Introduction: Paroles d'orateurs. L'éloquence en jeu(x), France, Pays-Bas, XVe-XVIe s.

Abstract

Before the Age of Eloquence (16th-17th c.) emerged in Europe between 1470 and 1560 the Age of the Orators, especially blooming in the Kingdom of France and the Southern Low Countries. While the rhetoric rules of eloquence were theorized in treatises, numerous writers, calling themselves ‘orators’, have explored alternative forms of public discourse in vernacular, based on performance and game: parody, spectacle, intentional misappropriation, interactive communication.