Rhétoriqueurs

   A group of French vernacular writers, mostly poets and historians, active in glorifying the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany during the 15th and early 16th cen-turies. Covering three generations, they include Georges Chastellain (ca. 1405-1474), Jean Molinet (1435-1507), and Jean Lemaire des Belges (1473-1525), all of whom served as historiographers to the dukes of Burgundy, though Lemaire later served the kings of France. All rhétoriqueurs had as their primary duty the enhancement of the reputation of the kings and princes at whose courts they served. Much of their writing, including their French plays and a substantial part of their historiographical writing, was in verse. They also wrote in prose, for example Illustrations de Gaule et singularitez de Troyes / Illustrations of Gaul and Singlarities of Troy (ca. 1510) by Lemaire, probably the most prominent literary figure in the group. Their ad-mirers regarded them as equals of both classical rhetoricians and the early Italian humanists, but now they are classed as transitional fig-ures between medieval court poets and court humanists.