New Database of Celebrity Gossip & PR launched (for the 15th century )
Researchers from the University of Warwick have created a fully
searchable database of more than 250 rare Renaissance festival
books (designed to document festivals mounted to mark and promote
key events in the lives of Renaissance celebrities) which is now
available for the first time on the British Library's website at www.bl.uk/treasures/festivalbooks/homepage.html
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and
directed by the University of Warwick, The Festival Books
Digitisation Project features 253 books from the late 15th to 18th
centuries, photographed and presented in full with preliminary
material, title pages, illustrations and dedications. Drawing from
the British Library's existing collection of over 2,000 volumes of
festival books, users can access and read over 14,000 pages which
describe 300 years of festival entertainments in Renaissance and
Early Modern Europe.
Important events in the life of a princely dynasty, such as
marriage, the birth of an heir, christenings, coronation or a
funeral, were celebrated by mounting a public festival. Festival
books were official accounts of these occasions, issued by or with
the approval of court, city or religious authorities and often
contained eye-witness accounts and moral and philosophical
reflections. Religious festivals took place on saints' days and
significant dates in the Church calendars and festivals were often
mounted to mark the formal entry of a prince into a city, either at
home or abroad. A range of artistic elements such as theatrical,
operatic or ballet performances would often accompany a
festival.
Highlights of the collection include:
- the earliest festival book in the collection, a description of
the eight-hour banquet for the marriage of Costanzo Sforza and
Camilla of Aragon in 1475
- a presentation copy, most likely belonging to Catherine de
Medici, of Charles IX's 1571 entry into Paris
- a fine copy of the book known as the Rubens Triumph, describing
the entry of the Infante Cardinal Ferdinand into Antwerp in 1641
and illustrated with Rubens plates
- the first and second printings of Wynkyn de Worde's 1520 edition of the festivities held at the Field of Cloth of Gold
Note for Editors: The Festival of Books
Digitisation Project, funded by the AHRC is a result of the
collaboration between the AHRC Centre for the Study of Renaissance
Elites and Court Cultures at the University of Warwick and the
British Library. The University of Warwick - British Library
Festival Books digitisation project was directed by Professor
Ronnie Mulryne and Dr Margaret Shewring of the University of
Warwick, with input from Dr Kristian Jensen and other expert staff
at the British Library.
For further information please contact:
Professor Ronnie Mulryne, University of Warwick tel: 01789
205774
Peter Dunn, Press and Media Relations Manager, Communications
Office, University House
University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 8UW Tel: 024 76 523708 or 07767
655860 email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
PR58 PJD 9th August 2005