![]() ![]() Public readings, as much as public viewings, were part of the Burgundian courtly culture. In many ways, a public reading was itself a performance of chivalry. Upon hearing or reading the stories of righteous men of lore who used and employed the arms and conditions of chivalry, even on the infidels, ancient enemies of the Catholic faith, can thereby greatly gain from fleeing all vice and loving good virtues.” “The high and exalted deeds that inspired the noble hearts of our ancient predecessors are worthy of praise, recommendation, and perpetual memory, especially among princes and noblemen. The author’s prologue, the second prologue of the Getty Gillion manuscript, presents the story to be heard as a model of chivalric life: “It should be read and very diligently heard and learned among the princes, and especially before those of young age, in order to direct their hearts and acts to valiance and virtuous deeds in everything.” The story of Gillion de Trazegnies’s adventures was intended to be read aloud, as the dedicatory owner’s prologue of the text states clearly: The manuscript was made for one of the highest-ranking members of the duke’s entourage, Louis of Gruuthuse, governor of Bruges, governor general of Holland, Zeeland, and Frisia, and Duke Philip’s trusted counselor. The county of Flanders was part of the duchy of Burgundy, as was the county of Hainaut, ruled by the French-speaking Dukes of Burgundy and known as part of the Burgundian Low Countries.įrench was the official language of the Burgundian Low Countries. ![]() Many of the most dazzling and lavish illuminated manuscripts were produced there, as well as in other cities of medieval Flanders, like Antwerp and Ghent. The manuscript was made in 1464, most likely in Bruges, at that time a major center of artistic and scribal workshops for late medieval book production. Tempera colors, gold, and ink on parchment, 15 5/16 x 11 in. The Author Hearing the Story of Gillion de Trazegnies in Romance of Gillion de Trazegnies, 1464, Lieven van Lathem, illuminator, and David Aubert, scribe. See a fuller plot summary of this medieval soap opera here. ![]() A loyal and strong western knight is captured by Muslims on his return from a pilgrimage in Jerusalem, becomes a mercenary in the service of the sultan of Egypt, kills the sultan’s Muslim enemies and thus works toward the salvation of his soul, and marries the sultan’s daughter and inherits the Muslim empire, all the while holding steadfastly to his Christian faith. The story of a Christian noble in the East would have been of great interest to the duke and his courtly entourage. The StoryĪlthough this is a work of historical fiction, the anonymous author of the romance took his inspiration from contemporary events: the advance of Muslim Ottomans in the eastern Mediterranean, who captured Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul, and the crusading projects in the Mediterranean of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1419 to 1467, for the Christian recovery of Jerusalem and Constantinople. Hear audio recordings of two passages in this post, below. The book is written in Middle French, the predecessor of the modern language whose grammar and pronunciation is much different from French today. Gillion is married to a western Christian noblewoman and an eastern Muslim princess at the same time-while leading the army of the sultan of Egypt. ![]() The spectacular medieval manuscript known as the Romance of Gillion de Trazegnies tells the story of a bigamous French-speaking knight from Hainaut (a county in present-day Belgium). Preparing to read from the Romance of Gillion de Trazegnies in the Manuscripts Study Room ![]()
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