Thesis--Faculté des lettres de Paris.

Inaug. Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Strassburg, 1903. / Notes bibliogr. Thèse soutenue sous le titre : "Leben und Werke Eustache Deschamps"

La sibylle fut un vrai prophète. Le présent travail s’interroge sur cette idée amplement diffusée à la fin du Moyen Âge, en l’analysant sous trois rapports : un rapport à l’Antiquité, d’abord, parce que les textes présentent la prophétesse comme une voix émanant des temps les plus lointains ; à l’oracle, ensuite, car le Moyen Âge utilise la parole de la sibylle pour lui faire proférer des prophéties relatives à l’histoire du Salut ou à l’histoire des hommes ; au genre (au sens de gender), enfin, puisque l’accès de la sibylle au savoir et au sacré est configuré par les différents systèmes de représentations de la femme médiévale. En s’appuyant sur des textes manuscrits inédits et des œuvres littéraires connues, cette recherche s’attache à montrer que la sibylle, oscillant entre fable et prophétie, a été conçue de manière continue comme une prophétesse du Christ, et a pu permettre aux auteurs de mettre en jeu son autorité de manière diverse. / The Sibyl was a true prophet. This study questions that commonplace idea from the Late Middle Ages, following three axes. First, it examines how the Sibyl’s speech related to Ancient times – the texts depict the prophetess’s voice as one originating in olden times. Second, it details how her words have been linked to oracles, because the Middle Ages have used her speech to deliver prophecies foretelling the history of salvation and the history of mankind. Third, it considers the relation between her voice and gender, since the Sibyl’s ability to access knowledge and reach the sacred has been determined by the various representations of the mediaeval woman. This work is based on unpublished manuscripts as well as better-known literary works. It shows that the Sibyl, oscillating between myth and prophecy, has been consistently regarded as prophetess of Christ and has enabled writers to stage her authority in different ways.

This study considers Thomas Hoccleve’s role, throughout his works, as a “religious” writer: as an individual who engages seriously with the dynamics of heresy and ecclesiastical reform, who contributes to traditions of vernacular devotional writing, and who raises the question of how Christianity manifests on personal as well as political levels – and in environments that are at once London-based, national, and international. The chapters focus, respectively, on the role of reading and moralization in the Series; the language of “vice and virtue” in the Epistle of Cupid; the moral version of Chaucer introduced in the Regiment of Princes; the construction of the Hoccleve persona in the Regiment; and the representation of the Eucharist throughout Hoccleve’s works. One main focus of the study is Hoccleve’s mediating influence in presenting a moral version of Chaucer in his Regiment. This study argues that Hoccleve’s Chaucer is not a pre-established artifact, but rather a Hocclevian invention, and it indicates the transnational literary, political, and religious contexts that align in Hoccleve’s presentation of his poetic predecessor. Rather than posit the Hoccleve-Chaucer relationship as one of Oedipal anxiety, as other critics have done, this study indicates the way in which Hoccleve’s Chaucer evolves in response to poetic anxiety not towards Chaucer himself, but rather towards an increasingly restrictive intellectual and ecclesiastical climate. This thesis contributes to the recently revitalized critical dialogue surrounding the role and function of fifteenth-century English literature, and the effect on poetry of heresy, the church’s response to heresy, and ecclesiastical reform both in England and in Europe. It also advances critical narratives regarding Hoccleve’s response to contemporary French poetry; the role of confession, sacramental discourse, and devotional images in Hoccleve’s work; and Hoccleve’s impact on literary tradition.