A New History of Medieval French Literature

Part One: Writing in the Middle Ages

part one Writing in the Middle Ages What is needed to write a book? Jean Froissart tells us in the opening of his Joli Buisson de Jonece: “Sense and memory, ink and paper and writing case, penknife and sharpened quill, and ready will” (Sens et memore/Encre et papier et escriptore,/Kanivet et penne taillie,/Et volenté apparellie; ll. 3–6), that is, three types of tools: intellectual qualities: sense and memory; instruments that come under the category of the materiality of writing: the ink, the paper, the writing case, the little penknife for removing errors, the finely sharpened quill; and the will to write. Thus, we must begin with three investigations. They will concentrate on the abovementioned material conditions for writing, on the question of the author, and finally on the relationship between the notion of will and its silent partner or, in a broader sense, its audience. This page intentionally left blank ...