The Use of Vernacular and its Graphic and Material Shape in Epigraphic Discourse: Three Case Studies from Western France

Résumé En

This study will examine epigraphic writing and ask if in the visual, material and nonverbal part of the written communication, a graphic complement for linguistic differentiation (Latin / French) in medieval inscriptions, existed. In other words, did each language have its own management of writing, graphic signs, forms and spaces? Or did writing lead graphic organisation independently of the language it conveyed? Or was it the type of documents – in this case, epigraphic ones – that imposed a specific ‘scenography’ for language and writing? These questions have been studied for manuscripts. Yet when dealing with ‘exposed’ or ‘monumental’ writings – expressions which can define a great part of inscriptions – these issues are even more significant because the exteriorisation of the text and its mise en voir for a large audience were fundamental. Monumental writing conveyed a message that was both verbal andvisual; it gave a signal before giving meaning. This paper will focus on some striking features of this vast subject, namely, the technique, layout, writing, lettering, and colour of epigraphic documentation in the west of France (Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Poitou and Saintonge) from the twelfth to the fourteenth century.