Praedicator sive histrio : le spectacle de la prédication

The popular preacher assembled an audience that he was trying to excite, to educate or to remonstrate. The dramatic character of the art of preaching was on display. On the other hand, medieval mysteries contained sermons. To analyse the comings and goings between preaching and theatre, we compare the three main Passions of the fifteenth century – those of Mercadé, Gréban and Michel – and Menot’s sermons regarding the place, the public and the actio ; a way to show the proximity of the two types of performance. Fatistes represented situations of preaching and Menot revealed an art of preaching that borrowed much from the theatre.