Changer de point de vue sur les ‹Epistulae duorum amantium›?

Abstract

Where precisely in the twelfth century could someone have read the ‹De nunciosagaci›, quoted by Mulier in the ‹Epistulae duorum amantium› (EDA), as well asseveral other Pseudo-Ovidian poems of the twelfth century? Several of these texts are first attested in the northern part of Italy rather than in France, and earlier than usually thought. It was in the same milieu that the theorization of the letter of friendship progressively evolved toward a theorization of the love letter, and it was there that certain expressions used in the EDA could be understood. The publication of new editions allows us to relativize the importance of certain themes of the EDA and suppose their commonness. The article ends with three different hypotheses on the origin of the EDA and their interpretation.

Keywords:‹Epistulae duorum amantium›, ars dictaminis, love letters, mediaeval latin poetry, Ovid, ps. Ovid, Abelard, Heloise, text transmission