The Marriage of Louis de Blois and Marie de France

Jean Froissart's narrative focusing on the Hundred Years' War not only encompassed the major political intrigues and battles of the 1300s but also examined marriages among the nobility. Marriages were an important tool in the art of politics because they created and affirmed strategic alliances. In this miniature the illuminator presented the marriage of Louis de Blois and Marie de France, the daughter of the duke of Berry, in 1386. The couple stands before a church surrounded by friends, family, and attendants. Consistent with contemporary artistic traditions, the couple wears the extravagant fashions of the Burgundian court in the illuminator's day, rather than the costumes of the 1300s when they were actually married. Marie is sumptuously dressed, wearing a crown and jeweled belt, and both she and Louis wear capes bordered with ermine.

The illuminator departed from the text in the representation of the couple's age. Froissart described Louis as a child in his mother's arms, but the illuminator rendered both Marie and Louis as adults.