Des archives en mouvement ? Les châteaux des ducs de Bourgogne et la circulation des archives (fin XIIIe-début XIVe siècle)

Where was the Dukes of Burgundy's "chartrier" kept in the late 13th and early 14th centuries? While Burgundian historiography agrees that the charters were kept in Talant in the mid-14th century, the situation is much murkier for the earlier period. Diplomatic and accounting documentation, as well as several reports on archive transfers, show that the dukes' archives were probably dispersed throughout the duchy and kept in the various ducal castles. Sealed letters, kept in boxes, circulated between ducal residences according to the needs of the government. Some even left the duchy to join ducal repositories located outside the duchy, notably in Paris, while others left the ducal "chartrier" definitely, to join another. The prince's clerks and agents administered and managed day-to-day business on the basis of writings that they had to move around. In this way, the image of a living, moving "chartrier" emerges.