Carola Föller, Königskinder: Erziehung am Hof Ludwigs IX. des Heiligen von Frankreich. Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 2018. Pp. 252

• Published in: Mediaevistik 2019-01, Vol.32 (1), p.400-401
• Main Author: Jordan, William Chester
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0934-7453
• DOI: 10.3726/med.2019.01.85

The book under review is fundamentally a close reading of a few texts that throw some light on the aspirations of Louis IX with regard to the education of his children. Although other texts receive a modest amount of attention, and the author alludes to the potential relevance of other authors' writings, the principal focus is on a limited body of works. These are the writings of Vincent of Beauvais, Pierre de Fontaines's Conseil à un ami, and the king's own considered advice to his son and daughter (implicitly all his children) on how they should behave as they grow into the roles to which they were born. As one might expect from a Dominican, Vincent is quite concerned with how one ought to cultivate the moral character of the child. Pierre de Fontaine, a great jurist who served in the Parlement of Paris, wrote his book, drawing in part on the learned law, in a manner that could serve as a blueprint for understanding and appreciating justice and executing it in practice. Underlying Louis IX's own advice was a concern not limited to but much devoted to rulership. None of the texts treated are poorly known. Many have been available in well-edited editions for generations. Yet, it is fair to say that the author has performed a valuable service in putting these texts in dialog with one another.