Building the Presence of the Prince

Abstract

I n November  the two-day conference ‘Building the Presence of the Prince: The Institutions Related with the Ruler’s Works as Key Elements of the European Courts’, organised by José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid) and Merlijn Hurx (Utrecht University) took place at the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History, the Royal Dutch Archaeological Association (KNOB), Gemeente Utrecht and Stichting Professor van Winter Fonds, the conference brought together sixteen researchers, established as well as emerging scholars from various disciplines, to reflect on the building organisation and administration of royal courts in Europe from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. In their introduction, the organisers drew attention to the multidisciplinary approach necessary to answer questions on the nature, purpose and organisational structure of courtly institutions, as well as their judicial status and their role in the formation of the state. From the fourteenth century onwards, a centralised administration devoted to building works developed at several courts in Europe, which resulted in complex logistical and organisational structures. The composite network of residences, complemented by other territorial acquisitions (forests, defence works, mills, etc.), represented the sovereign throughout the entire realm. They were connected by an intricate — often centralised — administration that improved the control and upkeep of these domanial buildings, which was the topic of this conference. The opening paper by Thomas Rapin (Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance, Tours) examined the built network of Jean, Duc de Berry, in the county of Poitou, the duchy of Berry and the duchy of Auvergne. A thorough examination of the building accounts of approximately twenty sites with ongoing construction resulted in an impressive database of local craftsmen, artists and master workmen. Rapin used the metadata to illuminate the different social status of the workers, as well as the breadth of the Duke’s artistic patronage, which contributed to the art trade on an international scale. Moving the geographical scope to the Burgundian lands, the two following papers, by Robert Stein (Leiden University) and Merlijn Hurx, argued that there was no central organising body for the lands of the Burgundian composite state. While Stein focused on the ducal ordinances for the Brabantine Office of Works as a confirmation of the pre-existing situation (rather than the start of a new centralisation), Hurx’s insightful comparison of the most important territories (Flanders, Artois and Brabant) showed an increasingly centralised management of construction sites. Through the comparison of the different building administrations, Hurx searched for a common ‘Burgundian’ aspect in the organisation of the different territories.