Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests the techniques of appropriation by which records of past greatness were harnessed to create, or shore up, modern reputations. It explores, to take a small but significant instances, French inscriptions for Henri II were rewritten in Latin, to convey an impression of antiquity. The book shows vividly how, for example, the recessive/reclusive personality of Henri III had a direct bearing on the conduct of court ceremonial and spectacle during his reign, reversing developments set in hand by some of his predecessors. It demonstrates how the two coronations of Charles V at Bologna in 1530—on the face of it occasions of religious ceremonial—were deeply implicated in political questions. The book discusses the vanity, ambition and greed which served on occasion to undermine the professions of loyalty, and the assumptions of hierarchy, on which festival structures characteristically depend.