Le notaire, animal politique et parlant. Jalons pour une histoire des représentations de la fonction notariale (XIIIe-XIVe s.)

Abstract

In Thirteenth and fourteenth century Europe

and Italy, the notarial function was the object of a complex

process of ideological symbolization, well fitted to

the role played by the notarial milieu either in the communal

space, or in the laical and ecclesiastical courts. After

the emergence of ars dictaminis, the growth of ars notariae

boosted the formation of these representations of

the notary as a “speaking political animal”. This paper

tries to show how a comparative analysis of a variety of

sources (prologues of Artes notariae, of notarial statutes,

ludic correspondence between notaries...) allows us to explore

the ways through which a complex set of metaphorical

representations of the notarial figure was created

in Italy and France, thus symbolizing the auto-representation

of the notaries as creators of a social link based

on communication and contract.