Corruption and Currying Favour in Medieval France

by Kristin Gleeson

Did you ever wonder where the term “currying favour” came from? I have to say it wasn't something that I ever wondered about, rather it was a term I used without thought. Recently, during an online course I took on Medieval music manuscripts, I was fascinated and astonished to discover that the term had its origins in a 14^th century satirical manuscript entitled, “Le Roman de Fauvel,” a multimedia work credited to the poet and royal chancery clerk, Gervais du Bus, with additional text by Chaillou de Pesstain and musical contributions by composers such as Phillippe de Vitry. It’s a tale of villainy, corruption and a massive abuse of power at the highest ranks. 

Hmmm. Some old tales are never old for the times. 

Through poetry, prose, music and illustrations the allegorical and cautionary tale describes the rise to power of its main character, Fauvel. What captures the imagination much more is that Fauvel is a horse. A tawny (“fauve” is tawny in English) horse that starts his life in an ordinary Parisian stable and becomes dissatisfied with his life and surroundings which he feels is too ordinary by half. As if his wish to have more manifests itself into reality, Lady Fortune comes to him and, despite her sister Raison’s (Reason) efforts to stop it--because fortune is blind—Lady Fortune puts him in the royal palace stables. In his luxurious stables he is heavily pampered while flattery, praise and adulation are heaped upon him. Fauvel believes he deserves it all. People come from far and wide to brush him, to “curry Fauvel.” No muck shall be allowed to get on Fauvel. Everyone wants his favour. Even the church showers him with attention and praise.

Fuavel’s power and influence over France’s leaders and ecclesiastical affairs increases. His numerous vices and capriciousness result in religious corruption and turmoil that cause irreparable damage to the Church and taint society. Eventually Fauvel builds his own palace and is surrounded by unscrupulous courtiers like Envy, Deceit, Vanity and Perjury. The depictions of Fauvel in the manuscript begin to take on human characteristics, with features like the king. His behaviour becomes more human like too. Eventually, he claims divine and royal authority. People come from all over to ask his advice. His rule becomes tyrannical and the only people who benefit are beautiful women and those who share Fauvel’s views. The world becomes inverted. Fools gain power, wise people are silenced. Justice is corrupt and in fact the justice court praises Fauvel. 

Fearing Lady Fortune might withdraw her favour at any time. Fauvel decides to seek a wife to consolidate his power. He chooses and proposes to Lady Fortune because he feels that marrying her would give him a huge amount of control over the world. But Fortune is fickle and she rejects Fauvel and suggests he marry Lady Vainglory instead. The wedding is attended by many guests and a joust is held with competitors that represent vices, but also the virtues, like Humility and Chastity, who hope that they might bring about Fauvel’s downfall. Ultimately, the Virtues triumph but Lady Fortune consoles Fauvel with the promise that he though he will eventually meet his demise, he will continue to spread evil through his children.

“Le Roman de Fauvel” is a dark tale with many symbolic names and metaphors that reflect the dark times France was experiencing under the tumultuous and corrupt reign of Philip IV.  The king’s administrators flagrantly abused power, admidst a growing civil service who pandered and flattered Philip IV. There was great abuse of financial power that exploited the Jewish population through heavy taxation, debasing the currency and confiscating property. The country was also in conflict with the Papacy over taxing the church. The Pope refused to allow it but King Philip ignored his pronouncement. The Pope threated to excommunicate the King if he didn’t recognize the Pope’s ultimate authority. Philip responded by sending people to arrest the Pope and imprison him. The Pope was freed but he died soon after. Another Pope was elected but he was afraid of Philip and under Philip’s direction, he moved to Avignon where the King controlled him.

The manuscript, in all its multimedia glory, gives a very vivid representation of the time period. The music is an amazing and progressive mix of monophonic and polyphonic pieces that demonstrate the avant garde skills of the internationally acclaimed Ars Nova school of music that was emerging in Paris under the master himself, Phillippe de Vitry. Filled with varying rhythms and complex multi voice parts, “Le Roman de Fauvel” shows France at the forefront of Western musical evolution and innovation with music and words that mock a corrupt society. One scene, for example, shows a noisy Charivari group wearing masks protesting Fauvel’s rule as loudly as possible, banging pots, pans, shouting and blowing horns. Another scene contains a song with political double speak of confusing and hypocritical statements, while another section parodies the clergy as singers chant words of power. 

The illustrations are lively and vividly portray the story as well as the society at large. In one illustration Fauvel sits on a throne a crown on his head, draped in a royal mantle. There are scenes showing important officials currying Fauvel with a brush that graphically tell the story of corruption that is unfolding.

The prose and poetry, written in French and Latin, is so clever and telling with the names and story so compelling. The name itself “Fauvel” was an acronym in French for Flatterie, Avarice, Villainie, (in old French “v” is also “u”) Varieté (fickleness), Envie, Lacheté (cowardice). In the tale it describes how the “vice of “fauvelling” and the muck of avarice occupy the throne and the highest position of the court. A gift makes the judge favourable and gentle. Law passes into exile, and the judgement of the law is up for sale. ‘O what infection, how great the boils that daily plague the flanks of the mighty!’ Flattering voices ascend to power. Fraudulent justice rules. ‘Merciful God apply her counsel’!” (translation from “Labouring in the Midst of Wolves” Reading a Group of ‘Fauvel Motets” by Edward H. Roesner, from Early Music History Vol. 22 (2003).

Through time, the term “currying Fauvel” became widespread across Europe, and in England, it eventually transformed into, “currying favour”. Though “Le Roman de Fauvel” may not be a modern piece of streamed content, or a wild film satire shown on Netflix and YouTube, it is a truly relevant and amazing piece of work that has many parallels today, some of them fairly chilling.

My series, The Renaissance Sojourner, set in 15th century Europe, Africa and the Silk Road shows many aspects of the political intrigue and corruption of that era. 

Kristin Gleeson is a USA Today Bestselling author of In Praise of the Bees from the Women of Ireland series as well as Celtic Knot series, The Highland Ballad series and Rise of the Celtic Gods series. Visit her website at www.krisgleeson.com

 

 

Clothes Maketh the Man/Woman Even in 14th Century Ireland by Kristin Gleeson

Irish Gael 14th century dress

You have probably heard phrases like “dress for success”, a phrase that hints of the older saying “clothes maketh the man”. Both phrases clearly indicate that clothes certainly form a part of the judgement one person makes about another, whether it’s conscious or not. It’s not a new concept. In the past, for example, in parts of Europe during Medieval and Renaissance times, nobles enacted sumptuary laws that prevented the rising middle classes from wearing certain items and fabrics in case those middle classes might be mistaken for nobles.

The history of fashion in a social history context has fascinated me for a long time, back to my teen years when I would pore over the two enclopedias of fashion history that I bought with my hard earned babysitting money. So, recently, when I was researching 14th century Ireland for a book I was writing, I came across a fashion rabbit hole about the clothes of that time period and gleefully travelled down it.

The first half of the 14th century was a time of great change and stress in Ireland. After 150 years or so dealing with the results of the Norman English encroachment in Irish land, the descendants of these invaders held sway over a significant portion of the country. The English king counted Ireland as its vassal by and large and, in an effort to establish greater control over the land created loosely drawn lordships or earldoms over the four Irish provinces whose boundaries were fluid. These earldoms were headed by descendants of the invaders and their Irish wives, as were their retainers, creating an Anglo Irish population (known as Galls).The earls, in an effort to expand the regions under their control fought each other and Irish chieftains constantly. The Irish Gaels formed alliances with each other or an earl, whichever achieved their struggle to maintain or expand their own holdings

Such conflicts often caused bouts of famine from neglected, plundered or unplanted fields. In addition to those challenges there were long stretches of bad weather which also contributed to sickness and high death rates. The arrival of the plague in 1348 made matters worse. The death rate from plague was higher among the Anglo Irish than the Irish Gaels for complex reasons of settlement, trade and social patterns (at least that’s what the sparse evidence suggests).

In such tumultuous times, when interaction with members of the other culture could be dangerous, assessing and correctly concluding a stranger’s identity when encountering them could be critical. The style of dress was part of that assessment, because there were distinct differences between the Anglo Irish manner of dress and the Irish Gael manner of dress. Many of the clothes that the Gaelic Irish wore were suited to the particular climate and others revealed a particular Gaelic sense of flamboyant, unlike the Anglo Irish who adopted the fashions most prevalent in England or places on the continent with which they traded.

One distinctive clothes item the Gaelic Irish wore was the cloak/mantle or brat. The brat was a rectangular shape garment and was sometimes large enough to wrap around the body five times. It could be brightly coloured with ornate decorative borders fringed and plaited or tablet woven. It was made of frieze (loosely woven wool) with tufts of wool tucked into the weave to keep out the rain. The brat was secured at the breast often with a bronze, silver or iron brooch or pin, depending on the wearer’s social status. Under the brat, they wore a long shirt /tunic(léine), an ankle length sleeveless garment worn next to the skin and made of either white or gel (bright) linen. It was secured at the waist by a belt with which it could be hitched up to allow greater freedom of movement. The footwear among those of higher status would be leather boots or shoes, but for those of lesser status it was more practical and cheaper to go barefoot in a country whose climate was wet with winters that were relatively mild.

Irish Gael dress 

If riding, or engaged in vigorous outdoor activity, a male Irish Gael often wore truibhas (trousers). It’s difficult to know with certainty the range of clothing women wore specifically because of the scarcity of images. The few images that do exist show them each wearing a brat and a léine, like the men, but their heads are covered with a veil or headdress and occasionally, like the men, they would wear an ionar, a form of short tunic. Other parts of the Irish Gaelic clothing range included a short-hooded cloak called a cochall and a poncho-type cloak of coloured and patterned cloth called a fallaing and interestingly, a kind of woollen truibhas (trousers) with feet and soles.

In contrast, as previously mentioned, the Anglo Irish wore more sober coloured clothes that were closer to that of the style found in England and parts of the continent. They wore tunics of mid to lower calf length with Magyar style sleeves belted at the waist, with a white sash from which a scabbard was suspended. On top of that, if needed they wore a traditional mantle or cloak. In the mid-14th century a closer fitting outfit emerged for Anglo Irish men, consisting of a knee length garment called a gipon, a forerunner of the doublet, which was worn with hose. Unlike the Gaelic Irish men, the Anglo Irish tended to be clean shaven. Anglo Irish men and women also wore an underdress, or kirtle, and an overgown, or surcoat. The surcoat could be sleeved or sleeveless, with deep armholes and vertical slits called fitchets that provided access to objects suspended from the girdle. Both male and female versions of the surcoats had a slit at the neck. In winter a mantle, or fur-lined cape was also worn. Later, the Gaelic Irish mantle was adapted and became and important trade item. Among the Anglo Irish, by the early part of the 14th century, along with the mantle, some of the men apparently adapted the Irish Gaelic truibhas as indicated in statutes that were enacted that sought to discourage Anglo Irish from adopting Irish Gaelic modes of dress.

English Medieval dress

Fashion and clothes styles for any one time period in the past can tell much about the peoples and the time in which they live. The style and composition of the clothes of the Irish Gaels show them to be aware of the need to be out in a wet climate and the need for a flexible type of clothing for active outdoors, for example. The Anglo Irish clothes reflect their close connection to their English overlord and the importance and profitability of showing their links to their trade partners in England and on the continent.

The distinct differences in fashion between the Anglo Irish and the Gaelic Irish meant that when encountering a stranger or a group of strangers, each could use the information about their appearance to judge whether they might be a potential enemy, or even a person who would more likely been exposed to the plague. And those clothes certainly might “maketh the enemy” or the friend.