[Thesis defence] 21/12/23, Romain Chevalier: "Papes, rois et bâtards. Norms and discourse around illegitimate filiation (Papacy and Kingdom of France, 13th-14th centuries)".

Title of the thesis

Popes, kings and bastards. Norms and discourse around illegitimate filiation (Papacy and Kingdom of France, 13th-14th centuries)

Date and place

Avignon University, Hannah Arendt Campus, Thesis Room
21 December 1.45pm

Discipline

Medieval History

Laboratory

CIHAM

Framing

• Mr Guido Castelnuovo, Professor at the University of Avignon, thesis supervisor

Composition of the jury

• Ms Carole Avignon, Lecturer at the University of Angers, Examiner
• Mr Guido Castelnuovo, Professor at the University of Avignon, thesis supervisor
• Mr Arnaud Fossier, Senior Lecturer at the University of Burgundy, Examiner
• Ms Corinne Leveleux, Professor at the University of Orléans, Examiner
• Olivier Mattéoni, Professor at the University of Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, Rapporteur
• Charles de Miramon, Director of Research at the CNRS, Rapporteur
• Sylvie Steinberg, Director of Studies, EHESS, Examiner

Summary of the thesis

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the construction of royal and papal competences in matters of bastardy, and also to examine the history of the discourses that justify the rehabilitation of illegitimate children through papal acts and those of the King of France. The aim is to explore the discrepancy between, on the one hand, a normative reality marked by a discourse whose cumulative effects are the establishment of legal discrimination against bastards, constantly recalled by the social world, and, on the other hand, the possibility of their rehabilitation. The aim is to put different temporalities into perspective. Firstly, the temporality of the law, which has its roots in antiquity and establishes a terminology and a normative framework that apply to illegitimate filiation. This fundamental movement underwent a major change from the twelfth century onwards, when jurists appropriated the Justinian corpus and distilled from it the means of rehabilitating bastards by giving them new foundations. The political timeline saw moments of sudden intensity around the reigns of Philip Augustus and Philip the Fair, while remaining marked by a backdrop that made the management of bastardy a point of contention between the Church and royalty. Finally, the socio-cultural temporality maintains the stigmatisation of children born out of wedlock, but at the same time highlights the discourse - developed in papal acts and then taken up in royal acts - that justifies individual rehabilitation provided certain conditions are met.