PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Une vie presque inconnue: the life of Pierre Boaistuau 29
1.1: ‘Pierre Bouaistuau, natif de Bretaigne des parties de Nantes’ 33
1.2: 1540-1550: the education of a sixteenth-century humanist 40
1.3: 1550-1560: the travels and works of a humanist writer 48
1.4: Pierre Boaistuau’s literary profile: a retrospective 58
Chapter 2: Pierre Boaistuau and sixteenth-century French print culture 67
2.1. The publishing history of Pierre Boaistuau’s works 72
2.1.1. Le Théâtre du monde 75
2.1.2. Histoires prodigieuses 77
2.1.3. Histoires tragiques 79
2.1.4. L’Histoire de Chelidonius Tigurinus 81
2.1.5. Bref discours de l’excellence et dignité de l’homme 82
2.1.6. Histoire des persecutions de l’Eglise chrestienne et catholique 83
2.1.7. Histoires des amans fortunez 84
2.1.8. The translation of St. Augustine’s The City of God and other
unpublished works 85
2.1.9. The reception of Boaistuau’s editions in Europe and the
Americas 88
2.2. Manifestations of French print culture 93
2.2.1. The advent of print in France 96
2.2.2. The changing face of an industry 100
2.2.3. The readers and the writer 107
2.3. Pierre Boaistuau’s work as representative of French print culture 113
2.3.1. The centralized character of production 113
2.3.2. The physical nature of books 116
2.3.3. The rise of the vernaculars 122
2.3.4. The popular literature 127
Chapter 3: Humanism, narrative fiction and philosophy in Pierre Boaistuau’s
work 134
3.1. Narrative fiction, Histoires des amans fortunez and Histoires
tragiques 139
3.1.1. Histoires des amans fortunez 140
3.1.2. Histoires tragiques 153
3.2. Philosophy, Le Théâtre du monde and Bref discours de l’excellence
et dignité de l’homme 166
3.2.1. Le Théâtre du monde 167
3.2.2. Bref discours de l’excellence et dignité de l’homme 184
Chapter 4: Religion, political theory and history in Pierre Boaistuau’s work 195