Écrire l'histoire : le choix du vers ou de la prose aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles

Abstract

Writing History : the Choice of Verse or Prose in the XIIth and XIIIth - Century In the 12th century, the invention of the historical discourse preferentially occurs within the works which, while adapting the antique legends and/or relating the history of a people and a dynasty, create inside the octosyllabic verses some literary methods original in romanz, such as a descriptive protocole made to restore the colors of the past. The same process may be observed in some cruisades chronicles where the expeditions are related according to the chronology of the events, in an epic and novelistic way. On the fronteer between the 12th and the 13th century, some protestations raise against these « contes rimes » (Nicolas de Senlis), considered as untrue because they are made in verses : verses actually demand some artificial means opposite to the historical work. The interest for the method of procedure, which generally induces the choice of prose instead of verse, leads to a new reflection upon history, its links with literature and fiction, and it gives way to different historical works (either old histories or cruisades chronicles) which intend to be as realistic as possible and refuse verses or use them in order to create a refined prose. Although the choice of the method of procedure is only one of the points, it obviously raises the real qustions about historiography in the romance language and it permits to approach the writers aims.