Dictes Amen Devottement: Late Medieval Religious Parody in Context

Abstract

This dissertation looks at the specificity of religious parody (parodia sacra) in the French theater within the context of the Late Middle Ages. Beginning with a survey of the literature on parody, both theoretical and historical, the study highlights the distinctiveness of parody over against satire and the uniqueness of religious parody as a form whose ambiguity may achieve a level of subversiveness not possible in traditional anticlerical satire. The work traces out the earliest instances of religious parody in Latin and Old French, highlighting the ways in which these texts paved the way for later forms. This research also contends that the religious parody enacted in drama in the fifteenth and sixteenth represents a turning point, but one whose importance must be set within the context of broader movements and mindsights of the period. Highlighting developments within the religious sphere, such as the increasing bifurcation between clergy and laity in lifestyle and in the act of worship itself, this study argues that religious parody on the stage at the end of the Middle Ages created a kind of parallel cultus, a space where the distance between the lay observer and the sacred could be bridged through the medium of parody and play. It also seeks to articulate how this connects to larger movements of the period, such as newer forms of scholasticism, Devotio Moderna, the rise of literacy, and the Protestant Reformation. The research examines rising censorship from ecclesiastical and civil authorities in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the Carnival context in which these forms of religious parody took place, a censorship that may very well have been driven by the presence of a culture of parody partially represented in the dramatic texts that are the focus of the last few chapters. Two genres, in particular, farce and sermon joyeux are treated, with examples of religious parody catalogued and analyzed. The final chapter of the dissertation takes a brief look at the continuing relevance of religious parody in more modern French and Francophone contexts.