Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
This article examines the Ballet des Polonais (1573), a magnificent festival given by Catherine de Médicis on the occasion of the election of her son, Henri de Valois, the future Henri III of France, to the throne of Poland. It argues that the invention of spectacle, as described in the official Latin account by the poet and humanist Jean Dorat, is much more relevant to the political situation of the time than scholars have previously recognized. Placed in an immediate historical, literary, and visual context, the text of the Ballet makes allusions to contemporary topics, including the military glory of Henri de Valois and the imperial destiny of the French monarchy. The elaborate web of references to books 5 and 9 of the Aeneid and to Catullus 64 displays the primary role of Catherine de Médicis, who is lauded for overcoming her maternal sorrow at Henri’s departure for the sake of promoting the Valois Empire.
I am grateful to my supervisors, Juliusz A. Chrościcki and Monique Chatenet, for their support, patience, and guidance during research in Warsaw and Paris. My thanks also to Kate Van Orden and to other, anonymous readers of this article for their valuable suggestions towards its improvement. I am especially grateful to the staff of the Warburg Institute, where I held the Saxl Fellowship in 2008 and 2010, and to the French Government, the Foundation for Polish Science, and the Lanckoroński Foundation, which all generously supported my research.