Traitté contre les danses.
By: Par Jean Boiseul.
Publisher: Les heritiers de Hierosme Havltin
Published: 1606
Place of publication: A La Rochelle
Language: fre
Number of pages: 50
Subjects: Dance -- Religious aspects -- Early works to 1800.; Antidance Literature.
Genres: Early works to 1800.
Description: An early example of an antidance treatise, this manual provides a foundation for arguments that continued to the end of the nineteenth century--that dancing is a sin against God. Much of Boiseul's argument is based on biblical examples (chapters and verses are noted in the margins of each page). While acknowledging that dance is mentioned in the Bible, the author is quick to point out that the dances were "joyous and spontaneous" and very different from the seventeenth-century social dances of his day. The courante, branle, and galliard come under specific attack. Additionally, Boiseul makes particularly strong arguments against the dances of non-Christian "savages."
Notes: Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as facsimile page images and full text.
Printer's mark on t.-p.