The church and monastery of Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse were built under the attentive patronage of Margaret of Austria (1480--1530), Duchess of Savoy, Regent of the Netherlands and daughter of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. Brou was intended to symbolically and economically secure the region for the Habsburgs as well as memorialize the glory of its patron. Located in Savoy, a strategic territory in the battle for Italy between the Habsburg Empire and France, Brou's secular and religious references, chosen by the patron herself, reflect her and her family's political needs. This paper explores Margaret of Austria's role as patron and creator of Brou, her political and propagandistic agenda, her pivotal role in its planning and construction, her architectural and stylistic choices and the results of her efforts and their reception.

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Traditionnellement perçu comme expression de la politique impériale de Marguerite d’Autriche, régente des Pays-Bas, dans le duché de Savoie dont elle était douairière en Bresse, le couvent Saint-Nicolas de Tolentin à Brou monumentalise en fait la dévotion de son défunt époux Philibert II. Le souverain avait hérité des derniers ducs de la branche aînée son inclination ignorée pour l’influente congrégation observante des Augustins de Lombardie qui participant de la création renaissante, fournit, transcrit dans un style local, le schéma claustral de Brou. L’idée maîtresse de Marguerite fut le prestige de la Renaissance, découverte au dôme Saint-Jean de Turin. A l’encontre des lectures erronées du XIXe siècle, la princesse ne s’inspira pas de Champmol. Pour son italianisme, elle confia les tombeaux et l’église au français Perréal. Seules des impossibilités pratiques l’amenèrent à recruter fin 1512 le bruxellois van Boghem. Son art et son réseau brabançons accompagnaient le tropisme ibérique de la cour de Bourgogne mais dès 1524-25, il insuffla à Brou les touches maniéristes que permettait la pénétration de la Renaissance aux Pays-Bas, plus tardive qu’en France. Le programme de l’église sotériologique emphatise la piété du duc et à un second rang, celle de la maison de Marguerite, mais aussi les devoirs du regnum, que Philibert et sa veuve exercèrent dans des pays distincts : ils culminent dans l’exercice de la justice dont le modèle est le Christ du Jugement dernier qui jadis, figurait sur le vitrail nord du transept de Brou. Marguerite signa l’œuvre : promouvant l’échange compassionnel, elle incitait autant à la conversion de chacun qu’à la prière d’intercession et à la mémoire, par-delà les siècles, de l’archiduchesse dont la naissance d’exception, impériale, avait engagé la vie et le monument d’exception. / Instead of expressing, as it is traditionally regarded, the imperial politics in Savoy of Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, the convent Saint Nicolas of Tolentino in Brou she erected in her dower of Bresse embodies the devotion of her late husband Philibert II, duke of Savoy. The sovereign had received from the last dukes of the eldest branch that unrecognized inclination towards the soaring observant congregation of the Austin Friars of Lombardia, which joined the Renaissance and provided the claustral scheme of Brou. Margaret’s main idée was the search of the Renaissance she had discovered through the Duomo San Giovanni of Torino. Against the incorrect readings of the XIXth century, she was not inspired by Champmol. She entrusted the graves and the church of Brou to the Italianizing French artist Perréal, and only practical impediments prompted her to sign on van Boghem at the end of 1512. His brabantine Gothic’s practice and circle accorded to the Spanish tropism of the burgundian court but around 1524-1525, the arrival of the Renaissance in the Netherlands allowed him to bring mannerist accents. The iconology of Brou reveals its soteriological aim. It magnifies the duke’s devotion and at a second rank, the one of Margaret’s house, but also the duties of the regnum that Philibert and his widow both practiced in different countries. Their acme is the ministry of Justice whose reference is the Christ of the Last Judgment, which once figured on the lost northern glass window of the transept. Margaret signed the work: ruled by a will of compassion and exchange, it induced anyone both to the conversion for one’s own salvation, to intercede for the princes, and to remind through ages the memory of the archduchess, whose exceptional imperial birth had involved her unique life and memorial.

Background. Traditional plant use was studied in Lao PDR. Research focused on medicinal plant use by the Brou, Saek and Kry ethnic groups, traditional plant repellents against parasitic arthropods and leeches, and the phylogeny and biogeography of the medicinally-important snake gourd genus (Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae).  Methods. The ethnobiology research used a combination of structured interviews, village surveys, botanical collecting, hydro-distillation, GC-MS analysis, literature studies, and laboratory experiments. The plant systematics research used a combination of morphological studies, molecular biology laboratory work, and phylogenetic, dating and biogeographical analysis.  Results. Informants reported the use of close to 100 species to repel arthropods and leeches, many of which have constituents with documented efficacy.  Brou, Saek and Kry informants use over 75 plant species for women’s healthcare, mainly during the postpartum period for steam sauna, steam bath, hotbed, mother roasting, medicinal decoctions and infusions, and postpartum diet.  A molecular phylogeny of Trichosanthes and Gymnopetalum using a broad sampling of ~60% of their species and 4756 nucleotides of nuclear and plastid DNA shows that Gymnopetalum is nested within Trichosanthes. Fossil-calibrated Bayesian molecular dating of the Trichosanthes phylogeny reveals an early Oligocene origin of the genus, and many of the extant sections originating and diversifying during the Miocene. Biogeographical analysis shows a likely East or South Asian origin of Trichosanthes, with lineages diversifying and spreading throughout Australasia from the early Pliocene to the Pleistocene.  Discussion. Traditional plant use in Lao PDR is common and widespread. The presence among the repellent species of economical alternatives to costly synthetic repellents is tenable, and the subject of ongoing studies.  Postpartum traditions and medicinal plant use are essential parts of childbirth and postpartum recovery in these ethnic groups, and many other groups in Lao PDR. Efforts to improve maternal healthcare and reduce maternal and infant mortality need to integrate these traditions with modern notions of healthcare to achieve wider adoption. Documenting all possible uses of commonly used medicinal plant species shows that similarity in use between these ethnic groups is relatively low considering that they share, and have shared for many generations, the same environment and resources. A lack of effective cures leads to a process of continuous innovation, where effective cures are shared between cultures, but remedies of only cultural importance, or those under evaluation are culture-specific.  The Trichosanthes phylogeny implies the merging of Gymnopetalum into Trichosanthes, and this is done using available names or new combinations. A synopsis of Trichosanthes, the new combinations, and a revision of the species in Australia, are made and presented.  Conclusions. Traditional plant use is widespread in Lao PDR, and of significance to many people as a source of primary healthcare and inexpensive repellents. The important medicinal plant genus Trichosanthes includes Gymnopetalum, and has a complex biogeographic history with multiple colonization events of Australasia.

The species of Amomum Roxb. (Zingiberaceae) in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are revised. Thirty-five species and two varieties are recognised, all names are typified, and detailed descriptions and a key are provided. Nine new species are described and one species is validated. Whilst revising Amomum for the Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam, we have proposed to conserve the name Amomum villosum Lour. with a recent collection from Laos, which was not included in the protologue, as its type. Our research on the use of Amomum focuses on the use of plants during pregnancy, parturition, postpartum recovery and infant healthcare among three ethnic groups, the Brou, Saek and Kry. The investigations aim to identify culturally important traditions that may facilitate implementation of culturally appropriate healthcare. Data were collected in Khammouane province, Lao PDR, through group and individual interviews with women by female interviewers. More than 55 plant species are used in women's healthcare, of which > 90 % are used in postpartum recovery. This wealth of novel insights into plant use and preparation will help to understand culturally important practices such as confinement, dietary restrictions, mother roasting and herbal steam baths and their incorporation into modern healthcare. Through chemical analyses of Amomum we have recorded compounds with antimicrobial, analgesic and sedative effects that point to an empirical development of the traditional treatments around childbirth. Essential oils of three species used in hotbed and mother roasting, Amomum villosum Lour. Amomum microcarpum C.F.Liang & D.Fang and Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. were found to contain significant amounts of the following terpenes: b-pinene, camphor, bornylacetate, borneol, linalool, D-limonene, fenchone, terpinen-4-ol and a-terpinene.