In 2015 the Society for European Festivals Research organized a symposium in Mons to celebrate the city's designation as a European capital of culture. The book under review is the fruit of that gathering. Scholars of festival studies have increasingly concentrated on the performative nature of these events, making this multidisciplinary collaboration quite appropriate and timely.
The book's chapters are divided into four parts: “Setting the Scene,” “Entries,” “Decor,” and “Entertainments.” Part 1 provides a historical overview of the Felissimo Viaje (Joyous Journey) of Charles V and Prince Philip through Italy and the Low Countries from 1548 to 1550. As a whole, these papers bring out the uncertainty of Philip II's succession to Charles's empire. The Flemish cities used the festivals to pursue their own interests either by selfish sycophancy, or by symbolic dissent as in Ghent. “Nowhere did the local authorities expect spontaneous manifestations of joy” (55). The century-long debate about Burgundian versus Italian or Iberian influences on Charles's court is slanted north.
Part 2 focuses on Philip's entries into Milan, Ghent, Antwerp, and Binche. In Milan, Hercules became and would remain the primary symbol of the imperial transition throughout the tour. Most cities performed their expected roles. Antwerp erected twenty-four ephemeral arches of triumph, however, the residents of Ghent completed only two. The city of Charles's birth, like other neighboring cities, resented Charles's tax increases to fund wars in Italy, but Ghent was the only city to revolt leading to Charles's brutal suppression in 1539. Scripted festivals left little room for reports of carnivalesque elements, except for a dispute among Antwerp's foreign merchants over their placement in the procession. Portuguese, Florentine, and Genoese merchants procured “large, triumphant pompous instruments” (170), leading Charles to ban the troublemakers.
As sixteenth-century festivals became more scripted, rulers restricted popular access. The two essays in part 3 illustrate that Binche festivities were primarily for the few. The first focuses on the tapestry of the seven deadly sins on the walls of the grand room in Mary of Hungary's palace, where the essential masquerade dance took place. The article interprets the tapestry as propaganda warning the nobility by illustrating the consequences of betraying the Habsburgs. The second essay describes the “enchanted salon.” In addition to the typical fountains of wine, and a giant papier-mâché dragon belching fireworks, Mary added novelties such as cast silver flowers and fruit, edible candy statues, and a fake storm that hailed sugar beans.
The three essays in part 4 consist of two on the tournament at Binche and one on the masquerade. Knights in their armor danced with fair ladies at the masquerade before being kidnapped by savages and taken to a partially ephemeral castle a few miles away. The masquerade thus morphed into a continuation of the tournament where Philip unmasked himself as the champion. The two articles on the tournament slightly disagree about the extent of the scripted nature of the combat.
The epilogue on the 1568 marriage in Munich between the Duke of Bavaria and the Duchess of Lorrain reflected a German chivalric identity merged with exotic elements, particularly Native American, that had become standard fare in Spanish festivals. The epilogue, like much of the text, raises questions about the book's title. The Joyous Journey of Charles and Philip lasted from 1548 to 1550 and included entrances outside the province of Hainault. The historical overviews in part 1 are not restricted to 1549, nor do the festivities in Milan (1548), Antwerp (1549), and Munich (1568) occur in Hainault. The title seems to suggest that Mons, the capital of Hainault, gained reflected cultural glamour from the tour, and particularly from festivities in Binche, which is distant from Mons, but within the province.
In sum, Charles V, Prince Philip, and the Politics of Succession brings together work of established scholars from a variety of disciplines who all have expertise in medieval and Renaissance festivals. The numerous, high-quality images on thick glossy paper is a visual treat. Given the quality of the text and images, and the relatively low price, I highly recommend it for university libraries and scholars of late medieval and early modern Europe.
