21 - Eschuer peché, embracer bountee: Social Thought and Pastoral Instruction in Nicole Bozon

Summary

As we reflect on the social contexts of the French language in medieval England, it is important to consider the strong tradition of homiletic texts providing catechetical instruction, and moral and spiritual guidance. Produced in an environment of increased awareness of the catechetical needs of both the clergy and the laity, and in response to the mandates of Lateran IV in 1215 and the 1281 Council of Lambeth, these works are among the most imaginative in the Anglo-Norman corpus. In explaining sin, how and why one should confess, and what it is to be a good Christian, texts of pastoral instruction deploy a lively cast of characters and images that seek to inspire contrition and piety. They also provide a way of understanding the habits, concerns, preoccupations and social behaviour of the authors who composed the works and the public(s) to whom they were addressed.

One important source of homiletic literature in Anglo-Norman is the œuvre of Nicole Bozon, a Franciscan poet and preacher whose works from the late thirteenth century include a collection of prose exempla, a compilation of verse proverbs, saints' lives, satirical and allegorical poems, songs to the Virgin and verse sermons. In the prologue to his exempla collection, Bozon states that his purpose is to help his public eschuer peché, embracer bountee – eschew sin and embrace goodness. Bozon's depiction of peché and bonté provides one more piece in the larger puzzle of the ‘who and why’ of the French of England.