“Regardez donc à secourir vostre prince” Royal frailty and medieval medicine in early modern fairy tales

The royal and princely courts sketched out in fairy tales appear to be the place of a friable monarchical integrity. The royal body is indeed exposed to weakening attacks and confronted with high expectations, making the stability of the kingdom an uncertain ideal that is tested by the viability of its leaders, all in a close but complex relationship with the Middle Ages.