Significatio and Senefiance, or Relics in Thomas Aquinas and Jean de Meun

This chapter asks whether Jean de Meun’s references in the Roman de la Rose to relics as a euphemism for genitals actually allude to a much larger debate in Paris between 1250 and 1280 about significatio in general, and about the religious and political significance of relics in particular, a debate in which Thomas Aquinas played an important role. Scholars have noted the influence of Ovid and Alain de Lille upon the Roman de la Rose, but have not tended to consider Jean de Meun’s scholastic sources, particularly his deployment of the theology of Thomas Aquinas.