A Burgundian Death. The tournament in Le Chevalier Délibéré

Abstract

Le Chevalier Délibéré was written in 1483 by Olivier de la Marche (c. 1425-1502). The author was a diplomat and court chronicler at the Burgundian Court and an active political figure for most of his life. He produced a large number of texts, Le Chevalier Délibéré is considered his greatest literary achievement. In this thesis, I explore his use of the tournament as an allegory for life and death, as well as looking at the reception history of the text in a broader sense. Using codicological research as a starting point, I attempt to sketch the way the text was conceived, received and perceived by the author, copyists and printers, patrons and of course, readers. Le Chevalier is a delightful and somewhat underappreciated text, providing a window into the mentality of late fifteenth-century noble and urban landscapes. While the tournament is central to the text, there are many other facets that require yet more research.