1 “Ma dame en faisant ce petit liure Il mest venu en memoire que portez le nom de monseigneur Sainct Loys vostre progeniteur dont a present est question / et que autrefoys en auoys faict quelque petit traicte pour respondre a ceulx qui luy ont voulu oster sa bonne Renommee disant quil auoit en son temps destruit le Royaume de france pour les deux voyages quil feist oultremer voulant Recouurer la terre saincte / et quil auoit este contrainct de faire faire de la monnoye de Cuyr et mectre sus les gabelles en ce Royaume / Qui nest pas vray sauue leur Reuerence Comme cy apres sera monstre”: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 22v. The Probacion is copied on fols. 23r–30r. The modern foliation of the manuscript, in Arabic numerals, is employed here; it starts on the initial page of text (the third page of the manuscript) and continues through fol. 32r, which, like fol. 31r–v, is lined and blank; two unnumbered pages follow. The original foliation, in small Roman numerals and blue ink in the top righthand corner of the page, begins with “ij.” on fol. 6r (the page following the presentation miniature) and continues through fol. 23r (numbered “xix.”). Elizabeth Brown acknowledges the generous assistance of the staffs of the Bibliothèque municipale of Auxerre; the Archives et Documentation du Ministère des affaires étrangères, the Archives nationales, the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, the Bibliothéque historique de la ville de Paris, the Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, the Bibliothèque Mazarine, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris; the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg; and the libraries of Columbia University and the New York Public Library in New York. Her research in Russia was made possible by grants from the Academy of Sciences of Russia, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the United States Information Agency, and the United States Department of State, which administers the Russian, Eurasian, and East European Research Program (Title VIII). She is grateful for the advice and counsel of Myra Dickman Orth and Patricia Danz Stirnemann. Sanford Zale expresses thanks to the staffs of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, particularly the Section romane, in Paris. He is grateful to Joseph H. Lynch and to his colleagues in the Humanities Works-in-Progress Colloquium at Millsaps College, for their advice and support. The following abbreviations will be used: AN = Paris, Archives nationales; BnF = Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France; l.t. = livres tournois; ÖNB = Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; SP = Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia.Google Scholar

2 “Probacion que monseigneur sainct Loys ne destruisit point / le Royaume Pour le sainct voyaige quil feist oultremer”: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 23r.Google Scholar

3 Brown, Elizabeth A. R. edited and discussed this treatise, in “A Sixteenth-Century Defense of Saint Louis' Crusades: Étienne le Blanc and the Legacy of Louis IX,” in Goodich, Michael, Menache, Sophia, and Schein, Sylvia, eds., Cross Cultural Convergences in the Crusader Period: Essays Presented to Aryeh Grabois on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (New York, 1995), 21–48. Colette Beaune also analyzed the tract and attributed it to Estienne Le Blanc, in Naissance de la nation France, Bibliothèque des histoires (Paris, 1985), 145 (see the English trans., The Birth of an Ideology. Myths and Symbols of Nation in Late-Medieval France , trans. Huston, Susan Ross, ed. Cheyette, Fredric L. [Berkeley, 1991], 109–10).Google Scholar

4 See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 21–23.Google Scholar

5 “Pour lhonneur et Reuerence duquel sainct Loys / et de ceulx qui sont descenduz de luy vers la fin de ce liure ou fueillet xix^e. ay faict vng petit traicte contre ceulx qui luy ont voulu oster apres son trespas sa bonne Renommee / disant quil auoit en son temps destruict son Royaume / a cause des deux voyages quil feist oultremer pour le Recouurement de la terre saincte / qui nest chose veritable saufue leur Reuerence comme il est plus amplement prouue par ledit traicte”: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 1r–v; see Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 25, n. 10.Google Scholar

6 This summary is based on Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 32–34, 36–48, and esp. 47, n. 55 (Philip VI's institution of the gabelle on salt in 1341). In Royal Taxation in Fourteenth Century France: The Development of War Financing, 1322–1356 (Princeton, 1971), 4, 37–38, 84–86, 155–59, John Bell Henneman explains that although gabelle originally simply meant a sales tax (which, under Charles IV and during the early part of the reign of Philip VI, was levied on cloth), after 1341 the term came to be linked exclusively with the tax on salt that Philip established in 1341.Google Scholar

7 Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 30, 35.Google Scholar

8 On the work of Corrozet and the Bonfons, see Dumoulin, Maurice, “Notes sur les vieux guides de Paris,” Mémoires de la Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Île-de-France 47 (1924), 209–85, esp. 220–34. In 1532, Corrozet published La Fleur des Antiquitez de la Noble et Triumphante Ville et Cité de Paris, which was reprinted by Jacob, P.-L., Collection de documents rares ou inédits relatifs à l'histoire de Paris (Paris, 1874). This is far briefer than the guide Corrozet brought out in 1550, Les Antiqvitez, Histoires et Singvlaritez de Paris, ville capitale du Royaume de France (Paris, 1550). In this edition, Corrozet printed a letter of Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople of 1247, which included a list of relics purchased by Saint Louis and housed in the Sainte-Chapelle, whose text was posted (in Latin) in the church (ibid., fols. 69v–71r). He did not, however, publish (or mention) Le Blanc's treatise when he described the Collège de Navarre (ibid., fols. 93v–94v, giving a number of inscriptions); cf. ibid., fol. 71v, for Corrozet's simple reference to the Filles-Dieu as a foundation of Saint Louis. Cf. the version printed by Estienne Groulleau, which corrected the mistakes noted by Corrozet at the end of his ed. of 1550: Les Antiqvitez Histoires et Singvlaritez excellentes de la Ville, Cité, & Vniuersité de Paris, Capitale du Royaume de France (Paris, n.d.), fols. 44v–46r, 60r–61r. Corrozet first published the Defense in his expanded edition of 1561, Les Antiqvitez, Chroniqves, et Singvlaritez de Paris, ville capitale du Royaume de France, auec les fondations & bastimens des lieux: les sepulchres & epitaphes des Princes, Princesses & autres personnes illustres: Corrigées & augmentées, pour la seconde edition (Paris, 1561), fols. 71v–73r (Sainte-Chapelle), 74r (Filles-Dieu), 99v–103r (Collège de Navarre, with Le Blanc's Defense). Corrozet's presentation of Le Blanc's text was retained in the revised editions that Nicolas Bonfons brought out. See, e.g., Les Antiqvitez, Croniqves et Singvlaritez de Paris, Ville Capitalle du Royaume de France. Auec les fondations & bastiments des lieux: les Sepulchres & Epitaphes des Princes, Princesses, & autres personnes illustres (Paris, 1586–88), fols. 75r–77v (Sainte-Chapelle), 78r (Filles-Dieu), 102v–4v (Collège de Navarre, with Le Blanc's Defense). However, when Pierre Bonfons and Jacques du Breul published their version of Corrozet's work under their own names, they presented the text of the Defense not in the chapter on the Collège de Navarre (as Corrozet had done) but rather in the chapter on the Filles-Dieu, where it was also displayed. See Pierre Bonfons, Les Fastes Antiqvitez et choses plvs remarquables de Paris. Labeur de curieuse et diligente recherche, diuisé en quatre livres (Paris, 1605), fols. 151r–52r (Sainte-Chapelle), 166v–68r (Filles-Dieu, with Le Blanc's Defense), 177r–v (Collège de Navarre); and also Bonfons and Jacques du Breul, Les Antiqvitez et choses plvs remarqvables de Paris, Recueillies par M. Pierre Bonfons, Contr'oolleur [sic] au Grenier & Magazin à Sel de Pontoise. Augmenteez, par frere Iacques du Breul, Religieux octogenaire de l'Abbaye de Sainct Germain des Prez, lez Paris (Paris, 1608), fols. 145r–v (Collège de Navarre), 244v–47r (Sainte-Chapelle), 274v–82v (Filles-Dieu, with Le Blanc's Defense). Bonfons took his text from Corrozet, and said he was including it, “bien qu'il ne soit de grande consequence,” because Corrozet had noted its presence in the chapel of the Collège de Navarre and had copied (and published) its text: ibid., fols. 281r–82v. Bonfons discussed Louis and Estienne Le Blanc in his chapter on the Chambre des comptes, ibid., fol. 348r–v. Cf. Elizabeth Brown's, A. R. reference to Corrozet's description of the text in the Collège de Navarre, in the introduction to her collected essays, The Monarchy of Capetian France and Royal Ceremonial, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 345 (Aldershot, 1991), xii–xiii.Google Scholar

9 See n. 11, below, for Corrozet's reference to the text he published as “l'extraict.” Google Scholar

10 See n. 8 above.Google Scholar

11 Introducing Le Blanc's text, Corrozet says, “Nous ne voulons obmettre vn tableau escrit à la main, estant dans la nef de l'eglise dudict Nauarre, & en y a vn semblable en l'eglise des filles Dieu dont l'extraict est tel”: Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 99v; Antiqvitez (1586), fol. 102v. Corrozet does not mention the text in his account of the Filles-Dieu: Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 74r, and (1586), fol. 78r. Bonfons describes the plaques as “vn tableau en la chappelle d[u] College [de Nauarre], dans lequel est escrit vn pareil discours en la deffence de saint Louys,” and, at the Filles-Dieu, “vn grant tableau auquel le discours suiuant est escrit”: Antiqvitez (1608), fols. 145r, 281r. For Louis Le Blanc's extended reference in his Defense to Queen Jeanne's foundation of the Collège de Navarre, see below at n. 85. The Filles-Dieu (“located outside Paris in the fields”) is the fourth of Louis's foundations in the list that Louis Le Blanc includes in his Defense: BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 4v; cf. Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r; BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26v. The Life of Louis, Gloriosissimi Regis Ludouici, says of the house, “miserabiles quoque mulieres que quandoque pro victus penuria semet ipsas exposuerant. in magno numero in domo filiarum dei parisius congregauit: et ipsis quadringentas libras de quibus cum laboritio suo viuerent annuatim et eas a peccato retraheret assignauit.” We are grateful to Cecilia Gaposchkin, who is editing the Life, for permitting us to cite this passage.Google Scholar

12 “Ce present abbregé faict à l'honneur de S. Loys, a esté extraict du thresor des chartres de la Chambre des comptes, par moy Loys le Blanc, notaire, & secretaire du Roy, & greffier en ladicte Chambre des comptes à Paris”: Corrozet, , Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 103r; idem, Antiqvitez (1586), fol. 104v; Bonfons, Fastes, fol. 176v; Bonfons, Antiqvitez (1608), fol. 282v. The ending given in the copy of the Defense posted in the Collège de Navarre, transcribed in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r (on which see below), is slightly more elaborate and doubtless more accurate. Its text reads (with changes emphasized in bold print): “[C]e present abrege faict a lhonneur & louenge de monseigneur sainct loys Roy de france a este extraict du tresor des Chartres du Roy de sa chambre Des comptes et des histoires de france Par moy Loys le blanc notaire et secretaire dudict seigneur et greffier en sadicte chambre Des comptes A Paris.” Google Scholar

13 “Il a fait un Abrégé ou Extrait à l'honneur de S. Loys Roi de France, l'an 1272, contenant les noms des Rois de France, qui ont été en la Terre Sainte, & autres choses mémorables faites par iceux Rois, lequel Livre se voit écrit à la main, au Trésor des Chartres de la Chambre des Comptes à Paris”: Les Bibliothèques Françoises de La Croix du Maine et Du Verdier, sieur de Vauprivas …, ed. de Juvigny, Jean-Antoine Rigoley, 6 vols. (Paris, 1772–73) 2: 45. Michel François associated the notice with BnF, fr. 5721 (the Saincte vie of Saint Louis, which we discuss below), as did a seventeenth-century annotator of the manuscript, who wrote on fol. 111r of fr. 5721, a comment derived from La Croix du Maine's notice (“Il a este fet par Louy Le Blanc. Notaire & Seggretaire [sic] du Roy et greffier de la Chambre des Comptes a paris Lan 1272 /.”). A contemporary who read this note underlined the date and noted “Il y a grand erreur en ceste datte par la lecture mesme de ce liure.” This is perfectly correct, but the annotator then added “Il fault plustost dire 1372,” a date that is equally impossible. See François, “Les rois de France et les traditions de l'abbaye de Saint-Denis à la fin du xv^e siècle,” in Mélanges dédiés à la mémoire de Félix Grat, 2 vols. (Paris, 1946–49) 1: 367–82, at 379–80, and note (ibid., 380, n. 1) that François believed that the annotations in fr. 5721 were in a single hand. In 1995, Brown questioned (“Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 26–27, n. 12) François's suggestion that La Croix du Maine's notice referred to the Saincte vie, proposing instead (incorrectly) that it described BnF, fr. 5869, a treatise on the deeds of the most Christian kings of France, dedicated to Louis XII, on which see below at n. 30. On the archives of the Chambre des comptes and their contents, see Contamine, Philippe, “La mémoire de l'État: les archives de la Chambre des comptes du roi de France à Paris, au xv^e siècle,” in Media in Francia …. Recueil de mélanges offert à Karl Ferdinand Werner à l'occasion de son 65^e anniversaire par ses amis et collègues français (Paris, 1985), 85–100.Google Scholar

14 Only the shortened version of Louis Le Blanc's Defense that was exhibited in Paris uses the words “abrege” and “extraict” in the conclusion. The fuller version dated 1498 ends quite differently, although the word extraict does appear in the phrase, “Et auoir par moy este extraictes”: see the Appendix, below. If La Croix du Maine had known the fuller version, he would presumably have mentioned the date it gives, and the fact that it was addressed to the king.Google Scholar

15 The manuscript is a small book, bound in mottled brown paperboard, which measures 145 mm. wide by 209 mm. high, and consists of four unlined paper bifolia, numbered 2 through 9, and a single sheet, fol. 1, tipped in. On the first page appears its designation as “Gaignières N°. 283.” The paper has the crescent and flower watermark of Edmond Denise, attested for Paris in 1562 and later, by Briquet, Charles Moïse, Les filigranes. Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600, avec 39 figures dans le texte et 16,112 fac-similés de filigranes , 4 vols. (Geneva et al., 1907; repr. with supplement, ed. Stevenson, Allan, Amsterdam, 1968), no. 5304. This date is consonant with the scribe's grammar, orthography, and use of accents. On Gaignières, see Brown, Elizabeth A. R., The Oxford Collection of the Drawings of Roger de Gaignières and the Royal Tombs of Saint-Denis, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 78⁵ (Philadelphia, 1988). In “Unofficial Histories of France in the Late Middle Ages” (Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1994), 320–21, Sanford Zale relied on this manuscript (which he mistakenly proposed was an autograph) in identifying Louis Le Blanc as the author of the Defense. The copy contains some errors, of which the most glaring are: (1) si appauury Et de peuple & dargent, rather than si apoury et depopule dargent; (2) pour memoire de Ses sainctes reliques, rather than pour memoire de ses sainctes euures; (3) and Le Roy Charles Le Quint & Son filz, rather than le Roy Charles le Quint son filz, in identifying King John's successor to the throne. Cf. BnF, fr. 25012, fols. 4v (the first and second errors), 8v, with the readings in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 64v, 65r, 69r. Estienne Le Blanc's Probacion, which omits his father's discussion of King John's ransom, contains the first and second readings found in the Auxerre MS (BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r). See also below, nn. 74 and 87, and following n. 88, for lines omitted by the copyist of BnF, fr. 25012, and also n. 83 (another likely error).Google Scholar

16 “Et Ie Loys le blanc Notaire & Secretaire du Roy et Greffier en sa chambre des Comptes, Tesmoigne les choses dessusdictes estre vrayes, Et auoir par moy esté extraictes des registres & Lettres antiques dudict Tresor et chambre des Comptes, Le xv^e. de may mil iiij^c. iiij^xx xviij, Signe Le Blanc”: BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 9v. Franck Collard describes this work as “une courte biographie de Louis IX, initialement destinée à Charles VIII,” but then “offert à Louis XII,” in “Ranimer l'oriflamme. Les relations des rois de France avec l'abbaye de Saint-Denis à la fin du xv^e siècle,” in Autrand, Françoise, Gauvard, Claude, and Moeglin, Jean-Marie, eds., Saint-Denis et la royauté. Études offertes à Bernard Guenée, Membre de l'Institut , Histoire ancienne et médiévale, 59 (Paris, 1999), 563–81, at 569 (esp. n. 32, giving the incipit and explicit in a transcription that differs in some respects from ours).Google Scholar

17 For Louis XII and his relationship to Charles VIII, see le Père Anselme de la Vierge Marie (Pierre Guibours), Histoire genealogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France …, 3rd ed., ed. Caille, Honoré, lord of Le Fourny, and les Pères Ange de Sainte Rosalie (François Raffard) and Simplicien, 9 vols. (Paris, 1726–33; repr. Paris, 1967) 1: 123–27, 206–8. Brown, Elizabeth A. R. discusses the literary use of dates to focus attention on particularly sensitive or important moments of time, in “Rex ioians, ionnes, iolis: Louis X, Philip V, and the Livres de Fauvel,“ in Bent, Margaret and Wathey, Andrew, eds., Fauvel Studies. Allegory, Chronicle, Music, and Image in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS Français 146 (Oxford, 1998), 53–72, at 54–55.Google Scholar

18 At the top of fol. 1r is the inscription, in an eighteenth-century hand, “ex bibliotheca ponthiniacensi 156.” The paper, which is lightly ruled in red ink in 28 lines (7 mm. apart) for 27 lines of script, measures 185 mm. in width and 260 mm. in height. There are two undistinguished and exceedingly common watermarks: a P is found in the first part of the manuscript, through fol. 59, and a pot with flower in the second part, fols. 60–77. Variants of these watermarks abounded in the sixteenth century, and the pot with flower is often found on paper used in the Parlement de Paris in the first half of the century. Such watermarks are difficult to localize and date. Like the scripts, the absence of accents suggests that the texts were copied before 1550.Google Scholar

19 “[S]ensuyt la copie de ce qui est escript en vng grant tableau fort magnificque estant en la nef de la chappelle du Colleige Real de Champaigne dict de Nauarre fonde en Luniuersite de paris”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 62r. We have found only two errors of any consequence in the copy, for which see n. 107 below.Google Scholar

20 “[P]robation que monseigneur sainct loys ne destruisit point le Royaume pour le sainct voyaige quil feist oultre mer”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 62r, following the heading, “[S]ainct Loys Roy de france.” The Corrozet guidebooks do not give any title. Henceforth, Probation refers to the work of Louis Le Blanc in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), and Probacion to that of Estienne Le Blanc in BnF, fr. 5719.Google Scholar

21 The Saincte vie is copied on fols. 1r–59v, with the next folio blank and unlined; we discuss the Life below, in n. 31 and the accompanying text, and at and following n. 91. The Life is transcribed in a studied, precise hand, with simple initials and paragraph divisions in red and blue. The other texts are copied in a less careful but perfectly legible hand, with spaces left for decorated initials, which were never inserted. The Probation commences on fol. 62r and ends on fol. 70r, whose verso is blank and unlined. The ordonnances follow, on fols. 71r–76v.Google Scholar

22 Auxerre, , MS 126 (113), fols. 71r–72v; cf. Ordonnances des Roys de France de la Troisiéme Race, Recueillies par ordre Chronologique …, ed. de Laurière, Eusèbe-Jacob et al., 22 vols. and Supplement (Paris, 1723–1849) 1: 78–79, continuing through p. 81, and ending with article 26. See n. 25, below.Google Scholar

23 Auxerre, , MS 126 (113), fols. 72v–73r, ending “[E]t par ainsi sainct loys a este de plus moindre despence que les aultres.” For the list, see Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France , ed. Bouquet, Martin et al., 24 vols. (Paris, 1738–1904) 21: 405, and for references to it in other works connected with Louis Le Blanc, see n. 27 below.Google Scholar

24 Auxerre, , MS 126 (113), fols. 73r–76r. See Recueil général des anciennes lois françaises, Depuis l'an 420 jusqu'à la Révolution de 1789 …, ed. Jourdain, Athanase-L., Decrusy, P., Isambert, François-A., 29 vols. (Paris, 1821/22–33) 2: 697–700, no. 309. The Saincte vie emphasizes repeatedly the importance of cloth and clothing, stressing especially Louis's renunciation of fine cloth when he assumed the Cross: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 29v–30r; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 15r. Describing Saint Louis's gift of a gold cloth to Saint-Denis on returning from crusade, the author laments that at present “menestriers / tabourrins / Iongleux / et aultres menues gens” wear silk, whereas “les dignes aornemens de leglise seruans a la consecration du corps precieux de Iesuchrist ne sont en la pluspart / que de toille taincte ou paincte de gros fil bourre / ou tyretaine et aultres gros ouuraiges,” and reminds readers that they will have to answer for their garb at the Last Judgment: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 58v–59v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 30v–31r. See also BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 77v–79r; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 42r–v (clothing worn at the marriage of Alphonse of Poitiers in 1247, and at the knighting of Louis's eldest son Philip in 1267). In his tract Verba mea, Jean Juvenal des Ursins advised Charles VII that he could find “les ordonnances anciennes” concerning clothing “en vostre Chambre des comptes,” and encouraged him to issue similar ones: Contamine, “Mémoire de l'État,” 86.Google Scholar

25 “[L]a deffence du leu des dez. [I]l fut accorde lan de grace mil ij^C iiij^xx ix le vendredi apres la toussains que le leu des dez seroit deffendu. [I]tem que nul ne tire vin depuys que queurefeu sera sonne. [I]tem que nul ne face seruoise [E]t ce fut crie le samedj dapres”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 76v, the only item on the page; we have been unable to locate the source of this extract. The tenth article of Saint Louis's reform ordonnance of 1256 dealt with dice; anyone guilty of making them or participating in games of dice, or of frequenting taverns or bordellos, was to be “repute pour Infame et deboute de tout tesmoignaige de verite”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 72r; cf. Ordonnances 1: 79, no. 10. The Saincte vie devotes a short chapter to the reform ordonnance that Louis issued after returning from crusade, and explicitly mentions the prohibition against fabricating and playing at dice: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 59v–60r; Auxerre, , MS 126 (113), fol. 31v.Google Scholar

26 Brown cites the fundamental works that treat the careers and writings of Louis and Estienne in “Sixteenth-Century Defense.” Particularly useful are Lapeyre, André and Scheurer, Rémy, Les notaires et secrétaires du roi sous les règnes de Louis XI, Charles VIII et Louis XII (1461–1515). Notices personnelles et généalogiques , 2 vols. (Paris, 1988) 1: 186–87, and also Robert-Henri Bautier's introduction to 1: xxxvi–vii; and Mirot, Léon, “Notes sur Étienne Le Blanc et ses compilations historiques,” Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'le-de-France 36 (1909), 38–45. See also d'Yanville, Henri Coustant, Chambre des comptes de Paris. Essais historiques et chronologiques, privilèges et attributions nobiliaires et armorial, 3 vols. (Paris, 1866–75) 2: 776, 3: 927; Lecoq, Anne-Marie, François I^er imaginaire. Symbolique et politique à l'aube de la Renaissance française (Paris, 1987), 246–47, 477–78; Daly, Kathleen, “Mixing Business with Leisure: Some French Royal Notaries and Secretaries and their Histories of France, c. 1459–1509,” in Allmand, Christopher, ed., Power, Culture, and Religion in France, c. 1350–c. 1550 (Woodbridge, 1989), 99–115, at 114–15; McCartney, Elizabeth, “The King's Mother and Royal Prerogative in Early-Sixteenth-Century France,” in Parsons, John Carmi, ed., Medieval Queenship (New York, 1993), 117–41, at 133–35; and Zale, , “Unofficial Histories,” 320–66. Louis resigned his post in Estienne's favor on 7 March 1509: AN, P 2640, p. 249. Estienne was appointed on 14 March, and a supplementary royal letter issued on the same day permitted him to exercise the office despite the fact that he was not a royal notary and secretary; he took the oath of office on 27 March 1509: AN, P 2303, pp. 367–75; cf. Lapeyre and Scheurer, Notaires 1: 186; and see Bonfons, Antiqvitez (1608), fol. 348r–v. For Henry II's ennoblement of Estienne, see the late-seventeenth- or early-eighteenth-century summary of the king's letter, which was issued in March 1552 at Saint-Germainen-Laye, in BnF, fr. 29644, Dossiers bleus 99 (Blaa-Blanch, 2377–2407), dossier 2403, fol. 9r (“sur ce que les titres de ladite chambre des comptes etoient tournez en Confusion et obscurité auant la prouision dudit feu Maistre Louis Le Blanc audit office de greffier enladite Chambre des comptes qui par ses soins les avoit mis en ordre et en Lumiere”). The letter was registered in the Chambre des comptes, without payment, on 27 April 1552, and in the Cour des aides, on 20 July 1552. Leopold Delisle published excerpts from this document, in “Traductions d'auteurs grecs et latins offertes à François I^er et Anne de Montmorency par Étienne Le Blanc et Antoine Macault,” Journal des savants (1900), 476–92, 520–34, at 483–84; and Brown quoted from it, in “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 35–36, n. 25.Google Scholar

27 The treatise, known by its incipit “Pour vraye congnoissance auoir,” is the sole text in BnF, fr. 25159 (a small manuscript of 38 pages, minimally decorated, that belonged to Saint-Victor of Paris); a longer version is found in BnF, fr. 15490, a collection of documentary and other materials relating to English claims to France (135 fols., Coislin — Séguier — Saint-Germain-des-Prés), fols. 4r–38r. On the treatise, see Lewis, Peter S., “War Propaganda and Historiography in Fifteenth-Century France and England,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser., 15 (1965), 1–21, esp. 11, n. 1; 20, n. 1. Daly (“Mixing Business,” 101) attributed it to Louis Le Blanc on the grounds that its author, whose name was Louis, was personally devoted to Saint Louis and knew the archives of the Chambre des comptes, whose registers the tract repeatedly cites. For the date of composition, see BnF, fr. 25159, fol. 38r; fr. 15490, fol. 38r; the author's name and birthdate appear only in fr. 15490, fol. 4v. The tract gives the cost of the coronations of Saint Louis, Philip III, Marie of Brabant, and Philip IV as recorded in Memorial Noster of the Chambre des comptes: BnF, fr. 15490, fols. 5r, 6v, 8r, and cf. below. As has been seen (n. 23 above), the cost of the kings' coronations is included after the text of the Probation in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 72v–73r. A list of these and other expenses, as well as birthdates and other data regarding members of the royal family (information that “Pour vraye congnoissance auoir” cites from Noster), was also contained in Memorial Pater of the Chambre des comptes; the list was edited by Du Cange and then published in Recueil des historiens 21: 403–5; for an example of the references to dates in Noster, see BnF, fr. 15490, fol. 13r. Contamine discusses other memoranda contesting English claims to France that utilized the archives of the Chambre des comptes, in “Mémoire de l'État,” 85–86, 90. In the treatise the author said he would not discuss Philip VI's reign at any greater length, “mais en traiteray en vng traicte particulier apres ce present euure. Et pareillement des roys dessus recitez et de partie de leurs faitz et aussi dautres roys ensuiuants”: BnF, fr. 15490, fol. 13r. Although Daly believes that “[n]one of Le Blanc's identified works fulfill [sic] this promise,” it seems to us that the description accurately characterizes the history of deeds of French kings composed in 1498 (BnF, fr. 5869), which Louis Le Blanc probably wrote; on this work, see n. 30 below, and the accompanying text.Google Scholar

28 The author of the work on the deeds of the kings of France written in 1498 for Louis XII — probably Louis Le Blanc — notes his use of the Annunciation style of dating, in BnF, fr. 5869, fol. 32r.Google Scholar

29 The work begins, “Les treschrestiens Roys de france ont de toute anciennete ayme seruy et Reuere monseigneur sainct denis appostre garde et deffendeur de la treschrestienne et tresRoyal maison de france qui tousiours a este le bras dextre et la deffense de nostre mere saincte eglise”: BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 1r–v; fr. 5870, fol. 1r–v; fr. 5706, fol. 1r–v. The frontispiece of BnF, fr. 5868, in which Saint Denis intercedes with the Virgin for her servant Charles, shows that it was intended for Charles VIII, and his signature appears on the guard folio; for the date 1495, see fol. 4r. BnF, fr. 5870, is ornamented with a miniature similar to the one in fr. 5868 and was doubtless intended for Louis XII; here Saint Denis is joined by Saint Louis, who was evidently chosen because Louis XII was his namesake. The work contains no additional material (and preserves the original date of composition of 1495), but it is far more complexly organized than BnF, fr. 5868 and has additional explanatory subtitles; cf. François, “Les rois de France,” 373, n. 4, who did not realize that the material included in the recension for Charles VIII (BnF, fr. 5868) was simply rearranged in the version for Louis XII (BnF, fr. 5870). A finely bound, modestly decorated, and perfectly serviceable copy on paper of the recension for Louis XII (BnF, fr. 5706) was, like fr. 5868 and fr. 5870, kept in the royal library at Blois. BnF, fr. 24948 is another copy, richly illustrated with some 55 miniatures and decorated with fancy initials; on it, see de Bure, Guillaume, Catalogue des livres de la Bibliotheque de feu M. le duc de la Valliere. Premiere partie, Contenant les Manuscrits, les premieres Éditions, les Livres imprimés sur vélin & sur grand papier, les Livres rares, & précieux par leur belle conservation, les Livres d'Estampes, &c. dont la Vente se fera dans les premiers jours du mois de Décembre 1783 , 3 vols. (Paris, 1783) 3: 94–95, no. 4730. Léopold Delisle believed that this manuscript was intended for Louis XII. He thought that its many miniatures were modeled on a mid-thirteenth-century vernacular work containing the Life of Saint Denis (BnF, n. acq. fr. 1098), which is not the case. Without giving details, Delisle judged the text of fr. 24948 “un peu plus développée” than that of fr. 5868, although they seem the same to us. See Delisle, , “Notice sur un livre à peintures exécuté en 1250 dans l'abbaye de Saint-Denis: lettre à Monsieur le duc de La Trémoille,” Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, 38 (1877), 444–76, at 455. In conversation with Elizabeth Brown in 1994, François Avril said that the frames of fr. 24948 suggested a date at the end of Louis XII's reign or the beginning of Francis I's; Myra Dickman Orth finds this assessment persuasive. Liebman, Charles J. Jr. published selections from fr. 5868, in his Étude sur la vie en prose de Saint Denis (Geneva, N.Y., 1942), xlii–iv. Liebman noted that fr. 5706 and 5870 were copies of the work, and he mistakenly linked fr. 5869 with them. See as well the notice on fr. 5868, in Porcher, Jean, Manuscrits à peintures du xiii^e au xvi^e siècle (Paris, 1954), 130, no. 271. François discusses the works, in “Les rois de France,” 367–76; he believes (367, 369) that fr. 5868 and 5870 were based on fr. 5706. Franck Collard reconsiders and analyzes the manuscripts, in “Ranimer l'oriflamme,” 564–70 (in n. 16 associating the illustrations in fr. 24948 with the “atelier” of Jean Pichore, an attribution with which Myra Dickman Orth has kindly informed us she and François Avril concur).Google Scholar

30 BnF, fr. 5869, which on fols. Br–Cv contains useful notes, dated 25 January 1739 (including the remark, “il n'y a rien à apprendre dans cet ouvrage”). The work commences (fol. 1r–v), “La tres chrestienne maison de france a tousiours este en singuliere Recommandacion de nostre sauueur Ihesucrist car par elle la foy a este et est exaulsee en toutes terres chrestiennes et tant la aymee quil ne la voulu laisser sans hoir et de present y a donne hoir faisant le xlviij^e. Roy descendu de pere a filz du glorieux roy de france monseigneur sainct loys qui est le xj^e Roy de ce nom loys Lesquelz font le plus grant nombre desdictz xlviii. Roys.” On fol. 13v, the author declares that he will omit some of the French kings' services to the church, “a ce que cest eeure ne soit ennuyeulx a lire a la tres royal maieste,” which suggests that he intended it for Louis XII; cf. the ending of the work on Saint Denis and the kings of France, “Autres plusieurs pelerinaiges deuocions processions prieres et oroisons oblacions dons et offrandes ont este faictes par les treschrestiens Roys de france a nostre dame de paris a sainct denis en france et en autres sainctz lieux de ce Royaume et aussi plusieurs victoires obtenues par miracle et ayde diuin dont en ce present euure Ie ne faiz aucune mencion pour la grandeur dicelui / a ce quil ne soit ennuyeux a la tresroyal maieste de la treschrestienne maison de france” (italics are ours; BnF, fr. 5868, fols. 32v–33r; fr. 5870, fols. 60v–61r; fr. 5706, fols. 51v–52r); note also Louis Le Blanc's reference to “vostre Royalle magesté” in the preamble to his Defense, fr. 25012, fol. 1r. On fol. 35v of fr. 5869, the author states that he is writing in 1498 (and thus [see fol. 32r] before the feast of the Annunciation in 1499). On fol. 37v, the author expresses the wish that Louis XII “fera festiuer par tout son Royaume la feste & solempnite de monsieur sainct loys roy de france son progeniteur viij^e de ce nom qui bien la merite & remectre en chasse les saintz ossemens dudit saint loys,” which indicates that this passage, at least, was composed before Saint Louis's feast day, 25 August. On this work, see François, , “Les rois de France,” 376–77; and Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 28–29. The section on “Voyaiges faiz oultremer par les treschrestiens Roys de France” (BnF, fr. 5869, fols. 18v–27r) is closely related to lists of French kings who had aided the Holy Land which were included in the Defense and Probation: see below, at n. 74, and following n. 104. The section in fr. 5869 includes not only the kings enumerated in the Defense, but also Philip VI, and Louis and Jean of Clermont, as well as Charles VI, who appears in the Probation, where he is credited with three rather than the four expeditions mentioned in fr. 5869.Google Scholar

31 “La Saincte vie et les haultz faictz, dignes de memoire, de monseigneur Sainct Loys Roy de france Mis et diuisez en quatre parties”: BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 1r; for the date of the work on the kings and Saint Denis written for Charles VIII, see n. 29 above. On the Saincte vie , see François, , “Les rois de France,” 377–80; Daly, , “Mixing Business”; Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 24, n. 8; 26–27, n. 12; 29 (esp. n. 16, noting that the text of Saint Louis's Instructions to his son appears both in the Saincte vie and in the treatise on the kings of France and Saint Denis). The Saincte vie has the same list of relics at the Sainte-Chapelle found in the Defense, and the two works include virtually identical catalogues of Louis's foundations: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 20r–21r, 67v–71r; fr. 25012, fols. 2v–3r, 4v–5v. The copies of the Saincte vie that have been previously noted are BnF, fr. 5721; fr. 13754 (a printed copy on parchment of an ed. of 1666, published by the confraternity of the dry-goods merchants of Paris, for which see BnF, Réserve des imprimés, Lb¹⁸.18; cf. Gousset, Marie-Thérèse, Avril, François, and Richard, Jean, Saint Louis, roi de France. Livre des faits de monseigneur saint Louis [Paris, 1990], 11). See above, at n. 21, for the copy of the Saincte vie in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 1r–59v. In the work on the kings of France and Saint Denis that he dedicated to Charles VIII, the author expressed his intention to expand his discussion of Royaumont “en sa saincte vie / et haulx faiz dignes de memoire … apres ce present euure fait et acomply”: BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 14r, and cf. fol. 25v; cf. BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 71r; François, “Les rois de France,” 378, n. 1, and 379, n. 2. Again, in discussing the capture of Damietta, the author remarked, “Comme plus au long sera dit en sa saincte vie”: BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 24v; cf. BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 31v–33r, and also BnF, fr. 5869 (the work on royal deeds dedicated to Louis XII), fol. 23v. Further, when comparing Philip VI's pious works with Saint Louis's, the author commented, “Comme plus au long sera escript et designe en sa saincte vie et haulx faiz dignes de memoire”: BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 165r. However, in discussing the miracles performed at Saint Louis's tomb, the author remarks that they “sont” — not “seront” — “designez en sa saincte vie et haulx faiz dignes de memoire”: BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 15r (for the miracles, see BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 99v–100v). One of the reasons Charles VIII granted Louis Le Blanc 1000 l.t. on 27 May 1496 was said to be Le Blanc's “grant soing cure et diligence / Mesmement a congnoistre et entendre … les haux faiz dignes de memoire de noz progeniteurs.” This can be read as indicating that by then Le Blanc had completed the work on Saint Louis. On the other hand, the revised treatise on Saint Denis and the kings of France that Le Blanc prepared for Louis XII after his accession in 1498 contains precisely the same references to the Saincte vie as are found in the recension for Charles VIII; so too does the copy in BnF, fr. 5706: BnF, fr. 5870, fols. 28v, 30r, 31v, 44r; fr. 5706, fols. 23v, 24v, 25v–26r, 37r. It is, in short, impossible to say precisely when Le Blanc composed the Saincte vie, although, as will be seen, the Saincte vie's recourse to a miracle to account for the payment of Louis's ransom has persuaded us that the Life was written before Le Blanc prepared his reasoned justification of Louis's crusades in 1498: see below, at n. 99 and following. Beaune dates the Saincte vie ca. 1500, in Naissance, 370, n. 22 (trans., 366, n. 21). Daly accepts Le Blanc's authorship of the Life, in “Mixing Business,” 110, n. 39.Google Scholar

32 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 92. The text begins on fol. 1r, “Sensuiuent les noms des xij roys de france. dont mencion est faicte en ce present traictie qui ont este rendre graces a monseigneur sainct denis en son eglise et abbaye en france des victoires par eulx obtenues en leurs personnes alencontre de leurs ennemys,” and the names of Charlemagne, Robert, Philip Augustus, Louis VIII, Saint Louis, Philip III, Philip IV, Philip VI, Charles VI, Charles VII, Charles VIII, and Louis XII follow. In accordance with the practice generally observed in works written by or linked with Louis and Estienne Le Blanc, Louis VIII was referred to as Louis VII, and Saint Louis as Louis VIII, although, curiously, Louis XII received his full complement of digits; on the practice and its origin, see Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 28, esp. n. 14. The first miniature precedes the title (fol. 2r–v), “Pelerinaiges processions prieres et oraisons faites a monsieur Sainct denis en france par les trescrestiens roys de france. Et graces a luy rendues par lesdictz roys en son eglise et abbaye. A cause des grandes et glorieuses victoires moyennant son ayde par eulx en leurs personnes obtenues,” which is similar to a rubric of BnF, fr. 5868, fol. 7v (“Pelerinaiges. processions. prieres. et oroisons. faictes a saint denis en france par les treschrestiens Roys de france / pour obtenir sante et victoire. Offrandes. oblactions. et graces par eulx pour ce faictes et Rendues”). See the notice on the manuscript in Otto Pächt and Jonathan James Graham Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford, vol. 1 (German, Dutch, Flemish, French and Spanish Schools) (Oxford, 1966), 64, no. 824, pl. LX, although it seems evident that the manuscript must have been made in 1509 or early in 1510, and not as late as 1515. We are grateful to Martin Kauffmann for his help and advice. Elizabeth Brown hopes to present elsewhere a fuller discussion of this manuscript, whose text has never been fully analyzed. Cf. Daly, “Mixing Business,” 101 n. 9; and Scheller, Robert W., “Ensigns of Authority: French Royal Symbolism in the age of Louis XII,” Simiolus 13 (1983), 75–141, esp. 91–92 (stating mistakenly in n. 65 that the text is the same as that in BnF, fr. 5869, the work on the deeds of the kings of France presented to Louis XII after his consecration) and 115, fig. 21 (the frontispiece). Not having seen the MS, Collard (“Ranimer l'oriflamme,” 567) believed it “extrêmement douteux qu'[il] appartienne à la même famille” as the other MSS of Le Blanc's treatise on the kings of France and Saint-Denis. On the work of Michel Pintoin, see Bernard Guenée's introduction to the reprint (Paris, 1994) of the Chronique du Religieux de Saint-Denys, contenant le règne de Charles VI, de 1380 à 1422 , ed. and trans. Bellaguet, Louis-François (Paris, 1839–52).Google Scholar

33 Martin, Henri long ago suggested that the manuscript was created for the cardinal: Légende de saint Denis. Reproduction des miniatures du manuscrit original présenté en 1317 au roi Philippe le Long. Introduction et notices des planches (Paris, 1908), 12. For Georges d'Amboise's importance as Louis XII's counselor and representative in Italy, from 1499 until his death in 1510, see Lemonnier, Henry, Les guerres d'Italie — La France sous Charles VIII, Louis XII et François I^er (1492–1547), vol. 5, part 1 of Lavisse, Ernest, ed., Histoire de France illustrée depuis les origines jusqu'à la Révolution (Paris, 1911), 50–94. See also Anselme, , Histoire genealogique 7: 124; and Souchal, Geneviève, “Le mécénat de la famille d'Amboise,” Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de l'Ouest et des Musées de Poitiers 13 (1976), 485–526, 567–612, esp. 578–88 (on Georges d'Amboise and his books). He officiated at the coronation of Anne of Brittany in 1504: Scheller, “Ensigns,” 135–39, esp. 136–37 and fig. 34. Alberto Cattaneo of Piacenza effusively praised the cardinal in dedicating to him a short history of the French: BnF, lat. 5939, fols. 1r–3r. A lavishly illustrated presentation copy of the work was prepared for Anne de Bretagne before the death of Charles VIII; it was revised and completed after she married Louis XII, surely before Cattaneo had a presentation copy prepared for the Cardinal d'Amboise: Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 1096, esp. fols. 1r, 3v (references to Louis written over erasures, and, on fol. 1r, Cattaneo's statement that 1073 years had passed since the reign of Pharamond — thought to have died in 417 — which suggests that the work was written in 1490). Cattaneo's dedicatory preface to the cardinal nonetheless implies that the history was composed especially for him; references in the dedication to King Louis's admiration for the cardinal, and to the cardinal's skill in settling conflicts or risings (motus) among the Swiss and his efforts to promote peace between France and the Empire indicate that the preface was written ca. 1507: BnF, lat. 5939, fols. 1r–3r. On the history, see Brown, Elizabeth A. R., “The Trojan Origins of the French: The Commencement of a Myth's Demise, 1450–1520,” in Smyth, Alfred P., ed., Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe (Houndmills and New York, 1998), 135–79, at 150–52 (where she wrongly assumes that the work was written expressly for the cardinal).Google Scholar

34 For the cardinal's activities as patron, see Avril, François and Reynaud, Madeleine, Les manuscrits à peinture en France 1440–1520, exhibition catalogue, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 16 October 1993–16 January 1994 (Paris, 1993), 411–14, nos. 234–35. We are grateful to Myra Dickman Orth for her help with the Cardinal d'Amboise.Google Scholar

35 The unsigned work is found in ÖNB, MS 2650, fols. 47r–74v, where it is bound with Estienne Le Blanc's signed account of the marriage of Isabelle of France and Richard II of England, for which see below, at n. 39. On the treatise, see Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 29–30.Google Scholar

36 AN, P 2304, pp. 1123–26, for which see Catalogue des actes de François I^er , 10 vols., Institut de France, Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Collection des Ordonnances des rois de France (Paris, 1887–1908) 1: 425, no. 2250, issued at Lyon.Google Scholar

37 AN, Y 8 (Register of the Châtelet, Bannières), fols. 225v–26r, on which see Catalogue des actes de François I^er , 1: 510, no. 2689.Google Scholar

38 For the letter of ennoblement, see n. 26 above. See also BnF, fr. 29644, Dossiers bleus 99, dossier 2396 (Le Blanc), fol. 1r, mentioning Estienne's first wife Catherine Budé, daughter of Dreux Budé, and his second wife Marguerite Anjorrant, whom he had married by 1532. Mirot, “Notes,” 41, says that Estienne died after 1559 but gives no source.Google Scholar

39 ÖNB, MS 2650, fols. 1r–46v, at 2r. On the work, see Mirot, “Notes,” 43–45 (editing the dedication and preface, signed by Estienne as the king's secretary and “greffier des Comptes”); and Brown, “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 30, nn. 17–18 (correcting misstatements in Delisle, “Traductions,” 481–82, 492, and in Mirot, “Notes,” 38, n. 2).Google Scholar

40 BnF, fr. 5715 (presentation copy). In François I^er imaginaire, 477–79, Lecoq proposed that Estienne wrote the text during Louise's regency in 1515–16. In La passion des manuscrits enluminés. Bibliophiles français, 1280–1580 (Paris, 1991), 110–11, no. 45, François Avril dated it either before 1521 or ca. 1524–25. Brown argued (“Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 25–26) that the Gestes predates Estienne's treatise defending Louis, which was composed in 1522. On the Gestes, see Ernest Quentin Bauchart, Les femmes bibliophiles de France (xvi^e, xvii^e & xviii^e siècles), 2 vols. (Paris, 1886) 1: 20–21; Daly, , “Mixing Business,” 115, n. 51; and McCartney, , “King's Mother,” 133–35. On the presentation copy, see Coron, Sabine and Lefèvre, Martine, eds., Livres en broderie. Reliures françaises du Moyen Âge à nos jours, exhibition catalogue (Paris, 1995), 51–52, no. 7; and Orth, Myra Dickman, “Louise de Savoie et le pouvoir du livre,” in Royaume de fémynie. Pouvoirs, contraintes, espaces de liberté des femmes, de la Renaissance à la Fronde , ed. Wilson-Chevalier, Kathleen and Viennot, Éliane (Paris, 1999), 71–90, at 81–85. Our thanks again to Myra Dickman Orth for her advice on this manuscript.Google Scholar

41 “Description des offices dignitez et Magistratz par lesquelz les Rommains se sont gouuernez depuis Romulus leur premier fondateur Iusques a Iulles Cesar dictateur ou premier Empereur desdictz Rommains”: BnF, fr. 1738, fols. 254r–60v. It seems clear that this work was intended to follow the dedication and precede the first oration, in praise of Pompey. As the volume is now bound, however, the Description fills an independent quire at the end of the volume. The last page of this quire, fol. 261v, contains Le Blanc's summary of Cicero's oration for Pompey, although the text of the oration itself begins immediately after the dedication, on fol. 7r, the first page of the second quire of the manuscript. Thus the final quire was evidently misplaced in binding. In the copy of Le Blanc's translation of four of Cicero's orations for Anne de Montmorency (to be discussed below), a slightly modified Description follows the dedication and precedes Le Blanc's sketch of the Origin of the Romans. This is followed by a fuller summary of the oration in praise of Pompey (here revised), which, again, is the first oration in the volume. The amended translation of the oration for Pompey and the longer summary, both slightly modified, are included in the printed edition of 1534, Troys oraisons de Cicero tradvictes de la langue Latine en la Francoise, par Estiene le Blanc, Conseiller du Roy, & Contrerolleur general de son espargne. La premiere quil feit pour Marcus Marcellus. La deuxiesme pour Pompee. La troisiesme pour Quinte Ligaire (Paris, [1534, based on the date of the privilege 31 August 1534]), fols. 16r–34v; cf. SP, Fr. F. v. XV, no. 3, fols. 18r–40r. The changes Le Blanc made in the corrected translations he presented to Montmorency show that he continued working on the orations as he prepared them for publication. The oration for Marcus Marcellus, found in the Montmorency manuscript and, in revised form, in the ed. of 1534, was not among the twelve orations that Le Blanc offered to the king. In dedicating his translation of twelve orations to the king (whom he described as “Prince de paix”), Le Blanc identified himself as “Contrerolleur general de son espargne,” an office he acquired on 7 May 1527: BnF, fr. 1738, fol. 2r; Lapeyre and Scheurer, Notaires, 1: 186. When he dedicated to Francis I the printed edition of three orations, published in 1534, Le Blanc said his work at the Épargne had kept him from revising his translations, and that he had finished the three speeches he was publishing in 1532, but had not dared present them to the king at once: Troys oraisons, fols. 3v, 4v; see the address “Aux Lecteurs,” fol. 2r, for Le Blanc's reference to the “douze oraisons, que luy presentay dix ans a, ou enuiron,” and his dedication to the king, fol. 3r, for his statement that “ie lisois deuant vostre royalle & plus que auguste maieste les douze oraisons” and his reference to the translation as done “en mes ieunes ans.” In ennobling Estienne in March 1552, Henry II said that Estienne had served Francis I “en qualité de son Lecteur, et valet de chambre ordinaire”: BnF, fr. 29644, dossier 2403, fol. 9r. We thank Myra Orth for sharing with us her ideas about the date of BnF, fr. 1738, and its contents; cf. Lecoq, , François I^er imaginaire, 246.Google Scholar

42 SP, Fr. F. v. XV, No. 3. The manuscript's slightly revised Description of Roman Offices, and short summary (beginning at the Creation) of the “Origine et naissance des Romains” are found, respectively, on fols. 7r–11r and 11v–18v; for the contents of the manuscript, see Delisle, , “Traductions,” 484–85. Delisle notes (“Traductions,” 477–81, esp. 480) that since, in the dedication, Le Blanc entitles Anne baron of Montmorency, the work must date after the death of Anne's father in 1531; as terminus ante quem he gives the date 1538, when Montmorency became constable. It seems likely to Myra Orth and us that the manuscript was completed in 1532 or 1533, since amended texts of three of the four orations included in Montmorency's copy appear in the printed edition of 1534. In Montmorency's manuscript, the oration for Pompey is followed by those for Marcus Marcellus and for Quintus Ligarius. The volume ends with the single oration in this volume that was not printed in 1534, a substantially revised version of the oration for Milo that Le Blanc had included in the collection of twelve orations offered to Francis I: see SP, Fr. F. v. XV, No. 3, fols. 66r–101v; cf. BnF, fr. 1738, fols. 113v–57v; Le Blanc prepared a completely new summary for Montmorency.Google Scholar

43 Delisle, (“Traductions,” 488) discusses this manuscript, which is known only from a short description in a sale catalogue. The description identifies the work as De l'origine et naissance des Romains, the survey with which Montmorency's manuscript opens, and says that it included a translation of “quelques Oraisons de Cicéron.” The title the catalogue assigns to Du Prat led Delisle to date the volume between 1529 and 1535. The fact that the manuscript contained Le Blanc's discussion of the Origin of the Romans, which he included in Montmorency's volume but not in the manuscript dedicated to the king, suggests to us that Du Prat's copy was made at the same time as Montmorency's.Google Scholar

44 BnF, fr. 3912, dedicated to Du Prat (who had been chancellor since 7 January 1515) as archbishop of Sens (fol. Dr–v), rather than cardinal, an office he received on 3 May 1527: see Anselme, , Histoire genealogique , 6: 452–53, 457. The work must have been presented to Du Prat after Francis I returned to France from his imprisonment in Spain in March 1526, since in the dedication Le Blanc lauded “lincredible celerite et diligence (transcendente / tout humain esperit) que auez prise pour le Retour du Roy en son Royaume.” Cf. Delisle, , “Traductions,” 491–92, who confuses the presentation copy with another copy with many corrections, BnF, fr. 10433, which was made as a New Year's gift for Nicolas IV de Neufville (1542/3–1617?), lord of Villeroy, whose father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had served as secretary to Louis XII and Francis I.Google Scholar

45 “Maistre Estienne le Blanc fils de feu … Louis le Blanc … et de Catherine Malingre sa femme. issus de maison noble et ancienne”; “que de plus ledit le Blanc cognoissant combien le seigneur et pere du Roy souhaitoit de restituer la langue francoise en sa pureté ledit le Blanc setoit mis en peine de traduire en francois Douze oraisons de Ciceron ce qui n'a pas peu contribué a retablir la Noblesse de la langue francoise & que ledit le Blanc a toujours vecu Noblement”: BnF, fr. 29644, Dossiers bleus 99, dossier 2403, fol. 9r; see also Delisle, , “Traductions,” 483–84.Google Scholar

46 Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 22, n. 3; see BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 7r (“Ledit Sainct Loys par vne coppie de lettres non signee laquelle Iay trouue entre les besongnes de feu mon pere en son viuant greffier des comptes / donnee en lan Mil.CC.lxix. Bailla a Robert son tiers filz pour luy et ses hoirs de son corps ledit conte de Clermont…. Iay serche oudit tresor des chartres et chambre des comptes loriginal de ladicte lettre lequel ne sest peu trouuer”).Google Scholar

47 See n. 13 above.Google Scholar

48 Mirot, , “Notes,” 41, and also Inventaire des registres des insinuations du Châtelet de Paris, règnes de François I^er et de Henri II , ed. Campardon, Émile and Tuetey, Alexandre, Histoire générale de Paris, Collection de documents publiée sous les auspices de l'édilité parisienne, 20 (Paris, 1906), 585, no. 4571 (act of 2 March 1553, mentioning Marguerite as a nun at the Filles-Dieu, and indicating that her sister Marie was a nun at Fontaineles-Meaux). Mirot (“Notes,” 42) does not mention the reference to Marie Le Blanc in the act of 2 March 1553, and, citing an act of January 1547, identifies Estienne's daughter Marie as the wife of Antoine Budé. Thus, Estienne Le Blanc may have had two daughters named Marie, although the Marie who married Budé might have become a nun between 1547 and 1553.Google Scholar

49 For the lengths to which Louise went in her campaign to acquire the Bourbon lands, see Doucet, Roger, Étude sur le gouvernement de François I^er dans ses rapports avec le Parlement de Paris , 2 vols., Bibliothèque de la Fondation Thiers, Paris, 44, Publications de la Faculté des lettres d'Alger, 2nd ser., 1 (Paris, 1921–26) 1: 203–54; and Hélion de Luçay, “25 aoÛt 1527. La succession du connétable de Bourbon,” in Notices et documents publiés pour la Société de l'histoire de France à l'occasion du cinquantième anniversaire de sa fondation et précédés d'une introduction par M. Charles Jourdain, membre de l'Institut, Publications de la Société de l'histoire de France, 217 (Paris, 1884), 302–22; and for an excellent summary, Lemonnier, Les guerres d'Italie, 217–23.Google Scholar

50 Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 23–24.Google Scholar

51 Orth, Myra Dickman, “The Magdalen Shrine of La Sainte-Baume in 1516: A Series of Miniatures by Godefroy le Batave (B.N. Ms. fr. 955),” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6th ser., 123rd year, 98 (1981), 201–14, esp. 207; Étienne Michel Faillon, Monuments inédits sur l'apostolat de Sainte Marie-Madeleine en Provence …, ed. Migne, J.-P., 2 vols. (Paris, 1865) 1: 1039–40.Google Scholar

52 Registres des délibérations du Bureau de la ville de Paris , ed. Bonnardot, François et al., 19 vols., Histoire générale de Paris, Collection de documents publiés sous les auspices de l'édilité parisienne, 23 (Paris, 1883–1958), 2 (1527–1539) , ed. Tuetey, Alexandre, 109–18, nos. CXLVIII–CLIV.Google Scholar

53 Scheller comments on Saint Louis's popularity in the fifteenth century, and especially during the reign of Louis XII, in “Ensigns,” 92.Google Scholar

54 See Little, Lester K., “Saint Louis' Involvement with the Friars,” Church History 33 (1964), 125–48, and, for a stimulating and extensive survey of changes in Louis's reputation, Beaune, , Naissance, ch. 3 (“St Louis”), 126–64 (trans., 90–125), esp. 144–46 (trans., 108–10), where she discusses leather money.Google Scholar

55 Beaune, , Naissance , 144 (trans., 108).Google Scholar

56 “En l'an mil. II^c. avec XLVIII [sic] / Fut prinse Damiecte, mais qu'il ne vous anuit, / La fut prins saint Loys qui les Françoys conduit; / Pour sa raenson payer monoye de cuir courit”: Gauvard, Claude et Labory, Gillette, eds., “Une chronique rimée parisienne écrite en 1409. ‘Les aventures depuis deux cents ans’,” in Guenée, Bernard, ed., Le métier d'historien au Moyen Âge. Études sur l'historiographie médiévale , Publications de la Sorbonne, Série “Études,” 13; Université de Paris I — Panthéon-Sorbonne; Centre de recherches sur l'histoire de l'Occident medieval (Paris, 1977), 183–231, at 198, and see 183–92, on the chronicle, which survives in three fifteenth-century manuscripts. On the work, see also Zale, , “Unofficial Histories,” 296–302.Google Scholar

57 BnF, fr. 9688, an unusually shaped, long and narrow volume, whose text is copied on parchment, with modest decoration. Beaune, , Naissance , 144 (trans., 108–9) believes that it was written in Paris or Soissons; she comments on the many unusual legends it contains, and its author's interest in the lower classes. Zale (“Unofficial Histories,” 90–94, 303–10) notes that the author devoted much attention to Charles VI, and seems to have witnessed some incidents he reports. His vivid descriptions of Charles VI's capture of Soissons in 1414 (BnF, fr. 9688, fol. 46r) and the massacre of the Armagnacs in 1418 in Paris (BnF, fr. 9688, fol. 47r) support Beaune's hypothesis that the author was from one city or the other.Google Scholar

58 “Et en lan M ij^c. xlviij le Roy partit de son pais de france pour aler oultre mer sus les sarrasins Et a son Retour il aporta la saincte couronne despines donc [sic] nostre seigneur ihesucrist fut couronne Et la mist en la chapelle du palais quil auoit fondee nouuellement Et depuis Retorna et ala en tunes Et print la tour de damiete Et depuis y fut prins prisonnier du soudenc Et se mist a Rancon Et pour ycelle paier fist venir le tiers & dangiers sus les bois Et fist courir monnoie de cuer Et tantost quil fut Retorne il mourut Et trespassa lan mil ij^c lxx. Et gist a saint denis en france. Et auoit Regne xliiij ans. Et auoit este prisonnier. vij. ans”: BnF, fr. 9688, fol. 41v. Preceding this passage, the chronicle mentions Louis's consecration at the age of fourteen on the first Sunday of Advent 1227, his release of Count Ferrand of Flanders from his twelve-year-long imprisonment and his payment of Ferrand's ransom, and the victory he won at Saintes over Henry III of England. The account of Louis's reign ends (fols. 41v–42r) with a list of five sons and four daughters he and Marguerite of Provence produced, and ten of his religious foundations.Google Scholar

59 There may be some truth to the charge that Saint Louis was the first king to impose the tax of a third and a tenth on forest revenues, since the first evidence for the imposition dates to the 1230s. The tax, however, could have had no connection with the ransom. Baldwin, John W., The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages (Berkeley, 1986), 257, and n. 153, p. 532, endorses the position taken by Léon-Louis Borrelli de Serres (Recherches sur divers services publics du xiii^e au xvii^e siècle, 3 vols. [Paris, 1895–1909] 1: 393–464), which Strayer, Joseph R. (The Administration of Normandy under Saint Louis, Medieval Academy Publications, 13; Mediaeval Academy Monographs, 6 [Cambridge, Mass., 1932], 76–79) and Rubner, Heinrich (Untersuchungen zur Forstverfassung des mittelalterlichen Frankreichs, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 49 [Wiesbaden, 1965], 64–93) rejected, presenting the levy as a Norman tax adopted by Philip Augustus and generalized after his conquest of Normandy in 1204. Rubner summarizes his conclusions in “Recherches sur la réorganisation forestière en France (xii^e et xiii^e siècles),” Bulletin philologique et historique (jusqu'à 1610) du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (Actes du 88^e Congrès national des Sociétés savantes tenu à Clermont-Ferrand) (1963), 271–79.Google Scholar

60 On Fillastre, see de Teil, Joseph, Un amateur d'art au xv^e siècle: Guillaume Fillastre, évêque de Tournai, abbé de Saint-Bertin, chancelier de la Toison d'or. L'introduction de l'art français à Dunkerque et à Saint-Omer (Paris, 1920), and Bayot, Alphonse, “Observations sur les manuscrits de l'Histoire de la Toison d'or de Guillaume Fillastre,” Revue des bibliothèques et archives de Belgique 5 (1907), 425–38. Alphonse Wauters wrote a lengthy article on Fillastre for the Biographie nationale de Belgique; see also the article by T. de Morembert in Dictionnaire de biographie française. Google Scholar

61 When describing Louis IX's purchase of the crown of thorns from, he maintained, the Pisans (who, he said, had acquired it from the king of Jerusalem), Fillastre confronted unflinchingly the problem of the relic's authenticity. He had himself reported, he acknowledged, Charlemagne's acquisition of the crown of thorns in the east and its transport back to Aachen. Clearly the problem of the two crowns troubled him, and his determination to settle it inspired an ingenious solution. Citing a sermon of John Chrysostom, Fillastre proposed that there had been two crowns, one of thorns, another of brambles (ronces), a word used by Chrysostom. To substantiate this suggestion (and thus authenticate both relics), Fillastre recalled that as bishop of Verdun he had presided over the translation of relics, some of which Charlemagne had brought from the east, of which one, he was certain, was a bramble with a legend identifying it as part of Jesus' crown. See BnF, fr. 2621, fols. 23v–24v.Google Scholar

62 “Aultres dient que oultre les choses dessusdictes fut adiointe ceste condicion que pour memoire de ceste captiuite en laquelle estoit saint loys lui et ses successeurs roy[s] de france Iusques a certain temps determine feroient en toutes leurs monnoies quil [sic] feroient forgier en leur roiame / Imprimer la figure dune tour en signe que saint loys y fut tenu enclos / et vngz fers de prisonniers en memoire de sa prison et captiuite / Et pource que ceste condition estoit dure a porter aux franchois / on laissa longtemps a forgier en france monnoie dor ne dargent / Et par especial tant que saint loys fut absent de son roiame / et nestoit autre monnoie / que de cuir boulli [sic] en pieces / et en chascune piece estoient fichies cloux dor ou dargent / et de tant plus y avoit de cloux tant plus valloit la piece / Mais apres le retour [de] saint loys Il voulut acomplir sa promesse sans palliacion et fist forgier monnoie dor et dargent et y fist paindre la tour et ses fers comme il avoit promis / Mais pour honnestement couurir la cause de ceste emprainte ceste monnoie fut forgie en la cite de tours et fut appellee monnoie tournoise et de la vindrent les gros tournois que aucuns appellent les gros saint loys Et combien que de puis ceste meisme monnoie fut forgie a paris et allieurs [sic] par le roiame si estoit toutesfois lemprainte telle touchant lescripture / Turonis ciuitas / Cest a dire la cite de tours”: BnF, fr. 2621, fols. 26v–27r. See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 31–32, esp. n. 22.Google Scholar

63 Clichtove, Josse, De laudibus sancti Ludouici: regis Franciæ. De laudibus sacratissime virginis & martyris Ceciliæ (Paris, 1515/16 [10 January]), fols. 3r–34v, followed, on fols. 35r–39v, by Boniface VIII's bull of canonization; see esp. ch. 17 (fols. 28v–30r), which is entitled, “Quod repræhendenda non est prædicta Ludouici in Saracenos expeditio: quamuis fœlicem non habuerit exitum.” Clichtove dated his dedication 1516, observing Roman practice, although his publisher, Henri Estienne, gave the date of publication, according to French usage, as 10 January 1515. On Clichtove's life and many publications, consult Jean-Pierre Massaut, Josse Clichtove. L'humanisme et la réforme du clergé, 2 vols., Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l'Université de Liège, 183 (Paris, 1968), dealing with his life to 1520; idem, “Josse Clichtove of Nieuwpoort,” in Bietenholz, Peter G., ed., Contemporaries of Erasmus: Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, 3 vols. (Toronto, 1985–87) 1: 317–20; and Fabisch, Peter, “Jodocus Clichtoveus (1472–1543),” in Iserloh, Erwin, ed., Katholische Theologen der Reformationszeit, Katholisches Leben und Kirchenreform im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung, 45 (Münster, 1985): 2: 82–91. One of Clichtove's patrons was Jacques d'Amboise, abbot of Cluny and bishop of Clermont, a brother of Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, for whom a small book on the kings of France and Saint Denis, closely linked with Louis Le Blanc, seems to have been made: see above, n. 33 and the accompanying text. On Jacques d'Amboise, see Souchal, , “Mécénat,” 562–77.Google Scholar

64 “Non igitur quod in hostium manus incidit Ludouicus: ei vicio dandum est / quandoquidem fortuitis casibus nemo obuiam ire potest. sed quod ab hostium potestate euaserit incolumis: magnopere mirandum / & diuinæ ascribendum virtuti / quæ id confecit opus / atque tanquam patriarcham Ioseph de Ægyptiaco carcere liberauit [marginal notation: Gene. 41]. Obijciunt præterea nonnulli nobilissimum Francorum regnum ob gerendam huiusmodi militiam in Saracenos / redimendumque regem captiuum / grandem persoluere debuisse pecuniam: ob quam præter morem maiorum noua vectigalia sunt populo imposita / quæ deinceps graui onere (vt aiunt) illum presserunt. Et hinc factum esse quod sancto Ludouico non celebretur publica solennitas in regno Franciæ ab omni populo: qui author fuisse dicatur & primus constitutor huiusmodi vectigalium imponendorum / quæ postea nunquam relaxata fuisse perhibentur / sed in posteros continue deducta. Verum animaduertant illi operæ precium est / pro Christiana fide amplificanda / subeundaque militia in hostes crucis CHRISTI: licere portionem aliquam pecuniariam a populo persoluendam constituere / quæ confecto bello non amplius exigatur. Vbi etiam grauis ingruit necessitas / vt captiui regis redimendi & præcipuorum totius regni procerum: par est & rationi consonum / totum regni populum ad id negocium quippiam pro viribus erogare / quod tamen citra necessitatem foret illicitum. Exemplo nobis est rex Iuda Ezechias [marginal note: 4 reg. 18]…. id ipsi Ludouico non est imputandum. qui non nisi vrgente legitima causa exegit a Francorum communitate publicam contributionem: quam exacto tempore belli vetuisset amplius persolui. Non est autem posterorum (siqua est) culpa: ipsi Ludouico impingenda. Quamuis non desint / qui contendant morem illum vectigalium exoluendorum non a Ludouico nostro inchoatum esse: sed a nonnullis alijs regibus qui longo post ipsum tempore sceptro Gallico sunt potiti. Quod si ita se habet: causa nostra rectius agitur & apparet iustior / liquidoque constat non earn ob rem sancto Ludouico diem festum annuum a toto populo solenniter celebrandum negari debere. qui totum ipsum regnum admirabili virtutum suarum splendore supra modum illustrauit…. Quod vt posthac faciant omnes / summopere hortamur: ne in ipsum regem qui de illis optime est meritus ingrati videantur / deumque in suo sancto laudare recusent”: Clichtove, De laudibus, fols. 29v–30r. Clichtove's comparison of Saint Louis and Joseph is taken from the fifth lection of Ludouicus decus regnantium: BnF, lat. 911, fol. 12r (“Eductus itaque uelut ioseph de carcere egypciaco”), and cf. 13r. On Clichtove's argument, cf. Beaune, , Naissance, 144 and 373, n. 11 (trans., 108 and 369, n. 103). On the principles of necessity and cessante causa , see Henneman, John Bell, Royal Taxation in Fourteenth-Century France: The Development of War Financing, 1322–1356 (Princeton, N.J., 1971), 23–27; and Brown, Elizabeth A. R., “Cessante Causa and the Taxes of the Last Capetians: The Political Applications of a Philosophical Maxim,” Studia Gratiana (Post Scripta) 15 (1972), 565–87, reprinted in eadem, Politics and Institutions in Capetian France, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 350 (Aldershot, 1991), no. II.Google Scholar

65 See above, n. 15, and the accompanying text.Google Scholar

66 On these taxes, see Henneman, , Royal Taxation: Development , 3–7, 155–59, and also n. 6 above. On aids, see Brown, Elizabeth A. R., Customary Aids and Royal Finances in Capetian France: The Marriage Aid of Philip the Fair, Medieval Academy Books, 100 (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), 1–9.Google Scholar

67 For Le Blanc's source, the chronicle of Giovanni Villani (ca. 1275–1348), see Villani's Cronica …, ed. Penna, Testia, 4 vols., Collezione di Storici e Cronisti Italiani editi ed inediti, 1–4 (Florence, 1844–45) 1: 242–43, and see Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 44–45, n. 51.Google Scholar

68 1 Mace. 3:19 (“quoniam non in multitudine exercitus victoria belli, sed de caelo fortitudo est”).Google Scholar

69 Isa. 40:13 (“Aut quis consiliarius eius fuit, et ostendit illi?”).Google Scholar

70 Le Blanc, seems to have been thinking of Ps. 118 (119):71 (“Bonum mihi quia humiliasti me: ut discam iustificationes tuas”; in the Douay translation, “It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications”).Google Scholar

71 See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 38–39, esp. n. 29.Google Scholar

72 See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 39–40.Google Scholar

73 See n. 32 above.Google Scholar

74 BnF, fr. 5869, fols. 18v–27r, which is taken largely from the Grandes Chroniques de France; on this work see above, n. 30 and the accompanying text. For the addition of Charles VI to the list in the version of Le Blanc's Defense displayed at the Collège de Navarre, see Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r; Corrozet, , Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 100v; idem, Antiqvitez (1586), fol. 103r; Bonfons, Fastes (1605), fol. 167r; Bonfons, Antiqvitez (1608), fol. 281v, and below, at n. 105. We think it unlikely — although not impossible — that the copyist of BnF, fr. 25012, omitted the name of Charles VI inadvertently; for other omissions and errors in this manuscript, see n. 15 above, and nn. 83 and 87 below.Google Scholar

75 For Le Blanc's figures, see Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 40–41, esp. nn. 33–34. It is interesting that Le Blanc did not use the sum given in the list of data in registers Noster and Pater of the Chambre des comptes (see nn. 23 and 27 above), which stated that the king's redemptio cost 167,102 1. 18 s. 8 d.t.: Recueil des historiens 21: 404, and also 512–15, at 515.Google Scholar

76 “Modico tamen precio & quasi miraculos[e]”: BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 4r; and also Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. The Saincte vie cites the same verse: BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 45v; Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 41, n. 35; and also below, at n. 95. In “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 41–42, n. 36, Brown cited the fifth lection of the popular office Ludovicus decus regnantium, and the first lection of the office of the translation of Louis's head, Exultemus omnes. Both describe Louis's release as miraculous, and the first states that Louis was freed “pro multo minori redemptione quam habere potuissent”: BnF, lat. 911, fols. 12r–v, 36v. Neither, however, includes the precise phrase that Louis Le Blanc quotes from the fourth lection of the saint's office. We have located Le Blanc's source, a modified version of Ludovicus decus regnantium preserved in a Parisian breviary copied in the late fifteenth century (after 1479), BnF, lat. 746A, fols. 351r–54r, at 352v. In this office, the fourth lection begins with the same phrase as the fifth lection of Ludovicus decus regnantium, but the remainder is different: “Dilationem uero fidei ardenti desiderio cupiebat. Unde tanquam verus zelator fidei crucem de manu episcopi parisiensis accipiens tres fratres suos commilitiones ac maiores regni barones secum ducens cum maximo exercitu egyptum applicans famosam illam ciuitatem que damieta dicitur. occupauit ui armorum. ubi tamen multa in se & suis perpessus deinde a sarracenis carceri mancipatus modico tandem [sic] precio et quasi miraculose liberatus. Audita uero morte regine matris sue nauigio in francia rediens. nauis bina impulsione ad rupem tam fortiter est collisa que a nautis protinus peritura crederetur. Tanta igitur concussione perterriti sacerdotes et clerici inuenerunt sanctum regem orantem coram sacro corpore ihesu christi Fuitque firma eorum fides quod eius meritis et precibus sicuti euenit a mortis periculo liberarentur”; the emphasis is ours. On the breviary, see Victor Leroquais, Les bréviaires manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, 5 vols. and atlas (Paris and Mâcon, 1934) 2: 425–26, and note that in this breviary the office for the translation of Louis's head, Exultemus omnes, contains an unusual third lection (BnF, lat. 746A, fols. 296r–79v, at 296v), discussed by Brown, Elizabeth A. R., in “Philippe le Bel and the Remains of Saint Louis,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6th ser, 122nd year, 95 (1980): 175–82, at 176 and 181, n. 21, reprinted in eadem, Monarchy, no. III. The fourth lection of Louis's office in BnF, lat. 764A, appears as the seventh lection in the office Ludovicus decus regnantium included in BnF, lat. 1291, fols. 386r–89v at 388r–v, a Parisian breviary of 1482, on which see Leroquais, , Bréviaires 3: 136–37. We are grateful to Cecilia Gaposchkin for this reference.Google Scholar

77 See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 42, n. 37.Google Scholar

78 The list of data in registers Noster and Pater of the Chambre des comptes includes the sums spent on Louis's first crusade but not his second. The list distinguishes among daily expenses and those for guerra and ransom (redemptio), and states that the total cost of the first expedition was 1,537,570 1. 13 s. 5 d.t. See Recueil des historiens 21: 404, and also 515 (a more detailed account, where the total for Louis's first crusade is 1,053,476 1. 17 s. 3 d.t., the expenses for guerre 594,600 1. 4 s. 10 d.t., those for navie 32,026 1. 2 s. 8 d.t., and those for works [œuvres] overseas 95,839 1. 2 s. 6 d.t.).Google Scholar

79 In “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 42, n. 40, and also 42–44, Brown compares the list of establishments in Estienne Le Blanc's Defense with those in Louis Le Blanc's Saincte vie. The Carmelites of Paris do not appear in Estienne's list, perhaps because of an error in copying. They are found in the list in the Saincte vie, which is remarkably similar to the one Louis Le Blanc includes in his Defense. See BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 69v–71v.Google Scholar

80 The entry for Le Lys near Melun states that Saint Louis had the house founded by his mother, although the next entry, for Maubuisson, does not mention the fact that she also established that abbey (in 1241, three years before she founded Le Lys): BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 5r. Cf. the list in the Saincte vie (BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 71r), where Blanche is credited with founding both houses, as she is in the list in Estienne Le Blanc's Probacion (Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 43). Estienne's Gestes of Blanche of Castile refers to her foundation of Maubuisson in describing her burial there (BnF, fr. 5715, fol. 19r), but does not mention Le Lys.Google Scholar

81 See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 45–46, esp. nn. 53–54.Google Scholar

82 Le Blanc said he had inspected the ordonnances in the Chambre des monnaies, but he might well have seen those issued by Louis IX in 1229 and 1265 in registers of the Chambre des comptes: Essai de restitution , 53, no. 258 (Noster); 54, no. 267 (Noster² ); 107–8, nos. 609–10 (Mémorial A). On the Halles des lingères, see Martineau, Jean, Les halles de Paris des origines à 1789. Évolution matérielle, juridique et économique (Paris, 1960), 26, 41, 155, 158, 163; Gilles Corrozet attributed its origins to Saint Louis, in Antiqvitez (1550), fol. 86v. On the Grosse Tour of Bourges, which Philip Augustus built ca. 1188–90, see du Raynal, Louis-Hector Chaudru, Histoire du Berry depuis les temps les plus anciens jusqu'en 1789, 4 vols. (Bourges, 1844–47) 2: 5–8; 3: 140–41, 162–63, 214–15; 4: 347.Google Scholar

83 In BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 7r–v, this figure is given as “plus de deux millions deux cens mille Liures,” but this must be a copyist's error. Cf. Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v (“xij^c M L. t.”), and BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r (“xij^c. M. l.”). This figure accords with the total of 1,228,751 l.t. given in a summary of expenses for the Aragonese expedition, ed. in Recueil des historiens 21: 515–17, at 516. See Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 47, n. 56.Google Scholar

84 On the Palais, see Brown, Elizabeth A. R., “Persona et Gesta: The Image and Deeds of the Thirteenth-Century Capetians. 3. The Case of Philip the Fair,” Viator 19 (1988): 219–46, at 223–24, 232–33, repr. in eadem, Monarchy, no. V; and see also Bennert, Uwe, “Art et propagande politique sous Philippe IV le Bel: le cycle des rois de France dans la Grand'salle du Palais de la Cité,” Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 97 (1992): 46–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

85 On Poissy and the Collège de Navarre, see Brown, , “Persona,” 224–25; and eadem, “The Prince Is Father of the King: The Character and Childhood of Philip IV of France,” Mediaeval Studies 49 (1987): 282–334, at 304–6, 310; repr. in eadem, Monarchy, no. II. For Philip's foundation of Moncel, see de Sainte-Marthe, Denis, Hauréau, Jean-Barthélemy et al., Gallia Christiana …, 16 vols. (Paris, 1739–1877) 9: 852–53; 10 (Instrumenta): 269–73.Google Scholar

86 BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 8r, reads “fiennes,” and the Corrozet guidebooks “Fumes,” doubtless because the site was unfamiliar: see Corrozet, , Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 102v; idem, Antiqvitez (1586), fol. 104v; Bonfons, , Fastes (1605), fol. 167v; Bonfons, , Antiqvitez (1608), fol. 282r. Note, however, “furnes,” correctly spelled, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v.Google Scholar

87 For the battle of Furnes of 1297, where Le Blanc says the Flemings lost 500 mounted men and 17,000 footsoldiers (in Auxerre, MS 126 [113], fol. 68v [“xvj^M hommes de pied”], and in the Corrozet guidebooks, 16,000 foot), see ch. XXII of the account of Philip the Fair's reign, in Les Grandes Chroniques de France , ed. Viard, Jules, 10 vols., Publications de la Société de l'histoire de France, 395, 401, 404, 415, 418, 423, 429, 435, 438, 457 (Paris, 1920–53) 8: 174–78 at 175 (“Coment Robert conte d'Artois se combati à Furnes contre les Flamans,” giving as the number of Flemings who fought and whom Robert of Artois' men killed “VI^c a cheval et XVI^m à pié”); see also Les Grandes Chroniques de France, selon que elles sont conservées en l'église de Saint-Denis en France , ed. Paulin, Paris, 6 vols. (Paris, 1836–38) 5: 121–23, at 121–22. The copy of the Defense in BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 8r, says that at Saint-Omer in 1302, 4000 Flemings were killed, whereas the copy of the Probation in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, and in the Corrozet guidebooks, states that 15,000 died, and adds that in 1303 “[D]euant ledict sainct omer” 4000 Flemings were killed. It seems clear that the scribe of BnF, fr. 25012, conflated two entries. For the battle fought at Saint-Omer on jeudi absolu in 1302, see ch. XLVII, Grandes Chroniques de France , ed. Viard, , 8: 217–18, at 217, giving “XV^m “ as the number of Flemings killed; in the Paris ed., 5: 148. In ch. XLIX, the chronicler reports that at the battle of Lille, fought on the Thursday after the Octaves of Easter in 1302, “II^c hommes de cheval armés et III^c hommes de pié” were killed or captured: Grandes Chroniques de France , ed. Viard, , 8: 218–20, at 219; in the Paris ed., 5: 149–51, at 150. Le Blanc says that 36,000 Flemings died at the battle of Mons-en-Pevèle, which was fought in 1304 (correctly dated in Auxerre, MS 126 [113], fol. 68v, but rendered as “M. iij^c. iiij^xx.” [1380] in BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 8v, and as “1380” or “mil trois cens quatre vingts” in the Corrozet guidebooks). The figure 36,000 appears in ch. LVII of the account of Philip the Fair's reign in the Grandes Chroniques de France , ed. Viard, , 8: 239–43 at 242 (“nobles chevaliers, et autres pluseurs grans Flamens; et autre menu peuple grant multitude, a par I pou jusques à XXXVI^m furent des Flamens occis”) (noting, ibid., n. 2, that BnF, fr. 17270, fol. 350v, contains the remark, “Mais vous meismes mentez par la gueule”); see also the Paris ed., 5: 164–67, at 167.Google Scholar

88 BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 8v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r.Google Scholar

89 The Flemings were obligated to pay 400,000 l.t. by the treaty of Athis-sur-Orge, concluded in June 1305, and this was just part of the reparations the treaty imposed. In 1312 the count agreed to pay an additional 200,000 l.t. to replace an annuity of 20,000 l.t. stipulated in the agreement. On the treaty and its consequences, see Strayer, Joseph R., The Reign of Philip the Fair (Princeton, 1980), 336–37, 342, and for fuller details, Funck-Brentano, Frantz, Les origines de la guerre de Cent Ans: Philippe le Bel en Flandre (Paris, 1897), 480–506, 545–59, 632–33. For negotiations between the French and Flemings after 1305 concerning reparations, and the painful process of payment, see de Limburg-Stirum, Thierry-Marie-Joseph, ed., Codex Diplomaticus Flandriae inde ab anno 1296 ad usque 1327, ou Recueil de documents relatifs aux guerres et dissensions suscitées par Philippe-le-Bel, roi de France, contre Gui de Dampierre, comte de Flandre, 2 vols. (Bruges, 1879–89) 2: 11–12, no. 196 (1307); 123–24, no. 246 (1308); 131–32, no. 249 (1309); 133–38, no. 250 (1309); 158, no. 263 (ca. 1309); 161–62, no. 265 (1310); 186–87, no. 275 (1311); 189, no. 277 (1309, money to be paid in lieu of pilgrimages undertaken in the treaty); 199–204, nos. 280–83 (1309–11). On Philip the Fair and the treaty, see Brown, “Prince Is Father,” 294–95. We have not been able to find Le Blanc's source for the figure(s) he gives, although the records of the Flemish wars in the Chambre des comptes doubtless included information regarding reparations. See Inventaire d'anciens comptes royaux dressés par Robert Mignon sous le règne de Philippe de Valois , ed. Langlois, Charles-Victor (Paris, 1899), 248–49, nos. 1979–83; and for accounts for war in Flanders, 325–36, nos. 2538–2605.Google Scholar

90 See Henneman, John Bell, Royal Taxation in Fourteenth-Century France: The Captivity and Ransom of John II, 1356–1370 , Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 116 (Philadelphia, 1976), esp. 85–86, 108; and Brown, , “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 40–41, esp. n. 34.Google Scholar

91 See n. 31 above.Google Scholar

92 Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 1r–59r, where the title is the same as that found in BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 1r, cited above, in n. 31. On the manuscript and its contents, see above, preceding and following n. 18.Google Scholar

93 “Quant vint vers le vespre: Le Roy demanda son liure pour dire ses vespres. Sicomme Il auoit de coustume. Mais Il ne trouua nul / qui luy peust bailler. Car Il estoit perdu auec les harnois / et plusieurs aultres choses estans en ses coffres aussy / Et sicomme Il y pensoit / dolent / triste / et courrouce / Le liure fut apporte deuant luy: dont ceulx qui entour luy estoient sesmerueillerent moult. Car on ne sceut dont Il vint./ Noseigneur [sic] ne voulut pas perdre son seruice ordinaire du bon Roy: son loyal seruiteur”: BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 38r–v (and fols. 35v–46r, for the king's captivity); Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 19r–v. See Crist, L. S., “The Breviary of Saint Louis: The Development of a Legendary Miracle,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 28 (1965): 319–23; Brown, , “Prince Is Father,” 325. Elizabeth Brown intends to discuss the references to the recovery of the breviary in Saint Louis's offices, in a study of the office of Saint Louis contained in New York, New York Public Library, Spencer 36, an early-fourteenth-century book of Hours.Google Scholar

94 “Payement de la Rencon de monsieur sainct Loys Et de tout son barnaige Sans aulcun grief./ Le bon Roy Sainct Loys / enuoya en france monsieur Charles Conte danIou son frere. pour faire la diligence du payement de ladicte rencon Lequel sadressa premierement a labbe de sainct denis en france. Pource que cest la plus noble et digne abbaye du Royaulme. et a laquelle les Roys ont fait et donne largement de leurs biens temporelz. Et le Requist de ayder au payement dicelle Rencon. En baillant le crucifix dor qui auoit este donne a son eglise par aulcun des anciens Roys de france pour conuertir oudict payement. Ce que ledict Abbe / non Ingrat des grans biens et largesses Royales / fist voluntiers. Et tantost fut prins ledict crucifix / et apporte a paris Et luy fut oste Lun des bras par le maistre monnoyeur qui le forgea en bezans dor Et par la grace de dieu Il foisonna tant / que toute la Rencon en fut payee et acquittee. Et si en demoura si largement que le maistre monnoyeur en fut paye de sa peine. Et le Residu monta Cinq cens liures dont lon fist Refaire vng aultre bras audict crucifix. Et puis furent enuoyez lesdictz bezans dor / a damyette pour tout le payement de ladicte Rencon / Sans aultre trauail de son peuple / qui en ensuyuant le texte du seruice diuin dudict sainct Loys / que nostre mere saincte eglise chante. Qui est tel. Deinde a sarracenis carceri mancipatus / modico tandem [sic] precio / et quasi miraculose liberatus est. Le pris de ladicte Rencon fut bien petit pour le prince et pour toute sa noble cheualerie qui estoit auec luy. Car quant le souldan partit du chastel du far pour venir sur lost des chrestiens Il auoit auec luy bien iiijc^M. sarrazins Comme dessus est dict. Qui est nombre excessif. Et monsieur sainct Loys nen auoit pas tant mene / quant Il partit de france. Et leust le souldan mys a plus hault pris sil eust voulu / ou faire mourir a sa volunte. et toute ladicte cheualerie. Se nostre seigneur qui gouuerne les cueurs et affections des creatures ny eust mys la main. Ce quil fist. Car cestoit pour son oeuure que ledict sainct Loys auoit entreprins le voyaige”: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 44r–46r; in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 22v–23v. Beaune identifies the crucifix as the gold cross that Philip Augustus gave to the abbey in 1205: Naissance , 143–44, and 373, n. 107 (trans., 107–8, and 369, n. 99).Google Scholar

95 See n. 76 above, on the Parisian breviary, BnF, lat. 746A, which contains this phrase in the fourth lection. In describing Louis's virtues, the Saincte vie cites another incident featured in Louis's office, this one in the second lection of Ludouicus decus regnantium. Louis, the Life says, “defendoit a ses enfans porter chapeaulx de Roses ou daultres fleurs au vendredj en remembrance de la saincte couronne despines dont Iesuchrist fut couronne le Iour de la saincte passion”: BnF, fr. 5721, fol. 67r–v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 36r. Cf. the office, “Serta quoque de rosis seu alios capellos eos portare sextis feriis prohibebat propter coronam spineam tali die impositam capiti saluatoris,” in BnF, lat. 911, fol. 8v, which also appears in the Parisian breviary whose version of the office Le Blanc favored, lat. 746A, fol. 352r (the second lection).Google Scholar

96 “Precieuse chose est / et digne dauoir en Remembrance le trespassement de tel prince Cest assauoir a ceulx du Royaulme de france Car mainte bonne coustume Il y establit. dont la pluspart ne sont pas en vsaige / et non seulement pour ceulx de son royaulme. mais pour les marchans forains. Ausquelz Il faisoit faire bonne Iustice de leurs marchandises et affaires. Et a cause de ce les marchans commencerent a y venir de toutes pars Parquoy le Royaulme fut en meilleur estat / quil nauoit este ou temps de ses deuanciers. Qui est contre ceulx qui follement et Ignarement dyent par ouyr dire des simples gens mechaniques non lettrez / qui le tiennent par dict de vieilles. que ledict sainct loys destruisit et apouurit son Royaulme. pour le payement de sa Rencon de prison quil paya pour luy et tous les syens / Ce quil [sic] nest pas vray: Car le crucifix la paya ainsy que cy dessus est escript”: BnF, fr. 5721, fols. 95r–96r; in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 52v–53r.Google Scholar

97 BnF, fr. 25012, fols. 1r (“par ouyr dire”; “autre certitude n'en sauroient donner”), 6v (“par ouyr dire”), 9r (“par ouyr dire”).Google Scholar

98 “qui si ligierement de si grant faict, veulent donner asseurance”; “Aucuns Legiers parlans”: BnF, fr. 25012, fols. 1r, 7r. Google Scholar

99 Cf. Beaune's suggestion ( Naissance , 144 [trans., 369, n. 99]) that the story was “inventé à Saint-Denis ou dans la région parisienne à propos de l'une des reliques, qu'on montrait aux visiteurs des tombeaux royaux.” Google Scholar

100 BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 8r; cf. Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, where Le Blanc added “de la faculte de theologie,” to “grands personnaiges.” Google Scholar

101 See above, n. 48, for the fact that Louis Le Blanc's granddaughter Marguerite was a nun at the Filles-Dieu. In 1553, the family was making annual payments to the Filles-Dieu because of Marguerite's presence there. See Campardon, and Tuetey, , eds., Inventaire des registres des insinuations , 585, no. 4571 (2 March 1553).Google Scholar

102 Corrozet, , Antiqvitez (1561), fol. 98v; idem, Antiqvitez (1586), fol. 102r; Bonfons, , Fastes (1605), fol. 177v; Bonfons, , Antiqvitez (1608), fol. 145r. See also Brown, , Monarchy, xii–xiii, and eadem, “Persona,” 224–25.Google Scholar

103 Le Blanc edited the conclusion as well, altering his reference to “les deux voiages quil feist pour le Recouurement de la terre Saincte” (BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 9r) to “le sainct voyaige quil feist” (Auxerre, MS 126 [113], fol. 69v).Google Scholar

104 In the body of his text, Le Blanc retained his assertion that Louis had imposed no “tallages, aids, or subsidies,” and his declaration that Louis's sixth successor had instituted gabelles: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 64v–65r, 67v.Google Scholar

105 See n. 30 above, and BnF, fr. 5869, fols. 18v–27r (“Voyaiges faiz oultremer par les treschrestiens Roys de france”), esp., for Charles VI, fols. 25r–27r, describing episodes related by Pintoin, Michel, in Chronique du Religieux de Saint-Denys, contenant le règne de Charles VI, de 1380 à 1422 , ed. Bellaguet, Louis-François, 6 vols., Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France, publiés par les soins du Ministre de l'Instruction publique, 1st ser., Histoire politique (Paris, 1852) 1: 648–70, esp. 652–54 (bk. XI [1390], ch. II); 2: 386–90 (bk. XVI [1395], ch. XVII), although cf. as well, 2: 112, 122–23 (bk. XIV [1393], chs. I, XVIII) and 2: 690–92 (bk. XX [1399], ch. III); 2: 424–30 (bk. XVII [1396], ch. III), esp. 428; 2: 588–62 (bk. XVIII [1397], ch. VIII), esp. 562.Google Scholar

106 BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 4v, and see above, n. 78, and the accompanying text.Google Scholar

107 The omission of Maubuisson from the list in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v, is a copyist's error, since the house appears in the list in the Corrozet guidebooks, showing that it in fact appeared in the texts at the Collège de Navarre and the Filles-Dieu. The only other error of any importance we have found is the scribe's reading of “tout” (for “tant”), in the phrase “Se le Royaume ot este tant appoury”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r; cf. Corrozet's guidebooks, and BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v.Google Scholar

108 Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v.Google Scholar

109 “par les anciens escriptz du tresor des chartres du Roy de sa chambre des comptes et des anciennes histoires de france”; “du tresor des Chartres du Roy de sa chambre Des comptes et des histoires de france”: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r.Google Scholar

110 Note Estienne's substitution of “oster” for the more exotic “egratigner” at the end of the work, in the phrase “ceulx qui veullent egratigner la bonne et saincte Renommee monseigneur sainct loys,” to which Estienne also added “de” preceding “monseigneur.” See BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v. Note too Estienne's designation of the house of Sainte-Catherine du Val des Écoliers as “a paris”: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r. He or his copyist omitted the “couuent des carmes a Paris,” included later in the same list of religious establishments: Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r. Google Scholar

111 Estienne substituted “crucifie” for “couronne” in describing the crown of thorns: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 23r; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 62v. Adding “le gouuernement du” to “Royaume de Iherusalem” seems redundant: BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24v; Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v. Google Scholar

112 Note, in both Auxerre, MS 126 (113), and BnF, fr. 5719, “gaudeffroy de buillon,” “Reuerance” (as well as “Reuerence”), “Raencon,” “compiengne,” “blayaud” (“fontaine blayaud” in Auxerre, MS 126 [113], fol. 65v; “fontaynes blayaud” in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27r), and “federich.” Google Scholar

113 BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 9r–v (“Pour les briefues causes & Raisons cy dessus escriptes, Qui ne sont parolles par ouyr dire, Mais bien & deuement prouuees par les anciens escriptz du Tresor des chartres du Roy & de sa chambre des Comptes Qui passent lentendement desdictz mesdisans Esquelz Escriptz toute foy doibt estre adIoustee … Tesmoigne les choses dessusdictes estre vrayes, Et auoir par moy esté extraictes des registres & Lettres antiques dudict Tresor et chambre des Comptes”); Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fols. 69v–70r (“pour les briefues causes et Raisons cy dessus escriptes qui ne sont pas parolles par oyr dire mais bien et deuement prouuees par les anciens escriptz du tresor des chartres du Roy de sa chambre des comptes et des anciennes histoires de france quj passent lentendement desdictz mesdisans Esquelz escriptz toute foy doibt estre adioustee … a este extraict du tresor des Chartres du Roy de sa chambre Des comptes et des histoires de france”). Google Scholar

114 BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r–v; in Brown, “Sixteenth-Century Defense,” 45, 46. For Estienne's service as treasurer of the Louvre, see Henry II's letter of ennoblement, issued in March 1552, for which see nn. 26 and 38 above. Google Scholar

115 “Pour les briefues causes et raisons cy dessus escriptes. qui ne sont pas parolles par oyr dire mais bien et deuement prouuees par anciens escriptz qui passent lentendement desdis mesdisans esquelz escriptz toute foy doit estre adioustee”: BnF, fr. 5719, fols. 29v–30r. Google Scholar

116 This title appears only in BnF, fr. 25012. In Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 62r, the text is preceded by the rubric, [S]ensuyt la copie de ce qui est escript en vng tableau fort magnificque estant en la nef de la chappelle du Colleige Real de Champaigne dict de Nauarre fonde en Luniuersite de paris, which is followed by the heading [S]ainct Loys Roy de France, and the title, [P]robation que monseigneur sainct loys ne destruisit point le Royaume pour le sainct voyaige quil feist oultre mer. In BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 23r, the same title found in the Auxerre MS is preceded by the address to Louise of Savoy (fol. 22v) that is quoted in n. 1 above; for the title, see n. 2 above. Google Scholar

117 1 Macc. 3:19. See n. 68 above. Google Scholar

118 Isa. 40:13. See n. 69 above. Google Scholar

119 Ps. 118 (119):71. See n. 70 above. Google Scholar

120 Sire pour Respondre … cousté a Rachepter, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), which substitutes (fol. 62r–v): [A]ucuns ont voulu dire que le bon Roy de france monseigneur sainct loys ait en son temps apoury et destruict le Royaume pour le veoyaige premier quil feist en la terre saincte pour la tuicion et deffence dicelle Alencontre des Infidelles et sarrazins a cause du payement de la prince et Raencon de sa personne Et de toute la cheualerie de son ost quil paya au souldan Et que ses successeurs Roys prochains Cen apperceurent bien Ce quil na pas faict mais au contraire Il a enrichi le Royaume et augmente du plus grant tresor qui soit sur terre Car il acquit et Racheta la saincte couronne despines dont nostre seigneur Ihesus crist fut couronne en larbre de la croix et plusieurs aultres sainctes Reliques de sa passion quil mist en la saincte chappelle de son palais a paris Laquelle Il fist lors faire et construire pour ceste cause congnoissant que les dessusdictes sainctes Reliques valoient bien auoir lieu et Repositoire tout neuf et sans macule Lequel veaige [sic] il fist comme celuy auquel appartient la deffence de la foy et ne fut pas la destruction de son Royaume Mais la plus grand et digne Richesse quil ot sceu acquerir Car cestoit pour laugmentacion de la foy de son Royaume treschrestien. The prologue in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 23r–v, contains the same text, with the following exceptions: (1) qui soit sur terre: in BnF, fr. 5719, quil soit sur terre; (2) couronne en larbre de la croix: in BnF, fr. 5719, crucifie en larbre de la croix; (3) les dessusdictes sainctes Reliques: in BnF, fr. 5719, lesdictes sainctes Relicques; (4) ne fut pas la destruction de son Royaume: in BnF, fr. 5719, ne fut pas destruction de son Royaume; (5) laugmentacion de la foy de son Royaume treschrestien: in BnF, fr. 5719, laugmentacion de la foy et de son Royaume treschrestien. Google Scholar

121 [D]u sang nostre seigneur, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 62v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 23v. Google Scholar

122 [L]e mantel, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24r. Google Scholar

123 a quoy, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24r. Google Scholar

124 dont, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24r. Google Scholar

125 de, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24v. Google Scholar

126 [M]onseigneur Sainct Loys, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24v. Google Scholar

127 de, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24v. Google Scholar

128 sainct, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 24v. Google Scholar

129 gouuernement du, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v. Google Scholar

130 le, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v. Google Scholar

131 Gaudeffroy, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 63v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

132 y, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r. Google Scholar

133 grant cheualerie du Royaume, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

134 monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

135 les dessusdictz, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

136 Le Roy Charles vj^e y enuoya grant cheualerie de France par troys diuerses foys, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

137 de Monseigneur, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

138 [M]onseigneur, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25r. Google Scholar

139 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

140 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

141 point, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

142 argent, in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

143 monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

144 miraculose, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

145 a dire, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

146 par, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

147 sa main … &: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v, son vouloir. Google Scholar

148 le cueur, in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

149 sur ce pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

150 Roy, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 25v. Google Scholar

151 Et les fraiz … Liures, om in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

152 monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

153 point, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

154 Et … dargent: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r, et depopule dargent. Google Scholar

155 notables, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

156 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 64v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

157 tailles … Subsides: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r, taille ayde ne subside. Google Scholar

158 euures, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

159 Declaration … Loys, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65r; Declaration des eglises fondees par Monseigneur sainct Loys, in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

160 a, in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26r. Google Scholar

161 a paris, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26v. Google Scholar

162 This item is om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 26v. Google Scholar

163 a, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v. Google Scholar

164 quil feist fonder par ladicte Royne blanche sa mere, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27r; item om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v. Google Scholar

165 quil feist fonder, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v. Google Scholar

166 sa seur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27r. Google Scholar

167 fonda, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 65v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27r. Google Scholar

168 a, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

169 autres, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

170 pas, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

171 ne, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

172 Auquel, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

173 tout, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r. Google Scholar

174 on, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

175 de la, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

176 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v. Google Scholar

177 Sur lesdictz Infidelles: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 27v, en la terre saincte. Google Scholar

178 ne luy eust: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66r, ne ot. Google Scholar

179 neust … Relligions: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r, aussi entre le premier voyaige et derrenier quil y fist qui sont quinze ans entre moyens Il not pas construit ne fonde [de ladicte] monnoye de cuir les Religions quil feist; in place of de ladicte, five letters, corrected, beginning with D, are found in the Auxerre MS. Google Scholar

180 plusieurs autres: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r, autres plusieurs. Google Scholar

181 y a: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r, estoit. Google Scholar

182 et, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r. Google Scholar

183 escript, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v. After this, Et cest ce que aulcuns ont voulu dire que Regnant sainct loys fut faicte ladicte monnoye de cuyr, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r. Google Scholar

184 le contraire … feist faire: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r, que ce na este [ledit] Sainct loys qui a faict faire ladicte monnoye de cuyr; ledit is found only in BnF, fr. 5719. Google Scholar

185 doibt estre: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 66v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28r, est. Google Scholar

186 fe' [faire], inserted in BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 6r. Google Scholar

187 Monseigneur, following, added in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

188 Et expressement … histoires de france, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

189 ou chasteau … de bourges: in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v, au Louure a paris. Google Scholar

190 faicte … Loys, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

191 Corrected from Cest, in BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 6v. Google Scholar

192 & concierges … Qui: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67r, concierges et aultres gens dignes de foy desdictz lieux scauoir sil estoit vray Lesquelz; in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v, concierges et autres gens qui. Google Scholar

193 iamais, in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

194 cy dessus recitees, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

195 semblablement voulu dire: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v, dit. Google Scholar

196 monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

197 ce, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 28v. Google Scholar

198 lest [sic], in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v. Google Scholar

199 long temps … mises: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r, furent mises long temps apres son deces. Google Scholar

200 bien, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

201 de ce nom, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

202 Roy Monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

203 le trouua ny: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r, ne le trouua pas. Google Scholar

204 il, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

205 ledict Roy darragon, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

206 tres grande: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r, grant. Google Scholar

207 deux … Liures: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r, xij^c. M. l. t., with l. om. in fr. 5719. Google Scholar

208 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

209 toutesuoyes, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 67v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29r. Google Scholar

210 monseigneur, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

211 on, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

212 Le Roy Philippes le bel: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r, [L]edit Roy Philippes le bel; in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v, Il. Google Scholar

213 monseigneur, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

214 de, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r. The text from Il feist, above, through Quil est Notoire, at n. 243 below, is om. in BnF, fr. 5719. Google Scholar

215 loys, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r. Google Scholar

216 M iiij^c. iiij: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68r, mil ccc iiij. Google Scholar

217 ciecle, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

218 de la faculte de theologie, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

219 dieu luy donna: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, nostre seigneur Ihesucrist luy a donne. Google Scholar

220 furnes, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

221 xvj^M , in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

222 et, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

223 en diuers … charretees: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, en diuers lieux a cheuaulx et a charrettes. Google Scholar

224 Quatre mille flamentz: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, xv^M. flamens. Google Scholar

225 [D]euant ledict sainct omer Lan mil ccc troys quattre mil flamans occis, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

226 Montz M. iij^c.iiij^xx.: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v, mons en peyure Lan mil ccc iiij. Google Scholar

227 ne obtenues, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 68v. Google Scholar

228 a noter Sur ce: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r, sur ce a noter vne chose digne de memoire. Google Scholar

229 les, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

230 Quatre … Liures: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r, xiiij^c M l.t. Google Scholar

231 dor, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

232 sen, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

233 quil, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

234 &, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

235 opulent en: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r, abondant de. Google Scholar

236 tous les Iours: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r, tout le demeurant. Google Scholar

237 Il, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69r. Google Scholar

238 Il, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v. Google Scholar

239 de gens … Il: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, de biens ne de gens et. Google Scholar

240 laissa and meubles are supplied from Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, since the upper righthand corner of BnF, fr. 25012, fol. 9r, is torn. Google Scholar

241 de france Laissa: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, laissast. Google Scholar

242 bien, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v. Google Scholar

243 Il feist Construire & ediffier … Ainsi Quil est Notoire, om. in BnF, fr. 5719 (see n. 214 above). Google Scholar

244 des Emulateurs … louange &: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, de ceulx qui veullent egratigner la; in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v, de ceulx qui veullent oster la. Google Scholar

245 et saincte, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

246 dudict Sainct Loys: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, monseigneur sainct loys; in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v, de monseigneur sainct loys. Google Scholar

247 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

248 Qui … seullement: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v, Lesquelz mesdisans veullent dire. Google Scholar

249 ne, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

250 que monseigneur sainct loys, in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

251 de france, om. in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

252 les deux … Dont: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 69v, le sainct voyaige quil feist Que; in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v, le sainct voyaige doultremer quil y feist. Que. Google Scholar

253 pas, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r, and in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

254 les, om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

255 du Tresor … Comptes: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r, du tresor des chartres du Roy de sa chambre des comptes et des anciennes histoires de france; om. in BnF, fr. 5719, fol. 29v. Google Scholar

256 [E]t audessoubz est escript ce qui sensuyt, following, added in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r. Google Scholar

257 Et Ie Loys … Le Blanc: in Auxerre, MS 126 (113), fol. 70r, [L]e present abrege faict a lhonneur et louenge de monseigneur sainct loys Roy de france a este extraict du tresor des Chartres du Roy de sa chambre Des comptes et des histoires de france Par moy Loys le blanc notaire et secretaire dudict seigneur et greffier en sadicte chambre Des comptes A Paris; om. in BnF, fr. 5719. Google Scholar