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Daly, Kathleen
(2007).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmedhist.2007.07.003
Abstract
The delphinal counsellor Mathieu Thomassin composed a Breviere des anciens droys ... du Dauphine de Viennoys (c.1453) after a career of 30 years in the service of Charles III (the French king Charles VII) and Louis II (the future Louis XI). This was his first major historical text in French, but has been overshadowed by his better-known Registre delphinal, commissioned by Louis II in 1456. This article analyses the historical culture and the conception of history revealed in the Breviere. It notes how Thomassin's careful definitions of frontiers in the past and present reflect his experience of territorial disputes. History and geography are imbued with polemic, however, allowing Thomassin to override competing claims to territory or autonomy by delphinal opponents within and outside the Dauphine. The principles set out in the Breviere were refined and extended in the Registre. However, it is unlikely that either work was ever intended for wide circulation; rather, they were written to provide 'authentic' texts which could be consulted primarily by other delphinal officers. As such, they reflect on occasion the divergence of views between a proto-professional administrator, with a concern for the long-term, and his preoccupied (if not dilettante) prince, much more subject to the requirements of realpolitik. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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About
- Item ORO ID
- 15583
- Item Type
- Journal Item
- ISSN
- 0304-4181
- Extra Information
- Interdisciplinary Conference on "France and England in the Later Middle Ages"; Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York; 1–3 April 2005.
- Keywords
- Dauphiné; France; Charles VII; Louis XI; Historical culture; Medieval administration
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Social Sciences and Global Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) - Depositing User
- Colin Smith