MAHAUT, COUNTESS OF ARTOIS 



the fourteenth century, Books of Hours, instead 

 of the Psalter alone as had hitherto been custom- 

 ary, came into general use in private devotion. 

 This created a fresh want, and at the same time 

 supplied a number of new subjects in which 

 the artist could reveal his skill. Arras was one 

 of the chief centres of this new movement, 

 a movement which Mahaut continued and 

 stimulated. She employed artists to illuminate 

 both sacred and secular works for her own use 

 as well as for gifts gifts counted beyond 

 compare and beside which even precious stones 

 were deemed of less worth. To Mahaut this 

 desire for beauty was a very lode-star. To 

 glance at a list of the gold- and silver-smiths' 

 work the jewelled and enamelled chaplets of 

 gold, the jewelled girdles, and buckles, and 

 braids for the hair, and the cups, some of 

 silver with crystal covers or wrought with 

 enamel and precious stones, and others of jasper 

 mounted with silver work reads like a fantasy 

 of hidden treasure in some fairy tale. Even her 

 chess-boards and she was a devotee of the 

 game were of silver or ivory, and one, we read, 

 was of jasper and chalcedony mounted with 

 silver and gems, the chess-men being of jasper 

 and crystal. 



For the younger folk about her there was 

 tennis, and also games of hazard with forfeits 

 of girdles and coifs to the ladies. In the Castle 

 garden were certain mechanical contrivances 

 which, by their sudden and unexpected action, 



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