Pour qui choisir le vulgaire ? L’image de la langue du peuple chez les érudits français au xvi^e siècle

The language spoken by the people in the sixteenth century is characterised differently by a number of different writers, from Calvin to Bouhours and Malherbe. The “holy ignorance” of the people was sometimes defended by the religious. The study describes this conception and its evolution over the course of the century, as well as the rapport between popular language and poetry at the time of the quarrel which pitted J. Du Bellay against B. Aneau.