Bossuet's once-celebrated eloquence is now almost unknown; among those who felt his renown of yesteryear, very few will dare try to explain it. / Marked simultaneously by the Council of Trent's resolutions inciting Christian orators to show more sobriety, and by the necessity to rouse an audience not much inclined to evangelical simplicity (the courtesans of Louis XIV), the rhetoric of funeral orations may well result from the skillful integration of rhetoric techniques that were once pagan to the Christian mindset. / Bossuet taught a lesson in humility, modesty and piety, in a language that was bound to leave an imprint on the worldly; heroics, praise, moral portrait, epic tables and Cornelian vocabulary, usually destined for entertainment, were now used to convert: pagan techniques to save souls.... / It is quite possible that the eloquence of Bossuet resides within such a paradox.

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Etudier l'image de Louis XIV n’est pas nouveau. Explorer le discours sur sa personne l‘est davantage. La thématique « comment parle-t-on de Louis XIV? » sera préférée à la sempiternelle question « comment Louis XIV a-t-il fait parler de lui? ». Le processus (célébrer le roi) compte autant que le résultat (l'image du roi). Ce phénomène est souvent réduit à une vaste opération de communication. Contester que celui-ci produit une image serait une erreur. Néanmoins, réévaluer sa dimension d’hommage au roi parait indispensable. Le terme « célébration » rend compte, mieux que toute autre, de cette dualité. La célébration de Louis XIV peut être étudiée en s’écartant des matériaux traditionnels, grâce aux sermons et oraisons funèbres. En les confortant aux divertissements, la louange au roi apparait alors dans son étendue et sa complexité. Un premier chapitre définit la louange entre promotion du roi et rituel socioculturel, examine comment celle-ci a pénétré tel ou tel type de divertissements, de sermons et d‘oraisons funèbres, notamment grâce à un univers culturel commun par-delà leurs différences respectives. Un second chapitre s'intéresse aux acteurs de la louange, tente de les identifier, de pénétrer leurs motivations sans omettre le roi qui dansa dans les ballets et montra son intérêt pour les divertissements. Enfin, une étude des destinataires, souvent les mêmes dans les différents genres, complète ce panorama.Un dernier chapitre porte sur le portrait du roi, tel qu’il ressort de la louange. Celui-ci peut être approche avec la théorie du double corps du roi ou par l’idéal du roi absolu s’épanouissant sous Louis XIV. La réception de cette image, par ceux à qui elle était destinée, mérite d’être posée, ouvrant différentes problématiques, telle la possibilité d’un regard critique ou les modalités d'accueil des différents textes et de la louange elle-même. / The study of Louis XIV’s image is not new. Exploring the speeches on his Person is it more. "How do people talk about Louis XIV “will be preferred to the age old question” how did Louis XIV get himself talked about". The way it proceeds (celebrating the king) matters as much as the result (the image of the king). This phenomenon is often contemplated and reduced to a vast operation of communication. Challenging that it gives rise to an image (representation) would be wrong. Nevertheless it appears essential to reassess its contribution to the homage to the king. The term "celebration" highlights that duality. The celebration of Louis XIV can be studied irrespective of traditional work materials but through preaches and funeral orations. Together with entertainments, the praise to the king then appears in all its extent and complexity.The first chapter describes the praise as a way to promote the king as well as a social cultural rite. It focuses on how the praise has penetrated some entertainments, preaches and funeral orations in a common cultural universe beyond their respective differences. A second chapter investigates more specifically the actors of the praise with an attempt to identify those actors, to penetrate their motivations without forgetting that Louis XIV has danced in the ballets and took pleasure and interest in entertainments. Finally a study of the public often comprising the same people complete the study. The last chapter is devoted to the portrait of the king in the praise. It is possible to come close to this portrait with the theory of the king's two bodies or by the widely spread idealized image of an absolute monarch. The feeling of those people for whom the image was intended deserves to be asked. It thus leaves room for certain issues such as a possibility of critical analysis by public or patterns of acceptance of the various texts and of the praise itself.