Queens in the cult of the French Renaissance monarchy: Selected studies in public law, royal ceremonial, and political discourse, 1484-1610

This study reviews the history of late-medieval political ideas which influenced the public discourse on queenship in early modern France, 1484-1610. A cycle of ceremonial has been chosen to demonstrate the general principles of rulership enacted to affirm a queen's public jurisdiction during a regency government. The importance of legal sources, the basis of royal and "state" ceremonial, is balanced with study of political exigencies and, for the early-seventeenth century, a summary of church and state relations as recorded in the registers of the Parlement of Paris. The historical context of law and ceremonial is also examined with reference to the official records of the Chambre des comptes, the collected letters of Catherine de Medicis, contemporary accounts of the Estates General assemblies of 1484 and 1560, and the parlementary assemblies of August 1563 and May 1610. Finally, images of the royal family in early seventeenth-century France are considered as evidence attesting to the changing political culture that supported the codification of public law during Louis XIV's reign. The research includes a summary of fundamental methodological assumptions about political theory and constitutional history that affect study of women and power in early modern France.