From Birth to Power: How Baptismal Records in a Book of Hours Shed Light on the Nobility Surrounding Langres

Author: Eva Mihalik

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Bridget Whearty, Jeremy Dibbell

Easel: 52

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Records have been destroyed throughout human history, leaving gaps in our knowledge of the past that may never be completely restored. During the French Revolution, the destruction of the church’s and nobility’s documentations was commonplace; however, within the pages of a surviving 15th-century illuminated Book of Hours is a record of 17th- and 18th-century baptisms associated with the noble family of de Berman. This is the first project to decipher and translate this marginalia– marginalia that not only builds a family, but gives insight into their connections. By tracking down genealogies and various accounts about the godparents of the recorded baptisms, it shows how the de Berman family was integrated with influential figures around the city of Langres– from a Knight of Malta to a Secretary of the King. More than blemishes in a book, it is marginalia that allow for a gap in history to be repaired.