After completing a doctorate at the University of Lille (IRHiS) and the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (LaRHis), Marie-Hélène Méresse joined the Sinergia project ‘Capturing the Present’ at the University of Lausanne as a postdoctoral fellow in September 2024. Her research focuses on the history and political culture of the late Middle Ages in north-western Europe, with particular reference to the figure of the prince, focusing on the fit, the margins and the discrepancies between the theorization of his function and the practical application of his power.
Under the title ‘Cruel princes? Brutality and modes of government at the end of the Middle Ages (France, England, principality of Burgundy)’, her thesis enabled her to examine specifically the princes’ excessive violence, through the historiographical perspectives of the so-called modern State and the genealogy of the Reason of State. Her various scientific contributions have led her – through the themes of princely justice and grace, Common Good, lese-majesty – to reflect on a potential method of brutality, in the light of what the State requires.
Her participation in the Sinergia project ‘Capturing the Present’ has enabled her to extend the study of political innovation, already formulated in the instances of a power making the choice of opportunity. Her research focuses on political discourses that use arguments relating to the present, in order to justify or criticize princely government. Using the framework of the kingdoms of France, England and the principality of Burgundy from the end of the Middle Ages to the first Modern period, she collects and analyzes events that convey or transcribe the idea of an evolution, in order to distinguish the implications of ‘reform’ and ‘novelty’.