Le respect des jours chômés au XVe siècle : l’exemple de la Champagne

Abstract

This article addresses the question of how public holidays were respected in 15th century Champagne. The later Middle Ages saw a debate develop among the ecclesiastical elites about the number of holidays (Sundays and feast-days) whose increase would disadvantage the faithful, both spiritually and economically. Using normative (synodal statutes) and judicial (registers of the officialité) sources, the analysis enables us to measure the importance that the Church attached to rest on Sundays and feast-days, as well as to grasp the practice of the prescriptions concerning them by christians in real life.