Where the Middle Ages Begin
In the 15th century, a rich inheritance could be a liability rather than an asset. An unfortunate heiress could be imprisoned by predatory relatives wanting control of her lands. Marriages made for the purpose of enlarging inheritances could become a form of imprisonment. Inheritance conflicts, in or out of court, could drag on or turn violent.
Romances provided the basis of a particular kind of view of knighthood and warfare that was very influential on other literature concerning knights and warfare, as much as it was on real life practices and attitudes.
This approach is further hampered by the continually changing nature of modem psychology. Due to alterations in the criteria used for diagnoses, terms and illnesses become obsolete, thus negating our previous theories.
This article complements historical and textual analyses of Creton’s book by examining the visual narrative in Harl. MS. 1319, the only one of the seven surviving manuscripts of the text to be illustrated with a pictorial cycle of sixteen images.
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