«Everyone Tries to Offend...» Insults to the French Monarch and his Family in the 14th – 15th Centuries

Based on the material of royal legislation, judicial documents (primarily the sentences of the Paris Parliament and pardon letters), chronicles and their illuminated manuscripts, the article analyzes verbal and non-verbal invectives used against the French rulers of the 14th-15th centuries. The author draws attention to the content of such reproaches and insults and notes, first of all, their inextricable connection with the political processes that took place in the French kingdom and society during this period: with the events of the Hundred Years’ War, the growth of taxation, and the ruin of the population. At the same time, the author of the article notes the increased interest that ordinary people expressed in the problems of the royalty itself: the rise of a new dynasty, the succession to the throne and the «double» monarchy, as well as the formation and separation of the concepts of «king» and «crown», which, in particular, allows us to better define the essence of the most serious crime of the Middle Ages - the crime of lèse-majesté.