Le penchant narratif de la vie occitane de Marie Madeleine. Entre sources savantes et folklore

This article deals with the Occitan version of the "Life of Mary Magdalene (VMM)". After sketching an outlook of the medieval Latin and vernacular traditions of the life of Mary Magdalene, it studies the tendency of VMM to develop narrative digressions, with reference to two theoretical nodes: the evolution of the hagiographic genre during the passage from Latin to vernacular languages, and the relationship between literary and popular culture. The discussion of the last point will rely on the analysis of an episode called the “Miracle of the King of Marseille”, a long digression of VMM which has similarities with both some folkloric motifs and the "Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri". The article thus aims to shed light on the complexity of the narrative frame within which VMM was conceived, showing the porosity of any boundary between literary and popular sources as well as their frequent interactions, especially in vernacular hagiographic texts.