This is the second edition of Demaizière's 1979 doctoral dissertation on seven Renaissance Picard grammarians. The new edition closely follows the original, first published in 1983, with a new preface and a few additions in the works cited and the bibliography that bring the book up to date with the history of the French grammar. This field has grown tremendously since the 1980s thanks in great part to Demaizière's sustained efforts. Her first published work was the edition and translation into French of Charles de Bovelles’ 1533 essay on vulgar languages (1973). In addition to numerous articles, Demaizière's more recent projects include critical editions of grammars by Jacques Dubois (1998), Antoine Cauchie (2001), Pierre de La Ramée (2001), and Robert Estienne (2003).

The seven grammarians featured in Les grammairiens picards are Jacques Dubois, Giles du Wes, Charles de Bovelles, Gabriel Meurier, Pierre de la Ramée, Antoine Cauchie, and Jean Bosquet. All were born in the region located northeast of Paris that some humanists (e.g., Bovelles, Charles Estienne) still referred to as “Belgian Gaul,” which included almost all of today's Picardie region as well as most of Wallonie (southern Belgium) up to Liège on the east side, and to Utrecht in the north. Picardie, one of the most dynamic centers of French culture in the thirteenth century, was still economically very productive in the sixteenth, though already considered a province compared to Paris. Not surprisingly, all these grammarians left their hometowns to pursue their studies and careers in more prestigious locations. Moreover, they were all attracted to grammar for very different reasons. In other words, as Demaizière states in her new preface, one cannot speak of a sixteenth-century école picarde in grammar. Thus the paradox of the thesis is that its point of departure, the common origin of the grammarians, loses relevance as the study focuses on individual careers, works, theories, and pedagogical contributions.

The book includes a preface and an introduction in two chapters, one on Picardie, the other on books on the French language published during the sixteenth century that emphasize the significant presence (one-fifth) of grammarians from Picardie. The body of the book is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains seven chapters devoted to the biographies of the grammarians in chronological order. Part 2 assesses and compares the grammarians’ theories and their descriptive methods in five chapters: 1) the language chosen as the standard and the importance given to Picard dialect, Latin, and French by each grammarian; 2) spelling and pronunciation, and the debate about etymological spelling; 3) the contribution of the grammarians to the development of French grammar; 4) research on etymology; and 5) pedagogical applications. After the conclusion, an appendix (a deposition against Gabriel Meurier by an innkeeper), and the bibliography come four indices of places, people names, grammatical terms, and words quoted as examples in the grammars.

The grammarians studied in this work left Picardie when they were very young, and lived and worked in big cities like London, Antwerp, Paris, and Lyons. Demaizière's in-depth study of each one provides a wealth of information on the profession of language teaching as well as on the development of grammatical theory and methods. The reader learns not only about each grammarian's contribution, but also how their studies of modern languages were central to commerce, travel, urban life, diplomacy, and science. Giles du Wes and Gabriel Meurier, for instance, considered grammar a tool to help their students learn faster and promote themselves as good teachers. In contrast, Dubois and La Ramée, both renowned academics — one in medical science, the other in philosophy and mathematics — wrote their grammars mostly for the sake of science: Dubois addressed his book to learned foreigners able to appreciate his comparisons between Latin and French, while Pierre de La Ramée, writing for native speakers in the wake of Du Bellay's “illustration” doctrine, sought to improve the status of the vernacular. Interestingly, the only one who did not believe in the feasibility of a French grammar, Charles de Bovelles, ended up giving the first strictly speaking linguistic (i.e., non-prescriptive) description of French dialects. In spite of their diverse interests and goals, these early specialists of the French language were all tackling the challenging task of uncovering the system behind apparently unruly usage.

The reissuing of this study in 2008 in a prestigious collection is a well-deserved honor for the author. Readers will find in Les grammairiens picards a wealth of information on early language pedagogy, grammatical theory, language standardization, and other related topics that during the past twenty years have contributed to reshaping our vision of early modern French culture.