The Habit Makes the Monk: Clothes/Cloth and Valuation in Joinville’s « Vie de saint Louis »

« Tant vaut l’homme, tant vaut la cravate. Et, à vrai dire,la cravate, c’est l’homme; c’est elle par qui l’homme serévèle et se manifeste »—Honoré de Balzac. The narration dealing with clothing and cloth in La vie de saint Louis (1305-1309) represents Joinville as a fashion maven in the royal courts of his time. As Jacques Monfrin pointed out, Francesco da Barberino (1264-1348), an Italian notary and author, questioned the aged seneschal of Champagne on French court etiquette and conduct; acc..