Durham E-Theses The blasom poétique and allied poetry of the French renaissance Saunders, Alison M. How to cite: Saunders, Alison M. (1972) The blasom poétique and allied poetry of the French renaissance, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7944/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of the development of the "blason poetique in the sixteenth century. We have focussed our attention on the blason anatomique - a subsection of this main genre - and have tried to demonstrate that the blason anatomique does fit in with the blason -poetique, which itself forms part of a French literary tradition with roots stretching back to the.fourteenth century, and which continues into the seventeenth century and beyond. The key to the genre lies in its descriptive, interpretative character, inherited from its heraldic ancestry. The first section of the thesis examines the early blason poetique. Chapter I investigates its heraldic origins, and the importance of its etym• ological meaning, denoting the description and interpretation of a painted shield. Chapters II and III examine the twin influences of medieval French poetry, and Italian petrarchism upon the blasons anatomiques. The central section (Chapters IT - VI) discusses the anatomical blasons and contreblasons, reassessing in particular the chronology of individual poems on the evidence afforded by recently rediscovered editions which have upset the previous opinion that these poems were produced only slowly, over a period of years„ Chapter VI underlines the argument that the blason is not an isolated genre, discussing the importance of the iconography of the "blason anat- -omique, and its kinship with similar illustrated poetry of the mid-century - emblems, bestiaries or calendriers. The third section (Chapters VII - IX) traces the later development of the genre, after the anatomical blasons. In the later half of the sixteenth century two distinct branches of the blason emerge - the sonnet-blason perpetuates the characteristics of the anatomical blason, while the longer hymne-blason reverts to the universality of subject of the pre- anatomical blason. In conclusion we have emphasised that far from dying out, the genre continues to flourish - in such modified guises - throughout the early seventeenth century. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. THE BLASON POETIQUE AND ALLIED POETRY OP THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE Alison M. Saunders, B.A. Thesis submitted to the University of Durham for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1972 Acknowledgements: I wish to thank Professor J. Lough., Mme. Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer and. Dr. D.B, Wilson, my supervisor, for their help and encouragement in the preparation of this thesis, and M. Georges Heilhrun for his kindness in allowing me to examine the hooks in his private collection. TABLE OF CONT]INT S Introduction: ppol-18 Chapter I: The early blason poetique, pp.19-76 Chapter II: Medieval French influence on the anatomical "blason and contreblason, pp.77-112 Chapter III: Italian influence on the anatomical blason and contreblason, pp.113-148 Chapter IV: The anatomical blason, pp.149-187 Chapter V: The anatomical contreblason, pp.188-211 Chapter VI: The illustrated book:- Blasons, emblems, bestiaries and lapidaries, pp„212-247 Chapter VII: Development of the blason poetique in the . mid sixteenth century I, pp.248-291 Chapter VIII: Development of the blason poetique in the mid sixteenth century II, ppo292-350 Chapter IX: Development and dissipation of the blason in the later sixteenth and early seven• teenth centuries, pp.351-399 Conclusion: pp.400-403 Bibliography: pp.404-424 Appendix I: The anatomical blasonneurs, pp.425-474 Appendix II: A check list of blasons other than those included in the tiecatonrphile or Blasons anatomiques,' pp.475-482 Appendix III: Bibliography of editions of blasons anatomiques, pp.483-509 Index: pp.510-517 - 1 - INTRODUCTION The primary aim of this thesis is to study the anatomical blason of the 1530s and 1540s in Prance. In order, however, to obtain a balanced picture, and to avoid the danger of regarding the anatomical "blason as an isolated phenomenon, without roots, springing suddenly into existence in 1536, we have felt obliged to devote considerable attention to its pre-history. For the same reason we have attempted to follow its subsequent development through the sixteenth century. Realising that •natural1 stopping places rarely exist, we have been obliged to make an arbitrary and, it might be argued, a somewhat vague choice.. In our final chapter therefore we have indicated the continuity of the genre into the seventeenth century, but since our major preoccupation must remain with the poetry of the earlier period, our discussion of the Pleiade and post Pleiade treatment of the blason must be regarded as a conclusion, intended not to be exhaustive, but simply to indicate that contrary to the opinion of certain critics (l) the genre does not die out completely in the latter part of the sixteenth century. This thesis falls into three sections: l) the early development of the blason, prior to Marot's Beau tetin; 2) the anatomical blasons and contreblasons; 3) the' (1) Cf. below, chapter IX,P«351 - 2 - subsequent development of the genre. It must be emphasised, however, that the weight of the thesis is placed upon the anatomical blasons. Indeed, the first section looks forward to these anatomical blasons, while the third looks back to them. Of the three appendices two deal specifically with the anatomical blasons, while the third provides a check list of individual blasons and their location. * * * Recognising that any wide generalisation must inevitably bring with it a certain number of exceptions, we have nevertheless attempted to suggest a possible leitmotiv running through and governing the development of the genre of the blason. This theme, curiously neglected by critics, stems from the etymological meaning of the word blason. We have tried to demonstrate that description and interpretation of the significance inherent in a given object (usually depicted visually in the form of an.illustration or woodcut) might be regarded as a key characteristic of the blason poetique. One of the main difficulties encountered in any study of the blason is the lack of precision and consistency in the use of the word throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Not infrequently we may find a poem entitled blason in one edition or manuscript while in another text this same poem may well not be given this title. Guillaume Coquillart's Blason des armes et des dames of 1484 is a notable example of a poem which could be entitled indifferently either blason or debat (2). Similarly Marot's own Beau tetin enjoyed a variety of titles in the sixteenth century* In all three editions of the Hecatomphile (3) and in the Angelier editions of the Blasons anatomiques (4) it is entitled a blason,. "but in the G-ryphius edition of Marot's collected Oeuvres (5) it is simply called Du "beau tetin (6), In the later blasons also, this same vagueness in terminology is equally common. The Blason du bonnet carre for example (which appeared more frequently in manuscripts than in printed texts) is to be found under a variety of titles (7). Because of this vagueness in terminology we (2) Cf. below, chapter I, p.41 (3) Np, 1536, 16°, Bodley Douce p 36'* Np, 1537, 16°, Strasbourg R 102 895 (Title page to the Blasons dated 1536) Paris, Sergent, 1539, 16°, BN Picot 803 For fuller details, cf. below, appendix III (4) Paris, Angelier, 1543, 8°. (Only two copies of this edition are known to exist - both in the hands of private collectors in Paris and America.) Paris, Angelier, 1550, 8°, BN Picot 810 and Arsenal 8 B 8516 res (5) Lyons, Gryphius, nd (1538), 8°, BE Res Ye 1461-1464 (6) Yet another variant is provided by a manuscript in Soissons (no.202) in which this poem- is described as the- Devise du beau tetin desgerie (gf. Marot, Oeuvres, ed. Mayer, London, 1958 -,8,5 vols, vol.V, p.156) (7) In BN Ms.fr. 22565 it is described as Description du1 bonnet carre et les proprietez composition & vertus dicelluy (f.46 ru), whereas in EN Ms.fr. 884 it is entitled simply Bonnet de cour (f.71 r ) and in BN Ms. fr„ 22560 it is once again given the fuller descrip- -tive title La composition et vertus du bonnet cornu - 4 - have not felt justified in restricting our study to poems bearing the title blason, and have preferred to include many poems which - although not given this title - seem to us relevant to the subject we are studying. Not only is the title blason used vaguely in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but also the very word itself has only a very broadly defined range of meaning. In addition to its obvious heraldic sense it can also possess a wide range of ancillary meanings.