Power and Diplomacy. The Illuminated Charter in France

Only a very small minority of medieval charters, i.e. legal documents, have been decorated with drawn or painted decorations. Of course, these decorations do not change the legal content, but they are intended to impress the viewer and convince him of the importance of the issuer who usually commissions them. The decoration of documents primarily served the aesthetic upgrading and the need for representation of elites. French documents are the focus of this investigation, which will be carried out with the help of digital methods on the database monasterium.net. Primarily an art historical project, the material requires an interdisciplinary approach in which art historians, diplomatists and digital humanists work closely together. A database is ideal for this type of research because it allows the user to pose different questions to the presented material. The chronological order of the individual data sets alone makes it possible to observe the development of the decoration and to set it in relation to illuminated documents from other European countries. For the first time about 750 unpublished decorated documents from France from their beginnings until about 1420 are presented to the public. The French kings mainly went to the trouble and expense of having their charters decorated with additional decoration. In addition, monasteries or chapters, bishops and rarely private persons had charters decorated. Among the most interesting topics are the charters of Charles V the Wise (reign 13641380), who, in a hot phase of the Hundred Years` War, wanted to secure his memory in the round of French kings by means of elaborately designed charters on the one hand, but also to impress important allies on the other. A wide range analysis of French illuminated charters would provide the research community with a considerable amount of precisely dated and localised illuminations, whose study might introduce revisions in the present knowledge of art produced in France in the Middle Ages. The on-line and open access availability of a relevant mass of unpublished sources will provide scholars of art history, history, diplomatics, heraldry, palaeography and a wider public with access to a highly neglected type of sources.

The project focused on French charters with decorations and/or pictorial representations. These decorations were intended to impress and convince of the importance of the issuer. They served the need for representation in the communication of elites, mainly kings, princes and clerics. Art historians, diplomatists and digital humanists worked together on the project. It has created a database in which largely unknown pieces have been presented to the public (https://www.monasterium.net/mom/IlluminierteUrkundenFrankreich/collection). The charters are catalogued there chronologically. Using the so-called Glossar, which was perfected by the digital humanist, it is also possible to display charters from the royal chancelleries, other issuers, certain style groups and iconographic motifs. With this collection of over 1,800 entries, the international group of researchers, whose native languages are German and French, has created a compendium that presents the immense diversity of ornamentation on French charters: from inconspicuous accompanying lines to political messages. The following research findings are particularly noteworthy: Guillaume aux Blanches-Mains (1135-1202), who was the first bishop to consistently use a decorated initial letter to create a kind of trademark. Under Philippe III (1270-1280), the first faces and animals found their way into the charter; this is possible because the form was changed and the king's name now appears at the beginning. Under Philippe V (1316-1322), for the first time an illuminator was commissioned; under Philippe VI (1328-1350), an illuminator drew busts of the king and queen for the first time. Philippe VI gave decisive stimulus to the medium of the illuminated charter and knew how to utilise its effect for family, allies and other political messages. The heyday of the charter with figurative decoration was, of course, under Charles V (1364-1380): With the well-known piece at the beginning of his reign in July 1364, his memory is secured in the royal archives; in January 1367, a realistic portrait appears in the initial. But he also honoured friends and foes with representations of his power and piety (for example in December 1366, January 1368 or February 1376). Among the princes, Louis d'Orléans (1372-1407) in particular proved to be a master of signs. Under the strict rules of the genre, however, the writers also found room to give free rein to their creativity. The project's blog reports on such aspects as well as exciting new discoveries (https://cartafranca.hypotheses.org/). Initially on X, and since January 2025 on bluesky, you can gain further insights into the production of illuminated French charters (cartafranca.bsky.social). The project is a successful example of interdisciplinary collaboration and a project that, with its illustrative material, can bring the public closer to the past and their own handling of legal documents.