Exemple au service de la spiritualité conjugale : les couples royaux dans « Le Livre de la vertu du sacrement de mariage » de Philippe de Mézières

Abstract

The reading of the didactic works dedicated to the feminine public at the end of the Middle Ages teaches us that their authors treat the marriage as a natural vocation of the woman and although they are not indifferent to the religious dimension of the conjugal reality, it is the terrestrial and profane aspect that interests them more. So the works such as the Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles of Geoffroy de La Tour Landry, Mesnagier de Paris and even Le Livre des Trois Vertus of Christine de Pizan appear in the form of textbooks in which the women can find any sort of rules, even practical advice on how to become a good wife and how to make a successful marriage. Among these books concerning the conjugal savoirfaire, the treaty of Philippe de Mézières Le Livre de la Vertu du sacrament de marriage et reconfort des dames mariés (1385-1389) occupies a very particular place. At first because the material sphere and everyday life of the life of a couple interest him only marginally, then because he turns all his attention to the essence of the marriage. Through his return in the spiritual conceptions of the marriage Philippe de Mézières anticipates his time. By putting in the heart of the marriage the love, by putting the love as the foundation of the marital union, he contributes to the advent of the modern couple which will triumph only after the Council of Thirty.