Juan Gil de Zamora est l’un des plus importants encyclopédistes hispaniques de langue latine. Actif à la fin du XIIIe siècle, il est lié à la cour d’Alphonse X et de Sanche IV et remplit des charges élevées dans son ordre franciscain, après des études parisiennes. Ce travail propose une editio princeps traduite et commentée de ses seize sermons mariaux répertoriés à ce jour. Elle est précédée d’une étude introductive fournissant données biographiques, réflexion sur son système encyclopédique, étude de sa part mariale et diverses découvertes homilétiques / Juan Gil of Zamora is one of the major hispanolatin encylopedist. Active at the end of the XIIIth century, he was linked with Alphonse the Xth’s and Sancho the IVth’s courts. Before playing an important part in his Franciscan Order he studied in Paris. This work provides with a translated and commented editio princeps of the sixteen marian sermons that could be listed. It goes with an introduction dealing with afresh biographical datas, thoughts on Gil’s encyclopedic system, marian production and homiletic discoveries

This thesis considers how Wikipedia justifies, structures, and legitimizes its production of knowledge. To do so the thesis positions Wikipedia as a site of conflict over the epistemic values between its wiki and encyclopaedic traditions. Through the literature review, the wiki epistemology is argued to be composed of six values: self-identification, collaboration, co-construction, cooperation, trust in the community, and constructionism. While these values are explicit, encyclopaedism’s were not found to be equally defined. To fill this gap, the thesis conducts a genre analysis of encyclopaedism. It first identifies the genre through its communicative purposes to create a universal system of total knowledge and to use this system to educate the public. Second, an analysis of recurrent social contexts within Chambers’ Cyclopaedia (1728), Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1751–72), the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1771–), and Wikipedia (2001–) finds that the communicative purposes are achieved through the use of five epistemic values: utility, systematic organization, authority, trust in experts, and consistency. Third, a comparison spanning 240 years between Wikipedia and the Britannica’s article headings finds that the value of systematic organization structures Wikipedia’s articles using seventeenth century categories of knowledge. Having established two sets of values that determine Wikipedia’s production of knowledge, the thesis sets the stage for future research to analyze how Wikipedia’s epistemology is articulated in its different production spaces. Ultimately, such research may not only describe the shifting values of Wikipedia’s epistemology but also explain how knowledge is transformed and produced in the network society.

This thesis considers how Wikipedia justifies, structures, and legitimizes its production of knowledge. To do so the thesis positions Wikipedia as a site of conflict over the epistemic values between its wiki and encyclopaedic traditions. Through the literature review, the wiki epistemology is argued to be composed of six values: self-identification, collaboration, co-construction, cooperation, trust in the community, and constructionism. While these values are explicit, encyclopaedism’s were not found to be equally defined. To fill this gap, the thesis conducts a genre analysis of encyclopaedism. It first identifies the genre through its communicative purposes to create a universal system of total knowledge and to use this system to educate the public. Second, an analysis of recurrent social contexts within Chambers’ Cyclopaedia (1728), Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1751–72), the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1771–), and Wikipedia (2001–) finds that the communicative purposes are achieved through the use of five epistemic values: utility, systematic organization, authority, trust in experts, and consistency. Third, a comparison spanning 240 years between Wikipedia and the Britannica’s article headings finds that the value of systematic organization structures Wikipedia’s articles using seventeenth century categories of knowledge. Having established two sets of values that determine Wikipedia’s production of knowledge, the thesis sets the stage for future research to analyze how Wikipedia’s epistemology is articulated in its different production spaces. Ultimately, such research may not only describe the shifting values of Wikipedia’s epistemology but also explain how knowledge is transformed and produced in the network society.

Autour de l’année 1585 paraissent en France des recueils dialogués cultivant l’hybridité formelle et le mélange des tons : les Contes et discours d’Eutrapel de Noël du Fail, les Matinées et les Apresdisnées de Cholières ainsi que les Serées du libraire-imprimeur poitevin Guillaume Bouchet. Exploitant une des potentialités du Décaméron de Boccace, ils mettent l’accent sur la pratique des « devis », c’est-à-dire sur les conversations nouées par des compagnies conteuses. Ces « contes et discours bigarrez » font alterner les bribes de nouvelles, les anecdotes plaisantes et les railleries avec les matières les plus graves, fiches historiques, apophtegmes édifiants et développements juridiques. En un curieux mélange, l’art de « rencontrer » (de dire des bons mots) s’y mêle à l’érudition la plus ostentatoire. Au carrefour de l’histoire des formes littéraires et de la sociabilité, les notions de « facétie » et de « devis » permettent d’interroger la singularité de ces textes, en termes à la fois poétiques et sociaux. Le genre de la facétie humaniste y est de mieux en mieux assimilé, tandis que le dialogue philosophique cède la place à de souples conversations, qui redéfinissent les rapports des plaisanteries aux savoirs. En décrivant les réactions des interlocuteurs, ces textes mènent aussi une réflexion sur la sociabilité et les normes de la civilité. Alors que le royaume est en proie aux guerres civiles, ces conversations facétieuses esquissent des modèles de coexistence originaux, valorisant la liberté de parole, les conflits ludiques et les ententes paradoxales. À la veille du Grand siècle se décide un tournant important de l’histoire de la conversation, entre urbanité et rusticité, politesse et gauloiserie. / Dialogued works, hybrid in form and presenting a variety of tone, make their appearance around the year 1585, in the Contes et discours d’Eutrapel by Noël du Fail, Cholières’ Matinées and Apresdisnées, and Serées, by Poitou-native printer and bookseller, Guillaume Bouchet. Inspired by a potentiality offered by Boccaccio’s Decameron, the authors place the accent on the practice known as “devis”, or conversations that are started up in a storytelling mode. These “contes et discours bigarrez” alternate snatches of novellas, pleasant anecdotes and teasing mockery with more serious material, including historical notes, edifying apophthegms and legal developments. In a curious mélange, the art of “rencontrer” (being witty) is offset by showy erudition. At the crossroads of the history of literary forms and sociability, the notions of “facétie” and “devis” enlighten the singularity of these texts, in both poetic and social terms. The genre of humanistic witticism is increasingly integrated, while philosophical dialogue gives way to agile conversation, which redefines the relation between joking and learning. In describing the reactions of the persons addressed, these texts also invite research into the sociability and the civility codes of the day. At a time when the kingdom is rife with civil wars, these facetious or witty conversations are original models for coexistence, where freedom of speech, playful clashes and paradoxical agreements play leading roles. Part urbane, part countrified, between courteous and bawdy, an important turning point in the history of conversation is reached here, on the eve of the Grand Siècle.

Cette monographie a pour objectif de mettre en lumière la contribution fondamentale que Nicolas Bérauld (c. 1470-c. 1550), humaniste orléanais du début du XVIe siècle, apporta à la mise en place d’un humanisme spécifiquement français. Professeur, éditeur, imprimeur, libraire, juriste et écrivain à ses heures, cet humaniste polyvalent, très réputé à son époque, est aujourd’hui tombé dans l’oubli : il est, comme l'indique le titre de cet ouvrage, un laissé pour compte des « Bonnes Lettres » à qui il convient de rendre la place qu’il mérite. Son inlassable activité l’amena à intervenir dans de nombreux domaines. Il conduisit une réflexion approfondie sur les langues, puisqu’il s’intéressa à l’improvisation en latin et contribua à l’essor du grec, encore bien peu étudié au début du XVIe siècle. Il prit pour modèle de ses activités la figure du grammaticus au sens où l’entend Quintilien dans son Institution oratoire, à la fois encyclopédiste, éditeur, commentateur et professeur. Ce grammaticus polyvalent avait vocation à s’impliquer dans tous les domaines. Bérauld réfléchit donc aussi à la dimension esthétique et créatrice de la langue, à sa « poïétique », et prit position dans les grands débats idéologiques (politique, droit, religion) qui agitèrent son époque. L’étude de l’itinéraire de cet humble professeur est aussi un hommage rendu aux débuts de l’humanisme éclipsés par l’époque brillante des Lecteurs royaux et de la Pléiade. / This monography intends to highlight the fundamental contribution which was brought by Nicolas Bérauld (c. 1470- c. 1550), humanist born in Orleans at the beginning of the XVIth century, for the benefit of the establishment of a specific french humanism. Teacher, publisher, printer, librarian, jurist and even writer, this multitalented humanist, very famous during his time, has fallen in oblivion nowadays: he is, as the title of this work points it off, a laissé pour compte des « Bonnes Lettres » who needs to get back the appreciation he deserves. He relentlessly intervened in many fields of activity. He brought on a deep thinking about languages, as he was interested in latin improvisation and contributed to the rise of greek, still very little studied at the beginning of the XVIth century. The model of the grammaticus inspired his activities, exactly the way Quintilian figured it in his Institutio Oratoria, which means that he could be at the same time encyclopaedist, publisher, commentator and teacher. This versatile grammaticus was bound to tangle with every field of his time knowledge. This made Bérauld either to pay attention to the aesthetic and creative dimension of language, its « poïetic », or to get involved into the great ideological debates which stired up his time (as for politics, law or religion). To study the career of this humble teacher is also a way to pay tribute to the early stage of humanism, more or less put in the shade by the bright time of the Royal Lectors and of the Pleiade.

Rédigée en 1246 par un clerc nommé Gossuin de Metz, l’Image du monde est considérée comme la première encyclo-pédie de langue française. Elle constitue à ce titre l’une des premières entreprises de transmission écrite d’un ensemble de savoirs sur le monde d’origine cléricale et latine à destination d’un public laïc et aristocratique. Trois versions furent produites, deux en vers et une en prose, dont il n’est pas certain qu’elles soient le travail d’une seule et même personne. Signe de son très grand succès, l’Image du monde est conservée dans 110 manuscrits. Elle constitue donc un objet de recherche idéal pour l’étude des phénomènes de transmission de savoir entre clercs et laïcs dans les trois der-niers siècles du Moyen Âge. Pour ce faire, la présente thèse envisage l’Image du monde à partir des représentations du monde et de l’ordre social transmises par son discours. Ces représentations ne sont pas seulement produites par le texte mais également par l’iconographie (miniatures, initiales historiées, drôleries) ornant une quarantaine de manus-crits, qui forment le corpus de recherche. Dans un premier temps, c’est d’abord l’économie du savoir de l’Image du monde, qui sous-tend la transmission du savoir et en détermine les modalités, ainsi que les implications sociales de la transmission de ce savoir hautement valorisé qui est analysées. La seconde partie de la thèse se concentre quant à elle sur la forte dimension visuelle de la transmission des savoirs opérée par l’Image du monde, à savoir le cycle de vingt-huit figures cosmographiques intégrées par l’auteur lui-même à son ouvrage et qui constitue une pièce maîtresse de sa stratégie didactique. / Written in 1246 by a cleric named Gossuin de Metz, L’image du monde is considered to be the first French language encyclopedia. It is thus one of the first attempts to diffuse to a secular and aristocratic audience a body of knowledge concerning the world, originally coming from a clerical and Latin culture. Three versions were written -two in verse, one in prose- none of which are proven to be the work of only one person. 110 manuscripts were conserved, which can be considered as a proof of its great success. It is thus an ideal research object to study the knowledge transmission phenomena between the clerks and the laity during the Middle Ages’ last three centuries. To that end, this doctoral dissertation considers L’image du monde from the world and social order representations that are transmitted by its discourse. These world’s representations are not only transmitted by the text but also by the pictures (diagrams, minia-tures, historiated initials, drolleries) that adorn some forty manuscripts that constitutes my body of research. This study thus addresses both the text and the iconography. First off, the knowledge economy of L’image du monde will be analyzed, considering the discourse as determining the terms of knowledge transmission and its social implications. The second part of this dissertation focuses on the strong visual dimension taken by knowledge transmission in L’image du monde, relying on a cycle of twenty-eight cosmographic figures that were originally included in his manu-script by the author himself, and that represents the masterpiece of his didactic strategy.

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.

L’encyclopédie en neuf livres de Martianus Capella, vraisemblablement composée au début du Ve s. après J.-C., se situe à la transition entre les conceptions antiques et médiévales de la « formation libérale ». Sept sciences, dons de Mercure à Philologie, exposent leur discipline devant les dieux, et forment un programme d’ascension de l’âme vers le monde divin et rationnel. En promettant un exposé conforme au statut de science (disciplina) qu’elle partage avec ses six compagnes, Rhétorique propose de dépasser les débats dont elle fait l’objet : son enseignement veut construire un art général de l’argumentation persuasive. Notre étude définit la place du livre 5 dans l’œuvre de Martianus et dans la tradition rhétorique antique. Contrairement aux traités des rhéteurs latins tardifs qui nous sont parvenus, le traité du livre 5 adopte (et adapte) les orientations des derniers ouvrages rhétoriques de Cicéron (le De oratore notamment) : la théorie est conçue pour répondre aussi bien aux questions « particulières », domaine des orateurs, qu’aux questions « générales » et philosophiques. Cette conception de la rhétorique n’est pas nouvelle : elle s’appuie sur des traditions philosophiques d’enseignement de la rhétorique, notamment développées dans des cadres péripatéticiens et académiciens. Le traité de Martianus est toutefois le seul témoin tardif qui reprenne ces perspectives avancées, et cherche à les organiser sous forme systématique. Science de la parole persuasive, la rhétorique occupe une place essentielle dans la mise en œuvre du projet de Martianus, et constitue une étape importante avant le principe plus élevé représenté par l’harmonie. / Martianus Capella’s encyclopedic work, probably composed in the early 5th century A.D., forms an original transition between Ancient and Medieval conceptions of "liberal education". As wedding gifts given by Mercury to Philology, seven Sciences present their branch of knowledge in a divine assembly : this scientific programme aims at the ascension of the soul towards the divine and rational world. Rhetoric answers (and goes beyond) the traditional critics directed against oratory. She promises a presentation consistent with the status of science (disciplina) she shares with her six companions : her teaching builds a general art of persuasive argument. Our study defines the position of Book 5 in Martianus’ work and in the Ancient rhetorical traditions. Whereas the Late Latin rhetorical handbooks that have survived partake of the « standard » rhetorical teaching, Martianus’ Book 5 adopts (and adapts) the guidelines of the Cicero’s latest rhetorical works (especially De oratore) : the theory is designed to meet both "particular " questions, area of orators, and the "general" philosophical questions. This conception of rhetoric is not new : it relies on philosophical traditions of teaching rhetoric that were developed in Peripatetic and Academic settings. Martianus’ Book 5 is however the only Late Antique testimony that embraces these advanced prospects, and seeks to organise them in a systematic form. As the science of persuasive speech, Rhetoric plays an essential role in Martianus’ project, and constitutes an important step before the higher principle represented by Harmony.

In mid-eighteenth century Paris, two Benedictine monks from the Congregation of Saint-Maur – also known as the Maurists – started compiling a universal dictionary of arts, crafts, and sciences. The project was initiated simultaneously with what would become one of the most famous literary enterprises in Western intellectual history: the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert. The latter started as an augmented translation of Ephraim Chambers’s Cyclopaedia, but it was constructed with another French dictionary as its ideological counterpart: the Jesuits’ Dictionnaire de Trévoux. While the Encyclopédie eventually turned into a controversial but successful best-seller, considered as the most important medium of Enlightenment thought, the Benedictines never finished or published their work. After a decade, the manuscripts were put aside in the monastery library, and were soon forgotten. For about two hundred and sixty years, the Maurists’ dictionary material has largely escaped the attention of researchers, and its history of production has been unknown.      This dissertation examines the history and characteristics of the Maurists’ enterprise. The manuscripts are compared to the Encyclopédie and the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, and the project situated within its monastic environment of production, the history of the encyclopedic dictionary, and the Enlightenment culture. The study has an interdisciplinary character and combines perspectives of History of Science and Ideas, History of Monasticism, History of Encyclopedism, and History of the Book. The research procedure is distinguished by a microhistorical approach, where the studied materials are analyzed in a detailed manner, and the research process included in the narrative.       The dissertation shows that the Maurists early found themselves in a rival situation with the embryonic Encyclopédie, and that the two projects had several common denominators that distinguished them from the predecessors within the genre. At the same time, the Maurists were making a dictionary unique in the eighteenth century, which assumed a third position in relation to the works of the encyclopédistes and the Jesuits. The study provides new perspectives on the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert, the intellectual activities of the Congregation of Saint-Maur, as well as the editor in charge of the Maurist dictionary: Dom Antoine-Joseph Pernety, otherwise known for his alchemical writings.

Pieter Bruegel the Eider's paintings De verkeerde wereld, Het gevecht tussen Karnava/ en Vasten, Luilekker/and, Dulle Grief and Landschap, met Icarus' val are interpreted as sixteenth-century parodies using the paradoxia epidemica as a tropic means for interpreting the artist's wit, irony, parody and picaresque stance towards his source material and his milieu. Where applicable, other works relating to a particular argument are also discussed. As a result of this investigation, an original contribution has been made in the literature on both Bruegel and parody as a form of visual communication. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (History of Art)