——. “Die Übersetzungen der Disticha des Pseudo-Cato: Der Cato Jean Lefèvre’s,” ed. Jakob
Ulrich. Romanische Forschungen 15 (1904):70–106.
Matheolus. Les lamentations de Matheolus et le Livre de leesce de Jehan le Fèvre, de Resson
(poèmes français du XIVe siècle), ed. A.-G.van Hamel. Paris: Bouillon, 1892–1905.
Hasenohr, Geneviève. “La locution verbale figurée dans l’œuvre de Jean Le Fèvre. Moyen français
14–15 (1984):229–81.
LE FRANC, MARTIN
(ca. 1410–ca. 1461). Born in Normandy, Martin Le Franc was provost of Lausanne and
later, following a persuasive Latin letter on the nature of eloquence that he wrote to the
future Pope Felix V, papal secretary. His Latin erudition and original thinking secure his
place among 15th-century humanists. Between 1440 and 1442, he composed the
Champion des dames, a didactic allegorical poem of some 24,000 octosyllabic lines. In it,
Le Franc shows himself to be the ally of Christine de Pizan in the persistent Quarrel of
the Roman de la Rose and perhaps even the adversary of Alain Chartier, author of the
Belle dame sans merci. Franc Vouloir is the ladies’ “champion,” whose lessons and
battles finally defeat Malebouche of Jean de Meun’s romance. In 1447–48, Le Franc
wrote another didactic work, the Estrif de Fortune et de Vertu, apparently inspired by
Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae.
Janice C.Zinser
[See also: CHARTIER, ALAIN; CHRISTINE DE PIZAN; JEAN DE MEUN;
QUARREL OF THE ROMAN DE LA ROSE]
Le Franc, Martin. Le champion des dames, ed. Arthur Piaget. In Mémoires et documents de la
Société de la Suisse Romande. 3rd ser. Lausanne: Payot, 1968, Vol. 8.
Jung, Marc-René. “Rhétorique contre philosophie? un inédit de Martin Le Franc.” In Rhetoric
Revalued, ed. Brian Vickers. Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1982,
pp. 241–46.
Williams, Harry F. “Structural Aspects of Le champion des dames.” Fifteenth Century Studies 11
(1985):149–61.
LE MANS
. A prehistoric site and perhaps capital of the Gallic Cenomani, Le Mans (Sarthe) was the
ancient capital of the county of Maine. It lies in western France between Normandy and
the Loire Valley on an important trade route. A major center since Roman times, when it
was known as Vindonum, Le Mans was evangelized in the late 3rd century by St. Julien,
to whom its Gothic cathedral is dedicated. When the Roman Empire began to
disintegrate, the center of population removed from the surrounding plains to the central
hilltop and a great wall (late 3rd-early 4th c.) was constructed around the upper town.
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