Abstract
This sumptuous book has been produced in conjunction with the series of exhibitions and events at Dijon to mark the 500th anniversary of the siege of the city by the Swiss. The centrepiece is in some ways the tapestry originally commissioned by a confraternity of the church of Notre Dame and restored in 2008–9, a work which both gives us the first coloured depiction of the town and tells the story of the siege, with the procession of intercession and the negotiations between the governor, La Trémoille, and the Swiss. The work gives us a detailed insight into the state of Dijon in the early sixteenth century but does far more than this. It places the siege fully in the context of the wars and negotiations which in that year brought an invasion of France from the north by the English under Henry VIII and from the east by German and Swiss troops, supported by the Emperor Maximilian. The latter led directly to the siege of Dijon. In order to explain this context, though, the authors develop a full discussion of the reasons for conflict and particularly the centrality of the struggle for Italy that dominated so much of the reign of Louis XII.
The first section outlines the historical context: the struggle for the Burgundian inheritance, decided by the treaties of Arras (1482) and Senlis (1493), which more or less confirmed the Habsburgs in their control of Artois and Franche-Comté and the king of France in the duchy of Burgundy. Brief attempts by Louis XII (1498) and Philip the Fair (1504) to disturb this balance were quickly brushed aside. The other dimension was the determination of Charles VIII and Louis XII to impose themselves in Italy, the first by preposterous claims to Naples, the second by rather more convincing claims to Milan. Louis XII was more successful in Milan than in Naples. The authors invoke the arguments of Laurent Vissière on the policy of Louis XII: the creation of a sort of glacis to defend Milan in the form of complex alliances with smaller states, alliances designed generally to defend France from the threat of Habsburg power. This attempt at a pax Gallica was accompanied by an ideological emphasis on the idea of a ‘Franco-Italia’, an idea which however, could not stand up to the collapse of French power in Italy after 1510. The siege of Dijon was the culmination of a three-year crisis which led to the collapse of French power in Italy as a result of Pope Julius II’s shifting of his alliances and new links with Venice, the Swiss and the Emperor. Despite a last (pyrrhic) victory at Ravenna, French power collapsed at Novara in June 1513. On top of this came Henry VIII’s intervention. The siege of Dijon thus took place in the midst of a year of terrible reverses for French policy.
The book is about much more than the siege of Dijon itself. There are brief chapters on Julius II, the Swiss campaign of Novara, the English campaigns of 1512–13, including the sieges of Thérouanne and Tournai. The bulk of the book, though, is about the state of Dijon in 1513 and the siege itself. This includes a study of La Trémoille, the French governor, the narrative of the siege, the city’s ruling elites and the state of the fortifications, partly based on important recent archaeological work. In this context, the excellent maps come into their own since the ramparts of Dijon are not well preserved and we have to rely on detailed archaeological study. Some of the most important contributions concern the visual evidence of the siege tapestry already mentioned. This is discussed in several chapters which cover the tapestry as a work of art (and in its artistic context), as evidence for the urban landscape of the time (much of which has disappeared) and for apparel, arms and armour. A final section discusses the end of the siege and its subsequent role in Catholic devotion.
Not least in importance is the appendix which gives transcriptions of unpublished (or hitherto poorly edited) manuscripts: the journal of Jean Tabourot, an official of the Dijon Chambre des Comptes, the municipal deliberations, a selection of requests for tax reductions as a result of siege damage, a letter of Louis XII and extracts from Swiss chronicles concerning the siege. This is a scholarly and beautifully produced book which will be of great value for anyone interested in the intersections of foreign policy, warfare and the arts in the period of the early Renaissance in northern Europe. Moreover, it is marketed at a very reasonable price, given its production quality.