Untitled - Monoskop

THE PARLEMENT OF PARIS
they reported favourably on it. The Faculty, having seen Chevallon's requete
and the Parlement's reply, and also received the report of Beda and De
Quercu, then formally gave its consent to the book being printed and put on
sale, adding the commendation that it was useful to scholars and preachers in
the church ('tanquam utilem ecclesie studiosis et predicatoribus et predicare
volentibus'). The procedure was however soon preferred of obtaining the visa
first, and presenting it to the Parlement when applying for the privilege.
Thereafter it is fairly common for the Parlement to record that it had seen a
certificate from the Faculty of Theology before granting a privilege for a book
on a religious subject, as in the formula 'Veu par la court ledict livre, la
certification de la faculte de theologie, et tout considere' (PA 1524, 14). The
court accepted an application from Galliot Du Pre for a French version of the
Catalogus sanctorum of Petrus Natalibus 'visite et corrige par ung maistre
docteur en Theologie' (PA 1524, 5) but normally the court expected a formal
certificate, even when the author was himself a member of the Faculty of
Theology (PA 1 524, 1 4) or a member of the much-respected
Carthusian order
(PA 1525, 5). The Parlement did not, however, automatically grant a
privilege on being shown a favourable report from the Faculty. Thus it
considered a report from one of its own number, a conseiller, as well as the
certificate from the Faculty of Theology, in the case of a 'Propositio contra
Lutherum et sequaces eius' (PA 1524, 12). And before granting a privilege for
the Propugnaculum ecclesiae adversus lutheranos of Josse Clichtoue, himself a
member of the Faculty, the court examined the book itself, and consulted the
procureur general, as well as seeing the report of the Faculty ('Veu par la Court
ladicte requeste, la conclusion de la faculte de theologie prinse sur ledict
volume, icelluy examine, et ouy sur ce le procureur general du Roy, et tout
considere', PA 1525, 8). Even when relieved of the obligation to use its own
discretion about summoning expert theological advice, it remained vigilant
about safeguarding the interests of the Crown and watchful too for anything
with political implications.
The certificate from the Faculty of Theology sometimes recorded positive
approval and not merely a declaration of orthodoxy, anticipating in some
measure the practice of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the
censor's visa might embody a full testimonial to the quality and interest of the
work. Occasionally the Parlement, in recording the grant of a privilege, took
note of these expressions of approval. Thus in the case of the Sermons of
Robert Messier, the court had before it the certificate of the Faculty 'par
laquelle elle certifie avoir visite certain opuscule de sermons du temps de
quaresme compile par ledict Robert Messier suppliant qu'elle a trouve assez
tolerable et utile' (PA 1525, i). And it observed, concerning Clichtoue's
Antilutherus, 'la declaration faicte par la faculte de theologie
de ladicte
universite, que lesdictz livres sont utiles et povoyent estre imprimez et exposez
en vente' (PA 1524, 10).
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