The dissertation examines royal biographies composed during the Hundred Years War--those of Hugh Capet (anonymous, c. 1358), Pierre I of Cyprus (Guillaume de Machaut, 1369-77), Edward, the Black Prince (Herald Chandos, c. 1385), and Charles V (Christine de Pizan, 1405)--and how these texts reflect and inform the larger body of political literature composed during this period. Because biography combines the historically specific with the theoretical, it provides a privileged space in which to advance precise political aims and to confront broader issues of political theory, in particular those concerning the royal person, image, or function. Each chapter explores how a given text performs and revises concepts of political theory, and how it establishes, undermines, or transforms notions of the ideal sovereign. The first chapter shows how the Chanson de Hugues Capet 's portrayal of the Capetian dynasty's origins buttresses the fragile authority of the new Valois dynasty. The theories of dynastic continuity and legitimacy illustrated by the Chanson implicitly designate Philippe VI of Valois as the only possible successor to the Capetians. Chapters two and three put into question certain aspects of the ideal sovereign. The Prise d'Alexandrie posits Pierre I as an ideal crusader-king, yet the notion that Pierre I adequately represents an ideal crusader and the value of crusade as an objective are systematically undermined. The Vie du Prince Noir provides a double biography of Prince Edward. By exposing the failings of the Prince the Herald's text forces its readers to question the chivalric ideal as a functional possibility. Chapter four discusses Christine's biography of Charles V, in which the author revitalizes the vision of the ideal sovereign, showing prudence and concern for the bien public to be the basis for a new ideal. Vernacular royal biography articulated evolving notions of kingship. By inscribing themselves within the parameters of conventional genres and by exploiting existing models of kingship, secular royal biographies functioned as a galvanizing force while avoiding too radical a departure from traditional notions of sovereignty.
