PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Carolingians and thence to the Capetians, in order to create an uninterrupted dynasty
line. The view that French kings were descendants of Charlemagne was still popular
in the sixteenth century. 639 For example, Symphorien Champier in his De monarchia
ac triplici imperio (1537) used the title ‘king of the French’ (Rex Gallorum) to lay
claim to this particular inheritance. 640 In addition, the legitimate power of French
rulers was reinforced by a wide range of rituals, collections of royal regalia and
symbols in art and culture, such as the crown and Francis I’s device of the
salamander. However, this ‘visual propaganda’ was exemplified nowhere better than
in the coronations and royal entries to cities (often incorporating classical or Biblical
themes), which cultivated the image of a powerful yet accessible king. For example,
Henry II’s coronation in 1547 was designed to focus on his grandeur and glory, a
point further stressed by a new crown made especially for the new king. 641 Similarly,
his entry in Rouen in 1550 included the reproduction of a complete Brazilian village,
the intention being to symbolise the French king’s power as conqueror not only of the
Old World, but also of the New. 642
The notion of royal supremacy was also evident in the question of head of the Church
in France. As the authority of the French monarch was deemed comparable to that of
the Pope, the king was able to question the power of the Catholic Church regarding
the regulation of Gallican Church affairs. He claimed the protection and
639
Morissey, R. J., Charlemagne and France: A Thousand Years of Mythology (Notre Dame, IN,
2003).
640
The employment of history for political ends was also used in a different context, such as in the case
of François Hotman’s Francogallia (1573) which proposed a political theory rooted in historical
evidence which opposed absolute monarchy. See Kelley, D. R., François Hotman: A Revolutionary’s
Ordeal (Princeton, 1973).
641
Giesey, R., The Royal Funeral Ceremony in Renaissance France (Geneva, 1960); Gaborit-Chopin,
D., Regalia: les instruments du sacre des rois de France (Paris, 1987); Bryant, L. M., The King and the
City in the Parisian Royal Entry Ceremony: Politics, Ritual and Art in the Renaissance (Geneva,
1986).
642
On Henry’s entry see Wintroub, M., ‘Civilizing the Savage and Making a King: The Royal Entry
Festival of Henri II (Rouen, 1550)’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 29 (1998), pp. 465-494.
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