Laws of Provence during the French High Renaissance

[France, Provence. Law. 1539]

[FRENCH LAW, PROVENCE 1539]. Ordonnances du treschrestien [i.e. tres chrestien] Roy de france Francoys premier de ce nom, reduictes par tiltres et articles et ordre selon les matieres ordonnees estre gardees et observees en ces pays de Provence, Forcalquier et terres adjacentes

Avignon (and Lyon): Jehan de Channey (and reissued in Lyon by Thibaud Payen), 1540. Small 4to. Collation: A-T6 (lacking two leaves at end, including colophon on T6v). Foliation: cv, [7] (of 9) ff. Woodcut title-border and initials throughout (see below). Bound in modern (Italian?) full vellum, title in calligraphic manuscript on spine in red and black, marbled endpapers, edges (at one time) stained red. Title-page with two small worm tracks in lower blank margin, diminishing through first two gatherings; verso of title with contemporary MS title and early ownership inscription (abrasions suggest the removal of something that had been pasted down at one time); upper and outer margins closely cropped, with frequent loss of headlines and shoulder notes; foxing and blemishes throughout; fol. K6 with large tear. A washed copy, and strongly (and inexplicably) pungent. Preserved in a marbled slipcase tipped with citron morocco. With stated faults, and priced accordingly. Good. Item #3843

VERY EARLY FRENCH PROVENCAL LAWS AND STATUTES, A RARE AND IMPORTANT EDITION, BEAUTIFULLY PRINTED IN AN ELEGANT BATARDE TYPE, WITH THE TEXT IN HIGH RENAISSANCE FRENCH AND A WOODCUT TITLE BORDER ATTRIBUTED TO GUILLAUME LEROY.

This is a significant collection of royal ordinances and edicts promulgated by Francois I for Provence, more specifically for the town of Forcalquier and adjacent lands. The original sheets were printed in 1536 in the Papal city of Avignon by Jehan de Channey with a privilege; the work was then reissued with a new title-page in 1540, either in Lyon by Thibaud Payen (ut Bechtel) or by Channey's son Bernard (ut Betz). "Perhaps the priviledge might have been usurped or contested, because the true first edition of the Ordonnances was printed in Lyon by Denys de Harsy in 1536, with a privilege of three years [...] Thus the edition of Channey could well be only a counterfeit favored by the political position of Avignon, a dependence of the Papal States" (M. Rouard in the 1860 Bulletin du bibliophile, p. 1404, "Note sur les editions de la 'Meygra Entrepriza' d'Antoine Arena").

Francois I ordered to be printed this collection of Provencal laws which sought to consolidate his authority as king of Provence (which was subject to the incursions of Emperor Charles V), and to bring regional justice closer to "common" (i.e. Parisian) forms. The collection shows that the king wished to appease Provencal legal custom by not modifying the existing Privileges or administrative frameworks; nonetheless, the entire Provencal legal system was effectively brought under his control.

Every aspect of the Provence law is addressed; of particular interest:

-- The ordinance of Is-sur-Tille, an edict intended to curb the abuses of Provencal magistrates by forbidding them, among other things, to use Latin during trials (i.e. Villers-Cotterets ordinance).
-- The edict of Joinville – 5 September 1535 which carries out a reform of justice and administration by strengthening the powers of parliament.
-- Ordinance on the of the Navy -- January 17, 1517 -- one of the first of its kind.
-- Ordinance of Dijon 23 November 1535.
-- Ordinance on wheat –
-- Ordinance of King Rene of September 4, 1438 against imperial and apostolic notaries
-- Ordinance of King Rene, prohibiting imperial and apostolic notaries if they were not invested with the royal investiture.
-- Ordinances of Louis XII (1501 and 1502), an edict establishing the Parliament of Aix.
-- Ordinance on the Gendarmerie – Bordeaux, July 15, 1530.
-- Ordinance of Saint Germain -- July 24, 1534.
-- Edict establishing the 7 legions of "Gendarmerie" (or footsoldiers), an ordinance on tolls and repair of highways – Fontaine, September 1535.
-- Edict on "reforming the justice [system]" of Marsailles (dated in manuscript "1535").
-- Table of Ordonnances of Provence (our copy lacks the final two leaves of the Table).

Provence was not annexed to France until 1486, but even then was preserved as a separate administrated organization. Francois I strengthened royal authority through a series of reforms to control and optimize the management of the state and its territory. It was for these purposes that he had the Villers-Cotterets ordinance drawn up in 1539, certainly the best known and most enduring of his reign. He instituted French as the exclusive official language of the administration, and initiated its civil status. The Montpellier Ordinance issued in 1537 gave rise to the legal deposit of printed publications from the Kingdom.

The colophon on T6v, which is not present in our copy, reads: "Ces presentes ordonnances ont este imprimees en Avignon par Jehan de Channey, l'an de grace 1536, au moys Daoust." Other copies of the 1540 reissue have additional works bound with it, e.g. the Berkeley Law Library copy which collates A-T6, V4 + 2A-D4 E2. These added works are considered discrete bibliographical units.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES: Judging from the title-page transcription in HOLLIS, our Jehan de Channey edition must have a different title-page than that of Harvard Law Library; their transcription begins: "Ordonnances du tresch[r]estien roy de frãce Francoys p[r]emier" [etc.]. The cataloguer informs us that the 1540 edition is "the same as the 1536 Avignon edition except for a new t.p. and leaves 6,9,14,27,50. The son of the original printer reissued this; cf. Panzier."

Whereas our copy lacks two leaves and has faults as stated, we note with interest that the Friedlaender copy of the Denis de Harsy 1536 edition, bound with two other works, sold in 2001 at Christie's for $11,162; a similar Sammelband was offered (and sold) by Messrs Sokol for EUR 11,315.

Baudrier vol. IX, p. 303. Bechtel O-220. Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des Actes de Francois Ier" Vol. 9, p. 374. Repertoire bibliographique des livres imprimes en France au seizieme siecle, I, Avignon, pp. 244-246, no. 50. Fairfax Murray / Davies, French 411. USTC 22905.

CENSUS: Bibl. Mejanes, Aix-en-Provence; Bibl. municipale Livree Ceccano, Avignon; Bibl. municipales Grenoble; Bibl. municipale Lyon; Univ. de Paris Bibl. Cujas; Arsenal; BnF; Berkeley Law; Harvard Law; Iowa University; UPenn; GWU.

Further literature cited by Odysee Bibliotheque patrimoniale (Aix / Marsaille Universite): Isambert, Decrussy and Armet, Recueil general des anciennes lois francaises depuis l’an 420, jusqu’a la revolution de 1789 (1827), tome 9 (p. 422-432 et p. 437) and tome 12 (p. 137-148; p. 346-349; p. 355-356; p. 390-400; p. 414-491). Roger Aubenas, Etude sur le notariat provencal au Moyen-age et sous l’Ancien Regime, Aix, 1931. Sylvain Soleil, "L'ordonnance de Villers-Cotterets, cadre juridique de la politique linguistique des rois de France?" in: Langue(s) et Constitution(s), Economica, PUAM, 2004, p. 19-34.

Price: $2,000.00