Artworks

This manuscript holds 114 rondeaux, each meticulously transcribed on a single page, and each adorned with 3 golden initials in a blue or red field. The rondeau is a poetic form that developed from French verse structures suitable for musical adaptation, but which became a format used by late medieval poets to showcase the musicality of their language as such. This anthology includes works by renown poets such as Jean and Clément Marot, Jean Picart, and Octavien de Saint-Gélais.

The main topic of this handy volume is love with all its highs and lows. Jean Marot and other, partially unidentified, poets pick apart a variety of emotions from desire to heartbreak. A noteworthy piece is the rondeau 57 by Clément Marot, in which he chooses an unusual motif for love poems of the time: the poet’s soul is being drawn into the lips of his beloved. This scene interplays with other literary images of the kiss and the soul, borrowed from Italian poetry and resonating with ideas from Neoplatonic thought, among others. The poem reflects the dichotomy between the carnal and the sacral, making it an exceptional work within Marot’s repertoire. However, three of the rondeaux stray away from matters of the heart in order to celebrate a historical event that likely set in motion the production of this book. 

The birth of the dauphin Francis on 28 February 1518, the French crown’s first legitimate heir after a generation of waiting, brought considerable relief to the French court. The recipient of this book was likely a member of the high aristocracy surrounding the dauphin’s parents, Francis I and Claude of France. The hopes connected to the arrival of this future king manifested themselves in the lyrical responses by renown poets including Jean and Clément Marot, who are both featured in this manuscript.