L’ange comme être politique et parlant

Abstract

Man is not the only political and speaking being

that medieval thought was interested in. The angel

may also be considered as a political and speaking being.

Yet, whereas the link between political life and linguistic

faculty seems obvious in the human case, it is far from

being clear when it comes to the angel. Discussions about

locutio angelica and reflexions on hierarchia constitute,

indeed, very different collections. This paper tries to ask,

by considering more particularly the case of William of

Auvergne and of Peter of John Olivi, why the political

question and the linguistic question do not manage to

connect in medieval angelology.