Survivre par l’écrit chez les ecclésiastiques rouennais du XVe siècle

Abstract

If amongst the laity only burghers had the means to attain spiritual survival by financing masses in perpetuity in the parishes, the clergy were mostly concerned with the particular destination of their soul by organising their own remembrance. Their tombs were often modest, there were few inscriptions, but the canons had their names inscribed in an obituary in order to obtain singing in the cathedral choir on the anniversary of their death, while amongst the elite clergy the sophistication of wills and the gift of books expressed the development of a self consciousness which was directly linked to the quest of salvation by memory and prayers of the living.

Keywords

• memory
• will
• obituary
• tomb
• epitaph
• book