Talk:Bernard Saisset

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[edit] In the Kingdom of the Blind

The following was cut from the trivia section of In the Kingdom of the Blind, I found it interesting and have included it here:

My local French paper, La Dépêche du Midi, on 29 July 2007 gave a pre-Erasmus citation for the phrase. I give my translation:

To support his policy of enlarging his French kingdom, Philippe IV (le Bel)needed a fortune. From 1292, the king led campaigns to raise heavy taxes from the towns within his realm. In 1306, Phillipe raided the purses of the Jews, confiscating their possessions before expelling them from the country. The following year, he treated the templars in like manner. In the climate of opposition and unrest that ensued, the counsellor Pierre Flotte, a strong man, received from the king the authority to arrest any clergy suspected of plotting against the king's authority.

The famous expression is attributed to Bernard Saisset, the bishop of Pamiers (located in what is now the département of Ariège in south-west France)who was arrested and imprisoned by Pierre Flotte. The 'blindman' was the king, Phillipe, who had the habit of looking blankly at his courtiers when they were addressing him, as though he was not seeing them - like an owl or like a blind man. The one-eyed man was Pierre Flotte.

The precise context of the use of the phrase has been lost in the mists of time.

—The preceding was added by Francophile1 (talk) 09:39, 4 August 2007 (UTC).

--Frodet (talk) 14:15, 31 December 2007 (UTC)