Scandal, politics and glamour: courts and courtiers in medieval Europe, 1200-1500

The main aim of the course will be to examine comparatively the development of kingly and princely courts in Europe in the late Middle Ages (roughly 1200 - 1500). Among the topics to be considered will be the distinction in meaning between court and household, the structure and personnel of the court, the character and purpose of royal ceremony, the role of ritual and religion in court life, the physical setting of the court, and the rise of courtly literature. The main courts to be studied will be those of northern and central Europe, with a focus particularly on the well documented examples of England, France, Burgundy and the imperial court of the Emperor Charles IV at Prague. Although the history of the court will be approached for the most part from the inside, through the medium of sources generated by princely households and those employed in them, the attitudes of those outside will be considered through parliamentary and literary criticism of the courtiers. Attention will be paid especially to the multiple roles of the court as a forum for the display of majesty, a community of polite living, and a point of contact between the ruler and his subjects. The approach in the course will be firmly inter-disciplinary, bringing together the insights of both political and social historians and cultural, especially art, historians.