BETWEEN SILENCE AND VERBOSITY: SPEECH OF A RENAISSANCE COURT LADY

The article is devoted to the transformation of the norms of speech behaviour of a Renaissance court lady in France. The problem of communication became very acute at that time. This was particularly evident in the courts of rulers. By the end of the Middle Ages, the courts, which were predominantly male communities, were actively filled with women, which gave rise to new norms and manners of communication. With the growth of the courts the increase in the number of courtiers, communication in this environment became an integral concern of moralists. Using the figure of Anne of France, Duchesse de Bourbon and theatise to her daughter, the formation of new norms of women’s communicative behaviour in the curial environment is examined. Instructing her daughter, she continued the tradition of her ancestors — the kings Saint Louis and Louis XI. But unlike her predecessors, she testifies to the formation of a new view on the ethics of verbal behaviour of women. The previously preached silence as the main female virtue is replaced by the idea of a harmonious culture of speech, regardless of the rank of the interlocutor. The urgent need to «please everyone» requires the search for a right balance between shy or proud silence and verbosity that annoys the interlocutors. She put into practice her own ideas about the worthy behavior of a court lady in a Renaissance way, as eyewitnesses testified to.