“Lady Justice”: an Allegory of Judiciary in the Works of French Authors of the Second Half of the 14th — Early 15th Century

This article focuses on late Medieval French literary texts where the image of judiciary is prevalent as an allegorical figure of Justice or as allegorical scenes of the judgement. In 14th — 15th centuries allegory as any other trope is often used in literary works as an instrument of expression of political and philosophical ideas and concepts, as a reflection on transformations of society. Step by step the allegory of Justice transforms from a theological and philosophical concept of a virtue, the “divine justice”, to a crucial element of the description of the state, a symbol for the principle of justice. In the works of Philippe de Mézières and Christine de Pisan “Lady Justice” embodies, personifies the principle of fair government and judiciary in general, which in the following centuries will evolve in the figure of Themis, the patroness of justice.