Lecteurs et possesseurs des traductions françaises du De regimine principum (vers 1279) de Gilles de Rome (XIIIe–XVe siècles)

Abstract

Despite the profound revival in the literary genre of the mirror for princes during the reign of Charles V and Charles VI, the De regimine principum by Gilles de Rome, particularly in its French versions, had, until the Renaissance, an important place in Western European royal and princely collections. French copies of Gilles de Rome’s tract are found, often in several copies, in the collections of the kings of France and England and in those of the dukes of Burgundy, Ferrare and Milan, to name but a few. Influential nobles, such as John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester and Lewis of Bruges, lord of Gruuthuse, tried to get a French copy of this tract. Several volumes also belonged to wealthy citizens, for whom owning this text, often in particularly beautiful editions, was a symbol of a certain prestige.