Hear this name said (in .wav format)

His birthdate is never given.  However, adding up the years he gives in his personal recount of his life, he's 26.  New note:  I finally managed to find a mention of the seige.  In one small part in the book, they gave the year of the seige.  However, it was in 1464, not '62 as Pierre makes it seem.  That means that the seige was 18 years ago from the time of the book, not 20.  And Pierre is therefore 24, not 26.  He was born in Gonèsse, France, a suburb of Paris.

He didn't die in the book, but Hugo made it quite clear that after escaping with Djali during the fiasco at Notre Dame, he went on to a rather blasé life, writing tragedies.  And, as Hugo said, this is what Gringoire called "coming to a tragic end."

He was born to a "fermier du tabellionage" of Gonèsse.  Books I've read all have a different translation of this, ranging from "farmer" to "notary." Fermier means farmer.   And I managed to find on a website a definition for tabellionage (thank God for obscure internet sites featuring obscure definitions of obscure medieval French economic terms).  It means a person who officiates documents, or a notary.  I think it might have possibly also meant a tax district.  So either his father was a farmer of the tax district of Gonesse, or he farmed notaries.  Anyhow, his father was hanged by the Burgundians and his mother slaughtered (disembowled, rather) by the Picards.  At the age of six, he was growing up alone on the streets of Paris.  He didn't really know how to steal, so he had to live off of whatever people were willing to give him.  One thing about Medieval Paris that surprises me is how willing everyone is to give everyone else food.  The Sachette lives purely off donations of food, and the Day of Kings featured a huge public banquet.  Now, why can't America today be like primitive, 15th century France?  But I digress once again.  At the age of 16, after spending his entire life on the streets, he decided to choose a trade.  Unfortunately, he was qualified for absolutely nothing.  And seeing as he had absolutely no talent in anything, he became a poet and composer of rhymes, which is something any vagabond can do, and is a bit better than stealing (if you've read the book, you might notice I'm practically quoting *sheepish grin*).  Luckily, one day, he ran upon Dom Claude Frollo, who took an interest in him and taught him his letters and classics.  His major work happened to be the morality play performed in the Great Hall on January 6, which also happened to be the night he got involved with the Court of Miracles and Esmeralda (ie, married her).  He then became somewhat of a juggler.

(my bad literal translation of the French)      "An individual who stood just within the baulstrade in the space made free around the marble table, and whom no one had yet seen, so completely was his long and slim body hidden from view by the diameter of a pillar against which he leaned, this individual, we say, tall, thin, pale, fair, young still, although already wrinkled in the brow and cheeks, with two brilliant eyes and a smiling mouth, dressed in black serge, thread-bare and shining from age, approached the marble table and made a sign to the poor victim.  But the other, upset, didn't see."                                                           --Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris Later in the book, he switches from his black tunic to a red and yellow jerkin.

Since I'm biased, I'll limit myself.  Gringoire is summed up in one word, in my opinion:  egotistical.  And I don't mean a meglomaniac.  He's someone who values himself very dearly, considering his life to be the most important thing on this planet.  He's utterly oblivious to just about everything next to himself (and, yes, eventually the goat) despite the fact he's a practical philosopher of the streets.  There are some moments in the book where he actually demonstrates his anchorage in philosophy.      For the most part, he's the comic relief of the book.  He has a dry sense of humor, and his complete ignorance aside from himself (and complete inadequecy) is something to laugh at.  As for his place in the book, much like Phoebus, aside from being one of the keypoints in the downfall of the characters, he has no point to the story.  Perhaps this has some relation to Phoebus and Pierre being the only two to survive.  Djali also caused a landslide of events without really having any part, and she also lived.      As to the relationship between Djali and Gringoire, I suppose I should address it now.  I, personally (since this is my favorite character) do not believe Gringoire had sexual relations with that goat, Mademoiselle Djali.  However, I think the implication he did is amusing enough.      I also think that Gringoire is more of an authorial insertion.  Though I don't see Hugo putting himself in his work through such a clown, there are similarities.  Both are poets, and somewhat of philosophers.  Both have an extreme fondness for women, and for animals.  And both end up loving architecture.  Perhaps Hugo's making fun of himself.  Or maybe he didn't even see it.       As for why I like Gringoire so much, I dunno.  I just do.

The origin of Pierre Gringoire's name is actually a real-life man, born around 1475.  His name (prepare yourself for the surprise) was Pierre Gringoire.  He was a very talented man of the early French Rennaissance, reknowned for his many gifts.  Back then, during the Rennaissance, any gentleman of good blood and decent background had to be skilled in as many things as possible.  Pierre Gringoire was a talented acrobat, artist, politician, orator, musician, and poet.  However, he's best known as the "Roi des Jongleurs" and is considered by jugglers to be the man who brought juggling out of its shunned history and into the forefront of entertainment.      And more information to add!  Pierre Gringoire, born 1475, died 1538.  He was quite an accomplished playwright and writer.  Only 25 of his documents exist today, and of those, his comedies are the best known.  He apparently was a very witty, sardonic man, his best work being Mere Sotte.  Which made fun of the pope.  But, no, he wasn't against the Catholic Church.  He was one of the first to publically denounce Martin Luther, the founder of Protestism.  Oh, and for all of you Pierre-Djali supporters....the original Pierre Gringoire rewrote another work by another author on bestiality.  But he was a very conservative man!      It's clear that this is the source of Hugo's character.  Hugo's Gringoire, after all, went from poet and philosopher to juggler.  Yet I think the name was also used to accentuate the clown that is Gringoire.  Otherwise, there really is no symbolism behind it.      Always more to add.  Pierre, of course, is French for stone.  It's derived from Peter which probably has a lot more Hebrew-ish sounding spelling, but I don't know it offhand.  This, of course, is a Biblical name given to one of the disciples of Jesus.  I'm no expert on the Bible by any means -- I don't even go to Church as much as I should, but I'll try my best.  Jesus said to Peter (which wasn't his real name before this, and I don't know the exact quote, so I'm gonna paraphrase), "And your name shall be Peter, for you will be the rock on which my Church is founded."  See how it fits nicely together?  Later he did go on to found the Catholic Church.  Except for I don't remember if he became the first Pope or was martyred.....aaaanyhow      My favorite bit of coindink?  Hugo used that quote by Jesus in the preface to Notre-Dame de Paris, saying the word 'Anarkh' would be the word on which his book is...based, founded, whichever.  Which further supports my idea of Gringoire being authorial insertion!     As for Gringoire, I've become further immersed in this.  I started thinking perhaps it was based off an old word.  So I consulted the Big Book of Ancient Medieval French (not the real name) and found the word gringotter which means 'to sing.'  So that's a possibility.  But then I was contacted by a man with the last name of Gringoire.  According to him, it's a derivation of the last name Gregoire, both having their roots in Bretagne (Brittany).  And from what he could tell me, it originated around the time of Atilla the Hun.  I'm not sure about this for two reasons.  First, Gregoire, while similar, is really not that close.  And second, Pierre Gringoire, at the advent of the 16th century, was from Southern France.  Bretagne is nothern.  But, still, it's possible.....I'm checking it out.

You need Java to see this applet.

Now that I've actually seen all the versions (that I can as of right now), this might be more coherent.  Gringoire just barely borders on having a point, in regards to remakes of the book.  Some deign it within their interests to include him; others do not.  And, though it pains me to say it, he's much similar in the way of Phoebus.  The producers like the fact that they can do whatever they want with him, due to his real lack of characterization in the book (I resemble that remark!).  So many of them end up doing what they want.       But even his point in the novel is so minimal, that some find it in their best interests to disclude him altogether.  In the silent film versions, Pierre is present as far as I know, marrying Esme and....being there.  Pierre never goes much further than that.  He helps Frollo find out about Esme, and provides some humor.  But most movies don't want humor in such a dark, gothic background.       1923, with Lon Chaney as Quasi, Pierre (played by Raymond Hatton) is actually pretty good in his dorky facade (as are they all), but he plays an entirely different role from the original idea..  Instead of marrying him in the Court of Miracles scene (and thus solving a lot of extra-marital issues), Esme only saves his life.  After that, he becomes her faithful servant (the image of Pierre following Esme around on hands and knees, yipping for a doggie biscuit, comes unbidden to my mind).  He really doesn't do anything worth mentioning.  Toward the end, he takes a note to Phoebus, telling him to make a rendez-vous with Esme.  He then goes and tells Phoebus that Esme still lives, and then he rallies soldiers.  Of course, this belittles the character that is the 1923 Pierre.  In silent films, even dramatic ones, the comic relief has to be extravagant and flamboyent.  This is exactly what Piere does.  I cannot elaborate on the utterly ridiculous and effeminate hand gesturing of our mighty poet, but I shall recount one scene.  Pierre and Frollo (the good one) look on as Phoebus and Esme embrace at the very end.  Gringoire immediately gives the air this lovesick look, clasps his hands flat (and not splayed) to his left breast, and flutters one while sighing romantically.  If you're imagining that correctly, it's a picture that won't leave you for a very, very long time.  The warping of the original character need not even be explained, but I'll try.  Instead of an egotistical, self-absorbed, oblivious poet, we get an oblivious, melodramatic poet not really as devoted to Esme as to food....but anyhow...       1939, with Edmund O'Brien as Gringoire, completely redefines Pierre's purpose.  Since they had to reassign Phoebus' role from love interest to complete sleaze, they were missing a love interest for Esme.  Certainly Quasi, the tragic hero, couldn't fill this.  So who does that leave?  Why, the poet without a purpose!  But he was a coward, rather self-absorbed and oblivious.  This wouldn't do for a romantic lead.  However, he's a poet, which everyone takes for a romantic at heart, anyhow.  They leave in the dry sense of humor, take out the egotism, and take out the cowardice (replacing it with foolish bravery).  Next, they make him fall in love with Esme.  Now who do you have?  It's the poet Gringoire, who spends most of his time acting like a goof (romantic goof, yes) and who really needs to lay off the Cocoa-Puffs.  Using his powers of writing...stuff, and the great MoS (refer to Claude's section to learn what MoS stands for), he manages to save Esme from the cathedral.  And she falls in love with him.  And they live happily ever after while Quasi dies.  He sports a moustache in this version (Pierre, not Quasi).  Which looks very Clark Gable-ish (though he more reminded me of that crazy boy who barges into the barbecue, screaming about the war, than the daring, handsome smuggler).  But, heck, I like him 'cause he's my Pierre!!  And he doesn't like the goat, too much...      1956, The Hunchback, had Robert Hirsch as Gringoire.  I personally think this was the best Pierre character-wise, even if he was about twenty years older than he should've been.  The only problem is that he's perpetually nervous.  If you know Norm MacDonald, that's what I'm talking about.        1977, with Christopher Gable (no mustache this time) as Pierre couldn't have been much more different.  Again the movie follows the book in many regards.  Court of Miracles scene, and that's about it.  He's only used to give the movie some humor and just....stand there.  However, the movie credits him as Pierre.  I don't see a mention of his last name.       1982 had Gerry Sundquist as Gringoire, and this movie again decides that Phoebus shouldn't be the love interest (for the most part, he isn't).  They instead once again hand that role over to Gringoire.  He, of course, loses all cowardice (and even his dry humor), instead just being a normal guy who's a poet, and who's in love with Esmeralda.  He saves her....kind of...in the end.  Not writing pamphlets this time, though.       The 1996 Disney version just omits Gringoire entirely.  They claim to have combined him with Phoebus (which, no, they just gave Phoebus his sense of humor, but I digress).  I discovered in my usual searchings the sequel to this movie, and, no, there still is no Gringoire.  Therefore, I'm officially boycotting Disney.       1996, The Hunchback, a TNT original movie, featured Edward Atterton as Gringoire.  Hey, at least he's cute in this one!  He's still kind of on the wimpy side, as he originally was.  But they decided once again Esmeralda needed a boy-toy she could really love, and isn't Phoebus.  I don't remember them playing it up too much, but I do remember him being in love with her.  And she having odd feelings in relation to him.  I think he saved her, again, with pamphlets (correction:  so many corrections!  Quasi saved her with pamphlets, thereby relegating Pierre's usefulness to just helping Esme ring the bell for Quasi's death).  Even when he's being portrayed in a favorable light, my Pierre is still a dork.       Notre Dame de Paris, the French musical, features the much desired and much loved Canadian Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire.  This tickled me to death, especially since it's not a bad Gringoire.  No goats to fall in love with, and he's more forced into the role of Narrator, which fits with Gringoire's outside-observer role in the original novel.  He marries Esmeralda, and he tries to seduce her as only a poet can, but it's obvious from the start he's not heavily in love with her.  Being outside of the action, he's not really obligated to feel anything for her.  Yet he's still made into a good guy (because he's not involved enough to be a bad guy) for he doesn't betray Esme.  He actually helps her out.  When Clopin dies, he takes over in his stead, and stands up for the Truants.  Though the only real way to infer that is by the fact he takes up the part that Clopin sings, and a website told me so.  Heh...heh...      I like all of his songs.  Simply because Pelletier has a voice of sugar.  Character-wise, since Gringoire's not much but a narrator, his songs don't have more of a role than that.  I think "Lune" is the prettiest, which is just Gringoire informing the audience how Quasi feels.       I think this might be the shortest article of them all.  I'll pad it up when I have time.  But, despite the fact that Gringoire is my favoritest character, much like Phoebus, I'm not irritated they changed him around.  Most probably because they usually changed him for the good, and I don't mind my little Pierre being good once in a while....

Back to Phoebus                Return to Characters Page             On to Jehan Frollo Page (c) Misty Woodard, 2000-2001, all text and some graphics. The first picture in the slide-show begins with an illustration of Pierre by Merson                     *Background Art  and first picture by L.O. Merson, 1889 edition                             *Edmond O'Brien as Gringoire, (c) 1939 RKO Pictures Inc                    *Edward Atterton as Gringoire, (c) 1997 TriStar Television, et al *Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire,  (c) 1998 by Luc Plammodon?  (I took the pic) All of the pictures (except for the one I took) are used without permission.  The one I took myself is probably illegal somehow, too...