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The Council of Troyes, wich opened on January 13, 1129, confirms an initiative born in the East nine years earlier. Knights had then expressed the will to live in a religious way, by making the triple monastic vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, while continuing to practice the profession of arms in order to protect pilgrims on the roads of the Holy Land. Recognized by the papacy in Troyes and endowed with a rule, the « Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon » became the first military order in history. The Order of the Hospital, which already existed in Jerusalem and whose missions was to care for the poor sick, gradually became militarized in the middle of the 12th century, drawing inspiration from the example of the Temple. Templars and Hospitallers subsequently inspired all other military orders. A historiographical tradition of the Crusades has long maintained the idea of two enemy orders whose conflicts caused the loss of the Latin States of the East. The study of two centuries of common coexistence between Templars and Hospitallers in the Holy Land allows us to bury this image and see how much these military orders influenced each other. It aslo helps to restore the truth about the relationship between the brothers of the two orders. At the frontiers of comparative history, this study follows the chronological framework of the masters of the Temple and the Hospital, making it possible to highlight the importance of the decisions of these men. Thematic studies on the organization of these two orders, their structures, their rules, the images that they transmit and their role in some great events of the Latin States of the East make it possible to understand the links wich united them, as well as the how they influenced each other. We have too often noted their political rivalry, in a kingdom of Jerusalem where the absence of a strong royal power quickly gave them complete freedom. In the same way, we have too often forgotten the price that Templars and Hospitallers paid together on the battlefields of the Holy Land, behaving like what they were : brothers in arms.

From 1422 the Englishman John of Lancaster (1389-1435), duke of Bedford, was regent of his young nephew’s French kingdom. Because the treaty of Troyes (1420) provided for a long-lasting English presence in France, the regent had to put in place a social domination structure based on consent rather than coercion. In this context, the duke of Bedford devised a cultural and language policy inspired by the attitudes of the most prominent members of the Valois family. It allowed him to bolster support for his regime and legitimize his power. This policy is the main object of our research. We first propose to examine each element of Bedford’s cultural policy. His magnificent households, precious manuscripts and generous patronage were outward symbols of the might and stability of English rule in France. These possessions also allowed their owner to present himself as a legitimate member of continental courtly society. As such, they were a mean to strengthen the bond with his most important ally, his brother-in-law Philip, duke of Burgundy. At the same time the regent depicted himself, and by extension Henry VI, as the legitimate ruler of France by actively imitating past French kings. Some of his cultural enterprises can be conceived as propaganda. However under careful scrutiny these representations of power appear to have been intended not only for the conquered, but also for the conquerors themselves. We devote a second chapter to the exercise of power through writing. We analyze the duke’s production of written documents, both sides of the Channel, in light of its compliance to or defiance of French diplomatic tradition. In itself, the adoption of local practices and language was both respectful of the spirit of the treaty of Troyes and a convenient way to conceal the dynastic rift between Valois and Lancaster. On the other hand, the continued use of typical English documents in Bedford’s organization of the military reveals the limited extent of his acculturation. We also consider the important role of the French secretaries in the coordination between the two kingdoms, which in theory were supposed to be kept separate. Some of them were so involved in English affairs that they moved to England to serve Henry VI. In the end however the English bureaucracy remained mostly unaffected by extraneous innovations. Nonetheless, the very significant linguistic shift it underwent was contemporary, and linked, to the demise of Lancastrian France. The last chapter examines the contribution of other important figures of the anglo-burgundian cultural environment. The continental activity of magnates like Richard Beauchamp and soldiers like John Talbot exemplifies the relative vitality of courtly life in Lancastrian France and highlights the adoption of some elements of French culture by the English there. The subsequent patronage, circulation of texts and artists and, ultimately, the internalization of the Lancastrian French narrative, led to the transformation of English culture. This cultural appropriation contributed to the perpetuation of French language and literature in fifteenth-century England. Paradoxically, it also reinforced a properly English identity.

Grégoire de Tours est l’un des auteurs les plus connus du haut Moyen Âge occidental puisque son œuvre principale, les Histoires, représente notre principale source d’informations concernant l’histoire mérovingienne du sixième siècle. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est de démontrer que ce texte essentiel représente une exhortation destinée à Théodebert II et Thierry II à ne pas s’affronter dans une nouvelle guerre civile. Ce travail est divisé en trois chapitres. L’introduction traite principalement de la question des destinataires visés par Grégoire, c’est-à-dire les fils de Childebert II, et cherche à montrer que les Histoires ont été écrites tardivement dans la vie de l’auteur et non au gré des évènements. Le deuxième chapitre (historiographie, rhétorique et les dix livres d’Histoire) illustre de quelle manière Grégoire a dénoncé la guerre civile et encouragé la collaboration entre les rois grâce aux normes du genre historiographique héritées de l’Antiquité tardive et aux stratégies rhétoriques reprises des écoles tardo-antiques. L’évêque de Tours cherche à souligner les conséquences désastreuses de ces conflits à la fois sur le royaume et la population et à associer ces guerres à des personnages détestés à la cour austrasienne. Le dernier chapitre (le rôle de l’évêque dans les Histoires) démontre que les évêques pouvaient également atténuer ou même empêcher les guerres civiles. Grâce à la représentation de l’évêque idéal transmise depuis l’Antiquité tardive, Grégoire s’est efforcé de valoriser ses collègues qui ont agi pour la paix et de dénoncer ceux qui fuyaient leurs responsabilités ou qui profitaient des tensions pour obtenir des avantages.

This thesis sheds lights on collaborations and transfer of knowledge between Jewish and Christian scholars in France during the 13th and 14th centuries. We propose a comparative analysis of different exchanges, in three distinct areas: theological, philosophical and astronomical. Taking into account the Latin and Hebrew sources that testify this transmission of knowledge, we propose an in-depth study, dividing in two sections. The first part narrates the evolution of education in the Jewish communities and in Christian society. The second part analyses the context of the Extractiones de Talmut, the transmission of knowledge between Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas, the close collaboration between Jacob ben Makhir and Armengaud Blaise, as well as the significant intellectual exchange between Gersonides and his fellow Christians. Our objective is to answer the following questions: did Christian and Jewish scholars receive information according to their own intellectual value, ignoring their source? And was there a direct influence from one scholar towards the other? Thus, this study demonstrates the different motives of these exchanges through a contextual field constituted by a specific intellectual event. We will perceive that these relations vacillate between mistrust and admiration.

Paganism was a European reality for most of the medieval period. Missionaries and monarchs worked to reduce it through proselytism, conquest and assimilation of the various pagan populations. Many texts bear witness to these contacts between Christians and idolaters, while the chroniclers, recounting great events of their time, had no choice but to speak of the conflicts that broke out between them. Possessing writing unlike their pagans’ counterparts, Latin Christians thus left their vision of these strange adversaries. Tinged with numerous filters, the latter in no way represented historical reality, but rather the perception maintained by the elite with regard to heathenism. Thus, in this study, we propose to study this vision of otherness, while we examine the accounts of these contacts between Christianity and their pagan neighbours. Focusing on the period between 772 and 1283, we propose a case study, composed of four sets. In the first chapter, Charlemagne’s war against the Saxons between 772 and 804 will be discussed. Then, we will approach the Slavs who were fought by the Ottonians and the Salians between the Xth century and the great revolt of 1066. Third, we will focus on the Wendes against whom crusades were carried out between 1147 and 1185. Finally, we will conclude this analysis with a study of the Prussians during the crusades against them in the 13th century. By a qualitative analysis of the vocabulary used to characterize the heathens, we can highlight certain characteristics attributed to them, allowing, in conclusion, a comparative analysis thereby allowing a portrait of the evolution of the representation of pagans.

In 1346, Philip VI of Valois enacted the Ordinance of Brunoy. This lengthy document aimed at reorganizing the kingdom’s forest administration in order to ensure that royal forests remained sufficiently profitables and adequately managed. For most of the past century, historians have believed the Ordinance of Brunoy to be the first true expression of the forest policies of the French crown. In reality, Philip VI benefited from a wealth of regulations already in place which had been developped by his predecessors since the beginning of the XIIIth century. It can be argued that the reign of Philip Augustus, and especially his conquest of Normandy in 1204, truly marks the inception of the first forest policies by the French royal government. From that time on, royal forests in Normandy were managed according to a set of strict regulations aiming at limiting usage rights and guaranteeing a steady contribution to the kingdom’s finances. Forests during the Middle Ages served multiple purposes : beside their input in royal finances, they were vital to rural economy, and formed a space over which medieval princes exercised their justice, authority, power and generosity. The study of administrative sources from XIIIth and XIVth Normandy gives a better understanding of the development of these early policies, which revolved around the creation of a new administration headed by the masters of « Eaux et Forêts » and the formulation, under the auspices of common good, of a set of rules and regulations aiming at maintaining a balance between conservation, exploitation and usages. In truth, the forests of medieval Normandy were far from the archetypal woodlands of medieval litterature : they appear as a well delimited and rationalized space, managed and monitered by the king’s officers, and formed an area of contact and conflict between the royal government and the forests’ users.

This thesis explores feasting in Norway and Iceland during the 12th and 13th centuries. The subject of this work, often only merely mentioned by historiography, aims to fill this need by painting a general picture of banquets during the chosen time period. We aim to specifically address the topic by garnering exceptional details present in historical documents. This study also wishes to establish the various roles played by banquets by following two main axes. The first one sees the feast serving as a conveyer of social cohesion and friendships and also as a building tool for relationships. Inversely, the second exposes how feasts could serve more hostile purposes, notably distinguishing every attendee and underlining social inequalities among a given group. We also aim to categorize feasts, to identify their uses and their breadth. Through these efforts, we also identify unique traits that define this practice around western Scandinavia, but also the differences it entertains against other European regions. Finally, this study aims to touch on the transmission of customs surrounding feasting from Norway to Iceland incidental to increasing political relationships. To achieve the aforementioned goals, we solicited the use legal texts from both regions, king sagas, contemporary sagas, as well as documents coming from the Norwegian court.

A direct access to the foundational texts of the Christian faith in vernacular languages was part of the basic demands of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The French linguistic domaine was no exception in this regard. Henri Estienne, in his Apologie pour Hérodote, alludes to a specific anonymous literature dedicated to this question in response to biblical censorship in the 1540’s. Our investigations in these primary sources lead our attention on two pamphlets which have remained almost unknown to most bibliographers: 1) TRAICTE AUQUEL / est deduict s’il est loisible de / lire la saincte Escriture en / langue Vulgaire, & / du fruict qui en peult sortir. (s.l.n.d. , 80, italique, 94 p., signé a-f8, marginales, titres courants, 2 initiales ornées (a 2r0; 3v0). 2) TRAITE, / QU’IL EST NECESSAIRE / QUE TOUTES GENS DE QUEL- / que qualité, sexe, ou aage, qu’ils / soient, lisent les Saintes Escri- / tures : Et du moyen qu’on / y peut tenir. (s.l., s.n., 1561, avec une marque aux palmes du martyr couronnées), 80, italique, 36 ff., signé A-D8, E4, marginales, titres courants, 1 initiale (Aii ro). These two treatises clearly disclose a protestant and reformed content. Moreover, the numerous biblical, literary and patristic quotations they contain, more specificaly the 1561 edition, show that they where penned by master’s and not by disciples. Many candidates to their authorship have been considered and among these it is the religious work of Pierre Viret that offers the most ressemblances with the two pamphlets. The observations summed up to this day have convinced us that the first booklet, published in 1544 and mentioned for the first time in 1549 in the Parisian catalogue of prohibited books (Index de Paris, with the notice 1543) forms the editio princeps of an unprecedented work of the Swiss Reformer. It is part of our thesis that this booklet was later completely rewritten by Pierre Viret and published in Paris in 1561 under a new title. The Viretian paternity of these two tracts will be proven in the present research with the help of quotations, textual connections and other arguments based on the internal and external criticism of primary sources. Here follows a brief summary of our demonstration. The analysis of the first booklet (henceforth: T1) reveals a tight relationship with the style and ideas of Pierre Viret as can be seen in his works printed between 1542 and 1555. Among the reminiscent passages, one must point out many borrowings from De la difference qui est entre les superstitions et idolatries des anciens gentilz et payens… (Geneva, 1542), an important work which Viret has often reused in his subsequent writings. We also found a brief extract of T1 in the Dialogues du desordre qui est a present au monde (Geneva, 1545) and in the Métamorphose chrestienne (1561), which prove a later reuse of this source by Viret. A carefull reading of T1 also reveals an import from Marie Dentière’s Epistre tresutile (1539) and Calvin’s Epistre monstrant comment Christ est la fin de la loi (1543). Our findings have also allowed us to put forward plausible and instructive suggestions, which still need to be validated, regarding the immediate editorial context of T1. On this matter, one will note that T1 was released when editions of the Bible, the Psalter and the New Testament were regularly and largely printed both in Geneva and Lyon. These geographical area were two biblical publishing centers following very similar patterns of eristic and religious discourses. Several issues were parts of confessional polarization on both sides. Our research on T1 was extended with the discovery of the 1561 treatise mentioned earlier (henceforth: T2). A carefull comparison of the two treatises suggests that latter is a profoundly reviewed reedition of the former. We are the first to have made this connexion. Viret’s well known literary habits, specially since the mid 1550’s, confirm this hypothesis. However a meticulous comparative study between T2 and Viret’s contemporary writings had to be undertaken before drawing any conclusion. The results of the inquiry are eloquent: T2 overlaps with most of his books published between 1559 and 1565 (strict textual kinship of ideas and style, verbatim recoveries, paraphrases). T2 even picks up a short extract from an important work De la difference qui est entre les supersitions (1542), a book we have underscored, with other historians, the value in Viret's bibliographical and literary repertoire. In short, our findings can be summarized as follows: T1 borrows from Viret, Viret borrows from T1 and T2, and the latter draws from T1 and Viret. Viret probably composed T2 shortly after he left Geneva for France (at the end of September 1561). Nîmes is the most likely location where he wrote this tract. Internal indications, to which external testimonies can be added, lead us to think that Viret wrote this short pamphlet with the intention of rallying the King of Navarre, his court and the nobility to the Reformed faith that is at a key moment when the Huguenots where largely increasing in numbers accross the kingdom, especially in the Southern cities where highly ranked families and many intellectuals enthousiastically clinged to the protestant theses. Hence, in the beginning of the 1560’s, Hugenots where forming a genuine political strength capable to inflect the Kingdom’s destiny in its most sensitive center: the monarchy. T2's context falls in line with the colloque de Poissy, an important event that took place in Paris between September 9 and October 14, 1561. There are reasons to believe that Viret's second treatise was largely disseminated in the French capital city since the printed typographical characters match those used by Nicolas Edoard and Charles Pesnot, namely two protestant printers active at the time of the Poissy colloquium. Differing on this particular point from T1, T2 was thus produced at a time when the process of "confession-building" of religious discourses was making it all the more evident that two conflictual and irreconcilable ecclesiologies were at stake within the same kingdom. In short, the religious debates where now deploying under a political spin. Hence, T2 appeared at a very critical moment when religious debates revolved around the political implications of the decline of the Catholic Valois and the rise of the Protestant Bourbons. Less than a year after the publishing of T2, on 2 April 1562, Condé and his Protestant followers seized the city of Orléans. Their example was soon followed by Protestant groups across the realm. The same year saw the outbreak of the first of the eight religious wars that would plague the kingdom during the rest of the century. By his immense literary input, to which our thesis now adds two new primary sources (which the reader will find herein with scientific annotations), and by his intensive fieldwork as a reformer – both in the Genevan-Swiss milieu and in France since the early 1560’s up until his death in 1571 (one year before the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre) – Pierre Viret will have not only been an important witness but a leading protagonist of the debate over the democratization of the Bible in the vernacular and the theological evolution surrounding this major controversy of the Reformation and post-Reformation era.