Untitled - Monoskop

THE ROYAL CHANCERY
his capital city. But, by the time applications for book-privileges to the
chancery became frequent, he could usually be found at one of the royal
residences in the Loire valley, particularly at Blois, and on occasion his
business took him to Lyon and other '
major cities. Thus the whereabouts of
his chancery at any particular time could at least be ascertained with some
certainty. Applicants naturally preferred to wait, if they waited at all, until
they could do their business with the chancery on the spot. The king was at
Lyon in August 151 1. No Paris applicants sought him out there. On the other
hand Jacques de Bouys, bookseller of the university of Orleans, found it
convenient to get a privilege there (CH 1511, 3) for his edition of Jacobus de
Belviso, Consuetudines et ususfeudorum, edited by Nicolas Beraldus, since he was
in any case having the book printed in Lyon by Jacques Sacon. And the Lyon
bookseller Jean Robion was presumably delighted to get a privilege on the
spot, without having to pay for a journey to Paris, for Antonius de Petrutia,
Tractatus de viribus iuramenti, which he and Jean de Clause were having printed
by Jean de Vingle (25 August 1511) and published that year
on 1 1 November
(CH 1511, 2). Apart from these, all the Louis XII book-privileges of which
details are known were granted either at Paris or at Blois.
The physical difficulties a privilege-seeker might have to overcome to
attend the royal court and chancery became much more formidable in 1515
after the accession of Francis I, who travelled extensively in his kingdom, not
to mention campaigning abroad. Though these habits made the king familiar
with and to his people in many parts of France, they caused frequent
hardships for men whose business took them or kept them at court, as we
know in particular from the bitter complaints of the corps diplomatique, as
recorded by the Venetian ambassadors. 2 Had these peregrinations followed a
regular pattern, at least in peace-time, authors and publishers would have
had some idea when to expect the chancery in Paris or in Lyon, or wherever it
might be. As it was, though the king spent (according to a reliable calculation)
on average one day in every eleven in Paris during the whole of his reign, 3 the
reality was between long absences and long periods of residence, both equally
unpredictable.
There was always in thepalais, with the Parlement of Paris, a 'chancellerie',
which was permanent, but in the absence of the chancellor and the great seal
it was not able to transact more than routine business, 4 and there is only one
1 F. Maillard, 'Itineraire de Louis XII (1498-1515)', Bulletin philologique et historique de Comite des
Travaux historiques et scientifiques (1979), pp. 171-206.
2 E.g. 'Relation de Marin Giustiniano', in Relations des ambassadeurs venitiens sur les affaires de France,
:i
ed. N. Tommaseo (1838), pp. 96-109.
Houdart, Les chateaux royaux de Saint-Germain, Vol. i, p. 246 (quoted by L. Hautecoeur, Histoire de
I 'architecture classique en France, nouvelle edition, Vol. i, pt. i ,
1 963, p. 228, n. 2) . Cf. the Itineraire
printed in the Catalogue des Actes de Francois i" (Academic des Sciences Morales), Vol. vm,
pp. 412-533.
4 Michaud, La grande chancellerie, p. 331.
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