‘Tout ainsi pourrions-nous bien faire de la langue de Court’ The Champ fleury of Geoffroy Tory, a Treaty of Courtesy?

In 1529, Geoffroy Tory publishes the Champ Fleury with the intention of providing the French language with rules and models that would bring it to its highest degree of linguistic and moral perfection. This work, which reflects the poetic transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, soon reveals a preoccupation similar to that of the courtly poets with the art of bien dire. The aim of this article is to investigate how far Champ Fleury can be considered a treaty of courtesy, and how it contributes to redefining this notion.