Quelques réflexions sur les conditions matérielles et linguistiques de la monarchie universelle d’après Nicole Oresme

Abstract

During the 1370s, Nicole Oresme (1320-1382)

completed for king Charles the 5th the translation of three

of Aristotle’s books (le Livre de Politiques, Livre de Ethiques

et Livre de Yconomiques) which belong to the field

of « mundane sciences » as he described it. This translation

project manifests at the same time Oresme’s own involvement

in these texts (as he punctuates Aristotle’s

writings with many glosses about 14th century political

debates about franciscan poverty, succession, etc), and his

willingness to devise a new and accurate French lexicon

for political theories. This paper focuses on one of the

longest glosses of the Livre de Politiques, dedicated to the

discussion of universal monarchy that particularly emphasises

Oresme’s conception of a fact-based political theory

– relying on historical, anthropological and linguistic

backgrounds – and as the double meaning of the word

« communication » (as « speech » as well as « togetherness

»).