ABSTRACT
The Carrousel allowed the public exercise of precision riding, of controlled horsemanship and of shared movement. It exhibited the social values of decorous behaviour, extending the education of the courtier beyond the narrow confines of showy indulgence. It attracted young noblemen to the service of the monarch. At the same time, the symbolic language traditionally used in the devices of the knights in tournaments and carrousels, and on the triumphal cars which brought them into the arena, permitted both personal and political messages to be encoded. Two principal currents can be identified in those fetes put on for the 1612-1615 dynastic marriages. Firstly, the influence of festival forms and practice from Italy; and secondly, the continuing inspiration from French festival traditions. The chivalric themes, in particular, chosen as the centrepiece of the 1612 celebrations, owe much to native French traditions.
