evolves in scenes of conflict between St. Louis and powerful enemies—his vassals, the
English, and the Saracens—interspersed with episodes portraying the foibles and cares of
common people. Gringore is also believed to be the author of the Croniqueurs, a satiric
play written at the beginning of the reign of Francis I. In addition to writing and
performing plays, Gringore was a producer and director of spectacles, such as the
couronnement, sacre, et entrée into Paris of Queen Claude, on May 9, 1517.
Gringore’s nondramatic writings include works of a moral nature, those inspired by
contemporary events, and pious works. The best known of the moral writings are the
Folles entreprises, a long indictment of corrupt prelates and noblemen, the Fantasies de
Mère Sotte, an adaptation of the stories of the Gesta Romanorum glossed by Gringore,
and the Menus propos, a bestiary of love imitating that of Richard de Fournival.
(Gringore often adapted, translated, or paraphrased earlier works.) Most of his œuvres de
circonstance were provoked by the Italian wars: they include the Entreprise de Venise,
the Chasse du cerf des cerfs, and the Obstination des Suisses. Gringore’s Blazon des
hérétiques was the first pamphlet to attack Luther. His pious writings include a
translation of the Hours of Notre-Dame.
A conservative who saw every question in a moral light, Gringore epitomizes the
strengths and weaknesses of the late 15th century. His purely moral writings now have
little appeal, but when his point of view was channeled through the stage he produced
works of lasting interest.
Heather M.Arden
[See also: GRANDS RHÉTORIQUEURS; HISTORY PLAYS; RICHARD DE
FOURNIVAL; SAINT PLAYS; SOTTIE]
Gringore, Pierre. Œuvres complètes de Gringore, ed. Charles d’Héricault and Anatole de
Montaiglon. 2 vols. Paris: Jannet, 1858–77.
——. Pierre Gringore’s “Les fantasies de Mere Sote,” ed. Richard L.Frautschi. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1962.
Picot, Émile, ed. Recueil général des sotties. 3 vols. Paris: Didot, 1909–12, Vol. 2, pp. 105–73,
199–244.
Oulmont, Charles. La poésie morale, politique et dramatique à la veille de la Renaissance: Pierre
Gringore. Paris: Champion, 1911.
GROCHEIO, JOHANNES DE
(fl. ca. 1300). French music theorist, whose treatise De musica is our most important
source of information on genre distinctions between medieval French secular music with
vernacular texts and instrumental music. Grocheio focuses on the musical practice of
Paris, distinguishing broadly between monophonic vernacular music (musica vulgaris),
measured, or polyphonic, music (musica mensurata), and sacred music (musica
ecclesiastica).
Grocheio divides musica vulgaris into cantus (vocal music without refrain) and
cantilena (popular dance music with refrain). There are three categories of cantus:
gestualis, versualis, and coronatus. Cantus gestualis refers to French medieval epic, the
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