Late medieval Paris and Prague were united historically and genealogically by ties between the royal families of each city and artistically by the international Gothic style of the year 1400. In this course, we will survey the transformative era of the 14th and early 15th centuries, examining what the artistic record informs us about patronage, artistic styles, everyday life, science, and courtly culture in the late medieval period.

Beginning with a brief examination of the Capetian court and Louis IX’s Sainte-Chapelle (consecrated in 1248), the seminar explores artistic evidence for the rise of the Valois and the social pressures or transformations which gave rise to masterful manuscripts, ascendant architecture, and intellectual innovation during their dynasty. A scholarly review of the patronage of Charles V and Jean, Duke of Berry, inter alia, provides an important introduction to key artists of the late medieval period, and focuses class discussion upon major themes of significance for the later middle ages, including courtly culture, lay literacy, the expansion of vernacular literatures, burgher domesticity, university life, mysticism and astrology, and late medieval developments in the liberal arts and theology.

Rather than focus exclusively upon the French courts linked to Valois princes, however, this course radically interrogates and reviews the relevance of outlying centers of medieval influence like Prague. The courtly culture of Prague under Charles IV of France’s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia, and his prodigal progeny, Wenceslas IV, experienced an efflorescence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The spiritual, intellectual, ideological, and aesthetic aspects of the Beautiful Style will be evaluated, underscoring the pivotal and central place of Prague in the development of European artistic traditions. Comparing Paris with Prague, while examining the courts at each medieval city, provides a foray into an equally relevant discussion concerning the fact and fictions, framing conceptions of the late medieval world.

Recent research has problematized the various ways that artistic commissions linked directly or indirectly to late medieval courts shared identifiable characteristics, transcending cultural spaces and realms. In addition, traditional approaches to the study of late medieval Paris and Prague tended to overemphasize the cultural production linked to princely patrons attached to the royal bloodlines. In fact, this methodological approach persisted in spite of a growing awareness of bourgeois sensitivity and economic prosperity amongst book manufacturers and members of either confraternities or trade guilds in the later middle ages. This course seeks to examine the cultural evidence anew in order to reassess the significance of the artworks attached to French and Bohemian elites, to be sure. Additionally, however, we will also make a concerted effort in our weekly seminar sessions to critique traditional interpretative models privileging connoisseurship, as we attempt to better understand the interaction of courtly artists and their patrons. We will also critique the idea that a western European hegemonic outlook emanated outward from the important courts like Paris, and secondly exerted a profound impact upon the creative possibilities of artists affiliated with cities like Prague. In order to better situate the relative importance of discrete forms of artistic expression within culturally diverse late medieval courtly contexts, this course will constantly return to a set of questions, which we will rely upon for our weekly discussions of the assigned readings. 

Students will come to class prepared to discuss all weekly readings with the instructor and their peers, paying attention to the following list of questions:  

(1) How does a specific medieval text or artwork contribute to the creation of personal meaning and identity?  

(2) How can a specific artwork be said to participate in larger political and propagandistic programs?  

(3) How does an artwork display aspects of both sacred and secular life?  

(4) Which artworks support or vie with traditional notions concerning courtly dominance over the modalities of artistic production?  

(5) When does an artwork inform us about the relationship between courtly centers and the outlying political periphery during the later middle ages? 

(6) How do the spiritual aspects of medieval, royal behavior align with or differ from our views about the appropriate modes of conduct for contemporary rulers?  

(7) When do culturally specific values and religious traditions significantly influence the understanding of an artwork and its related family of objects? 

(8) When do iconographic interpretations of artworks play a vital role in clarifying the values and beliefs of a patron or polity, and when would any such generalizations be more harmful than helpful? 

(9) When do certain manuscripts and objects inform us about the changing nature of artistic possibilities and the role of artists in the creation of their works?