La substitution des images aux reliques, et ses limites, dans la diffusion de lavirtusdes saints (espace français, fin XIIIe-XVes.)

Abstract

After an earlier study regarding the Italian corpus, this article continues for the French territory an ample research started from the pioneering views of Andre Vauchez regarding the substitution of images for relics in the employment of the virtus of saints away from their tomb. – The article does not deal with images of the Virgin. – On the chronological level, the French corpus fits these views much better than the Italian, since the phenomenon is only really observed there from the 14th cent. In addition, a series of new data confirm that various images became “focal points” of the cult of saints far away from their tomb. But, as for the Italian corpus, in the texts studied it is more often contact relics and tiny first-class relics that appear as efficacious carriers of virtus. The last pages of the article underline how much the presentation, in spite of everything, only gives a very partial picture of a particularly complex reality.