Jean d'Auffay : culture historique et polémique à la cour de Bourgogne

Résumé 0

Jean d’Auffay: historical culture and polemic at the court of Burgundy. Jean d’Auffay, a counsellor of Mary of Burgundy, was the author of a treatise written between 1477 and 1479, that vindicated her rights to Charles the Bold’s inheritance. This article compares the historical culture in d’Auffay’s treatise with that displayed in a wide-ranging inquiry in support of Mary’s rights, undertaken in the Burgundian archives around 1478-1479, and recorded in the Archives du Nord (9B 241). D’Auffay’s treatise relied on diplomatic sources such as letters and treaties. However he also knew how to skilfully turn some myths, such as the salic law or the reditus, against his French adversaries. While supporting his princess’s interests, d’Auffay also highlighted the sufferings of his own region, Artois. Although his treatise was not published until 1700 (by Leibnitz), its influence on diplomacy is attested by almost 70 known copies, made between the late fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries.