Bazoche

Bazoche, or BASOCHE, the guild of the clerks of the parliament of Paris, under a mock king, to whom Philip the Fair granted the privilege of performing religious plays in 1303. The officers of this harmless monarchy affected on all occasions the language of royalty. Its jurisdiction included the consideration and decision of all controversies that arose among the clerks, and it administered justice twice a week. At the carnival the members acted a species of satirical Morality (q.v.), in which they made extensive use of the liberty granted to them, in ridiculing vices and the favourites of fortune. Of course, they could not fail to provoke enmity and occasion serious scandal, and in 1540 they were interdicted as incorrigible. They are interesting, however, as the forerunners of the comedy of Molière.