Primary Sources: Medieval and Renaissance Periods: Society

"This exhibition explores the evolution of courtly clothing from the "Fashion Revolution" around 1330 to the flowering of the Renaissance in France following the accession of King François I in 1515. During this period, the modern notion of changing fashion was reborn. Because few actual garments from the Middle Ages survive, we use the art of this era — illuminated manuscripts and early printed books — to reveal its evolving styles."

"The Morgan's lavishly illustrated Phoebus was made in Paris about 1407, as was one in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Of the forty-six surviving Phoebus manuscripts, these two are the most magnificent. This presentation includes forty-five images from Phoebus and five other images depicting the noble hunt. "

"The University of Chicago is celebrating the acquisition of a manuscript of Le Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose) and its reunion with Le Jeu des échecs moralisé (The Moralized Game of Chess), a manuscript that has been in the Library’s collection since 1931. Each of these two popular medieval texts — one a courtly romance, the other a treatise on medieval society that uses the game of chess as its framework — was written and decorated in France, ca. 1365."