Albigesian History (second half of 15th century) : scholarly edition and linguistic study ; Histoire des Albigeois (deuxième moitié du XVe siècle) : édition critique et étude de langue
The Histoire des Albigeois (The Albigesian History), better known as the prosification of the Chanson de la croisade contres les Albigeois, is a text ignored by the literary criticism. The text, in its Version 1 (known before as Version L), which is the subject of this dissertation, was transmitted by three manuscripts between the 16th and 17th centuries. These are: P (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 4975), C (Carpentras, Bibliothèque Municipale Inguimbertine, 1829) with the same gap of the precedent codex, and T (Toulouse, Bibliothèque Municipale de Toulouse, ms. 608), the only complete manuscript. In addition, there is also the Rédaction 2, transmitted by the manuscript marked Me and preserved in the Merville's château. This latter version was edited by Dirk Hoekstra in 1998. The Version 1, in turn, collects two sub-versions: the first one is Version 1 Long (P, C), from which the second one derives, i.e. Version 1 Short (T), that considerably shortens the text, by removing the repetitions (subjects, adjectives etc.) but preserving every element necessary for the storytelling. The Histoire's language is the XV century occitan, far from the Troubabours' language of the 12th and 13th centuries and displaying some Latin and French influences. The origin of the text is to be located in the East Languedoc, especially the East Toulousain, Quercy, Rouergue, Albigeois and Hérault. In addition, the text offers others linguistics elementes, related to Eastern Alps and Spain. The Latin influence, the quote from the Codex Iuris Civilis, the intellectual context depicted by the jurists of the Toulouse's parliament, the information purpose: these are the elements that lead us to consider the Histoire a book of history written by an anonymous author for his contemporaries. In this book, all main characters (crusaders, southern allies and clerics) are judged the same positive way, with the only exception of Folquet de Marseille, bishop of Toulouse, represented in a negative way. ; L'Histoire des Albigeois, mieux ...