The project “CIVILITY – The Roots of Civility: French Renaissance Literature as a Laboratory of Modern Civility” explored the historical origins of civility in France and its role in shaping cultural and social norms. Today, the concept of civility remains central to democratic life, education, and public debate. Yet its historical foundations, its emergence, the application of polite rules of behaviour, and the ways these were used to organise society have long been overlooked by researchers. This project set out to revive this field of study and to show how early modern France played a decisive role in the development of civility as both a cultural ideal and a political strategy.
The fellowship combined approaches from literary studies, history, and linguistics, demonstrating how literature acted as a “laboratory” for testing and disseminating new models of behaviour. The project was guided by three main objectives:
1. To assemble and study a large corpus of texts from the 15th to the 17th century (treatises, dialogues, short stories) in order to observe how norms of civility were expressed and enacted.
2. To conduct detailed textual and cultural analysis of representative literary works, particularly dialogues and collections of short stories, in order to identify the ways in which civility was negotiated in practice.
3. To apply tools from historical pragmatics and corpus linguistics to trace the evolution and to situate these changes within broader cultural and political contexts.
This interdisciplinary approach confirmed that the 1530s–1560s were a decisive turning point in the history of civility. During these years, the French court actively promoted new behavioural models: importing ideals from Italy and embedding civility into both education and courtly life. Literature of the period both reflected and reinforced this cultural policy, showing how rules of conduct became internalised by individuals and communities.
By producing seven peer-reviewed articles, two digital editions, and four major international academic events, the project has established new directions in the study of cultural history, language, and literature. Its findings not only illuminate how civility shaped early modern France but also highlight the deeper historical roots of European ideas of politeness, sociability, and respect for others: values that remain central to contemporary debates about social cohesion and civic life.
