Portrait of a medieval patron: The inventory and gift giving of Clemence of Hungary

This dissertation examines the inventory and gift giving of Queen Clemence of Hungary (1293-1328), the widow of Louis X of France. Her final testament and the hundred-page inventory of her belongings made at her death describe the works of art she owned in detail. She had reliquaries, sculptures, tapestries, paintings, jewelry, gowns, tableware, and a library that included the Peterborough Psalter and forty-two other manuscripts. Although most of these objects have not survived, I compare their descriptions with surviving works of art from the period to suggest general characteristics of many of her pieces.;The inventory records unusually thorough information about the provenance, the recipients, the weights, and the appraised values of her objects. I have analyzed this data in spreadsheets, which reveal that works of art passed through codified economic and social systems of exchange in late-medieval France. The inventory offers evidence of international gift giving as well. Long-distance gifts were one way that medieval people separated by strategic marriages maintained their relationships.;The gifts she gave in Paris proclaimed her own royal identity. Her status was in jeopardy when her husband died less than a year after their marriage, and the new king, Philippe V, refused Clemence the income that her husband had promised her. Even when she could least afford to be generous, the dowager queen offered elaborate textiles and a jewel at the height of a procession. I use medieval and modern theories of gift giving to interpret the queen's generosity. This dissertation contends that a painting of Clemence, her husband, and her son in the Chapel of Saint-Louis at Saint-Denis, as well as her son's tomb effigy were also the queen's donations, and that they glorified her family.;I argue that through her possessions, gifts, and commissions, Clemence performed the role of generous queen, and asserted her right to the status and income that were due her as a royal widow. The inventory of the belongings of Queen Clemence of Hungary left an indelible portrait of this medieval patron.