Les discours de Pierre Plaoul au Parlement de Paris (1406) : un exemple des rhétoriques française et latine au Moyen Âge tardif
On May 27th 1406, the Parisian theologian Pierre Plaoul appeared before the court of the Parliament of Paris as a delegate of the University of Paris. His alma mater was involved against the University of Toulouse in an affair concerning the great schism. Plaoul made a speech in Latin, which the court immediately reproved, intimating him to speak French the next time. He did so on his second appearance on June 7th, but in a speech dramatically different from the first one. The French speech had a different genre and cited different authorities. Both instances are preserved in the X1a4787 register of the Archives nationales de France. The edition of both speeches helps us to understand the motivation behind such dramatic changes in style. But above all, it shows that the French speech was perhaps even more scholarly than the Latin one, and that the orator was not at all hindered by the use of French rather than Latin. Further analysis of the text shows that this instance is totally in line with the actual research’s tendency. Rather than viewing the relation between the vernacular and Latin of the late Middle Ages as being diglossic, current research prefers a dynamic of language contact. This view is supported by the many instances of medieval academics exhibit an excellent mastery of high-level French, be they poets, preachers or practitioners of law. A closer look at the use of the vulgar language by the doctors of theology during the reign of Charles VI also supports the hypothesis according to which late medieval scholars considered French as an apporiate mean of transmission for scholarly culture.
Pierre Plaoul Latin Epistola tholosana Middle Ages Great schism University of Paris Faculty of theology French