mikeh wrote:But whether the Fool's animal could possibly be such a small creature, as opposed to a cat (or the Fool such a giant), I don't know.

SteveM wrote:

mikeh wrote:But whether the Fool's animal could possibly be such a small creature, as opposed to a cat (or the Fool such a giant), I don't know.

Having done a search I see Kaplan describes it as a small lion ---

In relation to size, perhaps there is a political allusion, a sort of David and Goliath between Leo Belgicus (the netherlands et al) and -- some enemy represented by the Fool? (Spain?) The Fool, Spain (the Spanish Captain) has been chased off ?? Who them is the final Trump - the Fool or the Lion?

The Fool certainly seems something of a Giant is some of the early painted decks ---

Also:

"Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed."

The Lion of Judah (Christ) has triumphed over those who denied God ( the fool says in his heart, there is no God )

During the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch condominium for the remainder of the conflict.[2] By the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713/14 ending the war, the Southern Netherlands fell back to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy forming the Austrian Netherlands.

Huck wrote: In my Vieville research I detected also a "de la Vieville family" connected to Rouen.

Philippe de BOURGOGNE (Duke) of BRABANT & Limburg
Born: 1404 Died: 1430

Philip I, Duke of Brabant, also known as Philip of Saint Pol (25 July 1404 – Leuven, 4 August 1430), younger son of Antoine, Duke of Brabant and Jeanne of Saint-Pol, succeeded his brother John as Duke of Brabant in 1427.[1] He had already been given Saint-Pol and Ligny as an appanage on the death of his grandfather Waleran III in 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt.
He commanded the Burgundian forces occupying Paris in 1419, but he returned to Brabant in 1420, where the populace complained of his brother's misadministration. He was declared ruwaard (regent) of Brabant. In 1421, he was reconciled with his brother, and resigned the regency. The citizens were pacified by John's "Nieuw Regiment" in 1422.
During his own reign, Philip was forced to grant concessions to the nobility in 1428. Wary of the rise of his cousin and heir Philip the Good in the Hook and Cod wars, he sought a marital alliance with Louis II of Anjou against Burgundy, marrying his daughter Yolande.
Because this marriage produced no children, his death in 1430 placed Brabant in the hands of his cousin Philip the Good, the next heir, whilst Saint-Pol and Ligny went to his great-aunt Joan, by proximity of blood.[2] His wife was placed in the guardianship of Philip the Good, until she remarried in 1431 with Francis I, Duke of Brittany.

His wife was placed in the guardianship of Philip the Good, until she remarried in 1431 with Francis I, Duke of Brittany.

(unehelich, Mutter Jeanne de Presle de Lizy, Tochter von Louis Raoul, Seigneur de Lizy, und Jeanne de Lizy) Anton Bastard von Burgund (Antoine Bâtard de Bourgogne), genannt Le Grand Bâtard, * 1421, † 5. Mai 1504, Melun Januar 1485 französische Legitimation, 1452 Herr zu Beveren, Crèvecœur und Vassy, 1464 Graf von La Roche, 1478 Graf von Grandpré, Seigneur de Bapaume, de Sainte-Menehould, de Passy, de Passavant, de Château-Thierry, de Steenberghe et de Châtillon-sur-Marne, Seigneur d‘Arleux, de Chocques, de Beuvry et de Houdain, 1470 Houtvester[2] von Holland, Ritter des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies, bestattet in Tournehem;
∞ 26. Juni 1459 (oder vor 1454) in Brüssel Jeanne Bonne Marie de La Viefville, Vicomtesse d’Aire, Dame de La Viéville, de Nédon, de Tournehem et de La Fosse,
Erbtochter von Pierre de La Viefville, Vicomte d’Aire und Isabeau de la Preure

SteveM wrote:

mikeh wrote:
The Fool certainly seems something of a Giant is some of the early painted decks ---

Some of the virtues at Notre Dame are not easily identified, and
the problems of identification are not helped by the fact that the
sculptures were knocked down several times over the centuries, and
put back perhaps not in their original positions. As best as I can
determine the six virtues to the left of the door are (right to left)
Faith, Hope, Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Humility, and the six
virtues to the right (left to right) of the door are Fortitude, Patience,
Nobility, Concord, Obedience, and Loyalty.

At first sight, these sculptures seem to anticipate Giotto. The
Notre Dame series contains all three of the theological virtues and
perhaps three of the four cardinal virtues, (if we count Chastity as
Temperance). So we have six of Giotto’s seven. In several cases
(e.g., Faith, Hope, Charity) the virtues has been independently
selected for inclusion, and the opposites defined in reference to them,
just as Giotto did. Furthermore, if we look at the scenes beneath
Faith, Hope, and Prudence we find images that are quite similar to
Giotto‘s. In the lunette below Faith, there is a man praying to an idol;
below Hope, there is a scene of a suicide; below Prudence, a giant
wandering in the woods: these images are close to Giotto’s images of
Infidelity, Desperatio, and Stultitia (D. Lackey, "GIOTTO IN PADUA:
A NEW GEOGRAPHY OF THE HUMAN SOUL," The Journal of Ethics (2005) 9: 551–572, 564

History

Originally a feudal county itself, Artois was annexed by the county of Flanders. It came to France in 1180 as a dowry of a Flemish princess, Isabelle of Hainaut, and was again made a separate county in 1237 for Robert, a grandson of Isabelle. Through inheritance, Artois came under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy in 1384. At the death of the fourth duke, Charles the Bold, Artois was inherited by the Habsburgs [1477] and passed to the dynasty's Spanish line. After the religious revolts of 1566 in the Netherlands, Artois briefly entered the Dutch Revolt in 1576, participating in the Pacification of Ghent until it formed the Union of Atrecht in 1579.
After the Union of Atrecht, Artois and Hainaut (Dutch: Henegouwen) reached a separate agreement with Philip II. Artois remained with the Spanish Netherlands until it was conquered by the French during the Thirty Years War [1640]. The annexation was acknowledged during the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, and it became a French province. Artois had already been largely French-speaking, but it was part of the Southern Netherlands until the French annexation.

In 1476–1477, he fought alongside Charles the Bold at the three great battles of Grandson, Murten and Nancy, and was taken hostage at the end of the latter by René II, Duke of Lorraine, and delivered to the King of France, who was anxious that Burgundy should never again rebel. But Antoine had no interest in making trouble, and he offered Louis his services to help stabilize the precarious political situation. He was instrumental in arranging the marriage of Duchess Mary, his niece and only child and successor of Charles the Bold, to Maximilian of Austria.

Charles I. Coskaer, marquis and later duc de La Vieuville (1582-9 January 1653)[1] was an important French noble and Superintendent of Finances of France from 1623 to 1624[2] and once again from 1651 to 1653 .[3]

He descended from the dynasty of the seigneurs of La Vieuville and was the son of Robert, seigneur de La Vieuville.[4] Being a grandnephew to a finance minister of both Henry III and Henry IV he had good connections at court.[5] He started his career being Captain of the Garde Écossaise,[6] where he quickly rose to favour of the king, so that already in 1619 he became a knight of the king's orders.[7] As the year 1623 passed, the king (who always sought an effective model of governance) found virtually all his major advisors (like Brûlart and Puysieux) and his previous superintendent, Henri de Schomberg, ineffective. This resulted partly because of an inclination towards Spain, the deadly enemy of France, by some of the ministers, as well as the inability of the military man Schomberg of governing the finances.[8] This vacuum of power was filled by the trusted captain of the king's guards. During the years he was superintendent, and due to the fact that he was the king's only advisor, he had a very important role at the French court. His views went quite well with Louis XIII's bon français views. It was him who advised the king to side with the Dutch and who had the idea to interfere directly in the Bündner Wirren.[9] Yet afterwards he didn't prove to fulfill quite what Louis XIII expected and Louis XIII became very disappointed with him. This was due to the fact that La Vieuville had grown very arrogant and incompetent and because members of his family were very corrupt.[10] Another factor was that Cardinal Richelieu who had just entered the Royal Council, had previously published various pamphlets and spread several rumours against his rival La Vieuville, in order to become the king's advisor himself.[11] Finally, he should have been executed, yet he fled from France to the Spanish Netherlands.[12] Later in Louis XIII's reign he was pardoned and returned to France, eventually becoming superintendent once more during Louis XIV's early reign.[13]