The manuscript Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds francais 146 is an unparalleled witness to the politics, society, and culture of the French royal court in the early fourteenth century. It contains an interpolated version of the Roman de Fauvel, completed by Gerves du Bus in 1314, that uniquely combines the Old French text with music setting poetry in French and Latin, high-quality illuminations (including early depictions of the architecture of medieval Paris), and further literary elaborations and additions. The narrative finds a place within several literary traditions, serving as a satire on Enguerran de Marigny, a fallen minister of Philip IV (d. 1314), and also as admonition or advice for the new king Philip V (crowned 1317). Alongside the Roman de Fauvel, fr. 146 also includes French and Latin narrative dits (the latter edited here for the first time), the complete known works of Jehannot de Lescurel, and an important French verse chronicle. Fauvel's short refrains and chant pieces are also newly collected and catalogued. Leading medievalists and younger scholars from a wide range of fields have contributed to this exciting interdisciplinary venture.
Their essays reveal the extraordinary range of material and contexts touched by Fauvel and its interpolations, adding to our understanding of political satire, of the processes of literary or musical composition, and of patronage in the medieval period, amongst numerous other topics, advancing knowledge and enriching contexts on many fronts. Generously illustrated, this volume includes essential new reference material for medievalists in political, social and urban history, art and architectural history, musicology, the history of the book and codicology, and medieval languages and literatures, principally Old French and Latin.
