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On the margins of the Viking invasions : Actard of Nantes and the translation of bishops propter infestationem paganorum This paper examines the transfer of bishops in the Frankish kingdom due to the Viking invasions during the second half of the ninth century. The most comprehensive case – that of Actard of Nantes – provides sufficient information on the situation of the prelate and especially how it was presented by the secular and ecclesiastical authorities of the time. The change in the position of Hincmar Archbishop of Rheims on this issue, in 872, reveals the political and canonical stakes that could dress such cases. In light of this and other examples known at the end of the ninth century one can wonder whether infestatio paganorum was not primarily an argument to justify transfers that intervened on partisan grounds.

The Idyllic Tales of the End of the Middle Ages (from Jehan et Blonde to Pierre de Provence et la belle Maguelonne) : Jean Renart's posterity ? This contribution raises questions on the influence that Jean Renart's L'Escoufle, a work not much appreciated in its time but celebrated by modern criticism, may have had on the idyllic romances of the end of the Middle Ages. The neglect that has today befallen these late works, a series of fantastic adventures and tender effusions of love, conceals their enormous popularity between the end of the 13th and the 15th Century. Indeed, Jehan et Blonde, Eledus et Serene, Pierre de Provence et la belle Maguelonne, Paris et Vienne, and a prose version of Florimont have thematic and stylistic affinities with Jean Renart's first romance. But although L'Escoufle seems to have provided the narrative framework for these stories, the idyllic narratives of the end of the Middle Ages reveal a tendency to obliterate the model's boldness in favor of a moralizing tone. Similarly, they efface the potentially subversive character of childish love affairs to reconcile them with the imperatives of society and lineage. Such a filiation suggests that the success of L'Escoufle was less confidential than it seemed, but also does justice to late idyllic romances, often neglected by literary criticism.

The Collegiate Church of Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux in the 13th and 14th Centuries and its Development of an Historiography and Ideology for the Anglo-Gascon Duchy of Aquitaine Two texts in the municipal cartulary of Bordeaux – a description of Guyenne (or Aquitaine) and Gascony and the legendary tale of Sénebrun of Bordeaux – seem to have been developed in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux, according to the testimony of until now little-known manuscripts. This attribution is further confirmed by the fact that the two texts more or less openly use the thesis of the allodiality of Gascony, which was expressed for the first time by a dean of Saint-Seurin between 1294 and 1298. This Anglo-Gascon ideology, favorable to the kings of England, makes it possible to understand why there was a military parade for the Black Prince during his visit in 1355, just before he launched his expedition into Languedoc. The ceremony, suggested earlier by a Gascon embassy led by the young Captal de Buch, enabled the cohesion of the Anglo-Gascon union and the specific status of the Duchy of Aquitaine within the English crown to be affirmed.

Semiramis, An Intellectual Woman (Le Livre du Voir Dit, v. 4819–4972) According to an anecdote reported by Guillaume de Machaut, Queen Semiramis, when interrupted during her toilette by a messenger announcing the rebellion of her subjects, refused to brush her hair any further until the political problem was resolved. The hairdo is thus elevated to the level of political barometer. The poet compares his lady to this exemplary woman, who combined physical beauty with political genius. A commemorative statue of Semiramis, with her hair half-brushed and half un-brushed, would then have been erected in her honor. Against all expectations, the scene is only illustrated in one manuscript in the National Library of France, that of the book by Jehan de Courcy, La Boucquechardière II, an adaptation of Orosius' History, in which the historian stresses Seminaris' lust. It is therefore difficult to deny the intimate link between the exhibition of unbrushed hair and exuberant sensuality. The Queen of the Assyrians appears as a woman proclaiming her feminity while assuming a masculine role. Closely related to the Amazons, she is a manifestation of the union of the military with the feminine, her hair becoming the standard of her femininity.

An unrecognized Latin Patriach of Antioch : Grazia of Florence (1219) The prosopography of the Eastern Latin Church is a constantly evolving field due to the fragmented existing documentation. A monograph on the Western policy of Pope Honorius III (1216–1227) has made it possible to highlight the figure of a Latin Patriarch of Antioch, who is shrouded in mystery. This is the Archdeacon of Bologna, Grazia of Florence, whom some historians have confused with a 13th Century jurist fromArezzo. This article aims to study the context of his transfer to the seat of Antioch and to publish an apostolic privilege granted him on October 29, 1219. It seems that Grazia of Florence did not want this promotion, despite his intellectual competence and his rank of papal chaplain. Thus his resignation benefited the Vice-Chancellor of the Roman Church, Raniero da Castelvecchio, whom Honorius III personally consecrated on November 18, 1219.

Cligés and Fenice, a couple of exemplary lovers in the 15th Century prose Cligès, a Burgundian romance : Le Livre de Alixandre empereur de Constentinoble et de Cligés son filz This article attempts to examine the ideology expressed in the prose revision of Chrétien de Troyes' Cligès in terms of its historical context, which is Philippe the Good's Burgundian court. To do so, the discussion focuses on the key concepts of the prose romance, the duty of love and fidelity in love, which become extraordinarily important, beginning with an episode that was invented and inserted by the prose writer towards the third part of the romance. The episode describes the sorrow of a damsel abandoned by her lover and acts as a magical mirror, which will be decisive for the hero's good conduct for the remainder of the story. The present study sets the important concepts in the context of the rules of courtly love, said to have been created by Charles VI, and concludes that the prose version of Cligès may well have played a considerable ideological role similar to the court's, which blossomed significantly with the accession of Philippe the Good, and which must have helped the Duke to domesticate his courtiers.