and diplomatic alignment. As regards interests in Prussia, it complicated relations with the territory’s Lutheran estates, and with the Catholic king of Poland; after initial reluctance, he was finally persuaded to recognize Johann Sigismund as guardian and heir to Albrecht Friedrich in 1611. On Albrecht Friedrich’s death in 1618, the electoral Hohenzollerns finally achieved their goal and succeeded to the ducal fief of East Prussia. Key events from this history are incorporated on the Berlin arch by statues of Duke Albrecht, and the electors Joachim II, Joachim Friedrich and Johann Sigismund. Beneath each statue is a date, 1525, 1569, 1605, and 1611, respectively, each year marking a significant stage in the Hohenzollern history of Prussia. Besser explains the significance of each date in terms of dynastic cohesion. According to his interpretation, Brandenburg’s succession is a matter of course, 20 

Margrave Friedrich II of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach ruled territories in Franconia, an area over which the Hohenzollerns had exercised authority since the end of the twelfth century when they became burgraves of Nuremberg. 21  For discussion of the relations between Brandenburg and Prussia between 1525 and 1618 see Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp. 7–18; Neuhaus, ‘Brandenburgische Kurfürsten im Jahr­hundert der Reformation’; Gotthard, ‘Zwischen Luthertum und Calvinismus’.

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the inevitable outcome of a shared lineage. By drawing attention to the extinction of first the Kulmbach and Ansbach branches and the death of Albrecht Friedrich’s close relatives, some of whom had acted as his guardians, the enfeoffment and the assumption of guardianship are presented as the natural responsibility of the Brandenburg Hohenzollerns. He interprets the image of a brilliant sun shining down on a prosperous land with the inscription ‘OMNIA SIC RIDENT’ (thus will they laugh at all things)22 as a sign of the good fortune that has befallen Prussia as a consequence of the government of the electoral line. This process is brought to its culmination in the recent past as represented by the statue of Friedrich Wilhelm, so well known to the crowds, Besser explains, that no inscription with his title is necessary. The statue is accompanied by three dates, 1656, 1663, and 1679, and several shields, depicting symbolic figures or major events from the Elector’s involvement in Prussia. Besser provides commentaries on each date and figure. He explains that 1656 marks the establishment of Hohen­zollern sovereignty over Prussia, an event celebrated by a seated female figure representing peace, sovereignty and victory. The laurel wreath in her hair and the trophy she holds are ‘Zeichen des vorhergegangenen ernstlichen Krieges und von dem Hochsel. Churfürsten erwiesenen Tapfferkeit / auch sieghafften Waffen’ (signs of the earlier, grave war and the courage and victorious arms displayed by the late Elector).23 This is an implicit allusion to Friedrich Wilhelm’s involvement in the First Nordic War (1655–60) fought between Poland and Sweden, an event that Besser does not refer to in any further depth because of the awkward relations with Poland. Initially Friedrich Wilhelm had sided with Charles X of Sweden against Poland. In this alliance he achieved his first major military success at the threeday battle of Warsaw in July 1656, when his army fought with Swedish troops and drove the Poles out of the city. On the strength of this success he was able to negotiate with the Swedes who, through the Treaty of Labiau in 1656, granted him sovereignty over Prussia.24 However, in his commentary on these events, Besser does not refer to the Treaty of Labiau. Instead he cites the Treaty of Wehlau, signed a year later, in which the Polish king ceded sovereignty over Prussia to Friedrich Wilhelm, who by this time had allied himself with the Poles. The political background to this treaty is complex. The Habsburgs, in 22 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 37. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 37. 24  For details of Friedrich Wilhelm’s involvement in the First Nordic War, see McKay, The Great Elector, pp. 85–100, and Heinrich, Geschichte Preußens, pp. 101–02. 23 

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their efforts to win Brandenburg support in the election of Emperor Leopold, brought pressure to bear on Poland. For Friedrich Wilhelm, regarded as a useful ally by both sides, his change of allegiance was entirely pragmatic. His decision to side with Poland was a means of achieving Polish agreement to Hohenzollern sovereignty, his chief political ambition. Whether Besser’s obfuscation of the year and event was a mistake or a deliberate act is difficult to determine. Yet it seems unlikely that such a significant date in the history of Brandenburg-Prussia should be rendered incorrectly in a work that centres on the creation of the Prussian monarchy. It may be that Besser consciously amalgamated the events of 1656 and 1657. While the treaty with the Swedes marks the first stage in the establishment of sovereignty and 1656 is therefore a date of key importance, the agreement reached with the Poles as the Elector’s overlords was, from a legal perspective, a much more meaningful achievement, not least because it ensured official recognition by the Emperor. In 1663 the Prussian Diet formally acknowledged Friedrich’s sovereignty. This is commemorated by three symbolic female figures. The first, dressed in purple, is seated on a throne surmounted by the Prussian and Brandenburg eagles bearing a crown. A second stands before her, offering keys, while a third, with the Prussian eagle woven into her dress, kneels with her hand raised in an oath, a personification of die aufrichtige Treue der Unterthanen (the sincere loyalty of the subjects).25 Besser’s treatment of this image is only brief despite its conveying supreme Hohenzollern authority, unity between Brandenburg and Prussia, and unswerving loyalty on the part of the Prussian population. The reason for this is probably that the image disguises a period of remarkably strained relations between the Elector and the traditionally strong and independent Prussian estates, on which it was inappropriate to dwell in a document detailing triumph and harmony.26 In the period following the Peace of Oliva (1660), the treaty ending the Nordic War, the estates’ resentment of Friedrich Wilhelm’s taxes and efforts to curb their traditional rights led to appeals to the Polish crown for support against his ‘tyranny’. In addition, the conflict was exacerbated by the confessional divide. Ultimately the situation was resolved in 1662, when the Elector arrived in Königsberg accompanied by two thousand troops to quash any insurgency and force an agreement.27

25 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 38. Koch, Geschichte Preußens, p. 56 27  McKay, The Great Elector, pp. 130–40 26 

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By contrast, Besser’s approach to the events of 1679 is much more detailed, doubtless because they lent themselves to an unambiguously positive interpretation of relations between Friedrich Wilhelm and his Prussian subjects. In the years following his famous victory over the Swedes at Fehrbellin in 1675, he led a protracted campaign to drive the Swedish army out of West Pomerania, a territory to the north of Brandenburg over which he claimed territorial rights. In autumn 1678, the Swedes, with Polish support, invaded Prussia, which was defended by only a small militia. The Elector responded by sending an army in the depths of winter into Prussia. He followed, accompanied by his wife and heir, reaching Königsberg in January. He and his army then chased the Swedish force across the frozen Haff, the lagoons off the Prussian coast, almost capturing it the following month at Tilsit, after which the Swedes fled in disarray. These events are the subject of two symbolic depictions. In the first, Brandenburg courage is represented by a female wearing armour and helmet bearing the Brandenburg eagle. While she tramples on an old man, a personification of winter, she is led by a hand appearing from a cloud, a sign of divine aid. In the background the Brandenburg army is shown crossing the frozen lagoons. The symbolic figure of Brandenburg courage reappears in the second image where in her left hand she holds her shield over a wounded prostrate figure in torn clothing bearing the arms of Prussia and in her right she carries a spear with which she chases after an injured soldier dressed à l’antique bearing a broken shield. In this stylized statement of Hohenzollern strength, Prussia’s vulnerability and dependency are stressed to reiterate the central message of the benefits brought by Hohenzollern rule. Besser focuses on the heroism and military proficiency of Friedrich Wilhelm, whose achievement is summed up in the inscription ‘PRVSSIA. SIBI. DEFENSA’ (Prussia has been protected for itself ).28 The successes of 1679 were widely celebrated in medals and tapestry.29 The emphasis on Friedrich Wilhelm’s victories was integral to the iconography of the dynasty and the monarchy his son was trying to found. Besser’s focus on the Brandenburg army and Friedrich Wilhelm as the successful military commander are two sides of the same representational coin: if the standing army was the source of Brandenburg’s influence, then it was Friedrich Wilhelm’s leadership that had secured this success. Central to the depiction of the military dynasty is the celebration of Friedrich Wilhelm as invincible commander. This image may not have corresponded to the reality — for all that his victory at Fehrbellin won him the sobriquet of Great Elector, his military record was not one of unqualified 28  29 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 39. Heinrich, Geschichte Preußens, p. 108.

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success — but none the less this manner of presentation, reflected in the visual arts and occasional verse, was integral to the projection of Brandenburg’s prestige. It began in his lifetime and was cultivated further by Friedrich, who commissioned Andreas Schlüter’s famous equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm as invincible commander, as the Great Elector.30 Work began on the first model in 1696 and the statue was finally unveiled in 1703.31 Its original location in close proximity to Friedrich’s newly designed royal Schloss was intended to reflect the connection between the military image and the establishment of the monarchy. The army was a significant bargaining tool in the concluding stage of the negotiations for the kingship in 1700. The death of Charles II of Spain in November that year meant that war between France and the Emperor over the succession question was imminent. Against this background, Leopold was prepared to give official sanction to the Hohenzollern kingship in exchange for a contingent of eight thousand troops.32 The importance of the army in the rise of Brandenburg in the post-Westphalian Empire explains Besser’s careful referencing of Brandenburg as a victorious power. Hohenzollern military strength underpinned the culmination of this ascent, the foundation of the Prussian monarchy. The theme of military strength is echoed in other arches, particularly clearly in the arch dedicated jointly by the new towns of Friedrichswerder and Friedrichstadt. In this case the focus is specifically on the achievements during Friedrich’s reign. Besser provides both a description of the arch, decorated with images of medals struck to mark military successes, and a commentary on these events. They arise from three areas of activity: first, the aid offered to William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when one contingent of Brandenburg troops accompanied William to England and another guarded the Dutch Republic from French attack; second, Brandenburg’s involvement in the Nine Years’ War in the imperial alliance against the French on fronts in the west of the Empire and in northern Italy; and finally, the support given to the Emperor in his war against the Turks in Hungary.33 Besser adopts a twofold approach. First, he emphasizes the personal victories of Friedrich. His commentary on a medal depicting a personification of the Rhine, an old man holding a water jar, with the inscription ‘INFERIOR RHENUS LIBERATUS’ (the Lower Rhine has been 30 

Smart, The Ideal Image, pp. 248–75. Frank, ‘Zwischen Frankreich und Preußen’. 32  Heinrich, Geschichte Preußens, p. 130. 33  A detailed account of the campaign against the Turks and the Nine Years’ War is provided by Wilson, German Armies, pp. 68–100. 31 

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freed),34 provides detail about significant successes at the beginning of Friedrich’s reign: the campaign against French incursions into the Rhineland which resulted in the liberation of Kaiserswerth and Bonn in 1689. Second, Besser highlights the capacity of the Brandenburg army. Another medal shows a personification of victory next to a palm tree bearing four shields on which are written ‘HUNGARIA, PEDEMONTIUM, LUXENBURGUM, […] HANNONIA’ (Hungary, Piedmont, Luxemburg, Hainaut). This is accompanied by the inscription ‘ GLORIA LEGIONUM BRENNONICARUM’ (the glory of the Brennen legions).35 The claim that the Hohenzollerns were descended from Brennus, a leader of a Gallic tribe which inflicted defeat on the Roman army c. 387 bc, was widespread in the dynasty’s propaganda. It endowed the young monarchy with an ancient lineage based on all-important military prowess. Besser’s commentary goes on to explain that the medal commemorates the achievements of Brandenburg troops in farflung theatres of war: [the medal] ist geschlagen Anno. 1691, da die Königl. Trouppen in Ungarn bey der grossen Bataille, und Victorie bey Salankement, wie bekannt / das grösseste gethan: In den Piemontischen Kriegs-Operationen ihre Valeur erwiesen; Ins Luxenburgische eine Invasion gethan / und in Hennegau bey der grossen Armee in 6000. Mann starck mit operiret / und / ihrer Gewonheit nach / sich wohl gehalten haben.36 (The medal was struck in 1691 when the royal troops, as is well known, made the greatest contribution to the battle and victory of Slankamen in Hungary; showed their valour in the military operations in Piedmont; invaded Luxemburg; and fought in Hainault in the great army of six thousand men, when, according to their custom, they gave good account of themselves.)

The intention of such detail is to suggest a seamless transition between the Great Elector and Friedrich, under whom the tradition of military excellence continues, the focus on his Königl. höchst-rühmliche Kriegs-Actiones (royal and most famous deeds of war)37 establishing him as heir to his father’s military genius. Friedrich was not, however, a natural soldier with an innate interest in campaigning. Presumably this made it even more important that the depiction of him as a soldier king should be carefully constructed and conveyed. Moreover, Besser’s list of the deployment of Brandenburg troops does not just specify the 34 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 50. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 50 36  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, pp. 50–51. 37  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 50. 35 

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size of the army and the extent of Brandenburg engagement; it also highlights Friedrich’s credibility as an ally and his loyalty to the Emperor. In short, he presents Friedrich as a significant player in the diplomatic power struggles of his day. This portrayal complements an underlying message in the main section of the Krönungs-Geschichte, in which Besser sets out the justification of the new kingship: it is axiomatic that princes who have at their disposal such a sizeable army merit the title of kings, and Friedrich’s usefulness in war has prompted his allies to call for his elevation.38 The articulation of Friedrich’s stature as king goes beyond the celebration of martial prowess. The joint arch of Friedrichstadt and Friedrichswerder also thematizes his justice and liberality, evident in his establishment of the Order of the Black Eagle on the eve of the coronation. This is commemorated by an image of the Order’s decoration, a star with a Prussian eagle in its centre. Membership of this institution, Besser explains, is the king’s reward for virtue and merit. He is also styled as the pious and blessed father of his fatherland, the protector of his subjects. The Berlin arch echoes this portrayal of Friedrich as perfect prince in a series of pictures representing personifications of justice, piety, fortitude, and prudence. Friedrich’s clemency is presented with reference to specific buildings — his donation of poor houses and churches — and recent events. A massive picture, nine feet long and six feet high, depicts the clemency of Brandenburg (Clementiam Brandenburgicam39) as a woman dressed in royal attire offering protection to another woman pursued by persecution, portrayed as a flying fury brandishing fire, sword, and whip. In the background is the prospect of Berlin. Besser explains that this refers to the arrival in Brandenburg of, among others, the French Huguenots and Calvinists expelled from the Palatinate.40 The welcome extended to these refugees began under Friedrich Wilhelm, who, in response to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, issued the Edict of Potsdam, which encouraged Huguenots to settle in Brandenburg. Famously well-educated, the exiles included intellectuals and professionals as well as highly skilled craftsmen and manufacturers, who together brought about a modernization of Berlin.41 Their numbers also contributed to the growing population of the city. Over the course of the 1680s the number of inhabitants 38 

Smart, ‘Johann von Besser and the Coronation of Friedrich I’, pp. 268–69. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 41. 40  The security of Calvinism in the Palatinate was eroded after the death in 1685 of Elector Karl II, the last representative of the Calvinist Pfalz-Simmern dynasty, which was succeeded by the Catholic house of Pfalz-Neuburg. 41  Duchhardt, ‘Glaubensflüchtlinge und Entwicklungshelfer’, p. 282. 39 

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doubled to twenty thousand, and by the time of the coronation the Huguenots represented a sizeable minority of some five thousand, many of whom lived in the new towns of Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt.42 Their affluence is evident in Besser’s treatment of the arch dedicated by the Huguenot community. Nothing has been spared to make it reich und ansehnlich (rich and imposing).43 Its images and inscriptions also concentrate on the virtues of Friedrich, lauding his military might but, above all, his stature as a Christian king. The image of the pelican piercing its breast, the traditional symbol of the prince’s readiness to sacrifice himself for his people, as well as statues representing merciful love and religion, the first with a child at her breast and a burning heart in her hand, the second holding a Bible and cross, are accompanied by inscriptions testifying to the succour he gives to the poor and the protection he offers the faithful. These ideas are brought to a climax in the central section at the top of the arch where a marble bas relief depicts Friedrich on a throne with the Prussian and Brandenburg eagles on either side, and to his right a personification of Christian love. He offers his hand to a group of chained refugees from all estates, being chased by representations of persecution and superstition. The Latin inscription, in which the French community declares its reverence for Friedrich, amounts to a public statement of fealty, in which earlier allegiance to France is replaced by grateful devotion to the new kingdom. The hyperbole of the inscription — the description of Friedrich as equal not only to the greatest but also the best of kings, as the protector of the oppressed, whose piety comforts the persecuted — presents the most recent king in Europe as its most Christian king, while Louis XIV, by contrast, is associated with the symbolic representations of tyranny, persecution, and falsehood depicted on the reverse of the arch. The increased prosperity arising from the Huguenot influx to Berlin is alluded to on the Berlin arch. Accompanying the inscription ‘MERCATORUM ET OPIFICUM NUMERUS AMPLIFICATUS’ (the number of our merchants and artificers has been increased),44 is a painting of a richly dressed female figure working at a table covered in papers and account books, while two children, one with a piece of material and scales, the other with a loom, play at her feet. Beside these representations of trade and manufacture is a personification of utility, carrying a cornucopia and purse, and in the distance a new lock on the Spree constructed by Friedrich. The emphasis on the expansion of the residential 42 

Escher, ‘Die brandenburgisch-preußische Residenz’, p. 361. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 28. 44  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 44. 43 

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capital into a thriving modern city created by Friedrich is a central theme of the triumphal arches. It is summed up on the arch dedicated by Friedrich’s courtiers and officials, where personifications of Berlin and the dawn are presented by Besser as signs that Friedrich’s kingship marks ‘einen neuen und hellen FrühlingsTag’ (a new, bright, spring day).45 This new dawn manifested itself in two ways: in a programme of building and the cultivation of the arts and sciences. The architectural development is reflected in the figure of magnificence on the Berlin arch, alluding to, as Besser explains, the establishment of the new towns and the ‘Vielheit und Schöne der Gebäue [sic] / wie auch der mit mehrerer Bevolckung zugleich angewachsene Fleiß im Garten-Acker-und Feld-Bau’ (the variety and beauty of buildings, as well as the increase in horticulture and agriculture arising from the increase in population).46 Once again Besser conveys the image of Friedrich’s capital as a burgeoning centre. Reference to specific buildings is made on the joint arch of Friedrichswerder and Friedrichstadt, which depicts in a series of medals Friedrich’s ‘rühmliche Etablissemens und herrlich aufgeführte Gebäude’ (famous establishments and gloriously constructed buildings).47 Besser lists the images: the lock, the new stone bridge over the Spree, the amphitheatre known as the Hetz-Garten, the arsenal, as well as a ground plan of the new towns. The bridge, known as the Lange Brücke, was originally a wooden construction linking Berlin with Cölln. Between 1691 and 1694 it was renovated and transformed into a five-arched pons triumphalis leading to the Schloss.48 The Hetz-Garten, an arena built in 1693, was designed to hold fights between wild animals. Besser’s reference to its capacity to accommodate thousands of spectators suggests its scale and the boldness of its conception. The grandiose two-story arsenal, or Zeughaus, begun in 1695 and not finally completed until 1729, housed equipment for fifty thousand soldiers.49 Although the inscriptions accompanying the images emphasize that the expansion of the city and the new constructions serve the public good, or, in the case of the Hetz-Garten, its entertainment, Besser’s list is testimony to Friedrich’s achievement in transforming the architectural landscape of his residential capital, its lavish scale and splendour making it a fitting residence for a king. 45 

Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 25. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 43. 47  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 52. 48  Gröschel, ‘Der Ausbau zur königlichen Residenz’, p. 226. 49  See Gröschel, ‘Der Ausbau zur königlichen Residenz’, p. 252. For further details, see Dautel, Andreas Schlüter und das Zeughaus in Berlin. 46 

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Perhaps the clearest example of this achievement is Friedrich’s new Schloss (Figure 7). His architect Andreas Schlüter remodelled the original, irregular Renaissance building, converting it into a modern palace with a design that echoed aspects of the Louvre and Versailles. Although not yet finished by 1701, the Schloss was the most modern city residence in the Empire and a building of European standing.50 It was therefore an appropriate symbol of the new royal dignity, which explains why Besser records its image on several of the arches and the numerous depictions on the Cölln arch, the town in which the Schloss was situated. Shown beneath a rainbow or a radiant sun, the Schloss was a symbol of the new golden age which, according to Besser’s articulation of the iconography of this arch, began with the establishment of the new royal dignity. That the Schloss would endure and be a lasting statement of Friedrich’s royalty was the substance of another representation, accompanied by the inscription: ‘ VENERATUR REGIA REGEM’, translated by Besser in the following way: Die neue Burg / des Königs Fam zu mehren / Muß bey der Nachwelt Seinen Namen ehren.51 (The new palace built to increase the king’s fame will honour his name in posterity.)

The image of the Schloss was as much a symbol of the new royal dignity as the sceptres and crowned eagles that also festooned the Cölln arch. Friedrich’s cultivation of the arts and sciences was part of the cultural campaign to display the dignity of the dynasty and demonstrate its potentially royal status. His activities as patron began with the creation in 1694 of a new university in Halle, the administrative centre of the secularized Hohenzollern archbishopric of Magdeburg. The grandeur of the inauguration ceremony, recorded in an earlier report by Besser, suggests the extent to which Friedrich’s role as the guardian of scholarship was designed to promote his reputation in the Empire at a time when war with the French had led to the destruction of a major seat of learning, the university in Heidelberg.52 Further activities in this field were centred on Berlin. In 1696 he established the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) and four years later, encouraged by Leibniz, he founded the Societät der Wissenschaften. These 50 

Lorenz, ‘Das barocke Berliner Stadtschloß’, pp. 178–80. The Berlin Schloss has been the subject of extensive study. The comprehensive monograph by Hinterkeuser is particularly illuminating and provides a detailed account of its remodelling by Schlüter: Hinterkeuser, Das Berliner Schloss. 51  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 57. 52  Besser, Beschreibung der Ceremonien.

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Figure 7. ‘Palais Royal de Berlin’, from Jean Baptiste Broebes, Vuës des Palais et Maisons de Plaisance de Sa Majeste le Roy de Prusse (Augsburg, 1733). Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, shelfmark: Gr 2ºNy 5056:R, Tafel 2. Reproduced by permission of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

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were intended to be highly prestigious institutions and are a gauge of Friedrich’s ambition. The academy, which trained artists, sculptors and architects, was modelled on the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and, significantly, the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. Friedrich’s Akademie, only the third of its kind in Europe and the first in the Empire, is indicative of his intention to equip himself with the accoutrements of kingship.53 Similarly, the Societät der Wissenschaften was only the third such institute in Europe. The others, the London Royal Society and the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris, founded in 1660 and 1666, respectively, were badges of monarchy, statements of the support given by Charles II and Louis XIV to scientific experimentation. Friedrich’s creation of a parallel society in Berlin was an undisguised statement of his intent to become king and another move in his design to make Berlin a royal city. This significance explains the regular reference made to the Akademie and the Societät, known after the coronation as the Königliche Preußische Societät der Wissenschaften (the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences). Berlin’s status as ‘eine Mutter und Ernährerin aller Tugenden / Künste und Wissenschafften’ (a mother who provides succour to all virtues, arts, and sciences)54 is documented in several pages that focus on the decoration of the Berlin arch. The depiction of the Akademie underlines Friedrich’s role as patron. This is illustrated in the image of a flying genius holding a jewelled pomegranate topped by a crown hovering over children representing painting, sculpture and architecture. Prussian and Brandenburg eagles plus a royal crown are depicted in the background. Besser glosses this as a sign of ‘den Schutz / Ehre und Unterhalt / so die Societät von Ihro Königl. Majestät geniesset’ (the protection and honour that the society enjoys from the support of his royal Majesty).55 The Societät der Wissenschaften is represented by a painting of three female figures accompanied by three children. In one of the most detailed passages of description in the appendix as a whole, Besser provides a meticulous account of the significance of these figures and their elaborately symbolic dress. Two figures portray the Ober-Welt (the heavens and the skies) and the Unter-Welt (the earth and the seas); the costume of the OberWelt includes embroidered flies and birds, a golden hem indicating the refraction of the sun, and a headdress depicting the seven planets; the Unter-Welt carries a compass, and among the distinguishing features of her clothing are a green bodice woven with flowers, a skirt of brown material to indicate the earth, and a belt 53 

See Koschnick, ‘Europae tertia Germaniae prima’. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 26. 55  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 44. 54 

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of precious stones. This type of detail is significant because it mirrors the ambition of Friedrich’s society and the sheer breadth of its interests from astronomy to mineralogy.56 The same impact is intended by his detailing the minutiae of the tools and equipment of the three children representing Chemistry, Anatomy, and Mechanics. His presentation of the third female figure, wisdom, has a different function. In her lap she holds a book with the title DE USU ET NATURA RERUM (about the use and nature of things),57 which he interprets as a sign that the purpose of the society should not be ‘ein blosses speculiren / sondern dieses zugleich mit der Praxi, und Anwendung des untersuchten Guten / zum Nutzen des gemeinen Wesens und menschlichen Geschlechts’ (mere speculation, but should also combine this with practice and the application of the good derived from experimentation for the betterment of the commonweal and all mankind).58 This commentary is indicative not just of the optimism appropriate to the inception of the monarchy but the emergence of a new dimension in the traditional image of the prince as the protector of his people, who will now profit from the exploration of science, this most progressive area of royal patronage. Besser’s depiction of the triumphal arches endorses Friedrich’s elevation by aligning the new king with the recent past of Berlin. The message is conveyed that the monarch’s concern for the public good has led to an extensive and impressive building programme with the prospect of the advance of science benefitting the state. His patronage of the arts has made Berlin a city to rival Rome or Paris, and under his direction commerce and trade have prospered. At the same time the city has become a haven to his oppressed co-religionists. Besser’s wealth of detail presents a king who incorporates the martial tradition, but whose achievements in developing his capital add a new magnificence to the Hohenzollerns’ dynastic profile. None the less the emphasis on military strength, both in the central text of the Krönungs-Geschichte and the appendix, highlights the distinctive profile of the city as a cultural and intellectual centre founded on military might, a profile that — in the popular imagination at least — was to remain distinctive of Berlin and Prussia for generations, even centuries, to come. University of Exeter

56 

For a study of the history and goals of the Society, see Brather, Leibniz und seine Akademie. Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, p. 44. 58  Besser, Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte (1702), Appendix, pp. 44–45. 57 

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Works Cited Primary Sources Besser, Johann von, Beschreibung der Ceremonien, Mit welchen die neue Universität Halle den 1/11ten Julii 1694. inauguriret worden (Cölln an der Spree: Liebpert, 1694) —— , Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte / Oder Verlauf der Ceremonien / Mit welchen Der Aller­ durchlauchtigste / Großmächtigste Fürst und Herr / Herr Friderich der Dritte / Marggraf und Churfürst zu Brandenburg / Die Königliche Würde Des von Ihm ge­stiff­teten Königreichs Preussen angenommen / Und Sich und Seine Gemahlin / Die Aller­durch­lauchtigste Fürstin und Frau / Frau Sophie Charlotte […] (Cölln an der Spree: Liebpert, 1702) —— , Preußische Krönungs-Geschichte / Oder Verlauf der Ceremonien / Mit welchen Der Aller­durchlauchtigste / Großmächtigste Fürst und Herr / Hr. Friderich der Dritte / Marg­ graf und Churfürst zu Brandenburg / Die Königliche Würde Des von Ihm gestiffteten König­reichs Preussen angenommen / Und Sich und Seine Gemahlin […] Fr. Sophie Charlotte […] (Cölln an der Spree: Liebpert, 1712)

Secondary Studies Brather, Hans-Stephan, Leibniz und seine Akademie: Ausgewählte Quellen zur Geschichte der Berliner Sozietät der Wissenschaften, 1697–1716 (Berlin: Akademie, 1993) Carsten, Francis L., The Origins of Prussia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964) Clark, Christopher, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 (London: Penguin, 2007) Dautel, Isolde, Andreas Schlüter und das Zeughaus in Berlin (Petersberg: Imhof, 2001) Duchhardt, Heinz, ‘Glaubensflüchtlinge und Entwicklungshelfer: Niederländer, Hugenotten, Waldenser, Salzburger’, in Deutsche im Ausland, Fremde in Deutschland: Migration in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. by Klaus J. Bade (München: Beck, 1992), pp. 278–87 Escher, Felix von, ‘Die brandenburgisch-preußische Residenz und Hauptstadt im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert’, in Geschichte Berlins, ed. by Wolfgang Ribbe, 2 vols (Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 1987), i: Von der Frühgeschichte bis zur Industrialisierung, pp. 343–403 Frank, Christoph, ‘Zwischen Frankreich und Preußen: Das Denkmal des Großen Kur­für­ sten von Andreas Schlüter im Spiegel seiner öffentlichen Rezeption’, in Preußen 1701: eine europäische Geschichte; herausgegeben vom Deutschen Historischen Museum und der Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, ed. by Franziska Windt, Christoph Lind, and Sepp-Gustav Gröschel, 2 vols (Berlin: Henschel, 2001), ii, 341–52 Gotthard, Axel, ‘Zwischen Luthertum und Calvinismus (1598–1640)’, in Preußens Herr­ scher: von den ersten Hohenzollern bis Wilhem II., ed. by Frank-Lothar Kroll (München: Beck, 2006), pp. 79–87 Gröschel, Sepp-Gustav, ‘Der Ausbau zur königlichen Residenz’, in Preußen 1701: eine europäische Geschichte; herausgegeben vom Deutschen Historischen Museum und der Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, ed. by Franziska

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Windt, Christoph Lind, and Sepp-Gustav Gröschel, 2 vols (Berlin: Henschel, 2001), i, 225–68 Hänsel, Sylvaine, ‘Die Bildnisse Friedrichs III./I.—Überlegungen zu den Staatsporträts des ersten Königs im Preußen’, in Vom Kurfürstentum zum ‘Königreich der Landstriche’: Brandenburg-Preußen im Zeitalter von Absolutismus und Aufklärung, ed. by Günther Lottes, Aufklärung und Europa, 10 (Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2004), pp. 37–83 Heinrich, Gerd, Geschichte Preußens: Staat und Dynastie (Frankfurt a.M.: Propyläen, 1981) Hinterkeuser, Guido, Das Berliner Schloss: der Umbau durch Andreas Schlüter (Berlin: Siedler, 2003) Koch, Hansjoachim, Geschichte Preußens (München: List, 1981) Koschnick, Leonore, ‘Europae tertia Germaniae prima: die Akademie der Künste in Berlin’, in Preußen 1701: eine europäische Geschichte; herausgegeben vom Deutschen Historischen Museum und der Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten BerlinBrandenburg, ed. by Franziska Windt, Christoph Lind, and Sepp-Gustav Gröschel, 2 vols (Berlin: Henschel, 2001), ii, 248–53 Kroll, Frank-Lothar, ‘Stufen und Wandlungen der Fürstenherrschaft in BrandenburgPreußen’, in Preußens Herrscher: von den ersten Hohenzollern bis Wilhem II, ed. by Frank-Lothar Kroll (München: Beck, 2006), pp. 9–25 Lorenz, Hellmut, ‘Das barocke Berliner Stadtschloß: Königliche Architektur im euro­ päischen Kontext’, in Dreihundert Jahre Preußische Königskrönung: eine Tagungs­ dokumentation, ed. by Johannes Kunisch, Forschungen zur Brandenburgischen und Preußischen Geschichte, n.s., 6 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2002), pp. 159–87 McKay, Derek, The Great Elector, Profiles in Power (London: Longman, 2001) —— , ‘Small-Power Diplomacy in the Age of Louis XIV: The Foreign Policy of the Great Elector during the 1660s and 1670s’, in Royal and Republican Sovereignty in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Memory of Ragnhild Hatton, ed. by Robert Oresko, G. C. Gibbs, and Hamish M. Scott (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 188–215 Neuhaus, Helmut, ‘Brandenburgische Kurfürsten im Jahrhundert der Reformation (1499– 1598)’, in Preußens Herrscher: von den ersten Hohenzollern bis Wilhem II, ed. by FrankLothar Kroll (München: Beck, 2006), pp. 52–73 Schmidt, Werner, Friedrich I: Kurfürst von Brandenburg, König in Preußen (München: Diederichs, 1998) Smart, Sara, The Ideal Image: Studies in Writing for the German Court, 1616–1706, Amster­damer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, 160 (Berlin: Weidler, 2005) —— , ‘Johann von Besser and the Coronation of Friedrich I, King in Prussia, in 1701’, in Pomp, Power and Politics: Essays on German and Scandinavian Court Culture and their Contexts, ed. by Mara R. Wade (= Daphnis, 32 (2003)), pp. 263–87 Wilson, Peter H., German Armies: War and German Politics, 1648–1806 (London: Uni­ versity College London, 1998)

The Politics of Translation: Arthur Golding’s Account of the Duke of Anjou’s Entry into Antwerp (1582) Elizabeth Goldring*

A

rthur Golding’s The Joyful and royal entertainment of the ryght high and mightie Prince, Frauncis the Frenche Kings only brother, by the grace of God Duke of Brabande, Anjow, Aláunson, &c. into his noble Citie of Antwerpe is an account of François, duke of Anjou’s entry into Antwerp in February 1582. Printed in London a few months after the events it describes, Golding’s text is a translation of La Joyeuse & magnifique entrée de Monseigneur Françoys, Fils de France, et frere unique du Roy par la grace de Dieu, Duc de Brabant d’Anjou Alencon, Berri, &c. en sa très renommée ville d’Anvers, an unsigned work published in Antwerp by Christopher Plantin. Like its French counterpart, Golding’s text begins with an account of Anjou’s departure from England, in early February 1582, after a three-month visit that marked the end of ten years of marriage negotiations with Queen Elizabeth I. In both works, the focal point is a description of the festivities staged in Antwerp on 19 February 1582, at which Anjou, the younger brother of Henri III of France, was formally invested as duke of Brabant, thereby replacing the abjured Philip  II of Spain as titular ruler of the Netherlands. On this important occasion, Anjou was flanked by François de Bourbon, the Prince Dauphin d’Auvergne; by William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch revolt; and by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, Elizabeth  I’s

*  Versions of this paper were delivered at the conference, Writing Royal Entries, held at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London, in December 2007, and at a meeting of the Society for Court Studies, London, in December 2009. I am grateful to Sydney Anglo for helpful comments on an early draft of this material and to Karen Bowen and Dirk Imhof for generous assistance with the Plantin Archives.

226 Elizabeth Goldring

favourite and the most militant Protestant at her court. The entry into Antwerp was designed to demonstrate, among other things, the solidarity of France, the Netherlands, and England against Spain. Considerable scholarly attention has been devoted in recent years to the French account of the entry.1 By contrast, Golding’s English translation has been little studied,2 a reflection, perhaps, of the fact that sixteenth-century English and Continental festival culture often are treated as separate entities. Yet the Anjou entry, long ago described by Frances A. Yates as ‘an overseas extension of Elizabethan festivals’,3 provides an elegant example of an occasion on which English and Continental festival culture were intertwined in this period. Indeed, an examination of the fragmentary surviving correspondence of the major players in the entry, together with the manuscript ‘Journals’ of the Plantin Press,4 suggests that Golding’s account was almost certainly undertaken at the behest of the Earl of Leicester. There is also reason to believe, as we shall see, that Leicester may have been involved, albeit indirectly, in the production of the French account. To that end, this essay begins with some general comments on the political and religious contexts for Anjou’s entry into Antwerp, before turning to the entry itself, as described in La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée and other contemporary eyewitness accounts. It then considers the evidence for the French text’s circulation at the English court before exploring the relationship between the French account and Golding’s translation of it.

Religio-Political Contexts There are two essential — and interrelated — contexts for the entry into Ant­ werp. The first is the deteriorating political situation in the Low Countries, where Dutch Protestants, led by William of Orange, were engaged in an ongoing and 1  For the French account of the entry, see Bowen and Imhof, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations, pp. 200–07, 371; Holt, The Duke of Anjou, pp. 166–69; Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’; and Peters, ‘Den gheheelen loop des weerelts’. 2  A modern edition of Golding’s English translation, edited by Elizabeth Goldring and David Parrott, is forthcoming in Nichols, ‘The Progresses and Public Processions’, ed. by Archer, Clarke, and Goldring. 3  Yates, The Valois Tapestries, p. 94. 4  The Plantin ‘Journals’ are annual, chronological listings of book sales, with information on, among other things, buyers and prices paid. Those cited in this essay (Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60 and Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 61) are for 1582 and 1583, respectively.

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increasingly bloody revolt against Philip II of Spain. In September 1580, the States-General had, via treaty, recognized Anjou as duke of Brabant and, thus, as titular sovereign of the Netherlands — thereby replacing Philip II, who had been installed as duke of Brabant in 1549. The signing of this treaty, the terms of which would be formally enacted by Anjou’s entry into Antwerp in February 1582, has been called ‘perhaps the single most revolutionary act of the entire Dutch revolt’.5 There is a second, and intertwined, context for the Antwerp entry: Anjou’s marriage negotiations with Elizabeth I. In the autumn of 1581, Anjou and a sizeable entourage, including the members of his inner circle who had negotiated the treaty of September 1580, sailed to England for what was to be the duke’s second and final visit to England to woo the Queen. After landing at Rye on 31 October 1581, the French made their way to London. There, on 14 November, Anjou and Elizabeth signed a defensive pact, which stipulated that Elizabeth was to support Anjou in the Netherlands, while Anjou was not to enter into any agreements with Philip II or his agents in the Low Countries without the English Queen’s approval. A little over a week later, Elizabeth and Anjou exchanged rings and kissed in public. By early 1582, however, it had become apparent to most observers that the two were never going to marry. The Queen’s motivations and underlying feelings in all of this remain a matter of dispute amongst historians. Susan Doran, for example, has suggested that ‘Elizabeth meant the exchange of rings before witnesses to stand for an espousal but had to withdraw because of renewed opposition at court’, while Mack P. Holt has argued that Anjou’s visit, ‘apart from the charade of 22 November, was much more dominated by the Dutch revolt than by matrimonial considerations’.6 Whatever the case, Anjou and his entourage set off from London on 1 February 1582 accompanied by a train of about a hundred English noblemen and gentlemen. Led by the Earl of Leicester, the English contingent included Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon; Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham; and Philip (later Sir Philip) Sidney, Elizabethan England’s model Protestant courtier, as well as Leicester’s nephew, political protégé, and one-time heir. After slowly making their way to the coast, with stops en route in Rochester, Sittingbourne, Canterbury, and Sandwich, the French and English parties set sail from Dover on 7 February. Three days later, they went ashore at Flushing, where they were met by William of Orange and a group of Dutch nobles, many of whom had been instrumental in hammering out the terms of the September 1580 treaty. After a 5  6 

Holt, The Duke of Anjou, p. 138. Doran, Monarchy and Matrimony, p. 188; Holt, The Duke of Anjou, p. 164.

228 Elizabeth Goldring

week’s worth of festivities in the Netherlands, the English, the French, and the Dutch reached the outskirts of Antwerp on the evening of 18 February. The significance of the following day’s entry into Antwerp, which marked the culmination of Anjou’s extended, and politically-charged, English visit, was in part symbolic, for, as already suggested, it vividly proclaimed the solidarity of England, France, and the Netherlands against Spain. But it is important to remember that this occasion was also — indeed, first and foremost — one of legal significance. As Peter Davidson reminds us, the ‘joyeuse entrée’ was, in the Low Countries, ‘an event which was held to have constitutional force because it created and ratified a formal compact between ruler and ruled’.7 In the case of Anjou’s entry into Antwerp, what was formally being enacted was the treaty of September 1580, by which the Dutch had rejected Philip II as their sovereign.

The Event and its Official French Account La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée is the official account of Anjou’s entry into Antwerp, commissioned by the city magistrate.8 No author is credited in the publication itself, and the work more often than not has been assumed to have been anonymous, its authorship irrecoverable. But it is clear from material preserved in the Antwerp archives that the work was compiled by the Calvinist minister Pierre l’Oyseleur de Villiers, who was paid in wine for his services.9 A native of France, Villiers had sought religious refuge in Geneva in the 1550s and in England in the 1570s. Arriving in London in the wake of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, Villiers went on to become a leading figure in London’s Huguenot community. In 1575, he delivered a series of lectures on theology at two of the Inns of Court, the Inner and Middle Temples, and the following year he received a doctorate of theology from the University of Oxford.10 In 1577, Villiers entered William of Orange’s service, in which capacity 7 

Davidson, ‘Preface: Festivals in the Netherlands’, p. 465. In Antwerp, unlike other cities in Europe, such publications ‘were always the product of civic, rather than royal or ducal, patronage’ (Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, p. 371). 9  Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, p. 406 (citing ‘Ordonnantien van het Antwerpsch magistraat’, ed. by Génard, p. 374 [Collegial Actenbook, 1582]). See also Bowen and Imhof, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations, p. 201 n. 63. Further evidence of Villiers’s involvement may be found in his letter to the Earl of Leicester, 21 April 1582, cited and discussed later in the main text of this essay. 10  For Villiers in England, see Correspondance diplomatique de Bertrand de Salignac, ed. by Teulet, v (1840), p. 155; Actes du consistoire de l’Église française, ed. by Oakley, passim; and 8 

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he variously served as the prince’s court preacher, secretary, and advisor. Villiers was no stranger to ghost-writing pieces of Protestant propaganda. In 1581, he had drafted Orange’s famous Apologie ou defense de […] Guillaume […] prince d’Orange contre le ban & edict publié par le roy d’Espagne (Apology or defence of […] William […] prince of Orange against the proclamation and edict published by the king of Spain), a virulently anti-Spanish tract which helped to create the ‘Black Legend’ of Spanish atrocities against the Dutch.11 La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée was published by the Plantin Press in quarto and folio editions, both dated 17 April 1582, about two months after the event itself.12 The deluxe folio text survives in at least two states, the uncorrected version of which wrongly dates the events described to March 1582, though in some copies a correction slip has been pasted over this error. The more modest quarto text seems to exist in only one state, which corresponds to that of the corrected folio. That said, the quarto differs from the folios in its placement of the summary of Plantin’s privilege as printer.13 Another difference is that the quarto is unillustrated, whereas the folio, in both its corrected and uncorrected states, is lavishly illustrated with nineteen etchings and two engravings depicting the pageants staged along the processional route through the streets of Antwerp. In addition, Plantin produced a Dutch translation in quarto and without illustrations. Like both of the French texts, it is dated 17 April 1582.14 In some cases, the illustrations in extant folios of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée have been hand-coloured, an indication that those particular volumes were originally intended as presentation copies. A comparison of two such folios now in the British Library suggests, however, that the specifications in these cases varied, for one copy (BL, C.22.c.12) is considerably more lavishly appointed than Backus, ‘Pierre l’Oiseleur’s Connections with England’. 11  For Villiers, Orange, and the Apology, see Swart, William of Orange, ed. by Fagel, Mout, and Van Nierop, pp. 146, 155, 188–89, 241; and Spicer, ‘Loiseleur, Pierre (1530–1590)’. 12  For a general discussion of extant copies, see The Plantin Press, ed. by Voet with VoetGrisolle, ii (1980), pp. 950–54. The six copies, all in the British Library, which I have personally inspected in the course of researching this essay, bear the following shelf-marks: BL, 156.l.32; BL, 156.l.33; BL, C.22.c.12; BL, C.46. i.8(2); BL, 576.m.1(2); BL, 716.k.6(5). 13  The quartos put the summary at the beginning of the work rather than at the end. 14  Although a discussion of the Dutch text, De blijde ende Heerlijcke Incomste van Mijn Heer Franssois van Vranckrijck, des Conincks eenich broeder, by Godts ghenade Hertogh van Brabant van Anjou Alensson Berri etc. in sijne zeer vermaerde stadt van Antwerpen, is beyond the scope of this essay, some consideration of it may be found in the following: Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, pp. 370–413, and The Plantin Press, ed. by Voet with Voet-Grisolle, ii, 953–54.

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the other (BL, C.46.i.8(2)). The notion that not all presentation copies were created equal is reinforced by Plantin’s ‘Journals’, which record a variety of rates paid to artists for hand-colouring folios of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée.15 The pageants staged for Anjou, as described and depicted in this work, invoked a mixture of the Biblical, the Classical, and the local/vernacular to symbolize Spanish tyranny, together with the hopes of the Netherlands for the type of ruler that Anjou would be. One pageant car, for example, featured visual displays likening Anjou to David and Spain to Goliath. Another implicitly cast Anjou as Perseus and the Netherlands as Andromeda. Yet another alluded to the legend of the founding of Antwerp, according to which the hero Brabo slew the wicked giant Antigoon, thereby liberating the people of the city. In common with most Renaissance festival books, La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée more often than not spelled out the symbolism of the pageants, lest the reader miss their significance. As Frances A. Yates has observed, the overall effect of this printed account was to cast Anjou’s installation as duke of Brabant as ‘a Burgundian renaissance’16 — or, as Mack P. Holt has put it, a return ‘to the good old days under the rule of the Valois dukes, to whom Anjou was distantly related’.17 Festival books often present airbrushed accounts of the events they describe,18 and La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée is no exception. While there is no reason to question the general accuracy of the account printed by Plantin, this official record, perhaps inevitably, omits mention of various hiccups that seem to have occurred in the course of the proceedings. For example, it is clear from diplomatic correspondence that Antwerp was forced to scramble to complete its preparations and there is reason to believe that the progress of Anjou, Orange, and Leicester to the city was deliberately slowed down in order to give the organizers time to ‘be thoroughly ready to receive’ them.19 It would also appear that the weather disappointed on the day of the entry, for, as one first-hand observer, the historian and spy Pietro Bizzarri, noted, the ‘sun […] kept his rays in the clouds’.20 The English merchant Christopher Hoddesdon, another eyewitness to these events, hints at discord in his correspondence from Antwerp, noting that ‘all Italians, Portugals, 15 

For a discussion of these payments, see The Plantin Press, ed. by Voet with Voet-Grisolle, ii, 952–53. 16  Yates, The Valois Tapestries, p. 96. 17  Holt, The Duke of Anjou, p. 169. 18  On this point see, for example, Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘Early Modern European Festivals’, p. 23. 19  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 492. 20  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 504.

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and Spaniards absented themselves from honouring this solemnity, though there are many Italians and Portugals, and some Spaniards, resident and exercising traffic in this town’.21 But Hoddesdon’s account confirms the general splendour of the event, noting that it ‘seemed rather the coronation of some king than the creation of a duke’.22 This impression was shared by Bizzarri, whose correspondence from Antwerp records ‘how lordly, splendid, and royal was the entry’.23

Circulation at the English Court In addition to fleshing out impressions of the event itself, diplomatic correspondence reveals that there was considerable interest in La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée amongst members of the militant Protestant elite at the Elizabethan court. The Earl of Leicester departed from Antwerp on 23 February, but left behind as his political agent William Herle, a member of the English party that had accompanied Anjou from London to Antwerp.24 As early as 3 March, Herle was writing to Leicester in England to advise him that a printed account of the Duke’s entry was underway: The entry of Monsieur into this country, and his receiving a ‘auguration’ here, will be set forth in print at large, and is by his appointment dedicated specially to you; with all the shows, pageants, ‘arches triumphants’ and their significations to be fully expressed therein.25

Perhaps optimistically, in view of the lavish publication he had just described, Herle added: ‘By the middle of next week I hope I shall be able to send it to you’.26 In early April, Herle wrote to Leicester again to say that ‘Monsieur’s entry into Antwerp’ would be sent ‘by the next post’ — though once again Herle’s time 21 

CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 500. Hoddesdon would have been amongst the English merchants who marched in the entry; for their participation, see Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, p. 376 and n. 12. 22  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 500. 23  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 504. 24  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, pp. 526, 530. Herle had had close ties to Leicester from at least as early as 1578, for which, see Calendar of […] Bath: Talbot, Dudley and Devereux, ed. by Owen, pp. 198, 200–02; and Jones, ‘Herle, William (d. 1588/9)’. While in Antwerp, Herle may also have served as Leicester’s artistic agent. See Goldring, ‘A Portrait of Sir Philip Sidney by Veronese’, and Goldring, Painting and Patronage at the Elizabethan Court. 25  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 514. 26  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 514.

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frame proved unrealistic.27 During this same period, Herle was also keeping Sir Francis Walsingham, Leicester’s great ally (and Elizabeth I’s principal secretary and spymaster), advised of progress on the forthcoming publication.28 In a letter of 9 March, for example, he assured Walsingham, ‘You shall have his “Joyous Entry” the first impression and before it come to public show’.29 It was, presumably, with leading Protestant courtiers like Leicester and Walsingham in mind that Herle on 28 April purchased eight copies of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée: four folios and four quartos.30 Folios of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée normally sold for one florin and ten stuivers (that is, thirty stuivers) each.31 Herle, however, paid a higher price: two florins (that is, forty stuivers) per folio. It is a fact which might suggest that these particular copies had been specially hand-coloured for the purposes of presentation. So, too, might the date of the transaction: eleven days after the work’s publication. Although Herle, as his correspondence with Leicester and Walsingham reveals, was champing at the bit to get his hands on the finished product, hand-colouring would have taken some extra time. Whatever the case, that very same day, 28 April, Herle dispatched one of these newly acquired folios to Walsingham. His accompanying letter noted: I am bold herewith to present a book to you, of Monsieur’s Joyeux Entrée into this town, with representations of the theatres and pageants they shewed of his ‘augmentation’; containing things beside meet for you to consider, namely, as I note, that in all their proceedings they try to entangle the Queen in this action [the Dutch revolt].32

27 

CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 594. Herle also was writing to William Cecil, 1st baron Burghley, during this period. In a letter dated 6 March 1582 at Antwerp, for example, Herle promised to send Burghley ‘the “Joyous Entry” in French, that Monsieur was sworn to at his coming to this town’ (CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 534) — though Herle seems to refer here not to La Joyeuse & Magnifique Entrée, but rather to the text of the actual oath spoken by Anjou at his installation. Compare the wording of Herle’s letter to Leicester, dated 3 March 1582 at Antwerp, in which he undertook to send not only the forthcoming Plantin festival book, but also ‘the articles of the Joyous Entry put into French, to which Monsieur swore in your presence without the town’ (CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, pp. 514, 519). 29  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 539. 30  Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60, fol. 70r. 31  Bowen and Imhof, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations, p. 371. 32  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 665. 28 

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Herle also must have sent at least one copy of the folio to Leicester at this time, though no correspondence on this point is known to survive. However, Herle was not the only individual who dispatched copies of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée to the English court in the immediate aftermath of its publication — nor was he the first. Pierre l’Oyseleur de Villiers, the work’s uncredited compiler, had sent a copy to the Earl of Leicester on 21 April 1582. Villiers’ accompanying letter, written from Antwerp, reads in part: j’ai par la prière de Messieurs de la ville d’Anvers recueilli l’entrée de Son Altèze, laquelle j’ai donné charge à ce porteur de présenter à Vostre Honneur. (I have at the request of the gentlemen of the city of Antwerp gathered together the entry of His Highness, which I have given charge to this messenger to present to Your Honour).33

Villiers must also have sent a copy of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée to Walsingham at about the same time, for a letter to Walsingham, dated 28 April 1582 at Antwerp, concludes as follows: ‘I send you the last picture of the entry, which has to be added, on the day of the oath to the town. Please give the others to the earl’.34 What can we deduce from the fragmentary surviving correspondence from Villiers to the English court? First, that Villiers sent copies of the illustrated folio (as opposed to copies of the unillustrated quarto) to Leicester and Walsingham immediately after its publication on 17 April 1582. Second, that these copies were, in the first instance, lacking one — or, in Leicester’s case, more than one — of the illustrations. And third, that by the end of April, Villiers had sent on copies of the missing final plate (xxi) for Walsingham, together with unspecified ‘others’ for Leicester, which the recipients were to insert themselves. Whether any of the images in these copies had been hand-coloured is not spelled out, though one would certainly expect this to have been the case. Moreover, the additional time required for hand-colouring would provide an explanation for Villiers’ delay in sending some of the pictures. In addition to the copies, already discussed, which Herle bought immediately after the work’s publication, it is clear from Plantin’s ‘Journals’ that Herle purchased a further fourteen folios of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée during the period from early May to late July 1582.35 Although the prices that he paid for these varied, several would appear, from their cost, to have been hand-coloured. 33 

Correspondance inédite de Robert Dudley, ed. by Blok, p. 99. CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 662. 35  Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60, fols 76v, 77r, 99v, 103r, 104v, 120v. 34 

234 Elizabeth Goldring

For whom were these purchased? Given that Herle had been left behind in Antwerp as Leicester’s agent, the most plausible scenario is that he acquired most, if not all, of these folios for the earl, and that Leicester, in turn, presented them to figures of note at the English court and, perhaps, at foreign courts as well. Such dissemination was standard practice with Renaissance festival books.36 Antwerp city magistrates, for example, are known to have purchased seventy-four folios of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée, apparently for distribution ‘to politically advantageous connections’.37 In Leicester’s case, there may have been particularly compelling reasons for wanting to acquire and distribute copies of the folio, for circumstantial evidence suggests that the earl may have played a behind-the-scenes role in the preparation and production of the French text. Leicester did not commission La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée; that role, as Emily J. Peters has demonstrated, was fulfilled by the city of Antwerp.38 But given that Villiers, so far as is known, was not amongst the group that set off from London on 1 February, he must have been briefed on the leisurely eighteen-day journey to Antwerp, the day-by-day account of which occupies approximately the first quarter of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée. Anjou, as Peters has noted, appears to have had little or no interest in the production of Plantin’s publication.39 Moreover, there seems to have been considerable animosity between Anjou and Villiers, for, as Herle reported in a dispatch from Antwerp shortly after the entry, ‘Monsieur cannot brook the said Villiers’.40 Anjou and his aides, thus, seem unlikely sources for the opening section of Villiers’ account. It is plausible to suppose that Herle, who had travelled with the earl and Anjou all the way from London, might have supplied these details on Leicester’s behalf. Such a scenario would help to explain why Villiers had been so keen to send a copy of the folio to Leicester the moment the work was printed, as well as why — in a work commissioned by the city of Antwerp — roughly a quarter of the text is devoted not to the festivities put on by Antwerp itself, but rather to those mounted prior to Anjou’s arrival in the city. It would also shed light on Villiers’ choice of words in his letter to Leicester of 21 April, in which he described himself as having gathered together the entry (recueilli l’entrée), rather than as having written it.41 36 

See, for example, Watanabe-O’Kelly, ‘The Early Modern Festival Book’. Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, p. 407. 38  Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, pp. 370–71. 39  Peters, ‘Printing Ritual’, pp. 405–06 and n. 63. 40  CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, p. 514. 41  Correspondance inédite de Robert Dudley, ed. by Blok, p. 99. The italics are mine. 37 

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Golding’s English Translation Arthur Golding’s The joyful and royal entertainment almost certainly corresponds to an entry in the Stationers’ Register, dated 2 May 1582, which notes that the printer and bookseller William Ponsonby had been granted a licence for a work described as ‘The joyfull entry of Monsieur the Ffrenche kinges brother into Antwerp’.42 Thus, work on an English account of the entry seems to have started just about the time that Leicester and Walsingham would have received copies of Plantin’s folio text from Villiers and Herle. Printed in octavo, Golding’s translation is, in the main, extremely faithful to the text of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée. There are, however, two differences of note. First, whereas both the quarto and folio editions of the French text reproduce the pageant inscriptions in their original Latin, supplemented by a vernacular translation, Golding’s edition omits the Latin altogether.43 Second, the English translation, this time in common with the French quarto, contains no illustrations. It is not known how many copies of Golding’s text were printed. Nor is it known how much Ponsonby charged for the copies he sold in his shop at the sign of the Bishop’s Head, in St Paul’s Churchyard. However, some sense of the market in England for a translation of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée can be gleaned from Plantin’s ‘Journals’, which indicate that there was an unusually high demand for this particular title in England.44 On 23 April 1582, Ascanius de Renialme, a London-based bookseller who specialized in importing foreign titles, placed a bulk order with Plantin. This included sixty-one copies of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée (eleven folios and fifty quartos), collectively more than Ascanius ordered of any other title on that occasion. A few days later the bookseller Hercule François, another leading importer of foreign titles into London, placed a bulk order of his own with Plantin, which included four folios and twenty-five quartos of La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée.45 An insight into the pace at which these copies sold 42 

A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, ed. by Arber, ii (1875), p. 188v. 43  The Dutch text also retains the Latin. 44  The English market for the work—as compared both to other foreign markets, as well as to the English market for other Plantin titles—is considered in Bowen and Imhof, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations, pp. 210–11, 371; and Peters, ‘Den gheheelen loop des weerelts’, pp. 327–30. 45  Ascanius’s complete order ran to approximately forty different titles, though in most cases he ordered just a few copies of each. Only Philippe de Mornay, Seigneur du Plessy’s De

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in England is provided by the fact that Ascanius ordered two additional folios from Plantin in October 1582, while François purchased four further folios in April 1583.46 That neither placed repeat orders for the quarto might suggest that the English market for the more modest of Plantin’s French accounts of the entry dried up once Golding’s translation was in print. The precise circumstances under which Golding came to translate La Joyeuse & magnifique Entrée are not known. The overwhelming probability, however, is that Golding’s work on this project reflected his long-standing connections to the Earl of Leicester, to whom he had previously dedicated four works: The Fyrst Fower Bookes of […] [the] […] Metamorphoses, which had been presented to the newly created Earl of Leicester as a new year’s gift in 1565; The xv. Bookes of P. Ovidius Naso, entytuled ‘Metamorphoses’; A Confutation of the Popes Bull (a translation from Bullinger); and the Sermons of Master John Calvin. Golding’s dedications to Leicester in these volumes make much of the ‘favour and great good will’ the earl had shown him,47 and it may be the case that Leicester, an honorary member of the Inner Temple, was responsible for Golding’s ‘special admission’ to the Inn, without payment, in 1574.48 Golding is primarily remembered today for his edition of the Metamorphoses. This was the first English translation from the Latin of all fifteen of Ovid’s books and influenced a number of English Renaissance writers, including Spenser and Shakespeare. But the Metamorphoses is not representative of Golding’s career as a whole, which was primarily devoted to translations of religious and factual works.49 la verité de la religion chrestienne (of which Ascanius bought fifty copies) comes close to the total number of copies of La Joyeuse & Magnifique Entrée purchased on this occasion. See Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60, fol. 68r. For Ascanius, see, in addition to Roberts, ‘Renialme, Ascanius de (c. 1550–1600)’, Roberts, ‘The Latin Trade’, pp. 157–60.   According to Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60, fol 71r, the only title of which François ordered more copies was du Plessy’s De la verité [...] (of which he purchased thirty-two). For François, see A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, ed. by Aldis and others, pp. 108, 272–73. 46  Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60, fol. 165v; Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 61, fol. 44v. 47  Bullinger, A Confutation of the Popes Bull, trans. by Golding, Dedication. 48  For Golding’s special admission, see A Calendar of the Inner Temple Records, ed. by Inderwick, i (1896), p. 273, and, for Leicester’s special relationship with the Inner Temple (including his interventions on behalf of his clients), see i, 215–19, 328, 329. For the likelihood that Leicester may have been involved in Golding’s admission, see Rosenberg, Leicester, Patron of Letters, p. 218. 49  On these points, see Considine, ‘Golding, Arthur (1535/6–1606)’.

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In particular, Golding was a prolific translator of Protestant tracts, publishing numerous English editions of sermons and commentaries by Calvin, Beza, and Bullinger, among others. He also seems to have been responsible for the English translation of A justification or cleering of the prince of Orendge, some extant copies of which read ‘Translated out of French by Arthur Goldyng’.50 It is, thus, hardly surprising that Golding should have counted Leicester, a noted patron of letters, as well as a militant, pro-Orangist Protestant, as one of his first patrons and certainly his most enduring one. Indeed, it may be the case, as Eleanor Rosenberg has suggested, that Golding’s decision to forsake classical works for religious ones was undertaken at the behest of Leicester and other Protestant benefactors, since the translation of Protestant tracts ‘served their political ends more directly than did classical translation’.51 There are several reasons to believe that Leicester, renowned for his political ambition, would have wanted Anjou’s entry to be commemorated in print in England. Unlike many Elizabethan aristocrats, who viewed publication with a mixture of suspicion and disdain, Leicester seems to have had no such qualms. Many of the court festivals with which Leicester had been involved from the early 1560s onwards were recorded for posterity in print, even though, in the main, manuscript accounts greatly outnumbered printed accounts of Elizabethan court festivals.52 In the case of the Antwerp entry, Leicester had participated in the event as the equal of three foreign princes: the Duke of Anjou, the Prince Dauphin d’Auvergne, and the Prince of Orange. Both the event and its printed account, thus, implicitly cast the earl as princely, too. Moreover, the overtly antiCatholic message of the entry and Plantin’s record of it was just the sort of thing to appeal to the political sensibilities of both Leicester and Golding. Here, it is useful to recall that Leicester was not only an advocate of the cause of English military intervention in the Dutch revolt, but was — and had been for some years — obsessed with the idea of leading such an expedition himself. These wishes were to be granted in 1585. But in the spring of 1582 Leicester could not have known that this would be the case. Meanwhile, the news from the Low Countries in the immediate aftermath of Anjou’s entry into Antwerp was not good. The fighting continued; Anjou and the States-General were at odds over religious issues; and William of Orange was struggling for his life in the wake 50 

See A Short-Title Catalogue, ed. by Pollard and Redgrave, ii (1976), p. 465. Most extant copies of STC 25712, however, omit mention of Golding. 51  Rosenberg, Leicester, Patron of Letters, p. 159. 52  This point is discussed in detail in Goldring, ‘Gascoigne and Kenilworth’.

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of an assassination attempt.53 Thus, the need for English military intervention — and, perhaps more significantly, the opportunity for someone like Leicester to play a key role on this most important of international stages — must have seemed greater than ever. Golding’s translation, therefore, might plausibly be viewed as part of a strategy designed to win support in England for these causes. If so, the translation was neither the first nor the last festival book associated with Leicester to have been printed with that aim. The publication in 1576 of George Gascoigne’s Princely Pleasures, an account of the courtly festivities mounted by Leicester at Kenilworth Castle in 1575, like the entertainments commissioned in connection with the festivities themselves, had vividly articulated Leicester’s princely ambitions, as well as his desire to lead an English military expedition to the Netherlands.54 In 1587, Leicester and Walsingham would choreograph an unprecedentedly lavish funeral for Sir Philip Sidney, Leicester’s heir and Walsingham’s son-in-law, who had been killed while fighting under Leicester in the Netherlands. The official account of the funeral, the Sequitur celebritas et pompa funeris, was printed in London in 1587 and cast Sidney as a quasi-princely martyr to the cause of the Dutch revolt. Almost certainly commissioned by Leicester and Walsingham, this work appears to have been designed, like Sidney’s lavish funeral itself, to shore up support for ongoing English intervention in the revolt against Spain.55 Golding’s Joyful and Royal Entertainment might usefully be viewed within the wider context of printed works such as these, which not only articulated Leicester’s Protestant agenda, but also cast him (or, in the case of the Sequitur celebritas, his heir) as princely.

Epilogue Although Golding’s translation is not known to have undergone more than one printing, a version of it was included in the 1587 edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles. There, the Preface and summary of Plantin’s privilege were omitted, 53 

For reports on Orange’s health during this period, see CSPF: 1581–1582, ed. by Butler, pp. 569, 571–72, 578, 592, 605, 612, 633. 54  See Goldring, ‘Portraiture, Patronage, and the Progresses’; as well as my edition of materials relating to the 1575 Kenilworth festivities in Nichols, ‘The Progresses and Public Processions’, ed. by Archer, Clarke, and Goldring. 55  See Goldring, ‘The Funeral of Sir Philip Sidney’; Goldring, ‘“In the cause of his God and true religion”’; as well as my edition of the Sequitur celebritas […] in Nichols, ‘The Progresses and Public Processions’, ed. by Archer, Clarke, and Goldring.

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and additional descriptive details inserted into the main text, including a more detailed list of the English nobles and gentlemen who had accompanied Leicester to Antwerp.56 Although only one copy of Golding’s The joyful and royal entertain­ ment is known to be extant today,57 the work’s inclusion in the Chronicles — and from the eighteenth century onwards, in John Nichols’s seminal The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth — has ensured that it has enjoyed a considerable afterlife. And what of Leicester and the Dutch revolt? Both the Antwerp entry and Plantin’s account of it speak to the extent to which the Dutch hoped Anjou’s installation as duke of Brabant would offer them salvation from the Spanish. This was not to be the case, and, just over two years after the Antwerp entry, both Anjou and Orange would be dead. Leicester’s military expedition of 1585 to 1587 began in triumph: the earl was hailed by the Dutch as a second William of Orange and proclaimed Absolute Governor-General of the Netherlands, a title which finally bestowed upon him the princely status he had long craved. These events, and the optimism of early 1586, were themselves commemorated in a festival publication: Delineatio Pompae Triumphalis, a sequence of twelve etchings commemorating Leicester’s entries into the cities of Dordrecht, Rotterdam, Delft, and The Hague in the first three months of 1586.58 But ultimately this military expedition failed to live up to the high expectations of both Leicester and the Dutch. In late 1587, after a series of tactical blunders both on and off the battlefield, the earl was recalled to England, where he died the following year. Golding’s text is a poignant testament to both the optimism and the sense of urgency of the early 1580s, when Leicester and other Protestants at the Elizabethan court believed that victory over Spain could be theirs in the Netherlands. University of Warwick

56 

In some extant copies of the 1587 Chronicles, however, portions of Golding’s text describing Anjou’s departure from England have been castrated, apparently in response to the Privy Council’s order that the work be recalled and reformed. See Goldring and Archer, ‘Shows and Pageants’. 57  The lone surviving copy is now in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, Bodl. Libr., Douce M 455(2)). Although there was clearly once an inscription on the title-page, it is now too heavily cropped to be read. An inscription on the front pastedown reads, ‘John Baynes / Grays Inn / 1782’. The volume subsequently formed part of Francis Douce’s 1834 bequest to the Bodleian. I am grateful to Dr Alan Coates of the Bodleian for this information. 58  See Strong and Van Dorsten, Leicester’s Triumph.

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Resources, and Rare Books Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 60 Antwerpen, Museum Plantin Moretus, Arch. 61 London, British Library, 156.l.32 —— , 156.l.33 —— , C.22.c.12 —— , C.46.i.8(2) —— , 576.m.1(2) —— , 716.k.6(5) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce M 455(2)

Primary Sources Actes du consistoire de l’Église française de Threadneedle Street, Londres, ed. by Anne M. Oakley and Elsie Johnston, Publications of the Huguenot Society, 38, 48, 2 vols (London: Butler & Tanner, 1937–69), ii: 1571–1577, ed. by Anne M. Oakley (1969) Bullinger, Heinrich, A Confutation of the Popes Bull […] against Elizabeth, trans. by Arthur Golding (London: Day, 1572) A Calendar of the Inner Temple Records, ed. by Frederick A. Inderwick, 5 vols (London: Masters of the Bench, 1896–1936) Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, ed. by Joseph Stevenson and others, 23 vols in 26 (London: HMSO, 1863–1950), xv: January 1581–April 1582, ed. by Arthur John Butler (1907) Correspondance diplomatique de Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe Fénélon, ambassadeur de France en Angleterre de 1568 à 1575, ed. by Jean B. A. T. Teulet, 7 vols (Paris: Panckoucke, 1838–1840), v (1840) Correspondance inédite de Robert Dudley, comte de Leycester, et de François et Jean Hotman, ed. by Peter J. Blok, Archives du Musée Teyler, 2nd ser., 12 (Haarlem: Les Héritiers Loosjes, 1911) Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Bath Preserved at Longleat, Wiltshire, ed. by James J. Cartwright and others, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 58, 5 vols (London: HMSO, 1904–80), v: Talbot, Dudley and Devereux Papers, ed. by Geraint Dyfnallt Owen (1980) Delineatio Pompae Triumphalis ([Den Haag]: [n. pub.], 1586) Golding, Arthur, The joyful and royal entertainment of the ryght high and mightie Prince, Frauncis the Frenche Kings only brother, by the grace of God Duke of Brabande, Anjow, Aláunson, &c. into his noble Citie of Antwerpe (London: Dawson for Ponsonby, 1582) La Joyeuse & magnifique entrée de Monseigneur Françoys, Fils de France, et frere unique du Roy par la grace de Dieu, Duc de Brabant d’Anjou Alencon, Berri, &c. en sa très re­ nommée ville d’Anvers (Antwerp: Plantin, 1582)

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A justification or cleering of the prince of Orendge agaynst the false sclaunders, trans. by Arthur Golding (London: Day, 1575) Nichols, John, John Nichols’s ‘The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth I’: A New Edition of the Early Modern Sources, ed. by Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Clarke, and Elizabeth Goldring, 5 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forth­ coming) —— , Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth […] (London: Nichols, 1788; repr. 1823) ‘Ordonnantien van het Antwerpsch magistraat, rakende de godsdienstige geschillen der xvie eeuw’, ed. by P. Génard, Antwerpsch Archievenblad, 3 (1966), 1–463 Ovid, The Fyrst Fower Bookes of […] [the] […] ‘Metamorphoses’, trans. by Arthur Golding (London: Seres, 1565) —— , The xv. Bookes of P. Ovidius Naso, entytuled ‘Metamorphosis’, trans. by Arthur Golding (London: Seres, 1567) The Plantin Press (1555–1589): A Bibliography of the Works Printed and Published by Christopher Plantin at Antwerp and Leiden, ed. by Leon Voet with Jenny VoetGrisolle, 6 vols (Amsterdam: Van Hoeve, 1980–83) Sermons of Master John Calvin, upon the Booke of Iob, trans. by Arthur Golding (London: Binneman for Harison and Bishop, 1574) A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475–1640, ed. by Alfred W. Pollard and Gilbert R. Redgrave, rev. by William A. Jackson, Frederic S. Ferguson, and Katharine F. Panzer, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976) A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554–1640 a.d., ed. by Edward Arber, 5 vols (London: privately printed, 1875–94)

Secondary Studies Aldis, H. G., and others, eds, A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of Foreign Printers of English Books, 1557–1640 (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1910; repr. 1968) Backus, Irene, ‘Pierre l’Oiseleur’s Connections with England in the Sixteenth Century’, Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, 22 (1975), 411–48 Bowen, Karen L., and Dirk Imhof, Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) Considine, John, ‘Golding, Arthur (1535/6–1606)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), [accessed 24 June 2012] Davidson, Peter, ‘Preface: Festivals in the Netherlands’, in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen WatanabeO’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), i, 465 Doran, Susan, Monarchy and Matrimony: The Courtships of Elizabeth I (London: Routledge, 1996)

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Goldring, Elizabeth, ‘The Funeral of Sir Philip Sidney and the Politics of Elizabethan Festival’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Performance, ed. by J. R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 199–224 —— , ‘Gascoigne and Kenilworth: The Production, Reception, and Afterlife of The Princely Pleasures’, in New Essays on George Gascoigne, ed. by Gillian Austen (New York: AMS, forthcoming) —— , Painting and Patronage at the Elizabethan Court: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and his World (New Haven: Yale University Press, forthcoming) —— , ‘A Portrait of Sir Philip Sidney by Veronese at Leicester House, London’, Burlington Magazine, 154 (2012), 548–54 —— , and Jayne Elisabeth Archer, ‘Shows and Pageants in Holinshed’s Chronicles’, in The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed’s Chronicles, ed. by Paulina Kewes, Ian Archer, and Felicity Heal (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming) Holt, Mack P., The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle During the Wars of Religion, Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986; repr. 2002) Jones, David Lewis, ‘Herle, William (d. 1588/9)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Bio­ graphy (Oxford University Press, 2004), [accessed 24 June 2012] Peters, Emily J., ‘Den gheheelen loop des weerelts (The Whole Course of the World): Printed Processions and the Theater of Identity in Antwerp during the Dutch Revolt’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California–Santa Barbara, 2005) —— , ‘Printing Ritual: The Performance of Community in Christopher Plantin’s La Joyeuse & Magnifique Entrée de Monseigneur Francoys […] d’Anjou’, Renaissance Quar­ terly, 61 (2008), 370–413 Roberts, R. Julian, ‘The Latin Trade’, in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, ed. by John Barnard, David C. McKitterick, and Ian R. Wilson, 7 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), iv: 1557–1695, ed. by John Barnard and D. F. McKenzie, with the assistance of Maureen Bell (2002), pp. 141–73 —— , ‘Renialme, Ascanius de (c. 1550–1600)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), [accessed 24 June 2012] Rosenberg, Eleanor, Leicester, Patron of Letters (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955) Spicer, Andrew, ‘Loiseleur, Pierre (1530–1590)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Bio­graphy (Oxford University Press, 2006), [accessed 24 June 2012] Strong, Roy C., and Jan A. van Dorsten, Leicester’s Triumph (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1964) Swart, Koenraad W., William of Orange and the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1572–84, ed. by Raymond P. Fagel, M. E. H. Nicolette Mout, and Henk F. K. van Nierop, trans. by J. Chris Grayson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003)

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Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ‘Early Modern European Festivals: Politics and Performance, Event and Record’, in Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics, and Performance, ed. by J.  R. Mulryne and Elizabeth Goldring (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 15–25 —— , ‘The Early Modern Festival Book: Function and Form’, in Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, ed. by J. R. Mulryne, Helen WatanabeO’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (London: Ashgate, 2004), i, 3–17 Yates, Frances A., The Valois Tapestries (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959; repr. 1975)

A Question of Authenticity: Pierre Matthieu, Creator of Entries and Historiographer Royal Margaret M. McGowan

L

ike most historians, Pierre Matthieu claimed to tell the truth, unadulterated: ‘une histoire crue, nue et véritable’, especially to a prince — Henri IV — who possessed that rare quality of expecting to be told the truth toute simple et toute nue.1 His claims regarding authentic reporting were as adamant in his historical writing as in his accounts of the royal entries which he devised for Henri IV’s visit to Lyons in 1595 and of his Queen in 1600. The year 1595 was significant for Matthieu: in that year he was appointed historiographer royal and he published his first narration of a royal event, which he was anxious to make worthy of his new role. In the account of L’Entrée du très grand, très magnifique et victorieux prince Henri IIII, Matthieu sought to gain the reader’s confidence, inviting him to believe in its authenticity by admitting a number of flaws in the realization of his symbolic and artistic conception. He details the monuments that were not built for lack of time and the decorations which were incomplete; yet those lost structures are described in full so that although the spectator on the day would have noted their absence, the reader of Matthieu’s narration receives an impression of their presence so palpable that the experience of a unified whole is paramount.2

1 

Matthieu, ‘Au Roy’, in Matthieu, Histoire des derniers troubles de France, sig. A.iij. Matthieu’s three accounts of royal festivities which form the basis of this essay are Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre; Matthieu, L’Accueil de Madame de la Guiche à Lyon; and Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] Princesse, Marie de Médicis. 2 

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How then are we to assess the evidence? We have learned to treat assertions of honest intent with justified caution, particularly when narrators of royal entries themselves draw attention to the widespread custom of inflating their significance. Allard, for instance, at the beginning of his account of the royal entry into Toulouse in 1621, pens this remarkable passage: Mon dessein ni mon ambition n’est de faire en la description de l’entrée du Roy en sa ville de Tolose, ce que fait la pluspart de ceux qui escrivent sur de semblables matieres, qui desguisent, changent et augmentent tellement les premieres inventions qu’à peine leur laissent-ils le nom qu’on leur avoit donné, et au lieu d’estaler une veritable image de l’appareil de ces pompes, exposent aux yeux du monde des chasteaux de Diane et des arcs d’Apollidon.3 (Neither my design nor my ambition is to offer an account of the king’s entry into Toulouse as is done by most of those who write on such matters, for they disguise, change, and exaggerate to such an extent the first ideas that they scarcely deserve the name given to them; and, instead of providing a true image of the spectacle of these celebrations, they offer to the world castles for the goddess Diana or arches worthy of Apolidon.)

He will tell the truth while others create castles in the air. Moreover, the issue of authenticity in this domain is further complicated by the fact that sovereign power and royal entries were closely linked in contemporary minds. It has been shown, for example, that Henri IV’s entry into Paris in 1594 represented the sacralization of the sovereign power and a mode of legitimizing his royal authority.4 Of Matthieu himself, subsequent writers were highly critical: his writing was flowery declared Charles Sorel; Moréri agreed, castigating his metaphores affectées (exaggerated metaphors), his oversupply of examples and citations; while Lenguet du Fresnoy congratulated him on being a compilateur judicieux (scrupulous compiler), an assessment which would not have disappointed Matthieu.5 3 

Cited in Wagner, Vaillancourt, and Méchoulan, ‘L’Entrée dans Toulouse’, p. 626. See the discussion in Ramsey, ‘The Ritual Meaning of Henry IV’s 1594 Parisian Entry’, and Finley-Croswhite, Henry IV and the Towns, pp. 49–56. For a general assessment of fact and fiction in Renaissance ceremonial texts see McGowan, ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance’; and McGowan, ‘Apology, Justification and Monuments to Posterity’. 5  Moréri has gathered together earlier remarks on Matthieu; he ends his assessment thus: ‘Sa manière d’écrire est assez singuliere; car pour rendre son style fleuri et élégant, il a rempli son discours de métaphores affectées, de citations et d’exemples tirés des anciens historiens et des poètes’ (This way of writing is rather singular: because in order to make his style elegant and flowery, he has filled his discourse with exaggerated metaphors, and with citations and examples taken from ancient historians and poets), Moréri, Le Grand dictionnaire historique, ed. by Drouet, vii (1759), pp. 349–50. 4 

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Equal caution must be exercised in assessing the evidence surrounding the royal entries themselves. For the 1600 entry into Lyons, for instance, contemporary evidence is hardly convincing: Matthieu admitted that the Queen understood none of the speeches; de Thou maintained that she entered at night and could not see the monuments which had been erected à la hâte (at speed); and Philippe Hurault recorded that the event had been de long temps préparée (long prepared).6 Such contradictions imply — what we all know — that we shall never be able to reconstruct a faithful representation of such occasions; and yet they remain significant historical and cultural events. Let me turn to Pierre Matthieu himself. Matthieu had demonstrated an early concern with drawing moral and political lessons from history in his five tragedies of 1589 which were explicitly conceived to reflect current affairs and to offer advice. His first tragedy, Vasthi (1589), for example, dedicated to the duc de Nemours, governor of Lyons, set out to expose ‘les tristes effects de l’orgueil et desobeissance […] [et] la louange d’une monarchie bien ordonnée’ (the sad effects of pride and disobedience […] [and] praise of a well-ordered monarchy).7 Matthieu’s interpretation of his role as deviser of royal entries was similar and it is interesting to note that he planned his vast Histoire de France in the very months that he designed the 1595 royal entry.8 The political potential of royal entries was immense, and Matthieu, the town council, and royal advisers exploited this to the full in 1595 and 1600. Town councillors were anxious to demonstrate their joy and fidelity to the new monarch, representing their city as ‘un roc de fermeté […] un azyle des affligez’ (a rock of strength […] and a haunt for the afflicted), keen to effect a reconciliation with the victorious monarch whose papal absolution was publicly declared in the very month he entered Lyons in 1595. The speeches and symbolism on the temporary monuments recognized Henri IV audibly and visually as the vive image de Dieu (true image of God), the legitimate successor to the throne of France — an assertion made concrete in the present offered to the king by the city: his likeness in gold seated on a royal throne: ‘son effigie d’or en un throsne royal’ (his golden effigy seated on a regal throne). Five years later, the first sight presented to Maria 6 

De Thou, Histoire universelle, xii (1734), p. 560; Hurault, Mémoires, ed. by Michaud and Poujoulat, p. 604. 7  Aman, his second tragedy, published in the same year, focused on la perfidie et trahison (perfidy and betrayal), while Clytemnestre (1589), dedicated to Nemour’s brother, Henry de Savoye, concentrated on vengeance and on the ill effects of volupté (uncontrolled passion). The tragedies were all published in Lyons by Benoist Rigaud, in 1589. 8  In Matthieu, Histoire de France (1605), sig. A, Matthieu makes it clear that its design had been conceived ‘il y a plus de dix ans’ (more than ten years ago).

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de’ Medici was a huge theatre perspective depicting the beauties and greatness of her new country; the political intent is made quite clear in the text: ‘il étoit dressé àfin que […] la Royne vit tout le Royaume’ (it was erected in order that the queen might see the whole of her kingdom) (fol. 27v). Thus entries were seen as a part of history and as an agency for propaganda, responsibilities which necessarily impinge on our assessment of the authenticity of their record. From Matthieu’s narrations and from the extant records in the municipal archives, we have a good sense of what went into each festival occasion.9 Matthieu’s scrupulous writing reveals the short time scale allowed for preparation; the hurry, the bustle, and the complications of organizing and controlling a crowd of workmen, artists, and contributors; the tricky task of contenting the ambitions of the Town Council; the scale of the operation; and the adherence to traditional demands and expectations. It is amazing that anything coherent emerged in such a context. In 1595, 1598, and 1600, detailed archival records corroborate Matthieu’s accounts. For the entry of the Governor’s new wife Madame de Guiche (1598), Matthieu received two hundred écus for ‘having devised, organized and conducted all the works and for the printing of text and images’. Other payments show how he instructed Jacques Perrissin, peintre de la ville, in the detail of the structures that had to be decorated, including the painting of cupids inspired from Philostratus.10 In 1595, the work and the themes had been more complex as Matthieu had liaised with two well-known painters whose knowledge and experience ensured ‘ce que la peinture et l’architecture a de plus rare’ (that the painting and the architecture were of the most exquisite). That of 1600 required an even greater effort. According to the archives, for three hundred écus, Matthieu had worked for a fortnight, night and day without intermission, designing and explaining all the symbolism to the artists, composing inscriptions, seeing the published record through the press, supervising the work of engineers and poets. A larger contingent of artists was needed; in addition to Perrisson, there was Jean Magnan (an old hand in the creation of temporary civic structures), Frans Stella and David Varin, Christophe de la Haye (son of the celebrated portrait painter Corneille de Lyons), and Monsieur Berthaud, the city’s chief architect. All were frantically busy, employed in the production of scenes of celebration and triumph which Matthieu abundantly described in his texts. 9  Much information from the municipal archives in Lyons was published by Péricaud, Notes et documents pour servir à l’histoire de Lyon, and by Cochard, Séjours d’Henri IV à Lyon. 10  Philostratus was a major source for creators of ceremonial festivities, see Les Images ou tableaux, trans. by de Vigenère.

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But what of the nature and status of these texts? First, it must be said that physically they are strange creatures, scarcely coherent. They represent elaborate collages where assembled together are, for instance, histories of Florence in 1600, or the analysis of the reasons for wars between France and the House of Austria which formed the first sixty-four pages in the 1595 account, as though Matthieu was uniquely concerned with history. Or, there are elaborate genealogies: those of the House of Bourbon and its attachment to the Hercules legend in 1595, and twenty pages of discourse on the House of Medici in 1600, as if Matthieu felt the need to justify and explain the King’s legitimacy or the new alliance he was cementing with the Medici. The texts seem multi-authored, sprinkled as they are with devices from Symeoni, learned inscriptions from Pierio and Lipsius, poems and epigrams from Du Bartas, Scaliger, and Desportes, with symbols and images inspired by classical and mythological traditions. This assortment of writers contrasts sharply with Matthieu’s own statements about the defined style appropriate to accounts of royal entries. His 1595 text, for example, published at the King’s request, is (Matthieu asserts) a history: ‘une histoire non un recueil d’architecture ou de perspective’ (a history and not a volume of architecture or of perspective).11 It is not, he says, conceived as a dazzling offering with flashy gold borders or pages filled with pictures. On the contrary, Matthieu argues, his book strives to give the essence: ‘le vif et la moüelle, le suc et la substance’ (the life and the marrow, the juice and substance). Anything else is wind and bubble. Despite such claims, Matthieu’s conception of the entry and his depiction of it in print relied heavily on visual projection. Painted action, an ‘illusion of presence’, was required whether he prepared a panegyric on Henri IV comme un tableau (as a painting),12 or represented his achievements with the detail delineated as though he were, as he put it, a geographer drawing a map of the King’s life.13 11  Matthieu, ‘Aux Lecteurs’, in Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, sig. +3. 12  Matthieu’s account of Henri IV’s death begins thus: ‘Voicy un estrange traject, d’un Triomphe à un Tombeau. J’avois préparé ce Discours comme un Tableau, des plus memorables actions du Roy, et desirois de l’achever par les plus grands effects que l’on esperoit de ceste puissante armée qui estoit sur sa frontière: mais en un moment, toutes mes pensées furent renversées’ (I had prepared this discourse as a painting, putting in the most memorable deeds of the king, and I wanted to finish it with the most splendid effects that all hoped for from that powerful army which was on the frontier: but, in a moment, all my thoughts were turned upside down), Matthieu, Histoire de la mort deplorable de Henri IIII, fol. 91. 13  Matthieu, Panegyre, p. 13, ‘il faut parler des actions de ce Roy à la façon des Geographes’ (one must speak of the king’s deeds as if one were a geographer).

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Matthieu was conscious of the complexity of history and of the difficulties of rendering simultaneous action in words. Hence his frequent recourse to symbolic images where meaning had been built up over time and radiated multi-level significances, or to painted tableaux such as on the ninth arch at Lyons in 1595 where the victories at Arques, Ivry, and Dijon were depicted. The text supplements the images, increasing their power of representing action, and detailing the military encounters at these cities, re-enacting the excitement, and projecting the energy of the King in battle: ‘Ce foudre de guerre […] bouillonnant d’une genereuse envie de voir tout, de faire tout, d’estre partout’ (This thunder of war […] boiling with a generous desire to see everything, to do everything, and to be everywhere).14 Thus, Henri IV had passed from troop to troop, inspiring them, animating their courage, exhorting them by his majestic presence filled alike with spirit and constancy. In these enthusiastic depictions of the King in action, has Matthieu, in other respects a very self-conscious writer, let his pen run away with him? In his accounts of royal entries and other festival occasions, he was aware of the impression he was creating and of his readers’ assumptions and expectations. His readers were, according to him, hommes d’entendement (men of understanding), who anticipated works which displayed knowledge of the festival traditions, erudite references to appropriate myths and symbols, and the proper use of classical architectural terms and forms. All this Matthieu provided. Indeed he was anxious to produce work worthy of royal and civic occasions, apologizing in 1598 (for instance) for the coming of Madame de Guiche, that time had necessitated simplicity in design whereas he recognized that they expected de fermes et haultes imaginations (strong and lofty ideas). For the fêtes celebrating the Peace of Vervins in the same year, he had sought distinction by constructing a unique and remarkable Tower of Confusion, made up of twenty statues representing the evils of War. He was proud of this unusual invention, setting a high premium on novelty. Consciously, Matthieu set aside the usual elements used to depict victory over armed force. Instead, he had composed a structure of war and confusion, erected by Discord and peopled with twenty statues representing the most dire pestilence that can invade a State. Each statue held in its hand a firebrand which, at a signal, blazed forth in flames and caused each to self destruct.15 His conceptions for the 1595 14 

Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, p. 43. Matthieu’s description of this ‘belle, grande, haute et judicieuse structure’ (beautiful, large, high, and well-balanced structure) is given in full in Matthieu, Histoire de France (1605), fols 43–44, where he carefully hides the name of the author. The cost was prodigious — two thousand écus. 15 

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entry were similarly wrought with something original in mind. At the beginning of his published account, he reviewed a host of examples of triumphal entries from the ancients and the moderns, determined to avoid imitating them and to ensure that his own inspiration alone would dominate the themes and structures displayed.16 Any reminsicence of earlier examples was, he maintained, accidental ‘par heur et hazard que par dessein et recherche’ (by luck or hazard rather than by design or through research). In such a context where the inventor strove to outdo his predecessors in originality of design, our ability to distinguish between authentic reporting and conscious rewriting becomes more problematic. In each narration, Matthieu appears to be honest about its shortcomings. For Madame de Guiche, he noted the great gap between his plans and their realization: ‘il y a une grande distance entre ce qui s’est faict et ce qui se devoit faire’ (there is an enormous distance between what was done and what ought to have been done).17 In 1595, he listed five structures which remained imperfect or were not erected at all because of time pressures; and in 1600, he lamented that the arch dedicated to Beauty and the vast canvas depicting all the gods at the marriage of Hercules and Hebe could not be witnessed by the spectators. Commendable honesty perhaps and an evident concern to record a truthful account of what was seen. Yet Matthieu included the missing monuments in the engraved pullouts for his accounts of 1595 and 1600. Moreover, he describes their absence in such detail that their presence is made tangible to the reader. For example, in the marriage picture presided over by Jupiter, Apollo is shown controlling the banquet; Diana, her nymphs, Bacchus, Ceres, and Minerva are all present to enjoy the pyrrhic dances put on by Mars, the Harlequinades, and Comedies arranged by Mercury.18 After a full description of this celestial entertainment, Matthieu asserts: ‘la veüe eust trouvée en ce tableau du plaisir et l’entendement de la curiosité’ (spectators would have seen in this painting both the pleasure and the understanding brought through curiosity). In this way, he maintained the completeness of his invention while also asserting the unfinished nature of many spectacles, and gave his reader a more substantial impression than that received by the spectator on the day. When an entire structure was created, in describing its form and decoration, Matthieu frequently went beyond a simple projection of the image. The fifty-foot arch erected at the town gate in 1595 was, he asserted, ‘d’une belle et ingenieuse 16 

Sixteen ancient authors are cited and over forty examples of more recent triumphs are listed (Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, pp. 3–4). 17  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, p. 5. 18  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] Princesse, Marie de Médicis, fol. 67v.

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architecture’ (a piece of splendid and ingenious architecture) with noble Doric and Ionic columns. Statues of Alexander, Caesar, and Henri IV rose above its structure, inviting this comment from the inventor: while the two ancient military heroes serve as useful parallels in order to articulate the greatness of Henri IV’s deeds, they are, in fact, mere shadows alongside the French monarch, since it had been overweaning ambition that had guided their actions, in contrast to Henri IV who had performed his military miracles for the good of his subjects and his State.19 From such observations, it was easy for Matthieu to slip into hyperbole. In another place, along the route in 1595 for example, the King confronted a statue of Hercules prompting this comment: ‘on ne sçauroit mal parler d’Hercule ny faire triomphe sans l’effigie d’Hercule’ (one cannot speak ill of Hercules, nor can one construct a triumph without an effigy of Hercules). In his 1605 Histoire, Matthieu explained further: ‘ce prince, c’est louer les gestes d’Hercule’ (this prince, is tantamount to praise of the deeds of Hercules), warning us that what we might interpret as the language of excess, or of brash flattery, was, in fact, the style appropriate to the French monarch.20 I shall return to heightened expressions of the truth in a moment. It is helpful to differentiate between the central preoccupations in the diverse fêtes of 1595, 1598, and 1600, for these determined the particular style of each account. The symbolism for the 1595 entry and for the peace celebrations three years later was anchored in current military and political events, every image and every poem and inscription designed to expose the ravages of wars on the one hand and to extol the glories of victory on the other. Both the narrations and the monuments were crowded with pertinent references. The entries of Madame de Guiche (1598) and of Maria de’ Medici (1600) are quite different. The images here 19  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, p. 26: ‘Et puis la valeur de César et d’Alexandre estoit une valeur esguisée de la plus violente ambition qui iamais saisit une ame, l’un pour ruiner son pays, l’autre pour s’attribuer en terre les honneurs tous divins. Et celle du Roy n’a voulu rencontrer autre sugget que la grandeur de la France, la deffence de ses subiects, la conservation des loix fondamentales de cest Estat’ (And then the valour of Caesar or Alexander was a valour sharpened by the most violent ambition which had ever taken over a soul, the one to ruin his country, the other to acquire on earth all divine honours. While that of the king wished for no other subject than the greatness of France, the defence of his subjects and the conservation of the fundamental laws of this state). 20  Matthieu, Histoire de France (1605), sig. A ij: ‘on dira que ie loüe le Roy, et que ie le flatte. Cela est vray, si les pures louanges sont flatterie […]. Et en conscience, qui peut dire mal d’un Roy qui a si bien faict ? On ne sçauroit mal parler d’Hercule’ (one would say that I praise the king and that I flatter him. This is true, if pure praise is flattery […]. And in conscience, who could speak ill of a king who has acted so well? One would not speak ill of Hercules).

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were directly associated with marriage themes; they were simple in conception and relatively few in number. However, as if to make up for this apparent paucity of inspiration, Matthieu stuffed his text with learned explanations. In 1598, for instance, Juno’s peacocks, representing harmony and perfect amity in marriage, are festooned with meanings developed in verses borrowed from Du Bartas, citations from Ovid’s Fasti, images from Philostratus, and symbols taken from Plato and Homer. In 1600, the display of erudition was even more outrageous. Matthieu explained the two depictions of the goddess Diana on the portal in front of the Église St Nizier by reference to Homer and Diodorus, to Plato, and to Aristotle. The elucidation of the picture on the Portal du Pont, showing the games of cupids at the engagement of Boethians and at the wedding of Roxane and Alexander, was based on texts borrowed from Philostratus, Theophrastus, and Scaliger, while the symbolic meanings attached to cupids’ playthings (their apples, torches, branches of laurel, lamps and so on) are analysed with reference to authorities such as Plutarch, Pliny, Aelian, and Oppian. In these examples, Matthieu has left behind both history and straight factual reporting; in their place, he has provided a dazzling display of his erudite credentials. It is no wonder that Rubens found in this text ample inspiration for his great series of paintings celebrating the union of Maria and Henri IV, a spectacle now displayed in purpose-designed space in the Louvre. As both historiographer royal and creator of festivals, it is not surprising that Matthieu perceived close connections between the writing of history and the reporting of special events. He recognized that royal entries constituted active lessons in History. The work of 1595, for example, was part of the process of recognition of Henri IV as legitimate monarch, with its evocation of the King in action and his heightened image reflected in the language and forms of classical triumphs which gave them dignity and support. When Matthieu wrote history he stressed his objectivity: ‘I have added nothing of my own’, he asserted, as he accumulated evidence from the papers of the principal state officials.21 In his festival texts, he similarly accumulated facts and images, claiming to offer a register of structures with their meaning, a picture of what happened, warts and all. The same methodology, that of accumulation, was used to compel the reader to agree with the account he projected. Since he recycled facts from official archives, and assembled images and facts which he had himself seen and created, it followed 21 

See Privilège to the posthumous edition of Matthieu, Histoire de France (1631), i, which stresses how the historian had based his findings on ‘tous les principaux Memoires qui estoient és mains des principaux officiers de cet Estat’ (all the principal memoirs which were in the hands of the chief officers of this State).

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that recipients of his texts would be persuaded of their truth. Yet Matthieu was mindful of the hindrances that lay in the way of telling the truth, about which he declared himself to be passionate at the beginning of each festival account, and in his Suite de l’Histoire de France (1612), where he spelt out his passion de la vérité (passion for truth).22 At the back of his mind lay de Thou’s acute observation: ‘les grands sont trop délicats pour que je puisse leur plaire en disant la vérité’ (the great are too sensitive for me to please them by speaking the truth).23 Christian Biet has rightly baptized each description of a princely entry as a rewriting, as a shift from the ephemeral spectacle to a text / monument which stands as a permanent witness to a transitory experience, as a mode of transcending the actual event and signifying a higher value.24 Matthieu himself, in his preface to the 1595 text, urged his reader to store his book as though it were a token / medal: une medaille de bonheur, he wrote, in other words as a memorial; or (he continued) preserve it as a tapestry: ‘une tapisserie de ces derniers troubles et les merveilles de la valeur du roy’ (a tapestry of these late troubles and the marvels of the King’s valour), that is, as a pictorial history of recent civil strife and of the King’s personal courage and clemency.25 In his address to the king, he described his text as a discourse: ‘un discours où les plus belles actions de vostre valeur et bonheur sont representées’ (an account of glorious deeds in a manner appropriate to them).26 In later writing, such as André Duchesne’s Les antiquitez […] de la grandeur des roys de France (1609), where the author argues strongly for the political necessity of magnificence, Matthieu’s text became an integral part of the story as established testimony to a signal event.27 22 

In the ‘Advertissement’ to the 1612 edition of his Suite de l’Histoire de France, Matthieu declared, ‘C’est que je n’ay en tout ce dessein autre passion que celle de la vérité’ (In this design, I have had no other concern but to tell the truth) (Matthieu, Suite de l’Histoire de France, i, sig. A iiij). 23  De Thou, Histoire universelle, xiv, 331. 24  Biet, ‘Les Monstres aux pieds d’Hercule’. 25  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, sig. +3: ‘Gardez ce livre comme une médaille de bonheur de ce grand Alexandre François. Usez en comme d’une riche tapisserie’ (Preserve this book as a happiness medal from the great French Alexander. Use it like a rich tapestry). 26  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, sig. +2. 27  The appropriateness of Matthieu’s text to Du Chesne’s argument can be seen from a passage in ‘To the Reader’, ‘Les statues érigées à la memoire des grands hommes, leur Vertu peinte és Histoires, et leurs noms gravez dans le marbre et le porphire: és Pyramides et Obelisques, és Arcs triomphaux, ne servent pas seulement à combattre le temps pour l’immortalité de leur gloire, et empescher qu’elle ne descende dans le tombeau, mais encore à enflammer la postérité

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Matthieu was aware not only of the shortcomings of the festivals he created but also of the inadequacies of his pen to transmit fully the delicate beauties rendered by art. Full significance could only be achieved by image and word together, or by so controlling the narrative that the reader, long after the event, had the illusion that he is present.28 In his Histoire, too, Matthieu had explicitly recognized the difficulty of displaying, on the same canvas of narration, simultaneous events. This facility was accorded the painter who could represent in ‘un mesme Tableau […] à la veüe divers objets, et montre tout à la fois ce qui s’est fait separément en un mesme temps, et en divers lieux’ (the same painting […] the sight of diverse objects, and show at the same time what was done separately, and in the same time but in diverse places’).29 As Philip Benedict has shown, the power of images was thoroughly recognized by the end of the sixteenth century, and they were increasingly used as part of the king’s propaganda arsenal.30 By way of conclusion, let us consider the column erected in 1595 to resemble Trajan’s column in Rome.31 It was decorated all around with images showing the most remarkable happenings of recent times, the historical events spanning the years 1588–95, from the siege of Tours to the reduction of cities to the king’s authority. Each of the ten series of pictures encircling the column is explained by four lines of verse, and they thus stand forth as a marble monument inscribed with meaning. They constitute a living statement of the king’s achievements so far, and the column, in its formal perfection — a visual reminiscence of ancient triumphs — seems to transcend the events it celebrates. Authentic commemoration in royal entries required such uplifting as a matter of course.32 [University of Sussex] aux belles actions, par une honneste jalousie de leur réputation’ (Statues erected to the memory of great men, their valour painted in histories, their names engraved in marble and porphyry: on pyramids and on obelisks, on triumphal arches, not only serve to overcome time with their immortal glory and to prevent it from descending into the tomb, but it also enflames posterity to good deeds, through honest envy of their reputation), Du Chesne, Les Antiquités et recherches […] des roys de France, not paginated. 28  On the ‘quasi-Presence’ created by the narrator, see Bolduc, ‘In Fumo dare lucem’. 29  Matthieu, Histoire de France (1631), ii, 65. 30  Benedict, Graphic History, pp. 196–97. 31  For the use of Roman monuments in France at this period, see , The Vision of Rome, esp. pp. 129–86, 283–342. 32  Noted in Bryant, ‘From Communal Ritual to Royal Spectacle’. For the problematic ‘I’ of the narrator in English ceremonial entries, see Bergeron, ‘Thomas Churchyard and the 1578 Norwich Pageant’.

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Works Cited Primary Sources Du Chesne, André, Les Antiquités et recherches de la grandeur et majesté des roys de France, divisées en trois livres (Paris: Petit-Pas, 1609) Hurault, Philippe, Mémoires, ed. by Joseph F. Michaud and Jean J. F. Poujoulat, Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir a l’historie de France, 1st ser., 10 (Paris: Everat, 1838) Matthieu, Pierre, L’Accueil de Madame de la Guiche à Lyon, lundy vingt-septiesme d’avril m. d. xcviii (Lyon: Roussini, 1598) —— , L’Entrée de très grand, très magnifique et victorieux prince Henri IIII Roy de France et de Navarre, le 4 septembre, 1595 (Lyon: Michel, 1595) —— , L’Entrée de très-grande, très chrestienne, et très-auguste Princesse, Marie de Médicis royne de France et de Navarre, en la ville de Lyon, 4 decembre, 1600 (Lyon: Ancelin, 1601) —— , Histoire des derniers troubles de France (Paris: Bonaventure, 1597) —— , Histoire de France et des choses memorables advenues aux provinces estrangeres durant sept annees de paix, du Regne de Henry IIII Roy de France & de Navarre, 2 vols (Paris: Metayer, 1605) —— , Histoire de France soubs les règnes François I, Henry II, François II, Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, Louys XIII: et des choses plus memorables advenuës aux autres estats de la Chrestienté depuis cent ans, 2 vols (Paris: Claude Sonnius, 1631) —— , Histoire de la mort deplorable de Henri IIII, Roy de France et de Navarre (Paris: Guillemot, 1611) —— , Panegyre, in Histoire de la mort deplorable de Henri IIII, Roy de France et de Navarre (Paris: Guillemot, 1611), pp. 1–90 —— , Suite de l’Histoire de France (Paris: Guillemot, 1612) Moréri, Louis, Le Grand dictionnaire historique: uu le mêlange curieux de l’histoire sacrée et profane, ed. by Étienne François Drouet, 10 vols (Paris: Libraires associés, 1759) Péricaud, Marc Antoine, Notes et documents pour servir à l’histoire de Lyon, 1594 à 1643, 8 vols (Lyon: Mougin-Rusant, 1838–46) Vigenère, Blaise de, trans., Les Images ou tableaux de platte peinture de Philostrate lemnien Sophiste grec, 2 vols (Paris: Chesneau, 1578)

Secondary Studies Benedict, Philip, Graphic History: The Wars, Massacres, and Troubles of Tortorel and Perrissin, Travaux d’humanisme et Renaissance, 431 (Genève: Droz, 2007) Bergeron, David, ‘The “I” of the Beholder: Thomas Churchyard and the 1578 Norwich Pageant’, in The Progresses, Pageants, and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I, ed. by Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, and Sarah Knight (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 142–59

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Biet, Christian, ‘Les Monstres aux pieds d’Hercule: ambiguïtés et enjeux des entrées royales ou L’Encomiastique peut-elle casser les briques  ?’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 383–403 Bolduc, Benoît, ‘In Fumo dare lucem: les Triomphes faictz à l’entrée du Roy à Chenonceau (1559/60)’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 163–88 Bryant, Lawrence M., ‘From Communal Ritual to Royal Spectacle: Some Observations on the Staging of Royal Entries (1450–1600)’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 207–46 Cochard, N.-F., Séjours d’Henri IV à Lyon pendant les années 1564, 1574, 1595 et 1600, suivis des anecdotes les plus remarquables de sa vie (Lyon: Millon jeune, 1827) Finley-Croswhite, S. Annette, Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1598–1610 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) McGowan, Margaret M., ‘Apology, Justification and Monuments to Posterity: Le Recueil des Inscriptions (1558) and L’Entrée de la Reine Marie de Médicis dans Paris (1610)’, in Texte et représentation: les arts du spectacle (xvie–xviiie siècles), ed. by Benoît Bolduc (Toronto: Trintexte, 2004), pp. 83–104 —— , ‘The French Royal Entry in the Renaissance: The Status of the Printed Text’, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin, Essays and Studies, 11 (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 15–28 —— , The Vision of Rome in Late Renaissance France (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) Ramsey, Ann W., ‘The Ritual Meaning of Henry IV’s 1594 Parisian Entry’, in French Cere­ monial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, ed. by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007), pp. 189–206 Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, Histoire universelle, depuis 1543, jusqu’en 1607, 16 vols (London [Paris]: [n. pub.], 1734) Wagner, Marie-France, Daniel Vaillancourt, and Éric Méchoulan, ‘L’Entrée dans Toulouse ou la ville théâtralisée’, xviie siècle, 201 (1998), 613–38

Querelle littéraire sur le motif du

troisième arc de triomphe érigé pour l’entrée des ducs à Aix-en-Provence en 1701 Claire Latraverse Histoire: s. f. c’est le récit des faits donnés pour vrais; au contraire de la fable, qui est le récit des faits donnés pour faux.1

L

a relation de l’entrée des petits-fils de Louis XIV dans la ville d’Aix en mars 1701 se place entièrement sous le signe de la polémique. En effet, la controverse ne porte pas seulement sur le sujet exposé au troisième arc de triomphe que le cortège des ducs rencontre sur le trajet de l’entrée. Si nous avons choisi de nous intéresser précisément à la querelle qu’a suscitée cet arc, c’est que sa thématique, portant sur un genre de l’amour courtois dont la matière a inspiré ces jeux-partis où les tenants débattent d’un problème de casuistique amoureuse sous forme de poème dialogué, fait s’opposer deux conceptions divergentes, celle d’un historien et celle d’un littéraire.2 La conception du programme de l’entrée ainsi que sa relation sont confiées à Pierre de Galaup de Chasteuil, d’une famille établie à Aix depuis le xvi e siècle et dans laquelle on compte des écrivains. Le grand-père, Louis, publie en 1596 une Imitation des psaumes de la pénitence royale, poème qu’il dédie à Henri IV. Il s’intéresse également à l’histoire de la ville, dont les recherches demeurées inédites ont toutefois servi à son fils, Jean, pour l’élaboration de l’entrée de Louis XIII à 1  Art. ‘histoire’ de Voltaire, Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, dir. par Diderot and le Rond d’Alembert, viii (1967), p. 220. 2  Le partimen, ou joc-partit, est un genre littéraire dialogué qui met en scène des inter­ locuteurs discutant de questions diverses, le plus souvent amoureuses.

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Aix en 1622 et pour la rédaction qui en est résultée.3 Le roi, dit-on, en fut si satisfait qu’il gratifia l’auteur d’une charge de procureur-général à la chambre des comptes d’Aix, lui en faisant expédier gratuitement les provisions. À l’occasion du passage des ducs de Bourgogne et de Berry dans cette ville en 1701, c’est donc le fils de Jean, Pierre, qui avait déjà composé une ode en provençal sur la prise de Maastricht, que l’on chargea de s’acquitter de l’ensemble du programme. C’est à la suite de la parution de la relation de cette entrée que la polémique éclata. L’antagoniste est l’historien Pierre-Joseph de Haitze. Né à Cavaillon, il arrive à treize ans à Aix où sa famille s’installe en 1669. Écrivain prolifique, il a à son actif plusieurs ouvrages, dont une relation des célébrations de la ville d’Aix pour la convalescence de Louis XIV,4 un ouvrage publié en 1679 sur les singularités de la ville5 et un traité, portant sur la cérémonie de la Fête-Dieu à Aix,6 par l’entremise duquel il souhaite rétablir le véritable esprit du cérémonial de cette célébration. Mais son œuvre la plus importante est une volumineuse histoire de la ville d’Aix.7 Pour tenter de saisir l’enjeu de cette querelle, nous esquisserons d’abord le dessein général de l’entrée dans la succession des quatre décorations principales. Nous nous intéresserons ensuite de plus près à l’objet de la controverse, puis, en les confrontant, nous rendrons compte des conceptions antithétiques des protagonistes. Notre corpus se compose de trois textes: la relation de l’entrée de Galaup de Chasteuil, la satire qu’a fait paraître anonymement de Haitze contre cette relation et la réponse de Galaup, anonyme elle aussi, à l’attaque de Pierre-Joseph.8 Anonymat facile à lever pour ce dernier puisque l’auteur des Réflexions répond aux critiques formulées dans la Lettre de Sextius à la première personne du singulier. Dès l’ouverture de ce texte, sous forme de lettre adressée à 3 

[Galaup de Chasteuil], Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] tres-Chrestien, tres-Grand, et tres-Juste Monarque LOUYS XIII […]. 4  Haitze, Relation générale et véritable des fêtes. 5  Haitze, Les Curiositez les plus remarquables. 6  Haitze, L’Esprit du cérémonial d’Aix. 7  Haitze, Histoire de la ville d’Aix. Cet ouvrage resté inédit jusqu’à la fin du xixe siècle, c’est la Revue sextienne qui le fait alors paraître en six tomes. 8  Il s’agit, dans l’ordre chronologique, des textes suivants :   1. Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry.   2. Anonyme [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois.   3. Anonyme [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions.   Pour faciliter la lecture et alléger le texte, nous nommerons dorénavant les deux écrivains par les seules mentions de Galaup et de Pierre-Joseph.

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A.M.D.S.C.D.R.A.P.D.P.,9 cherchant par là une caution d’autorité: ‘si je ne m’étois

fait une loy de soûmettre mes sentimens aux vôtres’’ le lecteur comprend d’emblée que le signataire de cette lettre n’est nul autre que Galaup, auteur du Discours sur les arcs triomphaux.10 Quant à l’identification des pseudonymes de Sextius et d’Euxenus, il semble que Galaup et son compagnon, le poète Joseph François de Remerville, sieur de Saint-Quentin, n’aient pas éprouvé de difficultés à reconnaître Pierre-Joseph derrière le consul romain Caius Calvinus Sextius, fondateur d’Aquæ Sextiæ (Aix) et vainqueur du peuple celto-ligure des Salyens, et l’historien marseillais Louis-Antoine de Ruffi derrière celle d’Euxenus, fondateur supposé de Marseille selon le mythe fondateur de la ville que rapporte Athénée dans le Banquet des Sophistes. En outre, Pierre-Joseph n’a jamais désavoué être l’auteur de cette Lettre critique. Bien que la polémique se soit poursuivie après la parution des Réflexions de Galaup,11 nous n’étudierons que ces trois premiers textes qui donnent le ton à l’escar­mouche, les publications suivantes ne faisant chacune que renchérir sur son argumentation.

Dessein de l’entrée Pour l’entrée des ducs à Aix, Galaup avait conçu sept décorations, comme l’avait fait avant lui son père, Jean de Galaup de Chasteuil, lors du passage de Louis XIII 9 

Ces initiales indiquent le destinataire: à M. de Suffren, conseiller du roi au parlement de Provence. 10  [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions, p. 3: ‘Je me serois dispensé de répondre à la Lettre qu’on s’efforce de faire courre depuis quelque tems sous le nom de Lettre Critique de Sextius le Salien à Euxenus le Marseillois ; si je ne m’étois fait une loy de soûmettre mes sentimens aux vôtres. Je me flatois que les moins versez dans l’art de parler et d’écrire indignez d’un torrent d’injures, écrites sans ménagement et sans ordre, et d’une infinité d’absurditez dont ce Libelle est rempli, reconnoîtroient sans peine, que c’étoit par mépris que je l’avois negligé’. 11  Aux Réflexions de Galaup, Haitze répliquera par Haitze, Dissertations données comme étant parues à Anvers de l’imprimerie plantinienne, qu’il dédie ‘À Monseigneur l’illustrissime et reverendissime Jean-Baptiste de Sade, de Mazan, eveque et coseigneur de Cavaillon’, Dissertations auxquelles Galaup ripostera à son tour par Galaup de Chasteuil, Apologie des anciens historiens. Galaup présente l’ouvrage à Cardin Lebret, le fils de Pierre Cardin Lebret intendant de Provence et premier président au parlement d’Aix. Cette dédicace, sous forme de lettre, demande ‘À monsieur Lebret, conseiller du roy en ses conseils, maistre des requestes de son hostel, Intendant de Justice, Police, et Finances en Provence’ sa protection pour ‘Les Anciens Historiens, et les Troubadours de Provence’ et pour ‘cette Apologie composée par deux de leurs Défenseurs’, c’està-dire Galaup lui-même et Remerville de Saint-Quentin.

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dans cette même ville en 1622, le septénaire étant considéré par l’usage comme le cycle parfait et le symbole de la plénitude. Cependant, l’assemblée des consuls de la ville exigea de réduire leur nombre à cinq, sans doute par souci d’économie ou, vraisemblablement, par manque de temps puisque le cinquième arc qui devait être dressé près de l’archevêché fut remplacé par un portique élevé à la hâte, orné d’une Renommée flanquée de deux génies. Par conséquent, de l’ensemble d’abord imaginé par Galaup, on choisit quatre arcs de triomphe à ériger sur le passage des princes et une cinquième décoration pour orner l’archevêché, lieu de leur séjour. Ainsi, le premier arc de verdure, doublé d’un portail d’ordre dorique, indique le seuil entre le faubourg et la cité ; le deuxième arc présente l’histoire de la ville et du comté, la Provincia Romana, à l’autorité des comtes de Provence ; le troisième a pour objet un aspect de la littérature provençale, celui des parlements d’amour, plaisant pastiche galant des cours de justice ; le quatrième consacré au parlement de Provence se présente comme le temple de Thémis ; enfin, le cinquième, érigé près de l’archevêché, aurait dû porter sur la religion triomphante mais, par manque de temps ou souci d’économie, il ne fut pas construit mais remplacé par une structure rapidement montée ne portant qu’une Renommée entre deux génies. Quoique Pierre-Joseph trouvât matière à querelle dans l’ensemble du dessein de l’entrée, nous choisissons d’analyser le thème littéraire du troisième arc, qui porte sur la poésie des troubadours, propre à la Provence. Le père de Galaup avait déjà célébré l’art de ces poètes. Bien que la construction prévue d’un petit théâtre du Troubadour n’ait pas été érigée lors de la cérémonie, elle a néanmoins été gravée pour la relation.12 Pour le relationniste de 1701, l’importance des troubadours tient à leurs innovations en matière de versification et à leur invention de la rime. Leur esprit créateur s’est manifesté dans des genres divers, comme la tenson. Ce poème dialogué, portant sur des sujets littéraires dans le genre de l’amour courtois, conduit l’auteur au thème principal de cet arc, les cours d’amour, ces assemblées de dames et de seigneurs délibérant de questions galantes qui marquent l’histoire même de la poésie provençale. 12 

[Galaup de Chasteuil], Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] tres-Chrestien, tres-Grand, et tres-Juste Monarque LOUYS XIII […]. Bien que ce théâtre n’ait pas été érigé, l’auteur a jugé pertinent d’insérer la gravure pour la compréhension de toute la machine. À la suite de l’annonce du troisième arc, il précise que: ‘[c]e Theatre fut desseigné pour un Troubadour sur le haut de la ruë des Augustins, auprés du Troisième Arc: Aussi ne l’ay-je mis icy que comme piece de la Machine. La venuë inopinée de sa Majesté ne me donna pas le temps d’étaler mon invention, ny au Troubadour de la saluër en son langage’. Pour plus de détails concernant ce théâtre du troubadour, voir Le Roi dans la ville, éd. par Wagner et Vaillancourt, pp. 156–63.

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Dans la préface de sa relation, Galaup tente de prévenir les attaques de ses adversaires contre le dessein de l’entrée, le principal opposant étant Pierre-Joseph de Haitze qui, dans sa Lettre critique de Sextius, déclenche l’offensive et entraîne dans son sillon, peut-être malgré lui, l’historien marseillais Louis Antoine de Ruffi sous la figure d’Euxenus. On peut présumer que d’autres participants à cette querelle choisirent leur camp et intervinrent dans le débat, ce que certaines allégations de Galaup laissent croire, par exemple lorsqu’il cherche à confondre ses détracteurs, qui forment ‘une troupe de Censeurs’ : Je crûs, après avoir pris le sentiment des personnes si éclairées, m’être mis à couvert de toute sorte de critique ; mais cela n’empêcha pas qu’une troupe de Censeurs, ne se soulevât contre l’Ouvrage et contre l’Ouvrier, et ne fit ses efforts pour les décrier ; Mais ce fut à leur honte que les Arcs étant achevés et mis en place, ils plurent à Messeigneurs nos Princes et à leur Cour, aussi bien qu’aux habiles gens de cette Ville.13

Il explique en outre avoir d’abord décliné l’invitation à concevoir l’appareil de l’entrée ; mais comme son père s’y était dignement employé lors du passage de Louis XIII, les notables de la ville lui confièrent donc la tâche, persuadés qu’il en serait tout aussi digne. Ce sont leurs instances et, surtout, l’incitation du lieutenant général de Provence, le comte de Grignan, qui l’ont déterminé à en accepter la responsabilité. L’abrégé du dessein qu’il leur présenta reçut, prétend-il, une approbation unanime. Malgré cette unanimité, il aurait pris soin de consulter des personnes érudites afin d’apporter, si nécessaire, d’éventuelles corrections. Ces précautions ne le mirent toutefois pas à l’abri des critiques malgré la satisfaction que les ducs, la cour et les gens d’esprit ont exprimée. De plus, signale-t-il, les sujets choisis en conformité avec leur emplacement ne convenaient qu’à cette province et à sa capitale. Le merveilleux, il ne l’a pas puisé dans la fable, mais il l’a trouvé dans la poésie des troubadours. Ainsi justifie-t-il son choix : ‘j’ay crû que nôtre Histoire me fournissant assés de matiere pour la Construction de nos Arcs, je ne devois pas chercher des Ornemens étrangers qui pourroient convenir aux autres Villes comme à la nôtre, et j’ay suivi en cela l’exemple de mon Pere, qui s’attacha uniquement à nôtre Histoire’.14 Galaup s’attendait à essuyer la critique, mais il ne pouvait prévoir l’ampleur que prendrait la controverse.

13  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, ‘Préface’, non paginée. 14  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, ‘Préface’.

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Sources d’inspiration sur les cours d’amour Le thème littéraire des cours d’amour fut d’abord inspiré à Galaup par son père qui avait projeté de faire paraître, sur un petit théâtre de verdure, un vieux troubadour déclamant des vers en provençal à l’intention du roi, la tête ornée de plumes comme les muses, mais de plumes de paon, avait-il précisé.15 En 1701, Galaup reprend donc ce thème et l’exploite. La genèse du Discours sur ces cours d’amour peut d’abord être retracée dans une correspondance de Galaup à Cardin Lebret, dans laquelle Galaup expose en une longue dissertation les détails de ses recherches sur la littérature provençale, particulièrement sur les cours d’amour.16 En introduction, il explique à Lebret comment il en est venu à vouloir approfondir cette matière : Monsieur, Il y a trois ou quatre ans qu’un de mes amis me pria de faire quelques recherches, au sujet de l’établissement des Cours d’amour, que nos historiens assurent avoir été érigées en divers endroits de cette province. Il me fit voir une lettre italienne très bien conceue, en laquelle on demandoit une instruction entière de cet établissement, et j’apris dans la suitte qu’on s’etoit adressé à madame la comtesse de Grignan, pour avoir l’éclaircissement qu’on souhaitoit sur cette matiere ; ce que je ne sceus toutes fois qu’après avoir remis la dissertation que je fis alors, en forme de lettre, dont j’eus l’honneur de vous parler il y a quelques jours, et que je vous promis de vous faire voir. Mais comme j’ay voulu, monsieur, m’acquitter de ma promesse, je n’ay trouvé de cette dissertation que quelques fragmens, ce qui m’a extrêmement embarrassé, puisque, pour ne manquer à ma parole, je me vois obligé d’y travailler tout de nouveau, ce qui ne me fait pas touttefois beaucoup de peine, puisque c’est pour vous procurer un petit plaisir et pour vous dérober quelques uns de ces moments que vous donnés entiers à l’administration de la justice, dans un aage17 ou vous ne devriés être occupé qu’a decider des questions d’amour, et dans lequel votre mérite et vos belles qualités vous auroient pu donner la place dans le tribunal de Cytere que monsieur votre père remplit avec tant de dignité dans le parlement de cette province.18 15 

[Galaup de Chasteuil], Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] tres-Chrestien, tres-Grand, et tres-Juste Monarque LOUYS XIII […], p. 13. 16  Fils de l’intendant et premier président au parlement de Provence, Cardin Lebret succédera à son père à sa mort en 1710. 17  Né en 1673, Cardin Lebret ne serait alors âgé que d’une vingtaine d’années. Notons au passage que c’est à ce même personnage que Galaup présentera son Galaup de Chasteuil, Apologie des anciens historiens, souhaitant ainsi tirer profit de sa caution. Voir supra, note 11. 18  Chabaneau, Notes sur quelques manuscrits provençaux, pp. 89–90.

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Dans l’extrait cité, Galaup fait référence à Françoise de Grignan, la fille de Mme de Sévigné et l’épouse du lieutenant général de Provence, qui, pour satisfaire une demande de sa mère, énoncée dans une lettre du 13 novembre 1689,19 sollicite l’aide de son entourage afin de la renseigner sur ces hypothétiques cours d’amour. Dans sa lettre, Mme de Sévigné dit à sa fille avoir reçu de l’abbé de Francheville, qui est aussi poète, une lettre qui la prie de l’instruire de ‘cette Cours d’amour dont il a entendu parler, et qu’il a prise pour une fable’. Puis elle formule ainsi sa requête : Vous avez des beaux esprits à Arles, et un M. le prieur de Saint-Jean à Aix, n’est-ce pas ? qui vous dira la vérité de ce fait. Québriac [l’abbé de Francheville] a trouvé cette feuille pour préface à un livre d’un François Barberin,20 qui en parle  ; je l’envoie à Pauline. […] Voilà, ma chère fille une bagatelle, dont vous donnerez le soin à quelqu’un, sans vous en inquiéter.

Il semble bien que, dans le processus d’appel que Mme de Grignan a lancé, la requête ait abouti à Galaup qui n’apprit l’identité de son instauratrice qu’après avoir rédigé sa dissertation. En outre, quand Mme de Sévigné accuse réception des renseignements demandés, elle remercie le prieur de Saint-Jean, l’abbé JeanClaude Viani,21 plutôt que Galaup qu’elle ne semble pas connaître ; cependant, parmi les remarques transmises à sa fille, on trouve des éléments du Discours.22 Quelques années après le passage des ducs à Aix, dans une lettre à Pauline de Sémiane, Galaup aborde de nouveau le sujet et répond à sa correspondante, telle une confirmation justificatrice, il précise derechef la genèse de l’ouvrage et les sources utilisées, glissant toutefois rapidement sur la réception réservée au Discours ‘qui fut assez favorablement reçû’.23 Malgré le temps écoulé depuis 19 

Correspondance de Madame de Sévigné, éd. par Duchêne, iii (1978), lettre 1166, p. 754. Duchêne précise qu’il s’agit de ‘Francesco Barberino, poète lyrique toscan (1264–1348), auteur des Documenti d’amore (‘Les renseignements d’amour’), poème moral imprimé à Rome en 1640. Dans la préface en italien que Mme de Sévigné envoie à Pauline [de Sémiane, fille de Mme de Grignan], Federico Ulbadini, éditeur du livre, parle longuement des Cours d’amour’ (Correspondance de Madame de Sévigné, éd. par Duchêne, iii, lettre 1166, p. 754, n. 7). 21  Oratorien, l’abbé Viani écrivit quelques pièces historiques et poétiques. La harangue qu’il a prononcée lors du passage des ducs se trouve transcrite dans le Discours de Galaup. 22  Écho qui se répercute encore dans Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 17. Mais cette fois, Galaup fait intervenir directement Mme de Grignan à son endroit: ‘Je fus consulté il y a quelque temps à ce sujet par Madame la Comtesse de Grignan, et je répondis à une Lettre que luy écrivoit un très sçavant Italien qui luy demandoit, ce que c’étoit que cette Cour de Parlement d’Amour’. 23  Lettre rédigée après 1701, puisqu’il y est question de sa relation de l’entrée des ducs. Selon Chabaneau, elle aurait été écrite entre 1706 et 1712. 20 

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le voyage des ducs, se trouve encore ici un écho de la relation ainsi que de sa réception : Madame, […] j’ai trouvé la lettre que vous m’avés fait l’honneur de m’ecrire le 22 juillet dernier  ; et pour vous esclaircir de ce que on vous demande,24 je vous dirai que monsieur le Comte vostre pere [le comte de Grignan], m’ayant engagé de faire quelques desseins d’arcs de triomphe, pour la reception de messieurs les ducs de Bourgogne et de Berry, je fis dresser une représentation, au troisième de mes arcs, de la cour d’amour, si renommée par nos anciens troubadours, l’explication desquels je fis imprimer quelque temps après, ce qui fut assez favorablement reçû. Je donnai quelques vies de nos premiers maistre[s]. La ville d’Aix, qui fit la depense de cette impression, en envoya cent exemplaires a la cour, pour estre distribués à messieurs les princes ; et j’en fis passer cinquante sur mon compte, pour estre distribués aux amis qu’un sejour de sept ans m’avoit fait à Paris. et entre autres à Mr de Taleman, de Lafontaine, de Villermon, de Vittry, qui m’écrivirent qu’ils avoient reçu cet ouvrage avec beaucoup de plaisir.25

Ces trois correspondances permettent de mesurer l’importance accordée à ce motif littéraire dans l’ensemble du programme de l’entrée des ducs en 1701. En outre, le discours sur ce troisième arc est de loin le plus important : près de la moitié de la relation lui est consacrée. Galaup puise presque essentiellement à trois sources documentaires : aux Nostradamus, Jean26 et son neveu César, à un chansonnier manuscrit de la bibliothèque du Louvre, retranscrit par son frère Hubert de Galaup de Chasteuil27 et Les cinquante et ung arrest d’amour de Martial 24 

Cette demande vient de Pierre-Daniel Huet, évêque d’Avranches. Chabaneau, Notes sur quelques manuscrits provençaux, pp. 103–04. Il s’agit ici de Paul Tallemant, auteur d’un Voyage de l’Isle d’Amour qui lui valut d’être admis en 1673 à l’Académie française. Il devint par la suite membre de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Notons également que La Fontaine avait publié dans la première édition de ses Contes, en 1665, une ‘Imitation d’un conte intitulé “Arrêts d’Amour”’, inspirée des Cinquante et ung arrest d’amour de Martial d’Auvergne (voir infra, note 29) ; puis, dans une troisième édition, en 1671, on trouve un poème intitulé ‘Le différent de Beaux-Yeux et de Belle-Bouche’ qui ‘plaidoient pour les honneurs | Devant le juge d’Amathonte [Chypre]’. 26  Nostradamus, Les Vies des plus anciens, éd. par Chabaneau. 27  C’est du moins ce qu’affirme Galaup dans le Discours: ‘Et ce n’est que par la lecture d’un Manuscrit, qu’Hubert de Gallaup Avocat général en ce Parlement mon frere, fit transcrire sur celuy qui est dans la Bibliothèque du Louvre, contenant la vie et les mœurs de nos Troubadours Provençaux, que je découvre l’origine et l’établissement de ce Parlement d’amour’ (Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 21) ; et dans la lettre à Mme de Sémiane, dans Chabaneau, Notes sur quelques manuscrits provençaux: 25 

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d’Auvergne28 (nommé aussi Martial de Paris), écrits au xve siècle et inspirés de l’œuvre des troubadours.

Description du troisième arc Galaup s’attarde au déroulement des différentes assemblées, celle d’Avignon, rendue considérable par le voisinage des papes, et celle d’Aix, étant en Provence une ‘Boutique des Troubadours’.29 Pour donner crédit à ces cours d’amour, le relationniste s’applique à faire valoir la qualité des dames et des seigneurs qui y siègent et dont il illustre les jugements par des exemples tirés du manuscrit du Louvre. Sur le fronton de l’arc, un grand tableau représente une cour en séance, dont les participants sont vêtus tels que les a décrits Martial d’Auvergne au tout début des Cinquante et ung arrest d’amour. La description vestimentaire met l’accent sur la préciosité des étoffes et des parures : draps d’or, robe fourrée d’hermine, camail doré couvert d’émeraudes, vêtement de vermeil frangé de diamants, etc. Cette description précise et minutieuse permet de représenter la hiérarchie établie entre les participants ainsi que leurs rangs : d’abord le président, ensuite les seigneurs, puis les conseillers ‘d’Église’, enfin les dames, nommées ‘Déesses’, vêtues de fourrure de petit-gris et parées de colliers d’or et d’atours si délicats ‘[q]ue on veoit leurs beaulx cheveulx’.30 Ainsi est représentée une assemblée mi-partie des deux sexes. Au centre du tableau paraissent deux sièges inoccupés, un trône réservé au prince d’amour et le fauteuil du premier président de ce parlement. Le trône se trouve sous un dais au-dessus duquel un amour est représenté les yeux bandés, l’épée nue à la main et s’appuyant sur les œuvres de quatre poètes élégiaques : Ovide, Tibulle, Catulle, et Properce. L’auteur des Métamorphoses est aussi l’auteur d’œuvres d’inspiration alexandrine telles Les Amours, Les Héroïdes, et surtout L’Art d’aimer, ‘si feu mon frere aisné, advocat general en ce parlement, n’avions [erreur pour ‘et moi n’avions’ ou ‘n’avoit’ ?] pris le soin de les faire transcrire sur ceux qui sont entre les mains du roy, nous n’en trouverions plus dans cette province’ (p. 107). Pierre de Galaup de Chasteuil, né en 1644, est le benjamin d’une famille de dix enfants. L’aîné, François-Hubert, né en 1624 et décédé en 1679, était de vingt ans plus âgé que lui. 28  Le texte se présente comme un procès-verbal d’une séance où sont tranchés cinquante et un cas exposés par des partis opposés. Voir l’article ‘Martial d’Auvergne’, Dictionnaire des lettres françaises, éd. par Grente, p. 994. 29  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 24. 30  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, pp. 29–30.

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œuvre ayant marqué la tradition courtoise médiévale ; les trois derniers poètes sont connus pour leurs poésies lyriques. Que ces auteurs servent d’appui symbolique à Cupidon montre les sources littéraires estimables sur lesquelles se fondent à présent les sentences rendues par ce tribunal d’amour, composé des présidents et présidentes, du conseiller clerc et des conseillers laïques. Au-dessous d’eux, se tiennent au parquet les gens d’amour (avocate, avocat et procureur généraux). Au centre du parquet sont agenouillées les personnes en attente de leur jugement. Et à la barre se tiennent les plaideurs : quatre troubadours vêtus d’habits bariolés à culotte bouffante et coiffés de plumes de paon selon la mode et l’usage du xiie siècle. Les deux tableaux placés de chaque côté de cette assemblée présentent chacun la scène d’un jugement. Le premier, tiré du cinquantième arrêt de Martial d’Auvergne, représente deux prévenus, condamnés à être fustigés par deux vieilles servantes, ayant été reconnus coupables de médisance à l’encontre de l’honneur des dames et des dons d’amour. Galaup précise, non sans une pointe d’humour, que ‘[c]es verges de Mirtes, et les foüets de Roses, quoy que consacrez à l’Amour, ne laissent pas de se faire sentir’.31 Le tableau de gauche présente une coquette coupable de simonie amoureuse envers un galant qu’elle aurait poussé à la ruine. Cette dame, bannie du royaume d’Amour, est pour sa part condamnée à rien de moins qu’à devenir publique et à servir le commun ‘tant on avoit d’horreur en cette Cour pour de pareils crimes’,32 justifie l’auteur. Au pied de l’arc, quatre statues posées sur leur piédestal accueillent les ducs. À droite sont représentés le prince Boniface de Castelhana et Garsende de Sabran, comtesse de Forcalquier, gens de haute distinction ; Garsende de Sabran, mère de Raymond Bérenger V, dernier comte de Provence, constitue en quelque sorte le lien intermédiaire entre Marguerite de Bourbon, fille de Bérenger et petite-fille de Garsende, et les ducs, par leur filiation à saint Louis, époux de Marguerite. À gauche de l’arc, côté cœur, on trouve le couple de poètes Guillaume Adhémar de Monteil, de la famille de Grignan, et Béatrice, comtesse de Die. C’est l’amour de la poésie qui aurait fait naître leur passion mutuelle. À la nouvelle que la dame devait en épouser un autre, topique du genre, l’amant désespéré fut saisi d’une fièvre maligne. Béatrice accourut à son chevet pour le détromper, mais il n’eut que le temps de lui baiser la main avant que d’expirer. Le Discours soutient également que, pénétrée de douleur, Béatrice se retira à l’abbaye de Tarascon. Ces personnages invitent les hôtes à prendre part à cette cour et leur indiquent les 31  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 35. 32  Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 36.

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places vacantes du tableau central. À la différence du troubadour de 1622, qui ne devait que complimenter le roi, en 1701 Galaup imagine de faire participer les princes. Le geste que ces figures esquissent à leur endroit ne les incite pas seulement à passer sous l’arc et à l’admirer, il les engage à s’y arrêter et même à ‘entrer’ dans le tableau pour y occuper les places vides, à joindre cette assemblée, donc à lui accorder symboliquement leur adhésion. Au haut de l’arc, sur la corniche et le fronton, des cœurs enflammés et des amours assistent à la scène, les uns armés de flèches, d’autres tenant guirlandes, festons ou flambeaux allumés. Un cartouche montre la Provence et la ville d’Aix en vestales entretenant le feu sacré, symbole de l’amour inextinguible pour les princes. De chaque côté de l’arc, dix emblèmes ornent les entre-deux des pilastres.33 Cette thématique, ayant soulevé les passions, Pierre-Joseph assène le premier coup avec sa Lettre critique de Sextius, à laquelle riposte Galaup dans ses Réflexions et auxquelles participe de son plein gré, par de piquantes épigrammes, Remerville de Saint-Quentin.

Analyse de la controverse autour du troisième arc Dans sa Lettre critique de Sextius, Pierre-Joseph relève, pour l’ensemble du Discours de Galaup, vingt-cinq éléments de critique que l’on pourrait distinguer selon trois critères : la fausseté de plusieurs faits historiques, l’absurdité de certains choix éthiques et esthétiques et la non-conformité des descriptions avec la réalité, à laquelle les estampes ne sont pas plus fidèles. À propos du troisième arc, l’historien reproche d’emblée à Galaup de se jeter inconsidérément dans un long raisonnement sur des faits historiques relatifs à l’émergence de la poésie et de la langue provençales, ainsi que des cours d’amour, sujet principal de l’arc, sans décrire cette architecture. Non seulement il omet cette description, mais, selon Pierre-Joseph, le peu qu’il en dit est faux. En fait, Galaup, dans une première édition du Discours, le disait d’ordre corinthien, ce qu’il corrige en dorique dans une 33 

Ces emblèmes ne sont pas tous du relationniste. Galaup le précise ainsi: ‘J’ay rempli les deux côtez de la Porte de l’Arc d’Emblêmes, dans lesquels j’ay affecté d’y concilier l’Amour, que les grands Princes ont pour leurs Sujets, et celuy que les Sujets sont obligez d’avoir pour leurs Princes ; Et comme le Sr. Cabanes dernier Consul de cette ville, apuyé d’un de ses Collégues, crût que c’étoit un droit de sa Charge, ou peut étre pour quelque autre motif, dans lequel je ne veux pas entrer, d’y en faire mettre quelques devises ; Je séparerey celles que j’y ay mises, ou que j’avois destiné d’y faire mettre de celles qui viennent de sa part, lesquelles je n’ay pas voulu supprimer ; crainte qu’on ne m’imputa de luy en avoir voulu dérober le mérite’ (Galaup de Chasteuil, Discours sur les arcs triomphaux […] le duc de Bourgogne et […] le duc de Berry, p. 36).

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seconde édition, alors que, si l’on en juge par la reproduction de l’arc imprimée dans la relation, il était d’ordre ionique, ordre tenu pour féminin qui convient davantage au sujet.34 Assurément, le critique mentionne cette bévue et laisse ainsi supposer l’ignorance de Galaup en matière d’architecture : ‘chacun parle volontiers de ce qu’il entend, et les Ecrivains, amoureux d’eux-mêmes, ne songent qu’à se contenter’.35 Que l’ordre d’architecture soit juste ou faux importe peu pour notre analyse. Ce qui importe est l’accusation de narcissisme des écrivains qui ne se soucient que de briller. La première attaque contre les troubadours est plutôt modérée. Pierre-Joseph les dépeint en figures grotesques ‘dont la tête étoit ornée de plumes de queüe de Paon, comme des Ameriquains, et l’habillement un peu plus ridicule que l’ancien habit des pages duquel il aproche’.36 En réalité, il n’y a rien de choquant ni de grotesque dans la parure des troubadours ; Galaup les décrit selon la tenue qui leur est traditionnement associée. Pierre-Joseph vise à discréditer à tous égards ces personnages, pivots de cette littérature, et d’en rendre risibles l’apparence, le comportement, le jugement, etc. La critique devient plus mordante lorsque Pierre-Joseph aborde le sujet des deux tableaux latéraux, chacun représentant la scène de l’exécution d’un jugement prononcé par une cour d’amour ; d’un côté, la fustigation de deux hommes par de vieilles servantes et, de l’autre, une femme chassée ‘pour aller’, s’indignet-il, ‘servir dans les bordels publics’.37 Pour marquer l’invraisemblance du dispositif, il tourne en ridicule l’inscription apposée au bas du tableau principal, inspirée du poème latin anonyme Pervigilium Veneris (La Veillée de Vénus) : ‘Cras 34  Dans Perrault, Les Dix livres d’architecture de Vitruve, Claude Perrault présente l’ordre ionique comme une représentation féminine. ‘Les architectes grecs, pour élever un temple à Diane, cherchèrent une manière qui fût belle, par la mesme methode [que pour l’ordre dorique] ils luy donnerent la delicatesse du corps d’une femme. Et premierement ils firent le diametre de la colonne de la huitieme partie de sa hauteur, afin qu’elle s’élevât plus agreablement : Ensuite ils s’aviserent d’y mettre des bases faites en maniere de cordes entortillées pour estre comme la chaussure, et taillerent des volutes au chapiteau, pour representer cette partie des cheveux qui pend en boucles à droit et à gauche ; de mesme que les cymaises et les gousses qu’ils mirent sur le front des colonnes, sembloient estre le reste des cheveux qui sont ramassez et liez au derriere de la teste des femmes. Avec cela ils firent des cannelures tout le long du tronc, comme si c’eust esté les plis de leurs robes. Ainsi ils inventerent ces deux genres de colonnes, imitant dans les unes [les doriques] la simplicité nuë et negligée du corps d’un homme, et dans les autres [les ioniques] la delicatesse et les ornemens de celuy des femmes’ (p. 102). 35  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 25. 36  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 28. 37  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 28.

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Dione jura dicit, fulta sublimi throno’, l’inscription remplaçant Cras (Demain) par Nunc (Maintenant) : ‘[Maintenant] installée bien haut sur son trône, Dioné proclame[ra] ses lois’.38 On fait bien de dire ‘maintenant’’ raille Pierre-Joseph, car jamais auparavant on aurait pensé élever un semblable monument à Dioné.39 Pour lui, ce sont les poètes qui, osant produire de telles aberrations, se rendent coupables d’imposture et de tromper ainsi les lecteurs. Autre incohérence de cette décoration est l’anachronisme, défaut des poètes qui, selon Pierre-Joseph, confondent tout, manquement grave aux yeux d’un historien. Car il s’agit bien du désaccord d’un historien contre un littéraire, qui scrute le texte de la relation afin d’en relever tout ce qui est susceptible de prêter flanc à la moquerie. C’est ainsi qu’il interprète au premier degré la mise en scène dans cette assemblée de personnalités n’ayant pas vécu au même siècle. Par conséquent, ironise-t-il, l’un des privilèges que l’on acquiert en adhérant à cette cour serait la pérennité. Si tel était le cas, il faudrait sans attendre rétablir ces compagnies en France dont les offices se vendraient à prix forts et deviendraient lucratifs pour le royaume. Non seulement Pierre-Joseph dénonce ce qu’il juge être une aberration chrono­logique, mais il s’attaque aussi au caractère spirituel et moral des cas débattus, crimes sacrilèges ou simoniaques. Aux yeux du critique, on pousse l’absurdité jusqu’à faire de cette cour un tribunal canonique. Voilà sans doute ce qui a conduit Galaup à faire intervenir le pape. Innocent VI, recevant en audience des seigneurs étrangers, les aurait conviés à assister aux séances d’une cour d’amour, ‘plutôt qu[’à] son sacré consistoire’.40 Mais, se demande-t-il, quels étaient le rôle et le rang du pontife dans ce tribunal ? Détails d’importance pour pouvoir, poursuit-il, ‘parler congruëment du ceremonial de cette galante Cour’.41 Goguenard, Pierre-Joseph suppose qu’on ne devait pas lui réserver la première place, car, citant Ovide, il répond candidement qu’‘Il [l’Amour] règne, il étend ses droits sur les dieux souverains’.42 C’est ainsi que l’empire des poètes s’élèverait sans vergogne 38 

Traduction de Danielle De Clerq, site Internet [consulté le 15 mai 2012]. 39  Vénus (ou Aphrodite), fille de Dioné et de Zeus, est fréquemment désignée dans ce poème du nom de sa mère. 40  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 32. 41  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 33. 42  ‘Le souverain de cette Cour est bien au-dessus des Pontifes quels qu’ils soient, puisque les Poëtes étendent son empire jusques sur les Dieux, Regnat & in Dominos jus habet ille Deos’ ([Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 33). Citation d’Ovide, Les Héroïdes, épître iv, vv. 14–15 (paroles de Phèdre à Hippolyte).

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au-dessus de tout. Au-dessus de la décence même. Car faire intervenir des gens d’Église, les associer à ces divagations, à ces jugements qui ont en outre condamné une dame à la lubricité publique, relève, selon lui, du pur délire. Qu’on ait écrit de telles infamies et surtout qu’on les ait exposées sur un arc de triomphe dans une ville chrétienne le scandalise. Même l’autorité des auteurs sur lesquels Galaup se fonde ne saurait, à ses yeux, justifier ces impertinences. Dans la même veine, Pierre-Joseph juge que la véracité des faits et la décence se trouvent encore bafouées dans le traitement réservé à Folquet de Marseille.43 Ce que dit Galaup à propos de Folquet, représenté dans le grand tableau de l’arc en troubadour plaideur, Pierre-Joseph estime que ‘[c]’est là un ferrague de faits erronez’.44 Il montre que, contrairement à ce qu’avance Galaup, ce n’est pas à cause de la mort des princes ses protecteurs ni par amour pour Adélasie que, de douleur, Folquet s’est fait religieux. Mais, soutient-il, ‘[n]ous savons d’un meilleur endroit que de l’histoire des Troubadours farcie de fables, le motif qui porta celui-ci à embrasser ce genre de vie’.45 L’autorité à laquelle il fait appel est celle de Vincent de Bauvais,46 suivant lequel Folquet aurait pris l’habit pour une raison s’accordant mieux, aux yeux de Pierre-Joseph, avec l’état ecclésiastique, celle de ‘la salutaire pensée des peines éternelles de l’Enfer’.47 Si l’argument est simple, la source fait autorité. L’intention de Pierre-Joseph est de discréditer la thèse poétique d’un mouvement passionnel pour créditer celle, spirituelle, de la foi et de la piété appuyée de l’autorité d’un clerc et d’un savant. Les erreurs factuelles qu’il recense servent à prouver le manque de rigueur et la désinvolture des historiens poètes de ce qu’il nomme la ‘Secte Troubadouresque’.48 La charge monte encore d’un cran lorsqu’il est question d’un autre personnage nommé Guillaume Durand.49 Pierre-Joseph s’insurge contre le fait qu’on 43 

Folquet de Marseille (1160–1231) fut d’abord poète de cour. Il se fait ensuite religieux et devient abbé du Thoronet, puis évêque de Toulouse. Il participe, aux côtés de Simon de Montfort, à la sanglante croisade contre les Albigeois. 44  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 37. 45  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 40. 46  Dominicain, auteur d’une somme encyclopédique, le Speculum majus. Pierre-Joseph se réfère ici à l’apocryphe Speculum morale, qui, à l’époque, devait être attribué en propre à Vincent de Beauvais. 47  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p. 41. 48  Haitze, Dissertations, p. 10. 49  Canoniste, liturgiste, homme politique et militaire, cet érudit provençal (c.  1230– 1296), auteur d’un Speculum Judiciale (Miroir judiciaire), enseigne d’abord le droit à Bologne et à Modène. Puis il œuvre auprès des papes Clément IV et Grégoire X. Une décennie avant sa

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ridiculise ce prélat et éminent juriste en le montrant, à l’instar de Folquet de Marseille, en troubadour plaidant à ce ridicule parlement d’amour, et en lui réservant, à lui aussi, la même issue fatale à la nouvelle de la mort de sa bien-aimée. De plus, vision romanesque par excellence, on les aurait ensevelis ensemble. Outré, opposant la gaieté irresponsable des poètes à la honte des érudits, il s’écrie : Cette fiction est si extraordinaire, qu’elle excite en même-tems le ris et l’indignation des sçavans. En effet, qui ne riroit de voir un personnage aussi moral que Guillaume Durand travesti en badin de Troubadour ? qui ne seroit indigné d’entendre qu’un Grand Prelat, qu’un Legat du saint Siege, tel que Durand, […] qui avoit acquis tous ces honneurs par son merite, […] soit mêlé parmi des fats et des ridicules pour discuter des quereles d’amans, et qu’on lui fasse terminer ses jours d’une maniere si oposée à l’histoire de sa vie ? Cette méprise est d’autant moins pardonnable à un Provençal, qu’il s’agit du veritable état d’un homme du païs, que son merite a fait connoître dans tout le monde savant.50

Le réquisitoire marque bien la frontière qu’impose le critique entre les univers fictionnel et factuel. Pierre-Joseph s’emploie à rétablir ce qu’il conçoit être la vérité biographique de ce personnage en en faisant une affaire d’État dont le patriotisme mériterait récompense, car il accomplit ainsi un devoir civique. Il termine sa charge en stigmatisant les adeptes de cette poésie : Aprés celà vous conclurrez, Mon cher Euxenus, qu’il n’y a que des Troubadours et leurs partisans, gens qui ne respirent que fictions […], qui soient capables de faire des travestissemens si indignans. Si jamais ma lettre devient publique, j’aurai l’avantage d’avoir défendu la reputation d’un illustre compatriote. Avantage que je n’estime pas moins que la gloire d’une couronne civique.51

Pierre-Joseph termine la critique de cet arc par un âpre réquisitoire contre les troubadours. Galaup n’a puisé chez Jean et César Nostradamus, de même que chez Martial d’Auvergne, que fadaises, inepties et folies. Citant un ‘Auteur trèsgrave’ nommé Glaber,52 il trace le portrait de ceux qu’il appelle avec mépris ‘les Fondateurs de la Secte des Troubadours’ : mort, il est nommé évêque de Mende. Son épitaphe, dans l’église Saint-Marie-de-la-Minerve à Rome, porte un résumé de sa vie et de ses œuvres. On le confond souvent avec son neveu, du même nom, qui lui succède en 1296 à l’évêché de Mende. 50  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, pp. 47–48. 51  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, p.  51 (nous soulignons). 52  Il s’agit vraisemblablement de Raoul ou Rodolfus Glaber (c. 980–c. 1040), moine bénédic-

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C’étoient des gens vains, volages, presomptueux, dereglez en leurs mœurs, en leurs habillemens et en leurs équipages, qui portoient la moitié de la tête découverte, sans barbe, se chaussant d’une maniere honteuse, semblables à des infames bâteleurs, et n’ayant ni foi, ni de véritable societé, dont les mauvais et detestables exemples corrompirent en peu de tems la nation Françoise, qui jusques là avoit été la plus honnête de toutes, aussi bien que la Bourguignone desireuse de nouveautez.53

Accuser les troubadours d’être sectaires revient à leur imputer un esprit étroit, une attitude de repli sur soi et de conservatisme qui exclut toute évolution. Ce jugement dépréciatif rejoint, dans la foulée, Galaup et ses amis qui se voient entachés des mêmes tares, eux qui ont rendu les honneurs d’un arc de triomphe à des gens d’une telle profession. En revanche, Pierre-Joseph clôt la diatribe en revenant sur l’aspect esthétique de l’arc dont il fait l’éloge. Il avait raillé Galaup pour sa confusion des ordres d’architecture, insinuant son ignorance en cette matière. L’effet souhaité est d’appuyer le contraste entre l’absurdité du fond et la magnificence de la forme. Cette architecture, écrit-il admiratif, quoiqu’elle ne fut que platte peinture, neanmoins elle avoit toute la force du relief. La perspective y êtoit observée avec tant de justesse, le point de veuë et la distance placez si apropos, les ombres et les jours conduits avec tant d’Art ; et la diminution des teintes si artistement gardée que les spectateurs, les mieux entendus en ces sortes d’ouvrages, se trompoient non seulement à la premiere veuë de celui-ci, mais encore en le considerant. On avoit donné à cet Arc la situation la plus heureuse du monde. Il étoit dressé tout au bout d’une des contre-allées du Cours […]. L’ouverture de cette allée, celle de l’Arc et de la porte de la Ville […] etoient en ligne droite ; et formoient une perspective d’un lointain extraordinaire, qui se terminoit aux colines de Barret couvertes d’oliviers.54

Perspective parfaite, travail en trompe-l’œil admirable, coloris des mieux nuancés, emplacement des mieux choisis, voilà, aux yeux de Pierre-Joseph, autant de propriétés, de qualités et de mérites au service d’un sujet aussi vil et méprisable ! Galaup réplique aux attaques de Pierre-Joseph dans ses Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, texte qui se présente également sous forme de lettre adressée à M. de Suffren conseiller du roi au parlement de Provence, destinataire de ces réflexions qu’identifient les initiales tin de Cluny, puis de Saint-Germain d’Auxerre, auteur d’une chronique en cinq livres, Historiarum libri quinque. Pierre-Joseph cite le ‘troisième livre de ses Histoires’. 53  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, pp. 52–54. 54  [Haitze], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, pp. 56–57.

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inscrites dans le titre. En épigraphe du texte, il cite, en latin, la première satire de Perse : ‘Ne mihi Polidamas, & Troeades Labeonem. Prætulerint, nugae !’ (Par peur que Polydamas et les Troyennes ne mettent Labéon au-dessus de moi ? Et puis après ?).55 Cette satire porte sur les prétentions littéraires : qui mérite la louange ? qui mérite le blâme ? Perse y célèbre la simplicité, l’harmonie et l’inspiration poétique contre l’hypocrisie et la pédanterie. Tout auteur doit connaître ses propres forces et faiblesses plutôt que de considérer autrui et de le juger. Par cette épigraphe, Galaup donne le ton à l’ensemble : feindre l’indifférence en dédaignant une vaine critique. Émaillée de pastiches des troubadours (virelais, ballades, tensons, etc.), la réponse se révèle malgré tout vive et hardie. Avant de s’opposer aux accusations de Pierre-Joseph, Galaup signale à son correspondant, par une prétérition, l’imperfection de son écriture, autant grammaticale que stylistique : je croirois enfin abuser de vôtre loisir, si je faisois quelques observations sur sa locution, sur la construction, sur la neteté de son stile. Un de mes amis qui y avoit voulu travailler ayant remarqué quatre-vingt fautes, avant que d’étre parvenu à la dixiéme page, desquelles il me remit le Cayer que je vous envoye, et Vous verrez que s’il eût continué, il auroit composé un Dictionnaire complet.56

Ainsi tente-t-il de saper d’emblée chez son détracteur ce qui fait l’essence même d’un écrivain, sa rhétorique. Puis il examine chacune des critiques en s’efforçant de montrer la vanité des deux comparses, le tandem Pierre-Joseph et son interlocuteur Louis-Antoine de Ruffi. Il les accuse ouvertement de jalousie, de malhonnêteté et d’inconstance : L’envie, et la mauvaise foy, sont les vices les plus ordinaires des Pedans  ; ils ne peuvent souffrir que ce que les autres font soit favorablement reçeu : ils s’imaginent que la reputation d’autrui est un bien qu’on leur vole, et qu’ils se seroient mieux acquitez, de ce dont les gens d’un caractere opposé se sont tirez avec quelque sorte de succez […]. Ils blâment ce qu’ils avoient loüé […]. Ils condamnent ce qu’ils avoient soûtenu ; Et ils se désavouënt enfin eux-mèmes quand ils voyent que leurs sentimens sortent de la bouche de ceux qu’ils attaquent. C’est dequoy l’on sera convaincu par les reflexions que je fais sur les remarques Historiques des deux Critiques qui ont écrit contre nos Arcs de Triomphe, et qui en se donnant impudemment l’un le nom de Sextius Fondateur de la Ville d’Aix, et l’autre celui d’Euxenus Fondateur de 55  [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, trad. par Clouard, [consulté le 5 juillet 2012]. 56  [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, p. 4.

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Marseille, se flatent sous ces Noms Magnifiques d’avoir une Juridiction entiere sur tous les Ouvrages d’esprit qui paroissent dans ces deux grandes Villes.57

C’est à la pédanterie, à l’outrecuidance et au désaveu des critiques que s’attaque Galaup. Quand ils soutiennent que des gens sensés n’auraient jamais permis l’élévation d’un tel monument à Dioné, c’est insulter à la fois le comte, la comtesse et le chevalier de Grignan et tout le conseil de ville qui en ont approuvé le dessein. Qu’ils aient eu cette audace, le reste ne surprendra plus. Galaup exploite par ce biais l’impudence des critiques dont la raillerie n’a pas de limites et s’efforce de retourner contre eux leurs propres allégations. S’ils ont pu railler le pape Innocent VI et la cour hautement distinguée d’Avignon, s’ils ont pu condamner la ville d’avoir toléré un tel objet, rien ne pouvait les arrêter contre les troubadours. Pour répondre à leur position antipoétique, Galaup a recours à la prosopopée. Il ressuscite en songe Guillaume Durand au pied du mont Parnasse, puis le poète nommé monge (moine) de Montaudon. Ce sont eux que Galaup charge de réfuter les allégations des critiques dans une discussion didactique, imitée des dialogues philosophiques. Nous n’entrerons pas dans le détail des répliques, ce qui importe est de montrer comment s’affrontent deux visions diamétralement opposées, l’une littéraire, celle de Galaup, l’autre factuelle, celle de Pierre-Joseph. Galaup relève au passage les lacunes linguistiques de ce dernier et l’accuse de méconnaître le latin, causant de la sorte de nombreuses confusions et erreurs d’interprétation. Dans le cas de Guillaume Durand, c’est ainsi que Pierre-Joseph aurait confondu trois personnages du même nom,58 voilà pourquoi il aurait plutôt mérité la marotte du bouffon en guise de couronne civique. Sur des questions précises, comme de savoir si Folquet fut évêque de Marseille ou pas, Galaup fait dire au moine de Montaudon que ‘ce fait n’est pas d’une importance si grande […] la chose étant indifférente en cette rencontre. Les Arcs de Triomphe sont un mélange d’Histoire, de Fable, et de Fictions, comme l’a remarqué le Pere Menestrier  ; et ce mélange souffre les Anachronismes, comme fait la Poésie’.59 Par la bouche du moine, Galaup touche à l’essentiel de sa relation de l’entrée : le caractère littéraire du dessein de cet appareil. Il appuie son argumentation en évoquant la relation de son père pour l’entrée de Louis XIII, 57 

[Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, pp. 9–10. Guillaume Durand et son neveu du même nom, qui lui succède à l’évêché de Mende (voir supra n. 51), et un neveu de ce dernier qui, suivant Galaup, lui aurait également succédé au même évêché. Si cela est le cas, on a lieu de croire à cette confusion. À notre connaissance, il n’y a que l’existence des deux premiers qui soit avérée ; cependant, rien ne prouve qu’un autre descendant du même nom ait existé ou pas. 59  [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, p. 37. 58 

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dont l’un des arcs portaient ensemble Sextius, Marius, Jules César et Auguste ; même chose, allègue-t-il, chez le père Bontous qui, dans sa relation de l’entrée des ducs à Avignon, a fait se cotoyer Henri IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, et le Grand Dauphin.60 Et Virgile, qui fait pourtant autorité, n’a pas agi autrement en rendant Didon et Énée amoureux, s’écartant ainsi du contexte purement historique : effet transcendant de la fable qui lui confère sa valeur absolue et son universalité. En outre, faire converser Sextius et Euxenus est tout aussi paradoxal, c’est manquer au ‘convenant’, selon le terme de Pierre-Joseph, barbarisme que Galaup relève au passage. Ce faisant, il pose tacitement la question, quelle faute est la plus grave : l’écart chronologique issu de l’invention ou la faute de langage prouvant l’incompétence ? Voilà ce que Galaup, non sans acrimonie, souhaite faire ressortir par l’intermédiaire du moine : ‘il n’est rien tel, s’insurge-t-il, que la science des pédants, engeance d’un caractère d’esprit sot, envieux, fourbe, malin, présomptueux, contestant et misanthrope, et dont l’étude ne tend qu’à critiquer sur des bagatelles’.61 Le songe se termine par un virelai que Galaup attribue à Guillaume Durand dans lequel on incite l’auteur victime d’injures à ignorer l’arrogance et l’insolence des détracteurs, et à adopter cette attitude d’indifférence dictée par la citation de Perse mise en épigraphe des Réflexions. Le poème, stigmatisant de manière quelque peu outrancière la conduite des adversaires, reprend en leitmotiv à la fin de chacune des trois strophes ces deux vers : ‘Il est bien mieux de se taire, | Que de parler sottement’.62 À son réveil, Galaup consigne cette vision qu’il donne dans ses Réflexions. Un songe transposé dans une manifestation poétique, transcrite d’une plume caustique. Galaup achève ses réflexions sur cet arc en confiant à son correspondant qu’il anticipait une critique, dont il a cru prévenir les querelles dans sa préface. Mais il ne s’attendait pas à un pareil libelle : Je croyois, dit-il, qu’ils m’attaqueroient en gens qui ont quelque usage du monde, et non pas en Crocheteurs ;63 c’est ce qui fait Monsieur que j’ai creu devoir repousser l’injure par l’injure : et ils n’ont qu’à continuër, je leur réponds par avance que je 60 

Bontous, L’auguste piete de la royale maison de Bourbon. [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, p. 40. 62  [Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, pp. 50–52. 63  Dans son Dictionnaire universel, à l’entrée ‘Crocheteur’, Furetière précise que ce terme qualifie ‘des gens de basse condition qui font des choses indignes des honnêtes gens’. Il donne aussi cet exemple d’emploi : ‘Ces gens-là se sont dit des injures de Crocheteurs’ (Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, i (1690), non paginé). 61 

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ne demeurerai pas dix-huit mois sans réplique, et que sans m’attacher, ni à leurs personnes, ni à leurs mœurs, ni aux Ouvrages qu’ils ont donné au public qu’on a toûjours trouvez indignes d’un Critique, je me tiendray dans les regles d’une legitime déffense.64

La controverse ne s’arrête pas là. Pierre-Joseph fait paraître, moins de deux ans plus tard, douze Dissertations sur divers points de l’histoire de Provence qui reprennent les mêmes points litigieux. Galaup lui répond par huit dialogues dans une Apologie des anciens historiens et des troubadours ou poètes provençaux.65 D’autres échos se trouvent encore, notamment chez Pierre-Joseph. Sachant l’importance qu’accordent les relationnistes d’entrée à persuader le lecteur que l’œuvre qu’ils publient est légitime et que c’est l’agencement emblématique de l’ensemble du dessein qui crée une œuvre signifiante, quel sens revêt alors un tel différend ? On peut y voir un enjeu strictement personnel entre deux individus aux caractères opposés, ou encore un enjeu politique où deux convictions se confrontent, d’allégeance ultramontaine ou gallicane, concurrence des droits ecclésiastique et royal.66 Il nous semble trouver dans cet échange polémique le reflet d’une nouvelle épistémologie qui s’installe au xviiie siècle, fondée sur une prise de parole critique manifestant un point de vue individuel. Dans le feu de la dispute, Galaup et Pierre-Joseph n’ont plus guère à l’esprit le fait événementiel qu’est l’entrée solennelle des princes, occupé chacun à faire valoir sa position. Cette polémique, qui se joue sur le champ de bataille qu’est devenue la relation de l’entrée, bouscule le cérémonial. Ces points de vue individuels ne s’accordent pas avec le statut collectif du rituel ; en s’exprimant ainsi Galaup et Pierre-Joseph prennent d’assaut le cérémonial et le relèguent au second plan. Le lecteur, pris à partie, est entraîné sur la scène littéraire de laquelle est exclu le rituel. Nous nous sommes limitée à la querelle ‘littéraire’ concernant le motif du troisième arc. Mais il conviendrait d’apprécier l’ensemble de la discussion en considérant l’intégralité des éléments de critique soulevés par Pierre-Joseph et les répliques de Galaup. L’expression et la nature de cette prise de parole qu’engagent ces individus présentent en ce sens un intérêt particulier. À l’orée du xviiie siècle, on sent poindre l’émergence de l’individualisme qui s’affirmera au Siècle des Lumières. Université Concordia, Montréal

64 

[Galaup de Chasteuil], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre’, pp. 59–60. Voir supra, n. 11. 66  Biet, ‘Les Monstres aux pieds d’Hercule’, pp. 394–95. 65 

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Œuvres citées Sources imprimées Bontous, Jacques-Joseph, L’Auguste piete de la royale maison de Bourbon sujet de l’appareil fait à Avignon pour la reception de monseigneur le duc de Bourgogne et de monseigneur le duc de Berry durant le consulat de M. le marquis de Sade, de M. J. B. Barbier, de M. P. Gollier, et de M. C. Bayol Assesseur. Par le P. J. J. Bontous de la Compagnie de Jesus (Avignon: Offray, 1701) Correspondance de Madame de Sévigné, éd. par Roger Duchêne, 3 tomes (Paris: Gallimard, 1972–78) Furetière, Antoine, Dictionnaire universel, 3 tomes (Den Haag: Leers, 1690) [Galaup de Chasteuil, Jean], Discours sur les arcs triomphaux dressés en la ville d’Aix, à l’heureuse arrivée de tres-Chrestien, tres-Grand, et tres-Juste Monarque LOUYS XIII, Roy de France et de Navarre (Aix-en-Provence: Tholosan, 1624) Galaup de Chasteuil, Pierre, Apologie des anciens historiens, et des troubadours, ou poètes provençaux: servant de réponse aux Dissertations de Pierre Joseph, sur divers points de l’histoire de Provence (Avignon: Du Perier, 1704) —— , Discours sur les arcs triomphaux dressés en la ville d’Aix à l’heureuse arrivée de Mon­seig­neur le duc de Bourgogne et de Monseigneur le duc de Berry (Aix-en-Provence: Adibert, 1701) Haitze, Pierre-Joseph de, Les Curiositez les plus remarquables de la ville d’Aix (Aix-enProvence: David, 1679) —— , Dissertations de Pierre Joseph sur divers points de l’histoire de Provence (Antwerpen: Plantin, 1704) —— , L’Esprit du cérémonial d’Aix en la célébration de la Fête-Dieu, par Pierre-Joseph (Aixen-Provence: David, 1708) —— , Histoire de la ville d’Aix, capitale de la Provence par Pierre-Joseph (Aix-en-Provence: Makaire, 1880–92) [——], Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, touchant le ‘Discours sur les arcs triomphaux dressés en la ville d’Aix à l’heureuse arrivée de Monseigneur le duc de Bourgogne et de Monseigneur le duc de Berry’ ([s.l.]: [s.n.], 1702) —— , Relation générale et véritable des fêtes de la ville d’Aix pour l’heureux retour de la santé tant désirée de Louis le Grand (Aix-en-Provence: David, 1687) Nostradamus, Jean de, Les Vies des plus anciens et célèbres poètes provençaux, éd. par Camille Chabaneau (Genève: Slatkine, 1970) Ovide, Les Héroïdes, trad. par Théophile Baudement [consulté le 7 février 2013] Perrault, Claude, Les Dix livres d’architecture de Vitruve (Paris: Coignard, 1673) Perse, Les Satires, trad. par Henri Clouard [consulté le 14 mai 2012] [——], Réflexions sur le libelle intitulé ‘Lettre critique de Sextius le Salyen à Euxenus le Marseillois, touchant le discours sur les arcs triomphaux dressés en la ville d’Aix à l’heu­

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reuse arrivée de Monseigneur le duc de Bourgogne et de Monseigneur le duc de Berry’ (Köln: Leblanc, 1702) Le Roi dans la ville: anthologie des entrées royales dans les villes françaises de province (1615– 1660), éd. par Marie-France Wagner et Daniel Vaillancourt, Sources classiques, 33 (Paris: Champion, 2001)

Études critiques Biet, Christian, ‘Les Monstres aux pieds d’Hercule: ambiguïtés et enjeux des entrées royales ou L’Encomiastique peut-elle casser les briques ?’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 383–403 Chabaneau, Camille, Notes sur quelques manuscrits provençaux perdus ou égarés, suivies de deux lettres inédites de Pierre de Chasteuil-Galaup (Paris: Maisonneuve et Leclerc, 1886) Diderot, Denis, et Jean le Rond D’Alembert, dirs, Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 35 tomes (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann, 1966–88; fac-similé de l’édition de Neufchastel, 1765) Grente, Georges, dir., Dictionnaire des lettres françaises, 5 tomes (Paris: Fayard, 1951–72), i: Le Moyen Âge (1964)

Malaise dans la cérémonie : Marie de Médicis à Marseille Daniel Vaillancourt

A

u crépuscule du xvie siècle, les entrées solennelles sont à tel point partie prenante du paysage cérémonial français que leur absence est toujours significative. La présence du roi ou de la reine impose un ordre cérémonial qui fait jouer les différentes composantes du protocole. Entre l’entrée comme événement, comme rituel et comme texte, il existe des agencements complexes qui comportent plusieurs cas de figure : le dignitaire, royal ou non, passe par une ville mais le rituel de l’entrée n’est pas activé; celui-ci se met en place mais on n’en tire pas un livret officiel;1 l’entrée ne se déroule pas mais on en fait une relation.2 Le trinôme événement-rituel-texte montre comment la structure cérémoniale se polarise et se déploie, révélant ainsi les différents enjeux soulevés par l’entrée. Ainsi, l’écriture de l’entrée ne peut se concevoir sans faire jouer un de ces trois éléments. Lors de la venue en France de Marie de Médicis, un éventail de situations s’est présenté. Certaines entrées solennelles ont été performées et publiées, d’autres ne l’ont pas été. En effet, sur les six villes susceptibles de lui faire une entrée, trois en firent faire une et publièrent les résultats, deux, semble-t-il, en firent une mais sans livret et la dernière, Paris, se vit refuser par le roi d’en faire une.3 L’arrivée de la reine de France offre une image plutôt chaotique et énigmatique sur le plan cérémonial. 1  Parfois, l’événement ne retient pas l’attention, l’entrée ‘n’étant ni exceptionnellement spectaculaire, ni particulièrement originale’, comme le note Marie-Claude Canova-Green à propos de l’entrée de Louis XIII dans Marseille en 1622 (‘L’Entrée de Louis XIII dans Marseille’, ed. by Canova-Green, p. 521). 2  L’exemple le plus célèbre demeure la relation de l’entrée que n’a pas faite Marie de Médicis lors de la mort d’Henri IV en 1610. Voir Stations faictes pour l’entrée de la Royne à Paris. 3  Mamone, Paris et Florence, p. 140.

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S’il y eut une réception à Marseille, il n’est pas absolument certain que ce fut une entrée en bonne et due forme. Au livret officiel absent, s’est substitué par la suite un ensemble de discours historiques qui réinventent l’événement. Pour ce qui est d’Aix, les témoignages concordent, il y a eu une entrée dont le point culminant fut les harangues du président du Parlement de Provence, Guillaume Du Vair et du président de la Chambre des Comptes, Jean de La Ceppède et l’ode à la reine par Malherbe.4 La rhétorique encomiastique de Malherbe et la pièce d’éloquence de Du Vair ne peuvent cependant supprimer les secousses qui font apparaître un corps cérémonial plutôt mis à mal. Si les musiques de Nostredame, Valladier et Matthieu, les auteurs des relations de Salon, d’Avignon et de Lyon, veulent dans le silence du livre se faire triomphantes, elles ne peuvent recouvrir entièrement les noises de l’événement.5 Les entrées dans ces trois villes sont importantes bien qu’elles ne répondent pas au même désir. Le livret de l’entrée de Salon qui n’est pas aussi impromptue que le laisse entendre Nostredame a été commandé par un conseiller au Parlement de Provence, Marc Antoine d’Espagnet. À cause du mariage du monarque, de la tradition lyonnaise des entrées et de l’expérience de son concepteur et auteur, l’entrée de Lyon ne pouvait pas ne pas être publiée. La relation d’Avignon, œuvre du jésuite et concepteur André Valladier, fait partie d’un plan d’ensemble plus large et s’inscrit dans une démarche revendicatrice de séduction à l’égard du monarque, afin qu’il réintroduise l’ordre jésuite dans le Royaume.6 4 

Le texte de Guillaume Du Vair est imprimé plusieurs fois, la première version étant Du Vair, Harangue faicte à la Royne. Guillaume Du Vair a harangué la Reine deux fois, à Aix et à Marseille. Antoine et Louis-Antoine Ruffi, dans la deuxième édition de l’Histoire de Marseille, mentionnent que la harangue, celle qui fut ‘imprimée entre ses actions, et ses traités oratoires’, a été déclamée à Marseille dans les jours qui suivent l’arrivée de la Reine le 3 novembre (‘Le même jour sur les trois heures de l’après-midi, la Reine étant assise sur un trône, qu’on avoit dressé pour ce sujet […] Messire Guillaume du Vair chef de cette compagnie [le Parlement] y fit un for beau discours’. Il demeure difficile d’identifier clairement la date puisque Ruffi, faisant usage d’une profusion de ‘lendemain’ et de ‘dimanche’, se contredit plusieurs fois. Voir Ruffi, Histoire de Marseille (1696), p. 448. Le poème de Malherbe paraît sous le titre de Malherbe, Ode du sieur Malherbe à la Reine. Il a été publié à plusieurs reprises entre sa parution et 1627. Est utilisée ici l’édition d’Antoine Adam, voir Malherbe, Œuvres complètes, éd. par Adam, pp. 32–38. 5  Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] Princesse, Marie de Médicis; Nostredame, L’Entrée de la Reine Marie de Medicis a Salon; Valladier, Labyrinthe royal de l’Hercule Gaulois. 6  Margaret M. McGowan a lu, en ce sens, la relation comme une entreprise de propagande : McGowan, ‘Les Jésuites à Avignon’. Cette stratégie fonctionne partiellement puisque les jésuites ne sont réintroduits que trois ans plus tard malgré les pressions de Rome. Cependant, pour son concepteur, l’entrée s’avère un grand succès, car il fut, peu après, appelé par le roi pour être un de ses prédicateurs, ce qui, par voie de conséquence indirecte, le placera en conflit avec la Compagnie et l’amènera à la quitter.

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Les malaises du corps cérémonial sont d’autant plus singuliers que les attentes à l’égard de la nouvelle reine de France étaient élevées, comme en fait foi le poème que Malherbe lui a adressé au moment de sa réception à Aix le 17 novembre 1600 : Ce sera vous qui de nos villes Ferez la beauté refleurir, Vous, qui de nos haines civiles Ferez la racine mourir.7

Malherbe, inconsciemment, en demandait beaucoup à Marie de Médicis, à savoir ‘de nos haines civiles | ferez la racine mourir’. Développant une vision résolument catholique et impérialiste, le poète convoque la grande harmonie dont Marie est la pierre angulaire, pouvant à la fois faire naître un Dauphin qui sera, dit le poème, ‘un jour | De la terre entière le maître’ et faire d’Henri IV un ‘grand Alcide amolli parmi vos appas’.8 Retouchant avec nuances le motif de l’Hercule Gaulois, le poète montre celui-ci dominé par la beauté d’une Vénus et la sagesse d’une Minerve qui le détournent de ‘ses travaux’.9 De plus, Marie de Médicis arrive à Marseille comme une ‘Reine triomphante’ pour reprendre l’expression de Fanny Cosandey.10 À la différence des autres mariages royaux par procuration qui précèdent, elle est immédiatement reconnue comme reine tant par les honneurs qui lui sont rendus dès la Cour de Florence, que par les entrées qu’elle fait sans le roi ou par la consommation du mariage à Lyon.11 Elle devient reine dès Florence, où tant le grand duc que de richissimes 7 

Malherbe, Œuvres complètes, éd. par Adam, p. 35. Quand il écrit à propos de la puissance du Dauphin à naître : ‘Ô combien lors aura de veuves | La gent qui porte le turban ! | Que de sang rougira les fleuves | Qui lavent les pieds du Liban ! | Que le Bosphore en ses deux rives | Aura de sultanes captives !’, Malherbe suggère implicitement le retour des Croisades, détail qui, en raison de la présence de l’Ordre de Malte à Marseille, prend un autre sens. Voir Haran, Le Lys et le globe. 9  On reconnaît à nouveau l’ironie de Malherbe qui, par ce tour, suggère tout autant de calmer les ardeurs sexuelles de Henri IV que de faire de lui un roi pacificateur. Sur la figure de Minerve, voir Mamone, Paris et Florence, p. 64. 10  Cosandey, La Reine de France, p. 54. 11  Sur la consommation du mariage à Lyon, voir ce qu’écrit le secrétaire Belisario Vinta dans une dépêche au grand duc du 10 décembre. ‘che il re haveva dimostrata gran sadisfattione et contento et la regina era allegra’ (Le roi avait fait montre de beaucoup de satisfaction et de contentement et la reine était joyeuse). Zeller, Henri IV et Marie de Médicis, p. 333. À ce propos, Fanny Cosandey note : ‘Autant la relation du mariage de Charles IX et d’Élizabeth est ambiguë quant aux étapes qui construisent l’union, autant les textes qui relatent le mariage de Marie de Médicis sont limpides sur la valeur accordée à la cérémonie faite à Florence. […] Reine, elle reçoit immédiatement les honneurs dus à son rang. Reine, elle est accueillie à Marseille et 8 

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citoyens lui organisent des fêtes princières d’une très grande richesse culturelle.12 Dans l’ensemble, le voyage de Marie de Médicis et les entrées se sont déroulés avec un taux de réussite relativement élevé. Il faut dire que la nouvelle épouse arrivait à point nommé. En effet, si la réconciliation nationale amorcée depuis la conversion d’Henri IV s’avérait solide et si le royaume retrouvait au fur et à mesure du règne une consistance politique et civique qui avait singulièrement fait défaut depuis la mort d’Henri II, la suite du monde demeurait loin d’être assurée. Sur le plan personnel, les enfants naturels du monarque avec Gabrielle d’Estrées et sa volonté d’épouser celle-ci suscitaient les angoisses de plus d’un de ses conseillers. La France croulait toujours sous les dettes, les différents épisodes de guerre coûtaient cher en termes de temps et d’argent. L’Édit de Nantes n’avait pas rendu le roi particulièrement populaire auprès des différentes confessions, à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur du Royaume. Le mariage de Marie de Médicis venait ainsi conforter une partie de son entourage, régler en partie les dettes contractées auprès du grand duc, apporter une dot convenable et donner l’espoir d’éviter une crise successorale. Le fait qu’elle appartienne de plain-pied à un monde catholique n’était pas une donnée négligeable pour ceux qui doutent toujours de la conversion du roi.13 L’ensemble de ces éléments aurait donc dû favoriser une panoplie cérémoniale proportionnelle à l’importance du mariage et à ce qu’il représente. Ce ne fut pourtant pas le cas. Dans le cadre de cet article, je considérerai la réception marseillaise en montrant implicitement pourquoi l’organisation d’une entrée et/ou sa commémoration livresque ne paraissaient pas souhaitables pour Marseille.14 Puis, je montrerai, à l’aide d’un certain nombre de documents qui ont été rédigés après l’événement, fait son entrée à Avignon avant même d’avoir rencontré son époux. Reine, épouse légitime, elle consomme son mariage avec Henri IV alors que la cérémonie religieuse qui renouvelle le sacrement, en présence physique, cette fois, des deux époux n’est prévue que pour le lendemain’ (p. 61). On notera que l’historienne demeure prudente dans le choix de ses mots. Le fait que ce soit une réception à Marseille, et non une entrée, ne vient pas cependant infirmer l’argument de la reine triomphante. 12  ‘La Princesse Marie disna à la Royale, et fut servie de mesme. Le Duc de Bracciano luy bailla à laver les mains, et le sieur de Sillery la serviette. Elle fut assise à table sous un dais, son oncle le Grand Duc estant assis beaucoup plus bas qu’elle. Aprés le disner on fit entrer la Musique, on courut la bague, et la journée se finit par une belle Comedie’ (Coste, Les Eloges et les vies des reynes, ii (1647), pp. 440–41). 13  Voir Barbiche, ‘Marie de Médicis, Reine régente, et le Saint-Siège’, p. 42. 14  Il va sans dire qu’une telle reconstruction a beaucoup puisé dans les ouvrages de Mamone, Paris et Florence, et de Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, qui ont effectué un travail remarquable dans les archives.

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comment la réception marseillaise est réécrite en des termes positifs et dans une floraison de détails qui avaient été jusqu’alors tus. Mais, pour ce faire, il s’avère important de dresser la chronologie des faits qui ont entouré la venue en France de Marie de Médicis.

Chronologie Les négociations ‘sérieuses’ pour le mariage d’Henri IV et de Marie de Médicis sont amorcées depuis mai 1599 avec l’envoi d’un émissaire, Jérôme de Gondi, à Florence.15 Pour que le mariage ait lieu, le pape Clément VIII doit annuler le mariage avec Marguerite de Valois. Il le fait en octobre 1599 sous la pression combinée des Français et des Florentins. À la toute fin de décembre 1599, Henri IV accepte le mariage en renégociant à la baisse la dot de la princesse toscane. La négociation a été parfois âpre : Henri IV voulait un million d’écus, il en reçoit six cent mille. En avril 1600, le contrat de mariage est signé à Florence. Après de nombreuses tentatives et une longue attente d’un mariage hiérarchiquement important, le grand duc voit sa nièce âgée de vingt-sept ans accéder à un trône européen de conséquence.16 Ferdinand obtient finalement une alliance avec la France qui est en continuité avec son propre mariage. Il souhaite ainsi soustraire Florence des contraintes de l’Empire. À terme, il sera singulièrement déçu.17 Mais le bruit des canons repousse le mariage jusqu’à l’automne. Henri IV, excédé par les manœuvres dilatoires du duc de Savoie à propos de la restitution du marquisat de Saluces, dispose son artillerie au début de l’été 1600. Tout en mettant en marche son armée en août, il organise les détails de son mariage et écrit à sa promise. Le 20 septembre, le Grand Écuyer, Roger de Bellegarde, arrive à Florence avec une suite de quarante gentilshommes, apportant les documents nécessaires au mariage.18 Le cardinal Aldobrandini fait son entrée le 4 octobre. Le lendemain, il célèbre le mariage par procuration. Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery, ambassadeur de la France à Rome, représente le roi. Les fêtes de Florence qui s’étalent du 4 au 17 octobre comportent, outre l’entrée solennelle du cardinal Aldobrandini, un repas de noces des plus somptueux, deux opéras, l’expertise 15  Cuignet, Dictionnaire Henri IV, p. 210; Sara Mamone identifie l’émissaire plutôt comme le Cardinal de Gondy (Mamone, Paris et Florence, p. 21). 16  Carmona, Marie de Medicis, p. 16. 17  Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 118. 18  Berthold Zeller donne la liste de la quarantaine de nobles qui accompagnent le grand Écuyer (Zeller, Henri IV et Marie de Médicis, pp. 329–30).

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des artistes et des artisans qui avaient travaillé aux festivités entourant le mariage de Christine de Lorraine et de Ferdinand, quelque onze ans auparavant.19 Elles forment un appareil de prestige qui se veut à l’image de la grandeur que veut projeter le grand duc. Entre le 5 et le 13 octobre, la ville vibre au diapason des fêtes entourant la noce. Le 13 octobre, une suite de sept mille personnes fait le chemin avec la nouvelle souveraine de France vers Livourne. Le trajet, ponctué d’entrées et de festivités dans les villes, dure quatre jours. Le 17 octobre, une flottille de dix-sept galères composée de six galères toscanes, de cinq de l’Ordre de Malte, de cinq appartenant au Pape et d’une galère royale qui transporte la reine, s’ébranle vers Marseille. Marie de Médicis fait le trajet inverse de sa tante, Christine de Lorraine qui l’accompagne comme grande duchesse, celle-ci ayant embarquée à Marseille en 1589 pour arriver à Livourne. La galère réale porte le pavillon français mais a été conçue par de grands artistes au service de la couronne toscane. Elle passe pour un chef d’œuvre d’orfèvrerie, avec sa poupe ornée de pierres précieuses et de motifs savamment sculptés sur lesquels tous les commentateurs s’exclameront.20 Elle fait littéralement fonction de char triomphal.21 Deux mille personnes embarquent aux frais du grand duc pendant la traversée. Ce qui ne va pas sans poser des problèmes pratiques de logistique et de coût comme en témoignent les députés qui s’occupent de l’organisation concrète de l’équipée.22 19 

Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589, p. 182. Par exemple, Pierre Matthieu la décrit de manière hyperbolique comme suit : ‘La sienne estoit royalement belle et telle que la mer n’avoit porté de longtemps une plus riche ny plus superbe charge. Elle ne parloit pas comme la carene de la nef d’Argo, mais elle n’avoit rien qui ne donna sujet de parler, d’admirer sa beauté et son enrichissement. Que si Athenée a si curieusement representé celle de Hieron et de Ptolomée Philadelphe, Pausanias celle de Delos, Diodore Sicilien celle de Sesostris, et nos historiens celle du pape Clement VII quand il amena la royne Catherine, sa niepce, à Marseille, on n’estimera jamais inutile ny vaine la description de ceste galere. Elle estoit de la longueur de septante pas et de vingt sept rames de chasque costé, dorée partout, ce qui se pouvoit voir au dehors. Le bois de la poupe estoit marqueté de cannes d’Inde, de grenatine, d’ebene, de nacre, d’ivoire et pierre bleue. Elle estoit couverte de vingt grands cercles de fer doré, croisez et enrichis de pierreries et de perles, avec vingt grosses topases et esmeraudes. Au dedans, vis-à-vis du siege de la royne, estoient eslevées les armes de France en fleurs de lys de diamant et, à costé, celles du grand duc en cinq grands rubis avec un saphir de la grosseur d’une bale de pistolet, avec une grosse perle au dessus et une grande esmeraude au dessouz. On estimoit ces armes septante mil escus. Entre ces deux armoiries, deux croix de rubis et de diamans. Les vitres tout autour estoient de cristal, les rideaux de drap d’or à franges, les chambres de la galere tapissées de mesme’ (Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] Princesse, Marie de Médicis, pp. 6a–b). 20 

21  22 

Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 120. ‘Il est du devoir de votre altesse de choisir l’homme qui ira exécuter son beau projet à

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La flottille arrive le 3 novembre à Marseille. La reine y reste jusqu’au 17 novembre, jour où elle fait une entrée solennelle à Aix. Le lendemain, c’est au tour de Salon de lui faire les honneurs. Elle y passe la nuit. Elle entre le 19 novembre en Avignon. Puis, enfin, le 3 décembre, la ville de Lyon accueille sa nouvelle reine, attendant la venue du roi et du légat pour la cérémonie du mariage le 17 décembre, près de deux mois après son départ de la Toscane. Le roi et la reine se rendent séparément à Paris à quelques jours d’intervalle.

Le Débarquement à Marseille ou une cérémonie et ses symptômes La réception dans le port de Marseille s’apparente à une entrée.23 Il se peut même qu’elle en soit une, mais sans livret officiel, son statut demeure ambigu.24 Certains des éléments de la syntaxe rituelle des entrées y sont présents : les conseillers municipaux accueillent la reine sous un dais, elle reçoit les clefs de la ville, au moins deux arcs triomphaux ont été construits, des salves de canons sont tirées à l’embouchure du port, des discours de bienvenue sont tenus, mais la déambulation Marseille, s’occupant à l’avance du ravitaillement en vin, viande et pain pour les galères avant que, à cause de l’arrivée du roi, tout l’approvisionnement ne soit bloqué […]. Si l’on calcule le nombre des gens à embarquer, que je redoute fort grand, il est possible que les galères ne puissent contenir autant de passagers et qu’il faille affréter une embarcation supplémentaire pour prendre les personnes et le ravitaillement à bord. La liste des deux collations requises sur les galères pour voyager jusqu’à Marseille est finalement rédigée, comme l’a ordonnée l’illustre M. don Giovanni, c’est pourquoi je n’en parle pas’ (Firenze, ASF, Misc. Mediceo 18, Lettre des députés, qui écrivent à la grande Duchesse dès le printemps 1600 à propos des préparatifs liés au ravitaillement des bateaux, cité par Mamone, p. 30). 23  La grande duchesse Christine, dans une lettre au grand duc, parle carrément d’une entrée bien ordonnée (‘un’ entrata ben’ ordinata’). Voir Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 137. 24  Cela pose le problème de la définition de l’entrée : elle doit reposer sur un rituel, une structure d’échange entre un Hôte prestigieux, roi, reine, légat, et une ville. Elle doit être nommée comme telle dans son événement. Habituellement, elle a une composante discursive et livresque qui constitue sa part la plus importante. La présence du Roi dans une ville, sa traversée ou sa réduction militaire ne présentent pas les caractéristiques de l’entrée. Quand Marie de Médicis passe par la rue principale de Salon, elle traverse la ville mais sous des arcs triomphaux quoique rudimentaires. Quand elle passe par Valence, ville universitaire, elle ne fait que traverser la ville. Y a-t-il des riverains qui la saluent ? Fort probablement. Il n’y a pourtant pas d’entrée. La situation est similaire avec la réduction militaire de Paris en mars 1594 par Henri IV : des traits sont similaires à une entrée, un canard célèbre l’événement mais il s’agit avant toute chose d’une prise de possession militaire de Paris et d’un mouvement de troupes. Sur cet événement, voir Vaillancourt, Les Urbanités parisiennes, pp. 44–49.

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dans la ville est limitée au trajet entre le ponton qui a été construit en son honneur et le logement où elle demeure. Marie de Médicis débarque tard, entre cinq et six heures du soir. Cela laisse peu de temps pour la procession et les harangues qui, habituellement, prennent une grande partie de la journée. Contrairement à l’usage de repousser l’entrée au lendemain quand le monarque arrive tard, aucune cérémonie n’a été prévue pour le lendemain. Selon différents rapports, diverses festivités se déroulent mais sur une échelle restreinte. La reine attend en vain deux semaines le roi avant de reprendre la route. Comparée au faste des fêtes florentines, la fête marseillaise demeure bien modeste et aucune relation n’a été commanditée par la ville. Marseille avait une idée précise de l’arrivée de la reine : outre le retard pris pour la traversée, la flotte s’était arrêtée la veille au soir dans l’île de Pomègues, ce qui laissait toute une journée pour peaufiner l’événement. La description de l’arrivée ne subsiste que dans un mince document anonyme publié à Paris, Le Discours véritable de ce qui s’est passé.25 Bien que le titre comporte le mot ‘entrée’, rien ne permet de retrouver dans ce Discours la pompe coutumière à de telles fêtes, ni même les modes rhétoriques des relations d’entrée. Avant l’arrivée à Marseille, il y avait eu, de la part des Français, des bris de protocoles, ou à tout le moins des libertés que les historiens des siècles postérieurs ne manquent pas de noter à la différence des commentateurs du xviie. Sur le chemin entre Florence et Livourne, les représentants du monarque bourbon, le Grand Écuyer Roger de Bellegarde et l’ambassadeur Brûlart de Sillery, ‘pour leur propres satisfactions’, accompagnés de trois cents suivants,26 faussent compagnie à la large procession florentine. Signe annonciateur de ce qui attend Marie de Médicis en France, comme l’affirme Sara Mamone ?27 Impatience du groupe français ? Motivations plus fortes d’aller à Lucques d’où viennent les financiers Zamet et Buonvisi ? Personne n’a encore élucidé l’affaire et conçu les raisons de 25  Le texte a été reproduit avec la relation de l’entrée de Salon au xix e siècle à partir de l’édition originale imprimée par Benoist Chalonneau et Silvestre Moreau en 1600 : Le Discours véritable de ce qui s’est passé. La relation d’Edward Aggas est une traduction fidèle en anglais de ce document (Aggas, A True Discourse of the Whole Occurrences into the Queenes Voyage). 26  Ce nombre est avancé par Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 114. 27  ‘Dans les festivités continuelles qui l’accompagnent sur la route de Livourne, elle ne peut manquer d’observer les premiers signes d’une impolitesse qui annonce d’autres désagréments plus grands, qu’elle subira en tant que reine et femme : les plus illustres des accompagnateurs français, Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery et Roger de Bellegarde, ayant déjà oublié les courtoisies florentines, préfèrent visiter Lucques, abandonnant le cortège qui achèvera le cycle des fêtes entre Pise et Livourne, la ville qui était en ces années la “dame” de cœur de Ferdinand, déterminé à la transformer en port important’ (Mamone, Paris et Florence, p. 99).

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ce départ. Ronald Forsyth Millen remarque toutefois qu’ils repartent avec trois coffres emplis de soie.28 Mais la manifestation d’une telle indépendance laisse pointer une arrogance et un manque de décorum difficilement justifiables pour des sujets de la reine. C’est comme si ceux qui représentent le roi, ceux qui en tiennent lieu, se détachaient de ce corps uni, isolant ainsi le roi. Ce faisant, ils manquent à leur mission de mémoire, puisqu’ils sont, ou devraient être, les destinataires métonymiques de célébrations qui s’avèrent très vivantes, selon les témoins florentins. On ne fête pas simplement le départ de Marie de Médicis, est fêtée aussi la transformation de la nièce du grand duc en reine. Le contingent français, en se dissociant du cortège, retranche du corps de la fête sa composante royale et nationale, lui redonnant une assise florentine. Les Français se comportent comme des invités, des ambassadeurs forains, or c’est de leur reine qu’il s’agit, c’est elle qui se trouve au cœur de ce déploiement festif et cérémonial. Entre Livourne et Marseille, le trajet se fait lentement à cause de l’absence de vents qui retarde momentanément le convoi de dix-sept galères, les obligeant à séjourner dans les eaux de la république de Gênes qui voudrait faire descendre la reine de France. Celle-ci, eu égard aux ordres de son oncle, refuse leurs politesses, en raison de l’allégeance de Gênes à la cour espagnole. Ce retard sera traduit par les poètes et les relationnistes comme étant le signe de l’amour possessif de Neptune qui ne veut céder à quiconque une aussi jolie princesse. Malherbe écrit : Neptune après ses tresses blondes Attentif a couru les eaux ! […] Dix jours ne pouvant se distraire Du plaisir de la regarder Par une tempête contraire Il a pensé la retarder Mais à la fin soit que l’audace Au meilleur avis ait fait place, Soit qu’un autre démon plus fort, Aux vents ait imposé silence, Elle est hors de sa violence […].

Être hors de la violence de Neptune ne signifie pas quitter l’orbe de toute violence et accéder à un territoire angélique où les passions sont sublimées dans la grande transcendance. Aussi, à l’entrée du port de Marseille, éclate un conflit sur l’ordre de préséance entre les navires toscans et ceux de l’Ordre de Malte. En raison de leur 28 

Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 114.

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expertise, les navires de l’Ordre de Malte ont une mission protectrice d’escorte, étant des habitués des guerres de course dans la Méditerranée. L’ambassadeur Sillery en avait fait la demande au nom de Henri IV qui, n’ayant pas de flotte convenable, ne voulait pas faire de la reine et de la dot le butin des pirates. Il avait été entendu, par ordre du grand duc, que les vaisseaux de l’Ordre de Malte seraient à main droite de la galère royale pendant le voyage.29 Il semble que Ferdinand ait voulu montrer sa déférence pour l’Ordre. L’escadre est dirigée par Don Giovanni de Médicis, l’oncle ‘naturel’ de Marie. Un premier incident, léger, survient quand le cardinal Colonna, un invité de passage en transit vers l’Espagne, veut se rendre dans une église de Portofino en territoire gênois. Les navires maltais sous l’ordre de l’amiral Don Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza tirent quatre salves pour saluer le cardinal. Don Giovanni conteste la bienséance d’une telle salutation à un simple cardinal, comme s’il eût été un légat ou une reine. Le cardinal quitte la flotte en colère, Don Giovanni offre de la nourriture et un vin réparateur aux navires maltais. Le protocole et son interprétation imposent un ordre symbolique rigide qui interdit que l’on manipule impunément les signes. À l’embouchure du port de Marseille, la situation s’est à nouveau embrouillée. L’entente stipulait que les navires maltais entreraient du côté gauche. L’amiral Mendoza profite de la confusion occasionnée par les coups de canon et la fumée saluant l’entrée de la flotte pour s’avancer à main droite, à égalité avec la galère royale qui est en train de baisser son pavillon français, reprenant l’étendard toscan. Don Giovanni de Médicis ne l’entend pas ainsi et fait monter ses canons. L’amiral maltais répond en faisant venir deux cents chevaliers sur sa galère. Des négociations infructueuses sont engagées entre les parties. Le gouverneur de Provence, Charles de Lorraine, duc de Guise, suggère timidement aux vaisseaux maltais de se retirer, Mendoza refuse impétueusement. Don Giovanni fait pression sur Marie de Médicis pour qu’elle intervienne auprès des autorités compétentes. Elle hésite puis décide de faire appel à Pomponne de Bellièvre qui lui aurait abruptement répondu qu’elle était en France pour procréer et non pour commander. Les négociations parviennent jusqu’au roi qui remercie les chevaliers maltais de leur service en leur donnant des cadeaux, dont un cœur de diamant entouré d’une couronne à Mendoza.30 29  Lettre du 12 novembre 1600 de la Grande Duchesse Christine au grand duc, cité par Millen et Fox, Heroic Deeds and Mystic Figure, p. 67. 30  Millen et Fox, Heroic Deeds and Mystic Figure, p.  68. Schermerhorn, Malta of the Knights, p. 239.

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Palma Cayet est un des rares commentateurs qui mentionne le conflit : Malaisement se peut representer la magnificence de la descente desdictes galeres, chacune prenant port et place selon son rang, nonobstant la dispute d’entre les Maltois et Florentins, à qui tiendroit la main droicte après la generale  : mais les Maltois eurent le rang qu’ils desiroient.31

Ce problème de préséance demeure au cœur de tout le cérémonial de l’Ancien Régime comme le rappelle Fanny Cosandey : Pour le roi, comme pour tous ceux qui participent au fonctionnement politique de la France d’Ancien Régime, occuper la bonne place est un enjeu crucial qui détermine l’être social. La promotion des uns, la déchéance des autres et, inévitablement, les querelles qui s’y rapportent, soulignent les tensions d’un monde en mutation et d’un État en construction.32

Le conflit entre les Toscans et l’Ordre de Malte, et, de manière larvée, entre l’ordre de Saint-Etienne et celui des chevaliers de l’ordre de Saint-Jean, démontre l’importance du symbolique dans la construction référentielle de la cérémonie.33 L’ordonnancement, les jeux de forces, la structure des pouvoirs ainsi que leur agencement dans le réel forment la base d’un ensemble d’énoncés politiques. L’Ordre de Malte, par ses réseaux et son histoire, doit primer sur l’ordre de Saint-Étienne. Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza considère sa mission terminée. Florence, selon lui, ne possède pas un prestige comparable à son Ordre dont la géographie est déterritorialisée. Les incidents de préséance sont très fréquents avec l’Ordre de Malte qui a un statut hiérarchique ambigu, celui-ci étant inversement proportionnel à sa puissance militaire.34 Au xviie et au xviiie siècle, de nombreux conflits éclatent avec Florence, Venise, Gênes et la Savoie. Monde de chevaliers habitués à policer les piratages méditerranéens, les Maltais ont des comportements qui imitent parfois celui des corsaires. De plus, l’Ordre est en train de changer de sphère d’influence, quittant la domination espagnole pour adopter une obédience française. En effet, le nombre de chevaliers provenant de France atteint presque le double de celui des autres nations. La France compte trois langues.35 Pierre Roquelaure de Saint31 

Palma Cayet, Choix de chroniques et mémoires, p. 120. Cosandey, ‘Entrer dans le rang’, p. 18. 33  L’Ordre de St-Étienne est un ordre militaire toscan, parfois en compétition avec l’Ordre de Malte. Voir Millen et Fox, Heroic Deeds and Mystic Figure, p. 67. 34  Schermerhorn, Malta of the Knights, p. 238–44. 35  Les langues sont des divisions géographiques auxquelles sont rattachés les chevaliers. 32 

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Aubain, le prieur de Saint-Gilles, appartenant à la Langue de Provence, se rend auprès de Henri IV pour justifier la position des navires maltais.36 Les réactions du duc de Guise et de Pomponne de Bellièvre sont probablement motivées par une peur de représailles de la part d’une population proche de ces chevaliers. Dans ce contexte, les Toscans, à la différence des Maltais, au grand dam de la grande duchesse Christine, sont perçus comme des étrangers. Cette perception suivra longtemps Marie de Médicis et, dans le contexte de ce voyage, créera des situations conflictuelles. Henri IV a, de manière implicite, choisi son camp. Ce conflit de préséance montre aussi en quoi le faste cérémonial demeure quoi qu’on en dise un rituel éthologique, créant des jeux de territorialités aussi complexes que ceux qu’on observe dans le monde animal. Passer en avant, se montrer sous tels costumes rappellent les formidables danses de certaines espèces d’oiseaux qui font ramage, marquent leurs territoires en positionnant des couleurs et des jeux de posture. Ce sont des jeux d’agressivité sublimée, déplacée mais qui lorsqu’ils dérapent, comme dans l’exemple marseillais, retrouvent leur pleine intensité. Les Toscans repartent sur la pointe des pieds, se voyant confrontés à une situation où les bagarres foisonnent dans les rues. Les problèmes logistiques de logement et d’approvisionnement sont nombreux, les municipalités ne sachant trop que faire de ces deux mille personnes et d’un nombre tout aussi grand de chevaux. Ces problèmes d’accueil se répéteront mais de manière moins explosive à Aix. Le pouvoir royal n’a pas su prévoir l’affluence du train de la reine et n’a pas mis en place les moyens pour la recevoir selon sa dignité. L’absence du roi, que Marie de Médicis aurait souhaité voir ‘en habit de soldat’, n’aide en rien ces débordements qui nécessitent un travail de police, un éclairage nocturne et un départ en douce.37 Outre la grande duchesse Christine, L’Estoile commente cette situation difficile : Monsieur Le Grand et ceux qui l’ont accompagné ne se louent pas fort des Florentins, et y a des querelles ordinaires, non seulement entre les laquais et estafiers du Roy et de la Roine, mais mesmes entre les seigneurs et gentilhommes, jusques au sang respandu, et est la nuict que ruent les grands coups. Il faudroit beaucoup de papier pour particularizer le tout; quoi que c’en soit, on y fait bonne chère pour son argent; mais le Roy s’en lassera bien tost, car il desfraie tout, et fait son estat de trois mil cinq cens escus que lui en couste par jour. Il n’y a Existent en France les langues de France, d’Auvergne et de Provence. 36  Il s’est distingué lors de la bataille de Lépante et a été aussi l’amiral de la flotte avant Mendoza (voir Engel, Histoire de l’Ordre de Malte, pp. 211–12; Millen, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici’, p. 139). 37  Sur l’expression d’‘habit de soldat’, Berthold Zeller renvoie aux dépêches du secrétariat d’État du grand duc (Zeller, Henri IV et Marie de Médicis, p. 53).

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pas jusques aux forçats des gallères qu’il ne nourrisse. D’une chose se plaignent fort les François, c’est que ceux que le Roy avoit envoyés, un mois devant, pour attendre la Roine et la servir, ont tousjours vescu sur leur bourse, et ne seront sans emprunt de moiens pour s’en retourner. Car, à la mode de Florence, le donner est perdu, et le tout y est fort chiche.38

Mais, en plus, il semble que les Marseillais aient toujours en mémoire la prise des îles du château d’If en 1596 par Don Giovanni de Médicis, le commandant de la flotte toscane. La rétrocession des îles ne se règle qu’en 1598, soit deux ans seulement avant la venue d’une Médicis dans le port de Marseille. Si l’accueil réservé à la reine est de bonne foi, celui des autres Florentins s’avère beaucoup plus problématique. De tous ces problèmes, sauf les courts passages donnés, peu est resté dans le discours public. Il est plausible de penser que le souvenir de la réception à Marseille n’ait pas encouragé le conseil municipal à vouloir commémorer l’événement. Ce travail de mémoire manquant sera pallié de manière lacunaire par les relations de Salon, Avignon et Lyon. Marseille ne semble pas priser la commémoration livresque des entrées ou des réceptions royales. En 1622, elle ne commanditera pas de livret non plus. C’est peut-être dans la tradition de la ville, fière de son indépendance, de ne pas se montrer sujette. Mais il semble ici que c’est l’ensemble du personnel de la cérémonie française qui fasse défaut : le gouverneur de Guise ne défend pas la contrée de la reine, le chancelier de Bellièvre a ses mots durs, réels ou imaginaires, qui demeurent dans les esprits, les commentateurs ramènent les difficultés logistiques à des problèmes d’argent, à une économie qui n’est pas somptuaire.

Entrer dans Marseille : le retour Par un curieux pli dont l’histoire a le don, la relation de l’arrivée à Marseille ne cessera de se détailler au cours des décennies qui suivent. La reine, épouse, puis reine régente et reine mère, entre à nouveau dans la ville, non pas dans son corps réel mais dans sa réalité virtuelle, discursive chez des historiens et iconographique 38 

L’Estoile, Mémoires-Journaux, vii (1889), p.  243. La question de l’argent est aussi soulevée de manière plus discrète par l’évêque de Chartres qui fait aussi un commentaire sur le coût de l’opération : ‘tous ceux qui […] avoyent suivis [la Reine] ayant pris congé d’elle pour la laisser rafraischir, furent conduits, chascun dans leur logys, marqués et meublés selon leur grandeur et quallité; et fust le tout deffrayé et nourry par le Roy avec une incroyable despense. Avec tout ce qui estoit dans les galleres, se montoit le nombre des personnes deffrayés à plus de sept mille bouches par jour, chascun s’efforcant à l’envy à qui paroistroit pour mieux honnorer ceste agreable journée’ (Hurault, Mémoires, p. 604).

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chez Rubens. Le temps effaçant les aspérités, les ennuis de la réception de 1600 seront supprimés et embellis sous les couleurs d’une liesse populaire. Les premiers textes qui décrivent l’arrivée dans le port de Marseille sont le Discours véritable et la relation de l’entrée de Lyon de Pierre Matthieu. Suivent les discours des historiens et des mémorialistes, comme ceux de Pierre Victor Palma Cayet en 1605, Pierre Matthieu en 1606, celui-ci reprenant, à peu de choses près, la relation de 1600, Pierre de L’Estoile et Philippe Hurault.39 Ces discours demeurent relativement sobres, hormis la description emphatique de la galère qui, aux yeux de Matthieu, semble la véritable héroïne de la réception. Ces six premiers textes tournent autour d’une même scène, soit celle de Marie de Médicis descendant de la galère réale. Même s’il existe de petites variations, les textes respectent la nature factuelle de l’événement en développant une structure narrative plus ou moins stable : la reine débarque de son navire, marche vers la tribune qui a été construite pour l’occasion, reçoit des mots de bienvenue et se dirige en procession vers le lieu où elle séjourne. L’essentiel de l’information et des descriptions est organisé autour de la date et de l’heure d’arrivée, de la construction architecturale d’accueil — ponton et théâtre dressé, de la disposition et de la nomenclature du personnel hôte, de l’introduction du dais par les consuls et de la remise des clefs, de la déambulation vers le logis, salle ou palais. La déclinaison des noms demeure similaire d’un extrait à l’autre, établissant un ordre hiérarchique entre les dignitaires, entendons les officiers de la Couronne, les cardinaux et les dames de la cour. Certains textes seront un peu plus précis, rajoutant le nom des conseillers d’état, ou la localisation de certains évêques mais la scène est fixée, établissant un ordonnancement qui donne ici la priorité aux officiers de la Couronne, là aux cardinaux. Autour de ce noyau narratif, des éléments variables sont ajoutés. Ils présentent chacun un intérêt, sur les plans pragmatiques, rhétoriques et idéologiques. Une analyse exhaustive de ces variations serait trop longue dans le cadre de cet article, on se contentera de donner quelques exemples. Le premier tient à la fonction actantielle imputée à Henri IV. Dans les textes de Matthieu et de Palma Cayet, le roi joue le rôle du destinateur de la fête.40 Malgré son absence lors de la tenue de 39 

Palma Cayet, Choix de chroniques et mémoires, pp. 116–20; Matthieu, Histoire de France et des choses memorables, pp. 666–73; Hurault, Mémoires, pp. 603–04. 40  ‘Sur la nouvelle de l’embarquement de sa majesté à Libourne, il [Henri IV] pourveut à sa reception à Marseille, en donna l’ordre à monsieur le duc de Guyse, gouverneur de Provence. Madame de Nemours y alla et, avec elle, madame de Guise, madamoiselle sa fille, madame la duchesse de Ventadour. Il envoya monsieur le connestable, monsieur le chancelier, les deux premieres lumieres et premiers officiers de sa Coronne, monsieur de Messe, monsieur de Fresne,

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l’événement, l’énonciateur le replace dans l’action, lui donne une assise rituelle et fait de lui l’hôte, celui qui mandate ses émissaires. Ensuite, la topique maritime, si importante pour Marseille, se manifeste par la description du navire et par le motif de Marie de Médicis comme celle qui dompte les mers, faisant écho à l’Ode de Malherbe.41 Enfin, Pierre de L’Estoile fait appel à la stratégie d’un témoin oculaire qui assure la véracité du récit. Ce spectateur met en lumière la robe et la coiffe de la reine : ‘Elle estoit vestue d’une robbe de drap d’or, coiffée haut à l’italienne, ses noeuds justes avec les cheveux sans poudre, le visage sans fard, sa gorge un peu ouverte, avec un rang de grosses perles dedans’.42 Au moyen de ce témoin, le mémorialiste fait ressortir la caractéristique italienne de la parure, donnant un tour identitaire à sa description qu’il poursuit plus loin.43 Il attribue ainsi un corps à la reine, une consistance, à la fois cérémoniale et nationale. Le ton de L’Estoile se situe à l’antipode du portrait dithyrambique que le jésuite Valladier avait donné de Marie de Médicis dans la relation d’Avignon.44 Les trois textes qui suivent, distants de l’événement, plus portés sur sa ritualisation et son capital symbolique, procèdent à une autre ventilation du contenu narratif. Quoiqu’ils reprennent en partie le noyau des six textes précédents, ils secretaire d’Estat, et, par son commandement, s’y trouverent messieurs les cardinaux de Joyeuse, de Gondy, de Givry, de Sourdy, assistez de dix evesques’ (Matthieu, L’Entrée de […] Princesse, Marie de Médicis, p. 6). 41  L’évêque de Chartres écrit : ‘Ainsi ceste courageuse princesse, s’estonnant moing que les plus resolus matelots des oraiges de la mer, la voyant ung peu calmée, voulut passer oultre et continuer sa routte pour Savonne, puis par Antibes, par le port de Saincte Marye et de Tresport, et enfin arriva à Thoulon, où elle prist terre comme estant en France’ (Hurault, Mémoires, p. 603). 42  L’Estoile, Mémoires-Journaux, vii, 242. 43  ‘Sa Majesté est de fort riche taille, grasse et en bon point, à l’oeil fort beau, et le teint aussi, mais un peu grossier; au reste, sans fard, poudre ni autre vilanie’ (L’Estoile, Mémoires-Journaux, vii, 243). 44  ‘La Royne estoit vestue à l’Italienne d’une robe de drap d’or à fonds bleu, atisée aussi à l’Italienne fort simplement, la poictrine toute couverte, le poil en sa naïfve beauté sans fard, et sans griserie. Je voyois en mon cœur rougir de honte la vanité scandaleuse d’Avignon, de veoir cette beauté sans fard; ce beau teint sans vermeillon, cest œil attrayant et agreable sans legereté, ce port brave, et plein de Majesté sans affectation, cette belle, et haute stature sans marche-pied : l’on ne scauroit voir, ou desirer jamais en Princesse deux choses si diametralement esloignées joinctes ensemble : une si grande Majesté, avec une si incomparable modestie : une si axcellente [sic] beauté, avec avec une si rare naïsveté; un œil si debonnaire, et si attrayant, avec une si remarquable pudicité, et gravité : la face tousjour riante, sans vanité : le marcher grave, sans legereté : le rencontre royal, et majestueux, sans aucun faste, ou mespris’ (Valladier, Labyrinthe royal de l’Hercule Gaulois, pp. 23–24). Dans ce portrait propre à l’amplification jésuite, le lecteur retrouvera cependant l’absence de fard qui paraît avoir frappé les esprits.

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orientent et reconfigurent l’arrivée à Marseille selon un habitus royal. Ces textes, tout comme la toile de Rubens sur ce thème, démontrent l’importance de transformer, voire transfigurer dans le geste iconographique du peintre flamand, une modeste réception en un événement marquant.45 Ce changement de tonalité se manifeste dans L’Histoire et chronique de Provence de César de Nostredame, publié en 1614 à un moment où Marie de Médicis, par son statut de reine régente, occupe une place capitale dans le royaume. Dans une prose nerveuse et baroque, le fils de Nostradamus reprend le motif brodé par Malherbe de Neptune et Éole amoureux de la reine. Il qualifie la ‘reception’ de ‘royale’, adjectif qu’il utilise à quatre reprises dans sa description qui tient en une page. Les trois autres occurrences renvoient à Marie de Médicis : la reine se voit revêtue d’attributs emphatiques, comme ‘la precieuse excellente et royale charge’, ‘ceste rare beauté et royale merveille’. À personne royale, la réception se doit d’être royale. Puis, Nostredame saisit l’action dès l’embouchure du port, logeant le théâtre des opérations dans l’espace maritime, ressource première du monde méditerranéen : comme sa Majesté commença de franchir la chaine, et d’entrer au port, elle fut tonnerreusement saluee de toute l’artillerie de la ville, de celle des forts et chasteaux, et d’environ mil harquebusiers, qui presques tous avoient la mandille de drap de soye, et le morion d’or moulu, conduits par les quatre Capitaines des quartiers en tres-belle et noble ordonnance.46

Est donc rajoutée une séquence narrative qui permet de mettre en évidence un premier site, limitrophe, à la fois hors de la ville et en elle par les installations portuaires. Ensuite, apparaît un personnel festif nombreux revêtu des ornements de la cérémonie. Trait coutumier des relations d’entrée, Nostredame fait intervenir le nombre qui désigne implicitement la participation du ‘peuple’ : le solennel se pense dans le chiffre, un peu comme les manifestations donnent lieu à une guerre de chiffres entre les manifestants et les forces de l’ordre.47 Il est un peu ironique de constater que le bruit et la fumée de la canonnade, mis en avant dans 45 

Fanny Cosandey, dans une analyse du cycle pictural de Rubens, remarque le souci particulier de la Reine pour Marseille : ‘Aux trois étapes nécessaires pour sceller définitivement une alliance royale (fiançailles, mariage par procuration, célébration des noces en présence des époux […], Marie de Médicis en joint une quatrième — Le Débarquement à Marseille —, ajoutant ainsi une note personnelle à un parcours classique’ (Cosandey, ‘Représenter une reine de France’). 46  Nostredame, Histoire et chronique, p. 1088. 47  Ce qui montre bien que le chiffre ne correspond pas à une visée référentielle factuelle et statistique, mais qu’il est englué dans une économie symbolique.

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ce texte, auront pour conséquence de semer la confusion entre les galères et de programmer la querelle de préséance entre Maltais et Toscans. Le second texte, celui d’Hilarion de Coste, s’inscrit dans le genre hybride de portraits édifiants et de récits historiques sur la vie des reines et des princesses. Rédigé en 1630, avant d’être publié à nouveau en 1647, l’œuvre du père minime déploie une rhétorique encomiastique qui veut glorifier certains moments de la vie de Marie de Médicis dont l’étoile commence à pâlir. Son arrivée en France constitue pour le père Hilarion un fait saillant de sa biographie. Après avoir repris la nomenclature du personnel de l’accueil, en appuyant sur la présence des princesses et des duchesses, il décrit ainsi la descente du navire : Sa Majesté avoit esté conduite en grande magnificence dans le Palais, sous un Poisle de drap d’argent, que le Viguier et les Consuls de Marseille luy presenterent, avec les clefs de leur ville, qui n’avoit jamais veu tant de galeres, ny ouy tant de canonnades, ny tant de clairons et de trompettes, ny le son de tant de tambours, ny fait des magnificences pareilles à celles-cy. Les habitans de la ville, qui estoient au nombre de plus de dix mille hommes, estoient sous les armes. On voyoit le mouvement donné à plusieurs machines, et on passoit sous des arcs triomphaux, qui faisoient estimer l’esprit de ceux qui les avoient embellis d’emblémes et d’inscriptions, et découvroient les richesses de cette ville, qui est plus ancienne que Rome, et qui a tousjours fait paroistre sa magnificence aux entrées de ses Souverains.48

Le récit s’ouvre sur le spectacle de la ‘magnificence’ qui apparaît trois fois, montrant l’insistance de l’énonciateur à loger la cérémonie dans le faste et la splendeur d’une manière grandiose. Dans la seconde phrase, par un subtil mouvement syntaxique, la ville est personnifiée : celle qui n’a jamais vu, celle qui n’a jamais fait autant de magnificence. L’accent mis sur la ville hôtesse renforce la logique de l’hospitalité. Marseille donne à voir un spectacle inouï qui, comme le rappelle l’énonciateur à la fin du paragraphe, s’inscrit dans une tradition immémoriale, évoquée par une ancienneté qui précède Rome. À nouveau, le nombre surgit : cette fois-ci, ce sont dix mille hommes ‘sous les armes’. Enfin, les ‘machines’ et les ‘arcs triomphaux […] embellis d’emblémes et d’inscriptions’ viennent signaler aux lecteurs que le dispositif cérémonial est sans aucun doute possible celui d’une entrée. Le dernier texte, souvent considéré comme une source documentaire fiable, est celui d’Antoine de Ruffi, dans son Histoire de Marseille. Il existe deux versions de ce texte, celle de 1642 et celle revue et corrigée par Louis-Antoine de Ruffi de 1696. Les textes sont assez proches, bien que certains détails soient précisés dans la dernière édition. Ayant probablement eu accès à différentes sources d’archives 48 

Coste, Les Eloges et les vies des reynes, ii, 445–46.

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municipales, à la différence de tous les textes précédents, Ruffi commence par mentionner les préparatifs que la ville engage pour la venue de Marie de Médicis : Cependant la Ville de Marseille se prepara pour l’accueil d’une si grande Reyne, et fit travailler avec diligence aux arcs, statües, et autres choses qu’on a accoustumé de faire en semblables solemnitez. […] on dressa pour cest effet du costé de terre cinq arcs triomphaux d’une belle et ingenieuse architecture, enrichis de chiffres et devises de France et de Toscane : et du costé de la mer on mit sur les piliers qui sont à l’emboucheure du port, des pyramides et des figures, avec de tableaux le long de la muraille du ravelin de la tour S. Jean. On dressa aussi sur le quay du port, au devant de l’hostel du Roy, un pont qui prenoit depuis ledit hostel, et s’avancoit jusqu’au rivage de la mer, et venoit aboutir à une plate forme faite en façon d’une grande salle, et fabriquée sur deux grandes barques de ponton, en telle sorte qu’on estoit aussi asseuré là dedans qu’en terre ferme. Cette salle estoit ornée de belles peintures et autres magnificences.49

Comme le texte d’Hilarion de Coste, sa description des préparatifs comporte les architectures éphémères propres à l’entrée. Arcs triomphaux, pyramides, devises et emblèmes, tapisseries et tableaux en forment le mobilier familier. Le fait que les discours contemporains de l’événement n’en fassent aucune mention demeure bien étonnant. La description se poursuit en reprenant l’arrivée, comme le récit de Nostre­ dame, à l’embouchure du port : Le troisieme Novembre jour de vendredy sur les unze heures du matin, le Fort Nostre Dame de la Garde aiant fait signal, par lequel la Ville fut advertie de l’arrivée de la Reyne aux Isles, chascun se disposa pour estre en estat lors qu’elle entreroit, les douze Capitaines richement couvert; en teste de deux cens hommes chascun des plus qualifiez de la Ville, qui estoient en tres-bon equipage commmencerent à marcher sur le midy, pour aller prendre leur poste sous une eminence appellée Teste de More, et les autres à l’emboucheure du Port.50

Après les salves de canons et d’arquebuses, la galère de la reine s’avance et laisse sortir la souveraine. Ruffi, peut-être inspiré par la toile de Rubens, fait intervenir le personnage du Grand Écuyer, comme étant celui qui, galamment, soutient la reine, la porte vers le débarcadère. La Galere s’estant approchée de la plate forme dont nous avons parlé cy dessus, la chiorme s’avanca vers la poupe pour la faire abbaisser, et la Reyne en sortit à 49  50 

Ruffi, Histoire de la ville de Marseille (1642), p. 307. Ruffi, Histoire de la ville de Marseille (1642), p. 307.

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l’instant soustenue par le Duc de Belle-Garde, et entra dans la plate forme, où elle fut saluée par les Cardinaux; apres quoy les Consuls qui estoient à costé vestus de leurs robes d’escarlate s’avancerent et luy presenterent à genoux deux clefs d’or du poids de trois cens escus, qu’elle prist et donna au sieur de Lussan Capitaine de ses Gardes : à mesure qu’elle s’avancoit dans la plate forme, elle recevoit les hommages de ceux que le Roy avoit envoyé, suivant l’ordre qu’on avoit estably avant sa venue.51

Dans la version de 1642, on mène la reine à son logis, ‘et d’autant qu’elle avoit besoin de repos, aussi-tost qu’elle y fust entrée on la coucha dans son lict’.52 Cette fin en queue de poisson fait ressortir l’ambiguïté de la représentation : d’un côté, sur le plan des préparatifs et du personnel, municipal, aristocrate et ecclésiastique, le texte indique que Marie de Médicis fait une entrée; de l’autre, dans le court trajet sur le pont entre la plate-forme et l’‘hostel’, les architectures éphémères sont inutiles. Cela laisse entrevoir la possibilité qu’elles n’aient existé, en totalité ou en partie, sur le papier du registre municipal. Dans la deuxième version de 1696, celui qui a revu le texte, Louis-Antoine de Ruffi, introduit un paragraphe festif qui intègre la participation de la ville et l’équivalent d’un défilé : Cependant la milice de la Marseille rentra dans la Ville, et passa au-devant du Logis de Sa Majesté, ou elle déchargea la mousqueterie : mais il n’y eu rien de si beau que les feux d’artifice des Galeres, et comme elles apartenoient à divers Princes, il y avoit de l’émulation à qui faisoit mieux, et avec plus de largesse et de magnificence. Les Habitans y ajouterent de leur part de feux de joie.53

De même nature que le texte d’Hilarion de Coste, la rhétorique de Ruffi redonne à la ville une population qui participe, un décorum collectif qui se manifeste par ‘les feux de joie’, en l’honneur de la reine et, du même coup, par soumission au monarque. Le kaléidoscope des textes fait apparaître davantage les limites de la réception marseillaise que sa réalité tangible, laissant se profiler sous la pression du temps son empan imaginaire. Entre le premier groupe de textes et le deuxième, on comprend que les enjeux mémoriels ne sont pas les mêmes. Dans les premiers textes, existe une volonté de consigner l’événement, d’en marquer ses particularités, de 51 

Ruffi, Histoire de la ville de Marseille (1642), p. 308. Le texte de 1696 décrira le costume de la reine, ‘habillée d’une étoffe verte parsemée de clinquans à l’Italienne avec des manchons d’argent’ (Ruffi, Histoire de Marseille (1696), p. 446.) 52  Ruffi, Histoire de la ville de Marseille (1642), p. 308. 53  Ruffi, Histoire de Marseille (1696), p. 447.

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se faire Gazette. Les détails sont minimaux, la présence du rituel de l’entrée douteuse. Dans la seconde série, le travail de mémoire, placé sous le jour des commémorations, de la cérémonie du souvenir, vise à redonner aux agents la grandeur qui leur convient : à la reine, la ‘royale charge’, la magnificence et les ‘hommages’; à la ville hôte, une tradition immémoriale, la liesse de la communauté, la posture rhétorique de l’exceptionnel, la réalisation d’une entrée. Mais plus les textes en rajoutent, plus ils sont le lieu d’un ‘désir’ de la part de l’énonciateur qui donne à voir son regard, et moins l’événement présente de consistance, plus la concrétude de l’entrée se dissipe. Université de Western Ontario

Œuvres citées Manuscrits et livres rares Firenze, Archivio di Stato, Misc. Mediceo, 18 (Lettre des députés)

Sources imprimées Aggas, Edward, A True Discourse of the Whole Occurrences into the Queenes Voyage from the Departure from Florence until her Arrival at the Citie of Marseille (London: Stafford, 1601) Coste, Hilarion de, Les Eloges et les vies des reynes, des princesses, et des dames illustres en pieté, en Courage et en Doctrine, qui ont fleury de nostre temps, et du temps de nos Peres: Avec l’explication de leurs Devises, Emblémes, Hieroglyphes, Divisez en deux tomes et dediez à la Reyne Regente, 2 tomes (Paris: Cramoisy et Cramoisy, 1647) Le Discours véritable de ce qui s’est passé au voyage de la Royne depuis son departement de Florence, jusques à son arrivée en la ville de Marseille, avecq les magnificences faites à l’entrée de sa Majesté (Marseille: Boy, 1855) Du Vair, Guillaume, Harangue faicte à la Royne, par M. Du Vair (Paris: de Monstr’oeil, 1600) ‘L’Entrée de Louis XIII dans Marseille le 7 novembre 1622’, éd. par Marie-Claude Canova-Green, xviie siècle, 53 (2001), 521–33 L’Estoile, Pierre de, Mémoires-Journaux de Pierre de L’Estoile, 12 tomes (Paris: Lemerre, 1875–96), vii (1889) Malherbe, François de, Ode du sieur Malherbe à la Reine pour sa bien-venuë (Aix-enProvence: Tholosan, 1601) —— , Œuvres complètes, éd. par Antoine Adam, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 68 (Paris: Gallimard, 1971)

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Matthieu, Pierre, L’Entrée de très-grande, très chrestienne, et très-auguste Princesse, Marie de Médicis royne de France et de Navarre, en la ville de Lyon, 4 decembre, 1600 (Lyon: Ancelin, 1601) —— , Histoire de France et des choses memorables, advenues aux provinces estrangeres durant sept années de paix: du regne du roy Henry IIII. Roi de France et de Navarre: divisée en sept livres (Paris: Mettayer et Guillemot, 1606) Nostredame, César de, L’Entrée de la Reine Marie de Medicis a Salon (Marseille: Boy, 1855; édition originale à Aix-en-Provence: Tholosan, 1602) —— , Histoire et chronique de Provence de Caesar de Nostradamus, gentilhomme provençal ou passent de temps en temps en bel ordre les Anciens poetes personnages et familles illustres qui ont fleuri despuis VC ans oultre plusieurs races de France, d’Italie, Hespagne, Languedoc, Dauphine et Piedmont y rencontrées avec celles qui despuis se sont diversement annoblies comme aussi les plus signallés combats et remarquables faict d’armes qui s’y sont passez de temps en temps iusques à la paix de Vervins (Marseille: Laffitte Reprints, 1971; fac-similé de l’édition de 1614) Ruffi, Antoine de, Histoire de Marseille, rev. par Louis Antoine de Ruffi, 2e édn (Marseille: Martel, 1696) —— , Histoire de la ville de Marseille, contenant tout ce qui s’y est passé de plus mémorable depuis sa fondation, durant le temps qu’elle a esté république et soubs la domination des Romains, Bourguignons, Wisigoths, Ostrogoths, roys de Bourgongne, vicomtes de Marseille, comtes de Provence et de nos roys très-chrestiens, recueillie de plusieurs autheurs grecs, latins, françois et espagnols et des titres et chartes tirées des archives de l’hostel de ville, des monastères et maisons religieuses de Marseille et de divers lieux de la Provence (Marseille: Garcin, 1642) Stations faictes pour l’entrée de la Royne à Paris après son Coronnement par Antoine le Clerc, Escuyer Sieur de la Forest (Paris: [s.n.], 1611) Valladier, André, Labyrinthe royal de l’Hercule Gaulois triomphant des fortunes, trophées, triomphes, mariages et autres faicts heroïques et memorables de trés-chrétien Prince Henry IIII Roy de France et de Navarre representé à l’entrée triomphante de la Royne en la cité d’Avignon le 19 novembre 1600 (Avignon: Bramereau, 1601)

Études critiques Barbiche, Bernard, ‘Marie de Médicis, reine régente, et le Saint-Siège: agent ou otage de la Réforme catholique’, dans Le ‘Siècle’ de Marie de Médicis, éd. par François Graziani et Francesco Solinas (Torino: dell’Orso, 2002), pp. 41–56 Carmona, Michel, Marie de Medicis (Paris: Fayard, 1981) Cosandey, Fanny, ‘Entrer dans le rang’, dans Les Jeux de l’échange: entrées solennelles et divertissements du xve au xviie siècle, dir. par Marie-France Wagner, Louise Frappier, et Claire Latraverse, Études et essais sur la Renaissance, 67 (Paris: Champion, 2007), pp. 17–46 —— , La Reine de France: symbole et pouvoir, xve-xviiie siècle (Paris: Gallimard, 2000)

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—— , ‘Représenter une reine de France: Marie de Médicis et le cycle de Rubens au Palais du Luxembourg’, Clio, 19 (2004), 63–83 [consulté le 26 mai 2009] Cuignet, Jean-Claude, Dictionnaire Henri IV (Paris: Grancher, 2007) Engel, Claire Éliane, Histoire de l’Ordre de Malte (München: Nagel, 1968) Haran, Alexandre, Le Lys et le globe: messianisme dynastique et rêve impérial en France à l’aube des temps modernes (Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2000) Hurault, Philippe, Mémoires, Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de France, 1e sér., 10 (Paris: Everat, 1838) Mamone, Sara, Paris et Florence: deux capitales du spectacle pour une reine Marie de Médicis (Paris: Seuil, 1990) McGowan, Margaret M., ‘Les Jésuites à Avignon: les fêtes au service de la propagande politique et religieuse’, dans Les Fêtes de la Renaissance, éd. par J.  Jacquot, 3 tomes (Paris: CNRS, 1956–75), iii (1972), pp. 153–71 Millen, Ronald Forsyth, ‘Rubens and the Voyage of Maria of Medici: Etichetta, Protocol, Diplomacy, and Baroque Convention; Essays towards a Study of History’, dans Rubens e Firenze, éd. par Mina Gregori (Firenze: Nuova Italia, 1983), pp. 113–76 —— , et Robert Erich Fox, Heroic Deeds and Mystic Figure: A New Reading of Rubens’ Life of Maria of Medici (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989) Palma Cayet, Pierre Victor de, Choix de chroniques et mémoires sur l’histoire de France: chronologie novenaire et chronologie septenaire (Paris: Desrez, 1836) Saslow, James M., The Medici Wedding of 1589: Florentine Festival as ‘Theatrum mundi’ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996) Schermerhorn, Elizabeth W., Malta of the Knights (New York: AMS, 1978) Vaillancourt, Daniel, Les Urbanités parisiennes; le livre du trottoir (Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2009) Zeller, Berthold, Henri IV et Marie de Médicis d’après des documents nouveaux tirés des archives de Florence et de Paris (Paris: Didier, 1877)

Le Theatre des bons Engins de Guillaume de La Perrière : une ‘écriture’ de l’entrée de Marguerite de Navarre à Toulouse en 1535 Claudie Balavoine

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es entrées offrent un lieu privilégié à la mise en scène de la symbolique contemporaine. En retard sur elle ou à la pointe de la mode, selon la ville où elles se déroulent et la culture des concepteurs, elles abandonnent progressivement, au cours du xvie siècle, l’allégorie héroïco-biblique pour se tourner vers une culture humaniste qui promeut l’héritage gréco-latin. Cette mutation se trouve accélérée par la publication, en 1531, des épigrammes latines d’Alciat agrémentées de gravures.1 Les ‘emblèmes’, qui chargent d’une signification spécifique des res de toute nature, vont dès lors s’inviter dans les décorations festives. Le Theatre des bons Engins de Guillaume de La Perrière est l’un des tout premiers livres d’emblèmes.2 Et non des moindres. Le premier à être écrit en français, il connut un succès durable qui lui valut des éditions nombreuses.3 Il fut traduit et imité hors de France.4 Il présente, sur la page de gauche, une gravure et, sur la page 1  Alciati, Emblematum liber ; Alciati, Emblematum libellus pour ne citer que les éditions antérieures à 1535. La première traduction française, due à Jehan Lefevre, paraît à Paris chez Wechel en 1536. 2  La Perrière, Le Theatre des bons engins, intro. par Dexter ; La Perrière, Le Théâtre des bons engins, intro. par Saunders. A. Saunders a également donné, avec le fac-similé de la Morosophie, celui d’une autre édition de Janot (n.d.) qui présente de légères variantes textuelles. 3  Sur les éditions successives, voir Adams, Rawles, et Saunders, A Bibliography of French Emblem Books, i (1999), pp. 364–81. 4  En particulier La Perrière, The Theater of Fine Devices, trad. par Combe ; La Perrière, The Theater of Fine Devices, intro. par Silcox.

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de droite, un dizain qui dégage la signification de la scène représentée, chacun de ces deux éléments s’insérant dans de riches encadrements qui contribuent à la réussite esthétique de l’ensemble. L’ouvrage, publié au plus tôt en 1540, n’a certes pu fonctionner comme un répertoire où les responsables de l’entrée de Henri et Marguerite de Navarre à Toulouse en 1535 auraient pu puiser leur inspiration. Mais offert, sous une forme réduite, à Marguerite pour célébrer son arrivée à Toulouse, il n’en entretient pas moins nécessairement avec cette entrée des liens étroits.5 En ce cas singulier, et peut-être unique, l’ouvrage emblématique n’est pas source du langage symbolique de l’entrée, il en fait partie intégrante ou plutôt s’y substitue. Que La Perrière l’entendît bien ainsi est ce que l’on voudrait ici montrer. On commencera par les indices externes, en rappelant le rôle qu’il joua dans les entrées de 1533 et de 1535. On cherchera ensuite, dans la forme et le contenu même de l’ouvrage, les éléments qui relèvent de la célébration traditionnelle des entrées. Enfin, en s’appuyant sur l’orientation politique d’emblèmes explicites, on essaiera de mieux définir les contours et la finalité de cette version originelle, bien distincte de son avatar éditorial.

Le Rôle de La Perrière dans les entrées toulousaines Guillaume de La Perrière, licencié en droit, prieur du Collège Saint-Mathurin, littérateur assez prolifique, est en particulier l’auteur de plusieurs livres d’orientation emblématique.6 Dès le début des années 1530, il assume à Toulouse un rôle de polygraphe semi-officiel et de concepteur de décorations en tout genre.7 Ainsi, lors de l’entrée à Toulouse de François Ier et du dauphin le 1er août 1533, suivie par l’entrée d’Éléonore d’Autriche le lendemain, les capitouls (les huit magistrats qui administrent la ville) font appel à lui pour participer à l’organisation de l’appareil ornemental qui consiste en ‘arcs triomphans, theatres, galeries, eschaffaux et chariots triomphans et pour les decors histoires moralités et fictions poeticques’.8 Ils 5 

Sur la date présumée de la publication, voir Rawles, ‘The Earliest Editions of Guillaume de la Perrière’s Theatre’. 6  Sur Guillaume de La Perrière, voir Dexter, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière’. 7  Sans avoir le titre officiel d’historiographe appointé de la ville, La Perrière en joua le rôle et rédigea en particulier les annales manuscrites de Toulouse de 1539 à 1553, voir Les Douze livres de l’histoire de Toulouse, éd. par Roschach, pp. 38–39. 8  Toulouse, AM, AA 82, ‘Entrée de François Ier’ ; voir Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, pp. 94–114.

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l’auraient également chargé de composer les devises latines qui ornaient les arcs de triomphe de cette entrée sur lesquels nous n’avons malheureusement pas plus de détails.9 Les frais engagés pour cet apparat obligèrent la ville à de drastiques économies.10 Et les capitouls se trouvent dans l’impossibilité d’égaler ce faste quand il leur faut assurer l’entrée de Henri de Navarre le 1er juillet 1535 et celle de Marguerite le lendemain.11 D’autant qu’ils ne disposent, cette fois-ci, que de quelques semaines à peine.12 Ils se contentèrent donc de faire tendre des étoffes précieuses, broder ou peindre des armoiries et d’offrir, pour la rituelle ‘gratuité’, deux médailles d’or.13 C’est à La Perrière que sera confié, cette fois encore, le soin d’œuvrer ‘en l’espace de dix ou douze jours […] à l’invention et ordonnance de médailles’ et de composer en sus oraisons et harangues qui seraient déclamées aux souverains.14 De fait les archives municipales de Toulouse ne font mention, cette fois-ci, d’aucune construction décorative.15 Elles ne décrivent avec quelque précision que la composition du cortège et le déroulement de sa procession.16 Les capitouls demandèrent-ils à La Perrière de pallier par quelque ouvrage littéraire la relative pauvreté de la célébration ? Ou ce dernier en prit-il l’initiative, sou9 

Voir Mégret, ‘Giraud Agret, graveur toulousain’. Toulouse, AM, CC 2309. 11  L’exécution des tableaux, en particulier, était en effet si coûteuse qu’une ville aussi riche que Lyon demande, pour l’entrée du maréchal de Saint André, qu’elle soit faite ‘à moindres expens que se pourra faire’. 12  Ils apprennent au début du mois de mars que les souverains de Navarre comptent passer à Toulouse à Pâques ; voir Toulouse, AM, BB 9, fol. 230 (4 mars 1535 n.s.). Sur le peu de temps pour la préparation voir Roschach, ‘Un voyage princier en 1535’, p. 58. 13  Voir Toulouse, AM, BB 9, fol. 232v (9 mars 1535 n.s.) : ‘lesditz seigneur et dame auront poille de satin cramoisin, les coustez de toille d’or doublez de taffetas avec leurs escussons tant esditz coustez que au ciel ; […] le dessus des rues devers le ciel tendu avec les escussons desditz seigneur et dame et festons, parées et ornées ès coustez ; […] et après leur sera faicte la gratuité de deux medailles d’or à ung chacun jusques et au poix de quatre cens escuz sol, que seront les quatre huit cens escuz sols, avec les autres petites menues despenses que conviendra faire pour raison d’icelles entrées, de quoy sera pourveu par les capitoulz’. 14  De ce travail La Perrière réclame juste remuneration ; voir Toulouse, AM, CC 2428, pièces à l’appui des comptes 1552–53, nos 130 et 131. Le texte des harangues ne nous est pas parvenu. 15  Nous remercions ici François Bordes, directeur des archives municipales de Toulouse, d’avoir bien voulu nous communiquer toutes les allusions à l’entrée de 1535 qu’il a pu y relever. 16  Sur ces cortèges voir Bordes, ‘Une perception de l’espace urbain’, et Bordes, ‘Rites et pratiques cérémonielles’. 10 

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cieux de se lancer à son tour dans la compétition emblématique ouverte, quatre ans plus tôt, par Alciat ? Quoi qu’il en soit, il composa, pour l’entrée de Marguerite de Navarre, des ‘emblesmes’ qu’il lui offrit lors de sa réception17 comme le révèle l’épître à Marguerite qui figure en tête de l’édition du Theatre des bons Engins : Car d’autant qu’elle [la Fortune] m’a rendu joyeulx en me donnant opportunité de faire reverence à vostre royalle maiesté : & veoir nostre presente cité illustrée de vostre bien heureuse venue, d’autant elle m’a rendu triste & melancolicque de ce qu’elle a tant hastée (sic) vostre dicte venue, que n’ay eu loysir de preparer, lymer et parachever cent Emblesmes moraulx accompaignez de cent dixains uniformes, declaratifz, & illustratifs d’iceulx : Lesquelz des leur invention & commencement sont à vous seule tresillustre princesse, par moy vostre humble & petit serviteur (telz qu’ils sont) consacrez & dediez.18

On voit que cette dédicace se donne comme la réplique du petit discours (écrit et/ou oral) qui accompagna le recueil offert à Marguerite et auquel, la destinataire restant la même, elle était obligée d’être, pour l’essentiel, fidèle. Or elle apporte trois précisions décisives : tout d’abord que La Perrière n’offrit à la souveraine que la moitié seulement des emblèmes présents dans l’édition parisienne ; deuxièmement qu’il ‘inventa’ ces cinquante emblèmes à sa seule intention, autre­ment dit pour la circonstance même de son entrée ; enfin qu’il les avait conçus comme des images signifiantes. Car si ces ‘emblesmes moraulx’ étaient accompagnés de dizains ‘declaratifz, & illustratifs d’iceulx’, force est d’entendre par ‘emblesmes’ une représentation figurée qu’un texte ‘déclare’, autrement dit explique.19 Point n’est besoin pour autant de supposer que La Perrière dessina lui-même ces images.20 Il suffisait qu’il en exposa à un peintre la composition.21 L’insistance sur la ‘centaine’ d’emblèmes prévue ne doit pas nous amener à conclure que le livre imprimé, qui contient effectivement 101 emblèmes, offrirait 17 

Probablement lors de la réception offerte à la souveraine par l’archevêque de Toulouse en ‘ladite maison archiepiscopalle’, entendons le château de Balma (Toulouse, AM, BB 9, fol. 234r–v). 18  Epistre A treshaulte & tresillustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de France, Royne de Navarre, seur unicque du treschrestien Roy de France, fols A iii–A iiiiv. 19  Le terme ‘emblème’ désigne à cette époque tantôt l’épigramme, tantôt la gravure, tantôt l’ensemble des deux. 20  Comme le conclut hâtivement Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, p. 145. Si tel était le cas, il se serait préoccupé davantage de l’illustration des Cent considérations d’amour. 21  Ce peintre aurait pu être Bernard Nalot qui participe aux décorations de l’entrée de 1533 et dessine en particulier, d’après l’invention de La Perrière, la médaille offerte à François Ier ; voir Roschach, ‘Un voyage princier en 1535’, p. 59, et Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499– 1554)’, p. 100.

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au lecteur la mise au point enfin aboutie du projet originel.22 Préserver (ou introduire) cette allusion à une centaine qui aurait été préparée, sinon peaufinée, pour l’entrée de 1535, peut correspondre à une exigence d’éditeur désireux de donner à une compilation nouvelle le prestige d’un cadeau royal. La Perrière, une fois la cérémonie de l’entrée achevée, n’avait plus guère de raison de s’en tenir à un registre qu’il reconnaît avoir été étroitement lié à l’événement à célébrer. De son côté, le libraire parisien Denis Janot, soucieux avant tout de concurrencer les Emblemata d’Alciat dans leur nombre (la centaine, à cette date) et leur plaisante variété, ne pouvait qu’encourager La Perrière à disperser les emblèmes du noyau initial, tenus à une certaine élévation politique, dans une miscellanée ‘pour grand public’, égayée de leçons de sagesse commune pour la conduite de la vie quotidienne.23 Tous les emblèmes sur l’amour, en particulier, qu’il eût été peu séant, au de­ meurant, d’offrir en ces circonstances à l’épouse du roi de Navarre, auraient pu être ajoutés après coup pour toucher un plus large auditoire, d’autant qu’ils apparaissent curieusement dans la seconde moitié de l’ouvrage imprimé. Or quand se prépare la publication du Theatre des bons Engins, La Perrière travaille probablement déjà à une série sur ce thème qui paraîtra, en 1543, sous le titre Les Cent considérations d’amour.24 On trouve en tout cas un ‘remplissage’ de ce type dans un ouvrage sur l’administration civile que les capitouls lui commandent en 1549 et qui intègre un véritable traité moral sur le mariage qui a peu à voir avec le sujet principal.25 Quoi qu’il en soit l’Epistre nous assure que Le Theatre des bons Engins contient bien les cinquante emblèmes offerts à Marguerite le 2 août 1535, et rien ne nous autorise à les supposer antérieurs à cette occasion.26 Il nous faut donc chercher à repérer, dans la farrago éditée par Denis Janot, ces emblèmes ‘faits sur mesure’, et à mettre en lumière les liens formels et thématiques que cette première version (que, pour plus de clarté, nous désignerons désormais sous le titre abrégé de Theatre) entretient avec la célébration des entrées. 22 

Contrairement à l’opinion de Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, pp. 189–96. Le classement thématique des Emblemata d’Alciat, qui rompt avec cet idéal esthétique de la docta varietas, alors prépondérante, n’est en effet entrepris par Guillaume Roville qu’en 1548. 24  La Perrière, Les Cent considérations d’amour. Les cent quatrains sont accompagnés de gravures médiocres, de provenances diverses, et dont le peu de pertinence prouve qu’elles n’ont pas, cette fois-ci, été conçues par La Perrière. 25  La Perrière, Le Miroir politicque. 26  En revanche il semble difficile de croire ‘que, déjà en 1533, il travaillait à son Theatre des Bons Engins’ (Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, p. 99). 23 

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Une ‘entrée de papier’ Toulouse n’ayant donc ni le temps ni les moyens de faire édifier, pour l’entrée des souverains de Navarre, ces arcs, théâtres, galeries, échafauds et autres chars de triomphe dont avait été gratifiée l’entrée de 1533, La Perrière aurait entrepris d’y suppléer en composant une ‘entrée de papier’ qui en tînt lieu, production humaniste illustrée, nettement plus économique et particulièrement apte à séduire une souveraine lettrée. Une telle initiative pouvait s’autoriser de précédents prestigieux. Elle rappelle en effet, en plus modeste, certes, l’Arc de triomphe et le Cortège triomphal de Maximilien Ier, séries gravées en l’honneur de l’empereur à partir de dessins de Dürer, agrémentées d’inscriptions, et qui se publient de 1518 à 1526.27 La Perrière a pu s’y intéresser, lui qui connaissait en tout cas le Songe de Poliphile de Francesco Colonna, accessible alors uniquement dans le texte latino-italien de l’édition aldine de 1499, et qui offrait aussi des gravures d’arcs et cortèges triomphaux allégoriques assorties de commentaires explicatifs.28 Cette intention affirmée d’offrir une ‘entrée de papier’ me semble au demeurant attestée par le titre même, Le Théâtre des bons Engins, qui a de bonnes chances d’avoir été le titre originel. On s’accorde aujourd’hui à l’entendre comme ‘la présentation d’inventions ingénieuses’, acception certes possible, bien dans le goût du temps et qui, couvrant n’importe quel contenu, avait d’emblée les faveurs d’un éditeur. Mais il ne faudrait pas oublier que ‘théâtre’ désigne aussi ces estrades sur lesquelles étaient placés, dans les entrées de l’époque, des tableaux vivants, le plus souvent statiques. Le diptyque emblématique gravure-dizain conçu par La Perrière ne constituait-il pas un avatar élégamment moderne de ces échafauds sans profondeur au dispositif frontal où des personnages présentaient des ‘rouleaux’ ? 29 Ajoutons que les trois quarts des ‘emblèmes’ du Theatre des bons Engins mettent en scène des personnages, contrairement à son modèle alciatique où cette catégorie n’atteint pas le tiers, et que la proportion s’en accroît encore quand on s’en tient à ceux qui ont vraisemblablement constitué le Theatre originel. Quant 27 

Voir Schauerte, Die Ehrenpforte für Kaiser Maximilian I. Voir Epistre, fol. Aiiiiv : ‘ce n’est pas seulement de nostre temps que les Emblemes sont en bruict, pris & singuliere veneration […]. Car les Egipciens qui se reputent estre les premiers hommes du monde, avant l’usage des lettres, escripvoient par figures & ymages tant d’hommes, bestes & oyseaulx, poissons, que serpentz, par icelles exprimant leurs intencions, comme recitent tresanciens autheurs […] & des modernes l’autheur Polyphile en la description de son songe, Celien Rodigien en ses commentaires des lections anticques, Alciat a semblablement de nostre temps redigez certains Emblemes & illustrez de vers latins’ (c’est nous qui soulignons). 29  Voir, entre autres, Blanchard, ‘Le Spectacle du rite’. 28 

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Figure 8. Emblème i, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins, auquel sont contenuz cent Emblemes moraulx. Composé par Guillaume de la Perrière Tolosain (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

à ‘engin’, il peut fort bien avoir, au xvie, l’acception qu’il a conservée et désigner artefacts ingénieux et autres mécanismes dont la présence rehaussait le prestige des entrées. Nous avons déjà rencontré ‘théâtre’ dans les documents relatifs à l’entrée de 1533, nous allons y retrouver ‘engin’. Deux emblèmes ‘clefs’ viennent en effet confirmer les liens du Theatre et de la réalité la plus concrète des entrées. Le premier (Figure 8) choisit, pour recommander la connaissance du passé qui permet de prévoir l’avenir, le Janus bifrons, figure de la Prudentia qui, à la Renaissance, se substitue à la Prudence tricéphale du Moyen Âge.30 Ouvrir un ouvrage par le dieu des portes pourrait n’être que coquetterie d’humaniste, si le discours iconique n’en disait davantage. Ni la couronne, ni le sceptre, ni le costume qui allie la toge à la cuirasse, n’étaient en effet a priori nécessaires. Mais ils le deviennent s’il s’agit de représenter un Rex prudens dans le style des effigies royales qui ornaient les entrées. Quant à la clef, attribut naturel, sinon fréquent, du dieu des portes, elle se trouve jouer un rôle essentiel dans le déroulement même de l’entrée. La surimpression symbolique est 30 

Voir Panofsky, ‘L’ “Allégorie de la Prudence”’.

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Figure 9. Emblème xcii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

ici habile. Les clefs de la cité étaient en effet remises au roi aux portes de la ville, au moment inaugural, donc, de son entrée. Mieux, lors de l’entrée de François Ier à Toulouse en 1533, la remise rituelle des clefs avait fait l’objet d’une mise en scène recherchée : les clefs de la ville avaient en effet été remises par Bernard Nalot descendu ‘par feinte et engin d’une nué’.31 Second exemple renvoyant clairement à une entrée réelle, celui du lièvre et du chien soutenant une couronne (Figure 9) qui donne à entendre, par le lièvre signifiant la crainte, et le chien, l’amour, que pour assurer la couronne, ‘il fault que des siens il [le Prince] soit crainct & aymé’. Or le Theatre ne fait ici que traduire, dans un registre plus ‘emblématique’, les allégories que La Perrière avaient chargées de tenir la même leçon à François Ier dans la médaille qui lui fut offerte en 1533. Celle-ci présentait l’écusson de la ville tenu par deux figures, l’Amour et la Crainte, le tout accompagné d’une devise latine recommandant aux souverains de parvenir à l’équilibre de la monarchie (stabilem monarchiam assequantur) en tempérant la crainte par l’amour et l’amour par la crainte (formidinem amore 31 

Voir Toulouse, AM, AA 5, no. 94. C’est nous qui soulignons.

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Figure 10. Emblème c, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

amoremque formidine temperantes), de même que l’harmonie des instruments à cordes provient de l’accord des aigus et des graves.32 L’influence du Prince de Machiavel, publié l’année précédente, est déjà patente.33 Nous verrons qu’elle constitue le lien secret qui unit le Theatre à cette entrée de 1533. Quoi qu’il en soit celui-ci s’ouvre largement aux thèmes topiques des entrées du temps, comme les quatre vertus cardinales que tout souverain se doit de posséder. On a vu la Prudence signifiée par Janus. La Force est incarnée par Hercule, figure idéale d’une puissance royale qui conjugue la force de l’âme et la force 32  Toulouse, AM, BB 9 ; voir Cazals, ‘La Perrière et l’humanisme civique’, p. 74, et Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, pp. 101–02. La ‘citation’ de la médaille dans le Theatre des bons engins prouve que La Perrière en était bien le concepteur et balaie les hésitations de G. Casals à ce sujet. 33  Voir Le Prince, xvii, De la cruauté et de la clémence et s’il vaut mieux être aimé ou craint : ‘Je réponds qu’il faudrait être et l’un et l’autre ; mais comme il est bien difficile de les marier ensemble, il est beaucoup plus sur de se faire craindre qu’aimer’ (p. 104). Nous citons d’après la trad. de Gahory publiée en 1571, reproduite dans Machiavel, Le Prince et autres textes.

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Figure 11. Emblème lvii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

Figure 12. Emblème lxxiiii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

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Figure 13. Emblème vii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

des armes (Figure 10), et qui manque rarement d’apparaître dans les entrées royales quelle que soit la leçon que l’on tire de l’un ou l’autre de ses travaux. La Tempérance, indiquée par la balance qui invite à la modération les rois dont l’avidité excessive fait le lit de la guerre civile (x), apparaît ailleurs sous son attribut plus topique, l’aiguière qui tempère de son eau froide l’eau supposée chaude d’un vase.34 Dans les deux cas, la gravure, qui tient en l’occurrence un langage distinct du dizain accompagnateur, attribue l’opération de ‘tempérer’ à un ‘roi’ signalé comme tel par une couronne dans le cas de Jupiter (Figure 11), ou plus allusivement assimilé par sa cuirasse à l’antique (Figure 12) aux autres figures ‘royales’ du Theatre. Ce costume ‘signifiant’ suffit, dans ce cas, à transformer le conseil proverbial du dizain (ne pas confier un secret important au premier venu, de même qu’on teste avec de l’eau l’étanchéité d’un pot avant de l’emplir de vin) en une invite au secret qui doit entourer les opérations militaires.35 Sagesse tactique qui s’accorde avec celle de l’emblème vii où un ‘travestissement’ comparable oriente, 34 

Voir Tervarent, Attributs et symboles dans l’art profane, col. 394. De Tournes, dans l’édition de 1545 qui copie en général (maladroitement) les gravures de Janot, ‘corrige’ d’ailleurs ici la gravure qui lui paraît inadéquate et remplace le guerrier vêtu à l’antique par un manant en bas-de-chausses (emblème lxxiv). 35 

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dans un sens analogue, le précepte pythagoricien de ‘ne pas attiser le feu’ pour ne pas provoquer les gens irascibles (Figure 13). La cuirasse à l’antique et l’épée qui tisonne sont là pour conseiller au Prince guerrier de ne pas ranimer l’ardeur de ses ennemis en les poussant au désespoir, leçon qu’explicite un autre emblème : ‘tout bon vainqueur aux vaincus chemin baille’ (xxvi).36 Quant à la Justice, loin de manquer à l’appel, elle reçoit un traitement particulier en étroite relation avec l’histoire la plus récente.

Un Miroir des princes pour la sœur du roi de France L’accent mis sur la stratégie militaire nous mettait déjà sur la bonne voie. Si l’on se souvient que La Perrière adresse son Epître dédicatoire à la ‘sueur du roy’ et non à l’épouse du roi de Navarre, on entrevoit qu’il a pu concevoir son ‘entrée de papier’ comme un miroir des Princes, versifié à la mode emblématique, où François Ier était amené à se reconnaître. Et à s’admirer. Le modèle du Miroir des princes est bien à l’œuvre dans le Theatre dont deux emblèmes montrent des personnages contemplant leur visage dans un miroir. L’un renvoie explicitement au Prince qui doit veiller à effacer de sa personne le moindre défaut : ‘ung petit vice on note plus au prince / Que l’on ne faict un grand en homme mince’ (Figure 14). L’autre demande au miroir d’offrir à la vertu une beauté à égaler ou une laideur à compenser : Lors que la dame, au miroir se regarde Et qu’elle voit la beaulté de sa face Fault que de vice en tant se contregarde Que deshonneur à sa beaulté ne face. Si belle n’est, pour lors fault qu’elle efface Par ses vertuz le deffault de sa face.37

Ce ‘miroir de Prudence’, puisque c’est bien de lui qu’il s’agit, se retrouve symptomatiquement dans Le Miroir politicque, traité en prose déjà mentionné, et qui présente pour nous l’intérêt de reprendre plusieurs emblèmes du Theatre des 36 

Les textes du manuscrit offert à Marguerite ont pu être modifiés, pour la publication, dans le sens d’une morale plus bourgeoise alors que les illustrations, qui servirent nécessairement de base aux gravures de l’édition imprimée, nous ont probablement conservé l’intention originelle de l’emblème. 37  Le choix d’un personnage féminin, alors que l’adage socratique prenait un exemple masculin, permet à La Perrière d’exprimer en outre à Marguerite, femme et auteur du Miroir de l’âme pécheresse, qui venait d’encourir les foudres de la Sorbonne, une secrète solidarité.

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Figure 14. Emblème liii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

bons Engins, faisant ipso facto ressortir leur teneur politique et nous autorisant à les inclure dans la version originelle.38 ‘Le pourtraict de Prudence disposé de notre invention et declaire par un huitain’ (fol. 29) en contamine ainsi allusivement trois. La gravure, en pleine page, montre une femme de profil avec un troisième œil sur le front, l’occiput occupé par un visage de vieillard barbu ; elle tient un compas dans la main gauche et un miroir dans la main droite et s’appuie sur un piédestal à base carrée que traverse un serpent. Le huitain se contente de répartir les trois yeux entre passé, futur et présent. Mais l’icône, dont La Perrière revendique, ici encore, l’invention, y ajoute des connotations emblématiques qui concourent à construire une allégorie du souverain idéal : au miroir, dont on a vu la valeur de guide moral, s’ajoutent le double visage qui renvoie au Janus bifrons, figure royale par excellence du Theatre (i), et le serpent. Cet attribut traditionnel de la Prudentia se charge ici des valeurs de l’ouroboros (lxxxiii), symbole d’une sagesse qui commence par la connaissance de soi et qui s’impose à la vénération 38 

Sur le Miroir politicque voir Cazals, Une civile société.

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Figure 15. Emblème lxxxiii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

d’un peuple. Ce dernier emblème a d’autant plus de chance d’avoir figuré dans le Theatre que sa construction iconographique dessine … une clef (Figure 15).39 Entrée-Miroir, le Theatre combinait les langages des deux ‘genres’ tout en en dépassant les contraintes. En effet, contrairement à un spectacle offert à tous, ou à un ouvrage qui aurait assumé son propos en adoptant déjà le titre de ‘Miroir’, le cadeau livresque, probablement manuscrit, offert par La Perrière, gardait à son discours la discrétion d’une connivence. La cryptographie emblématique, revendiquée dans la dédicace, venait à point nommé renforcer le brouillage et autoriser un portrait allusif et audacieusement laudatif du véritable Prince alors régnant, à savoir François Ier. Cette ‘entrée de papier’ offerte à la sœur du roi récrivait en fait, en la transposant et en l’enrichissant, l’entrée du souverain

39  C’est la perception de cette signification proprement ‘hiéroglyphique’ qui amène les concepteurs des caissons sculptés du château de Dampierre-sur-Boutonne à emprunter cet emblème à La Perrière, assorti de la devise Nosce te ipsum (connais-toi toi-même), dont ils accentuent encore la ressemblance formelle avec une clef dans une allusion évidente aux armes de la famille de Clermont ; voir Fulcanelli, Les demeures philosophales, ii (1960), planche xxvii.

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Figure 16. Emblème xxii, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

à Toulouse deux années plus tôt, rapprochement que la clef tenue par Janus d’emblée laissait entendre. On comprend mieux, alors, la coloration ouvertement machiavélienne de ce Theatre-Miroir que la médaille de 1533 et sa reprise dans l’emblème du lièvre et du chien déjà explicitait. Elle s’affirme plus ostensiblement encore dans l’emblème xxii, où le roi tient en laisse un lion et un renard (Figure 16).40 Le dizain la confirme et la précise, qui recommande au Prince d’allier le courage et la ruse ‘s’il veut en loz conquester mer et terre’. Où l’on voit La Perrière défier l’apologie humaniste de la paix qui ne tolère que la guerre défensive pour appliquer explicitement le cynisme machiavélien aux guerres de conquête qui furent la ruineuse passion de François Ier. Jusqu’à justifier ces dépenses mêmes et les terribles expédients auxquels le roi eut recours pour s’en libérer. Pour ce faire il suit, une fois de plus, Machiavel qui, considérant que la crainte que le souverain inspire est la plus sûre alliée de son pouvoir, défend l’intérêt du châtiment exemplaire, plus efficace et finalement plus ‘pitoyable’ que la miséricorde.41 40  41 

Voir Machiavel, Le Prince et autres textes, xviii, Comment les princes doivent tenir leur parole. Machiavel, Le Prince et autres textes, xvii : ‘En ne faisant que quelques exemples il sera

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Figure 17. Emblème xl, Guillaume de la Perrière, Le Theatre des bons Engins (Paris: Denis Ianot, [s.d.]). Propriété de l’auteur.

Trois emblèmes appliquent à la lettre cette leçon. Le lion pendu à un gibet (lxxv) a été vu très tôt comme une allusion à la pendaison, en 1527, sur le gibet de Montfaucon, de Jacques de Beaune, baron de Semblançay, responsable des finances du royaume et arrêté sur l’ordre de François Ier. Mais la critique s’est curieusement accordée à y voir une condamnation du châtiment.42 Or La Perrière l’approuve explicitement : N’aura pas peur ung gros larron publique, Ou thresorier de ses faictz execrables ? Et les plus grans ont commencé la dance : Gardent soy donc pour peur de la cadence Leurs successeurs d’estre comme eulx meschans Car aultrement hault en plaine evidence Seront logez comme evesques des champs. [nos italiques] plus pitoyable que ceux qui, pour être trop miséricordieux, laissent se poursuivre les désordres d’où naissent meurtres et rapines, qui nuisent à tous alors que les exécutions ordonnées par le prince ne nuisent qu’à un particulier’ (p. 103). 42  Voir La Perrière, Le Théâtre des bons engins, intro. par Saunders.

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A pareille exécution invite aussi l’emblème xl qui conseille au roi de presser comme une éponge le ‘gros larron’ qui aurait profité de son office pour s’enrichir (Figure 17) et va jusqu’à préconiser la torture : ‘Trop peu seroit qu’il fust essorillé / Car sur la roue il doibt estre estendu’. La Perrière approuve ailleurs, en négatif, le châtiment de l’opulent financier en reprenant l’exemple de la toile d’araignée qui retient les petites mouches mais laisse passer les grosses (xlix), symbole topique depuis les Dicts moraux du Moyen Age de l’imperfection d’une justice qui laisserait échapper les riches et ne capturerait que les pauvres.43 L’emblème sur le vin qui, donné à un ‘fébricitant […], ne le fait qu’eschauffer davantaige’ (l) lui permet également de dénoncer le danger d’accorder à des incapables des ‘offices’ qui leur permettent de donner libre cours à leurs plus mauvais penchants, et d’approuver par là-même le roi qui a la sagesse de les priver — radicalement ! — du pouvoir de nuire : Pareillement le seigneur n’est pas saige Qui donne aux sotz dignitez & offices : Car par ce don augmentent leurs malices. Et tant plus sont en haulte dignité, Plus ont pouvoir de faire malefices, Au detriment de la communauté.44

Protégé par le truchement emblématique de son ‘entrée de papier’, La Perrière pouvait se permettre de signifier à Marguerite qu’il approuvait les agissements les plus contestables de son frère qui trouva plus expédient, pour annuler les dettes que ses guerres dispendieuses l’avaient contraint à contracter auprès de Semblançay, de le faire exécuter sous prétexte de ‘larronerie’ et de confisquer ses biens.45 L’approbation inconditionnelle de la cupidité royale était d’autant plus nécessaire, pour cette entrée de 1535, qu’il s’agissait d’innocenter ipso facto François Ier d’une autre exaction plus récente et produite à Toulouse même : en 1533, le roi avait en effet dépouillé la ville qui l’accueillait de son plus précieux trésor, véritable vol qui avait indigné la cité.46 43 

L’emblème se retrouve presque littéralement dans le Miroir (fol. Bii), preuve de l’importance politique que lui assignait La Perrière. 44  C’est nous qui soulignons. Cet emblème se retrouve également dans La Perrière, Le Miroir politicque, fol. 22. 45  Depuis janvier 1518 Semblançay a la ‘charge, connoissance et intendance du fait et maniement de toutes finances, tant ordinaires qu’extraordinaires’. Sa disgrâce semble dater du début de 1524. Voir Chevalier, Tours, ville royale. 46  Un camaïeu estimé à 100,000 écus qui avait en outre une valeur de relique ; voir Cazals, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554)’, pp. 112–14.

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On aurait aimé montrer, parallèles à l’appui, que d’autres emblèmes se rattachent, par leurs symboles, leur discours ou leur mise en scène, aux traditions et inventions des entrées contemporaines. Que les exemples cités nous suffisent pour conclure que la version originale du Theatre des bons Engins, telle que l’on peut la dégager de cette farrago inégale, apporte un témoignage, à tous égards unique, sur l’évolution qui, dans les années 1530, affecte et la conception des entrées et la façon d’en écrire. Elle confirme en effet la place désormais primordiale qui est dévolue à l’appareil symbolique, puisque le substitut co-inventé par les capitouls et La Perrière pour suppléer aux constructions décoratives n’est pas quelque beau discours encomiastique mais un livret d’emblèmes. Leurs images à la subtile éloquence font surgir sur le papier des ‘théâtres’ et ‘engins’ qui apportent à l’entrée de 1535 l’éclat d’un langage décoratif nouveau. Quant aux dizains, ils constituent la partie en quelque sorte détachable de l’entrée de papier, guide d’interprétation à la seule Marguerite (et à son frère) dédié et le Theatre pourrait même nous avoir conservé la trace de la remise aux souverains d’une explication écrite (ou orale) des décorations qui leur étaient présentées, précaution qui n’aurait pas été vaine quand on voit la perplexité interprétative des comptes rendus d’entrées. La dichotomie de la forme emblématique choisie pour le Theatre permet ainsi un double langage. Aux images est dévolue l’écriture d’une entrée solennelle, au point que leur succession nous offre comme le modèle virtuel des entrées à venir. Aux dizains d’écrire un Miroir des princes machiavélien, discours engagé qu’une entrée réelle ne pouvait s’autoriser à tenir. Centre d’Études supérieures de la Renaissance, Tours

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Œuvres citées Manuscrits et livres rares Toulouse, Archives municipales, AA 5, n. 94 —— , AA 82 (‘Entrée de François Ier’) —— , BB 9 —— , CC 2309 —— , CC 2428

Sources imprimées Alciati, Andreae, Emblematum libellus (Paris: Wechel, 1534) —— , Emblematum liber (Augsburg: Steyner, 1531) Les Douze livres de l’histoire de Toulouse: chroniques municipales manuscrites du treizième au dix-huitième siècle (1295–1787), éd. par Émile Roschach (Toulouse: Privat, 1887) Machiavel, Niccolò, Le Prince et autres textes (Paris: Gallimard, 1980) La Perrière, Guillaume de, Les Cent considérations d’amour (Lyon: Bérion, 1543; nouvelle éd. en 1577) —— , Le Miroir politicque, œuure non moins utile que necessaire à tous monarques, Roys, Princes, Seigneurs, Magistrats & autres surintendans & gouverneurs de Republicques (Lyon: Macé Bonhomme, 1555) —— , Le Théâtre des bons engins, introd. par Alison Saunders (Menston: Scolar, 1973) —— , Le Theatre des bons engins, auquel sont contenuz cent Emblemes moraulx: Composé par Guillaume de la Perrière Tolosain: Et nouvellement par iceluy limé, reveu & cor­ rigé. Avecq’ privilège, fac-similé (Paris: Ianot, 1544) avec introd. par Greta Dexter (Gainsville: Scholars, 1964) —— , Le Théâtre des bons engins: la morosophie, fac-similé avec introd. par Alison Saunders (Aldershot: Scolar, 1993) —— , The Theater of Fine Devices, Containing an Hundred Morall Emblemes, trad. par Thomas Combe (London: Fiel, 1614) —— , The Theater of Fine Devices, Containing an Hundred Morall Emblemes, fac-similé avec introd. par Mary V. Silcox (Menston: Scolar, 1990)

Études critiques Adams, Alison, Stephen Rawles, et Alison Saunders, A Bibliography of French Emblem Books, 2 tomes (Genève: Droz, 1999–2002) Blanchard, Joël, ‘Le Spectacle du rite: les entrées royales’, Revue historique, 305 (2003), 475–519 Bordes, François, ‘Une perception de l’espace urbain: cortèges officiels et processions générales à Toulouse du xive au xvie siècle’, Mémoires de la Société archéologique du Midi de la France, 64 (2004), 135–53

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—— , ‘Rites et pratiques cérémonielles à Toulouse au bas Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance’, Mémoires de la Société archéologique du Midi de la France, 65 (2005), 115–38 Cazals, Géraldine, Une civile société: la République selon Guillaume de La Perrière (1499– 1554), Études d’histoire du droit et des idées politiques, 12 (Toulouse: Presses de l’Université des Sciences sociales de Toulouse, 2008) ——— , ‘Guillaume de La Perrière (1499–1554): un humaniste à l’étude du politique’, 2 tomes (thèse pour l’obtention du grade de docteur en droit, Université des Sciences sociales de Toulouse, 2003) —— , ‘La Perrière et l’humanisme civique’, dans L’humanisme à Toulouse (1480–1596): actes du colloque international de Toulouse, mai 2004, réunis par Nathalie Dauvois (Paris: Champion, 2006), pp. 69–90 Chevalier, Bernard, Tours, ville royale (1356–1520): origine et développement d’une ville royale à la fin du moyen âge, Publications de la Sorbonne, n.s., Recherches, 14 (Leuven: Nauwelaerts, 1975) Dexter, Greta, ‘Guillaume de La Perrière’, Bibliothèque d’humanisme et Renaissance, 17 (1955), 56–73 Fulcanelli, Les demeures philosophales, Exemplaire, 697, 3 tomes (Paris: Champs-Élysées, 1960) Mégret, Jacques, ‘Giraud Agret, graveur toulousain’, Bibliothèque d’humanisme et Renais­ sance, 5 (1944), 361–72 Panofsky, Erwin, ‘L’“Allégorie de la Prudence”: un symbole religieux de l’Égypte hellénis­ti­ que dans un tableau de Titien’, dans L’Œuvre d’art et ses significations (Paris: Gallimard, 1969), pp. 257–77 Rawles, Stephen, ‘The Earliest Editions of Guillaume de la Perrière’s Theatre des bons engins’, Emblematica, 2 (1987), 381–86 —— , ‘Un voyage princier en 1535: passage à Toulouse du roi de Navarre Henri d’Albret et de la reine Marguerite’, Mémoires de l’Académie des sciences inscriptions et belles-lettres de Toulouse, 10e sér., 2 (Toulouse: Académie des sciences, inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1902), 54–70 Schauerte, Ulrich Thomas, Die Ehrenpforte für Kaiser Maximilian I (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2001) Tervarent, Guy de, Attributs et symboles dans l’art profane, 1450–1600: dictionnaire d’un langage perdu, Travaux d’humanisme et Renaissance, 29 (Genève: Droz, 1958)

From Object of Curiosity to Subject of Conversation: Mlle de Scudéry and the Paris Entry of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa (1660) Marie-Claude Canova-Green

O

n Thursday, 26 August 1660, Louis XIV, accompanied by his young wife, the Infanta Maria Teresa of Austria, made his solemn entry into the capital. After Bayonne, Orléans, and other noteworthy cities of the kingdom of France, Paris went to great expense to celebrate a marriage which marked the happy end to peace negotiations between France and Spain.1 An unusually large multitude converged on Paris and thronged the streets as much to admire the cortège and the ephemeral structures as to attempt to catch a glimpse of the young Queen, whom no one had seen as yet. In order better to satisfy this public curiosity, numerous reports of the entry were published in the days, weeks, and months which followed, utilising the very topos of general curiosity as the legitimizing factor for these accounts. Journalists, historians, and scholars devoted pages to this enterprise, some at greater length than others, some in more detail than others. Among these endeavours could be found all forms of published narrative from unpretentious pamphlets to superbly illustrated folio editions. Poets and novelists alike lent their pens to the task of countering those publications encouraged, not to say financed, by the state, with more spontaneous, freer testimonials, frequently effected in minor literary genres.

1 

Provided for in an important clause of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in November 1659, after twenty-five years of war between the two countries, the marriage of Louis XIV and the Infanta had taken place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, on 9 June 1660.

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La Fontaine composed an epistle addressed to Superintendant Foucquet, Racine an ode dedicated to the Queen, while Madeleine de Scudéry made the entry the subject of the long inaugural conversation which functions as a prologue to Célinte. In it, the account of the entry serves as a pretext for a more general philosophical debate on the nature of curiosity itself. Thus framed, the account from then on sought less to satisfy the public desire for knowledge, than to include and illustrate the effects of curiosity by setting up an interrogation of the very relationship between raconteur and public. A new target of exemplification would replace the usual mission to inform. Mlle de Scudéry’s text differed from other explanatory accounts by offering not a description of the entry and its component elements,2 but a sentiment de l’Entrée (sense of the entry),3 in a conscious and indeed deliberate subordination of the objective in the subjective, the exhaustive in the incomplete, and the faithful in the approximate. The very form of the account of the entry underlined this originality further in the sense that it did not appear to be a preconceived, pre-planned text, nor even one unified by a single perspective, that of the teller. On the contrary, it appeared to be a totality constructed bit by bit, an assemblage of identifiably different perspectives, because it was in the course of a discussion, a conversational exchange, to which each participant made his own contribution, that the account had been constructed. Had Mlle de Scudéry been present at the entry? It is possible and, no doubt, highly likely. But whether she was or not matters little, because the effect of the text does not depend on the authenticity of the facts related. In fact, the accent on personal impression and even more the desire to counterbalance the evocation of the official cortège with l’Histoire des Loges, des Balcons, & des Eschaffauts (the story of loggias, balconies, and stands),4 generally omitted from the typical publications, sufficed to place the novelist, through the involvement of her characters, as a witness to the events, as an observer of the spectacle. Even if it had been constructed from other witness accounts, notably those official descriptions of the entry from which it sought to distance itself even as it made use of them, Mlle de Scudéry’s version became the expression of a different perspective. This was an individual perspective, independent, it appears, of the seat of power and 2 

The remark of Lysimène, ‘je vous assure […] que je n’entreprendray pas de la descrire’ (I assure you […] that I will not undertake to describe it), demonstrates this authorial positioning (Scudéry, Célinte, p. 10). 3  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 11. 4  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 10.

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a certain reading of the event, feminine perhaps,5 and quite evidently embedded in the mondain salon culture of which the novelist was one of the most visible representatives. * * * Trois ou quatre jours apres la Magnifique Entrée de la Reyne, je fus me promener au Bois de Vincenne, avec cinq ou six Personnes de beaucoup de merite, à qui je donneray des noms supposez. […] D’abord nous nous promenasmes quelque temps sans parler, puis tous d’un coup Lysimene s’arrestant pour respirer l’air plus commodement; avoüez la verité, dit-elle en se tournant vers Meriante, vous estes bien aise de vous voir hors du bruit & du tumulte, apres avoir esté forcé ces jours passez de vous y trouver par la Curiosité universelle, que tout le monde a euë de voir l’Entrée de la Reyne.6 (Three or four days after the magnificent entry of the Queen, I went for a walk in the Bois de Vincennes, with five or six persons of much merit, to whom I will give assumed names. […] At first we walked for some time without speaking, then suddenly Lysimene stopping to breathe more comfortably; admit the truth, she said turning towards Meriante, you are greatly relieved to see yourself out of the noise & tumult, having been forced these past days to find yourself amidst it because of the universal curiosity, which everyone had to see the entry of the Queen.)

If, in the first instance, the reference to the entry of the Queen functions as a temporal reference point and contributes in this way to anchoring the fiction in the most contemporary of realities, it goes on to serve as a stimulus for the discussion of curiosity that constitutes the central topic of the prologue to the novel. Or more precisely, the various aspects of the entry evoked in the conversation will act as exempla of the different types of curiosity envisaged, the distinction between the account of the magnifique Pompe (magnificent pomp)7 and that of l’Histoire des Loges, des Balcons, & des Eschaffauts which follows it, encompassing, grosso modo, an opposition between commendable curiosity and ill-founded curiosity. It is evident that, thus integrated in a frame of moralizing speculation, the account of the entry given in Célinte cannot fulfil the primary utilitarian purpose of all descriptions of public ceremonies, that is to preserve and perpetuate the memory of a ‘memorable action’,8 by spreading knowledge of it in writing. On the 5 

On this, see Zanger, Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV. Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 1–2, 3. 7  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 11. 8  Tronçon, ‘Advis au lecteur’, in Tronçon, L’Entrée Triomphante de Leurs Majestez, not paginated. 6 

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other hand, this purpose is certainly at the heart of all the publications and engravings already executed or merely projected, which Lysimène mentions in order better to highlight the originality of her own contribution.9 Indeed, if her account were to attempt to provide yet another witnessing of the event, it could not, all the same, be categorized as a description of the entry, since any attempt in this sense would be judged vain and superfluous, due to the existence of those other accounts which do not, themselves, have any other objective than that of description: Je vous assure […] que je n’entreprendray pas de la descrire: & puis à n’en mentir point, cela n’est pas trop necessaire, car plusieurs personnes la descriront fort exacte­ ment.10 (I assure you […] that I will not undertake to describe it: & then it is no lie, it is not very necessary, since several persons have described it very exactly.)

Thus distinguished from description, the account of the entry in Célinte is therefore relieved of all concern with exactitude or fidelity, and of completeness:11 Il est vray, […] mais sans s’amuser à parler de cette multitude d’autres choses que nous vismes ce jour là.12 (It is true […] but without amusing oneself with talk of that multitude of other things which we saw that day.) 9 

‘J’ay mesme déja veu en taille douce cét Obelisque admirable […]; & je ne doute point que nous ne voyons de mesme, non seulement tous les autres Arcs de Triomphe, & le haut Dais où la Reyne receut les Harangues, mais encore toute cette magnifique Pompe, qui arresta si agreablement les yeux de tant de millions de Personnes’ (I have already seen a copperplate engraving of that admirable obelisk […]; and I do not doubt that we will see in the same way, not only all the other triumphal arches, & the stage on which the queen received the addresses, but also all that magnificent pomp, which so agreeably astonished the eyes of so many thousands of persons), Scudéry, Célinte, p. 11. 10  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 10. 11  These characteristics are emphasized, on the contrary, by the author of L’Entrée triomphante: ‘l’exactitude est si grande que vous y verrez peu de circonstances de quelque poids à l’histoire qui y soient oubliées, la fidelité si entiere, qu’il a mesme pas voulu déguiser la verité en faveur de sa patrie & de ses amis; & c’est particulierement contre ces deux derniers chefs que la plus part de ces sortes de Relations choppent’ (the exactness is so great that you would find very few circumstances of historical weight that are overlooked there, the fidelity so complete that he did not even wish to disguise the truth to favour his country and his friends, & and it is particularly on these two last headings that most accounts of this type come up short), Tronçon, ‘Advis au lecteur’, in Tronçon, L’Entrée Triomphante de Leurs Majestez, not paginated. 12  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 15–16.

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Mais enfin ne pouvant loüer tous ceux qui meritoient d’estre loüez, il faut me contenter de dire en general.13 (And in the end not being able to mention all those who merited being mentioned, I must content myself with saying in general.)

Unlike the account published by the Gazette in the Extraordinaire of 3 September 1660, it does not seek to be ‘un Tableau fidel de toutes ces magnificences’ (a faithful tableau of all these magnificences),14 nor to serve as a mémoire of the event, in contrast to the Relation de toutes les particularitez qui se sont faictes et passes dans la celebre entrée du Roy et de la Reyne, of which the author affirms Ce n’est icy qu’une narration, ou l’Eloge n’a point de part, & que cecy ne servira seulement que pour soulager la memoire de ceux, qui voulant raconter de point en point ce qu’ils ont veu, ne pourroient pas s’en souvenir precisement, non plus que je le pourray peut-estre moy-mesme.15 (This is just an account, in which eulogy has no part, and one which will simply serve to ease the memory of those, who wishing to recount point by point what they saw, cannot remember everything precisely, any more than I could perhaps myself.)

Eulogy and ellipse are, on the other hand, in Mlle de Scudéry the essential characteristics of an account of which the primary objective is above all ludic, in relation to both the utterance and the utterer. Certainly the expression by each contributor, of a sentiment de l’Entrée responds to the other’s desire to know (be this a character or reader);16 it is furthermore as much the manifestation of the contributors’ desire for entertainment as that of the public, the reader of works of fiction. And it is precisely because this expression generates pleasure, a felt and shared pleasure, that the curiosity which provoked it escapes blameworthiness. For Cléandre, who plays the role here of arbiter between the opposing positions on curiosity, held by Mériante and Artélice: voila bien des desordres causez par la Curiosité […], mais puisqu’ils servent à divertir la Compagnie, il ne faut pas encore se repentir tout à fait, d’estre Curieux.17

13 

Scudéry, Célinte, p. 17. ‘La Magnifique et superbe entrée’, p. 1. 15  Relation de toutes les particularitez qui se sont faictes, p. 4. 16  Lysimène’s account is thus presented as a response to ‘ce qu’il [Cleandre] veut sçavoir de l’Entrée’ (what he [Cleandre] wants to know about the entry), Scudéry, Célinte, p. 10. 17  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 31. 14 

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(what a confusion brought about by curiosity […], but since it serves to entertain the company, one must not yet repent entirely, of being curious.)

Whether in relation to the account of the entry or the speculation on the nature of curiosity which it occasions, docere is here explicitly subjugated to delectare. Both the account and the speculation have as a primary end the entertainment of the company, because, while it is not denied, their value as cognitive activities remains secondary, subordinate to their potential as recreational activities. As instruments of pleasure, the conversation and the account inserted into it must cultivate the agreeable,18 saying nothing which is not decorous or in good taste, showing at the same time wit and judgement,19 and above all bringing a playful turn to the exchanges. Because this is the means of allowing that esprit de joie (joyful mood) to reign, which inspire dans le coeur de tous ceux de la compagnie, une disposition à se divertir de tout, et à ne s’ennuyer de rien.20 (inspires in the hearts of all those in the company, a disposition to be amused by everything and not bored by anything.)

This explains the choice, as the subject of the account, not only of the order of the procession, but more importantly, of the Histoire des Loges, des Balcons, & des Eschaffauts, as being plus divertissante (more entertaining).21 It also explains the non-narrative characteristics of the text, notably the marked refusal of the exhaustive, the circumstantial, because these are synonyms for that element of boredom which would signal the failure of the conversation, and, on the other hand, the preference for the summary, the elliptical, the recourse to exceptional detail, picturesque or comical. And since, in order to please, it is necessary also to be natural, it is the absence of effort or affectation in the style and the tone, as well as the adoption of a certain allure à sauts et à gambades (leaps and 18  The term recurs constantly in the mouths of the contributors: ‘Toute la Compagnie rit de ce que Lysimene disoit si agreablement’; ‘Pour la faire agreablement [l’histoire des balcons]’; ‘il faut advoüer […] que la Curiosité produit un si agreable effet en la bouche de Lysimene’ (The entire Company laughed at what Lysimene said so agreeably; In order to tell it agreeably [the story of the balconies]; it must be admitted […] that curiosity produced such an agreeable effect in the mouth of Lysimene), Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 25–26, 38. 19  Scudéry, ‘De la conversation’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis, p. 73. 20  Scudéry, ‘De la conversation’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis, p. 74. 21  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 11.

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gambols)22 which gives an air of freedom to the conversation. Just as its subject appears to arise simply from chance—the unexpected meeting with Cléandre and his request—its unfolding should also appear to be the result of chance, a free succession of improvised replies, as if each one ‘di[sait] tout ce qui vient à la fantaisie’ (said everything which came to their fancy) without eliminating a single thought.23 What distinguishes above all the account of Mlle de Scudéry from the typical descriptions of the entry is its nature as texte conversationnel,24 that is, ordinary discourse, produced and enunciated as the result of an exchange between various locutors and, by virtue of this, ruled by a double principle of reciprocity and co-operation. Ruled by reciprocity because, in a conversation, il faut que tous deux parlent, & que l’un réponde à l’autre. Il faut que le plaisir soit commun, & que vous me donniez celuy de vous repartir, apres avoir receu celuy de m’entendre25 (both must speak, & one must reply to the other. The pleasure must be common, & and you must give me that of replying to you, having received that of listening to me,)

but also by co-operation, since the contribution of each must correspond to what the other expects and move towards the outcome or in the accepted direction of exchange.26 Thus, in Célinte, at the initial request of one character, each one contributes in his or her own name an element which conforms to the description of the royal entry, restricting himself or herself voluntarily to brevity,27 accepting that only a fragmentary discourse will be produced, in which ‘chacun ne dira que ce qu’il devra dire’ (each will say only what he ought to say),28 and not stating anything which is not to the point, or which does not fit into the pre-established 22 

Montaigne, ‘De la vanité’, p. 401. Scudéry, ‘De la conversation’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis, p. 73. 24  The following remarks are indebted to the work of Denis, La Muse galante, pp. 81–82. 25  Pure, La Prétieuse, ou les mysteres de la ruelle, ed. by Magne, ii (1939), p. 310. Quoted in Denis, La Muse galante, p. 22. 26  On this point, see Grice, ‘Logique et conversation’. 27  The comments rarely take up more than ten lines. Only the contribution of the narrator who concludes the evocation of the order of procession just as she ends the tale of loggias and balconies extends to two or three pages. 28  Scudéry, ‘De la conversation’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis, p. 73. 23 

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framework. The account is progressively constructed on the basis of this interlocution, in a juxtaposition of replies enunciated in the personal affirmation mode (pour moi (for me),29 en mon particulier (in my view),30 and tentatively linked together (Ha pour cela […] j’advouë (Hah, as to that […] I admit),31 mais encore faudroit-il (but there also must),32 mais ne dites vous rien (but do you not say anything)).33 This is why the account must be taken as a continuity, because it cannot be other than the sum of the individual contributions of these contributors, all equally pertinent. The impression which the reader receives from it is therefore less that of a fragmented discourse than that of a ‘discours polyphonique où chaque voix a sa place’ (a polyphonic discourse in which each voice has its place),34 in which the intervention of each serves less to establish the irreducible singularity of the perspective than to bring an extra note to the ensemble, a supplementary touch to the tableau thus constructed. * * * What does Mlle de Scudéry say about the entry? Has she retained the same elements as the other narrators? It would seem to be so. Certainly her account has some gaps, and there is notably not a single description to be found there of the ephemeral structures the engravings of which would enrich the text of the Entrée triomphante de leurs Majestez dans la ville de Paris in 1662. But the account, however brief, of the official cortège follows the order of the description given in the Gazette Extraordinaire of 3 September 1660 (which corresponds, of course, to that of the procession), with the same listing of the principal bodies, noted according to their rank and place, the highest ranking participants (the King himself, his brother, the Queen), the same degree of important detail, mentioned sometimes in exactly the same standard terms. Thus, just like the editor of the Gazette, Mlle de Scudéry keeps the ‘grosses Campanes d’argent, & leurs superbes Couvertures’ (the great silver bells and their superb coverings) of the mules of the Cardinal’s household,35 just as she points out also the majesté (majesty) of the 29 

Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 11, 12, 16. Scudéry, Célinte, p. 12. 31  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 14. 32  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 15. 33  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 16. 34  Denis, La Muse galante, p. 79. 35  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 16. 30 

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king,36 the grâces (grace) of his younger brother,37 or the douceur and the charmes of the Queen (sweetness and charms).38 And she brings this same attention to the attire of those who process and especially to the colour of their attire, to the precious metals with which the fabrics are embroidered, and above all to the multicoloured feathers which adorn the hats and headdresses. Quite as much as the other account-givers, Mlle de Scudéry is alive to the magnificence of the spectacle, its pomp and wealth, and also to the quantity, the variety, and the diversity of its constituent parts, as well as the good order of its operation. Hence the stereotypical vocabulary of eulogy on which she calls and which has the effect of ennobling through writing the reality described while justifying the curiosity shown by the public on the basis of the quality of the object described. Everything is beau (beautiful), grand (grand), noble (noble), magnifique (magnificent), admirable (admirable), galant (gallant) even, in the sense that the diversity of the spectacle and its constituents is as much a sign of princely magnificence as a mark of the mondain aesthetic in vogue in the 1660s which privileges the varied and the mixed over the unified and the simple. Indeed, rather more than the other account-givers, Mlle de Scudéry is alive to the physical qualities of participants judged to be bien faits (well built),39 whose dexterity and bearing are praised, but also their meilleure mine (best countenance),40 bonne mine (good countenance),41 or indeed bonne grace (good grace).42 As a woman and a salon hostess, she seeks out in them the traits of the ideal figure of an honnête homme,43 and one who furthermore is an homme galant,44 those marks of belonging to the mondain milieu in which she moves and which constitutes the primary readership of her works. Inadequate as a memoir of the event, because it does not contain sufficient circumstantial detail, Mlle de Scudéry’s account of the entry does not capture any 36 

Scudéry, Célinte, p. 19. Scudéry, Célinte, p. 21. 38  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 20, 22. 39  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 15, 17. 40  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 14. 41  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 19. 42  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 17, 19. 43  Both a noble man and a man of honour. 44  Defined by Furetière as ‘un homme qui a l’air de la Cour, les manieres agreables, qui tâche à plaire, & particulierement au beau sexe’ (a man who has the air of the court, agreeable manners, who seeks to please, particularly the fair sex), Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, ii, not paginated. 37 

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less perfectly, because of the omnipresent judgement of value in the description, the effect sought by the organizers of the pageant and the corresponding reaction of the public. Thus it is the sentiment de l’Entrée which these pages of the prologue translate, where, in response to the desire expressed by Cléandre, Philinte, Cléarque, and the other contributors relive their impressions of the event. Admiration, astonishment, respect, all the emotional responses of their attachment to the King are present, but there is also joy, entertainment, amusement, as if the spectacle of the royal entry were also a source of charm and pleasure, as is the account which refreshes the memory of the event. For those mondains who are the contributors to the prologue of Célinte, the royal entry is as much the site of exaltation of the King’s glory and the inculcation of proper political sentiment as a spectacle designed for the personal satisfaction of an elite and discerning public, agréablement surpris at having been able to ‘regarder huit heures durant une prodigieuse quantité d’objets differens, sans un seul moment de lassitude d’esprit’ (agreeably surprised […] to look for eight hours on a prodigious quantity of different objects, without a single moment of tiredness of spirit).45 But it is above all due to the presence of the story of the loggias and balconies that the account of Mlle de Scudéry can be distinguished clearly from the other accounts of the entry. With the exception, in fact, of three or four pamphlets satirizing ridiculous provincials46 and some regulations relating to the security of the stands, this non-official though certainly public aspect of the entry does not figure in the special publications devoted to the event, as indeed it would also be absent from the great in-folio account published in 1662. This is because the plaisants (pleasing)47 and singuliers (singular)48 reactions of a curious and 45  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 16. One might note not only the repetition of the verb divertir and its derivatives (tout m’a divertie (everything amused me), p. 12; tout m’a semblé divertissant (everything seemed amusing to me), p.  13; les magnifiques Compagnies m’ont divertie (the magnificent companies amused me), p. 13), but also that of the adjective agréable and the adverb agréablement (‘cette magnifique pompe, qui arresta si agreablement les yeux de tant de millions de Personnes’ (that magnificent pomp, which so agreeably arrested the eyes of so many millions of persons), p. 11; ‘tout ce que j’ay lu […] ne m’a point remply l’imagination aussi agreablement, que ce que j’ay veu’ (nothing I have read […] has filled my imagination as agreeably, as what I have seen), p. 12; ‘leurs Colonels […] ont amusé agreablement mes yeux’ (their colonels […] amused my eyes agreeably), p. 13; ‘[toutes les troupes] m’ont semblé avoir je ne sçay quoy de si agreable’ ([all the troops] seemed to me to have a certain something which was very agreeable), p. 14; ‘l’Entrée de la Reyne fut si belle, & attacha si agreablement les yeux’ (the entry of the queen was so beautiful, and it caught the eye so agreeably), p. 73). 46  Such as, for example, La Conference de Janot et Piarot. 47  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 24, 28, 29, 34. 48  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 26, 29.

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disordered public could not constitute an object of legitimate curiosity for the reader of texts whose official perspective reduces the entry to a ceremony, to the staging of a particular political order the description of which is the only element that matters. Yet for the contributors to the prologue of Célinte, the royal entry is also the spectacle of all the curious who move on its margins, who quarrel about everything, fall or jump from the balconies, attract attention to themselves by coquettish tricks or by singing a little ditty, etc., without of course having the possibility of putting actual fact and invention into perspective in the account. The anecdotal and the derisory here succeed the grand and the important. This is why the reaction of the onlooker is not merely a sentiment of admiration and astonished surprise before what surpasses the everyday, but a slightly condescending amusement in the face of the carnivalesque and colourful crowd, where the intellectual superiority of the mocker is to be noted. And since the listening pact which presides over the conversation rests on a quasi-contractual agreement that the pleasant will be sought out, not only in the sense of that which is pleasing, but that which causes laughter,49 each contributor tends therefore to enlarge effects, to exaggerate characteristics, to manipulate in some way the information given not only in order to amuse the company (and the reader of the story), so as to procure for them the pleasure expected from the exchange, but also perhaps to aggrandize himself or herself at the risk of falling into satire. No logical order structures the content of this story of loggias and balconies, even if the account opens in a relatively conventional manner with the description de la Scene (description of the scene)50 and the architectural transformation of the street into a theatre. In fact the succession of fascheuses avantures (unfortunate episodes)51 which constitutes the substance of the account does not seem to respond to any principle other than the choice of the most striking example, the 49 

See Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, iii. ‘Puis que toutes les Fenestres sont devenuës Balcons; que tous les Greniers ont passé pour Chambre, & que tout l’ordre de l’Architecture ordinaire, a tellement esté renversé, qu’on a veu dix mille Amphitheatres irreguliers depuis Vincenne jusques au Louvre’ (Since all the windows have become balconies; and all the attics have passed for rooms, & and all the order of ordinary architecture has been turned upside down to such an extent that one saw ten thousand irregular amphitheatres from Vincennes up to the Louvre), Scudéry, Célinte, p. 25. Such a description was absent in the first account, on the other hand, since Lysimène chose to remain silent on the ephemeral structures and to refer to the engravings which had been made of them or which still needed to be made. 51  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 26. 50 

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most representative, and the most amusing of the disorders caused by curiosity. Just as the spatial ordering of the cortège necessarily dictated, in the form of the listing of the different constituent bodies, the account rendered of it in the first part of the prologue, the disorder of the public is reflected, in its turn, in the disorder of the account, or more precisely by that allure à sauts et à gambades which characterizes the discussion and which does not leave any of the contributors with more than a fragmented, incomplete discourse. Here, too, the account could not aspire to exhaustiveness, which was in any case doubly impossible because of the very existence of the rules of conversational exchange and the inexhaustible nature of the subject. To a greater extent than the evocation of the procession, constrained, by its matter, to a certain laudatory rhetoric, the story of the loggias and balconies can adopt the familiar tone proper to mondain exchanges, which demands a style which is unpretentious, unceremonious, natural to some degree, a medium register in which, as Delphine Denis writes, ‘convergent les lignes de fuite d’un “écrit” assoupli et d’une oralité régulée par le bon usage’ (the vanishing lines of a supple ‘text’ and an orality regulated by good usage).52 On the other hand, the fact that one account succeeds another and that the most amusing anecdotes follow examples of the most magnificent pomp is certainly the proof, as Sappho declared, that everything can be brought into conversation, choses ordinaires (ordinary things) and basses (low) as well as the grandes (grand) and élevées (elevated).53 * * * Mlle de Scudéry’s double account of the entry however finds its true end in the context of the discussion of curiosity,54 where it serves to define and illustrate two opposing types of curiosity, one praiseworthy and the other said to be ‘vaine, inutile, & bien souvent extravagante’ (vain, useless, and very often extravagant),55 according to a topic from Plutarch’s Moralia developed some years previously by 52 

p. 65.

Denis, ‘Introdution’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis,

53  Scudéry, ‘De la conversation’, in Scudéry, ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations, ed. by Denis, p. 72. 54  In terms of quantity, the account only takes up twenty-eight pages out of a total of seventy-nine, that is less than half. Guided by initial reflections on the nature of curiosity, it reaches a conclusion on page 38 to allow the debate proper to begin. This aspect of the entry has been admirably analysed in Zanger, Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV, pp. 131–54. 55  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 6.

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La Mothe le Vayer.56 Of the first, the ‘curiosité universelle, que tout le monde a euë de voir l’Entrée de la Reyne’ (the universal curiosity which everybody had to see the entry of the Queen) stands out clearly, because peut-il y avoir une curiosité mieux fondée, que de vouloir voir le plus beau spectacle qu’on ait jamais veu, la plus belle Princesse du monde, & le plus grand Roy de la terre, suivy de ce que la terre a de plus grand & de plus illustre, & de voir pour Spectatrice, la plus vertueuse Reyne qui ait jamais regné, & le plus sage & plus grand Ministre qui ait gouverné des Estats, depuis qu’il y a de Monarchies ?57 (could there be a better-founded curiosity, than wishing to see the most beautiful spectacle that one has ever seen, the most beautiful Princess in the world, and the greatest King on the earth, followed by what the earth possesses of the greatest and the most illustrious, & to see as spectator, the most virtuous Queen who has ever reigned, & the wisest and the greatest minister who has ever governed the state, since there have been monarchies?)

Identified with the second is the ‘excessive’58 curiosity which caused the disorder of which the occupiers of the balconies are guilty and which also moved Artélice to shift her gaze from the royal spectacle to the over-curious spectators. One touches on the grandes nouvelles du monde (important news of the world),59 on the very material of history, military actions, peace treaties, dynastic marriages, official ceremonies, in other words on the public space controlled by the king; the other looks to private space, to particular details and individuals which escape history, to an intimacy in sum which is given here as spectacle. On the narrative level, the opposition between these two types of curiosity encompass Cléandre’s inquisitiveness as he, not having been able to attend the entry, enquires of the others regarding their sentiment de l’Entrée, and the desire, expressed by all the contributors, to hear the story of the loggias and balconies, as Lysimène means to tell it. Indeed this desire, because it encourages each speaker to outdo the previous one in effect, would not be far removed from the taste for malicious gossip pointed out by Mériante, if here the desire to amuse did not overcome the desire to do harm: Il ne faut pas douter […] que la medisance ne soit tres-souvent une suite de la grande curiosité; & pour l’ordinaire les Curieux ne veulent pas sçavoir les choses 56 

His letter on curiosity appeared in the second volume of his Œuvres in 1654. Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 23–24. 58  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 6. 59  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 47. 57 

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pour les rapporter comme on les leur a dites, mais pour y adjouster tout ce qui peut nuire à ceux dont ils parlent.60 (It must not be doubted […] that malicious gossip is very often an outcome of great curiosity, and usually the curious do not want to know things in order to report them as they have been told to them, but in order to extract everything which might damage those of whom they speak.)

Even though sited on the axis of the pleasure of mondain conversation, does not the very fact of devoting oneself to the story of loggias and balconies, and of moving from the account of the spectacle of monarchical order to that of the amusing disorder which occurred on its margins, indicate all the same one of these backslidings of curiosity mentioned in the discussion? Because the lack of interest in the spectacle of the entry of which it is the sign, however momentary, does not differ at all in its implications from the attitude of those spectators of whom the reader learns that bien loin de regarder ce qui se passoit, [ils] ne faisoient que se moquer de ceux qu’ils voyoient dans les balcons de leur voisinage.61 (far from looking at what was going on, [they] did nothing but mock those they could see in the neighbouring balconies.)

Is not this lack of interest then, like the silence or the boredom shown by others, the equivalent of a refusal of those emotional responses the overt display of which is at the heart of the entry ritual of 26 August? And refusing one’s attention, one’s admiration, etc., is to lack the proper political sentiments which the entire festival exalts. It is to deny to some degree that one belongs to the symbolic body of the state. Therefore Lysimène takes the trouble to add: ‘mais à dire la verité, je n’en vy guere d’assez deraisonnables pour cela’ (but to tell the truth, I did not see enough unreasonable people for that).62 And what may be said, besides, about the choices made by the contributors in their descriptions of the cortège itself, the attention given to the details of the appearance of the participants, and notably to the details of the royal couple’s mien? Do they not also indicate a possible backsliding of curiosity in the sense that what is reported consists less of the great news of the world than the details in which the excessively curious are interested?63 What now separates a narrator lost in the recollection of fabrics, feathers, and multicoloured 60 

Scudéry, Célinte, p. 45. Scudéry, Célinte, p. 33. 62  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 33. 63  See Zanger, Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV, p. 141. 61 

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ribbons,64 from the curious lady besotted with genealogies, coats of arms, and livery, of whom one learns that elle garde si soigneusement dans sa memoire, tous les passemens meslez de couleurs differentes, & toutes les livrées, qu’elle ne s’y trompe jamais.65 (she keeps so carefully in her memory, all the braiding in several different colours, & all the liveries, that she never makes a mistake.)

Can it be that the prologue contributors, and Mlle de Scudéry with them, have not been able to employ that discernment without which curiosity ‘s’amuse à sçavoir des bagatelles, au lieu d’aprendre de bonnes choses’ (amuses itself finding out about bagatelles, instead of learning about good things)?66 Might it not rather be that, in attracting the attention of the spectators to this deployment of colour, gold, and feathers, the monarch understood that he could, in this way, nurture in the public a sense of his glory and ‘fai[re] sur eux une impression très avantageuse de magnificence, de puissance, de richesse et de grandeur’ (make on them a very advantageous impression of magnificence, of power, of wealth, and of grandeur)?67 As to the fascination he himself exercised, the attraction to his corporeal and private person, evident in the notice taken of his air and his pleasant bearing,68 which might at first glance appear to be out of place in an account of a public ceremony was part, very much, of a seduction strategy which saw love for the king, and above all an eroticised attachment to his physical person (mediated, as it were, through the attachment to the Queen), as the means of maintaining civil obedience.69 Thus it is with her coeur touché (smitten heart)70 that the narrator concludes her description of the Infanta Maria Teresa, whose whiteness of skin and redness of lip she has praised among other things: Les charmes de sa personne conqui[rent] les coeurs de tous ceux qui la virent, pour les mener comme des Captifs, qu’elle enchaisnoit avec de nouveaux liens, au service du grand Roy qui nous la donnée pour Reyne.71 64 

Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 18–29. Scudéry, Célinte, p. 44. 66  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 40. 67  Louis XIV, Mémoires pour l’instruction du Dauphin, ed. by Goubert, p. 135. 68  Scudéry, Célinte, pp. 19–20. 69  See Ansart, La Gestion des passions politiques, pp. 29–47. Louis XIV comes back to this on various occasions in his Mémoires as one of his political principles. 70  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 22. 71  Scudéry, Célinte, p. 22. One might observe the extent to which this image appears to be 65 

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(The charms of her person conquered the hearts of all who saw her, to lead them like captives, whom she chained with new bonds, to the service of the great King who gave her to us as Queen.)

Far from being reprehensible, the perhaps excessive curiosity of the public with regard to the slightest detail of the royal entry was in fact necessary to the construction of the monarchical state and, as such, carefully orchestrated by those in power. * * * Did Mlle de Scudéry really bring fresh eyes to the entry of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa of Austria into Paris, on 26 August 1660? Certainly, she provided a description of it which could defend itself as being new and preferred to evoke the sentiment de l’Entrée rather than the events of the day themselves, thus privileging l’Histoire des Loges, des Balcons, & des Eschaffauts. She even went as far as to speak of the Entrée de la Reyne and not the entry of the King and Queen as the majority of her contemporaries did. However, in spite of all these dissonances, these deviations from the account norm, her version showed a no less perfect conformity with the new monarchical imaginary being formulated. The place given to Maria Teresa was no more than a new means of recognizing the new emotionalism already cultivated politically. The woman, the novelist, the mon­ daine, and stylish salon hostess was also a subject susceptible to love for her King. Goldsmiths, University of London Translated by Jean Andrews

inspired by that of the Gallic Hercules traditionally represented during the Renaissance, with chains of gold emanating from his mouth and attached to the ears of his listeners. Indeed, over the course of the seventeenth century, these chains had become the symbol, not so much of royal eloquence, as of the reciprocal love linking monarchs and subjects — ‘non ja pour captiver les orielles, mais les coeurs’ (not there to captivate the ears, but the hearts) — Reception de sa Maiesté au College de Lyon, p. 66.

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Works Cited Primary Sources La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet de Villenoce (Paris: [n. pub.], 1660) Furetière, Antoine, Dictionnaire universel, 3 vols (Den Haag: Leers, 1690) Louis XIV, Mémoires pour l’instruction du Dauphin, ed. by Pierre Goubert (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1992) ‘La Magnifique et superbe entrée du Roy et de la Reyne en la Ville de Paris’, La Gazette, 3 September 1660 Montaigne, Michel de, ‘De la vanité’, in Essais, ed. by Robert Barral and Pierre Michel (Paris: Seuil, 1967), pp. 381–404 Pure, Michel de, La Prétieuse, ou les mysteres de la ruelle, ed. by Emile Magne, Société des textes français modernes, 2 vols (Genève: Droz, 1938–39) Reception de sa Maiesté au College de Lyon: pour la Royne mere (Lyon: Jullieron, 1623) Relation de toutes les particularitez qui se sont faictes et pases dans la celebre entrée du Roy et de la Reyne (Paris: Loyson, 1660) Scudéry, Madeleine de, Célinte (Paris: Courbé, 1661) —— , ‘De l’air galant’ et d’autres conversations (1653–1684): pour une étude de l’archive galante, ed. by Delphine Denis, Sources classiques, 5 (Paris: Champion, 1998) Tronçon, Jean, L’Entrée Triomphante de Leurs Majestez […] dans la Ville de Paris (Paris: Petit, Joly, Bilaine, 1662)

Secondary Studies Ansart, Pierre, La Gestion des passions politiques (Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme, 1983) Denis, Delphine, La Muse galante: poétique de la conversation dans l’œuvre de Mademoiselle de Scudéry, Lumière classique, 12 (Paris: Champion, 1997) Grice, H. Paul, ‘Logique et conversation’, Communications, 30 (1979), 57–72 Zanger, Abby E., Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV: Nuptial Fictions and the Making of Asolutist Power (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997)

L’Entrée royale dans l’œuvre romanesque de Mme de Villedieu Nobuko Akiyama

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ur les seize œuvres romanesques de Mme de Villedieu, cinq décrivent des entrées royales.1 Alors que celle de Charles IX est évoquée de façon très allusive dans Les Désordres de l’Amour (1675), et semble servir de cadre purement décoratif à la deuxième partie du Journal amoureux (1669–71), celles de Louis XIV, qui apparaissent en filigrane et ponctuent la première partie du roman, constituent l’un des décors riches en effets dramatiques des Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière (1671–74). Sur le plan de l’intrigue cependant, c’est plutôt dans les premières œuvres romanesques qu’on pourrait déceler des exemples intéressants. Dans Lisandre (1663), deuxième roman de Mme de Villedieu, l’entrée royale d’‘une grande Princesse’ est à peine évoquée qu’elle cède la place à un autre spectacle, comme pour mimer le caractère inconstant du pro1 

À l’exception de Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, et Villedieu, Les Désordres de l’Amour, éd. par Cuénin, les textes seront cités d’après de Villedieu, Œuvres ; le tome et la pagination indiqués seront ceux de l’édition originale. Nous avons modernisé l’orthographe.   Quant à l’entrée royale, Marie-Claude Canova-Green la définit en ces termes: ‘Du simple cérémonial d’accueil du prince qu’elle était à l’origine, l’entrée s’est développée après le xve siècle dans une dimension spectaculaire qui emprunte aux divers arts. La ville tout entière, décorée de tableaux, de trophées en tous genres, d’arcs de triomphe, de temples et de théâtres couverts d’inscriptions, où sont prononcées des harangues, est devenue “le Théâtre du Triomphe” du prince’ (Canova-Green, La Politique-spectacle au grand siècle, p. 11), et Marie-France Wagner, en ces termes: ‘[l’]entrée royale est animée par le mouvement du défilé ostentatoire du roi, accompagné de cris de joie, de chants, de compliments, du “bruissement” des canons, de la musique des fifres, des trompettes et des hautbois’ (Wagner, ‘Le Spectacle de l’ordre exemplaire ou la cérémonie’, p. 115).

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tagoniste. Dans Carmente (1668), son quatrième roman, l’entrée royale, transposée dans le cadre pastoral de l’Arcadie, sert à faire ressortir la psychologie des personnages. La romancière se soucie moins de décrire minutieusement l’entrée royale (grande différence avec la description qu’elle propose des fêtes de cour) que de l’esquisser pour rehausser l’intrigue. Mettre en lumière ce procédé, c’est ce que nous nous proposons de faire ici.

Entrées royales de Charles IX La deuxième partie du Journal amoureux commence par évoquer les entrées royales de Charles IX, effectuées à l’initiative de la reine mère, Catherine de Médicis : La Reine Catherine de Médicis, veuve du Roi Henri dernier mort, voulant se délasser des troubles où elle avait été ensevelie pendant le règne de François II son fils aîné, ou pour quelques autres raisons qui ne sont pas de notre sujet, obligea Charles IX qui avait succédé à son frère, de visiter toutes les provinces du royaume. Ce voyage était une partie de plaisir, pour endormir la vigilance des mécontents, plutôt qu’un voyage ordinaire. La Cour était magnifique : on ne parlait que de bals, de comédies, et de festins.2

Ici, l’évocation des entrées royales a pour fonction principale d’agrémenter la description de l’ambiance festive. Le récit parle en particulier de l’entrée de Charles IX à Lyon en 1564, mais celle-ci est présentée avec une sobriété déconcertante : il [le Roi] se rendit à Lyon, au mois de Mai de l’année 1564. Le Duc et la Duchesse de Savoie vinrent voir Leurs Majestés en cette ville  ; Monsieur le Duc d’Aumale frère de Monsieur de Guise dernier mort, y joignit la Cour. Il était demeuré à Paris pour voir le cardinal de Lorraine son frère à son retour de Rome : et il venait rendre compte au Roi de ce qui s’était passé à cette arrivée, entre les Guise et les Montmorency. Il y avait bal chez la Reine le soir qu’il arriva, il ne voulut pas y paraître en habit de campagne.3

Il n’est pas question de décrire ‘la magnificence de son [le Roi] triomphe préparé’ ni les ‘seigneurs des Nations, officiers de sa Justice, citoyens et bourgeois de la ville’4 qui viennent au-devant du souverain pour l’accueillir. Ce qui contraste 2 

Villedieu, Le Journal amoureux, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, x, 102. Villedieu, Le Journal amoureux, in Villedieu, Œuvres, x, 102–03. 4  Valous, ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième’, p. 5 (voir la note suivante). 3 

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avec le ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième en sa Ville de Lyon, faite le mardi xiii jour de Juin 1564’.5 D’après ce ‘Discours’, défilaient les Florentins, les Milanais, les Allemands, tous somptueusement costumés, les Florentins, avec des ‘pourpoints et chausses de satin violet, enrichis de broderie exquise, soie et robe de velours noir’, accompagnés de laquais ‘ayant pourpoints et chausses de satin blanc diaprés de broderie, de couleur jaune et violette’, et les Milanais, ‘vêtus de soies et robes courtes de velours noir, enrichies de gros boutons d’or, ayant chacun un laquais devant soi, vêtu de satin bleu’.6 Ces ‘seigneurs des Nations’ sont suivis des ‘sergents de la justice royale criminelle’, dont le ‘riche accoutrement’ est constitué de ‘hoquetons bleus, brodés de blanc et incarnat’. 7 Après le défilé des ‘officiers et justiciers royaux’, suivent des ‘bourgeois, et notables en la cité, après lesquels marchèrent huit trompettes de Sa Majesté, lesquels à la porte de Vaise commencèrent à sonner une fanfare moult mélodieuse’.8 Dans Le Journal amoureux, loin de donner lieu à une description richement colorée, et au lieu de déployer le portrait élogieux du roi, l’entrée royale est à peine évoquée qu’elle cède la place à la présentation du duc d’Aumale, l’un des protagonistes du roman, repoussant ainsi au second plan la figure du roi. D’ailleurs, dans le roman, si la Cour est en perpétuel mouvement, c’est pour mieux alimenter l’intrigue romanesque. Ainsi, le lendemain de son arrivée, le duc d’Aumale apprend que ‘la Cour délogeait en diligence pour aller à Tournon’, et ‘lorsque la Cour prit le Rhône, il donna un concert sur ce fleuve’ pour faire la cour à Madame, Marguerite de Valois, sœur du roi.9 Dans Les Désordres de l’Amour la description de l’entrée de Charles IX en 1564 est éclipsée au profit d’une phrase qui explique la situation d’un personnage du roman : Le marquis [de Bellegarde] était alors en Languedoc où le Roi faisait un voyage.10 On lui manda la maladie de sa femme, et il en parut transporté de douleur  ; il laissa le soin de sa compagnie et de toutes ses affaires de la Cour au jeune baron de 5 

Contenu dans Valous, L’Entrée de Charles IX à Lyon en 1564. Pour les relations des entrées royales également, nous avons modernisé l’orthographe. 6  Valous, ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième’, p. 6. 7  Valous, ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième’, p. 7. 8  Valous, ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième’, pp. 7, 8. 9  Villedieu, Le Journal amoureux, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, x, 106, 119. 10  À propos de ce voyage, M. Cuénin note qu’il a été ‘[décidé] par Catherine de Médicis en 1563, après la proclamation de la majorité de son fils’ et qu’‘[il] devait visiter toutes les provinces pour apaiser les esprits et arriva à Nîmes en Décembre 1564’ (Villedieu, Les Désordres de l’Amour, éd. par Cuénin, p. 69).

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Bellegarde, […] et courant au secours de la malade, il fit appeler tous les médecins qui étaient en quelque réputation.11

Ici non plus, il n’est pas question de décrire la pompe de l’entrée royale, et la romancière se contente de l’envelopper dans l’expression succincte (‘faire un voyage’), ne prenant même pas la peine de préciser le lieu où se trouvait le roi. Cette réticence de la part de Mme de Villedieu à décrire longuement les entrées royales coïncide curieusement avec ce que Daniel Vaillancourt et MarieFrance Wagner appellent ‘une certaine désuétude sous le Roi-Soleil’12 des entrées royales, si nombreuses et si importantes sous Charles IX, Henri IV ou Louis XIII.

Entrées royales de Louis XIV Dans les Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière figurent deux séries d’entrées royales de Louis  XIV. Selon le classement proposé par Daniel Vaillancourt et Marie-France Wagner,13 l’une concerne le ‘cinquième déplacement du roi à Bordeaux, puis à Lyon, du 1er septembre 1659 au 26 août 1660’, et l’autre, le sixième et le dernier qui s’est terminé par l’entrée magnifique à Paris en août 1660.14 ‘La première datation historique’ de la nouvelle signalée par René Démoris15 correspond au cinquième déplacement de Louis XIV, la Cour arrivant à Nîmes le 8 décembre 1659. La présence du roi est évoquée comme la source de la clémence dont bénéficie l’héroïne, qui a causé la mort de son père adoptif en se défendant contre lui : Et enfin, la Cour étant pour lors en Provence, ils [tous ceux de la famille d’Englesac] m’obtinrent ma grâce du Roi, avec toutes sortes d’avantages contre mes parties.16

Il ne s’agit pas ici de détailler la cérémonie solennelle de l’entrée royale, mais d’évoquer la présence de la Cour comme arrière-plan décoratif qui rehausse l’intrigue romanesque. Ainsi, la ‘belle compagnie, que le voisinage de la Cour

11 

Villedieu, Les Désordres de l’Amour, éd. par Cuénin, pp. 69–70. Vaillancourt et Wagner, ‘Avant-propos’, p. 379. 13  Le Roi dans la ville, éd. par Wagner et Vaillancourt. 14  Le Roi dans la ville, éd. par Wagner et Vaillancourt, respectivement p. 52 et p. 53. 15  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 265. 16  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 56. 12 

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avait rassemblée chez la marquise d’Ampus’,17 sert de cadre d’apparat à la querelle du comte d’Englesac et de son rival à propos de l’héroïne. À la suite de quoi, Henriette-Sylvie, provoquant la colère de la mère du comte d’Englesac, sera confinée dans un couvent. Et l’entrée du roi à Avignon apporte non seulement une occasion de réjouissances jusqu’à l’intérieur du couvent (‘Je me souviendrai même toujours de ce passage de la Cour à Avignon, qui donna tant de joie aux plus jeunes de ces pauvres recluses’, se rappelle Henriette-Sylvie18), mais aussi une opportunité qui permet à l’héroïne d’échapper au cloître ; grâce aux ‘moments de liberté qu’on se dispensait de prendre aux parloirs contre la règle, depuis l’entrée du Roi’,19 un plan d’évasion se forme, et Henriette-Sylvie réussit à sortir de ‘la ville, qu’on ne fermait pas depuis la venue du Roi’.20 Pour échapper à la persécution de Mme d’Englesac, l’héroïne poursuit son chemin pour arriver à Paris, et Fouquet, ‘un jeune gentilhomme très spirituel’,21 qui, amoureux d’une religieuse du couvent, aide à la libération de l’héroïne ainsi que de sa maîtresse, s’avise de profiter du déplacement de la Cour pour ‘s’éloigner avec moins de soupçon, avec la mêlée, d’un voisinage trop dangereux’ :22 il nous mit dans des chariots de bagage, nous déguisa en femmes de marchands suivant la Cour […] il nous fit conduire à Toulouse, sous couleur d’y aller charger des provisions pour Monsieur, frère unique du Roi.23

Quant à l’entrée royale à Paris, qui suit le mariage de Louis XIV avec MarieThérèse, elle est également éclipsée au profit de l’intrigue romanesque. La marquise de Séville, dont la curiosité est aiguisée par le récit des aventures d’HenrietteSylvie et qui souhaite la rencontrer, part de Bruxelles pour ‘[traverser] toute la France’ sous prétexte d’aller ‘voir la cérémonie du mariage de l’Infante avec Louis Auguste’.24 Peine perdue. Comme le constate avec ironie la romancière, ‘[le] mariage du Roi n’[étant] pas une conclusion de roman, où tous les personnages héroïques se dussent retrouver’,25 la marquise de Séville est obligée de faire 17 

Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, pp. 61–62. Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 63. 19  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 65. 20  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 67. 21  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 65. 22  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 69. 23  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 69. 24  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 72. 25  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 73. 18 

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ensuite un parcours comparable à celui du roi, qui part de Saint-Jean-de-Luz, où a été célébré son mariage, en passant par plusieurs villes, pour arriver à Paris pour y faire une entrée magnifique. Le hasard finira par rassembler à Bordeaux26 la marquise de Séville et Henriette-Sylvie,27 heureusement à temps pour assister à l’entrée royale, la marquise de Séville faisant partie de ‘ceux qui étaient accourus, non seulement de toutes les provinces du royaume, mais encore des pays étrangers, pour être témoins de ce triomphe royal’ :28 Enfin nous [la marquise de Séville et moi] arrivâmes à Paris. Nous y demeurâmes jusqu’après cette entrée magnifique de leurs Majestés, qui y avait attiré des yeux de toutes les parties de l’Europe.29

Ici aussi, l’entrée royale est présentée avec un surprenant dépouillement, en contraste avec la description de la fête versaillaise des Plaisirs de l’île enchantée, qui constitue le cœur de la seconde partie de ce même roman. L’héroïne, déguisée en prince allemand, se voit invitée à cette fameuse fête ‘comme prince étranger’.30 Mme de Villedieu s’attarde longuement sur la course de bague pour détailler le costume porté par le roi, représentant le personnage de Roger.31 La collation de la première journée fait l’objet d’une description minutieuse : La nuit venue, et un nombre prodigieux de flambeaux de cire blanche avec plus de quatre mille bougies ayant éclairé le lieu, on ouït un agréable concert, et pendant que les quatre saisons faisaient charger les mets délicieux qu’elles devaient servir à la table des Majestés, toute la suite du Soleil dansa dans le rond une belle entrée de ballet. Puis le Printemps vint, et c’était la pauvre Du Parc qui le représentait ; elle montait avec une adresse de cavalier, un superbe cheval d’Espagne.32

Alors que Mme de Villedieu se délecte à la description de la fête de cour pour que la duchesse de Nemours, à qui est dédié le roman,33 puisse ‘[prendre] plaisir à 26 

Selon Colletet, Suite de la nouvelle relation, ‘le 23 [juin] à quatre heures après-midi, Leurs Majestés arrivèrent à Bordeaux sur un superbe bateau’ (p. 6). 27  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 74. 28  Tronçon, ‘Marche à l’entrée de Leurs Majestés’, p. 1. 29  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 75. 30  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 95. 31  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 95. 32  Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 96. 33  Cuénin, Roman et société sous Louis XIV, i (1979), pp. 77–78 : ‘la mystérieuse dédicataire des Mémoires d’Henriette-Sylvie de Molière n’est autre que la duchesse de Nemours. […] la duchesse, elle-même auteur de Mémoires composés environ à cette date, a fort bien pu encourager Marie-Catherine à écrire les siens, en guise de contrepoint plaisant’.

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ce récit’,34 le traitement des entrées royales dans la première partie se détache par sa sobriété extrême. De plus, outre leur fonction ornementale, elles scandent des moments clés, créant des péripéties qui relancent l’intrigue, telles que la grâce accordée à l’héroïne, la querelle d’amour qui éclate autour d’elle et la jette dans un couvent, son évasion du cloître, et sa rencontre avec la marquise de Séville. Enfin, si l’on emprunte les termes de Marie-France Wagner, cette préférence donnée à la description de la fête versaillaise qui parle du Ballet du Palais d’Alcine aussi bien que de La Princesse d’Élide, comédie-ballet de Molière et de Lully,35 et qui efface celle des entrées royales, semble refléter en partie les ‘rapports entre la disparition du genre des entrées royales et l’apparition de la tragédie lyrique et de l’opéra’.36

Lisandre, entrée royale sacrifiée à l’inconstance Lisandre, ‘passant dans une belle ville où la curiosité le conduisait plutôt que ses affaires’,37 tombe amoureux de Lisidore et lui fait la cour. La description d’une entrée royale agrémente momentanément ce récit : Il [Lisandre] était en cet état, lorsqu’il arriva dans cette ville une grande Princesse, qui passait en ce lieu-là pour aller plus loin ; on lui fit une entrée magnifique, et toutes les dames allèrent au-devant d’elle fort parées, et accompagnées de tout ce qu’il y avait de jeunes gens de qualité dans cette ville. Lisidore fut des premières, et Lisandre fut des plus empressés à la suivre ; toutes les dames étaient dans de petits chars découverts, et tous les hommes les suivaient à cheval.38

Cette description témoigne d’un étonnant dépouillement. La romancière se contente de recourir au terme générique (‘une entrée magnifique’), et borne ses précisions à l’évocation de ‘dames fort parées’, ou de ‘jeunes gens de qualité’, alors que dans la relation de l’entrée il est justement de règle de développer ces détails. Au détriment de ceux-ci, les deux protagonistes, Lisidore et Lisandre, se détachent sur le fond constitué de ‘toutes les dames’ et de ‘tous les hommes’, et semblent s’intéresser plus à leur conversation intime qu’à la cérémonie de réception. De surcroît, l’entrée de la ‘grande Princesse’ est à peine évoquée qu’elle est délaissée pour présenter un autre spectacle : 34 

Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 97. Villedieu, Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par Démoris, p. 97. 36  Wagner, ‘De la ville de province en paroles’, p. 475. 37  Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 453. 38  Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 455. 35 

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Lisandre était donc auprès du char de Lisidore, et il lui semblait qu’elle l’écoutait avec plus de tendresse qu’à son ordinaire ; lorsqu’en traversant un petit bois qui était sur leur passage, ils trouvèrent deux cavaliers qui se battaient avec une fureur inconcevable, tout le monde courut à eux pour les séparer.39

À la stupéfaction des lecteurs de l’époque, soudain il n’est plus question de la pauvre princesse, dont on ne sait absolument rien et qui n’apparaîtra plus dans la suite. Le rassemblement qui s’acheminait pour l’accueillir se détourne pour assister à un autre spectacle. Lisidore se précipite pour faire arrêter le combat de ces cavaliers, et s’offre en spectacle à tous ceux qui constituaient le cortège, au point de susciter ‘un murmure très grand parmi tous ceux qui en furent les spectateurs’.40 Cette scène de reconnaissance, où Lisidore retrouve celui qu’elle aimait depuis toujours, mais qui avait disparu, entraîne le détachement de Lisandre : pour le bonheur de ses [Lisandre] jours, l’opiniâtreté en amour n’était pas son vice. De sorte que le lendemain il fut voir Lisidore dans le dessein de rompre entièrement avec elle.41

Ensuite, Lisandre tombe amoureux d’Arténire, mais il la perd de vue et se lance dans une autre aventure, avec deux femmes à la fois. Pressé de nommer celle à qui était adressée sa lettre de déclaration d’amour, parvenue par erreur à sa rivale, Lisandre tient un discours qu’on est tenté de rapprocher de celui de Dom Juan vis-à-vis de Charlotte et Mathurine :42 En vérité, Mesdames (leur dit-il) vous me paraissez toutes deux si redoutables, que je n’ose hasarder une déclaration de cette espèce ; j’avoue que ce billet est de moi, et qu’il est pour l’une de vous deux : mais dispensez-moi de vous dire pour laquelle ; c’est peut-être pour celle qui aurait le moins d’indulgence pour mon amour  : laissez-moi de grâce m’en éclaircir ; et puisque le Ciel a permis que ma témérité n’a 39 

Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 455–56. Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 456. 41  Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 458. 42  Molière, Dom Juan, ii, 4, dans Molière, Œuvres complètes, éd. par Couton, ii (1971), p. 53 : ‘Que voulez-vous que je dise ? Vous soutenez également toutes deux que je vous ai promis de vous prendre pour femmes. Est-ce que chacune de vous ne sait pas ce qui en est, sans qu’il soit nécessaire que je m’explique davantage ? Pourquoi m’obliger là-dessus à des redites ? Celle à qui j’ai promis effectivement n’a-t-elle pas en elle-même de quoi se moquer des discours de l’autre, et doit-elle se mettre en peine, pourvu que j’accomplisse ma promesse ? Tous les discours n’avancent point les choses ; il faut faire et non pas dire, et les effets décident mieux que les paroles. Aussi n’est-ce rien que par-là que je vous veux mettre d’accord, et l’on verra, quand je me marierai, laquelle des deux a mon cœur’. 40 

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point encore eu de méchants succès, souffrez que je profite de cette aventure, et que mes soins et mes services fassent ce que ma langue n’oserait faire.43

À la fin, Arténire réapparaît pour dévoiler la tricherie de Lisandre, qui a réutilisé à l’usage de ses deux nouvelles maîtresses les vers d’amour qu’il lui avait d’abord adressés. Tout au long du récit est racontée ainsi l’inconstance de Lisandre, et cet itinéraire semble être annoncé de façon symbolique par la description furtive de l’entrée de la princesse, située tout au début de la nouvelle.

Carmente, entrées royales au service du roman Dans Carmente, l’entrée royale prend place dans l’univers pastoral et Mme de Villedieu construit ce roman en suivant le modèle ‘théâtral’. En premier lieu, l’entrée royale constitue un moment fort de l’‘Histoire du Prince Évandre, et de la Reine Carmente’, et sert de scène d’exposition au roman entier. Par la suite, l’entrée de Carmente, reine d’Arcadie, dans le hameau de Légée à l’occasion de la fête de Pan et de la nymphe Syrinx déclenche l’action de ce roman fertile en rebondissements. En dernier lieu, l’entrée d’Évandre à Mégare termine le roman dans une euphorie générale, tel le dénouement d’une comédie. Dans le hameau de Légée, le prince Évandre, fils du roi détrôné d’Arcadie et déguisé en berger sous le nom de Cléophile, raconte à Simas sa propre histoire d’amour avec Carmente, reine d’Arcadie. Évandre, orphelin à huit ans, élevé à la cour du roi d’Argos, tombe amoureux de Carmente, princesse d’Argos.44 Il est sur le point de l’épouser, lorsque le roi meurt empoisonné, ruinant ainsi l’espoir des amoureux. En échange de la paix entre les deux royaumes, un mariage est alors conclu entre Carmente et Palans, roi d’Arcadie. Évandre, avec le consentement de Carmente, envisage l’enlèvement de celle-ci, et tous les préparatifs étaient mis en œuvre, lorsque le héros est ‘surpris d’une fièvre violente’ et réduit à l’impuissance, ‘quinze jours entiers dans des rêveries continuelles’.45 Évandre ne se rétablit que pour apprendre que ‘la Princesse d’Argos avait épousé Palans par ses ambassadeurs, qu’on la conduisait en Arcadie, et qu’elle passerait cette même journée dans la ville où [il était], et sous les fenêtres de la maison où [il logeait]’.46 Évandre raconte : 43 

Villedieu, Lisandre, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, v, 478–79. Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 13. 45  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 89. 46  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 89. 44 

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Mais quand j’entendis les acclamations du peuple, et que par le train des chevaux et des chariots, je compris que Carmente, la divine Carmente passait sous mes fenêtres et qu’elle était la femme de Palans, je fis un bond dans mon lit, et surmontant ma faiblesse (bien qu’elle fût très grande) je me traînai jusques à un endroit d’où je pouvais voir passer la nouvelle Reine. Elle était dans un chariot ouvert, à la manière des chars de triomphe ; et quoiqu’elle fût toujours la plus belle du monde, elle était pourtant si triste, qu’elle en paraissait toute changée. Mes forces m’abandonnèrent à cette vue, et je tombai dans une pâmoison dont je ne revins que deux ou trois heures après. Lorsque je fus revenu, je sus que Carmente n’était plus dans cette ville, et que n’ayant fait qu’y dîner, elle était allée coucher en une autre ville qui était sur sa route.47

Bien que succincte, cette description reprend des éléments clés de l’entrée royale : ‘les acclamations du peuple’48 qui accueillent la souveraine, qui arrachent, dans le roman, le héros de son lit, et le cortège somptueux. Cependant, l’entrée de la nouvelle reine d’Arcadie dans la ville où se trouve Évandre est à peine développée. Cette occasion de réjouissances est décrite de façon dépouillée comme pour refléter la tristesse de l’héroïne, d’où un effet dramatique né justement du contraste avec la pompe que suppose cet événement. La reine ne daigne pas même jouir du ‘droit de gîte’ 49 offert par la ville, comme pour se conformer au désespoir d’Évandre, dont l’évanouissement écourte symboliquement la description de l’entrée royale. Celle-ci entraîne la décision du héros de ‘mourir dans l’opinion de tout le monde, puisqu’une délicatesse d’amour [lui] défendait de mourir en effet’ (comme pour Céladon dans Astrée).50 Cette étape initiatique est nécessaire à la reconquête de sa maîtresse. Pendant qu’Évandre raconte cette histoire, juste avant la fête de Pan, Théo­ crite, ‘l’auteur de ces pièces en l’honneur de la vie champêtre’, et qui ‘sous les noms des bergers et des bergères de Tempé avait dépeint si naïvement toutes les délicatesses de l’amour rustique et innocent’,51 réussit à réconcilier Licoris et Cyparisse, qui se disputaient par dépit amoureux, lorsque Carmente fait son entrée dans le hameau : 47 

Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 89–90. Colletet, Suite de la nouvelle relation, déjà citée, parle des ‘acclamations publiques’ (p. 5), ‘cris de joie de tout le peuple’ (p. 6), ‘acclamations de vive le Roi’ (p. 6), ou ‘continuelles acclamations’ (p. 9). 49  Apostolidès, ‘L’Entrée royale de Louis XIV’, p. 21. 50  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 90. 51  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 101. 48 

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Les amants brouillés remercièrent Théocrite, et promirent de suivre son conseil, et comme il achevait de [le] leur donner, on entendit résonner tout le hameau d’instruments champêtres, et de cris d’allégresse, qui firent juger au savant homme, et aux deux amants réconciliés, que la Reine arrivait dans cet endroit  ; de sorte qu’ils allèrent en diligence dans une longue allée taillée dans le milieu de la forêt, qui servait d’avenue à un palais rustique. Cette avenue était bordée d’une longue file de bergers et de bergères, qui s’étant mis en haie pour recevoir leur illustre souveraine, formaient une manière d’allée, beaucoup plus superbe et plus agréable que celle qui les contenait. Ces pasteurs aimables […] étaient tous habillés d’une toile jaune fort claire et fort transparente, appliquée sur du taffetas de diverses couleurs, et attachée en divers endroits avec des nœuds de rubans, ou de grosses touffes de fleurs différentes.52

Alors que la relation de l’entrée triomphante de Louis XIV en 1660 parle de ‘riches tapisseries et de beaux tapis, qui parurent sur les balcons et aux fenêtres, et dont on couvrit les murs’,53 dans le roman, ce sont des bergers et des bergères qui embellissent l’allée de leurs costumes bariolés. Cependant, si l’on remarque ‘la multiplicité des couleurs’ ‘dans les vêtements’,54 l’une des caractéristiques de l’entrée triomphante de Louis XIV à Paris en 1660, l’on pourrait y voir le reflet de cette entrée. Avec ‘un concert de hautbois, de musettes et de flûtes douces’ les bergères faisaient ‘résonner dans tout le hameau le nom glorieux de Carmente, envoyaient jusques au ciel un murmure d’acclamation et de cris de joie, pendant que cette Reine divine passant au milieu de cette palissade animée arrivait superbement à son palais’.55 À première vue, la musique qui accompagne l’entrée de Carmente semble acclimatée au décor pastoral d’Arcadie. En fait, la musique dans le roman peut être considérée comme un écho, certes d’une étendue limitée, mais fidèle, au moins dans l’esprit, à l’entrée magnifique de Louis XIV à Paris en 1660 ; à cette occasion, cinq arcs de triomphe, qui constituaient ‘cinq actes’56 tout comme une pièce de théâtre, étaient agrémentés de ce qui ‘récréait l’oreille, et élevait l’esprit, pendant que les yeux s’occupaient à considérer ce qu’il y avait de plus matériel’.57 Ainsi, ‘[au] plus haut de l’Arc du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, on avait mis une 52 

Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 142–43. Tronçon, ‘Marche à l’entrée de Leurs Majestés’, p. 2. 54  Pillorget, ‘Quelques aspects de l’entrée de Louis XIV et de Marie-Thérèse’, p. 216. 55  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 144. 56  Apostolidès, ‘L’Entrée royale de Louis XIV’, p. 30. 57  Tronçon, ‘Préparatifs dans la ville de Paris’, p. 31. 53 

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douzaine et demie de hautbois, qui servaient comme d’écho aux trompettes qui venaient de temps en temps du côté du trône, et qui à leur envi remplissaient l’air de mille fanfares agréables. Une bande exquise de violons avait été placée sur un échafaud fait exprès à la porte de la ville’,58 et les ‘musettes de Poitou accompagnaient l’Arc du Pont Notre-Dame, où elles avaient été mises fort à propos’, ‘par ce que ce monument était entièrement consacré à l’Amour, qui se plaît parmi ces sortes d’instruments’.59 On voit ici à quel point les musettes siéent à l’univers pastoral de Carmente. Et tout comme les bergères font ‘résonner dans tout le hameau le nom glorieux de Carmente’, lors de l’entrée royale de Louis XIV en 1660 ‘la bouche et les instruments de quatre-vingts musiciens’ ‘sur un amphithéâtre dressé dans le passage du cimetière de Saint-Jean’ ont ‘[fait] valoir ces belles paroles de l’abbé de Boisrobert : Venez ô Reine triomphante !’.60 S’ensuit la description de l’héroïne : Elle était dans un équipage si galant et si bien entendu, qu’il était aisé de juger que l’esprit incomparable de la Princesse d’Argos régnait dans toute cette parure. Un cheval blanc comme de la neige portait ce fardeau précieux […] Une longue housse bleue parsemée de chiffres d’argent traînait superbement jusques à terre, et était terminée aux quatre coins par quatre houppes de broderie que plusieurs esclaves noirs, ornés de colliers et de bracelets d’or, tenaient suspendues en l’air. Mille nœuds de rubans bleus mêlés d’argent, tressaient les crins de ce fier animal, et la belle Reine qui le montait le maniant avec une grâce merveilleuse, faisait honte aux écuyers les plus adroits, et les plus expérimentés.61

Cette description qui insiste sur ‘l’esprit incomparable de la Princesse d’Argos’ semble suggérer que l’amour de Carmente reste intact, tel qu’elle l’a conçu pour Évandre avant de se marier avec Palans pour devenir la reine d’Arcadie. L’image du cheval ‘blanc comme de la neige’ qu’elle monte, la ‘fierté’ de l’animal qui correspond à celle de la reine, l’art équestre par lequel la souveraine surpasse les ‘écuyers les plus adroits’ sont autant d’éléments qui semblent permettre un rapprochement avec l’image de Diane, déesse de la chasse et de la chasteté. Évandre, sous l’apparence du berger Cléophile, s’abstient d’assister à cette entrée pour mieux se préparer à la joie de revoir sa maîtresse. La romancière précise : Ô Dieux ! que l’amoureux Évandre aurait senti de transports à cette vue, et qu’il aurait été facile de remarquer l’effet qu’elle eût produit dans son âme, si par la 58 

Tronçon, ‘Préparatifs dans la ville de Paris’, p. 31. Tronçon, ‘Préparatifs dans la ville de Paris’, p. 32. 60  Tronçon, ‘Préparatifs dans la ville de Paris’, p. 31. 61  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 144–45. 59 

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précaution qu’il venait de prendre avec Simas, il n’eût évité les inconvénients d’une première surprise.62 Le portrait de Carmente qui suit devient d’autant plus éclatant qu’il suppose ce regard d’Évandre, plus présent que jamais, malgré son absence (ou plutôt en raison de son absence même).63

Carmente est suivie non seulement de ‘[toutes] les dames […] dans le même équipage’,64 mais aussi de la princesse Arcaste, sœur du roi Palans, accompagnée de son fiancé, le prince Nicostrate, et de ‘tout ce qu’il y avait de plus considérable en la Cour d’Arcadie, au moins de ceux qui avaient pu se dispenser de demeurer auprès de la personne du Roi, que quelques affaires avaient retenu à Mégare’.65 Le roi d’Arcadie est présenté ainsi comme le grand absent du cortège, ce qui semble annoncer, de façon symbolique, son assassinat le lendemain de cette entrée. D’ailleurs, il se présentera sans suite devant Évandre comme ‘un inconnu’,66 qui s’est rendu sans apparat au hameau de Légée à la pointe du jour, ne pouvant ‘se passer un seul jour de sa [Carmente] vue’.67 Cette ‘entrée’ indigne d’un monarque fait contraste avec celle de sa femme la veille, préfigurant ainsi sa mort qui survient tout de suite après. La fête de Pan se déroulera dans le cadre des réjouissances préparées pour accueillir Carmente et sa Cour, et Évandre, sous la figure de Cléophile, jouera le rôle de Pan. Auparavant, Théocrite signale à Carmente ‘sa ressemblance avec le Prince Évandre’.68 Le portrait de ce berger ‘charmant’, qui, ‘malgré le vêtement ridicule dont il était travesti’, ‘fut regardé de la Reine et de toute la Cour comme un homme tout divin’ peut être considéré comme le pendant de celui de Carmente dans son entrée ;69 deux portraits se renvoient l’un à l’autre, comme des miroirs, l’image de ces protagonistes destinés à s’unir à la fin du roman. 62 

Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 145–46. Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 146–47. 64  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 145. 65  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 148. 66  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 270. 67  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 271. 68  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 199. 69  Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 198–99. La qualité ‘divine’ est soulignée également dans le portrait de Carmente : ‘elle paraissait si merveilleuse à tous ceux qui l’entendaient, qu’il s’en fallait peu que la vénération qu’on avait pour elle, n’allât jusques à celle qu’on a d’ordinaire pour les dieux’ (p. 147). 63 

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Le roman se termine par la description d’une entrée triomphante que fait Évandre dans la ville de Mégare, après avoir combattu le tyran Nicostrate, assassin du roi Palans, pour être salué comme le nouveau monarque d’Arcadie : il [notre héros] parvint enfin jusques à la vue des murs tant souhaités de la fidèle Mégare. Ils étaient bordés du peuple, qui accourait en foule au devant de son monarque ; et à quelques stades de la ville […] la Reine en personne, accompagnée de toutes les dames de sa Cour, venait recevoir le monarque vainqueur. Elle était dans une calèche ouverte accompagnée de la belle Princesse de Carthage et de l’illustre Théocrite, et suivie de douze ou quinze petits chars de même figure, remplis de tout ce qu’il y avait de femmes considérables dans Mégare. Toute la jeunesse mégarienne qui n’avait pas suivi le Roi à l’armée, ou qui avait devancé son retour, marchait à cheval à côté des calèches, et cette troupe agréable ayant mis pied à terre sitôt qu’elle avait aperçu le Roi, la Reine avança quelques pas à sa rencontre, dans un équipage si galant, et qui relevait si puissamment sa beauté naturelle, que l’amoureux Évandre pensa expirer d’amour à sa vue.70

Évandre parvient à reconquérir sa maîtresse aussi bien que le trône d’Arcadie enlevé à son père. Tous les personnages principaux se réunissent dans une atmosphère d’euphorie, tout comme dans la scène finale d’une comédie. En ayant recours à la description grandiose d’une entrée triomphale, la romancière amplifie en quelque sorte le dénouement conventionnel de la comédie. Elle lui ajoute une couleur épique appropriée au goût de l’époque en la teintant d’une touche de galanterie. Ainsi, dans Carmente, trois entrées, celle de Carmente, celle (qui n’a pas eu lieu) du roi Palans, et celle d’Évandre forment un réseau de correspondances, de façon à s’éclairer l’une par l’autre. On a vu que dans les premières œuvres romanesques de Mme de Villedieu, en particulier, les entrées royales jouent un rôle important dans l’intrigue ; leur description plutôt sommaire sert tantôt à faire ressortir l’inconstance d’un personnage, tantôt à rythmer et préparer les péripéties. La préférence, de plus en plus marquée au fil des années, que Mme de Villedieu donne à la description de la fête versaillaise au détriment de celle des entrées royales peut être interprétée comme l’un des signes du déclin du genre même de l’entrée royale au profit d’un nouveau genre tel que l’opéra. En ce sens, il est symbolique que Mme de Villedieu retourne à l’origine de l’entrée royale en décrivant l’entrée triomphale de l’époque romaine71 dans l’une de ses dernières œuvres romanesques, Le Portrait des fai­ 70 

Villedieu, Carmente, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, iii, 567–68. Comme le fait remarquer Jacques Vanuxem, c’était ‘[à] la Renaissance’ que ‘les érudits férus d’antiquité voulurent que ces réjouissances publiques puissent rivaliser avec les triomphes 71 

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blesses humaines (œuvre posthume, 1685). Cette fois aussi prédomine le souci de l’intrigue : si Mme de Villedieu déploie un tableau grandiose du retour triomphal de Paul Émile après sa victoire éclatante sur les Macédoniens,72 c’est pour mieux faire ressortir le malheur conjugal de ce général romain. En tout état de cause, il importe à la romancière de mettre la description, soit des fêtes, soit des entrées royales, au service de ses personnages romanesques. Aoyama Gakuin University

Œuvres citées Sources imprimées Colletet, François, Suite de la nouvelle relation contenant la marche de Leurs Majestés, depuis S.-Jean-de-Luz jusques à Paris: avec toutes les particularités de ce qui s’est fait et passé en leur réception aux magnifiques entrées des villes de leur passage (Paris: Loison, 1660) Molière, Œuvres complètes, éd. par Georges Couton, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 8, 9, 2 tomes (Paris: Gallimard, 1971) Le Roi dans la ville: anthologie des entrées royales dans les villes françaises de province (1615– 1660), éd. par Marie-France Wagner et Daniel Vaillancourt, Sources classiques, 33 (Paris: Champion, 2001) Tronçon, Jean, ‘Marche à l’entrée de Leurs Majestés en la ville de Paris’, dans Jean Tronçon, L’Entrée triomphante de Leurs Majestés Louis  XIV, Roi de France et de Navarre, et Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche son épouse, dans la ville de Paris (Paris: le Petit, 1662), p. 1 —— , ‘Préparatifs dans la ville de Paris, pour la réception de Leurs Majestés’, dans Jean Tronçon, L’Entrée triomphante de Leurs Majestés Louis XIV, Roi de France et de Navarre, et Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche son épouse, dans la ville de Paris (Paris: le Petit, 1662), p. 31. Valous, Vital de, ‘Discours de l’entrée du Roi très chrétien Charles neuvième’, dans Vital de Valous, L’Entrée de Charles IX à Lyon en 1564, texte de la relation contemporaine accompagné de pièces justificatives et de figures (Lyon: Brun, 1884), pp. 3–47 —— , L’Entrée de Charles IX à Lyon en 1564, texte de la relation contemporaine accompagné de pièces justificatives et de figures (Lyon: Brun, 1884) Villedieu[-Desjardins], Marie-Catherine [Madame de], Les Désordres de l’Amour, éd. par Micheline Cuénin, Textes littéraires français, 174, 2e édn augmentée (Genève: Droz, 1995) —— , Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière, éd. par René Démoris (Paris: Desjonquères, 2003) —— , Œuvres de Mme de Villedieu, 12 tomes (Paris: Compagnie des Libraires, 1720– 1721; réimpr. en 3 tomes (Genève: Slatkine, 1971)) antiques’ (Vanuxem, ‘Les Entrées royales sous Louis XIII et Louis XIV’, p. 18). 72  Villedieu, Le Portrait des faiblesses humaines, dans Villedieu, Œuvres, i, 324–29.

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Études critiques Apostolidès, Jean-Marie, ‘L’Entrée royale de Louis  XIV’, L’Esprit créateur, 25 (1985), 21–31 Canova-Green, Marie-Claude, La Politique-spectacle au grand siècle: les rapports francoanglais, Biblio 17, 76 (Paris: Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, 1993) Cuénin, Micheline, Roman et société sous Louis  XIV: Madame de Villedieu (MarieCatherine Desjardins 1640–1683, 2 tomes (Paris: Champion, 1979) Pillorget, René, ‘Quelques aspects de l’entrée de Louis XIV et de Marie-Thérèse à Paris, le 26 août 1660’, dans Les Entrées: gloire et déclin d’un ceremonial; actes du colloque tenu au château de Pau les 10 et 11 mai 1996, éd, par Christian Desplat et Paul Mironneau, Société Henri IV (Biarritz: J&D, 1997), pp. 207–22 Vaillancourt, Daniel, et Marie-France Wagner, ‘Avant-propos’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 379–81 Vanuxem, Jacques, ‘Les Entrées royales sous Louis XIII et Louis XIV’, Médecine de France, 101 (1959), 17–32 Wagner, Marie-France, ‘De la ville de province en paroles et en musique à la ville silencieuse ou la disparition de l’entrée royale sous Louis XIII’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 457–75 —— , ‘Le Spectacle de l’ordre exemplaire ou la cérémonie de l’entrée dans la ville’, dans Les Arts du spectacle dans la ville (1404–1721), éd. par Marie-France Wagner et Claire Le Brun-Gouanvic (Paris: Champion, 2001), pp. 113–35

Entries and Festivals in Late Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth‑Century Florence as Precedents for Court and Theatre in England (1600–20) J. R. Mulryne

T

his essay aims to make a modest contribution to a topic that has already received a good deal of attention from scholars better equipped than I to do it justice: namely, the existence of links between ducal entries and festivals of the Medici courts in late Renaissance Florence and cultural events and interests associated with the court of Prince Henry Stuart in England. The first part of the essay traces the Medici-Stuart links. I then go on to suggest how one aspect of that shared culture prints through, as I take it, into one of the notable tragedies of the great period of English theatre, Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women. Everyone knows about the diffusion of Florentine, and other, festival culture through the medium of books and engravings. Fewer perhaps have studied the associated cultural diplomacy that could lead, to take a single and rather striking example, to the Florentines (and the people of Milan, Genoa, and Lucca) providing elaborate triumphal arches for the entry of Archduke Ernst into Antwerp in 1594, not merely for their own apparent glorification, but in homage to another country and another culture. Diplomatic gains were clearly anticipated. I’ll be discussing here the reverse side of the familiar process of selfinterested cultural diffusion, that is to say the mimicry and partial adoption of the festival culture of a foreign state — the Grand Duchy of Tuscany — as a way of enhancing the prestige of the state doing the adopting, in this instance the culturally less advanced state of England. I’ll then suggest how a powerful

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critique of one perceived aspect of the adopted culture finds expression in a quite different though not unrelated form of theatre. * * * In early or mid-1608 fourteen-year-old Henry, the precocious son and heir of King James  VI of Scotland and  I of England, commissioned his friend John Harington to travel to Florence to observe there, and report back on, the festivals then in preparation for the entry into the city of the Archduchess Maria Magdalena, bride of Cosimo de’ Medici, son of Ferdinando, the reigning Grand Duke. Henry’s fledgling court was beginning to grow its feathers and the Prince or his advisers must have thought it opportune and appropriate to impose on Harington (who was fifteen or sixteen at the time) the relatively extended and arduous journey entailed. Perhaps some premonition of his own early death just four years later hastened Henry’s interest in these geographically distant but, it must have seemed, politically and culturally relevant festival events. We have the testimony of the Tuscan Resident in London, Ottaviano Lotti, writing to the Grand Duke’s secretary (3 August 1608), to confirm that Harington was indeed despatched, and the same source tells us (1 January 1609) that in due course Henry received letters from Harington describing ‘the marvels of these fêtes’. Unfortunately, Harington’s relatione puntualissima (very prompt despatch) describing the Maria-Cosimo events seems not to have survived. Sir Roy Strong, who discusses this material in some detail, has located a letter from Harington to Henry, sent from Florence, probably in December 1608, apologizing for his (Harington’s) inability to acquire a copy of a festival book relating to ‘les triomphes au marriage du grand duc de Toscane’ (the festival trionfi at the marriage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany) which had taken place some months earlier and which were, he says, much celebrated.1 Henry must have shown an interest in possessing such a book, and perhaps made its acquisition a specific aim of the visit. Harington is thoroughly dismayed by his failure, darkly suspecting that ‘quelque des Anglois papistes a Florence, ou par despit, ou pour complaire a leurs amis’ (some English papists in Florence out of spite or to please their friends) have done him the injury (ce gravissime tort) of keeping the book from him. Perhaps it was just unobtainable, having proved widely popular, and the adolescent Harington was being unduly paranoid. Attempting to repair the damage he assumes he has suffered in Henry’s esteem, Harington reports some months later 1 

See Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales, p. 138. ‘Maria Magdalena’ is the spelling used in sources in English, including in Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici; Italian sources usually write ‘Maria Maddalena’ or ‘Madalena’.

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(28 May 1609) that he has spent a period of days at Verona, Mantua ‘et les aultres lieus de ceste part de l’Italie’ (and other locations in that part of Italy) and quand ie fu a Verona se fit vne belle bariere par les seigneurs de la ville a laquell estoit assemblé la fleur de la Lombardie. I’ay pris l’hardiesse d’enuoyer leur particuliers harangues et verses a VA, sperant que reussiront mieux que celles què i’envoyé de Florence.2 (when I was in Verona the lords of the city constructed a fine enclosure in which were gathered the flower of Lombardy. I have been so bold as to send Your Highness their speeches and verses, hoping that they will be more acceptable than those I sent from Florence.)

Unfortunately, Harington’s reported text seems not to have come down to us, just like his lost relatione puntualissima. Disappointing as this outcome is, the episode may stand for the preoccupation with things Florentine that characterized Henry’s court in the years leading up to his premature and widely, not to say vastly, lamented death in 1612. Florentine interests influenced, indeed, a good many aspects of Henry’s court, affecting the appointment of senior personnel as well as stimulating initiatives intended to ape Florentine modes. Among leading home-grown but Florence-savvy figures at the court were Sir Thomas Chaloner, Henry’s erstwhile guardian, who had travelled in Italy in the 1580s and was resident in Florence from 1596 to 1598, and Sir Robert Dallington whose Survey of the Great Duke’s State of Tuscany (1596) includes excited descriptions of Medici architecture and possessions — the ‘stately Pallaces’, the incomparable Duomo, San Lorenzo’s ‘very faire and beautifull Librarie’, with ‘three thousand nine hundred bookes very fairely bound in Leather’ — without ever quite losing the habitual disdain of the Englishman abroad for all things foreign.3 An even tighter connection between the English and Florentine courts would have come about if King James, on the rebound from 2 

BL, MS Harley 7007, fol. 221r–v, my transcription; trans. by Robert J. Knecht. 3  He is disparaging, for example, about the poverty of Tuscan country folk and the miserable state of subject cities such as Pisa and Siena. When he goes on to describe Ferdinando’s court he sees its senior members as distinctly inferior in style and bearing to nobles at home. He is hugely impressed by Ferdinando’s wealth but is inclined to think that Italians exaggerate the value of their possessions, since they speak habitually alla larga (with exaggeration). He is entertaining on the eight thousand courtesans he says live and ply their trade in Florence, allowed, he tells us, not merely to service clients in the bordello but permitted to visit them at home — ‘the market’, he comments drily, ‘is somewhat quick’. The courtesans, he says, are taxed and archly contrasts the untaxed illicit sex in England, counting it among his country’s blessings. See Dallington, A Survey of the Great Dukes State of Tuscany, pp. 9, 10, 40, 41, 48, 49.

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failing to secure a Spanish Infanta as Henry’s bride, had succeeded in his serious attempts to entice Caterina, sister of the Florentine Grand Duke Cosimo II, to marry the Prince. James’s efforts came too late, unfortunately, to beat the (literal) deadline of Henry’s demise. An influential voice among Henry’s courtiers when the topic of Florentine culture came up for discussion must have been that of Constantino de’ Servi, described by Strong as ‘a polymath in the tradition of servants of the Medici court’,4 whose appointment to Henry’s inner circle came at the instigation of Cosimo II, the Medici prince, potential brother-in-law of Henry, who succeeded to the Grand Duchy in 1608. De’ Servi’s particular interest, in relation to this essay, stems from his experience in the Florence ruled over by the so-called principe dello studiolo (prince of the private study), the Grand Duke Francesco — a significant figure in the discussion below — as well as from his direct acquaintance with the work of Bernardo Buontalenti, the most gifted of the conceivers and designers of Florentine festival. A highly intriguing exchange, again reported by Strong, between de’ Servi and Cioli, secretary to Grand Duke Cosimo II, includes de’ Servi’s postscript (August 1613): I wish to beg their Most Serene Highnesses [Cosimo and Maria Magdalena] to permit me to have a number of the sketches of the different designs formerly made by Bernardo delle Girandole [Buontalenti], or by others, either for masques, barriers, or intermedii from the time of the Grand Duke [Francesco] up to now […]. It seems to me in any case these things [the designs] are lying idle in the wardrobe and they are not things of great account as they have already been seen and used. And also they will be equally well kept in the Prince’s [that is, Henry’s] wardrobe.5

A plausible fellow, de’ Servi. Later correspondence confirms just such a view of his character. A further request to Cioli for masque designs (c. October 1612) carries this sly addition: Do not tell anyone they are for me, so as to avoid people finding out what I am copying […]. Say instead that His Highness wants to see them in his private room, and tell nothing more.6

But whatever the element of personal opportunism in this — and from de’ Servi’s subsequent career at Henry’s court, and afterwards, it seems likely to have been considerable — the allusion to Florentine festival as precedent for English practice 4 

Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales, p. 89. Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales, p. 92. 6  Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales, p. 95. Both passages trans. by Sir Roy Strong. 5 

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is telling. It seems unlikely, one might add, that de’ Servi’s plea for surreptitious copies of festival designs was granted, judging by the copious original material surviving in Florentine archives and brought to attention by scholars including Blumenthal and Saslow.7 So what, we might ask, did John Harington see on his mission for Prince Henry in 1608, and did the events of that festival have a significant contribution to make to the festival practice of the English court? Fortunately, despite the disappointment of Harington’s lost reports and the absence of the festival book from Henry’s collections (so far as we can tell), the 1608 celebrations have reached us as some of the most fully recorded of all the Medici festivals, ‘the best documented visually’, according to Blumenthal, ‘of any before or after’.8 In these circumstances, it may be useful in charting the London–Florence connection to set down a brief outline of what is known, or, more accurately, what is reported, about the events in question. The architect and designer Giulio Parigi took on for the 1608 occasion the mantle shed by Buontalenti who had died on 6 June 1608, a few months before the festival celebrations were mounted. Parigi took steps to make sure that his work became widely known by being the first to commission etchings of his designs. His widespread influence can be traced ‘line for line’, according to Blumenthal,9 in the stage designs of Inigo Jones in England (though admittedly most clearly, as John Orrell and John Peacock have separately shown, in his masques of the 1630s),10 as well as in designs created for other European court theatres — wider influence, in fact, than that enjoyed by his master Buontalenti. Matthias Greuter’s remarkable etching of Maria Magdalena’s entry into Florence, interpreting Giovanni Bardi’s entry programme, while it cannot be said to include all of the fifteen thousand infantrymen and hundreds of equestrian followers we are told were present, does show an astonishing number of participants, on foot and mounted, converging insistently (eventually) on the Pitti Palace — just as the procession for Christine of Lorraine twenty years earlier (1589) was conducted by a similar route to the then seat of authority, the Palazzo Vecchio.11 7 

See, for example, Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, esp. pp. 1–25, and Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589, esp. ‘Catalogue’, pp. 189–262. 8  Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, p. 31. 9  Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, p. 31 n. 3. 10  See Orrell, The Theatres of Inigo Jones and John Webb; Orrell, The Human Stage; and Peacock, The Stage Designs of Inigo Jones. 11  Greuter’s etching is reproduced in Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, p. 32. Another

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Maria Magdalena appears, as was conventional, in the midst of the procession, sheltered under a baldacchino (canopy) carried by a number of Giovanni nobili fiorentini (noble Florentine youths). The triumphal arches along the processional route, represented in Greuter’s etching in as much detail as was feasible, serve the purpose of translating the city into a political statement, being intended by Grand Duke Ferdinando, that political fox, to bring reassurance to the Spanish Habsburgs, in particular the Austrian branch, Maria Magdalena’s people, in order to reconcile them to two previous Medici marriages to noble French partners, their national rivals. The route and the etching, it is worth noticing, express equal deference to religion, with the Duomo accorded a pivotal position at the centre of the composition. The accompanying texts make clear that this is a marriage that underwrites both religion and politics. Watching the entrata for Maria Magdalena must have been a memorable experience for Harington, but he may have been even more struck by the naumachia or naval battle staged on the river Arno on 3 November — possibly observing this event from the stands erected for the Grand Duke and Duchess, accompanied by Prince Cosimo’s bride. The publicists certainly thought the festival celebrations significant, distributing across Europe the twenty or so separate etchings that depict them. Once again, Mathias Greuter produced a conspectus panorama which in its detail serves almost to take the place of a printed descrizione.12 The theme is the myth of the Argonautica, or voyage of Jason and his Argonauts, with Florentines as the new Greeks and the bridegroom, Prince Cosimo, taking the role of Jason — a theme that, as indicated below, came to carry particular significance for the English court. The barge of Jason was followed and surrounded by an armada of sixteen ships, some in very fancy shapes, but all of them practical, and presumably the work of local shipwrights in the preceding weeks and months. They are opposed by the fleet of Colchis, guardians of the Golden Fleece, in fiction formidable opponents, even if in the etching their mythological beasts, fierce by report, squat amiably enough on the ‘Isola di Colco’. The Colchians eventually surrendered, according to the etching, after a tough struggle on water and on land, and their fort was torched. These were the events Harington must have witnessed, and which he reported in writing, we are told, as well as no doubt verbally on his return. version by Giovanni Maggi with equally numerous participants is accessible on the British Museum website under Registration Number 1856,0815.95 [accessed 3 July 2012]. 12  Greuter’s etching is reproduced in Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, p. 32.

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This naumachia, a spectacle deriving ultimately from Roman origins, was not the first time the Florentine Medici had experimented with a naval battle in honour of a marriage. Among the extravaganzas associated with the entry of Christine of Lorraine for her marriage with the Grand Duke Ferdinando in 1589 was an even more ambitious device, involving the flooding of the cortile of the Palazzo Pitti to a depth of five feet, with as many as nineteen small but practical boats floating within the cortile’s confined space.13 The theme on this occasion was a sea battle between Christians and Turks, with the Christian forces predictably winning — a sea battle that seems to have been fully played out in the Pitti courtyard, despite what looks on the engraving like a maritime traffic jam reminiscent of Piccadilly Circus at rush hour. The theme echoes the iconic battle of Lepanto and the spatial overcrowding may not itself be too far from reality, if contemporary depictions of Lepanto (1571) are to be believed. This was long before Harington’s visit, but the spectacle may well have lingered in the memory of Florentines and appears, it is suggested below, to have supplied material (no doubt by way of published sources) for an emergent English court mythography. * * * When it came to devising celebrations for the wedding of Prince Henry’s sister Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine Frederick V in February 1613, the English court, it becomes apparent, responded to these Florentine promptings, mounting as part of its wedding festivities its own river pageant on the Thames. The location of the English pageant mirrored the naumachia on the Arno, while the narrative, a Christian–Turkish encounter, reflected the 1589 events in the cortile of the Pitti Palace. Prince Henry had died, suddenly, the previous November, but there is good evidence that he played a leading part in conceiving the celebrations for his sister’s wedding. It is no surprise, therefore, that, given Henry’s interests, Florence provided a number of templates for the wedding celebrations, including the naval battle. The co-option by allusion of cultured Florentine practice in the events on the Thames was evidently felt to compensate for a certain historical incongruity in this naval mimicry: while England was a great and vigorously active naval power, Florence was at best an aspiring one. The stereotype of the English ‘sea dog’, an obligatory element of the story on the Thames, perhaps 13 

An etching by Orazio Scarabelli intended to depict the occasion is reproduced in Blumen­ thal, Theater Art of the Medici, p. 26 and Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589, p. 260. The image is also accessible on the British Museum website under Registration Number 1897,0113.44 [accessed 3 July 2012].

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explains the transformation of the events from a predominantly processional and, so far as one can tell, a largely decorous, if spectacular, occasion in Florence to something altogether noisier and more physical on the Thames, and one that was, according to the written account, considerably too hazardous by today’s standards to satisfy any self-respecting health and safety professional. In the absence of illustration, we have to rely on the words of John Taylor, the so-called Water Poet, who brings the events to life with a kind of demotic eloquence, not to say relish. There is space to offer here no more than a glimpse of Taylor’s description of the battle’s end: At last the [Turkish] gallies, being overcharged with long and forward encounters of the English Navie, for refuge and shelter made now into the Castle, which began likewise to play bravely upon the English, and their thundering ordinance made as it were the ground to shake. The King’s Navie to answere them were not backward in performance, but made the ayre Gloomie with fire and smoke roreing from their loude-mouthed cannons […] at last the gallies, being sore bruised and beaten, began to yield.14

The event, whatever its cultural and dynastic significance, can also be understood as a thoroughly robust day out for the general public. Yet the occasion did serve royal and political ends, as will be explained. The second Florentine prompt which evoked a response from the English court, or rather from the remnants of Henry’s court (still, so soon after his death, under the influence of his ideas) relates to the myth of Jason, theme of the Florentine naumachia of 1608. For the Princess Elizabeth, now by marriage the Electress Palatine, the road to Heidelberg on her wedding journey was paved with urban entries at towns such as Oppenheim and Franckenthal, with each town featuring triumphal arches. Many of these carried dynastic, Protestant-sectarian, and moral messages, such as those on the arch erected in the Kramergasse at Oppenheim. Again, a brief reference is all we have space for — I have tried to interpret the figures and inscriptions on this arch in more detail elsewhere.15 The two figures at the base, Fortitudo and Spes, relate to the quest motif which binds together the 14 

Nichols, The Progresses, Processions and Magnificent Festivities, ii, 540. A more detailed account may be found in Beschreibung der Reiss, chap. 8, pp. 40–44. The relevant excerpts are transcribed and translated in Europa Triumphans, ed. by Mulryne, Watanabe-O’Kelly, and Shewring, ii (2004), pp. 80–91. 15  See Mulryne, ‘Marriage Entertainments in the Palatinate’, esp. pp. 178–85. An engraving of the arch at Oppenheim is reproduced, with other arches from Princess Elizabeth’s journey, on the pages following page 147 in Italian Renaissance Festivals, ed. by Mulryne and Shewring.

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symbolism of the whole journey, transforming Frederick’s fairly ordinary trip into an epic adventure dedicated to securing and bringing home the royal bride. It’s a symbolism that culminates in the tournament that greeted Elizabeth on arrival in Heidelberg. The entire pageantry of that occasion centred on the myth of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece, harking back to the Florentine festivities of 1608, with the quest and its successful conclusion taking place under the tutelage of the goddess Athena. The Elector Frederick played Jason, as Prince Cosimo had played the role in 1608. If there were any doubt about the indebtedness of the occasion to Florentine precedent it would be dispelled by the appearance of Jason’s Heidelberg ship, which though it has migrated to dry land nevertheless bears a thoroughly evident visual relationship to Parigi’s Florentine design. Much could be made of the modifications the ship’s appearance has undergone, the most obvious being the flag under which she sails, with, at Heidelberg, its garterencircled Palatine arms. The main impression, however, is similarity rather than difference. The transformation of a mighty Florentine Athena at the ship’s helm, fit symbol for a culturally-advanced and self-confident city, into, at Heidelberg, a somewhat ordinary Jason and his companion Thelamon, is both visually apparent and arguably defensible — though the German city was, and is, far from lacking its own claims to learning, especially in relation to its university and (at that date) its magnificent library. The ultimate ancestor, it seems probable, of both the Florentine and Heidelberg ships is the well-known and widely-illustrated funeral barge of Charles V, itself alluding to the ship of Jason, though many of its specific references are more evidently moral-allegorical than those incorporated in either of the later ships. Space however forbids a discussion. The main point has I hope been made, that in the matter of royal entries the Stuart court in London, and more particularly Prince Henry’s court and its elite membership, together with the courts’ cultural offshoot in Heidelberg, found inspiration and sources in Florence, going to quite considerable lengths to make the relationship mythologically apt, and, to connoisseurs at least, apparent.

Private Space and Elite Power Notoriously, civic and royal entries are occasions for ostentation and display, offering the cosmetically-enhanced public face of a ruling elite. But there’s a paradox here. For all their apparent inclusiveness — in an ideal sense the whole community is engaged as participants or spectators — ‘You would have thought the very houses spake’ to adopt Shakespeare’s words in Richard II — these events are fundamentally exclusive. Not only is the strictest hierarchy observed in

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outdoor processions, but many associated events, including plays and banquets, are normally staged in tightly controlled circumstances, even if on occasion they get out of hand. Civic entries, frequently engaging large numbers of townspeople, characteristically culminate in a privileged space within a royal or ducal palace. The disposition of street furniture for Christine of Lorraine’s entry into Florence in 1589, for example, makes the point vividly, virtually sucking the royal bride from public gaze into the reserved grand-ducal space of the Palazzo Vecchio. The management of the streetscape at Via dei Bischeri (Via Proconsolo) is typical, with the existing houses merged by means of artificial structures into a prepared tunnel-like processional route.16 The inevitable culmination of princely magnificence is, practically and culturally, one could say, the private apartment where entry is barred except to a highly privileged few. The almost obsessive sequence of gradually converging rooms at Versailles (to take a considerably later example) might be thought of as the ultimate statement of this principle, with opulence directed outwards, but with space increasingly reserved to ever more restricted access. The epitome of such an architectural arrangement, it could be argued, is the princely studiolo — a ducal or royal arrangement by no means confined to Florence or even Italy — where the ruling figure sits within his (rarely her) private space, surrounded by the artistic and intellectual treasures that serve as icons certifying his (or her) learning, authority and power — and in some cases sexual power. One of the best-known surviving examples is the studiolo of Francesco de’ Medici in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio, still unchanged, at least in broad conception if not in detail, since the 1570s. Similar private spaces were created in the Uffizi palace and the Palazzo Pitti for subsequent Medici grand dukes. Francesco, in fact, became so closely identified in the common mind with his private, privileged space that, as mentioned above, his identifying soubriquet became il principe dello studiolo. Contemporary observers were well aware of the implicit personal and political meanings attaching to privileged space. To take a pertinent and in this case published example, an anonymous descrizione of the entry of Christine of Lorraine to Florence (1589) begins with conventional praise of the grandi & infiniti (great and unlimited) preparations for the entry, but goes on at once, to the surprise perhaps of readers accustomed to such narratives, to note the opulent contents of the Duke’s private apartment, and the significances attaching to admission to it (the text translated here is considerably abbreviated): 16 

Orazio Scarabelli’s engraving is reproduced in Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589, p.  194 and is accessible on the website of the British Museum under Registration Number 1897,0113.42 [accessed 3 July 2012].

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I can tell you that […] last Saturday the Grand Duke [Ferdinando, Francesco’s successor] opened his apartment [Galleria] which Signore Don Cesare entered with his gentlemen and all his Court, to observe those art works [fatture] and statues made by the most highly-skilled artificers in the world […]. This sight was a particular favour on the part of the Grand Duke, because this gallery is not open for viewing except occasionally at the behest of his Highness, who restricts the sight to Princes and such important persons.17

‘Signore Don Cesare’ is Cesare d’Este, the Grand Duke Ferdinando’s brotherin-law, married to his half-sister Virginia de’ Medici. The descrizione, published in Florence and Ferrara, Cesare’s home town, frequently gives pride of place to Ferrarese participants in Christine’s entry and the associated festival events. As an account of a festival occasion, it certainly does not neglect, in this respect as well as others, the festival book’s habitual consciousness of rank and power. Rather it stands for, and eloquently spells out, by implication as well as statement, an awareness of domestic and urban space that attributes social meanings to private surroundings — in this case the restricted environs of the galleria or studiolo.

Access and Women Beware Women This Florentine emphasis on art and privileged access anticipates a strand that is echoed in court circles in England in the immediately following period — and finds expression, if indirectly, in one of the best plays of the time, Thomas Middleton’s celebrated tragedy Women Beware Women. Middleton was a noted observer of contemporary manners, and the social preferences he identifies in his play can be seen as representative of a trend in elite life-style in Jacobean England, one that draws its inspiration from Italian, especially Florentine, models. It may be helpful to summarize in brief the play and its sources before commenting on the social and cultural implications of Middleton’s treatment. Women Beware Women bases its narrative on the life and death of Bianca Capello, a Venetian noblewoman who, after a socially inferior, runaway, marriage to a Florentine trader, ascended the social scale to become the second wife of Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici. Her relationship and marriage with Francesco became a subject of gossip and acute disapproval in contemporary Florence, and her death and that of Francesco were — and remain — topics of rumour and speculation. The couple’s almost simultaneous deaths entered not only sixteenthcentury gossip but also the purlieus of modern science, via articles in the British 17 

Li sontvosissimi apparecchi, trionfi, e feste. My translation, with omissions.

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Medical Journal, The Guardian, and elsewhere (December 2006), as forensic pathologists and less qualified people debated (again) whether the couple’s deaths were the result of arsenic poisoning administered by Francesco’s brother and successor, the Cardinal Ferdinando, or were, as had come to be accepted by more timid historians, due to the effects of malaria.18 A lively controversy broke out between the scientific director of the respected Medici project, Professor Gino Fornaciari, and the intrepid Professor Donatella Lippi, who scrambled through debris beneath a disused church to locate (as she believes) the mummified viscera of the Grand Duke and his wife. Alas, the dispute has not reached an agreed resolution, so we remain as ignorant of the true facts as were Bianca’s contemporaries. In Middleton’s play, however, Bianca is responsible, unequivocally, for the Duke’s death and her own. When her attempt to poison the Cardinal goes awry, her disastrously misconceived actions bear an ironic relationship to the theme of privilege, power, and concealment which I’ll pursue briefly below. It is not difficult to show that when writing his play Middleton must have been aware, so far as we know at second hand, of the Florentine entries and entertainments staged for and by Francesco and his predecessor and successor grand dukes. Recently, Margaret Shewring and I have contributed an article to the Winter 2007 issue of Dance Research, under the somewhat lugubrious title, ‘Dancing towards Death: Masques and Entertainments in London and Florence as Precedents for Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women’.19 The article points to parallels between The Masque of Juno, the catastrophic masque of Middleton’s fifth act, and themes and incidents in Florentine shows. It also touches on the societal implications of the most celebrated scene in Middleton’s play, the famous chess-game, where Bianca’s widowed mother-in-law plays chess with the manipulative noblewoman Livia, while Bianca is lured away to meet and be seduced by the Duke. Each move in both games (chess and sex) is managed in strict counterpoint. The outcome is to trivialize rape, or so it superficially seems, while laying emphasis on the almost mesmeric effect of ducal power as it confronts and subdues innocence and inexperience. Middleton is quite specific about the rape’s setting. Guardiano, Livia’s partner, proposes an innocent-seeming diversion for the girl: 18  See Mari and others, ‘The Mysterious Death’; Fornaciari, ‘The Mystery of Beard Hairs’; Hooper, ‘Tuscan Church Reveals Answer to Mystery’. See also: Anonymous, ‘Misteri nelle tombe dei Medici “Ritrovata” Bianca Cappello’, and Hooper, ‘Mystery Bodies Brought to Light’. 19  Shewring and Mulryne, ‘Dancing towards Death’.

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Guardiano (To Livia) The gentlewoman [Bianca], Being a stranger, would take more delight To see your rooms and pictures. [ii. 2. 271–73]20

Livia’s reply stresses the privileged — aristocratic — secrecy of the location: Here, take these keys; Show her the Monument too — and that’s a thing Everyone sees not. [ii. 2. 276–78]

The statue (‘monument’) is of course personated by the Duke. When the deed is done, Guardiano reports on his tactics: […] to prepare her stomach by degrees To Cupid’s feast, because I saw ’twas queasy, I showed her naked pictures by the way — A bit to stay [strengthen] the appetite. [ii. 2. 401–04]

On her return to the assembled company, Bianca acknowledges the sexual stimulus of these art works, with embarrassment, though also with incipient defiance, perhaps inflected by irony: Bianca Trust me, sir, Mine eye ne’er met with fairer ornaments. Guardiano Nay, livelier, I’m persuaded, neither Florence Nor Venice can produce. [ii. 2. 210–13]

The core of the scene, too long to quote in full, offers on the Duke’s part a dizzying mix of allure, overbearing power, and moments of sexual tenderness, complemented on Bianca’s part by fear, reluctant attraction, and eventual compliance: Duke Prithee tremble not, I feel thy breast shake like a turtle panting Under a loving hand that makes much on’t. Why art so fearful? As I’m friend to brightness, There’s nothing but respect and honour near thee. You know me, you have seen me; here’s a heart Can witness I have seen thee.

20 

All quotations from Women Beware Women are taken from Middleton, Women Beware Women, ed. by Mulryne.

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Bianca The more’s my danger. Duke The more’s thy happiness. Pish, strive not, sweet; This strength were excellent employed in love now, But here ’tis spent amiss. [ii. 2. 320–29]

The Duke’s tone becomes more aggressive as she resists: I am not here in vain; have but the leisure To think on that […] Thou seemst to me A creature so composed of gentleness And delicate meekness — such as bless the faces Of figures that are drawn for goddesses And makes art proud to look upon her work – I should be sorry the least force should lay An unkind touch upon thee […] [ii. 2. 334–45] Duke Come, Bianca, Of purpose sent into the world to show Perfection once in woman! […] Glory of Florence, light into mine arms! [iii. 3. 22–28]

By kissing her before his court he demonstrates how completely he possesses her — one of the play’s acid rebukes to the consumerist society it lays bare. This Florentine court’s mix, as Middleton portrays it, of sexual debauchery with official rank and prestige finds its echo, it could be argued, in elite life in contemporary England, a feature of the Jacobean social scene brilliantly evoked by essays in Linda Levy Peck’s collection, The Mental World of the Jacobean Court, in her own Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England and by Jerry Brotton in his recent and invaluable The Sale of the Late King’s Goods.21 Brotton tells us that, in the wake of the Earl of Arundel’s and Inigo Jones’s travels to Italy and the Low Countries (1613–14), England was exposed to a new style of art, ‘an exuberant, erotic […] artistic style from which England had been sheltered for decades’.22 Possession of art works, including works of this new kind, became in the hands of elite collectors an indispensable index of social standing. To take one prominent example, Robert Carr (earl of Somerset, favourite of James I), ‘one of the most powerful men in England’, as Brotton writes, ‘became acutely aware 21  The Mental World of the Jacobean Court, ed. by Peck; Peck, Court Patronage and Corruption; Brotton, The Sale of the Late King’s Goods; Howarth, Lord Arundel and his Circle; Howarth, Images of Rule. 22  Brotton, The Sale of the Late King’s Goods, p. 56.

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of the need for an art collection appropriate to his status’ since ‘he had watched both Prince Henry and Northampton use their art collections as a way of drawing attention to their social status and political attitudes’.23 These leading figures were not alone. Other prominent collectors included Arundel and the notorious royal favourite Buckingham. Somerset’s acquisitions, as A. R. Braunmuller has shown, included such invitingly erotic subjects as Venus and Cupid, Venus and Adonis, Susanna and the Elders (possibly Tintoretto’s Susanna Bathing), Bacchus, and Ceres and Venus, several of them thoroughly qualified to serve as models for Guardiano’s ‘naked pictures by the way’.24 ‘Masques and art collections’, Brotton observes ‘[were] accessible only to those who gained admission to the king’s palaces’, an exclusiveness these collections shared with the studioli of late Renaissance Italy. The reminiscences of incidents such as Cesare d’Este’s tour of an elite studiolo as the guest of Grand Duke Ferdinando (the play’s Cardinal) are inviting and perhaps unmistakeable. Women Beware Women, it can readily be shown, evokes late sixteenth-century Florence as a stand-in for seventeenth-century London. The play unsparingly analyses the society it depicts, portraying it as compromised throughout by privilege, power, and casual eroticism. A thorough commentary would bring out how these impulses permeate every level of the play’s social order, curbed only among the bourgeoisie by lack of financial means and social influence. Such a commentary would be inappropriate here. It may be sufficient, as this essay has tried to do, to suggest that through his acquaintance with the Medici festivals, however he gained it, and his understanding of the implications these festivals embody of exclusiveness and the exercise of unfettered authority, Middleton had found not only a model of his play’s concluding masque but a convincing template for the corruption and the oppressive social inequalities he observed among the elite of his own society. [University of Warwick]

23  24 

Brotton, The Sale of the Late King’s Goods, p. 58. Braunmuller, ‘Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset’, p. 231.

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Works Cited Manuscripts, Archival Documents, and Rare Books London, British Library, MS Harley 7007

Primary Sources Beschreibung der Reiss: Vollbringung des Heyraths […] des […] Herrn Friederichen dess Fünf­ten […] und Königlichen Princessin Elisabethen […] Anno 1613 (Heidelberg: Vögelin, 1613) Dallington, Robert, A Survey of the Great Dukes State of Tuscany in the Yeare of our Lord 1596 (London: Eld, 1605) Middleton, Thomas, Women Beware Women, ed. by J.  R. Mulryne (Manchester: Man­ chester University Press, 2007) Li sontvosissimi apparecchi, trionfi, e feste, fatti nelle Nozze della Gran Dvchessa di Fiorenza (Florence: Baldini, 1589)

Secondary Studies Anonymous, ‘Misteri nelle tombe dei Medici “Ritrovata” Bianca Cappello’, La Nazione, 17 March 2005 Blumenthal, Arthur R., Theater Art of the Medici (London: Dartmouth College Museum, 1980) Braunmuller, A. R., ‘Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, as Collector and Patron’, in The Men­ tal World of the Jacobean Court (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 230–50 Brotton, Jerry, The Sale of the Late King’s Goods: Charles I and his Art Collection (London: Macmillan, 2006) Fornaciari, Gino, ‘The Mystery of Beard Hairs: Rapid Response’, The British Medical Journal, 29 December 2006 [accessed 15 May 2012] Hooper, John, ‘Mystery Bodies Brought to Light as Crypt of the Medicis Gives up its Secrets’, The Guardian, 21 March 2005, p. 13 —— , ‘Tuscan Church Reveals Answer to Mystery of Medici Deaths’, The Guardian, 27 December 2006, p. 21 Howarth, David, Images of Rule: Art and Politics in the English Renaissance, 1485–1649 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997) —— , Lord Arundel and his Circle (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985) Mari, Francesco, and others, ‘The Mysterious Death of Francesco I de’ Medici and Bianca Cappello: An Arsenic Murder?’, British Medical Journal, 333 (2006), 1299–1301 Mulryne, J. R., ‘Marriage Entertainments in the Palatinate for Princess Elizabeth Stuart and the Elector Palatine’, in Italian Renaissance Festivals and their European Influence, ed. by J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring (Lewiston: Mellen, 1992), pp. 173–95

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—— , Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, and Margaret Shewring, eds, Europa Triumphans: Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 15, 2 vols (London: Ashgate, 2004) Nichols, John, The Progresses, Processions and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First, His Royal Consort, Family and Court, Burtchaell, 118, 4 vols (London: Nichols, 1828; facsimile repr. New York: Franklin, 1967) Orrell, John, The Human Stage: English Theatre Design, 1567–1640 (Cambridge: Cam­ bridge University Press, 1988) —— , The Theatres of Inigo Jones and John Webb (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) Peacock, John, The Stage Designs of Inigo Jones: The European Context (Cambridge: Cam­ bridge University Press, 1995) Peck, Linda Levy, Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990) —— , ed., The Mental World of the Jacobean Court (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) Saslow, James M., The Medici Wedding of 1589: Florentine Festival as Theatrum Mundi (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996) Shewring, Margaret, and J.  R. Mulryne, ‘Dancing towards Death: Masques and Enter­ tainments in London and Florence as Precedents for Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women’, Dance Research, 25 (2007), 134–43 Strong, Roy, Henry, Prince of Wales and England’s Lost Renaissance (London: Thames and Hudson, 1986)

Le Motif de l’entrée solennelle dans l’œuvre d’Agrippa d’Aubigné Louise Frappier

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priori, le lecteur ne s’attend guère à retrouver dans l’œuvre d’Agrippa d’Aubigné l’évocation ou la description des entrées solennelles dont il fut pourtant fréquemment le témoin au cours de sa vie. Le caractère encomiastique de la cérémonie d’entrée s’accommode mal, en effet, du dessein militant de ses deux œuvres maîtresses, l’Histoire universelle et Les Tragiques, publiées toutes deux en 1616. Bien que la forme choisie pour ces deux œuvres diffère, le projet demeure toutefois le même : il s’agit de servir la cause protestante. L’Histoire universelle vise le narré complet et fidèle des événements ayant marqué la seconde moitié du xvie siècle par la saisie dans sa totalité d’un ‘passé récent devenu histoire’,1 alors que Les Tragiques sont ‘conçus à la fois comme une arme contre les rois persécuteurs et leurs affidés et comme une parole d’espérance adressée au peuple réformé par un poète-prophète qui se sentait choisi par Dieu pour interpréter le présent à la lumière de la Bible’.2 Narration fidèle d’événements militaires d’une part, plaidoyer judiciaire en faveur des victimes de l’Histoire d’autre part, les deux textes visent à brosser le portrait partisan d’un conflit opposant les Réformés et les troupes du roi. Peu de place, donc, dans cette œuvre historique et poétique, pour la relation minutieuse de cérémonies visant à rendre hommage au roi régnant. La lecture attentive de ces deux textes de d’Aubigné permet pourtant de dévoiler, d’une part, dans l’Histoire universelle, la présence discrète mais signifiante de cet événement public en tant que révélateur d’autres événements, lourds de signification 1  2 

D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, i (1981), p. x (Introduction). D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, i, p. viii (Introduction).

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politique et, d’autre part, de mettre à jour, dans Les Tragiques, l’utilisation du motif de l’entrée comme allégorie des rapports qu’entretient le roi avec ses sujets. Il s’agira donc, dans cet article, d’examiner le statut et la fonction de l’entrée solennelle dans l’économie de l’œuvre historique et du poème épique, tout en posant la question de l’inscription de l’entrée dans les genres narratifs de l’histoire et de l’épopée.

De la dignité du métier d’historien Quels rapports l’entrée solennelle entretient-elle avec l’écriture de l’histoire ? Si l’histoire s’attache à nommer et à relater ce qui, dans la profusion des actions posées, fait événement, quelle place occupe alors l’évocation ou la relation de l’entrée dans l’économie du récit historique ? Certains historiens de l’époque, tels La Popelinière, Matthieu ou L’Estoile, n’ont pas hésité à étoffer leur récit de la description, parfois copieuse, des cérémonies d’entrée ayant marqué la période racontée. Chez d’Aubigné, toutefois, l’entrée n’est pas l’objet d’une description, bien que la période historique couverte (la seconde moitié du xvie siècle et les premières décennies du xviie) ait comporté de nombreuses cérémonies d’entrée. L’auteur se contente, la plupart du temps, d’évoquer la tenue de l’événement. Du tour de France de Charles IX, d’Aubigné énumère les villes où le roi fit son entrée, sans rien dire ou presque des festivités organisées pour l’occasion. De l’entrée à Bordeaux en 1565, où, précise-t-il, ‘la despense et les inventions surmonterent toutes les autres’, il mentionne cependant quelques détails : ‘Là trois cens chevaux se presenterent au Roi, douze bandes de Grecs, Turcs, Arabes, Egyptiens, Canariens, Mores, Ethiopiens, Indiens, Taprobaniens [habitants de Ceylan], Cannibales, Margajats et Thaupinambous [peuplades du Brésil] ; desquels les chefs firent une harangue au Roi en leur gergon, ayant chacun leur interprete’ et il conclut ensuite par cette phrase : ‘Il y eut d’autres magnificences moins dignes du mestier de l’historien’.3 Lorsqu’il évoque l’entrée de Marie de Médicis à Marseille, en 1600, l’auteur est un peu plus explicite qu’ailleurs dans son œuvre : Là elle fut receuë magnifiquement par les Ducs de Guise, de Nemours et de Ventadour, quatre Cardinaux, plusieurs Duchesses et Dames et enfin par le Connestable et le Chancelier. Quelques jours passerent en pompes et festins jusques à l’embarquement des Duchesses pour retourner à Florence. Encor que le loisir d’affaires plus difficiles me rend un peu plus exprès que de coustume, si ne saurois-je specifier

3 

D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, ii (1982), p. 227.

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les couleurs des carrosses et des vestemens ni le poil des chevaux, comme d’autres ont fait  : vous vous contenterez de savoir que les entrees d’Avignon et de Lyon n’espargnerent ni soin ni despense pour la recevoir magnifiquement.4

Le détail de la magnificence des cérémonies n’est donc pas l’objet de son récit. À d’autres la tâche d’en décrire le luxe ostentatoire. L’historien n’évoque la cérémonie que pour autant qu’elle est associée à un événement significatif par rapport au but avoué de l’œuvre : raconter les guerres pour illustrer le bon droit de la cause réformée. Il s’agit ainsi de ‘proscrire l’anecdotique pour établir une hiérarchie des faits’, ‘de sacrifier le pittoresque et l’éloquence à l’expression simple, voire austère de la vérité’.5 C’est ainsi qu’à propos de l’accueil fait à la reine Elisabeth dans la ville de Bayonne par Charles IX et Catherine de Médicis en juin 1565, d’Aubigné passe rapidement sur les préparatifs et les caractéristiques de l’entrée, pour davantage attirer l’attention du lecteur sur les implications et les conséquences politiques de l’événement : Tout ce que la France (pleine de bons esprits) pût marier d’inventions à la despense, fut employé à Bayonne : si bien que les plus subtils et deffians ne pouvoyent estimer que les Grands eussent lors autre intention qu’à telles voluptez. On n’avoit oublié Ronsard pour faire les vers qui furent prononcez en diverses entreprises. Presque tous les historiens […] ont voulu, comme d’un consentement, que là ayent esté projettees les guerres des Pays-Bas, et les massacres qui ont depuis ensuivi : que là se soit establie une correspondance spirituelle entre les Royaumes, et la leçon d’un chacun prise sur les accidens.6

C’est également par souci de dévoiler la vérité politique de l’époque dont il se fait l’historien que d’Aubigné ne mentionne l’entrée d’Henri II à Paris en 1549, bien que majestueuse, que par le sort fait aux martyrs de la cause à l’occasion de l’événement : Les magnificences de son entrée furent parees de la mort de Leonard Galimard et de Florent Venot, lequel fut six sepmaines prisonnier dans un engin de bois pointu par le bas, que les questionnaires appellent Chausse d’hypocras : On pensoit qu’il ne pourroit vivre en ceste posture : Il servit de spectacle comme les autres à l’entrée du Roi.7 4 

D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, ix (1995), pp. 295–96. D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, i, p. xvii (Introduction). 6  D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, ii, 229–30. 7  D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, i, 221–22. 5 

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Le supplice atroce du huguenot exposé au regard du roi comme sur un théâtre éclipse ainsi tout l’apparat somptueux et les monuments magnifiques créés pour l’occasion. En aiguillant l’attention du lecteur sur la souffrance des martyrs, l’auteur révèle l’envers du décor fastueux élevé en hommage à la gloire du roi, l’arrière-scène cruelle devant laquelle se déploie le spectacle futile de l’entrée royale. La mort offerte en spectacle caractérise également la courte relation de l’entrée d’Henri de Navarre à Périgueux en juillet 1576, ville prise par le réformé Langoiran l’année précédente. D’Aubigné rapporte que les habitants de la ville, pillée par les protestants, ont disposé pour toute entrée un écriteau portant l’inscription Urbis deforme cadaver. Pour ne pas traduire la phrase à son maître Henri de Navarre, qu’il accompagne lors de cette entrée dans la ville conquise, d’Aubigné allègue une obscurité de sens, tout en affirmant que ‘c’estoit la plus belle entree où il l’eust jamais accompagné’.8 Du point de vue du conquérant, la plus belle entrée dans une ville, est donc, paradoxalement, une entrée pervertie, car elle exprime l’aveu de la défaite et la capitulation de l’ennemi : conquérir une ville consiste à fouler aux pieds le corps impuissant de la cité. Ce qui, dans l’entrée solennelle, fait l’objet d’un don dans un rapport d’échange avec le pouvoir, est ici arraché avec violence sans réciprocité possible. Dans l’Histoire universelle, l’entrée royale ne fait événement, et n’est donc, par conséquent, digne de mention, que lorsqu’elle est révélatrice d’un sous-texte politique que l’historien se charge de souligner, comme dans l’entrée à Bayonne, dans laquelle d’Aubigné, à l’instar d’autres historiens, verra l’annonce de la Saint-Barthélemy, ou encore l’exhibition spectaculaire des captifs protestants à Paris, qui révèle avec éclat la rigueur de la répression royale. Fait événement, aussi, ce qui pastiche l’entrée en en empruntant la codification, tout en opérant un détournement comme à Périgueux, tout aussi révélateur des tensions entre les partis impliqués.

De l’usage de l’allégorie dans la poésie épique Les Tragiques s’inscrivent également dans une perspective historienne, bien qu’il s’agisse d’une épopée. Ils composent en effet ‘une épopée des temps modernes’,9 celle du peuple protestant persécuté par les catholiques, l’auteur ‘entendant donner à voir’, comme l’annonce ‘l’Avis aux lecteurs’, ‘les actions, les factions et les choses monstrueuses de ce temps-là […] les rares histoires de notre siècle, 8  9 

D’Aubigné, Histoire universelle, réd. par Thierry, v (1991), p. 85. Mathieu-Castellani, ‘L’Écriture de l’histoire dans Les Tragiques’, p. 91.

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opprimées, éteintes et étouffées par celles des charlatans gagés’.10 Souhaitant donner à son livre ‘la vérité pour entreprise’, d’Aubigné fait de l’entrée solennelle, dans Les Tragiques, le lieu où se joue de manière allégorique l’opposition fondamentale entre la cité idéale, gouvernée selon les lois de l’échange, et l’état de la France contemporaine aux mains de la dynastie valoise, que d’Aubigné qualifie de tyrannique. Dans le premier livre de l’épopée, intitulé ‘Misères’, d’Aubigné brosse le portrait idyllique de temps révolus : Jadis noz rois anciens vrais peres et vrais rois | Nourrissons de la France, en faisant quelquesfois | Le tour de leur païs en diverses contrees, | Faisoient par les citez des superbes entrees  : | Chacun s’esjouissoit, on sçavoit bien pourquoy, | Les enfans de quatre ans crioient vive le roy : | Les villes emploioient mille et mille artifices, | Pour faire comme font les meilleures nourrices, | De qui le sein fecond se prodigue à l’ouvrir, | Veut monstrer qu’il en a pour perdre et pour nourrir : | Il semble que le pis, quant il est esmeu, voie  : | Il se jette en la main dont ces meres de joie | Font rejaillir aux yeux de leurs mignons enfants, | Du laict qui leur regorge : à leurs roys triomphans, | Triomphans par la paix : ces villes nourricieres | Prodiguoient leur substance, et en toutes manieres, | Monstroient au ciel serain leurs thresors enfermez, | Et leur laict, et leur joie à leurs roys bien aymez.11

D’Aubigné fait ainsi référence à un passé mythique où les rapports entre le roi et ses sujets étaient caractérisés par la paix, l’abondance et la joie. L’auteur entrelace les motifs du Roi père de famille, gardien de la paix, et de la Ville nourricière, prodigue de ses trésors, pour illustrer la réciprocité de l’échange entre le monarque et ses sujets. L’abondance des dons de la ville, illustrée par l’image d’un sein fécond regorgeant de lait, rappelle le paradis biblique. À cette cité idéale, qui repose sur l’harmonieuse complémentarité entre le roi et ses sujets, s’oppose le sombre portrait de la France de l’époque : Noz tyrans aujourd’huy entrent d’une autre sorte, | La ville qui les voit a visage de morte : | Quans son prince la foule, il la void de tels yeux | Que Neron voyoit Romm’ en l’esclat de ses feux : | Quand le tyran s’esgaie en la ville qu’il entre, | La ville est un corps mort, il passe sur son ventre, | Et ce n’est plus du laict qu’elle prodigue en l’air, | C’est du sang, pour parler comme peuvent parler | Les corps qu’on trouve morts, portez à la justice, | On les met en la place, affin que ce corps puisse | Rencontrer son meurtrier ; le meurtrier inconnu | Contre qui le corps saigne est coulpable tenu.12 10 

Mathieu-Castellani, ‘L’Écriture de l’histoire dans Les Tragiques’, p. 91. D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre i, ll. 563–80 (p. 292). 12  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre i, ll. 581–92 (pp. 292–93). 11 

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La ville dont l’entrée est forcée par le tyran s’apparente à un cadavre généreux de son sang, elle offre la mort en spectacle à son prince, image déjà rencontrée dans l’Histoire universelle.13 Mais l’auteur charge le tableau d’une portée judiciaire, l’éloquence muette du sang qui s’écoule des plaies des martyrs accuse et dénonce les coupables du carnage. Les modalités de l’échange entre le roi et ses sujets sont donc renversées, et à la joie sadique du tyran qui piétine le cadavre de sa cité lors d’une entrée pervertie, encore ici, ne répond que l’abondance du sang versé auquel il s’abreuve. Le roi perd dès lors toute humanité sous la plume de d’Aubigné, qui recourt au topos traditionnel du loup sanguinaire : Ces tyrans sont des loups, car le loup quand il entre | Dans le parc des brebis ne succe de leur ventre | Que le sang par un trou, et quitte tout le corps, | Laissant bien le troupeau, mais un troupeau de morts : | Noz villes sont charongne, et noz plus cheres vies, | Et le suc, et la force en ont esté ravies : | Les païs ruinez sont membres retranchez | Dont le corps seichera, puis qu’ils sont asseichez.14

Le corps matériel du roi se double d’un corps politique, la France, corps putréfié, corps mourant, corps malade, atteint de furie, dont la tête dévore les membres, car Le roy est chef du peuple, et c’est aussy pourquoy, | La teste est freneticque et pleine de manie, | Qui ne garde son sang pour conserver sa vie, | Et le chef n’est plus chef, quand il prend ses esbats | A coupper de son corps les jambes, et les bras.15

L’impiété du tyran signe la perte de toute la France, à qui le poète lance cette invective : France, puis que tu perds tes membres en la sorte, | Appreste le suaire et te conte pour morte : | Ton poux foible, inegal, le trouble de ton œil, | Ne demande plus rien 13 

Les Tragiques évoquent également le martyre de Venot : ‘Venot quatre ans lié fut enfin six sepmaines | En deux vaisseaux poinctus, continuelles gehennes : | Ses deux pieds contremont avoient ploié leurs os, | En si rude posture il trouva du repos : | On vouloit desrober au public et aux veües | Une si claire mort ; mais Dieu trouva les grües | Et les tesmoings d’Irus, il demandoit à Dieu | Qu’au bout de tant de maux il peust au beau millieu | Des peuples l’annoncer en monstrant ses merveilles | Aux regards aveuglez, et aux sourdes oreilles : | Non que son cœur voguast aux flots de vanité, | Mais bruslant il falloit luire à la verité ; | L’homme est un cher flambeau, tel flambeau ne s’allume | Affinque sous le muys sa lueur se consume : | Le ciel du triomphant fut le daiz, le soleil | Y presta volontiers les faveurs de son œil : | Dieu l’ouit, l’exauca, et sa peine cachee | N’eust peu jamais trouver heure mieux recerchee : | Il fut la belle entrée et spectacle d’un roy, | Aiant Paris entier spectateur de sa foy’ (D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre iv, ll. 357–76 (pp. 519–20)). 14  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre i, ll. 601–08 (p. 294). 15  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre ii, ll. 468–72 (pp. 369–70).

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qu’un funeste cercueil. | Que si tu vis encore encor, c’est la mourante vie | Que le malade vit en extreme agonie, | Lorsque les sens sont morts, quand il est au rumeau | Et que d’un bout de plume on l’abeche avec l’eau. | Si en louve tu peux devorer la viande, | Ton chef mange tes bras, c’est une faim trop grande : | Quand le desesperé vient à manger si fort | Apres le goust perdu, c’est indice de mort.16

Roi dénaturé, le tyran est l’un des visages d’un monde inversé, où les abominations commises ‘prouvent que les malédictions de Dieu s’accomplissent’.17 Car les ‘rois iniques, à l’âme corrompue, sont en même temps les fléaux suscités par Dieu et les responsables de cette nature dénaturée’.18 Ainsi, ‘le prince tyran pervertit les lois divines, abandonnant le monde au règne de l’injustice’.19 ‘La colère de Dieu contre l’infidélité collective suscite un roi cruel et dépravé, image du péché du peuple et bâton pour le châtier’.20 Par conséquent, les traits qui peignent le monde à l’envers ou la nature dénaturée dans les […] Tra­ giques [telle l’entrée pervertie du tyran] ne sont pas uniquement des scènes et des détails vécus, encore qu’ils le soient, mais […] ils représentent également les signes d’une réalité invisible plus menaçante encore que la souffrance présente, la colère de Dieu qui peut anéantir ceux qu’il a sauvés.21

La vision eschatologique qui parcourt le poème, largement inspirée de l’Apocalypse, départage le sort réservé aux justes de celui que subiront les réprouvés. ‘La fin de l’Apocalypse, rappelons-le, présente une vaste fresque du jugement dernier qui oppose la destruction de Babylone, symbole de Rome et de tout pouvoir oppressif et idolâtre, au triomphe d’une Jérusalem renouvelée’.22 Cette polarité symbolique est reprise dans Les Tragiques où la condamnation de Babylone, allégorie de l’Église catholique et de la capitale du royaume, a pour contrepartie le triomphe de la Jérusalem céleste. Ainsi, le dernier livre du poème, intitulé ‘Jugement’, annonce la destruction des ‘barbares cités’, des cités ‘yvres de sang’ et de ‘sang enyvrees’, qui sentiront de Dieu ‘l’espouvantable main’.23 Pour que les ven16 

D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre i, ll. 609–620 (p. 295). Soulié, L’Inspiration biblique dans la poésie religieuse d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, pp. 241–42. Voir aussi Prat, ‘Le Discours de l’analogie dans Les Tragiques’, p. 450. 18  Soulié, L’Inspiration biblique dans la poésie religieuse d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, p. 246. 19  Schrenk, ‘Ubris et themis’, p. 141. 20  Soulié, L’Inspiration biblique dans la poésie religieuse d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, p. 259. 21  Soulié, L’Inspiration biblique dans la poésie religieuse d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, p. 236. 22  Millet et de Robert, Culture biblique, p. 189. Voir Apocalypse 17–18. 23  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre vii, ll. 239–89 (pp. 741–43). 17 

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geurs rendent justice au sang versé, il faut que leurs ‘murailles se fendent’, que leurs ‘bastions soient mis en poudre’.24 En contrepoint à ces cités éventrées et jonchées de cadavres est évoquée la ‘joyeuse’ entrée des victimes de la cause réformée dans la Jérusalem céleste : déjà dans le quatrième livre nommé ‘Les Feux’, l’entrée dans la ville du martyr réformé conduit au supplice, juché sur le dos d’un âne dans un rituel semblable à celui de la Fête des fous, est assimilée par d’Aubigné à l’entrée du Christ dans Jérusalem,25 et annonce, par conséquent, l’entrée de l’élu dans la cité céleste : Jamais le paradis n’a ouvert ses thresors | Plus riant à l’esprit separé de son corps : | Christ luy donna sa marque et le voulut faire estre | Imitateur privé des honneurs de son maistre, | Monté dessus l’asnon pour entrer tout en paix | Dans la Hierusalem permanente à jamais.26

Au début du livre des ‘Feux’, d’Aubigné puise dans l’Apocalypse sa description inspirée du cortège des justes à l’heure du Jugement dernier : Voicy marcher de rang par la porte sacree | L’enseigne d’Israel dans le ciel arboree, | Les vainqueurs de Sion, qui au prix de leur sang, | Portans l’escharppe blanche ont pris le caillou blanc : | Ouvre Hierusalem tes magnificques portes, | Le Lion de Juda suivi de ses cohortes | Veut regner, triompher, et planter dedans toy | L’estandart glorieux, l’auriflan de la foy. | Valeureux chevaliers, non de la table ronde : | Mais qui estes devant les fondements du monde | Au roolle des esleus, allez, suivez de rang | Le fidelle, le vray, monté d’un cheval blanc : | Le paradis est prest, les anges sont voz guides, | Les feux qui vous brusloient vous ont rendus candides : | Tesmoings de l’Eternel, de gloire soyez ceints, | Vestus de crespe net (la justice des saincts), | De ceux qui à Satan la bataille ont livree, | Robbe de nopce ou casaque de livree.27

Cette ‘vision du cortège glorieux des élus’ est complétée au livre vi (‘Ven­geances’) par celui des persécuteurs : ‘Sur le modèle des Trionfi de Pétrarque qui inspirent tant d’entrées royales, une image grandiose récupère à la gloire de Dieu […] la magnificence [du] spectacle politique’ :28 Sortez persecuteurs de l’Eglise premiere, | Et marchez enchainez au pied de la ban­ niere | De l’agneau triomphant, voz sourcils indomptez, | Vos fronts, voz cœurs

24 

D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre vii, ll. 244–47 (pp. 741–42). Voir Mathieu 21. 26  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre iv, ll. 1175–80 (p. 557). 27  D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre iv, ll. 1–18 (pp. 499–500). 28  Fanlo, ‘La Terreur et la joie’, p. 80. 25 

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si durs, ces fieres majestez | Du Lion de Juda honorent la memoire | Traisnez au chariot de l’immortelle gloire.29

La symbolique guerrière qui innerve le texte transforme ainsi le Christ-Roi en monarque vengeur prenant triomphalement possession de la Cité céleste, à la tête du cortège triomphant des guerriers de Dieu.

Conclusion Si, dans l’Histoire universelle, l’entrée solennelle, en tant qu’événement, n’est signifiante, donc historique, qu’en vertu d’un sous-texte politique qu’elle permet de mettre en lumière, l’usage allégorique de l’entrée, dans Les Tragiques, permet d’illustrer les rapports harmonieux ou tyranniques du roi avec ses sujets, de même que de tracer le destin des défenseurs de la foi réformée. Car dans le poème de d’Aubigné, le réel, écrit Frank Lestringant, ‘tire sa vérité de ce qu’il est convertible en allégorie. […] La réalité visible est allégorique d’une vérité intelligible’. 30 La ville, lieu des violences religieuses, théâtre où d’Aubigné fut le témoin d’atrocités réelles qu’il évoque abondamment dans son œuvre, est ainsi convertie en figure allégorique de la France sanglante et mourante à l’heure où la catastrophe et le jugement sont imminents ; les ‘tyrans’ français qui se succèdent sur le trône et dont la violente entrée dans les villes se solde par des massacres annoncent tout à la fois, en tant que signes, le châtiment de Dieu envers les impies et l’entrée prochaine, triomphante, du peuple élu dans la Cité céleste. Dans les deux œuvres, l’essentiel est d’exposer au jour la vérité de l’Histoire, afin de ‘laisser traces de ce qui fut à une postérité qui risquerait d’oublier cette geste tragique’.31 Université d’Ottawa

29 

D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Fanlo, Livre vi, ll. 449–54 (p. 686). Lestringant, ‘L’Œil de Scipion’, p. 86. 31  Mathieu-Castellani, ‘L’Écriture de l’histoire dans Les Tragiques’, p. 100. 30 

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Œuvres citées Sources imprimées Aubigné, Agrippa d’, Histoire universelle, réd. par André Thierry, Textes littéraires français, 293, 311, 330, 354, 399, 412, 431, 448, 458, 507, 532, 11 tomes (Genève: Droz, 1981–2000) —— , Les Tragiques, réd. par Jean-Raymond Fanlo, Champion classiques: Littératures, 4 (Paris: Champion, 2006)

Études critiques Fanlo, Jean-Raymond, ‘La Terreur et la joie’, dans Agrippa d’Aubigné, ‘Les Tragiques’ (Livres vi et vii): actes de la journée d’étude du 7 novembre 2003, dir. par Marie-Madeleine Fragonard, Pascal Debailly, et Jean Vignes (= Cahiers Textuel, 27 (décembre 2003)), pp. 77–90 Lestringant, Frank, ‘L’Œil de Scipion: point de vue et style dans Les Tragiques’, dans Les Tragiques d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, dir. par Marie-Madeleine Fragonard et Madeleine Lazard (Genève: Slatkine, 1990), pp. 63–86 Mathieu-Castellani, Gisèle, ‘L’Écriture de l’histoire dans Les Tragiques’, dans Agrippa d’Aubigné, ‘Les Tragiques’ (Livres vi et vii): actes de la journée d’étude du 7 novembre 2003, dir. par Marie-Madeleine Fragonard, Pascal Debailly, et Jean Vignes (= Cahiers Textuel, 27 (décembre 2003)), pp. 91–106 Millet, Olivier, et Philippe de Robert, Culture biblique (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2001) Prat, Marie-Hélène, ‘Le Discours de l’analogie dans Les Tragiques et les problèmes du lan­g age véridique’, dans Les Tragiques d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, dir. par Marie-Madeleine Fragonard et Madeleine Lazard (Genève: Slatkine, 1990), pp. 35–61 Schrenk, Gilbert, ‘Ubris et themis: La Justice dans les livres ii et iii des Tragiques’, dans Les Tragiques d’Agrippa d’Aubigné, dir. par Marie-Madeleine Fragonard et Madeleine Lazard (Genève: Slatkine, 1990), pp. 125–44 Soulié, Marguerite, L’Inspiration biblique dans la poésie religieuse d’Agrippa d’Aubigné (Paris: Klincksieck, 1977)

Entrées farcesques et burlesques : le politique travesti Claudine Nédelec

P

artons du principe, fort commun, mais pour autant assez complexe à cerner dans ses causes comme dans ses effets, qu’il n’y a pas de cérémonies, de rituels sociaux, politiques ou culturels, ni même de liturgies, bref de manifestations publiques visant à instituer, illustrer et célébrer les valeurs que se reconnaît une communauté, et par lesquelles elle se reconnaît comme telle, qui ne puisse être l’objet de déformations comiques, de réécritures parodiques. J’entends ici ‘parodique’ au sens premier, à la fois très simple et très ambigu, de ‘chant d’à côté’. ‘À côté’, cela peut évoquer bien des formes de transformations, de déplacements, et au-delà de transgressions. La question majeure reste toujours une question de position idéologique, et d’interprétation. Dans quelle mesure ce ‘chant d’à côté’ est-il ‘simplement’ une version ludique de la cérémonie, un divertissement qui au fond sert à confirmer les rites et les valeurs sous couleur de s’en rire, en permettant l’expression contrôlée et mesurée (car l’ordre établi n’accepte pas si facilement l’expression publique du désordre, même lorsqu’il en tire profit) du désir de s’y soustraire ? Satisfaire les inévitables désirs latents de dérision, de désobéissance, de révolte, de transgression, n’est-ce pas en réalité aider à établir, ou à rétablir l’ordre ? Dans quelle mesure au contraire ces parodies servent-elles — mais potentiellement sous le masque précisément d’une écriture et|ou d’une pratique ‘purement’ ludique, donc in-signifiante — une véritable remise en cause des valeurs exprimées et confirmées par la cérémonie, afin d’en faire valoir d’autres ? Autre forme de la question: tournent-elles en ridicule ceux qui sont incapables d’adhérer dans les formes requises, ou de s’adapter, au discours légitime que tient la cérémonie, ou ceux qui ont la faiblesse de croire à la légitimité de la cérémonie et des valeurs qu’elle véhicule ?

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Telle est la question que j’ai voulu poser, dans le contexte français, à certaines relations ‘comiques’ d’entrées royales, rendant compte de manière plus ou moins fictionnalisée de spectacles réels, voire très largement fictifs, question qui ‘a à voir’ avec celles que j’ai posées dans de précédents travaux aux travestissements burlesques de la fable antique, aux cérémonies chez Molière, à la Satyre Ménippée comme ‘abrégé des États [généraux] de Paris’. Question d’autant plus intéressante que l’entrée royale, fête et texte, a été interprétée comme étant aux antipodes de la fête carnavalesque et de l’écriture bouffonne ou satirique. Ainsi Jean-Marie Apostolidès insiste-t-il sur le lien entre les limitations apportées aux manifestations populaires, aux ‘contre-processions parodiques’, désormais ‘interdites comme sacrilèges’, et le fait que l’entrée devienne ‘la grande fête du sérieux et de la vérité officielle’.1 Quant à Gérard Sabatier, il précise: La présence royale, véritable miracle, métamorphosait pour un temps la cité et la vie quotidienne. Sur un mode tout différent de celui du monde à l’envers. L’entrée royale est le contraire de Carnaval. Loin d’autoriser, pour un jour, l’inversion des valeurs, et spécialement des pouvoirs, elle a pour fin de les optimiser, de les installer dans l’éternité du merveilleux. Par le recours au défilé, à la parade, elle clive, elle opère ségrégation, elle assigne les places.2

On peut pourtant imaginer un envers de cet envers … Et si malgré tout Sa Majesté Carnaval, chassée d’un côté, avait fait retour d’un autre ? N’y a-t-il vraiment, dans la France de la première modernité, aucune entrée royale comique, parce que farcesque, burlesque, grotesque, satirique (ou satyrique), parodique … ? Si oui, quelles en sont la fonction et la portée ? Faut-il leur accorder valeur ‘universelle’ (en tant que manifestations carnavalesques au sens de Bakhtine) ou relative, c’est-à-dire en l’occurrence politique (au sens étroit ou au sens large) ? Faut-il les prendre au sérieux, ou ne faire que s’en rire — à leur invitation, potentiellement trompeuse ? Disons-le tout de suite: ce genre de textes n’ayant que très rarement les honneurs de l’historiographie et de la recherche, ce fut une véritable exploration bibliographique — exploration que je considère comme incomplète et inachevée. Mais, en analysant en détail quelques textes significatifs, chacun à leur manière, on peut espérer constituer des catégories dans lesquelles toute nouvelle découverte pourrait s’inscrire.

1 

Apostolidès, ‘Entrée royale et idéologie urbaine au xviie siècle’, p. 519. 2  Sabatier, ‘Les Voyages des rois de France’, p. 35.

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La Fête carnavalesque Les Entrées magnifiques de Bon-temps et de Bacchus Le Retour de Bon-temps3 donne à entendre et à voir (par le biais de personnages témoins commentant le spectacle) le cortège carnavalesque, gesticulant, récitant et chantant, qui défila devant Henri II de Bourbon, lors de son entrée dans sa bonne ville de Dijon, le 3  Octobre 1632.4 Mêlant français et bourguignon (manière d’affirmer leur identité provinciale), les compagnons de la Mère Folle s’en prennent à toutes les classes de la société, en une revue comique aussi gaillarde que satirique, évoquant les ballets grotesques  ; mais l’insistance sur le retour d’un temps de liesse et de bombances bachiques après les épreuves de la guerre inscrit cette satire, aux traits assez conventionnels d’ailleurs, dans l’éloge du Prince (après un long prologue sérieux déjà consacré à chanter ses louanges) auquel elle est offerte comme divertissement, en remerciement des bienfaits qu’il apporte, ou qu’il est implicitement prié d’apporter. Rien donc de transgressif dans ces réjouissances. L’Entree magnifique de Bacchus avec Madame Dimanche grasse sa femme, quant à elle, fut publiée à Lyon en 1627 par Louis Garon, éditeur de pièces de circonstance à l’occasion des cérémonies officielles ;5 elle est l’écho imprimé d’une ‘entrée’ qui eut bien lieu, elle aussi, entrée organisée par une confrérie joyeuse d’imprimeurs. Selon Danielle Muzerelle, ceux-ci, disposant à la fois de la culture et de moyens de diffusion, pouvaient jouer le rôle de ‘meneurs de l’opinion publique’.6 En l’occurrence, il s’agissait bien là de ‘contrefaire l’entrée d’un Prince dans sa ville, en montrant le cortège de Bacchus et de sa suite’7 — sans que pour autant soit précisé en quoi et vers quoi un tel spectacle était censé influencer l’opinion publique, et à quoi pouvait servir cette ‘contrefaçon’. Il faut en réalité nuancer et préciser. D’une part, il ne s’agit pas formellement d’une parodie de relation d’entrée ; aucune description de décors, aucune chrono­ logie festive. Ce qui est ici donné à lire (et non à voir, fût-ce en imagination), ce sont les prises de parole, versifiées (déclamées, ou chantées ?), de Bacchus et de 3 

Retour de Bon-temps (= BnF, Rés. microfiche Ye 4200). Voir aussi la description qu’en donne Valcke, ‘Théâtre et spectacle chez la Mère Folle de Dijon’, pp. 76–80. 5  Garon, Entree magnifique (= BnF, Rés. Yf 2043). 6  Muzerelle, ‘Carnaval et défilés burlesques’, p. 47. 7  Muzerelle, ‘Carnaval et défilés burlesques’, p. 58. 4 

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Madame Dimanche, et de leur cortège. Retournement carnavalesque: ce n’est pas la ville qui offre un spectacle, et s’offre en spectacle, à celui qui y entre, c’est celui qui entre — en l’occurrence un personnage à la fois socialement in-digne et festivement attendu — qui s’offre en spectacle à la ville. C’est donc ici ‘l’entrant’ et son cortège qui sont ‘travestis’, raillés, mais en même temps célébrés, sous la figure grotesque d’un Roi de Carnaval. Le cortège de Bacchus et de Madame Dimanche (laquelle fait savoir qu’elle ‘a deux bons tesmoings’ 8 prouvant qu’elle est … un homme) est extrêmement hétéroclite, mêlant statuts sociaux élevés (le prévôt du régiment des gardes, un grand chambellan, des ambassadeurs …), personnages allégoriques, personnages de ‘roman’ (les chevaliers de la Table Ronde, les quatre fils Aymon) ou de la mythologie (Silènes, Bacchantes, ‘le mont de Parnasse représenté par neuf Lavandieres au lieu des neuf Muses’,9) et même la Pucelle d’Orléans, objets à valeur symbolique (le chapeau rouge, le tambour couronné, la cage), animaux grotesques (le singe qui pêche, l’écrevisse, la truie qui file) … tout cela pour chanter, sur tous les tons, en jouant sur nombre d’équivoques grossières et de calembours, le vin ou le sexe. Vive le ‘pillage | D’un pucelage ou d’un tonneau’ !10 Il est difficile d’apprécier aujourd’hui le degré de transgression du geste de production comme de consommation de ce genre de spectacles et/ou de textes carnavalesques qui ne nous paraissent pas bien méchants et finalement fort peu attentatoires. Pourtant, divers chroniqueurs notent que, lorsqu’en 1628 la peste fit son apparition à Lyon, on y vit le châtiment de la manifestation irrévérencieuse relatée par L. Garon.11 Plus que la raillerie envers un certain bric-à-brac symbolique propre aux entrées, plus que la dimension parodique de leurs scènes obligées, plus que les atteintes à la morale commune propre aux temps de Carnaval (elle en a vu d’autres !), ce qui fait ici problème, me semble-t-il, c’est la représentation d’un cortège burlesque, de deux façons: d’une part en accordant le même langage ‘bas’ aux Grands et aux animaux, aux Princes de l’Église et aux lavandières-muses ; d’autre part en composant un cortège hétéroclite, désordonné, sans hiérarchie (ni politique, ni culturelle) ni structure, donc un cortège qui brouille, renverse, voire abolit symboliquement les rangs et les places, et ce ‘signe’ des rangs et des places qu’est le langage. Alors, entrée ‘attentatoire’, consciemment ou non ? En tout cas 8  Garon, Entree magnifique, p. 29. Jeu de mot fréquent sur le double sens du mot latin (témoin et testicule), voir Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, iii, non paginé. 9  Garon, Entree magnifique, p. 30. Elles parlent en provençal. 10  Garon, Entree magnifique, p. 4. 11  Muzerelle, ‘Carnaval et défilés burlesques’, p. 58.

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une de ces fêtes carnavalesques que le pouvoir royal s’affaire à censurer tout au long du siècle, par crainte de la ‘noise’.12 L’Entrée magnifique de Mardi Gras On pouvait en espérer plus de L’Entree magnifique et triomphante de Mardy-Gras dans toutes les villes de son Royaume, en vertu de son lieu (Paris), et de sa date (1650).13 À vrai dire, non seulement rien n’évoque la Fronde, mais ce n’est pas non plus un récit d’entrée, imaginaire ou réel. Ce qui est travesti, ce sont essentiellement les textes officiels annonçant et régentant l’entrée de Mardi Gras, prévue le ‘Dimanche vingt-huictiéme du present mois, sur les six heures douze minuttes du matin, […] accompagné du sieur Bacchus […], ayant à [sa] solde Denys Landoüille, Jacques Saucisse, François Chapon, Pierre Cocq-d’Inde [etc.]’, ce qui promet trois jours de fête aux bons ‘patelittes, rabelistes, & esprits sans soucy’.14 L’essentiel du texte consiste en une série d’articles d’une ordonnance bachique et carnavalesque, dûment annoncée et publiée par ‘Alliborum, Fripe-Sauce’,15 visant à organiser les conditions de cette entrée, c’est-à-dire la mise à l’écart des pisse-vinaigre (avec punitions adéquates), et l’appel aux fidèles sujets de sa majesté carnavalesque. En voici un exemple: Tant pour rendre nôtre entrée celebre, que pour voir la puissance de nôtre Mon­ar­chie, Nous voulons de pleine authorité ; que toutes les ordonnances cy-mentionnées soient tres-estroitement observées, avec defenses expresses à toute personne de quelque qualité & conditions qu’elles soient, d’y contrevenir, sur peine de la vie: car tel est nôtre plaisir. […] Ordonnons que tous beuveurs d’eau boüillie, de tisannes, bierres, & autre boisson de pareille nature, sortent de nôtre Province, sur peine de mille livres de colliques, cruditez & ventuositez.16

12 

Voir Wagner, ‘Le Spectacle de l’ordre exemplaire ou la cérémonie’, pp. 115–16 ; Vaillan­ court, ‘La Ville des entrées royales’, pp. 491–93. Voir également la conclusion de l’article de Valcke, ‘Théâtre et spectacle chez la Mère Folle de Dijon’, p. 80. 13  L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras (= BnF, Rés. 4° Lb37 1490). 14  L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras, p. 5. 15  L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras, p. 6. 16  L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras, p. 3.

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Suivent la confirmation des ‘Privileges et franchises de Mardy-Gras’, et de ‘tous Escornifleurs’,17 et une ‘Chanson bachique à l’honneur du Seigneur MardyGras’.18 Les ‘formes’ du texte politique sont ici travesties par leur contenu ; pour autant, ce travestissement paraît bien n’être que ‘plaisant’. Il est en tout cas dénué de la moindre allusion à la Fronde, sinon que de très indirecte: la paix revenue, il est temps de faire la fête. Aucune trace de satire autre que très conventionnelle envers les empêcheurs de s’amuser en rond. Même en 1650, on peut donc encore ‘parodier’ une entrée royale, ou plutôt les textes officiels visant à l’organiser, d’une façon carnavalesque.

La Fronde en entrées ? Pourtant, la Fronde pouvait paraître d’emblée le ‘moment’ favorable à des versions parodiques à implications politiques de ces célébrations royales. Le catalogue Moreau19 des mazarinades mentionne trente-trois récits d’entrées datés de 1649, et quatre de 1650 ; mais précisons que le mot de ‘mazarinade’ regroupe de façon plus commode que scientifique toutes sortes de ‘libelles’ parus entre 1649 et 1652, à dimension politique plus ou moins avérée, exprimant des postures idéologiques très diverses, et dans des registres très variés. Or ces entrées de 1649–50, ou du moins toutes celles que j’ai pu lire, sont toutes des textes sérieux, d’ailleurs le plus souvent faussement intitulés, le discours d’éloge célébrant la paix revenue l’emportant très largement sur le récit, et d’un intérêt très moyen. D’ailleurs Hubert Carrier, dans ses Muses guerrières, ne fait aucune mention du genre de l’entrée parmi les divers genres de textes qu’utilisent les mazarinades, qu’elles soient sérieuses ou ‘burlesques’, encomiastiques ou polémiques.20 Est-ce à dire qu’il n’y ait eu aucune forme ‘frondeuse’ de l’entrée ? Je ne saurais l’affirmer, ce continent englouti étant d’exploration difficile. Je mentionnerai en tout cas cette remarque publiée dans la Gazette du 18 mars 1650, dans un ‘article’ consacré aux ‘particularitez du voyage du Roy en Bourgongne’:21 17 

L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras, pp. 7–8. L’Entree [...] de Mardy-Gras, pp. 9–11. 19  Moreau, Bibliographie des mazarinades. 20  Carrier, Les Muses guerrières. 21  Une relation très proche en fut publiée sous le titre de Récit véritable de tout ce qui s’est fait et passé à l’entrée du Roy en la ville d’Auxerre. 18 

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[Les] bourgeois [de Joigny] pour n’avoir pas eu la liberté de montrer leur joye par leurs piafes en habits de soldats de ville dans les rües lorsque le Roy y passoit,22 ne laissérent pas de donner tous les autres témoignages de leur allégresse, par les salves de leur canon, leurs feux de joye, & les cris redoublez de leurs souhaits pour la prospérité du Roy qu’il n’appartient qu’à des esprits mal faits de blasmer et d’y trouver à redire, comme a fait un hoste des petites maisons de Bruxelles, qui ne sçauroit mieux descouvrir le fiel de son estomach malade qu’en nous voulant dégouster et se mocquant de ces cordiales salutations et de ces salutaires vœux que les bons sujets poussent vers le Ciel, pour attirer les bénédictions en terre sur leurs Princes.23

Allusion à un discours frondeur, raillant une adhésion populaire aussi bruyante que factice, ou sous contrainte  ? Expression satirique de la méfiance, déjà ancienne, envers les manifestations de joie populaire, défiance qui fait du peuple un spectateur à contrôler soigneusement, parce que toujours en voie de passer de la fête sérieuse au carnaval, de la liesse à la noise ? Il faudrait, pour répondre, retrouver ce pamphlet. Curieusement, il faut attendre 1660, et l’entrée de Louis XIV à Paris avec l’infante Marie-Thérèse, entrée magnifique qui donna lieu à nombre de relations, officielles ou non,24 mais qui, selon nombre d’historiens, marque par un coup d’éclat le déclin et bientôt la fin de ce rituel royal,25 pour trouver deux textes qui reprennent les procédures stylistiques et l’ambiguïté énonciative propres aux mazarinades railleuses et burlesques. L’Entrée magnifique du roi et de la reine La Magnifique entrée du Roy et de la Reyne en leur bonne Ville de Paris, en vers burlesques, dédiée à ‘son Altesse Madame la Princesse Palatine’, ‘récupère’ de nombreux traits propres à un certain type de mazarinades, celles qui tendent à ‘dégoiser’, à l’aide d’un style ‘de bibus’, c’est-à-dire en imitant Scarron (celui des Recueils de vers burlesques), les à-côtés et ‘bas-côtés’ des événements politiques 22 

Le voyage, entrepris ‘afin de remettre en cette Province-là les affaires en la mesme tranquilité où [Sa Majesté] vient de les laisser en l’autre’ (la Normandie) semble bien s’être accompagné d’un soigneux contrôle ‘policier’ (interdiction notamment des manifestations en armes). Voir Renaudot, ‘Les particularitez du voyage du Roy en Bourgongne’, p. 370. 23  Renaudot, ‘Les particularitez du voyage du Roy en Bourgongne’, p. 374. 24  Notons celle de Madeleine de Scudéry dans le prologue de Scudéry, Célinte. Voir à ce sujet Zanger, Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV, et supra, Marie-Claude Canova-Green, ‘From Object of Curiosity to Subject of Conversation’. 25  Voir Le Roi dans la ville, éd. par Wagner et Vaillancourt, p. 11 (Introduction).

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et des manifestations publiques.26 Le narrateur ici se rend à l’entrée avec le souci principal de trouver une bonne place sur la tribune — c’est-à-dire auprès de jolies filles, et pas loin d’un bon buffet, où il se restaurera, lui aussi, pendant le repas royal. Le défilé est l’objet d’une description émerveillée (avec une certaine malice, le narrateur s’intéresse surtout aux chevaux, et admire le fort riche cortège de son Éminence …), mêlée de populismes et de plaisanteries faciles: on y voit ainsi ‘maints Princes | Qui ne sont Principiums minces’, ou les membres de la Chambre des Comptes ‘Dont mains sont richards plus que Comtes’.27 Tout cela reste très ‘bon enfant’ ; le ‘ridicule’ est uniquement dans le ‘point de vue’ décalé qui est adopté par un écrivain qui ‘affecte’ (avec l’espoir de faire admirer son talent) un certain type de style, non pas pour faire ‘rire de’, mais pour faire sourire. Bref, on trouve ici une version burlesque (c’est-à-dire un rien plus ‘basse’) de l’évocation enjouée, agréable et divertissante de Mlle de Scudéry, notamment dans l’attention portée aux agissements plaisants d’un public hétéroclite et ‘naïf ’. La Conférence de Janot et Piarot Plus complexe est La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet de Villenoce, & de Jaco Paquet de Pantin, sur les merveilles qu’il à vu dans l’entrée de la Reyne.28 Piarot de Saint-Ouen et Janot de Montmorency avaient été les héros des Agréables conférences […] sur les affaires du temps, parues entre 1649 et 1651, dont le succès mit le patois des paysans (de Paris) à la mode et amena quelques imitations, dont celle-ci.29 Mais, alors que la cinquième des Agréables conférences, pourtant contemporaine de l’entrée du roi à Paris le 18 août 1649, n’y fait pas allusion, celle-ci est bien consacrée à évoquer l’entrée de la nouvelle reine de France. Jano Doucet de Villenoce (probablement Villeneuve-la-Garenne, au nord de Paris comme Pantin ; déformation qui fait jeu de mots) revenant de la capitale, fait le glorieux auprès de son compère Jaco parce qu’il a vu des ‘marveilles & des biautez, des trompes de magnufisances’ (des merveilles et des beautés, des trompes, des magnificences)30 — ce qu’il est prêt à décrire à son compère moyennant cho26 

Cossart, La Magnifique entrée du Roy et de la Reyne, p. 1 (= BnF, Rés. Ye 2402). Cossart, La Magnifique entrée du Roy et de la Reyne, p. 4. 28  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles (= BnF, Rés. Lb37 3389(B)). Il en existe une version au texte identique, mais plus courte de moitié environ, sous le titre de La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les grandes Magnificences (=BnF, Rés. Lb37 3389). 29  Richer, Agréables conférences de deux paysans de Saint-Ouen, réd. par Deloffre. 30  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 3 (= BnF, Rés. Lb37 27 

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pine. Il s’agit des préparatifs de l’entrée, qui doit avoir lieu le lendemain: il en a été si émerveillé qu’il a cru, arrivé au Pont Notre-Dame, être au ‘Pazadi telestre, […] tout neu, tout plein de monsieu de belles pentuzes de biaux tabliaux de belles escrituses qui disans des marveilles, des Rouets & de la Reyne’ (au Paradis terrestre, […] tout neuf, tout plein de messieurs, de belles peintures, de beaux tableaux, de belles écritures qui disent des merveilles des Rois et de la Reine)31 — tableaux dont il a acheté à un gazetier l’explication, ce qui en souligne railleusement la nécessité. Quand il arrive à la Sorbonne, il admire une construction toute dorée, dont on lui dit ‘que cettoit le pagnase & qu’il y boutiant les mures avec Apolon & qui dansriant avec les menestries ny peut ny moins qu’à une nopce de village’ (que c’était le Parnasse et qu’ils y mettront les Muses avec Apollon et qu’ils danseront avec les ménestriers ni plus ni moins qu’à une noce de village).32 Admiration naïve, rendue encore plus ridicule par son drôle de français écorché, devant des spectacles auxquels ces ‘culs-terreux’ de paysans, dont les ‘bons becs’ de Paris ne peuvent que se gausser, ne comprennent rien, paysans qui réduisent stupidement la magnifique entrée ‘à une manifestation campagnarde’, si on suit l’interprétation de Jean-Marie Apostolidès ?33 Je ne crois pas. Je vois là plutôt une forme de caricature de ces ‘merveilles’, à peu près incompréhensibles pour ces ‘paysans de Paris’ qui sont pourtant voués à en être les spectateurs, et cela même avec l’aide des ‘grands escritiau qui parlant de toute l’histoire’ (des grands écriteaux qui parlent de toute l’histoire):34 mais ‘que diebe es sa que veule dize toute ses tabliau’ (que diable est-ce que veulent dire tous ces tableaux ?) ?35 Il y a plus. Rendez-vous est pris pour le lendemain par les deux compères. Mais ce matin-là, Jaco traîne. Il faut dire qu’il a rêvé toute la nuit: il s’est vu à la poursuite d’une ‘bourse pleine de pistolles qui voloit en l’ar’ (qui volait en l’air).36 Rêve probablement suscité par Jano: en effet, selon lui, un garde lui avait annoncé ‘quan ne pageray pu de sustance ny de taille, mais que nou srans heureureux que me des petits Rouets, & qu’apres le triomfle nan varait sa promesse’ (qu’on ne paierait plus de subsistance ni de taille, mais que nous serons heureux comme

3389(B)). 31  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 4. 32  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 4. 33  Apostolidès, ‘Entrée royale et idéologie urbaine au xviie siècle’, p. 519. 34  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 5. 35  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 3. 36  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 7.

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des petits rois, et qu’après le triomphe on verrait sa promesse).37 Sauf que le rêve se termine sans que Jaco ait pu attraper la bourse. Morale: ‘Vraymant cest ban pour toy que le four chauffe’ (vraiment c’est bien pour toi que le four chauffe).38 De plus, Jaco se perd dans Paris, si bien qu’il ne voit rien, et qu’il est obligé de demander à nouveau à Jano de lui raconter ce qu’il a vu. Dans son récit, on peut noter, entre autres remarques à vocation plus ou moins satirique, le travestissement programmé des ‘Arengue’ (harangues) entendues comme modèle de harangues villageoises, ‘quan noutre fils de putain de Proculeux, viendra var son petit fils de putain de fils’ (quand notre fils de putain de Procureur [il s’agit du procureur fiscal] viendra voir son petit fils de putain de fils) ;39 l’éloge ‘naïf ’ du Cardinal ‘qui à mi la gaze en prison’ (qui a mis la guerre en prison)40 et doit ‘rendre huseux les paure vilageois’ (rendre heureux les pauvres villageois) ;41 ou encore la vision burlesque du feu de ‘Sarcifice’ (d’artifice): ‘guian voise liau brulait & petoit ni pu ni moin que le grou Coulas quan y la mangé de mazon’ (on voyait l’eau brûler et péter ni plus ni moins que le gros Colas quand il a mangé des marrons [?]).42 Bref, cette pièce se trouve bien dans le ton du ‘mot’ rapporté par Tallemant des Réaux au sujet du ‘vrai’ Jean Doucet, paysan ‘naïf ’ qui eut l’heur de plaire à Louis XIII. Alors que celui-ci lui donnait vingt écus d’or, il répliqua, ‘en son patois’ : ‘I vous revanront, Sire, i vous revanront ; vous mettez tant de ces tailles, de ces diebleries sur les pauvres gens !’.43 Il devint une sorte de type. On peut citer Dassoucy, défendant son burlesque dans ses Aventures d’Italie, en le disant ‘aussi ingénu que Jean Doucet, qui dans son patois, avec sa naïveté crotesque, n’a jamais fâché ni offensé personne’44 — mais on n’est pas obligé de le croire ! On peut citer aussi Mme de Sévigné, qui écrit, en mars 1678, à Bussy-Rabutin une lettre où elle 37 

La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 6. Subsistance: ‘Espece d’impot estably sous pretexte de la subsistance des trouppes’ (Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, iii). 38  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 5. ‘On dit proverbialement, Ce n’est pas pour vous que le four chauffe, pour dire, Ne vous attendez pas d’avoir part à cette affaire’ (Furetière, Dictionnaire universel, ii). 39  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 10. 40  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 10. 41  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 10. 42  La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet […] sur les merveilles, p. 11. 43  Tallemant des Réaux, ‘Naïfvetez, bons mots, reparties, contes divers’, p. 863: ‘Ils vous reviendront, Sire, ils vous reviendront ; vous mettez tant de ces tailles, de ces diableries sur les pauvres gens’. 44  Dassoucy, Les Aventures d’Italie.

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raille les peines des deux poètes Racine et Boileau obligés à leur grand dam de suivre l’armée en campagne: il me semble qu’ils ont assez l’air des deux Jean Doucet.45 Ils disaient l’autre jour au Roi qu’ils n’étaient plus si étonnés de la valeur extraordinaire des soldats, qu’ils avaient raison de souhaiter d’être tués pour finir une vie si épouvantable. Cela fait rire, et ils font leur cour.46

Si l’on ne saurait, bien sûr, voir là ni vraiment une parodie, ni vraiment une satire, il entre bel et bien des éléments de l’une et de l’autre, du côté d’une raillerie envers cette admiration éberluée et sans distance que le spectacle merveilleux (et assez incompréhensible) de l’entrée était censé susciter chez les sujets du Roi, sans que pour autant un tel spectacle doive rien changer à leur quotidien, malgré quelques éventuelles promesses vite oubliées, répondant à des griefs récurrents du ‘pauvre peuple’. Mise à distance proprement frondeuse qui n’est certes pas la cause, mais la trace du déclin des vertus persuasives des entrées royales.

Entrées satiriques Faut-il donc conclure que l’entrée royale n’a jamais suscité de réécriture à vocation véritablement attentatoire, par le rire et la caricature, politiquement et idéologiquement ? Si, pourtant — mais pas sous la Fronde. C’est dans la France de Louis XIII que l’on trouve deux exemples (au moins) d’entrées véritablement travesties de façon subversive, d’une manière ou d’une autre. Une ‘entrée’ aux Enfers Nombreuses sont, dans la littérature facétieuse, les ‘pièces’ utilisant le motif, à la fois rabelaisien et mythologico-épique, de la descente aux Enfers.47 Bakhtine y voit le fait que ‘le diable est le joyeux porte-parole ambivalent des points de vue non officiels’.48 Pourtant les nombreuses ‘facéties plutoniques’49 — en réalité plutôt 45 

Allusion aux deux neveux de Jean Doucet, qui avaient repris son ‘personnage’ au thé­ âtre. Tallemant les traite de ‘méchants bouffons’ (Tallemant des Réaux, ‘Naïfvetez, bons mots, reparties, contes divers’, p. 863). 46  Madame de Sévigné, lettre du 18 mars 1678 à Bussy-Rabutin: Sévigné, Correspondance, réd. par Duchêne, ii (1974), p. 601. 47  Voir Rabelais, Pantagruel, chap. 30 (pp. 321–27). 48  Bakhtine, L’Œuvre de François Rabelais, p. 50. 49  L’expression est de Mercier, Le Tombeau de la Mélancolie.

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des pamphlets — évoquant et mettant en scène l’entrée en enfer du maréchal d’Ancre n’ont pas d’autre fonction que de confirmer au contraire le ‘point de vue officiel’ à son sujet. Parmi ces textes, L’Entree et la reception qui a esté faite au Mareschal d’Ancre, aux Enfers, parue en 1617, est le seul à prendre véritablement le parti de décrire comme une ‘entrée royale’ son arrivée au royaume souterrain.50 Averti par Mercure de la mort de Concini, Pluton est assez satisfait de sa venue, car il presumoit que ce Mareschal d’Ancre, le gouffre & l’abysme des richesses de la France, luy devoit accroistre ses thresors infernaux de ceux qu’il avoit insatiablement accumulez pendant sa vie (à la ruine & foulle du peuple).51

Mercure, qu’il charge de l’aller chercher, fait quelques difficultés, notamment parce que de corps Concini n’a plus, et d’âme encore moins, et surtout parce qu’il craint que ledit Concini ne soit autant haï des ombres que des hommes. Pas du tout, réplique Pluton, ‘pour autant qu’il n’a jamais tendu qu’à l’augmentation & accroissement de mondit Royaume’.52 Si bien qu’il charge Mégère de lui organiser ‘une entree digne de son excellence’.53 Relevons, dans le cortège, les ‘nains’ (on sait que Concini était réputé être de basse origine) ‘montez sur des Chimeres bardees de vessies de pourceau’ (qui ont donc le pouvoir de nous faire prendre des vessies pour des lanternes …), ainsi que la ‘Chimere d’hauteur exhorbitante, caparaçonnee de toille jaune, rouge & noire, couleurs dudit Mareschal destinee pour sa monture’.54 Sur les ‘Arcs tromphaux’,55 dûment décrits, sont figurés les emblèmes de la chute: la punition de Prométhée, la roue de la Fortune, la chute d’Icare, le ‘tresbuchement des Geans’ ;56 un des arcs estoit de verre de plusieurs couleurs, bigarré comme l’arc en Ciel, dedans quelques compartiments qui estoient en ses arcades estoit ecrit en lettres Coyonnesques, Si durat gloria mundi.57

50 

L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre (= BnF, Rés. Lb36 1012). Ce texte est en grande partie reproduit par Mercier, Le Tombeau de la Mélancolie, i (2005), pp. 185–87. 51  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 4. 52  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 6. 53  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 6. 54  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 8. 55  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 8. 56  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 9. 57  L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 10.

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Concini, pourtant reçu dans les formes, se conduit fort mal, jusqu’à tenter d’attenter à l’honneur de Perséphone: mais il ‘donna bien à rire quand on vid que c’estoit la vigne de la Courtille, belle monstre & peu de rapport: & qu’il estoit sans queuë, graces à ceux qui l’avoient depriapé au bout du Pont-neuf ’.58 Ce n’est donc pas la cérémonie d’entrée en elle-même qui est parodiée ; il s’agit, combinée à une transformation grotesque de la figure de l’entrant, rendu ‘monstrueux’ par la mutilation de son cadavre, d’une inversion en procédure de satire et de blâme, au travers des figures mythologiques et symboliques adéquates, de ce qui est normalement procédure de révérence et d’éloge. Sa puissance transgressive se retourne tout entière contre son ‘héros’: l’envers de la cérémonie est pleinement confirmation de sa valeur légitimante, et de la légitimité de l’ordre, qu’elle rétablit en se ‘retournant’ contre le déviant, en un théâtre des vices politiques.59 La Superbe et imaginaire entrée faite à la reine Gillette Qu’en est-il de La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entree faicte à la Royne Gijllette ?60 Selon Guy Poirier,61 il s’agit ici, sous les noms de fantaisie et le masque de la fiction, de viser Henri III, au travers d’une parodie (entendue cette fois au sens de travestissement à vocation satirique envers le ‘texte’ travesti, et les valeurs qu’il véhicule) des relations des cérémonies liées à son passage à Venise, en 1573, sur la route de son retour en France.62 Cette ‘relation’, qu’il conviendrait de comparer de près aux relations officielles, offre la description circonstanciée des diverses composantes et phases obligées de ces festivités: cortèges, station aux portes de la ville, présents, banquets, spectacles. L’ensemble est marqué par un imaginaire grotesque très intense, qui combine à la pratique constante de l’hyperbole le goût de l’hétéroclite et de l’étrange, ce qui 58 

L’Entree [... du] Mareschal d’Ancre, p. 14. On pourrait comparer à la dénonciation par Agrippa d’Aubigné, sous la forme de l’écriture pamphlétaire, de la transformation des entrées d’autrefois en une ‘autre sorte’ d’entrée, où ‘la ville est un corps mort’ : là où coulait le lait, coule désormais le sang (‘Misères’, dans D’Aubigné, Les Tragiques, réd. par Lestringant, vv. 581, 586, pp. 92–93). 60  La Description […] (= BnF, Rés. Y2 3056 et BnF, Rés. P Y2 92 — plusieurs rééditions). Voir un extrait dans Mercier, Le Tombeau de la Mélancolie, i, 184–85. 61  Poirier, ‘La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entrée’, pp. 159–81. 62  Citons: Ordre de la reception et entrée de Henry de Valois  ; Beneditti, Discours des Triomphes et Resjouissances ; Beneditti, Le Vray discours des triomphes faits — le même que le précédent ? Selon Poirier, ‘La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entrée’ (p. 180), on peut aussi y lire en surimpression celle de l’entrée de François d’Alençon, son frère, à Anvers en 1582 (La Joyeuse & magnifique entrée de Monseigneur Françoys). 59 

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conduit à des descriptions à la fois bouffonnes et monstrueuses des choses, des personnages et des événements. La délégation de Venise compte cent barons, deux cents pages, vingt-cinq gentilshommes, cinquante comtes avec leurs pages (etc.), vêtus aussi burlesquement que magnifiquement: ainsi, les gentilshommes ont des ‘chappeaus plats comme couvercles à lessives’, et leurs chevaux sont ‘de boys de cannes, qui cheminoient par certains engins faicts industrieusement’.63 Le chariot de la reine est tiré par deux lions, deux cerfs volants et deux licornes, et suivi par vingt-quatre rhinocéros dansants, montés par des Éthiopiennes ‘blanches comme pruneaux du pays’ ;64 elle est reçue aux portes par ‘cinquante magnificques […] montez sur le plus grand des Buccentaures revestus à la Panthalonesque’65 — lesquels Buccentaures sont ‘gaillards pour avoir esté nourris six semaines durant de biscuit cantharide’.66 On lui offre en spectacle, les jours suivants,67 un combat sanglant d’éléphants et de rhinocéros, puis celui du ‘grand Gygant’ et du ‘Sauluage’,68 armés respectivement d’un canon rempli de farine et d’une pièce de noir à noircir, enfin d’une Gygante contre un tigre furieux, qui ‘lui fourra l’une de ses griffes en un lieu, ou il fist une si horrible & veneneuse esgratignure, qu’elle sera toute sa vie incurable’. 69 Spectacles violents qui manquent de tourner à la catastrophe. Ce qui est d’ailleurs le cas lorsqu’une des décorations de la collation, une tour enflammée en sucre et en pâte, emplie de musiciens, s’écroule, mettant le feu à une forêt en dehors de la ville et jetant les musiciens à la mer.70 À la violence incontrôlée s’ajoute donc une forte présence du bas corporel: repas grotesques, évocations scatologiques — la fête se termine par un compissage général71 — et nombreux sous-entendus pornographiques: aux femmes ‘vestues de toille d’argent claire comme eau de roche’72 qui viennent accueillir la reine,

63 

La Description […], p. 5. La Description […], p. 14. 65  La Description […], p. 16. 66  La Description […], p. 11. 67  La Description […], pp. 33–43. 68  Géant (lat. gigans) et Sauvage. 69  La Description […], p. 42. 70  La Description […], pp. 24–27. 71  La Description […], p. 46. 72  La Description […], p. 19. 64 

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des gentilshommes jettent des dragées ; ‘par ce moyen se beissant on voyoit un quadran, auquel maniant l’aiguille, lon ne pouvoit juger l’heure’.73 On pourrait ne voir là que l’expression maniériste de fantasmes mêlant magnificences improbables et imaginaire carnavalesque. Mais ce grotesque atteint de façon violemment satirique la représentation de la figure royale. D’abord par le nom, puisque Sa ‘majesté Gijllettine’74 évoque un de ces personnages types de la farce si fréquents dans les facéties — mais plutôt au masculin: Gilles est un personnage à la fois de niais et de lâche (‘faire gilles’ signifie s’enfuir). Conclusion: cette reine est en réalité … un roi — au corps carnavalesque. Au milieu du repas, on la voit discuter avec la reine de Chio: ‘on jugeoit qu’elles eussent bien voulu faire du gros, qui n’eust pas esté de Naples’.75 Pour qu’elle puisse se retirer, on lui amène un ‘Satyre pomelay’ conduit par deux griffons ‘pour le dompter, au cas que la queue luy dressast car c’est la ou gist le venin’.76 On prend soin de plus de nous informer qu’elle ‘avoit un coin des parties nobles tout sulphure, qui luy causoit une allaine assez forte en la bouche, de l’organe’.77 On souhaite alors bonne chance au futur mari Robert, même si on a offert à sa fiancée ‘un sac de toille ciree bien argentee, remply de limaçons, qui avoient les cornes de diamans poinctus’ ;78 y sont brodées les lettres RSMDC, soit ‘Robert sera Maire de Cornuaile, qui est une ville en la Malachie’.79 Si c’est bien Henri III qui est ici ‘en creux’, on conviendra de la violence attentatoire de cette représentation. Au-delà, c’est peut-être aussi la cérémonie de l’entrée royale en elle-même qui est l’objet d’une charge caricaturale, en tant que cérémonie où l’on déploie des efforts aussi gigantesques que ridicules et dérisoires pour glorifier à grands frais, mais non sans ‘ratés’, des ‘vessies de porc […] remplie [sic] selon le son de poix chiches’,80 voire de véritables monstruosités. Il y a là bien plus qu’un ‘imaginaire facétieux et burlesque’:81 quelque chose de violemment transgressif, d’ubuesque, qui vise de plein fouet le politique, selon un imaginaire maniériste, où le grotesque vire au cauchemardesque. 73 

La Description […], p. 19. La Description […], p. 11. 75  La Description […], p. 25. Le ‘gros de Naples’ est une sorte de tissu de soie. 76  La Description […], p. 29. 77  La Description […], p. 30. 78  La Description […], p. 20. 79  La Description […], p. 21. 80  La Description […], pp. 35–36. 81  Poirier, ‘La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entrée’, p. 181. 74 

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Comment conclure ?82 De façon un peu attendue, on vérifie une fois de plus la diversité des ‘usages’ et des effets d’une version/vision comique d’un texte/d’un événement sérieux: cela implique la nécessité d’en faire à chaque fois une description précise et contextualisée, ce qui n’est pas toujours le cas concernant ces textes méprisés. Une autre, plus intéressante: ce n’est pas au moment où l’événement en lui-même perd de sa force symbolique et persuasive que sont produits les textes les plus transgressifs, mais au moment où il est investi, par ceux qui en usent, de sa plus grande efficace: l’entrée comique n’est pas alors facétie ; elle est le signe du dérèglement et de la dénaturation monstrueuses du corps politique. Université Lille-Nord de France, Artois

82 

Je m’en suis tenue à la question des ‘entrées’. Mais on pourrait élargir l’enquête aux diverses formes ‘comiques’ de relations/descriptions d’autres cérémonies politiques. Par exemple, pour le carrousel de 1612, célébrant le mariage de Louis XIII et d’Anne d’Autriche, la Complainte du Facquin du parc Royal et ‘Le moyne bourru, sous le nom du Chevalier Inconnu’, un des textes du recueil intitulé Les Jeux de l’inconnu, signé De Vaux, mais attribué (non sans vraisemblance) à celui dont il était le secrétaire, Adrien de Cramail. Ou encore, à la fin du siècle, pour les cérémonies du couronnement en Angleterre de Guillaume d’Orange, les ‘dialogues de Pasquin et de Marforio’ d’Eustache le Noble (Eustache le Noble, Le Couronnement de Guillemot et de Guillemette, 3e dialogue, et Eustache le Noble, Le Festin de Guillemot, 4e dialogue).

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Œuvres citées Manuscrits et livres rares Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Réserve des livres rares, 4° Lb37 1490 —— , Lb36 1012 —— , Lb37 3389(B) —— , microfiche Ye 4200 —— , P Y2 92 —— , Y2 3056 —— , Yf 2043 —— , Ye 2402

Sources imprimées Aubigné, Agrippa d’, Les Tragiques, réd. par Frank Lestringant, Poésie, 286 (Paris: Gallimard, 1995) Beneditti, Rocco, Discours des Triomphes et Resjouissances faicts par la Serenissime Seigneurie de Venise, à l’entree heureuse de Henry de Valois, troisiesme de ce nom, Tres-chrestien Roy de France et de Pologne […] (Lyon: Jove, 1574) —— , Le Vray discours des triomphes faits par la Serenissime Seigneurie de Venise, à l’entree heureuse du […] Roy de France, Henri III […] (Paris: L’Huillier, 1574) Complainte du Facquin du parc Royal, qui a soustenu tous les cavaliers du Carousel, tant deffendans qu’assaillans (Paris: Bouriquant, 1612) La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet de Villenoce, & de Jaco Paquet de Pantin, sur les grandes Magnificences qu’on prepare à Paris, pour l’entree de la Reyne (Paris: [s.n.], 1660) La Conference de Janot et Piarot Doucet de Villenoce, & de Jaco Paquet de Pantin, sur les merveilles qu’il à vu dans l’entrée de la Reyne, ensemble comme Janot luy raconte ce qu’il à veu au ‘Te Deum’ & au feu d’Artifice (Paris: [s.n.], 1660) [Cossart, Gabriel], La Magnifique entrée du Roy et de la Reyne en leur bonne Ville de Paris, en vers burlesques. A son Altesse Madame la Princesse Palatine, Sur-Intendante de la Maison de la Reyne ([s.l.]: [s.n.], [s.d., 1660 ?]) Dassoucy, Charles, Les Aventures d’Italie [1677], dans Libertins du xviie siècle, réd. par Jacques Prévot, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 450, 510, 2 tomes (Paris: Gallimard, 1998–2004), i (1998), 889–95 La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entree faicte à la Royne Gijllette, passant à Venise, en faveur du Roy de Malachie son futur espoux, le premier jour de septembre 1582. Traduicte de langue caracteree en langue Françoise (Paris: L’Olivier, 1582) L’Entree et la reception qui a esté faite au Mareschal d’Ancre, aux Enfers: avec le Pourparler de Ravaillac, avec luy (Paris: Hameau, 1617) L’Entree magnifique et triomphante de Mardy-Gras dans toutes les villes de son Royaume. Avec les resjouyssances de toutes les Harangeres de Paris: et les Arrests donnez, tant contre tous les Critiques, Rabats-joyes, Mauplaisans, & trouble-Festes. Ensemble les Privileges octroyez à tous bons Trippe-lippes, Patelins, Rabelistes, & Enfans sans soucy (Paris: [s.n.], 1650)

402 Claudine Nédelec

Eustache le Noble, Le Couronnement de Guillemot et de Guillemette […] (London: Benn, 1689) —— , Le Festin de Guillemot (London: Benn, 1689) Furetière, Antoine, Dictionnaire universel, 3 tomes (Den Haag: Leers, 1690) [Garon, Louis], Entree magnifique de Bacchus avec Madame Dimanche grasse sa femme, faicte en la Ville de Lyon le 14 Febvrier 1627 ([s.l.]: [s.n.], 1627) Les Jeux de l’inconnu (Paris: de la Ruelle, Rocolet, de Sommaville, Bessin, et Courbé, 1630) La Joyeuse & magnifique entrée de Monseigneur Françoys fils de France, et frere unicque du Roy […] en sa tres-renommée ville d’Anvers (Antwerpen: Plantin, 1582) Ordre de la reception et entree, de Henry de Valois, treschrestien Roy de France et de Pologne, en la riche et florissante ville de Venise […] (Lyon: Rigaud, 1574) Rabelais, Pantagruel, Roy des Dipsodes, restitue a son naturel, avec ses faictz & prouesses espoventables: composez par feu M. Alcofribas abstracteur de quinte essence, dans Rabelais, Œuvres complètes, réd. par Mireille Huchon et François Moreau, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 15 (Paris: Gallimard, 1994), pp. 321–27 Récit véritable de tout ce qui s’est fait et passé à l’entrée du Roy en la ville d’Auxerre (Paris: Bessin, 1650) Renaudot, Théophraste, ‘Les particularitez du voyage du Roy en Bourgongne’, dans Recueil des gazettes nouvelles ordinaires et extraordinaires: Relations et recits des choses ave­nues toute l’annee 1650 (Paris: du Bureau d’adresses, 1651), pp. 369–78 (no. 40, 18 mars 1650) Retour de Bon-temps: Dedié à Monsieur le Prince […] et representé à son entree par l’In­ fanterie Dijonnoise, le Dimanche troisième Octobre 1632 (Dijon: Guyot, 1632) [Richer, Louis], Agréables conférences de deux paysans de Saint-Ouen et de Montmorency sur les affaires du temps, 1649–1651, réd. par Frédéric Deloffre (Paris: Champion, 1999 [1961]) Le Roi dans la ville: anthologie des entrées royales dans les villes françaises de province (1615– 1660), éd. par Marie-France Wagner et Daniel Vaillancourt, Sources classiques, 33 (Paris: Champion, 2001) Scudéry, Madeleine de, Célinte (Paris: Courbé, 1661) Sévigné, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal [Madame de], Correspondance, réd. par Roger Duchêne, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 97, 112, 124, 3 tomes (Paris: Gallimard, 1972– 78), ii, 601–03 Tallemant des Réaux, Gédéon, ‘Naïfvetez, bons mots, reparties, contes divers’, Historiettes, réd. par Antoine Adam, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 142, 151, 2 tomes (Paris: Gallimard, 1960–61), ii (1961), pp. 859–87

Études critiques Apostolidès, Jean-Marie, ‘Entrée royale et idéologie urbaine au xviie siècle’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 509–20 Bakhtine, Mikhaïl, L’Œuvre de François Rabelais et la culture populaire du Moyen Âge et sous la Renaissance (Paris: Gallimard, 1970)

Entrées farcesques et burlesques : le politique travesti

403

Carrier, Hubert, Les Muses guerrières: les mazarinades et la vie littéraire au milieu du xviie siècle, Collection des mélanges de la Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, 26 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1996) Mercier, Alain, Le Tombeau de la Mélancolie: littérature et facétie sous Louis XIII (1610– 1643), Lumière classique, 63, 2 tomes (Paris: Champion, 2005) Moreau, Célestin, Bibliographie des mazarinades, Société de l’histoire de France, 61, 63, 67, 3 tomes (Paris: Renouard, 1850–51) Muzerelle, Danielle, ‘Carnaval et défilés burlesques’, dans Entrées royales et fêtes populaires à Lyon du xve au xviie siècle, dir. par Henri-Jean Martin (Lyon: Bibliothèque de la Ville de Lyon, 1970), pp. 45–59 Poirier, Guy, ‘La Description de la superbe et imaginaire entree faicte à la Reyne Gijllette passant à Venise’, dans Les Arts du spectacle dans la ville (1404–1721), dir. par MarieFrance Wagner et Claire Le Brun-Gouanvic (Paris: Champion, 2001), pp. 159–81 Sabatier, Gérard, ‘Les Voyages des rois de France’, dans Un Cérémonial politique: les voyages officiels des chefs d’État, dir. par William Dereymez, Olivier Ihl, et Gérard Sabatier (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1998), pp. 15–44 Vaillancourt, Daniel, ‘La Ville des entrées royales: entre transfiguration et défiguration’, xviie siècle, 212 (2001), 491–508 Valcke, Juliette, ‘Théâtre et spectacle chez la Mère Folle de Dijon (xvie–xviie siècles)’, dans Les Arts du spectacle dans la ville (1404–1721), dir. par Marie-France Wagner et Claire Le Brun-Gouanvic (Paris: Champion, 2001), pp. 61–80 Wagner, Marie-France, ‘Le Spectacle de l’ordre exemplaire ou la cérémonie de l’entrée dans la ville’, dans Les Arts du spectacle dans la ville (1404–1721), dir. par MarieFrance Wagner et Claire Le Brun-Gouanvic (Paris: Champion, 2001), pp. 113–35 Zanger, Abby E., Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV: Nuptial Fictions and the Making of Absolutist Power (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997)

Index

Abbeville: 32, 32 n. 5, 34, 35 Abraham, Noël: 10 Acampich, Aztec king: 191, 196; see also Amapich Acosta, Fr. José de: 182, 192 Adélasie: 272 Adonis: 371 Aelian: 253 Aeneas/Énée: 179, 277 Aesop/Ésope: 34 Agathyrsus: 161 Aggas, Edward: 288 n. 25 Agrippa: 160 Aguilhonnet, Jean: 159 Ahuitzotl, Aztec king: 191, 196, 197 Ainay: 156 Aix-en-Provence: xvi, 259, 260, 261, 261 n. 11, 265, 266, 267, 269, 275, 282, 282 n. 4, 283, 287, 292 Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, duque de: 123, 124 Albénas, Jean: 159 Albert (Albrecht), archduke of Austria: 71, 73, 74, 75, 79, 82 Albrecht Friedrich of Hohenzollern, duke of Prussia: 209, 210 Albrecht of Hohenzollern, duke of Prussia: 208, 209 Alcalá de Henares: 98 Alciat, André/Alciati, Andrea: 34, 45, 303, 306, 307, 307 n. 23, 308 n. 28 Aldobrandini, Pietro, cardinal: 285 Alexander/Alexandre: 31, 42, 171, 252, 252 n. 19, 253, 254 n. 25 Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile: 99

Alfonso VIII, king of Castile: 99 Alfonso X el Sabio [the Wise], king of Castile: 119, 120 Alicante: 104 Alighieri, Dante: 34 Almansa, Andrés de: 102 Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando de: 178, 178 n. 3, 198 Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Juan de: 178 Álvarez, Vicente: 75 n. 9 Amapich: 189; see also Acampich, Aztec king Ammannati, Bartolommeo: 134 n. 18 l’Amour: 216, 310, 352 Amsterdam: 104 André, Jehan: 7, 8, 20, 22 Andromeda/Andromède: 140, 144 n. 52, 145, 148, 230 Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques I: 167, 168 Angers: 31, 35 Angoulême: 155 Anjou: 3 n. 9 Anne of Austria, queen of France, wife of Louis XIII: 400 n. 82 Anne of Austria, queen of Spain, fourth wife of Philip II: 98, 99 Antibes: 295 n. 41 Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henri IV: 47 Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor: 171 Antonio, Marco: 9, 9 n. 32 Antwerp/Anvers: xvi, 2, 74, 74 n. 7, 94, 225, 226, 227, 228, 228 n. 8, 229, 230, 231, 231 n. 24, 232 n. 28, 233, 234, 235, 237, 239, 357, 397 n. 62 Aphrodite: 271 n. 39; see also Venus/Vénus

406

Apollo/Apollon: 44, 66, 169, 251, 393 Apostles: 171 Aquaviva, Octavio, cardinal, papal legate: 35 Arcadia/Arcadie: 342, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354 Argonauts: 362, 365 Argo: 286 n. 20 Argos: 349, 352 Aristotle: 253 Arlier, Antoine: 159, 160, 164 Arno: 133, 133 n. 14, 134 n. 18, 362, 363 Arthur: 115 Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of: 370, 371 Athena: 166, 171, 365; see also Minerva and Pallas Athena Attis: 169 Aubigné, Agrippa d’: xvii, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 382, 383, 397 n. 59 Augustus/Auguste, Roman emperor: 46, 156, 160, 169, 171, 172, 277 Aumale, Charles de Lorraine, duc d’: 82 Aumale, Claude de Lorraine, duc d’: 342, 343 Ausonius: 172 Autun: 154 Auvergne, Martial d’: 266, 266 n. 25, 267, 267 n. 28, 268, 273 Avignon: 3 n. 10, 35, 37, 166, 167, 169, 267, 276, 277, 282, 284 n. 11, 287, 293, 295, 295 n. 44, 345, 377 Axayacatzin, Aztec emperor: 191, 196 Aymon, quatre fils: 388 Babou, Philibert: 162 Babylone: 381 Bacchus: 251, 371, 387, 388, 389 Bains: 19 Baños, Juan de Leyva de la Cerda, conde de, viceroy of New Spain: 179 Barberino, Francesco: 265, 265 n. 20 Bardi, Fra Ainolfo de’: 140, 142 n. 45 Bardi, Giovanni: 361 Bartas, Guillaume de Salluste, seigneur du: 34, 249, 253 Barthelet, Monsieur: 115 la Bastille: 163 Bayonne: 75, 155, 169, 323, 377, 378 Beaulart, René: 35 Beaune: 3, 5, 7, 17, 20 Beauvais, Vincent de: 272 n. 46

INDEX Beauvarlet, Josse: 35 Bellay, Joachim du: 34 Bellegarde, Roger, duc de: 285, 288, 288 n. 27, 343, 344 Bellièvre, Albert de, archbishop of Lyon: 35 Bellièvre, Pomponne de, chancellor of France, father of Albert: 290, 292, 293, 294 n. 40 Belli, Domenico: 138, 143 Benacci, Vittorio: 73 Benavente, Juan Alonso Pimentel y Enríquez, eighth conde de, viceroy of Valencia: 82, 83 Benavente, Fray Toribio de (known as Fray Motolínia): 181 Bentivoglio, Enzo: 146, 147, 148 Berardier, Denys: 20 Berlaymont, Florent, comte de, governor of Namur and, from 1604, governor of Luxembourg: 82 Berthaud, Mr: 248 Bertrand, Nicolas: 171 Besser, Johann von: 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221 Beza, Theodor: 237 Béziers: 158 Bizzarri, Pietro: 230, 231 Blaye: 154 Blois: 3 Bochetel, Guillaume: 155, 158, 164 Bochius, Joannes ( Jean Boch): 74 Boileau, Nicolas: 395 Boisrobert, François Le Métel de: 352 Bologna/Bologne: 73 n. 3, 137 n. 27, 146, 272 n. 49 Bonfadino, Bartholomeo: 81 Bontous, Jacques-Joseph, le Père: 277 Bordeaux (Burdigalia): 154, 155, 161, 173, 344, 346, 346 n. 26, 376 Bouchet, Jean: 154, 161 Boulogne: 3 n. 9, 165 Bourbonnais: 38 Bourg-en-Bresse: 7, 164 Bourgueville, sieur de: 51, 52, 53, 63 Bozzolo: 86 n. 29 Brabant: 41 Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de: 19

INDEX Bressanone: 86 Bretagne: 66 Brutus: 115 Bruxelles/Brussels: 75, 345, 391 Bry, Gilles: 35 Buckingham, George Villiers, duke of: 38 n. 31, 371 Buckingham, Isabelle de: 37–38, 38 n. 31 Budé, Guillaume: 154 el Buen Retiro: 95, 96, 148 Bullinger, Heinrich: 120 n. 30, 236, 237, 240 Buontalenti, Bernardo; 138 n. 33, 139 n. 33, 149, 150, 360, 361 Buonvisi: 288 Burgos: 99, 183 Burghley, William Cecil, first baron: 232 n. 28 Burgundy/Bourgogne: 3, 7, 164 Bussy-Rabutin, Roger, comte de: 395, 395 n. 46 Cabanes, sieur de: 269 Caccini, Giulio: 140, 140 n. 41, 142 n. 47, 143 n. 48, 144 n. 52 Caen: xv, 35, 51, 52 n. 3, 53, 53 n. 9, 54, 56, 57, 59 n. 31, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 156, 164 Caesar/César: 18, 46, 114, 165, 170, 252, 252 n. 19, 277 Cahaignes, Jacques de: xv, 51–59, 59 n. 31, 60–63, 66, 68 Calais: 17 Calderón de la Barca, Pedro: 148 Callot, Jacques: 139, 144 n. 52, 147, 148 Calvete de Estrella, Juan Christoval (Cristóbal): 75 n. 9, 94 Calvin, Jean: 237 Canterbury: 227 Capello, Bianca, second wife of Francesco de’ Medici: 367 Capitol: 165, 207 Capodiferro, Girolama, cardinal, legate: 7 Carlo Emanuele/Charles-Emmanuel I, duke of Savoy: 342 Carlos, príncipe de Asturias, son of Philip II: 98 Carnero, José Rodríguez: 184 Carpentras: 3 n. 10, 15 n. 46, 165, 166, 167 Cartulari, Gironima de: 6, 20

407

Castelhana, Boniface de: 268 Castelletto, Don Pietro: 83 Castelletto, Luigi, son of Pietro: 83 Castile: 97, 99, 104, 106, 125, 180 Caterina Catalina Micaela/Catherine Michelle of Austria, daughter of Philip II, duchess of Savoy: 342 Caterina de’ Medici, daughter of Ferdinando I and sister of Cosimo II, duchess of Mantua: 131 n. 5, 146, 360 Caterina de’ Medici/Catherine de Médicis, daughter of Lorenzo II, queen of France, wife of Henri II: 16, 37 n. 30, 75, 165, 172, 286 n. 20, 342, 343 n. 10, 377 Catullus/Catulle (Gaius Valerius Catullus): 267 Cavaillon: 260, 261 n. 11 Ceres: 251, 371 Cesare d’Este, from 1597 duke of Modena: 367, 371 Chaloner, Sir Thomas: 359 Chalonneau, Bernard: 288 n. 25 Châlons-sur-Saône: 7 Champagne: 3 n. 9, 7 Charlemagne: 36 n. 24, 171 Charles I, king of England and Scotland: 96, 101, 101 n. 33, 102 Charles I, king of Spain, from 1519 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor: 7, 9, 19, 96, 162, 163, 165, 182, 196, 365 Charles II, archduke of Austria: 130 n. 3 Charles II, king of England and Scotland: 220 Charles II, king of Spain: 96, 183, 187, 194, 213 Charles VIII, king of France (first known as Dauphin de Viennois): 152 Charles IX, king of France: 32 n. 3, 37 n. 30, 75, 168, 171, 172, 173, 283, 340, 342, 343, 344, 376, 377 Charles X, king of Sweden: 210 Charles de France, duc de Berry, grandson of Louis XIV: xvi, 258, 260, 266 Chasseneux, Barthélémy: 154 Chastel, Jean: 41 le Châtelet: 13 Chazeron, Gilbert de: 38 Chenonceau: 168 Chiabrera, Gabriello: 138

408

Chimalpopocatzin (also known as Chimalpopoca), Aztec king: 191, 196 Christian III, king of Denmark: 118 Christine de Lorraine, grand duchess of Tuscany, wife of Ferdinando I: 286, 287 nn. 22–23, 290 n. 29, 292, 361, 363, 366, 367 Cicero/Cicéron: 45 Cicognini, Giacinto Andrea: 137 n. 29 Cicognini, Jacopo: xvi, 137, 137 n. 29, 138, 138 n. 31, 140, 141, 142, 143, 146, 147, 148 El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar): 99 Cioli, Andrea: 140, 360 Clario, Giovanni Battista: 75 Claude de France, queen of France, first wife of François I: 18 n. 57 Claudia de’ Medici, daughter of Ferdinando I, duchess of Urbino, then wife of archduke Leopold V of Austria: 131, 131 nn. 4, 6 Claudius/Claude, Roman emperor: 46 Clément d’Alexandrie: 34 Clement/Clément IV (Gui Foulques), pope: 272 n. 49 Clement/Clément VII (Giulio de’ Medici), pope: 156, 286 n. 20 Clement/Clément VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini), pope: 70, 285 Coello, Claudio: 105 Colchis: 362 Colletet, François: 346 n. 26 Colonna, cardinal: 290 Colonna, Francesco: 155, 157, 158, 308 Concini, Concino, maréchal d’Ancre: 396, 397 Concordia, Girolamo: 73 n. 3 Condé, Henri II de Bourbon, prince de: 35, 387 Constans: 169 Corcher, François: 13, 24 Corineus: 114 Corozet, Gilles: 8 Corsini, Filippo: 186 Cortés, Hernán: 178, 179, 181, 194, 196, 197 Cosimo I de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: 129, 138 n. 31 Cosimo II de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: 130, 131, 131 n. 7, 132, 134,

INDEX 136 n. 25, 137 n. 30, 138, 138 n. 31, 141, 184, 358, 360, 362, 365 Cosimo III de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: 134 Coste, Hilarion de: 297, 298, 299 Cousin, Jean: 163 Coverdale, Myles: 118 la Crainte: 310 Cramail, Adrien, comte de: 400 n. 82 Cranmer, Thomas: 117 Cremona: 76 n. 13, 79, 81, 81 nn. 16–17, 82 n. 20, 84 Cromwell, Thomas: 117, 118 Cuauhtémoc, Aztec emperor: 189, 191 Cuitlahuatzin, Aztec emperor: 178, 191 Cupid/Cupidon: 268, 371 Cybele: 169 Da Gagliano, Marco: 137 n. 30 Da Gambara, Giovanni Battista: 162 Dalle Donne, Francesco: 84 n. 26 Dalle Donne, Sebastiano: 84 n. 26 Dallier, Je(h)an: 13, 14, 21, 24 Dallington, Sir Robert: 359 Dal Monte, Francesco: 132 n. 13, 133 n. 13 Dampierre-sur-Boutonne: 316 n. 39 Dandino, Hieronimo, nuncio: 7 Dandolo, Matteo: 9 Da Ponte, Pacifico: 73 n. 3 Daphne: 158 Dassoucy, Charles: 394 Dauphin, different holders of the title Charles VIII see Charles VIII, king of France François, duc de Bretagne, elder son of François Ier: 156, 157, 158, 304; see also François, duc de Bretagne Louis (known as le Grand Dauphin), son of Louis XIV see Louis de France Dauphiné: 3 n. 9, 164 David: 230 David, Matthieu: 12, 23 Dávila, Gil González: 101 n. 34, 102, 102 n. 36 De Giovanni, Barucino: 81, 81 n. 17, 84 Degli Agostini, Nicolò: 163 Del Bene, Bartolommeo: 164 Del Bianco, Baccio: 148 Del Castillo, Bernal: 192 Delft: 239

INDEX Della Gherardesca, Gostanza: 138 n. 31 Della Gherardesca, Simone Maria: 138 n. 31 Della Gherardesca, Ugo: 138 n. 31 Della Robbia, Girolamo: 163 Del Nero, Alessandro: 137, 137 n. 30, 139 Delphes: 66 Descoustures, Simon: 35, 36, 37 Desportes, Philippe: 249 Diana/Diane: 169, 173, 246, 251, 253, 270 n. 34, 352 Dido/Didon: 277 Die, Béatrice, comtesse de: 268 Dijon: 7, 35, 160, 165, 250, 387 Diodorus: 253 Dioné: 271, 276 Dolcè: 74 n. 8 Donoso, José: 105 Donato, Francesco: 9 n. 32 Dorat, Jean: 63, 64 n. 44, 68 Dordogne: 173 Dordrecht: 239 Dosio, Giovanni Antonio: 134 n. 18 Doucet, Jean: 394, 395 n. 45 Doucet, Jean, nephew of the above: 395, 395 n. 45 Dover/Douvres: 227 Duchemin: 171 Duchesne, André: 254 Du Choul, Guillaume: 169 Du Faing, Gilles: 75, 82 Dugord, brothers (Robert & Jean): 14, 23 la Du Parc (Marquise Thérèse de La Gorle): 346 Durand Guillaume, bishop of Mende: 272, 272 n. 49, 273, 276, 276 n. 58, 277 Durand, Guillaume, his nephew, also bishop of Mende: 273 n. 49, 276 n. 58 Durand, Jean-Étienne: 171, 276 n. 58 Dürer, Albrecht: 308 Du Vair, Guillaume: 282, 282 n. 4 Edward III, king of England: 119 Edward VI, king of England: 116, 117 Effingham, Charles Howard, second baron of: 227 Elder, John: 114, 116, 119, 122 Eleanor of Austria/Éléonore d’Autriche, also called Eleanor of Castile, sister of Emperor Charles V, queen of France,

409

second wife of François I: 155, 156, 157, 304 Eleonora de’ Medici, daughter of Ferdinando I, grand duke of Tuscany: 146 Eleonora Gonzaga, daughter of Vincenzo I, second wife of Emperor Ferdinand II: 131, 131 n. 5 Eleonore of Hohenzollern, daughter of Albert Friedrich, duke of Prussia, second wife of Joachim Friedrich, elector of Brandenburg: 209 Elisabeth of Bourbon, daughter of Henri IV, queen of Spain, first wife of Philip IV: 100 Elisabeth/Isabel de Valois, daughter of Henri II, queen of Spain, third wife of Philip II: 98, 172, 377 Elizabeth I, queen of England: 123, 225, 227, 232 Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of Emperor Maximilian II, queen of France, wife of Charles IX: 283 n. 11 Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I, electress Palatine, wife of Friedrich/ Frederick V: xiv, 130 n. 3, 363, 364, 364 n. 15, 365 Éole: 296 Erasmus/Érasme: 34 Ernst, archduke of Austria, son of Emperor Maximilian II: 357 Ernst August, duke of BraunschweigLüneburg, from 1692 elector of Hanover: 202 el Escorial: 95 Espagnet, Marc Antoine d’: 282 Este, Cesare d’: 367, 371 Este, Ippolito d’, archbishop of Lyons: 161 Estrées, Gabrielle d’: 284 Eusèbe de Césarée: 34 Euxenus, pseudonym of Louis-Antoine de Ruffi: 261, 261 n. 10, 263, 273, 275, 277 Fame/Fama: 103, 155, 163, 169; see also la Renommée Farnese, Alessandro, cardinal, papal legate, grandson of Pope Paul III: 3 n. 10, 15 n. 46, 161 Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, Duke of Urbino: 131, 131 n. 4, 131 n. 6

410

Fehrbellin: 212 Feraud, Jean: 35 Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor: 19 Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor: 131 n. 4, 131 n. 6 Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, from 1619 Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor: 83, 130, 130 n. 3, 131, 131 n. 4, 141 Ferdinand Charles of Austria, son of archduke Leopold V: 131 n. 6 Ferdinando I de’ Medici, cardinal, from 1587 grand duke of Tuscany: 131 n. 4, 131 n. 7, 138, 146, 285, 286, 288 n. 27, 290, 358, 359 n. 3, 362, 363, 367, 368, 371 Ferdinando II de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: 131 n. 4, 131 nn. 5, 7, 135, 136 Ferdinando Gonzaga, from 1612 duke of Mantua: 146 Ferrara/Ferrare: 71, 73, 76 n. 13, 79, 79 nn. 14–15, 81 nn. 16, 20, 83, 84, 85, 86, 86 n. 29, 146, 146 n. 57, 147, 367 Figueroa, Don Juan de: 113 Flora/Flore: 173 Florence/Firenze: xvi, xvii, 73, 129, 130, 131 nn. 5–6, 132 n. 8, 133, 134, 134 nn. 18–19, 136, 136 n. 25, 137, 137 nn. 27, 30, 138, 138 n. 33, 146, 147, 147 n. 58, 148, 153, 184, 186, 249, 283, 283 n. 11, 285, 288, 291, 293, 357, 358, 359, 359 n. 3, 360, 361, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 376 Flushing: 227 Folquet, bishop of Marseille: 272, 272 n. 43, 273, 276 Fontainebleau: 4, 161, 162, 163, 165 Forcatel, Étienne: 171 la Force: 311 Forez: 37 la Fortune: 157, 396 Foucquet, Nicolas: 324 Fox(e), John: 117, 119 Francheville, abbé de:265 Francesco I de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany: 131 n. 7, 134 n. 18, 360, 366, 367, 368 Francesco Maria II della Rovere, duke of Urbino: 131

INDEX François I, king of France: 2, 7, 17, 18, 18 n. 57, 32 n. 3, 153, 154, 160, 161, 164, 304, 306 n. 21, 310, 314, 316, 317, 318, 319 François II, king of France: 1, 32 n. 3, 168, 342 François de Bourbon, prince dauphin d’Auvergne: 225, 237 François, duc d’Alençon, fourth son of Henri II, from 1576 known as duc d’Anjou: xvi, 225, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 232 n. 28, 234, 237, 239, 239 n. 56, 397 n. 62 François, duc de Bretagne, eldest son of François I: 156, 157 François, Hercule: 235, 236, 236 n. 45 Franckenthal: 364 Frein, Barthélémy: 15 n. 47 Friedrich II, margrave of Ansbach and kulmbach: 208, 209 n. 20 Friedrich III, elector of Brandenburg, from 1701 Friedrich I, king in Prussia: xvi, 201–04, 206, 207, 207 n. 14, 208, 211–18, 220, 221 Friedrich/Frederick II the Great, king of Prussia: 197 Friedrich/Frederick V, elector Palatine: 130 n. 3, 363, 365 Friedrich Wilhelm, elector of Brandenburg: 202, 206, 208, 210, 210 n. 24, 211, 212, 213, 215 Furetière, Antoine: 277 n. 63, 331 n. 44 Galaup de Chasteuil, François-Hubert: 266, 266 n. 27, 267 n. 27 Galaup de Chasteuil, Jean: 259, 261, 262 Galaup de Chasteuil, Louis: 259 Galaup de Chasteuil, Pierre: 259, 260, 261, 261 n. 11, 262, 263, 264, 264 n. 17, 265, 265 nn. 21–22, 266, 266 n. 27, 267, 267 n. 27, 268, 269, 269 n. 33, 270–76, 276 n. 58, 277–78 Galimard, Léonard: 377 Gambacorti, Pietro: 133 n. 14 Gardiner, Stephen: 117, 122 Garnier, Robert: 171 Garon, Louis: 387 Garonne: 171, 173, 388 Gascoigne, George: 238 Gaultier, Michel: 8

INDEX Gaunt, John of: 119, 120 Géan(t)s: 396 Geneva/Genève: 228 Genoa/Genova/Gênes: 71, 71 n. 2, 79 n. 15, 83, 94, 104, 153, 289, 291, 357 Georg Ludwig, elector of Hanover, from 1714 George I, king of Great Britain and Ireland: 202 Ghent: 2 Gherardo, Paolo: 9, 20 Gijllette: 399 Ginori, Alessandro: 137 n. 30 Giraud, Antoine: 169 Givry, Anne d’Escars de, cardinal: 295 n. 40 Glaber, Raoul (Rodolfus): 273, 273 n. 52 Glanum: 168 Gogmagog: 114 Goliath: 230 the Golden Fleece: 362, 365 Golding, Arthur: 225, 226, 235, 236–37, 238, 239, 239 n. 56 Gondi, Jérôme de: 285 Gondi, Pierre de, cardinal: 295 n. 40 Gonzaga, Julio Caesar: 86 n. 29 Gonzalez, Fernán, first conde de Castilla: 99 González, Juan: 194 González, Miguel: 194 González de la Vega, Diego: 105 Gonzales de Mendoza, Pedro: 290, 291 Gourmont, Benoist de: 10, 21 Grafton, Richard: 115–18 Gratian: 169 Graz: 75, 83 Gregory/Grégoire X (Tebaldo Visconti), pope: 272 n. 49 Greuter, Matthias: 361, 362 Grey, Lady Jane: 117 Grillo, Giovanni Battista: 82, 83, 83 n. 25, 85, 88 Grignan, François-Adhémar de Monteil, comte de: 263, 265, 266 Grignan, Françoise Marguerite de Sévigné, comtesse de: 264, 265, 265 n. 22 Grignan, Joseph de (known as le chevalier de): 276 Gringore, Pierre: 18 n. 57 Guardiano: 368, 369, 371 Guarini, Giovan Battista: 79 n. 14, 82 n. 21, 137, 146, 146 n. 57

411

Guiche, Antoinette de Daillon du Lude, comtesse de: 35, 248, 250, 251, 252 Guise, Anne de Clèves, duchesse de, mother of Charles de Lorraine: 294 n. 40, 376 Guise, Charles de Lorraine, duc de: 290, 292, 293 Guise, François II de Lorraine, duc de: 342 Guise, Henri I de Lorraine, duc de: 41 Guise, Louis I de, cardinal de Lorraine: 342 Guise, Louis II de, cardinal de Lorraine: 41 Hadrian/Hadrien, Roman emperor: 46 Haitze, Pierre-Joseph de: 260, 261 n. 11, 263 Hampton Court: 117 Harington, John: 358, 359, 361, 362, 363 Heath, Nicholas, bishop of York: 124 Hebe: 156, 251 Hedwig of Poland, electress of Brandenburg, wife of Elector Joachim II: 209 Heidelberg: 218, 364, 365 Henri II d’Albret, king of Navarre: 304, 305 Henri, duc d’Anjou, from 1574 Henri III, king of France: xvi, 32 n. 3, 51, 51 n. 1, 52, 67, 75, 225, 397, 399 Henri, duc d’Orléans, from 1547 Henri II, king of France: xv, 1, 2, 2 nn. 3, 6, 3, 3 nn. 8–10, 4, 4 nn. 11–14, 5, 5 n. 16, 6, 6 n. 23, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13 n. 42, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 32 n. 3, 164, 165, 167, 169, 171, 342, 377 Henri, king of Navarre, from 1589 Henri IV, king of France: xv, 31, 31 n. 4, 32 n. 3, 33, 35, 35 n. 17, 38, 40, 40 n. 46, 42, 44, 45, 73, 245, 246, 246, 246 n. 4, 247, 249, 249 n. 12, 250, 252, 252 n. 19, 253, 259, 277, 281 n. 2, 283, 283 n. 9, 284, 284 n. 11, 285, 287 n. 24, 290, 292, 294, 294 n. 40, 344, 378 Henri de Savoie: 247 Henry VIII, king of England: 116, 117, 118, 119, 124 Henry Stuart, prince of Wales, elder son of James I: xvii, 146, 357–61, 363, 364, 365, 371 Hercules/Hercule: 44, 114, 164, 173, 207, 208, 249, 251, 252, 252 n. 20, 311 Hercules Gallicus/Hercule Gaulois: 156, 161, 235, 283, 338 n. 71

INDEX

412

Herle, William: 231, 231 n. 24, 232, 232 n. 28, 233, 234, 235 Herrera, Antonio de: 192 Heywood, John: 115 Hoddesdon, Christopher: 230, 231, 231 n. 21 Holbein, Hans: 116 Holinshed, Raphael: 238 Homer/Homère: 253 Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus): 34 Horapollo: 172 Huet, Pierre-Daniel, bishop of Avranches: 266 n. 24 Huitzilopochtli, Aztec god: 177, 189, 190, 191 Huizilihuitl, Aztec king: 196 Hunsdon, Henry Carey, first baron: 227 Hurault, Philippe, comte de Cheverny: 247, 294 Icarus/Icare: 396 Innocent VI (Étienne Aubert), pope: 271, 276 Isabel Clara Eugenia of Austria, daughter of Philip II, wife of Archduke Albert VII of Austria: 71, 73, 74 Isola: 86 n. 29 Isola della Scala: 74 n. 8 Itzcohuatl (also known as Izoatl), Aztec king: 191, 196 James VI, king of Scotland, from 1603 James I, king of England and Scotland: 130 n. 3, 358, 359, 360, 370 Janot, Denis: 303 n. 2, 307, 313 n. 35 Janus: 169, 309, 311, 315, 317 Jason: 362, 374, 365 Jeanne d’Albret, mother of Henri IV, king of France: 47 Jerusalem/Hierusalem: 381, 382; see also Sion Joachim II, elector of Brandenburg: 209 Joachim Friedrich, elector of Brandenburg: 209 Jodelle, Étienne: 67 n. 50 Johann Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg: 209 Jones, Inigo: 361, 370 Joyeuse, Anne de, duc de: xv, 51, 51 n. 2, 52, 52 nn. 3, 8, 53, 53 n. 9, 54, 56, 59, 61–66, 67 n. 50, 68 Joyeuse, François de, cardinal de: 295 n. 40

Juana of Austria, sister of Philip II, king of Spain: 117 Juchault, Claude: 4 n. 13 Julius/Jules III (Giovan Maria de’Ciocchi del Monte), pope: 124 Juno/Junon: 253 Jupiter: 59, 179, 251, 313 la Justice: 136, 169, 172, 215, 314 Krakow: 75 La Ceppède, Jean de: 282 La Cerda, Tomás Antonio de, marqués de la Laguna, viceroy of New Spain: 178, 187, 188 La Cruz, Sor Juana Inés de: 178, 179, 186, 194 La Cueva, Alonso de: 184 La Fontaine, Jean de: 266 n. 25, 324 La Fosse, Germain de: 11, 12, 23 La Haye, Christophe de: 248 La Maison Neufve de Berry, Jehan de: 169 Langelier, Arnoul: 10, 11 n. 34, 21 Langoiran: 368 Langres: 154 Languedoc: 159, 171, 343 La Mothe Le Vayer, François de: 335 La Perrière, Guillaume de: xvii, 158, 303, 304, 304 n. 7, 305, 306, 306 n. 21, 307, 308, 310, 311 n. 32, 314, 314 n. 37, 315, 316, 316 n. 39, 317, 318, 319, 319 n. 43, 320 La Popelinière, Henri Lancelot-Voisin de: 376 La Puente, Fray Juan de: 180 La Vigne, André de: 153 Lara, María Luisa Manrique de, marquesa de La Laguna: 178 Larducci, Lodovico: 73 n. 3 Las Casas, Fray Bartolomé de: 182, 183 Laumussier, Jean: 11, 23 Laval, Antoine de: xv, 35, 37, 37 n. 29, 38, 38 n. 33, 40, 43, 45, 47, 48 L’Estoil(l)e, Pierre de: 292, 294, 295, 376 L’Orme, Philibert de: 166 Le Fanu, Jean: 52, 53, 56 Le Havre: 172 Le Hoy, Robert: 13, 14, 23 Le Marlet, Claude: 160 Le Noble, Eustache: 400 n. 82 Le Prest, Jean: 11, 14, 23

INDEX Le Puy: 158 Lebret, Pierre Cardin: 261 n. 11, 264 n. 16 Lebret, Cardin, son of Pierre Cardin: 261 n. 11, 264, 264 n. 16, 264 n. 17 Ledesma, José/Joseph de: 105, 106 Leghorn/Livourne/Livorno: 132, 132 n. 13, 286, 288, 288 n. 27, 289 Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of: xvi, 225–28, 228 n. 9, 230, 231, 231 n. 24, 232, 232 n. 28, 233, 234, 235, 236, 236 n. 48, 237–39 Lemaître, François: 35 Lemos, Fernando Ruiz de Castro y Andrade y Portugal, sixth conde de, viceroy of Naples: 83 Leo/Léon XI (Alessandro de’ Medici), pope: 138 n. 31 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor: 201, 211, 213 Leopold V, archduke of Austria: xvi, 129, 130, 130 n. 3, 131, 131 nn. 5–6, 132, 132 nn. 8, 13, 133, 134, 134 n. 19, 135, 136, 137, 137 n. 27, 141, 142 Leopoldo de’ Medici, son of Cosimo I: 131 Lepanto: 292 n. 36, 363 Lerma, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, conde, then duque de: 100 Limoges: 31, 35, 36, 37 Limousin, Léonard: 172 Lipsius/Juste Lipse ( Josse Lips): 249 Livy/Tite-Live (Titus Livius): 34 Lodi: 81, 84 London/Londres: xiv, xvi, xvii, 79, 86, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 122, 220, 225, 227, 228, 231, 234, 235, 238, 358, 361, 365, 368, 371 López de Hoyos, Juan: 98 Lorenzo de’ Medici, il Magnifico [the Magnificent], ruler of Florence: 132 n. 10, 137 n. 31 Lotti, Cosimo: 142, 147, 148 Lotti, Ottaviano: 358 Louis II de Bourbon: 45 Louis IX (Saint Louis), king of France: 268 Louis XII, king of France: 10, 153 Louis XIII, king of France: 259, 261, 263, 276, 277, 281 n. 1, 344, 394, 395, 400 n. 82

413

Louis XIV, king of France: xvi, xvii, 216, 220, 259, 260, 277, 323, 323 n. 1, 337 n. 69, 338, 341, 344. 345, 351, 352, 391 Louis de France (known as le Grand Dauphin), son of Louis XIV: 277 Louis de France, duc de Bourgogne, grand­ son of Louis XIV: xvi, 259, 260, 266 le Louvre: 163, 218, 253, 266, 266 n. 27, 267, 333 n. 50 Lucan/Lucain (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus): 34 Lucca/Lucques: 288, 288 n. 27, 357 Lucina: 156 Lully, Jean-Baptiste: 347 Lyon: 2, 3, 3 n. 9, 5, 8, 9–11, 12, 13–15, 15 nn. 44, 49, 16, 18, 18 n. 57, 19, 31, 34, 35, 36, 39, 42, 75, 94, 153, 156, 158, 159, 161, 164–69, 171, 245, 247, 247 n. 7, 250, 282, 283, 283 n. 11, 287, 293, 294, 305 n. 11, 342, 343, 344, 377, 387, 388 Lyons, Corneille de: 248 Machiavelli, Niccolò/Machiavel, Nicolas: 311, 317 Mâcon: 7 Madame Dimanche: 388 Maestricht: 360 Magnan, Jean: 248 Malatesta, Pandolfo: 88 Malherbe, François de: 282, 282 n. 4, 283, 283 nn. 8–9, 289, 295, 296 Mancera, Don Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar, marqués de, viceroy of New Spain: 179 Mantegna, Andrea: 164, 165 Mantua/Mantoue/Mantova: 76 n. 13, 79, 79 n. 14, 81 n. 16, 82 nn. 20–21, 83, 83 n. 25, 84, 85, 86 n. 29, 131, 131 n. 5, 137 n. 27, 139, 146, 359 Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor: 165, 166, 207 Marcus Carus, Roman emperor: 170 Marcus Julius Philippus (known as Philip), Roman emperor: 119 Margaret of Austria, sister of Emperor Ferdinand II, queen of Spain, wife of Philip III: xv, 71, 71 n. 2, 73, 74, 76, 79 n. 14, 81, 83, 84, 84 n. 26, 88, 99

414

Marguerite de Bourbon, daughter of Raymond Bérenger V, comte de Provence: 268 Marguerite de Lorraine, duchesse de Joyeuse, sister-in-law of Henri III: 51 n. 2 Marguerite de Navarre (also known as Marguerite d’Angoulême), sister of François I, queen of Navarre, wife of Henri II d’Albret: 304–07, 314 n. 36, 314 n. 37, 319, 320 Marguerite de Valois, sister of François II, Charles IX, and Henri III, queen of France, first wife of Henri IV: 285, 343 Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria, wife of Charles II, mother of Margaret of Austria: 88 Maria de’ Medici/Marie de Médicis, queen of France, second wife of Henri IV: xvii, 32 n. 3, 247–48, 252, 253, 281, 281. n. 2, 282–83, 283 n. 11, 284, 284 n. 12, 285–87, 287 n. 24, 292–96, 296 n. 45, 297–99, 376 Maria Leopoldina of Austria, daughter of archduke Leopold V, later wife of Emperor Ferdinand III: 131 n. 6 Maria Magdalena of Austria, grand duchess of Tuscany, wife of Cosimo II de’ Medici: 131 nn. 5, 7, 132, 138, 141, 358, 360, 361, 362 María Teresa of Austria/Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, queen of France, wife of Louis XIV: 323, 327, 338, 345, 391, 392 Maria von Wittelsbach of Bavaria: 130 n. 3 Mariana/Marianne of Austria, queen of Spain, second wife of Philip IV: 102 Mariana/Marianne of Neuburg, queen of Spain, second wife of Charles II: 105 Marianne of Bavaria, first wife of Emperor Ferdinand II: 131 n. 4 Marie-Louise/María Luisa d’Orléans, queen of Spain, first wife of Charles II: 104, 187 Marignan:82 n. 20, 86 n. 29 Marius: 277 Mars: 57, 57 n. 20, 58, 59, 156, 207, 251 Marseille: 156, 159, 261, 272, 273, 276, 281 n. 1, 282, 282 n. 4, 283, 283 n. 8, 11, 284, 286, 286 n. 20, 287, 287 n. 22, 288, 289, 290, 293, 294, 294 n. 40, 295,

INDEX 296, 296 n. 45, 297, 298, 299, 376 Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis): 34, 157, 266 Martin, Jean: 14, 21, 166 Mary I Tudor, queen of England: xvi, 113–15, 115 n. 7, 116–20, 122–25 Mary Tudor/Marie d’Angleterre, sister of Henry VIII, queen of France, third wife of Louis XII: 18 n. 57 Massellin, Robert: 13, 23 Masson, Jean-Papire: 37 n. 29 Matthias of Austria, from 1612 Matthias II, Holy Roman Emperor: 130, 130 n. 3, 132 Matthieu, Pierre: 34, 35, 36, 36 n. 24, 245, 246, 246 n. 5, 247, 247 n. 8, 248, 249, 249 n. 12, 250, 250 n. 15, 251–54, 254 n. 27, 255, 282, 286 n. 20, 294, 376 Maubreil, Dominique de: 4 n. 13 Maximilian II, archduke of Austria: 130 n. 20 Maximilian/Maximilien I, Holy Roman Emperor: 308 Mayenne, Charles de Lorraine, duc de: 41 Mazarini, Giulio/Mazarin, Jules, cardinal: 330, 392, 394 Mazenta, Guido: 330, 392, 393 Medici, Alessandro de’, cardinal: 138 n. 31 Medici, Anna de’, daughter of Cosimo I: 131 n. 7 Medici, Bernardetto de’: 138 n. 31 Medici, Carlo de’, cardinal, son of Ferdinando I, brother of Cosimo II: 132, 137 n. 30 Medici, Giovanni de’, Don, illegitimate son of Cosimo I: 287, 290, 293 Medici, Giovan Carlo de’, cardinal: 131 n. 7, 135, 136 Medici, Leopoldo de’, son of Cosimo II: 131 n. 7 Medici, Lorenzo de’, Don, son of Ferdinando I, brother of Cosimo II: 132, 132 n. 12, 132 n. 13, 133 n. 13, 134, 134 n. 19, 135, 137, 137 n. 30 Medici, Margherita de’, daughter of Cosimo II: 131 n. 7, 135, 136 Medici, Maria Cristina de’, daughter of Cosimo II: 131 n. 7, 135, 136 Medici, Mattias de’, son of Cosimo II: 131 n. 7, 135, 136

INDEX Medici, Piero di Cosimo de’, il Gottoso [the Gouty], ruler of Florence: 132 n. 10 Mégare: 349, 353, 354 Mégère: 396 Mémoire: 45 Memphis: 157 Menander/Ménandre: 34 Ménestrier, Claude-François: 276 Mendieta, Fray Jerónimo de: 182 Mercury/Mercure: 103, 156, 168, 171, 179, 191, 251, 396 Merlin: 115 Meslier, Guillaume: 156 Metz: 31, 32, 35, 36 Middleton, Thomas: xvii, 357, 367, 368, 370, 371 Milan/Milano: 73 n. 3, 76 n. 13, 79, 81 n. 16, 83, 84, 86 n. 29, 88, 153, 154, 357 Minotaur: 156 Minerva/Minerve: 45, 207, 208, 251, 283, 283 n. 9; see also Athena and Pallas Athena Moctezuma I (Motecuhçuma I/ Motecohzuma Ilhuicaminan), Aztec emperor: 191, 196, 197 Moctezuma II (Motecuhçuma II/ Motecohzuma Xocoyotzin), Aztec emperor: 178, 184–86, 191–92, 196–197 Moctezuma, count of, viceroy of New Spain: 194 Molière ( Jean-Baptiste Poquelin): 347, 348, 386 Monmouth, Geoffrey of: 114 Montaudon, the monk of: 276 Monteil, Guillaume Adhémar de: 268 Montfaucon: 318 Montfort, Simon de: 273 n. 43 Montmorency, Anne de, maréchal, then connétable de France: 159, 342 Moreau, Silvestre: 288 n. 25 Moréri, Louis: 246, 246 n. 5 Moretti, Giovanni Pietro: 88 Morison, Richard: 117 Mornay, Philippe de, sieur du Plessis: 235 n. 45 Motecohzuma Ilhuicaminan: 191; see also Moctezuma I (Motecuhçuma I)

415

Motecohzuma Xocoyotzin: 191; see also Moctezuma II (Motecuhçuma II) Moulins: xv, 32, 35, 37, 37 n. 30, 38, 38 n. 33, 39–42, 46, 47 Muñoz, Andrés: 114 Muses: 58, 64, 169, 172, 264, 388, 393 Náhuatl: 177, 178, 181, 184, 191, 196 Nalot, Bernard: 306 n. 21, 310 Nantes: 4, 4 n. 13, 167 Nantes, edict of: 215, 284 Naples/Napoli: 79, 83, 88, 124, 153, 399 Narbonne (Narbo): 70 Navamuel, Agustín de: 184 Nemours, Charles Emmanuel de Savoie, duc de: 247 Nemours, Henri Ier de Savoie: 276, 376 Nemours, Anne d’Este, duchesse de, wife of Jacques de Savoie-Nemours: 294 n. 40, 376 Nemours, Marie-Anne de Longueville, duchesse de, wife of Henri II de Savoie: 346, 346 n. 33 Neptune: 57, 57 n. 23, 58, 58 n. 25, 59, 144, 179, 180, 289, 296; see also Poseidon Nicolay, Nicolas de: 37, 37 n. 30, 38 n. 31 Nile: 166 Nîmes: 159, 160, 164, 168, 169, 343 n. 10, 344 the Nine Worthies: 116, 156 Noguier, Antoine: 171 Normandy/Normandie: 3 n. 9, 51, 51 n. 2, 52, 54, 54 n. 9, 55, 56, 57, 62–66, 66 n. 48, 155, 391 Northampton, Henry Howard, first earl of: 371 Nostradamus (César de Nostredame): 266, 273, 282, 296, 298 Nostradamus ( Jean de Nostredame): 266, 273, 296 Ocean: 64, 171 Olivares, Gaspar de Guzmán, conde-duque de: 96, 102 Oña, Tomás/Thomas de: 105, 106 Oppenheim: xiv, 364, 364 n. 15 Oppian: 253 Order of Teutonic Knights: 208 Ordre de la Ceinture d’Espérance: 45

416

Ordre de Malte: 283 n. 8, 286, 289, 290, 291, 291 n. 33 Ordre de Saint-Étienne: 291, 291 n. 33 Ordre de Saint-Jean: 291 Orléans: 3, 5, 13, 35, 37, 104, 161, 162, 165, 166, 167, 168, 187, 322 Orpheus/Orphée: 119, 173 Ostia: 76 n. 13, 81 n. 20, 86 n. 29 Ostiglia: 84 Ovid/Ovide (Publius Ovidius Naso): 34, 39, 41, 236, 253, 267, 271 Paget, Lord: 124 Palazzo degli Uffizi: 138, 366 Palazzo Pitti: 134, 134 n. 19, 135, 136 n. 26, 137 n. 30, 184, 361, 363, 366 Palazzo Vecchio: 361, 366 Pallas Athena: 166, 171; see also Athena and Minerva Palma Cayet, Victor: 291, 294 Palomino, Antonio: 105, 106 Paradin, Claude: 34 Paredes, Don Tómas Antonio de la Cerda, conde de, also marqués de La Laguna: 178, 179, 187, 188, 194 Paredes, María Luisa Gonzaga Manrique de Lara, condesa de: 194 Parigi, Alfonso: 138 n. 33 Parigi, Giulio: 138, 138 n. 33, 142, 147, 148, 361, 365 Paris: xvii, 2, 3, 4 n. 12, 5, 8, 10, 11–12, 13, 14, 18, 18 n. 57, 35, 41, 42, 46, 50 n. 1, 94, 152, 154, 155, 158, 160, 163–67, 171, 220, 221, 246, 266, 281, 287, 287 n. 24, 288, 303 n. 1, 323, 338, 342, 344–46, 351, 377, 378, 380 n. 13, 386, 389, 391–94 Parnasse, Mont: 58, 58 n. 25, 276, 388, 393 Paschal, Pierre: 171 Passerat, Jean: 169 Paul III (Alessandro Farnese), pope: 165 Paul Émile: 36 n. 24, 355 Peace/Paix: 57, 57 n. 20 Pegasus/Pégase: 57, 58 Pèlerin, Jean: 153 Périgueux: 378 Perrault, Claude: 270 n. 34 Perrissin, Jacques: 248 Persephone/Perséphone: 397

INDEX Perseus/Persée/Perseo: 114, 144 n. 52, 145, 147, 148, 179, 230 Persia, Ferrante: 83 n. 25 Persius/Perse (Aulus Persius Flaccus): 275, 277 Pesaro: 73 n. 3 Petrarca, Francesco/Petrarch/Pétrarque: 155, 164, 382 Pez, Andrés, admiral: 187 Phaeton: 158: Philip II the Bold, duc de Bourgogne: 119 Philip II, king of Spain: xvi, 2, 2 n. 6, 19, 73, 75, 94, 96, 113–20, 120 n. 30, 122–25, 227, 228 Philip III the Good, duc de Bourgogne: 119 Philip III, king of Spain: 71, 96, 146 Philip IV, king of Spain: 96, 100, 102, 148, 186 Philip of Macedonia: 119 Philostratus/Philostrate: 248, 248 n. 10, 253 Picardy/Picardie: 40, 41, 159, 160 Piccini, Suor Isabella: 186, 197 Pichinini, Juan Bautista: 104, 105 Piedmont: 3 n. 9, 7, 19, 164, 214 Pierio: 249 Pindar/Pindare: 45 Pizzighettone: 86 n. 29 Plantin, Christopher: 225, 229, 230, 232 n. 28, 233–39 Plato/Platon: 253 Pliny the Elder/Pline l’Ancien (Gaius Plinius Secundus): 34, 190, 253 Plutarch/Plutarque: 34, 253, 334 Pluto/Pluton: 396 il Po: 82, 85, 86 Poitiers: 154, 161, 164 Poitou: 162, 352 Pole, Reginal, cardinal, papal legate: 124 Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini): 132 n. 10 Pomègues, île de: 288 Ponsonby, William: 235 Pontlevoy: 3 n. 7 Porcelos, Diego (Rodríguez): 99 Poseidon: 166; see also Neptune Pozzuoli: 153 Primaticcio, Francesco: 163, 165 Prince of Wales, different holders of the title Henry Stuart, elder son of James I see Henry Stuart Charles I, second son of James I: 101;

INDEX see also Charles I, king of England and Scotland Prometheus/Prométhée: 396 Propertius/Properce (Sextus Aurelius Propertius): 267 Provence: xvi, 168, 262, 267, 269, 292, 295 n. 35, 294 n. 40, 344 parlement de: 262 la Prudence/Prudentia/Prudenza: 136, 191, 215, 309, 311, 314, 315 Pyrénées/Pyrenees: 171, 172, 323 n. 1 Quintus Marcius Rex, Roman consul: 170 Racine, Jean: 324, 395 Ramírez, Jerónimo: 100 Rámirez de Prado, Lorenzo: 102, 103, 104 Ramus, Petrus (Pierre de la Ramée): 12 Raymond Bérenger V, last comte de Provence: 268 Reims: 3, 5, 5 n. 16, 6, 7, 12 Remerville, Joseph François de, sieur de Saint-Quentin: 261, 261 n. 11, 269 Renard: 122 Renialme, Ascanius de: 235 la Renommée: 45, 262; see also Fame/Fama Revere: 81 n. 20, 86 n. 29 Rhône: 166, 343 Ricci, Francisco: 187 Richer, Jean: 153 Ricouvri, Dominique (known as le Florentin): 4 Rinaldi, Ugo: 137, 137 n. 30, 138, 139, 140, 148 Rizzi, Francisco: 103 Rochester: 227 Rodríguez, Antonio: 184, 186, 192 Roffet, Jacques: 14, 21, 22 Rogers, John: 118 Roland: 154 Rollet, Philibert: 15 n. 47 Rollon/Rollo: 66, 66 n. 48 Rome: 6, 51, 63, 66, 81, 86, 146, 147, 153, 156, 157, 161, 163, 165, 170, 173, 207, 220, 221, 255, 265 n. 20, 273 n. 49, 282 n. 6, 285, 297, 342, 381 Ronsard, Pierre de: 377 Roquelaure de Saint-Aubin, Pierre de, prieur de Saint-Gilles: 291

417

Rosso Fiorentino: 163, 163 n. 62, 164 Rotterdam: 239 Rouen: 2, 3, 3 n. 9, 4 n. 12, 5, 11, 13, 14, 18, 32, 34, 35, 36, 52, 153, 154, 155, 164–67, 173 Rouillé, Guillaume: 13, 15, 15 n. 49, 16, 20 Round Table, knights of/Table Ronde, chevaliers de: 115, 382, 388 Roussel de Bretteville, Jean: 53, 54 n. 9, 59 Rousset, Jehan: 24 Roville, Guillaume: 307 n. 23 Roxane: 253 Rubens, Peter Paul: 253, 294, 296, 296 n. 45, 298 Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor: 130 n. 3 Ruffi, Antoine de: 282, 297, 298 Ruffi, Louis-Antoine de: 261, 263, 275, 282, 297, 299 Rugginosi, academicians: 137 n. 30, 139; see also i Storditi Sabran, Garsende de, comtesse de Forcalquier: 268 Sade, Jean-Baptiste de, bishop of Cavaillon: 261 n. 11 Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de: 181 Saint-André, Jacques d’Albon, marquis de Fronsac (known as le maréchal de): 305 n. 11 Saint-Aubin, Pierre Roquelaure de, prieur de Saint-Gilles: 291 la Saint-Barthélemy (known in English as the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre): 172, 378 Saint-Chamas: 167 Saint-Denis, abbaye de: 167 Saint-Jean-de-Luz: 322, 346 Saint-Quentin, battle of: 19 Saint-Seurin: 154 Saintes: 167 les Saintes-Maries: 295 n. 41 Salomon, Bernard: 15, 15 n. 46 Salon: 282, 287, 287 n. 24, 288 n. 15, 293 Saluces, marquisat de: 285 Salvadori, Andrea: 135, 137 n. 30, 139 Salviati, Francesca: 138 n. 31 Salviati, Maria: 138 n. 31 Samson: 114 Sandwich: 227

418

San Gallo, Antonio da: 163 San Isidro Labrador: 98, 106 Santander: 104 Saône: 16 n. 51, 157, 166 Saumur: 3 n. 7 Savoie: 291 Savonne: 295 n. 41 Scala, Bartolomeo: 137 n. 31 Scaliger, Joseph Juste: 249, 253 Scarabelli, Orazio: 139, 363 n. 13, 366 n. 16 Scarron, Paul: 391 Scève, Maurice: 15, 16 n. 51, 20 Schlüter, Andreas: 213, 218, 128 n. 50 Scudéry, Madeleine de: xvii, 324 Sebastian, St: 170 Segovia/Ségovie:99 Semblançay, Jacques de Beaune, baron de: 318, 327, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 337, 338, 391 n. 24, 392 Sepúvelda, Juan Ginés de: 182, 183 Serlio, Sebastiano: 166 Servi, Constantino de’: 360, 361 Sévigné, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de: 265, 265 n. 20, 395 Sextius, Caius Calvinus Sextius, Roman consul: 261, 275, 277 Sextius, pseudonym of Pierre-Joseph de Haitze: 261, 261 n. 10, 277 Shakespeare, William: 236, 365 Sidney, Sir Philip: 227, 238 Sigismund, king of Hungary, Holy Roman emperor: 201 Sigismund II, king of Poland: 209 Sillery, Nicolas Brûlart de: 284, 285, 288, 288 n. 27, 290 Silva, Rodrigo Mendez: 97 Sion: 382; see also Jerusalem/Hierusalem Simiane (Sémiane), Pauline de Grignan, marquise de: 265, 265 n. 20, 266 n. 27 Sittingbourne: 227 Solís y Rivadeneyra, Antonio de: 186, 194, 197 Somerset, Robert Carr, earl of: 370, 371 Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, daughter of Duke Ernst August, electress of Brandenburg, from 1701 queen in Prussia: 203, 204 la Sorbonne: 314 n. 37, 393 Sorel, Charles: 246

INDEX Sourdis, François d’Escoubleau de, cardinal: 295 n. 40 Spenser, Edmund: 236 Statius/Stace (Publius Papinius Statius): 45 Steelyard, merchants of: 119 Stella, Frans: 248 la Stellata: 86, 86 n. 29 Steltink, Jeanne de: 38 n. 31 Stewart, John: 12, 23 i Storditi: 137, 137 n. 30, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 147 Stroszy, Philippe: 51 n. 2 Strozzi, Lorenzo: 137 n. 30 Suffren, monsieur de: 261 n. 9, 274 Susanna: 371 Symeoni: 249 Tacca, Ferdinando: 134 n. 18 Taleus, Aud. (Omer Talon): 12 Tallemant, Paul: 266 Tallemant des Réaux, Gédéon: 394, 394 n. 43, 395 n. 45 Tamo, Angelo: 73 n. 3 Tarascon, abbaye de: 268 Tassis, Gabriele: 133 n. 13 Tasso, Torquato/le Tasse: 138 Taylor, John: 364 la Tempérance: 313 Tenochtitlán: 177, 178, 179, 181, 187, 191, 192 Thames/Tamise: 363, 364 The Hague/La Haye: 239 Thelamon: 365 Theocritus/Théocrite: 45, 350, 351, 353, 354 Theodosius/Théodose: 192 Theophrastus/Théophraste: 253 Theseus/Thésée: 156 Thomas, Maître: 169 Thomassin, Jean: 154 Thou, Jacques-Auguste de: 247, 254 Thulé: 66 Tiber/Tibre: 166 Tibullus/Tibulle (Albius Tibullus): 265 Time/le Temps: 169 Tinghi, Cesare: 136 n. 25 il Tintoretto ( Jacopo di Robusti): 371 Titus, Roman emperor: 192 Tizoctzin, Aztec emperor: 191, 196, 197 Toledo/Tolède: 98

INDEX Torquemada, Fray Juan de: 186, 192 Torres, Matias de: 105 Tory, Geoffroy: 155 Tosi, Francesco: 73 n. 3 Tuscany/Toscane: 130, 287, 298, 357 Toul: 153 Toulon: 295 n. 41 Toulouse (Tolosa): xvii, 158, 170, 171, 172, 246, 272 n. 43, 304, 305, 306 n. 17, 308, 310, 317, 319, 345 Touraine: 3 n. 9 Tournes, Jean de: 15, 15 n. 47, 313 n. 35 Tournon: 343 Tours: 3, 5, 6 n. 23, 165, 166, 167, 173, 255 Trajan: 43, 166, 171, 192, 255 Travis Pass/Tarvisio: 74 Trent/Trento: 71, 79 n. 15, 81 n. 20, 82, 86, 86 n. 29 Trino de Monferrato, Comin de: 9 Trivisano, Marcantonio: 9 n. 32 Tronçon, Jean: 326 n. 11 Troy/Troie (Troya): 115 Troyes: 4, 4 n. 11, 169 Turin: 3 n. 9 Tyndale, William: 118 Ubaldini, Federico: 265 n. 20 Urbina, Diego: 100 Urbina, Francisco, son of Diego: 100, 101 Valdés, Alonso Ramírez de: 189 Valence: 169, 287 n. 24 Valencia: 83 Valeriano, Pierio: 34, 249 Valerius Maximus/Valère Maxime: 45 Valladier, André: 282, 295 Varin, David: 248 Vasari, Giorgio: 163 Vatican: 165, 166 Vaucelles, truce of: 19 Vauzelles, Jean de: 156 Velasco, Fray Agustín Gormaz: 182 Vendôme: 3 n. 7 Venice/Venise/Venezia: 9 n. 32, 73 n. 3, 74 n. 8, 94, 186, 291, 369, 397, 398 Venot, Florent: 377, 380 n. 13 Ventadour, Anne de Lévis, duc de: 376 Ventadour, Marguerite de Montmorency, duchesse de, wife of Anne de Lévis:

419

294, n. 40, 376 Venus/Vénus: 144, 191, 271 n. 39, 281, 371; see also Aphrodite Veragua, Pedro Nuño Colón de Portugal y Castro, duque de, viceroy of New Spain: 179 Verona/Vérone: 73 n. 3, 74, 88, 359 Versailles: 218, 360 Vervins, peace of: 73, 250 Viani, Jean-Claude, abbé, prieur de Saint-Jean: 265, 265 n. 21 Victoire: 45 Vienne: 172 Villafranca, Pedro de: 103 Villedieu, Madame de, née Marie-Catherine Desjardins: xvii, 341, 344, 346, 349, 354, 355 Villena, Diego Roque López Pacheco Cabrera y Bobadilla, marqués de, viceroy of New Spain: 179 Villermon, Monsieur de: 266 Villers-Cotterêt, edict of: 9 Villiers, Pierre l’Oyseleur de: 228, 228 nn. 9–10, 229, 229 n. 11, 233–34, 235 Vincennes: 163, 333 n. 50, 365 Vincenzo I Gonzaga, duke of Mantua: 82 n. 20, 82 n. 21, 86 n. 29 Vinet, Elie: 172, 173 Vinta, Belisario: 283 n. 11 Virgil/Virgile (Publius Vergilius Maro): 43, 44, 153, 277 Virginia de’ Medici, illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I, duchess of Modena, wife of Cesare d’Este: 367 Virginio Orsini, duke of Bracciano: 284 n. 12 Vitale, Costantino: 79 Vitruvius/Vitruve (Marcus Vitruvius Pollo): 44 Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, wife of Ferdinando II: 131 n. 4 Vulcan/Vulcain: 164 Walsingham, Sir Francis: 232, 233, 235, 238 Whitchurch, Edward: 118 William III/Guillaume III, prince of Orange-Nassau, stadholder of the United Provinces, from 1689 king of Great Britain: 213, 400 n. 82

420

William of Orange: 225–30, 237, 238 n. 53, 239 Winchester bishop of: 117 scholars of: 120 Wittelsbach, Maria von: 130 n. 3 Worthies, the Nine see the Nine Worthies Wolf[e]/Woolfe, John: 76, 79 n. 14, 86 Wyatt, Sir Thomas: 113, 122 Yf, château d’: 293 Yvonet, Jean: 153 Zamet: 288 Zerli[j], Biagio: 84, 84 n. 26 Zerli, Francesco, son of Biagio: 84 n. 26 Zumárraga, Fray Juan de: 182

INDEX

Early European Research

All volumes in this series are evaluated by an Editorial Board, strictly on academic grounds, based on reports prepared by referees who have been commissioned by virtue of their specialism in the appropriate field. The Board ensures that the screening is done independently and without conflicts of interest. The definitive texts supplied by authors are also subject to review by the Board before being approved for publication. Further, the volumes are copyedited to conform to the publisher’s stylebook and to the best international academic standards in the field. Titles in Series Sociability and its Discontents: Civil Society, Social Capital, and their Alternatives in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. by Nicholas Eckstein and Nicholas Terpstra (2009) Diseases of the Imagination and Imaginary Disease in the Early Modern Period, ed. by Yasmin Haskell (2012) Giovanni Tarantino, Republicanism, Sinophilia, and Historical Writing: Thomas Gordon (c.1691–1750) and his ‘History of England’ (2012)

In Preparation Friendship and Social Networks in Scandinavia c. 1000–1800, ed. by Jón Viðar Sigurðsson and Thomas Småberg