''Le Livre des tournois'' (''Traicte de la Forme de Devis d'un Tournoi'') or ''King René's Tournament Book'' is a treatise describing rules for

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

s by the French prince

René d'Anjou René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...

. It is best known from what appears to be Rene's own illuminated copy from the 1460s, now in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

, Paris (MS Fr. 2695) with illustrations, or at least the drawings before colouring, attributed to

Barthélemy d'Eyck Barthélemy d'Eyck, van Eyck or d' Eyck ( 1420 – after 1470), was an Early Netherlandish artist who worked in France and probably in Duchy of Burgundy, Burgundy as a painter and manuscript illuminator. He was active between about 1440 to about ...

. The description given in the book is different from that of the

pas d'armes The () or passage of arms was a type of chivalric hastilude (martial game) that evolved in the late 14th century and remained popular through the 15th century. It involved a knight or group of knights (' or "holders") who would stake out a trave ...

held at Razilly and

Saumur Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...

; conspicuously absent are the allegorical and chivalresque ornamentations that were in vogue at the time. René instead emphasizes he is reporting on ancient tournament customs of France, Germany and the Low Countries, combining them in a new suggestion on how to hold a tournament. The tournament described is a

melee A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...

fought by two sides. Individual

joust Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

s are only briefly mentioned. In the original BnF manuscript van Eyck did the line drawings, possibly intended as preparatory only, which were later coloured either by him or by another artist. There are twenty-six full and double page illustrations. The BNF also has three illuminated copies of the manuscript made shortly after the original, MS Fr. 2692 is dated to 1488/9, Fr. 2693 to 1480–1488, and Fr. 2696 to c. 1483, plus one early modern copy, Fr. 2694 (17th century). Formerly, the MS Fr. 2695 manuscript was regarded as directly inspired by a series of tournaments held at the Anjou court at Nancy,

and

Tarascon Tarascon (; ), sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Tara ...

between 1445 and 1450, but it is now considered somewhat younger, dating to the 1460s, not least because the text makes several critical allusions the ''Traité des anciens et nouveaux tournois'' written by

Antoine de La Sale Antoine de la Sale (also ''la Salle'', ''de Lasalle''; 1385/861460/61) was a French courtier, educator and writer. He participated in a number of military campaigns in his youth and he only began writing when he had reached middle age, in the late ...

in 1459. Also, the emblem of the

duke of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon () is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont, and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. In 1416, wi ...

is represented as including two white dogs, which had fallen out of use in the 1420s and were only re-introduced by Jean II of Bourbon in 1457. Finally, the paper itself was dated to the 1450s. According to Gautier (2009), the manuscript would have been redacted during 1462–69, when René was at

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

. It was most likely complete before 1471, as an inventory of Angers castle in 1471/2 mentions a ''cayez de papier en grant volume, ouquel est le commencement d'un tournoy'', which has been identified with this manuscript.Marc-Édouard Gautier, « René d'Anjou, Le Livre des tournois », in: Gautier (ed.), ''Splendeur de l'enluminure. Le roi René et les livres'', Ville d'Angers/Actes Sud, 2009 (), pp. 276-283. The manuscript later came into possession of

Marie of Luxembourg Marie of Luxembourg (1304 – 26 March 1324) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Charles IV and I. She was the daughter of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Margaret of Brabant. Her two siblings were John of Luxembo ...

(d. 1546) and later again of Louis Nicolas Fouquet (d. 1705), then passing to Louis François de Bourbon-Conti and finally to Louis-César de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière who in 1766 sold it to the royal library of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

(which became the BNF after 1789).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:King Rene's Tournament Book Medieval tournament 15th-century illuminated manuscripts Bibliothèque nationale de France collections Combat treatises

Further reading

See also

References

External links