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THE IMPORTANCE of REPUTATION in the THEORY and PRACTICE of BURGUNDIAN CHIVALRY Bernhard Sterchi

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THE IMPORTANCE of REPUTATION in the THEORY and PRACTICE of BURGUNDIAN CHIVALRY Bernhard Sterchi THE IMPORTANCE OF REPUTATION IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BURGUNDIAN CHIVALRY JEAN DE LANNOY, THE CROYS, AND THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE1 Bernhard Sterchi This essay is about the place of moral values in certain Burgundian works of the fifteenth century, as well as in the chapter meetings of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The society of the late medieval Burgundian nobility is usually seen as having a strong ideological background - not only in the sense of a self-conscious and synchronised political community, as it is presented in other articles of the present volume, but also in the sense of a moral community claiming an elevated individual morality for its repre­ sentatives.2 In this context, reputation is not so much a value in itself, but rather the connection between people or their actions on the one hand, and social values on the other: in other words, the medium by which someone's morality is created in public. This can be exemplified in a short treatise by Jean de Lannoy, an im­ portant political figure of the second half of Philip the Good's reign. He was 1 See G. Algazi, 'Kulturkult und die Rekonstruktion von Handlungsrepertoires', in: L 'Homme. Zeitschrift for feministische Geschichtswissenschaft II (2000), pp. 105- 119, here p. 113f. This essay is based on the author's larger study Uber den Umgang mit Lob und Tadel. Normative Adelstheorie und politische Kommunikation im Bur­ gundischen Hofadel (Turnhout, 2004). I would like to thank Sonja Dlinnebeil for providing me with the transcriptions of the proceedings of the Order of the Golden Fleece under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. See her Die Protokollbucher des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies, vol. 1: Herzog Philipp der Gute, 1430-1467 (Stuttgart, 2002); other volumes are in preparation. 2 Apart from the mental universe of both Huizinga and Elias and their reception, see J. H. Hexter, 'The Education of the Aristocracy in the Renaissance', in: Journal of Modern History 22 ( 1950), pp. 1-20; C. C. Willard, 'The Concept of True Nobility at the Burgundian Court', in: Studies in the Renaissance 14 (1967), pp. 33-48; C. C. Willard, 'Jean de Werchin, Senechal de Hainaut: Reader and Writer of Courtly Literature', in: K. Busby and E. Kooper, eds., Courtly Literature: Culture and Con­ text (Amsterdam, 1990), pp. 595-603; M. Vale, War and Chivalry: Waifare and Aristocratic Culture in England, France and Burgundy at the End of the Middle Ages (London, 1981); A. J. Vanderjagt, 'Qui sa vertu anoblist'. The Concepts of noblesse and chose publicque in Burgundian Political Thought (Groningen, 1981). 100 BERNHARD STERCHI lord of the village of Lannoy (which through his initiative3 was to become a town), chamberlain of both the duke of Burgundy and the king of France, governor of Holland, Zeeland and Friesland from 1448 to 1462, governor of Walloon Flanders from 1462, and knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. For the French king he became, in 1463, captain of Amiens, Arras, Doul­ lens and Mortagne, and bailiff of Amiens.4 Between 21 October 1464 and 3 May 1465 (n.st.), he wrote a treatise in the form of a letter to his newborn son Louis, in order to instruct him about the duties of a nobleman. 5 It is the emphasis given to reputation which makes this work stand out from other, similar treatises, often written by more learned men.6 Already the structure of the chapters point in this direction. Before pro­ ceeding to the topics of the seven deadly sins, the service at court and the motif of disce mori, Lannoy presents a chapter on bien parler, and another one on bien aller. Bien parler does not only mean - as it seems to in that passage of the letter most quoted by today's historians- to excel in learned rhetorical skills in order not to stand back in the contest with non-noble courtiers.7 Across several passages, Jean de Lannoy evokes noble life and the court as a place where the spoken word has to be measured with care. The word is the arrow which cannot be taken back:8 3 See J.-M. Cauchies, 'Deux grands commis batisseurs de villes dans les Pays-Bas bourguignons: Jean de Lannoy et Pierre Bladelin (vers 1450/60)', in: De Jaques Cceur a Renault. Gestionnaires et organisations. Troisiemes rencontres, Collection Histoire, gestion, organisations 3 (Toulouse, 1995), pp. 45-59. 4 B. de Lannoy and G. Dansaert, Jean de Lannoy, le blitisseur, 1410-1492 (Paris/ Bruxelles, 1937). 5 Lettres envoyes par Jehan seigneur de Lannoy a Lays son jilz, published in De Lannoy and Dansaert, Jean de Lannoy (seen. 4), pp. 119-210. 6 This is not to say that works like the Preceptes d'Aristote aAlexandre, Bernard de C1airvaux's Epistre a Raymond chevalier de Saint-Ambroise, Ramon Llull's Livre de l'ordre de chevalerie, Brunetto Latini's Livre dou tresor, Renaut de Louhans's Livre de Mellibee et Prudence, Guillaume de Tignonville's Dits moraulx des philo­ sophes, Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea, Jacques Legrand's Livre des bonnes mceurs, Giovanni Aurispa's Debat de honneur, Buonaccorso da Montemagno's Controversie de noblesse, Diego de Valera's Petit traictye de noblesse, Hugues de Lannoy's Enseignements paternels, Instruction d'unjeune prince and Enseignement de vraie noblesse, Martin Le Franc's Estrif de fortune et vertu, Guillaume Fillastre's Traittie de conseil, Pierre Michault's Doctrinal du temps present or Charles Soillot's Debat de felicite do not have much more to say about reputation as is often recognised. See Sterchi, Ober den Umgang mit Lob und Tadel (seen. 1). 7 Hexter, 'The Education of the Aristocracy' (see n. 2), p. 14; Vale, War and Chivalry (see n. 2), p. 23f. The passage is in De Lannoy and Dansaert, Jean de Lannoy (seen. 4), p. 120f. 8 De Lannoy and Dansaert, Jean de Lannoy (seen. 4), p. 128: Et certez les parolles sont comme les jlesches, que l 'en peut legierement traire, mais non les retraire. .
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