The Prince in Splendour

This history examines court festivals in medieval Europe as political display rather than as mere entertainment. Barber describes coronations, feasts, tournaments, entries, and gift-giving at royal and princely courts, showing how clothing, plate, ceremony, and staged combat advertised rank and alliance. He draws on chronicles and on surviving accounts of events from Britain and the Continent, including imperial gatherings and Arthurian-styled pageants. The argument is that splendour was a tool of government: a prince had to be seen to spend and to host. The book is a study of medieval court culture, not a biography of one ruler and not a costume catalogue.

Quarter-bound in orange cloth with gilt spine titling and a Modiglaini off-white image printed paper front board. Title blocked dark blue slipcase.