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Dissertation Information for Joseph Maximilian Gonzalez III

NAME:
- Joseph Maximilian Gonzalez III

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1999)

ADVISORS:
- David Warren Sabean
- Geoffrey W. Symcox

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Philip Newman

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Reality and representation: Myth, ritual, and royal power in Sweden and France, 1560-1610

Abstract: The focus of this dissertation is two ritual sequences: the funeral of the Swedish King Gustav I Vasa and the coronations of his son Erik XIV in 1561, and the confused series of ritual events initiated by the assassination of Henry III of Valois in 1589 that ended with his joint funeral with Henry IV of Bourbon in 1610. These events are the vehicle for an examination of the relationship between royal ritual and royal power in Renaissance Europe. Methodology for this study is inspired by cultural anthropology; specifically Arnold van Gennep's paradigm for the study and understanding of ritual, the rite de passage .

Late Medieval France and England saw the development of the doctrine of the King's Two Bodies. This doctrine proposed the king was possessed of a mortal physical body, and an eternal body that consisted of royal justice and majesty. This legal fiction gave rise to the adage that "the king never dies." As Giessey has demonstrated, in France this doctrine was elaborated ritually in the royal funeral ceremony. However, cultural historians have overlooked the equally common adage that "it is the consecration that makes the king." The two phrases stand in direct contradiction, how can something that never dies be made?

This conflict is resolved if the funeral coronation sequence is understood as an extended rite de passage. The deathbed rituals of the king constitute rites of separation, the funeral provides the liminal state where royal power is presented as both living and dead, and the coronation is occasion for the reintegration of royal power with a new mortal vessel.

Both Sweden and France at the end of the sixteenth century suffered from dynastic and religious disputes that challenged royal power. The monarchies of Sweden and France responded by making conscious strategic use of ritual to reassert royal power and provide that power with definition. Examination of these rituals reveals the tension between the ritual representation of royal power and its reality. What royal power was and what the kings wanted it to be.

MPACT Scores for Joseph Maximilian Gonzalez III

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calculated 2008-09-23 11:25:03

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Students under Joseph Maximilian Gonzalez III

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None