Les chanoines du Chapitre cathédral de Laon, 1272-1412

Résumé du livre

In 140 years, 850 canons have succeeded each other in Laon. Statistics (conventional and multidimensional) carried out from responses to a computerized questionnaire have shown the extent of geographical recruitment: the popes, who, from the beginning of the fourteenth century, completely replaced the bishop in designating the canons, sent in chapter a high proportion of foreigners to the region (Italians, Quercynois, Limousins...). The chapter of Laon constitutes a representative sample of all the senior French secular clergy of this period. The nobles, a small minority, were supplanted by high-level academics whose frequentation of circles close to power (Curie, Parliament of Paris, princely entourages) enabled them to obtain rich benefits. For many of them, being part of the chapter of Laon was only a step in their career: a springboard for some, a crowning achievement for others. The traces left by those who resided in Laon are all details that shed concrete light on their existence. One will find, at the end of the volume, 183 biographical notices, as much for the dignitaries as for the canons of the beginning of the XV century.