Historical and Musical Experience
On the surface, the programs of Figures 77 and 78 do not seem directly to address the historical experience of the Politiques ' primary readers. Yet it is possible that the emphasis on the ill effects of too-harsh physical training may have recalled to Charles, who was a sickly youth, disagreeable experiences of his own knightly training. More inclined to study, he had a reputation as a music lover. In her biography, Christine de Pizan mentions that after meals the king enjoyed listening to music of string instruments to raise his spirits.[17] Following Aristotle's advice in the Politics , Charles would have studied music as part of his education. The French translation of Giles of Rome's De regimine principum, Li livres du gouvernement des rois , prescribes musical training as an aid to the moral development of princes and noble youths.[18] In fact, by the fourteenth century music assumed an important part in religious and secular court ceremonials as emblematic of the rank and authority of the prince.[19] Furthermore, Paris had long enjoyed great prominence in the development of musical theory and practice.[20] The rapid growth during the fourteenth century of the ars nova —with its complex rhythms, separate national styles, and the rise of secular music—had strong ties in France not only to the University of Paris but also to the French court.[21] For example, evidence exists of close ties between the royal family—including Charles V—and the leading poet-
composer of the period, Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377).[22] As François Avril has clearly shown, manuscripts of Machaut's works, illustrated by miniaturists who worked on books commissioned by John the Good and Charles V, reveal strong links between royal and aristocratic patronage of such works.[23] Especially interesting is Avril's finding that two hands who worked on the illustrations of Machaut's writings are the illuminators of Charles V's first Ethiques and his two Politiques manuscripts: the Master of Jean de Sy and the Master of the Coronation Book of Charles V. A common thread in the pattern of royal patronage is the preference for the vernacular as an instrument of national identity and cultural superiority.
Oresme had his own strong connection with the ars nova and its theorists. In a long gloss on Chapter 7 of Book VIII Oresme cites two of his own writings when he speaks of theories of harmonic proportions and the music of the spheres and their relationship to mathematical theory.[24] During his long association with the University of Paris, Oresme undoubtedly became acquainted with leading theorists of the ars nova . He dedicated his treatise on mathematical ratios, the Algorismus proportionum , to Philippe de Vitry, who in his treatise of 1320, Ars nova , named the new musical movement in which his ideas played a prominent part. As Menut points out, Oresme's dedication was appropriate inasmuch as Philippe's "interest in music was still primarily mathematical, deeply involved with harmonic ratios, isometric rhythms and strictly patterned tonal arrangements."[25] Oresme's contribution to music theory is rooted in his mathematical and scientific interests. V. Zoubov discusses Oresme's contributions in such works as the De configurationibus qualitatitum et motuum , the De commensurabilitate vel incommensurabilitate motuum celi , and the commentary in his translation of On the Heavens . Zoubov also mentions Oresme's still-unknown treatise on the division of the monochord.[26] Oresme's glosses on Book VIII of the Politiques confirm his genuine appreciation and knowledge of the theoretical, aesthetic, and intellectual traditions of music.
The involvement of Charles V and Oresme in contemporary musical life seems especially to contradict the rather terse illustrations of Figures 77 and 78. Aristotle's theories on the education of future citizens of the ideal state find updated and concretized visual summaries. As examples of a paradigm, the illustrations serve simple indexical rather than lexical functions. Perhaps the familiarity of Oresme's primary readers with the subject accounts for the perfunctory character of the scenes. As in the illustrations of Books II (Figs. 55–57), the simplified content of Figure 77 coincides with an archaistic style and elegant decorative presentation favored by the workshop of the Master of the Coronation of Charles VI.