2001/12/01 by Craig Taylor · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #European Political History Analysis #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis #Medieval and Early Modern Justice #Ecological succession #History #Crown (dentistry) #Art history #Classics #Law #Political science
paper · doi:10.1093/fh/15.4.358
openalex publication_date 2001/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The entry of Charles Vm into Reims in 1484 for his royal coronation was accompanied by a number of historical and allegorical tableaux vivants. Amongst these was a scene where Clovis received the holy balm used to anoint \nall French monarchs, an appropriate illustration of the mystical and liturgical nature of French kingship. Just before this there was another dramatic performance in which the first king of France, Pharamond, commissioned and \nreceived the Salic Law from four wise men; this celebrated the historical origins of the monarchy, the role of the king as law-giver and most famously the exclusion of women from the royal succession.1 This public celebration of \nthe importance of the Salic Law in the fabric of the French constitution demonstrated the success of Valois writers such as Jean de Montreuil and Jean Juvenal des Ursins who had championed the authority of the Salic Law \nin the debate over female succession to the throne for over eighty years. In the following century this famous authority was upheld by eminent scholars including Claude de Seyssel, Charles de Grassaille, Barthelemi de Chasseneuz, \nJean d'Angleberme and Charles Du Moulin, and thereby was established as a central pillar of French public law and a cornerstone of the constitution.