Watered fabrics and emotions. The fabrics of emotions and the end of the Middle Ages according to Jean Renart, Christine de Pizan, and Antoine de la Sale

As the importance of appearances was constantly increasing at the end of the medieval period, we examine how the writing of affectivity evolved, in connection with a shift in the status of the motif of clothing. Usually considered as a simple descriptive tool and a secondary element in narratives, clothing is brought to the forefront in the texts of the corpus at hand. This invites us to comprehend how affectivity is expressed in a literature that foreshadows or endorses the end of courtly love ideals. Crossing the border between emotions betrayed by the body and emotions translated by clothing, we demonstrate that clothing functions as a codified emotional language fit to display select emotions in order for an individual to become better integrated with the emotional courtly communities and to partake in the game of love (still, it is necessary not to leave anything to chance, and to beware of the tricks of clothing, which can reveal too much). Everything occurs as if the characters preferred to wear love rather than to state it.... But such a language of clothes can also emphasize the divide between being and appearance, and seems to be conducive to all subversions: clothes then say less about the power of love than its perversion. This language contributes to shaping a type of character made of a new material, confronted with new rules in court and the need to control his or her image. We are thus invited to study the resultant psychological depths from every angle.