Untitled - Monoskop

DATING AND DURATION OF PRIVILEGES
bearing the expenses of having such things printed, it was natural to apply to a
lower court; the appeal of them to the public might have waned before an
application had been considered by the Parlement (let alone the royal
chancery), whereas almost immediate action might be hoped for from the
Prevot.
Privileges for one full year are also much more numerous among those
granted by the Prevot than in those by the royal chancery or by the Parlement.
Some were given for literary works apparently judged too slight to warrant a
longer term, such as Gringore's Lesfolles entreprises (PR 1505, i) and Les Abuz
du Monde (PR 1 509, 6) , or Le Cymetiere des Malheureux by Desmoulins (PR 1511,
2). Likewise one year was granted by the Lieutenant General of the Bailli of
Rouen to Pierre Fabri's Le defensore de la concepcion de la glorieuse vierge Marie
(PR 1514, 5). Others represented a reduction in the term requested by an
applicant: for instance, three years were asked for in at least two instances
(PR 1517, 7 and PR 1522, i) when only one year was allowed. The very few
one-year privileges granted by the royal chancery or by the Parlement
concern publications of mainly topical interest. The two earliest Parlement
privileges were for one year only and relate to current events (PA 1507,
PA 1508, i). Thereafter up to 1527 the one known single-year grant by the
Parlement of Paris was for a papal Bull (PA 1520, i). The only known
i and
one-year grants issued by the royal chancery, both to Galliot Du Pre, were for
an account by Montjoie, King of Arms, of the tournament held in Paris to
celebrate the state entry into Paris of Mary Tudor as queen of France
(CH 1514, 5), and for an anonymous pamphlet by a royal apologist denounc-
ing the treaty of Madrid (CH 1526, i).
Even at the prevote of Paris, a tendency can be observed from about 1520
onwards to give somewhat longer privileges. After that date I have found no
privilege given by the Prevot for less than a year, and only one for one year. If
he kept in line with the practice of the Parlement, he was more generous in the
issue of three-year privileges: he gave nine three-year grants in 1520 where the
Parlement appears only to have given nine in the course of the whole period.
In 1521 the Prevot even began to give privileges for four years, a concession
hitherto given only by the royal chancery. He had, however, given no more
than four of these by 1526, and then for substantial books (PR 1521, 2; 1521,
4; 1524, 2; 1525, i). And on two occasions about this time he granted only
three years where four had been requested (PR 1521, 4 and PR 1523, 5).
Moreover, he granted three years on the only occasion before 1526 when the
choice of the term of years was left entirely to him and was not specified in the
application (PR 1523, 3), the occasion being a Greek-Latin dictionary.
From 1517 onwards, books printed 'Cum priuilegio', without stating which
authority had issued the privilege, sometimes provide
information on the
duration of it. There are twenty-six such books. Ten advertise a privilege for
two years, and sixteen for three years.
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