Parody in the Burgundian Roman de Buscalus. Prose, paratext, pictures

The Roman de Buscalus is a subtle work of montage combining in its story elements of romance and of chronicle to set up a Burgundian blood-line deriving from the Trojan and Roman past. As it does so, it establishes a secular typology of interpretation which reconfigures questions of Burgundian dynastic origins and places Tournai squarely in a proto-Burgundian political space. This paper analyzes key episodes of the Buscalus through the lens of parody to show how the luxury illustrated book plays a crucial role in the development of Burgundian courtly identity under Duke Philip.