Abstract: Following an introduction concerning the exemplum and its place in medieval culture, the author focuses on the increasing power of vernacular languages from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. To better understand the extent of this phenomenon, she reminds us that two important sources (the Vitae Patrum and the Dialogues of Gregoire le Grand) are in translation, then she examines the vernacular productions of collections of exempla, and finally considers the collections translated from Latin into the vernacular.
