Jean de Salisbury et son rapport aux sources: à propos des notes marginales dans les manuscrits du Policraticus

The John of Salisbury's Policraiicus is certainly the most relevant evidence of John's love for classical texts. This work, particularly complex, both in terms of language and ideas, is, nowadays, especially well known for its content. If some scholars have tried to evaluate its success during the last centuries of the Middle Ages, more particularly about its potential impact on some authors, we are still little informed on its manuscript diffusion. Our purpose is to offer, through the study of the manuscripts of the Policraiicus, a new enlightenment on the status of the text and its use as expected by John of Salisbury. By an exhaustive investigation of the oldest manuscripts of the work, we have been able to highlight a set of annotations transcribed on the margins of the manuscripts. These marginalia offer new evidences on the relationship between John and his own text. The aim of our study is thus to mobilize the first manuscripts of the Policraiicus, by trying to understand the origin and function of the numerous annotations that punctuate the work.