Illogic and polemic: Thecoq-à-l’âneduring the Wars of Religion*

Abstract

This article seeks to show how the genre of the coq-a-l’âne created by Clement Marot regained popularity at the end of the sixteenth century in the midst of the Wars of Religion. These poems are usually anonymous, composed by members of one or another of the three warring groups (Catholics, Protestants, and ‘Politiques’). They create an impression of absurdity that is nonetheless militant. Characterized by a loose structure and the use of animal metaphors, they employ a form of partisan rhetoric that is both aggressive and comic. The vogue for coq-a-l’âne, which were frequently set to music and sung, can also be seen as proof that the religious and political arguments were by now exhausted: all that remained was the desire to ridicule one's enemy, to destroy him with word games. This strategy was typical of French writing in the late Renaissance: when used in militant and comic texts the vernacular could reach out to the entire nation.