A Medievalist in the Eighteenth Century

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIV

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2. The Life and Work of Le Grand D’aussy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Life and Work of Le Grand D’aussy

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 3-52

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3. The Fabliaux ou Contes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-58

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   2. Literary Texts or Historical Documents? The Mirror of Medieval Society

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 59-111

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   3. France and the Literary Renaissance in Medieval Europe. The Vindication of the “Trouvères.”

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 112-177

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   4. Medieval Literature by Eighteenth-Century Standards. A Discerning Appreciation

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 178-220

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   5. The Sources

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 221-229

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   6. The Method. An Examination of Le Grand’s Extract Form: The “Copie Reduite”

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 230-269

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   7. Conclusion: The Popularity and Enduring Validity of the Fabliaux ou Contes

      • Geoffrey Wilson

      Pages 270-280

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4. Back Matter

   Pages 281-303

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It is a common belief that in France the study of medieval literature as literature only began to gain recognition as a valid occupation for the scholar during the nineteenth century. It is well known that historians of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries looked to the literary productions of the Middle Ages for materials useful to their researches, but it is only recently that the remarkable frequency of this reference has been appreciated and that scholars have become aware of an unbroken tradition of what might best be described as historically ori ented medievalism stretching from the sixteenth century to our own. The eighteenth century has drawn the greatest number of curious to this field, for it is evident that the surprisingly extensive researches undertaken then do much to explain the progress made a century later by the most celebrated generation of medievalistst. Very slowly we are coming to see the value of the contribution made by little known schol­ ars like La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Etienne Barbazan and the Comte de Caylus.

• Fabliaux ou Contes des douzième et treizième siècles
• Pierre Jean-Baptiste Legrand d'Aussy
• Renaissance
• Society of Jesus
• eighteenth century
• medieval society
• medievalism
• medievalist

Policies and ethics