<p>In the genre of the-mirror-for-princes Erasmus Desiderius, <em>Institutio Principi Christiani</em> and Niccoló Machiavelli’s <em>Il Principe</em> are traditionally considered as a dichotomy. This thesis aims at comparing Erasmus against the norm of Machiavelli with emphasis on genre and rhetoric. A "reversed" comparative reading like this study shows that much of what is considered typical of the genre in Erasmus classic is in fact a result of the use of ethos and decorum. The study concentrates on the uses of normative language on the subjects of education, virtue, war, love, and hate to answer how the two texts differentiate in view of the legitimacy of rulers and how these differing views can be explained. This unorthodox reading of Erasmus mirror-for-princes reveals a less naïve and more pragmatic ideal prince. Though clearly separate from Machiavelli’s prince, formed by the roman discourse, the Erasmian ruler is hard to define as its antithesis. The differences in outlook constitute two different rhetorical stances in the face of the new political situation of the time and therefore share much common ground.</p>

In the genre of the-mirror-for-princes Erasmus Desiderius, Institutio Principi Christiani and Niccoló Machiavelli’s Il Principe are traditionally considered as a dichotomy. This thesis aims at comparing Erasmus against the norm of Machiavelli with emphasis on genre and rhetoric. A "reversed" comparative reading like this study shows that much of what is considered typical of the genre in Erasmus classic is in fact a result of the use of ethos and decorum. The study concentrates on the uses of normative language on the subjects of education, virtue, war, love, and hate to answer how the two texts differentiate in view of the legitimacy of rulers and how these differing views can be explained. This unorthodox reading of Erasmus mirror-for-princes reveals a less naïve and more pragmatic ideal prince. Though clearly separate from Machiavelli’s prince, formed by the roman discourse, the Erasmian ruler is hard to define as its antithesis. The differences in outlook constitute two different rhetorical stances in the face of the new political situation of the time and therefore share much common ground.

Les Eschés amoureux, poème allégorique de trente mille vers datant de 1370-1380, se présentent comme une réponse au Roman de la Rose, en rejouant notamment l’intrigue sur un échiquier. Conservé dans deux manuscrits inachevés, encore largement inédit, ce texte a rapidement été éclipsé par son commentaire en prose, Le Livre des eschez amoureux moralisés, rédigé par Évrart de Conty, médecin personnel de Charles V. La récente attribution des Eschés amoureux à ce même auteur hisse le poème initial au rang d’œuvre destinée à être (auto-)commentée ; cette auto-exégèse est déjà esquissée dans l’un des témoins du texte en vers, qui comprend un apparat de gloses marginales latines participant d’un projet auctorial. Les Eschés amoureux articulent ambition narrative et transmission de connaissances variées, en intégrant notamment en leur sein deux traductions d’auctoritates, les Remedia amoris d’Ovide et le De regimine principum de Gilles de Rome. Ils offrent une mise en fiction du savoir singulière, réservant souvent ce qui fonde l’autorité du discours à un commentaire à venir. Cette présente étude s’attache à examiner les stratégies de divulgation du savoir par le biais d’un récit à la fin du XIVe siècle, en analysant notamment les modèles investis par Les Eschés amoureux, l’assemblage d’éléments hétéroclites qui préside à l’élaboration de cette fiction et la fonction dévolue au commentaire. / The Eschés amoureux, a thirty thousand verse allegorical poem written circa 1370-1380, comes as a response to the Romance of the Rose, notably playing the initial plot on a chessboard. The text can be read in two incomplete manuscripts and is still mostly unedited. It was quickly outshone by its prose commentary, Le Livre des eschez amoureux moralisés, written by Évrart de Conty, King Charles V’s personal physician. The fact that the Eschés amoureux was recently attributed to this very same author pushes the initial poem to the rank of a work that requires (self-)commentaries; the outline of this self exegesis is to be found in one of the verse manuscripts, which comes with latin marginal glosses of major and auctorial importance. The Eschés amoureux connects a narrative project to the transmission of knowledge, inserting within the poem two translations of auctoritates, the ovidian Remedia amoris and the De regimine principum by Giles of Rome. It provides a peculiar fictionalization of knowledge, often setting aside the authoritative part of the discourse and keeping it for a forthcoming commentary. The present dissertation intends to analyze the ways knowledge was conveyed through narrative at the end of the XIVth century; it considers the models involved for this specific text, the miscellaneous items brought together in one single fiction and the part played by the commentary.

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans une double démarche : restitution d’une cohérence globale à l’œuvre d’Ibn Qutayba et essai de définition de la littérature d’adab. Elle s’articule autour de la fonction auteur dans les 'Uyºn al-AÏbær, et dans ce type de textes, ainsi que de la fonction rhétorique de cet ouvrage qui l’apparente à un recueil d’exempla de l’Occident médiéval. La parenté des 'Uyºn al-AÏbær avec le genre de l’encyclopédie y est également abordée. Enrichie d’un éclairage comparatiste apporté par la littérature médiévale occidentale, la confrontation critique de ce texte avec les interprétations qui en ont été données est fondée sur l’analyse rhétorique et stylistique du prologue des 'Uyºn al-AÏbær, ainsi que sur la lecture transversale des introductions des trois ouvrages fondamentaux d’adab d’Ibn Qutayba, que sont l’Adab al-Kætib, les 'Uyºn al-AÏbær et les Ma'ærif. La traduction annotée des deux dernières citées accompagne cette recherche. / The objectives of this thesis were twofold : the first was to restore to the work of Ibn Qutayba its overall coherence ; with this primary objective in view, it was necessary to elucidate its literary context : adab literature.The analysis is conducted firstly in terms of the author-function both in the 'Uyûn al-Akhbâr and in texts similar to it, and secondly in terms of the rhetorical function wich allies it with the Medieval exempla collections of the Western tradition. Drawing on rhetorical and stylistic analysis of the Prologue of the 'Uyûn al-Akhbâr, as well as on a transversal reading of the introductions to the three primary adab works : the Adab al-Kâtib, the 'Uyûn al-Akhbâr and the Ma'ârif of Ibn Qutayba, it was possible to confront the original with critical interpretations of the work. Annotated translations of the introductions to two of these three sister works (the 'Uyûn al-Akhbâr and the Ma'ârif) accompany this study.

Les premiers miroirs des princes apparaissent dans le monde arabo-musulman au début du VIIIe siècle après J.-C, sous l’autorité de trois secrétaires de chancellerie, kuttāb : Sālim abū al-‛Alā, ‛Abd al-Ḥamīd ibn Yaḥia et ‛Abd-Allāh ibn al-Muqaffa‛. C’est à eux que l’on doit le discours premier de l’art de gouverner, dont l’étude permet de déterminer ce qui peut s’énoncer du politique, en cette période de transition du pouvoir des Omeyyades aux Abbassides. Après la contextualisation philosophique et philologique du discours des miroirs des princes proposée en première partie, la deuxième partie de cette recherche porte sur le gouvernement de soi et examine les pratiques de soi proposées au Prince, au travers de l’emploi rhétorique des fables et de la présentation d’exercices spirituels. La troisième partie aborde la situation du conseil politique : il s’agit de montrer que la tension des rapports de pouvoir entre le sage et le Prince n’annule pas la quête d’un dire-vrai, horizon idéal de la relation de conseil. Enfin, la quatrième partie examine les modalités du gouvernement des autres au travers de l’éthique de l’apparence exigée du Prince, de la typologie des gouvernements et des fonctions du souverain. Parmi ces dernières, la justice, tant distributive que corrective, et le soin, donnent lieu à des modèles spécifiques de gouvernement. Au terme de ce parcours, l’examen de la relation du Prince à ses auxiliaires choisis, ainsi que le modèle de vertu qu’il doit présenter à ses sujets, rendent manifeste la continuité qu’il y a entre le gouvernement de soi et le gouvernement des autres. Ce peuple dont il doit prendre soin doit aussi être séduit, par un gouvernement que l’on ne peut jamais véritablement qualifier de pastoral. / The first mirrors for princes appeared in the Arabo-muslim world at the beginning of the 8th century, under the authority of three secretaries of chancellery, kuttāb, namely Sālim abū al-‛Alā, ‛Abd al-Ḥamīd ibn Yaḥia and ‛Abd-Allāh ibn al-Muqaffa‛. By analyzing this early discourse about the art of government, we aim at determining what can be stated about politics in this transition period between the Umayyad and Abbassid dynasties. After first introducing the philosophical and philological background to this discourse (to the discourse of the mirrors for princes), we shall, in the second part of this study, focus on the government of the self and look into the practices that are suggested to the Prince through the rhetorical use of fables and presentation of spiritual exercises. The third part will deal with the situation of the political counsel, showing that the tension generated by the power relationship between the wise man and the Prince does not cancel the search for frank-speech, regarded as an ideal in the counselling relationship. The fourth part will finally examine the terms and conditions of the government of others by studying the ethic of appearance imposed upon the Prince, the typology of governments and the different duties expected of the sovereign, some which, such as justice, distributive and corrective, and care give rise to specific models of government. Our investigation on the relationship established between the Prince and his chosen assistants and on the model of virtue that he is required to embody for his subjects eventually reveals the obvious continuity between the government of the self and the government of others. The Prince must not only take charge of his people but also charm them by a government that can never be really qualified as pastoral.

The present dissertation ia an analysis in the history of ideas of the 12th-century Persian-Islamic thinker Abß Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazâlî's political ideas and his political reversal, ie. his abandonment of a religiously-influenced political theory in favour of a Persian-influenced political theory. This study is based upon source studies and a comparison between his manual for government and other writings in which his political ideas are expressed, along with a comparative study of his manual and other manuals of the same period. The dissertation begins with a description of the socio-political conditions of the 11th- and 12th-century Islam and provides a background to the seizing of power in the eastern region of the Islamic realm by the Central Asian Turks, accenting their relationship to the militarily and politically enfeebled c Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. The dissertation also describes the status of political theory in the Islamic world and the various political currents of the era. During his lifetime, al-Ghazâlî was one of the foremost authorities of Islamic theology, honoured with the title Hujjat al-Islam, "sign of Islam". He was also a respected critic of Islamic philosophy who in one of his books proclaimed the caliphate to be the religiously and logically necessary head of Islam. In the mid-1090s al-Ghazâlî went through a spiritual crisis which led to his stepping down from his post as head of Nizâmiyya school in Baghdad, subsequently affiliating himself with Stjfîsm and retiring from public life. Having reemerged at the begining of the I2th century al-Ghazâlî wrote his manual Nasîhat al-Multik (Counsel for Kings) for the Saljfiq sultan Sanjar, where he in contrast to his earlier political writings employed pre-Islamic Persian ideas, eg. the idea of the ruler as being chosen by God, Farr-i îzadî (divine radiance), and the principle of justice. He now proclaimed the sultân to be the head of the Islamic state and elevated the Turkish sultan to "God's shadow on earth", not once mentioning the role of the caliphate. Furthermore, he made use of numerous fabricated Persian narratives in this book, presenting the pre-Islamic Persian era as a lost Golden Age. The present dissertation studies whether al-Ghazâlî's "conversion" to Sûfîsm in the 1090s played a role in his political reversal and his use of pre-Islamic Persian ideas, or if this should be interpreted as a literary conceit typicall such manuals. Moreover, the dissertation examines whether his transition to a Persian-influenced political theory implies a change in and therefore an abndonment of his fundamental political ideals, or if one may instead speak of a form of continuity in his political thought. This would mean that these new ideas should be seen as novel, normative sources which al-Ghazâlî employed in order to retain his fundamental political ideals under the pressure of the changed political climate. / <p>Diss. Umeå : Univ., 1994</p> / digitalisering@umu