1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910822614603321

Autore

Brown Cynthia Jane

Titolo

The queen's library : image-making at the court of Anne of Brittany, 1477-1514 / / Cynthia J. Brown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2011

ISBN

1-283-89685-0

0-8122-0490-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

xii, 402 p. : ill

Collana

Material texts

Disciplina

944/.027

Soggetti

Books and reading - History - 16th century

Books and reading - History - To 1500

Queens - Books and reading - Political aspects

Women and literature - Political aspects

Women - Books and reading - Political aspects

Women - History - Middle Ages, 500-1500

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [373]-392) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Introduction -- Chapter One. Rituals of Entry: Women and Books in Performance -- Chapter Two. Female Patronage and the Politics of Personification Allegory -- Chapter Three. Women Famous and Infamous: Court Controversies About Female Virtues -- Chapter Four. Famous Women in Mourning: Trials and Tribulations -- Chapter Five. Women Mourned -- Appendix. Manuscript and Printed Books Associated with Anne of Brittany -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

What do the physical characteristics of the books acquired by elite women in the late medieval and early modern periods tell us about their owners, and what in particular can their illustrations-especially their illustrations of women-reveal? Centered on Anne, duchess of Brittany and twice queen of France, with reference to her contemporaries and successors, The Queen's Library examines the cultural issues surrounding female modes of empowerment and book production. The book aims to uncover the harmonies and conflicts that surfaced in male-authored, male-illustrated works for and about



women. In her interdisciplinary investigation of the cultural and political legacy of Anne of Brittany and her female contemporaries, Cynthia J. Brown argues that the verbal and visual imagery used to represent these women of influence was necessarily complex because of its inherently conflicting portrayal of power and subordination. She contends that it can be understood fully only by drawing on the intersection of pertinent literary, historical, codicological, and art historical sources. In The Queen's Library, Brown examines depictions of women of power in five spheres that tellingly expose this tension: rituals of urban and royal reception; the politics of female personification allegories; the "famous-women" topos; women in mourning; and women mourned.