L’exemplum médiéval dans une perspective codicologique (xiiie-xve siècle)

Abstract

The layout and articulation of exempla collections expresses in part the underlying pedagogical and informative intention of the exemplum. Some of these collections, from the most famous (like the Alphabetum narrationum by Arnold of Liège, the Tractatus de diversis materiis praedicabilibus by Étienne de Bourbon, and the De dono timoris by Humbert de Romans) to the lesser known anonymous works, are examined here from the point of view of the system of signs and graphic means that accompany an exemplum in manuscripts from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. The variety of uses of these short texts can be more clearly perceived. According to the disposition of the texts, their titles and annotations, the same story can be read as a passage to be lifted from the surrounding text, or as an integral part of a work that merits the reader’s attention in its entirety. During a personal and often occasional reading by the users of these collections, textual elements lend themselves to de-contextualisation and to re-contextualisation. By means of the codicological analysis, one can distinguish between the different types of collection, and at the same time perceive the exemplum as a brief text whose usage is not limited to an exemplary and moral discourse.