Medieval Art in Motion: The Inventory and Gift Giving of Queen Clémence de Hongrie

by Mariah Proctor-Tiffany

Overview

In this visually rich volume, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany reconstructs the art collection and material culture of the fourteenth-century French queen Clémence de Hongrie, illuminating the way the royal widow gave objects as part of a deliberate strategy to create a lasting legacy for herself and her family in medieval Paris.

After the sudden death of her husband, King Louis X, and the loss of her promised income, young Clémence fought for her high social status by harnessing the visual power of possessions, displaying them, and offering her luxurious objects as gifts. Clémence adeptly performed the role of queen, making a powerful argument for her place at court and her income as she adorned her body, the altars of her chapels, and her dining tables with sculptures, paintings, extravagant textiles, manuscripts, and jewelry—the exclusive accoutrements of royalty. Proctor-Tiffany analyzes the queen’s collection, maps the geographic trajectories of her gifts of art, and interprets Clémence’s generosity using anthropological theories of exchange and gift giving.

Engaging with the art inventory of a medieval French woman, this lavishly illustrated microhistory sheds light on the material and social culture of the late Middle Ages. Scholars and students of medieval art, women’s studies, digital mapping, and the anthropology of ritual and gift giving especially will welcome Proctor-Tiffany’s meticulous research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271083032
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	01/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	28 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mariah Proctor-Tiffany is Associate Professor of Art History at California State University, Long Beach.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

A Note on Terminology and Nomenclature

Introduction

1 The Life, Times, and Art of an International Queen

2 Systems of Exchange: Moving Art and Material Culture

3 The Body, the Altar, and the Table: Possessions and Sites of Identity Proclamation

4 The Queen’s Manuscripts and Identity

5 Gift Giving in the Gothic World

6 The Queen and Ritual Gift Giving

7 Gifts to Individuals, Near and Far

Conclusion: Good and Glorious Exchange

Appendix 1: The Testament of Clémence de Hongrie

Appendix 2: The Inventory of Clémence de Hongrie

Appendix 3: Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Mariah Proctor-Tiffany’s long-awaited and meticulously researched and argued book makes an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship that sits at the nexus of archival art history, feminist cultural history, and the development of object- and thing-based theoretical models for the practice of art history.”

—Alexa Kristen Sand Royal Studies Journal

“In focusing on Clémence’s use of art objects to assert her identity as queen, Proctor-Tiffany contributes to a growing body of scholarship that argues for medieval women’s agency in relationship to works of art.”

—Marian Bleeke CAA.Reviews

“Proctor-Tiffany’s emphasis on the mobility of such noble women, and the objects they owned, makes a key contribution to medieval studies.”

—Alexandra Gajewski Burlington Magazine

“The study by Proctor-Tiffany demonstrates in an exemplary manner how the two sources of inventory and will can be made fruitful for art historical research and what rich information they provide for object research (medieval subject culture in general, book, treasure and textile art in particular) ready.”

—Susanna Blaser-Meier Sehepunkte

“Richly illustrated and written in clear and accessible language, this study will be of interest to many different readers for its engaging analysis of the possessions and gifts of a medieval queen.”

—Camille Serchuk French Studies

“This study highlights how a careful and intelligent reading of such documents as inventories and wills can be so useful for opening up areas that could easily be overlooked. Clémence de Hongrie may have been one of the more obscure queens of France but the survival of these documents has provided us with an insight into her career and a wardrobe that might otherwise be overlooked. Mariah Proctor-Tiffany must be commended for bringing these documents to the attention of the English-speaking world and for drawing out so much insightful material from them.”

—Judith Collard Parergon

“Proctor-Tiffany’s pathbreaking study of the art of Clémence de Hongrie, queen of France (1293–1328), argues convincingly that queens were crucial bearers of culture in medieval Europe. Proctor-Tiffany’s expertise as an art historian is evident on every page. Especially innovative is her use of urban cartography and geospatial mapping to track the sources of raw materials and their movement to the artists who created objects for personal delight, bodily adornment, spiritual devotion, or public display.”

—Theresa Earenfight, author of Queenship in Medieval Europe

“Billed as a ‘microhistory,’ Medieval Art in Motion is expansive, using understudied primary sources related to one woman to explore networks across Europe. Clémence de Hongrie’s remarkable manuscript inventory proves a treasure, in and of itself. Examining sacred and secular contexts and encompassing luxury media from bejeweled, enameled goldwork and illuminated manuscripts to coconuts and fossilized shark teeth, this beautifully produced volume restores to these works—and their impressive owner—physicality, materiality, and dynamism.”

—Asa Simon Mittman, author of Maps and Monsters in Medieval England

“By reconstituting Clémence de Hongrie’s long-lost collection, this meticulous and yet expansive study of the queen’s detailed inventory adds a significant chapter to our understanding of female royal patronage. Medieval Art in Motion excels in mapping the vibrant social life of things, the trajectories of materials sourced from distant lands, and courtly practices of gift-giving.”

—Brigitte Buettner, author of Boccaccio's Des Cleres Et Nobles Femmes: Systems of Signification in an Illuminated Manuscript

“Clémence de Hongrie is a particularly inviting subject as both her testament and the inventory made after her death in 1328 still exist. Mariah Proctor-Tiffany enlivens these texts by considering the idea of movement: provenance of materials in the objects the queen commissioned, the sources of gifts she received, and the destinations of those she bestowed on others. This study, as finely detailed as the documents and the objects they describe, goes beyond the case study to enrich our understanding of the nature and functions of collecting and the bonds created by exchange, among women and with men, in France and across Europe.”

—Joan A. Holladay, author of Illuminating the Epic: The Kassel Willehalm Codex and the Landgraves of Hesse in the Early Fourteenth Century

“A well-written and richly illustrated volume of topical interest especially to scholars of medieval art and history, women’s studies, and digital mapping, the work of Mariah Proctor-Tiffany reflects a lively image of late medieval Europe as a place of international connections and exchanges in which art was used intentionally to express and buttress women’s individual and social identity.”

—Sabina Zonno Comitatus

“With Medieval Art in Motion, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany modifies scholarly approaches to aristocratic women by pointing out the economic components of their collections and the consequences of the circulation of luxurious objects. Her analysis demonstrates the importance, for female patrons, of the inventory, a document usually associated with men.”

—Diane Antille Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture

From the Publisher