In The Color of Melancholy, Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet explores the subject of books and literate culture during the period in which vernacular literature began to displace Latin as the medium of intellectual discourse. Under the patronage of Charles V, large numbers of Latin texts were translated into French, opening up new contemplations of history, memory, and memorial. The literary heritage of the past was again available, and, at the same time, the language of the day was approved not merely as a means of transmission but also for the expression of new ideas, new events, and even the self.