Almanach des Muses

limited. Bound by patronage and hopes of preferment, and wary of upsetting the authorities – Vanini was burned alive in 1619 for impiety, Théophile was jailed in 1622 for his free-thinking and Claude le Petit went to the stake in 1662 for Le Bordel des muses – they were also obliged to respect the values of their public. Their audience was no longer captive but free to choose from an expanded range of literary productions. And since readers and audiences did not always abide by the high cultural values