Thesis
French
ID: <
10670/1.m001zm>
Abstract
This study does not focus in on animals as much as it questions the way they have been used by men and the part they played in the development of court life. In the first part, I address the relation between man and animal in the court context, from the standpoint of the architectural forms, administrative structures as well as the social and legal framework, in which the relation blossomed during the transition of 16th to the 17th century (chapter I to III). Chapter IV deals with yet another aspect of the man-animal relation, describing the use of the latter for alimentary purposes. The second part questions the animals’ participation in the court dynamics, at a point when, beginning with Louis XIII’s reign, courtization accelerated. My first concern was to give a detailed account of the animal’s role in the conception of the cultural models conveyed by propaganda and sponsorship originating from princes (chapter V and chapter VI). On the internal level, chapter VII and VIII describe the way the development of hunting crews and the codification of royal hunts participate in courtization. In the third part, I examine the impact of the court’s settlement on animal populations and the development of zoological architecture. Chapter IX describes the Ménagerie of Versailles, while the next one addresses the joint process of institutionalization of scientific patronage. Finally, in chapter XI and XII, I argue that the selective distribution of animals depending on the court residencies had an impact on spatial organization.