The Sainte-Chapelle at Vic-le-Comte is one of the most important religious buildings surviving from the 16th century in the Auvergne. It was the last of ten French royal and ducal chapels founded, broadly following the precedent set by Louis IX’s foundation of the Parisian Sainte-Chapelle in 1248. The primary function of this, and the other Saintes-Chapelles, was to provide a dignified structure within which to house fragments of the Passion relics inherited from Louis IX. For their patrons, such foundations served as important public expressions of piety, advertised the patrons’ connections to the French crown, and simultaneously functioned as valuable diplomatic tools, encouraging important guests to venerate their relics. The Sainte-Chapelle at Vic-le-Comte has received limited scholarly attention, particularly in relation to its patron John Stuart, Duke of Albany, and his position as Regent of Scotland. This paper examines this foundation and its ambitious programme of decoration in relation to the aims and ambitions of its founder. The motivations behind the project are analysed in relation to Albany’s position in Scotland, his growing prominence in France, and his strengthening ties to the Florentine Medici family. Investigated in relation to other examples of his patronage, Albany’s foundation demonstrates how issues of ancient lineage, sacred kingship, and dynastic commemoration were of central importance.
This paper examines two genealogical manuscripts, dating to 1518–19, connected to John Stuart, Duke of Albany: one currently in Paris, the other in the Hague. Examining these two works together demonstrates that some of the recent scholarship on the Hague Manuscript is inaccurate. A comparison shows that this manuscript is not the work, as frequently stated, of the Franco-Flemish rhetorician, Jean Lemaire de Belges, but rather both manuscripts are the work of the same artist/author: Bremond Domat. Domat was employed by Albany for over a decade in Albany’s home town of Mirefleurs in the Auvergne. These two manuscripts reveal a great deal about Albany’s ambitions and priorities at a time when he was still Regent of Scotland, but also when his prominence was growing in France due to connections to the powerful Florentine Medici family.
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