A Newcomer in Defamatory Propaganda: Youth (Late Fourteenth to Early Fifteenth Century)
(2026) Character Assassination Across the Ages Revised and Expanded Edition with New Theory, Chapters, and Cases — ISBN: [9789048566044], 151-165, published
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- This chapter discusses the rise of a new theme in late medieval slander campaigns: the portrayal of youth. In a time when kingly power was steadily growing, resistance against royal authority was also on the rise. Youthful monarchs were among the primary targets of character attacks, since their coming of age upset the balance of power—which might be transferred to a new generation or social group—while their immaturity was by definition morally suspect. The main perpetrators of these attacks tended to be clerics and monks, as well as nobles who wanted to maintain or expand their influence. Analyzing five cases involving the ruling families of England, Scotland, and France, the author observes how the Classical concept of the tyrant—a figure driven solely by self-indulgence—was intertwined with medieval medical theories. These theories characterized youths as intermediate beings with a perilous combination of manly (‘hot’) and feminine (‘wet’) attributes. This opened the door for accusing young monarchs of a whole range of tyrannical vices, including irrationality, sensuality, and gullibility.
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Lecuppre, G. (2026). A Newcomer in Defamatory Propaganda: Youth (Late Fourteenth to Early Fifteenth Century). In Martijn Icks, Eric B. Shiraev (ed.), Character Assassination Across the Ages Revised and Expanded Edition with New Theory, Chapters, and Cases (2nd Edition, pp. 151-165). Routledge. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/279447