Charles V au miroir du Songe du Vergier

Abstract

The political tract entitled Le Songe du Vergier and written in French in 1378 is not a “mirror for princes, ” but in fact more of a political encyclopedia. Indeed, in this work, which has a specific subject as a starting point – the relationship between spiritual and temporal power –, the author, Évrart de Trémaugon, cleric, legist and counselor to the French king, Charles V, deals with all the questions likely to interest the king. Everything suggests that the king was personally involved in the work’s conception and that the final version is the fruit of collaboration between the author and his sponsor. That is why it can rightly be held that the study of the content of this tract, the dialogue in it relating to the king, his virtues and power, the various political, religious, even recreational themes addressed, highlights Charles V’s personality and intellectual activity. Furthermore, the picture it provides of French royalty and of its holder, in large part a result of an ideal vision, shows what the Songe also owes to the literature of mirrors.