Dedicated to the question of the sign, this volume brings together the three plenary lectures given by Daniel Heller-Roazen (Philosophy and Comparative Literature, Princeton), Michel Pastoureau (History and History of Art, EPHE Paris) and Susan Rankin (Musicology, Cambridge), at the 7th doctoral course of the Institute of Medieval Studies of the University of Fribourg (3-5 September 2018), and is introduced by a critical essay by Marion Uhlig (French Medieval Languages and Literatures, Fribourg). The articles focus on the figures handwritten on the manuscript page, seen as a space of interaction between content and form.