This work focuses on the words which are inscribed in the history of power as much as in our collective history, shaped by the ritual of presidential incarnation. It sheds light on all the "words from on-high": these words of authority which, from Antiquity onwards, have been deployed in public space.
About the Author: Pierre Allorant is an HDR lecturer in legal history at the Univeristy of Orleans. His research focuses on the study of political elites and territorial administrators since the seventeenth century, and the contribution of non-official sources to the history of administration. He has published La Republique au defi de la guerre (Amiens, 2015) and codirected Memoires des guerres. Le Centre Val-de-Loire de Jeanne d'Arc a Jean Zay (Rennes, 2015). Jean Garrigues, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Orleans, is the chair of the committee of parliamentary and political history. He has published Les Scandales de la Republique. De Panama a l'affaire Clearstream (Paris, 2013), Le Monde selon Clemenceau. Formules assassines, traites d'humour, discours et propheties (Paris, 2014), Histoire du Parlement de 1789 a nos jours (Paris, 2007) and Les Grands Discours parlementaires de la Troisieme Republique (Paris, 2004). Corinne Legoy is a lecturer in contemporary history at the University of Orleans. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century political and cultural history, particularly the history of theatre and poetical practice. She has published L'Enthousiasme desenchante. Eloge du pouvoir sous la Restauration (Paris, 2010). Gael Rideau is an HDR lecturer in modern history. His research focuses on the discourses and practices of politics and religion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He has published De la religion de tous a la religion de chacun. Croire et pratiquer a Orleans au XVIII siecle (Rennes, 2009), codirected Ordonner et partager la ville, XII-XIX siecles (Rennes, 2011) and L'Anecdote entre Litterature et Histoire (Rennes, 2015). Arnaud Suspene is a professor of ancient history at the University of Orleans. His research focuses on the political history of the Roman republic and early Roman Empire and on the historical exploitation of classical literary sources. He has published "Un 'proces politique' au debut de l'Empire romain: le cas de Prison Pere" in no. 656 of the Revue historique (Paris, 2010).