This academic blog is devoted to the poetic genre of the coq-à-l'âne from its invention in the 1530s by Clément Marot to its disappearance in the mid-17th century. It has a twofold objective: on the one hand, to provide keys to reading texts that are reputed to be difficult to access because of their apparent nonsense, and on the other hand, to give an account of the research directions opened up in the course of the investigation, which begins with the Reformation, crosses the Wars of Religion and finally dives in the Mazarinades. The extracts presented in a semi-diplomatic version are mainly taken from manuscripts in European libraries.