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This thesis studies the charters of donations of two monastic establishments of the Ile-de-France in the twelfth century: the priory Saint-Martin-des-Champs and the abbey Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre. This research concerning 160 ecclesiastical charters is based on the analysis of the social and religious relations that follows from the gifts offered by French royalty and aristocracy to these two monasteries. The overall objective is to highlight that the practice of donation plays a central role during medieval society and that it has engendered, perpetuated and consolidated religious and social interactions in linking them to the ideological framework of the ecclesia. The first stage of this research examines the anthropological and medieval historiographies of the gift and on the practice of donation in the Middle Ages. Then, we establish the historical context on the Île-de-France region during the reign of Louis VI, Louis VII and Philippe II, so between 1108 and 1223. The last step analyzes the practice of donating to The Middle Ages from a social point of view, among others the relations that are established by repeated donations between aristocratic families and the two monasteries under study. We also investigate the religious ideology surrounding the gift as a means of apprehending the salvation of the soul for the actors who, by this practice, are running the salutary spiritual mechanisms for their redemption. Finally, we address the global implications that affect the whole of medieval society, including public ceremonies and donation confirmations by the aristocratic and religious elite.

The memory of the French Revolution often refers to the victory of the Nation. The Revolution created the nation state, but also the standing army of citizen-soldiers, thus rejecting mercenary enterprise and the use of foreign troops. However, the reality is quite different, since the armies of the Revolution and of the many French Republic all had foreign contingents, the most famous being the French Foreign Legion. Even today, the use of private enterprise in warfare is again booming. During the warring period from 1740 to 1763, which saw two great European wars —the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years (1756-1763) wars—become world wars, the use of foreign troops increased in the kingdom of France. It was not solely the case in the armies of the Rois Très-Chrétiens: foreigners served in all European armies, notably in those of England, Spain, Prussia, Austria and Russia. They were not only used to inflate the ranks of the armies, but also to seek expertise in military knowledge. In the middle of the 18th century, the Prussian model was in fashion and was introduced to France by the German standing foreign regiments. This phenomenon has been neglected by the literature and by the military history (except regarding Swiss and Irish troops). This research seeks to fill this gap. Using social and cultural history, as well as the history of representations, it aims at understanding who these foreign soldiers were, where they came from, and what were their motivations to serve for France. Ultimately, this thesis examines the German and the French military cultures in the 18th century and highlights the role of German foreign regiments in cultural and warfare transfers.

In New France in the eighteenth century, illicit trade between Montreal and Albany had become commonplace. The economic structures of the colony and the repressive measures aimed at contraband gave this trade its particular organization. Another important factor in the normalization of illicit trade was the discourse produced by colonial authorities on contraband. As top magistrate and administrator of the colony, the intendant of New France occupied a singular place in the repressive and discursive apparatus set up to fight unauthorized trade. The intendant and his Montreal subdélégué brought smugglers to trial, and the intendant often took up the matter in his correspondence with his superior in metropolitan France, the secretary of state of the Marine. In this thesis, three intendants will bring their own unique brand of discourse to bear on the Montreal-Albany trade. Based on information obtained from first-hand reports, these intendants classify facts and behaviours related to contraband, for judicial proceedings and ministerial decision-making. But the means and methods they employ to defend the fur exporting privilege of the Compagnie des Indes prove to be rather deficient and counterproductive. As their discourse delineates the many obstacles to the full application of French colonial law, the intendants give the Montreal-Albany trade its colouring. In official correspondence, the intendant describes the consolidated network of merchants who hold intercolonial commerce in their grasp, and the deleterious effects of distance on colonial subjects from the civilizing ways of the metropole. The intendant scrutinizes how the Compagnie's policies stimulate the phenomenon it deplores and anticipates breaches to colonial security related to the participation of the Domiciliés, or "settled" Natives, in the prohibited trade. This study focuses on the discursive strategies of three intendants, Michel Bégon de La Picardière (1712-1726), Claude-Thomas Dupuy (1726-1728), and Gilles Hocquart (1728-1748), who formulate in their correspondence with the secretary of state of the Marine in France matters of official policy toward a contraband which they officially must fight, but also tolerate.

Examining a specific publication, l’Histoire naturelle des Cétacées (1804), this study seeks to determine how Lacépède managed to compose his classic work of cetology without having seen a single whale in his entire life. The operating hypothesis is that, while referencing numerous well-read naturalists’ and other authors’ works, Lacépède was in fact exploiting the knowledge held by the persons that were the most familiar with the species: the whalers. Since this vernacular maritime knowledge does not appear clearly in the book, we will investigate the naturalist’s methods, sources and relationships with other fellow natural philosophers of the Museum d’histoire naturelle to try to understand the role seamen could have played in this work. To help us examine the complex mechanisms of the circulation of natural knowledge, we will benefit from a bibliography mostly composed with research on the Atlantic world, highly comprehensive on these topics. We will carefully take into consideration the political, scientific and cultural context of early nineteenth century France.

This M.A. thesis considers the role of commemorative elites2 who contributed to the development of local identity. Starting with the mandates of mayor Anatole Carignan, in Lachine, 1933 to 1939 and 1944 to 1952, it identifies key members of the elites and of the network linked to the creation of events, monuments and festivities of the local history. Commemorations presented to the citizens are the recognition of historical figures such as René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle and Désiré Girouard, the civic holiday of July 6th, the 275th anniversary of Lachine in 1944, the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the municipality of Lachine in 1948. The thesis contains a critical review of two important productions that took place in this period: the Lachine massacre and its funeral ceremonial in the heart of Old Lachine; and, a pageant recreating the history of Lachine from 1667 to 1944. Additionally, these municipal elites bequeathed two important legacies: the acquisition of the LeBer-LeMoyne house, which became a museum, and the founding of the Lachine Regional History Society.

This dissertation examines how and why normative issues about public recognition developed in Enlightenment France. It shows that this question gained significance during the transitional period towards modernity as two important phenomena intersected. On the one hand, Enlightenment thinkers – who questioned the arbitrary foundations of authority – made glory into a process of recognition based on merit, which, in turn, could engender a harmonious and just society. On the other hand, the century saw the advent of a celebrity culture, which enabled the multiplication of famed individuals, especially emanating from the capital’s arts and literary circles. Instead of distinguishing individuals whose merit and useful accomplishments gave rise to unanimous admiration, as the economy of glory would demand, celebrity built upon things such as controversies, revelations about private lives, and the consumption of entertainment. From its inception, celebrity was perceived as a contributing factor to moral degeneracy and as a sign of cultural decay. This dissertation examines moral, aesthetic, and biographical texts that contributed to the creation, promotion, and critique of the economies of public recognition. An analysis of these texts published over a 150-year period – from the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes to the first third of the nineteenth century – sheds light on their arguments with regards to the type of order (literary, social, or political) that they hoped to consolidate or engender. These texts offer a unique view into the particularities of this defining moment shaped by the elimination of traditional hierarchies and the advent of individuals as autonomous moral subjects. This dissertation historicises modern celebrity culture through an examination of its representations and of the conflicts it generated. Although celebrity has been theorized as a media phenomenon that creates a relationship of intimacy between famed individuals and the public, this study shows that, during the period in question, it was largely conceived as a deregulation of glory’s economy of feelings. This economy was based on a theory of moral sentiments that enabled the natural recognition of true merit, and that would, in due course, solve the tension between the subjectivity of opinions and the objectivity of values. To the contrary, celebrity fuelled passions – such as envy, ambition, and greed – which prompted the creation of immediate and undeserved renown. Celebrity was inscribed in a coherent set of aesthetic and sociocultural manifestations – including, fashion, rococo, bel esprit, satire, persiflage, light reading, cabals, and spectacles – while its systematic definition took shape through a critique of elite mores.

In order to standardize the administrative and judicial procedures in a duchy at the heights of its expansion, the duke Amédée VIII of Savoy (1391-1440) adopted in 1430 a set of laws, the « Statutes of Savoy » or Decreta Sabaudiae, which proposed a reform of the State apparatus. But what was the true impact of these Decreta on the exercice of justice in Savoy? This essay seeks to use accounting and fiscal sources from the bailliage of Bresse between 1420 and 1440 in order to determine what were the judicial institutions and practices at the time of the adoption of the Statutes of 1430. A thorough analysis of these new decrees would then establish if they managed to significally change the habits and behavior of the duke’s officiers and subjects. It appears that in the end, the Decreta seeked to correct judicial practices that were neglected over time : the major changes wished by the duke were in fact already established before the adoption of the new Statutes. As for the new penal laws of Amédée VIII, the documentation of Bresse could not prove their concrete enforcement.

This study concerns the christianization of medieval Norway, from the eleventh century until the mid-thirteenth century, through feasts and food rituals. The analysis is largely based on the Gulathing law, a legal compilation of regional laws started in the eleventh century and codified in its final form in the thirteenth century. A few other sources act as auxiliaries, especially helpful in the establishing the chronology of christianization. Throughout this work, the marked importance of feasts as an essential mechanism to the Norwegian society allows to better understand how these events served the religious transition. This work also establishes that christianization was a lengthy process where a few elements of religious continuity could be observed. The feasts proved to be an important means to the coming of Christianity in the North, mostly through the retaining of certain rites and through the cultural changes observed in this kind of event.

The French monarchy accumulated a large number of geographic documents describing its colonies. The thesis submits to close examination the role of the state in an intellectual activity consisting of observing, recording and representing graphically the colonial territory. Exploiting various types of documents – topographic, cadastral, hydrographic and general maps –, the study aims not to present an inclusive portrait of cartographic activity, but rather to explore various thematic issues, notably: the bounding of colonial territory, courtiers’ cartography, validation mechanisms, specialization and useful knowledge, the uses of geographical information. With regard to a historiography increasingly preoccupied with the modes of territorial dispossession and of the inscription of knowledge, the thesis analyzes the contexts and mechanisms of the production, collection, archiving and re-use of geographical documents produced by or for the state in New France. In exploring the colonial context of imperial cartographic activity, the study confirms the importance of the state in this field. But it affords a more precise view of that activity in emphasizing the complexity of the genesis of maps that sooner or later gravitated toward the metropolitan centre.

Cette étude s’intéresse à la dynamique des relations franco-belges durant l’Entre-deux-guerres. L’objectif est de définir si la Belgique a été un satellite de la France pendant la durée de l’accord militaire franco-belge de 1920. Utilisant les archives diplomatiques du ministère des Affaires étrangères belge, l’étude démontre que la Belgique, alors même qu’elle tente de maintenir une harmonie entre les membres de l’Entente (Angleterre, France, Belgique), agit dans son plus pur intérêt national. Ainsi, alors que les évènements majeurs de l’Entre-deux-guerres se déroulent -occupation de la Ruhr, signature du Traité de Locarno, démilitarisation de la Ruhr et l’élection d’Hitler- la Belgique démontre qu’elle est une actrice indépendante et importante dans l’évolution de la diplomatie européenne. La rupture de l’accord militaire franco-belge en 1936 est généralement perçue comme une rupture des relations diplomatiques entre les deux pays alors qu’elle ne représente que la volonté belge de ne pas être entrainée dans une guerre qui ne la concerne pas. Ainsi, la présente étude cherche à clarifier la relation franco-belge. Elle démontre que les interactions entre la Belgique et sa grande voisine n’ont rien d’une relation de subordination.

This thesis studies the European travel literature concerning the Ottoman Empire and tries to analyse the role of the informers used by the Europeans in the creation of their representation of the janissaries within their travel accounts. Once the janissaries and the travel literature are presented in the first chapter, the second initiates a reflexion about the form taken by the representation of the janissaries. This representation is twofold : one is « individual », and the other is « collective ». In the first, the focus is put on understanding the representation of the many individuals composing this corps while in the second, the janissaries are seen as a collective entity. Once these parameters are set, the final chapter explore the mechanisms surrounding how travellers assemble their information to understand the janissaries by using three main groups of native informants. Following this analysis, we arrived at the conclusion that the informers either complexify, simplify or alter the perspectives of the travellers. It depends on the linguistic skills of each traveller, because it is the main factor that determines the identity of the people used by them to collect their information, and by extension, the extent to which those travellers exposed themselves to the filters created by linguistic intermediaries and translators. This conclusion enriches our understanding of the process which created the representations transmitted by travel literature, and also offers interesting leads for future analysis on travel accounts. Since considering the influence of the informers used by travellers in the description and explanation of subjects related to a scholar’s interests might be beneficial to his own understanding of his researchs.

The main purpose of this very text is to study the evolution of the French and Castilian nobilities at the end of the medieval ages through the manuscripts of the Victorial and the Canarian. The development of the nobility’s role is important to see the relationship of some nobles with the oceanic environment and the diplomatic impacts it had created at the beginning of the 15th century. Meanwhile, changes relatively to the relationship between nobility and royalty are also obvious, du to the disruption occasioned by the Hundred Years war. On the other hand, violence at sea also brings an interesting aspect to this study. It helps to understand the upcoming of new responsibilities to the nobles living on the coasts. Finally, the Victorial and the Canarian represent an important side of this work, not only because it shows the stylistic influence of the "amour courtois" literary movement, but also because they are posthumous testimony of the life of don Pero Niño and Jean de Béthencourt. All this proves that, even if the implication of nobles into major enterprises among the sea remains very limited, it is very clear that oceanic side becomes a new reality of war and political alliances at the end of the Middle Ages.

In 1814, an ending that no one could have anticipated brought back a dynasty swept by the winds of history twenty-five years ago. Returning to France, Louis XVIII restores their titles to the old nobility of the Ancien Régime, but "grants" a Charter which was intended to guarantee the liberal principles inherited from the Revolution. The « Restoration », the name given to the reestablishment on the throne of France of the former Bourbon dynasty, nevertheless raised many questions. What would happen to this new France that had emerged with the Revolution since 1789? Between 1814 and 1820, a period during which a liberal political program was established, the Royalists invoked the Revolution and the threats it put on the monarchy in order to fight it. The Liberals, on the other hand, saw in their royalist adversaries an old and embittered nobility, emerging once more from a distant past, and who badly conceals its secret desire to abolish the Charter and claim her former rights. This master’s thesis will discuss the divide that existed between two elites competing for political and social dominance. In the light of the debates of the time, we will see how Royalists and Liberals, the two major political groups of the period, articulated their speech. One theme appears particularly prominent: the Revolution. After two decades, it divides again. Worse, it was still relevant and its memory never ceased to occupy the political space.

Cannibals, caravans under the burning desert sun, “Wild Indians” of the Northwest… these were just some of the exotic images that Quebec schoolchildren were presented with in the 19th century. In addition to being a vehicle for socialization into the nation, the school was also a window onto the wider world and a place to learn about stereotypes. What images of the Other, and produced by which ideologies, did Quebec schools transmit? How did Quebec youth become conscious of “otherness”? What recreative and pedagogical functions did these images serve? This thesis is an effort to answer these questions. The first three chapters of the thesis explore the rhetorical construction of otherness in the school. How was the Other identified and depicted? The rhetoric of otherness took many forms, from cultural distancing to racial essentializing. European imperialism and the knowledge it produced facilitated the classification of the world’s peoples, from which were drawn those peoples who had different and “bizarre” cultural practices. Consistent with the history of Orientalism, such fascination was particularly reserved for the peoples of Asia. But, as radical as the otherness of the Oriental could be, it did not attain the level of essentialization imposed on the “Negro,” defined by their race, and to the “Savage,” whose body was the primary indicator of their identity. Finally, the significant role that the figure of the Indian played in primary-level education is a reminder that it was key to realizing the very possibility of a national existence for Canadians – who were themselves essentialized as belonging to the civilized world. Far from having only been in the background of history, the Indian was at the heart of the narrative as the figure most likely to capture the interest of children. Retaining the interest of children was precisely what the pedagogy of the era was most concerned with as a means to develop various capacities, such as the power of observation and emotion, both of which the latter chapters of this thesis examines. Fascinated by the images they observed, children were exposed to a stereotyped representation of the Other that manifested itself across multiple disciplines. In employing the travel narratives of the European explorers, geography called upon students to imagine themselves elsewhere. The schoolwork of students explored here reveals their curiosity about and imaginings of far-off regions and peoples. Finally, we also see how a missionary rhetoric manipulated the emotional reactions of schoolchildren to poor non-Christian children and thereby used the school to transmit its message. The school setting ensured that children acquired a sense of authority over the Others that the educational discourse presented to them. The knowledge of the Others gave them a sense of superiority and authority. The school also transmitted a hierarchical vision of the world in which Canadian children, even those of the popular classes, belonged to the more privileged categories, that is to say to the white race and civilization. This highlights one of the central findings of this research: children were not defined as French-Canadians or English-Canadians vis-à-vis the Other; rather, they were defined as white and civilized. This thesis also shows how otherness was a pedagogical tool that public education privileged amid its expansion in the 19th century.

Montreal, like almost every North American city, was hit by the economic crisis in the 1930’s. One of the most important economic sector of the city, namely construction, greatly decreased its activities. Unemployment was the new reality for much of the population, and the consequence was a decrease in the living and housing conditions of working class families. The municipal state was pressed to address the question of sanitary housing and had to decide which interventions needed to be done to improve the living conditions of its citizens. The Commission on Sanitary Housing was formed especially to study, create and compile data on Montreal’s slums. These initiatives also gave the opportunity to members of the Commission to gather information from other North American as well as Western and Northern European cities. The Commission also had to produce urban renewal plans with the objective to destroy the slums on the city’s territory, and built salubrious housing to replace them. These plans, developed in a limited financial context, aimed to improve Montreal’s rental prospective and were a part of the major global urban trends of the first half of the 20th century. The City of Montreal needed to find original ways of intervention as well as create new ways of improving fiscal justice through the implementation of new taxes. This new income gave the City the opportunity to share with more equity the financial burden of the public administration. During this decade, Montreal developed different governing techniques which improved the city’s ability to manage its territory, through renewal plans as well as a more efficient planning of the urban development, and developed the opportunity to better manage the population living on its territory.

Mythology is often considered a key component of the culture for a given society. It is often used to explain natural and social phenomenon particular to the aforementioned society. The hypothesis guiding this research is that, although mythology is considered culturally linked to a society, there is a basis for creating myths that is common to human kind, like some sort of a mythological blueprint common to all cultures. To verify this hypothesis, this study will focus on comparing Greek and Japanese mythology through the princesses Medea and Pimiko. At first, these princesses might seem to have nothing in common, however after a thorough study, it is possible to see that they are similar in more ways than one. They are, however, not completely identical. This is because some cultural traits truly are unique to a given society. By studying these differences, it is possible to determine what is truly similar between two cultures. However, with the study of mythology, it is considered normal that some information is missing. This can be the result of two deciding factors. The first one is that this piece of information was destroyed at some point in time. The second one is that it never existed in any written form and simply disappeared. This second factor will be discussed at length in this paper.

This M.A. thesis focuses on the regulation of the access of women journalists to the daily newspaper Le Devoir between the years 1965 and 1975, and on the latter's role in the dissemination of women's demands during a sociohistorical context which was marked by feminist challenges. This period is targeted in order to analyze the impact of the abolition of the women’s page, which takes place in February 1971, on the organization of the newspaper, especially through the study of how women's and feminist themes are brought forward in the newspaper. This research posits the hypothesis that gender strongly influences the organization of Le Devoir through the consideration of it being a gendered space which is rife with sexualised power relations; the main forum for women at this time until its abolition, namely the women’s page, is a convincing demonstration of these dynamics. Based on a quantitative analysis, this research argues that Le Devoir displays a gendered organizational structure as to its content, and thus, articles on women’s and feminist themes are virtually unheard of during the period analyzed. In addition, women who write outside of the women’s page write mostly about social issues such as education or health. This quantitative perspective also allows us to note a significant drop in the space provided for the discussion of women's issues as a result of the abolition of the women's page; topics which will not be picked up by the general section of the daily. Following with a qualitative analysis of women's discourses and the representation of women in the newspaper, this M.A. thesis makes it possible to establish that, despite a constrained gender-based structure, certain women journalists were able to diffuse multiple claims by presenting not only the reality of Quebec women, but also of those of women from the four corners of the world. The diversity of topics addressed by women and the representations of women contradicts several studies which claim that women's pages would only contribute to the diffusion of a reductive vision of women and thus participate in their oppression, leading us to nuance the purely positive vision of the abolition of the women’s page. While it certainly contributed to the confinement of women's point of view to a dedicated space in the newspaper, it also allowed for the diffusion of women's concerns. In conclusion, this research ultimately pursues the objective of lifting the veil on the contribution of women who brought to the public space issues that challenged them, and their attempts to deconstruct the rigid structure of the media that limited their agency.

U.S.-Soviet relations have changed significantly between the two presidential mandates of Ronald Reagan. Very strong tensions developed into a cordial bilateral relationship characterized by a bond of confidence and an effective dialogue, something unthinkable only a few years earlier. Of course, the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev at the leadership of the USSR is part of the explanation. However, this master thesis focuses on the Reagan administration, namely on its successful efforts to open a dialogue that led to a radical change of the relationship. Did the United States act in reaction to the accession of Gorbachev as the new leader of the Soviet Union, or were they already inclined to radically reformulate the relationship before his arrival in March 1985? Based on the postulate that the “Reagan Reversal” occurred at the turn of 1984, four main arguments defend this statement in the present study. First of all, the new Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who took office in June 1982, suggested to President Reagan the abandonment of the anti-communist conservative ideology in U.S.-Soviet relations, in favor of a pragmatic posture. Then, there was a realization of the need for an effective dialogue in the wake of the shooting down by the Soviets of the Korean Airlines plane KAL007, on September 1st, 1983. The third argument concerns the nuclear issue, a subject that greatly worried Reagan himself, and whose ideal was to render nuclear weapons obsolete. Finally, at the beginning of November 1983, a NATO military exercise simulating procedures in the event of the outbreak of a nuclear war in Europe, named Able Archer 83, caused great concern among the Soviets which strengthened their theory that the West was preparing for a possible nuclear first strike. These four arguments provide elements of answers as to when and why the “Reagan Reversal” in American soviet policy occurred.

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.

La présente thèse a pour objet d’étude les entrepreneures montréalaises du XXe siècle, entendues au sens strict de propriétaires principales d’au moins une entreprise privée de production ou de distribution de biens ou de services. Il s’agit, plus précisément, de définir et d’analyser les caractéristiques personnelles de ces femmes et celles de leurs entreprises, d’examiner les enjeux qu’elles affrontent collectivement, d’explorer les récits tenus à leur sujet par elles-mêmes ou par autrui et de situer les transformations de ces différents éléments dans le contexte urbain de Montréal de la période 1920-1980. Il est question, plus fondamentalement, de porter un regard critique sur la perception de ce phénomène et sur ce que nous considérons être la construction discursive de son caractère exceptionnel. L’analyse quantitative des recensements du Canada et des annuaires de commerce Lovell met en lumière l’existence, largement minoritaire par rapport au groupe des hommes, de femmes à la direction d’entreprise entre 1920 et 1980, leur concentration dans les commerces de détail et les services et la croissance exponentielle de ce groupe à partir des années 1960. Cette tendance apparaît comme la conséquence de l’entrée massive des femmes, et notamment des femmes mariées, sur le marché du travail salarié, mais aussi de la tertiarisation de l’économie à partir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Une petite minorité de ces femmes qui occupent des postes de gestion sont propriétaires de leur entreprise. Elles exercent leur profession principalement dans les petits commerces de détail d’alimentation, de mode ou encore de salons de beauté, sont mariées, tiennent leur boutique au cœur des quartiers montréalais à majorité francophone, et ce, pendant moins de 8 ans. La croissance et la décroissance de ce groupe avec l’année 1940 comme date charnière s’expliquent principalement par une activité entrepreneuriale féminine temporaire pendant les années de crise économique. Une certaine élite de cette collectivité d’entrepreneures montréalaises a, conjointement avec d’autres femmes salariées, formé les rangs de l’Association des femmes d’affaires de Montréal (de la Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste), du Business and Professional Women’s Club ou du Committee of Trades, Business and Professions for Women (du Montreal Local Council of Women). Ces groupements sont principalement des lieux de réseautage et de socialisation pour leurs membres. Ils se sont, cependant, aussi engagés pour améliorer la situation des femmes en affaires. Les francophones, surtout actives pendant la première moitié du siècle, ont défendu un enseignement commercial pour les femmes et soutenu les modistes face aux pressions des commerces de gros, des manufactures et des employées du secteur. Les anglophones, de leur côté, se sont principalement concentrées sur la défense du travail salarié des femmes et se sont plutôt positionnées, à partir des années cinquante, en faveur de l’accès des femmes aux postes à responsabilité tant dans le secteur privé que public et tant comme propriétaires que comme gestionnaires salariées. Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, quelques femmes francophones intègrent aussi le bastion masculin de la Chambre de commerce du district de Montréal (CCDM). Entre 1957 et 1971, cette institution met en place un comité qui rassemble les forces vives de l’entrepreneuriat, de la direction d’entreprise ou du salariat féminin. La question de la dépendance de ce regroupement aux autorités (masculines) de la CCDM génère rapidement des tensions et reste tangible tout au long des quinze années d’existence du Conseil des femmes membres (CFM) de la CCDM. En effet, l’analyse des activités du CFM de la CCDM proposées exclusivement à ses membres (féminins) ou menées de concert avec les autres membres (masculins) de la CCDM et des discours prononcés au sujet de l’intégration des femmes au sein de cette institution démontre la persistance, dans cet univers, d’une stricte conception genrée des rôles dans le monde des affaires francophone. Enfin, seul un nombre restreint d’entrepreneures qui ne connaissent que des « succès » commerciaux et correspondent à la définition de la « féminité » — soit des entrepreneures « exceptionnelles » — a une visibilité dans les revues populaires, les documents des fédérations d’associations de femmes et de la CCDM. Ces femmes n’agissent que dans les domaines « féminins » du vêtement, de la beauté ou du petit commerce spécialisé. Elles sont rapidement reconnues sur le marché montréalais, provincial, national, voire international. Si elles n’en sont pas originaires, elles se forment en France ou aux États-Unis et y séjournent régulièrement pour se procurer leurs matériaux. Elles offrent des produits et des services de qualité, adaptent leurs prix aux origines de leur clientèle (toujours féminine) et dirigent un personnel (souvent des femmes). Elles ne connaissent que rarement l’échec. Elles conjuguent, de plus, leurs obligations maternelles et professionnelles à la perfection, soignent leurs commerces « comme des maîtresses de maison » et exercent leurs activités à domicile. Au contraire, lorsqu’elles osent intégrer des bastions « masculins », elles connaissent la discrimination et de très grandes difficultés. La Chambre de commerce de Montréal, quant à elle, initialement silencieuse sur l’entrepreneuriat féminin, ajoute, au tournant des années soixante, dans un contexte favorable à l’entrepreneuriat francophone et aux empires familiaux, une caractéristique supplémentaire à cette entrepreneure idéale, celle d’être l’héritière d’une entreprise florissante d’un père ou d’un mari. Ce modèle, s’il s’adapte au contexte spécifique des francophones de Montréal et se transforme lors des moments de rupture de 1945 et 1960, reste, fondamentalement identique tout au long du XXe siècle et conditionne notre perception de l’entrepreneuriat féminin. Ultimement, l’analyse et la confrontation de ces données quantitatives et discursives forcent à poser, plus largement, un regard critique sur la question de la constante « exceptionnalisation » de l’entrepreneuriat féminin. Il ressort de cette analyse que les femmes qui s’adonnent à ce type d’activités professionnelles sont, elles-mêmes, profondément influencées par ces différents schémas de pensée pour se définir et agir, mais, surtout, que les discours qui véhiculent des informations relatives aux entrepreneures montréalaises en sont aussi fondamentalement inspirés. Or, cette caractéristique apparaît surtout comme une construction discursive, intrinsèquement liée aux idéologies capitaliste, patriarcale et, pour les francophones de Montréal, nationaliste. Il semble donc nécessaire de la relativiser et de la démystifier. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans l’historiographie nord-américaine et européenne qui, en croisant les réflexions issues de l’étude de l’histoire économique et des affaires, des femmes et des théories du genre, a, depuis les années 1980, dévoilé les activités financières et commerciales de femmes dans d’autres contextes urbains jusqu’au milieu du XXe siècle et mis en exergue le biais genré de l’histoire des affaires. Ces recherches soulignent les spécificités des rapports qu’entretiennent les femmes avec la propriété privée et la gestion d’entreprise et, plus largement, leurs contributions au développement économique urbain. Le présent texte y ajoute des données montréalaises de la période 1920-1980 ainsi qu’une réflexion critique sur les discours émis à ce sujet par les femmes d’affaires elles-mêmes, par le monde commercial ou par autrui.