英国都铎宫廷炫耀式消费的政治意蕴

The Political Meaning of Conspicuous Consumption in the Tudor Court

英国都铎宫廷饮食、服饰消费不仅是维持宫廷人员生存的必要条件,还是彰显国王权威、加强王权的一种手段。为此,国王倾其财力维持炫耀式消费,饮食、服饰尽显奢华。然而,由于受国王自理传统的束缚以及议会的制约,国王只能依靠其可支配性收入,不能通过税收的方法来筹集饮食、服饰消费资金。这充分体现了都铎王权的有限性。

Diet and clothing in Tudor court not only preserved the lives of the people of royal court but also embodied the monarchs’ power.For this reason,the monarchs made great exertion to maintain conspicuous consumption by way of luxurious diet and clothing.However,such non-productive consumption in the court was curbed by the monarchs’ limited wealth due to the parliament’s restriction of king’s levying taxes for personal consumption according to the tradition that the king shall live of his own.The restricted conspicuous consumption demonstrates the limited royal power.