Royal Nomadism and the Valois Castle

Miller, Scott David

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-bvk2-zm60

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Royal Nomadism and the Valois Castle

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This dissertation argues that royal nomadism, the custom whereby medieval rulers moved between many castles in a predetermined cycle, fundamentally affected the floorplan, use, and adornment of courtly built environments. This argument is a new departure for the study of castles. Scholars of medieval castles acknowledge that rulers passed through many sites on a regular basis but have never proposed that castles were designed to accommodate inter-site motion. My research focused on four residences owned by Charles V (ruled 1364-1380) and his immediate family members: The Louvre, the Châteaux of Vincennes, Hesdin in the Pas-de-Calais, and Germolles in the Saône-et-Loire Department in the former Duchy of Burgundy. It revealed that nomadism directed the development of royal castles and urban palaces at all parts of their development, resulting in an architecture that was designed to be occupied and interpreted as part of a larger, regional circuit. Royal residences clustered in areas of especial importance to preexisting itinerancy routes and that the need to maintain multiple castles fundamentally affected the building economy. The expectation that a king or high aristocrat would move on a regular basis also encouraged architectural patrons to highlight different aspects of their identity as rulers at each castle. The Louvre, adorned with sculptures of king Charles V and his family, emphasized the dynastic ties of king Charles V. Imagery in his simultaneously-constructed donjon of Vincennes derived from the Book of Revelation, suggesting that the French monarch was a double for Christ on earth. Hesdin and Germolles, owned by Charles’ brother Philip and his wife Margaret of Flanders, contrast with the residences of his brother and with each other, elaborating on the themes of chivalric romance and pastourelle poetry respectively.

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