Page, Christiane2013-08-052013-08-052012Studia Kulturoznawcze, 2012, nr 1(2), s. 95-105.2084-2988http://hdl.handle.net/10593/7506Theatre and Authorities in 17th Century France. In her essay prof. Page depicts the complicated and variable relations between several levels of power (Catholic church, municipalities, the king and his court) with people of theatre in France of 17th. The independent theatre companies which emerged in the 16th C. from medieval wandering groups turned out to be a real challenge to the social and political mainstream. It took almost an entire century to subordinate them to the needs and requirements of the monarchy which was slowly becoming the incarnation of absolutism. The last part of the essay is focused on three different images of the king and his power taken from three 17th. C. French dramas: 1) the “king of two bodies”: real flesh and the symbol of a kingdom; 2) a mystical being carrying the “holy gift” of royal blood; 3) a subversive image of “a chief of the theatre company”, whose authority is based on his merits and can be challenged at any time.plzespół teatralnykrólwładzamonarcha absolutnaautorytetArtykuł