Swearing-in of Isabeau of Bavaria as regent of the kingdom. - Lot 1

Swearing-in of Isabeau of Bavaria as regent of the kingdom. Miniature on vellum skin (chips). Height 70 mm; Width: 100 mm. Under glass, marquise and gilded wood frame. Probably 18th-19th centuries. The Queen (1371-1435) kneeling, probably at Notre-Dame de Paris, is joined on either side by the Archbishop of Paris and the Provost of Merchants Jean Juvénal des Ursins, sword at her side. All three are holding hands in front of a large open book, a bible (?). In the background, two ladies-in-waiting wearing hennines; on the right, a coat-of-arms topped by a helmet bears a crenellated tower (?). From 1400, when Isabeau's husband, King Charles VI, was unable to reign due to dementia, his brother Louis, Duke of Orleans (assassinated in 1407) and his cousin Jean of Burgundy offered to rule the kingdom in his place. But it came to be accepted that a regency could fully assume the role of a living but incapacitated monarch. In 1408, Juvenal des Ursins, Advocate General at the Parliament of Paris, entrusted the regency to the Queen. The scene depicted here illustrates that moment. From then on, Isabeau played a consensual role with the factions at court.