Dame Abonde et les revenants dans le Roman de la Rose (XIIIe siècle)
BECOMING A REVENANT ACCORDING TO THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE

Summary/Abstract: The word “revenant” does not exist in Medieval French. One speaks of “spirit”, thus suggesting that the disembodiment (the absence of carnal envelope) is characteristic of this entity composed of breath and air. Anyone can certainly become a spirit after one’s death but can also become one from one’s birth. Certain children are endowed with such powers in accordance with their rank of siblings (one must be the last born in a series of 3 or of 7). This belief has survived in witchcraft (le marcou). The paper will look at the conditions of the pneumatic life of the revenant, the nature of his skin and his aerial powers, paying more attention to the persistence of the beliefs in various geographical places in Europe and Africa as well as in various periods.

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