Untitled - Monoskop

THE SOVEREIGN COURTS
July) before going to Lyon to await news of his forces in Italy. On learning of
the treason of the Constable, the due de Bourbon, he went to Blois, where he
spent the winter, a severe winter which must have discouraged petitioners
from Paris or Lyon from seeking out the royal chancery there. After a short
visit to Paris in March 1524 to urge on the trial of Bourbon, he returned to
Blois. On 12 July 1524 he left on the expedition to Italy which was to end in
the disastrous battle of Pavia (24 February 1525), at which he was defeated
and taken prisoner. His mother Louise of Savoy was Regent and set up her
headquarters at the monastery of Saint-Just close to Lyon. The chancellor
Duprat with the Great Seal, members of the Council, and senior secretaries of
state were with her. Here they received news of the battle of Pavia and here
they waited for the latest news in the negotiations for the king's release. And
here the chancery gave three book-privileges, two to Lyon publishers and one
to a Paris author, while far away in Rennes the chancery of the duchy of
Brittany issued to its huissier a privilege in the king's name for the style, recently
authorised by the Regent, to be used in the Breton courts (CH 1525, 3). 1
On the king's return from imprisonment in Spain, the news that he had set
foot on French soil was sent from Bayonne by Jean de Selve on Sunday 18
March and was received in Paris late on Wednesday 2 1 March. 2 Such was the
speed which could be achieved by experienced official messengers with fresh
horses held ready at every stage of the journey, regardless of expense.
Conditions for the ordinary traveller were very different. And the familiar
difficulties reasserted themselves for privilege-seekers, as the king took his
time about coming back to his capital, and soon left it again. Galliot Du Pre or
his representative in July found the chancery at Amboise (CH 1526, i) and
Geofroy Tory in September at Chenonceaux (CH 1526, 2).
In contrast to the vagaries of the royal chancery, the lawcourts functioned
predictably and regularly, if not always expeditiously, and had a permanent
home. The Parlement of Paris, for instance, occupied buildings of the palais,
on the He de la Cite, in the heart of Paris.
THE SOVEREIGN COURTS
Parlement: origins of Parlement privilege-giving
From 1507 to 1526 inclusive, at least 112 privileges for printed books were
issued on the authority of the sovereign courts. The Parlement of Paris
contributed 102 of these. The remainder was made up by the Parlement of
Toulouse (7), the Parlement of Rouen (2), the Gourdes Aides in Paris (i) and
the Grands Jours of the duchy of Berry (i). The Parlement of Paris
occasionally granted privileges covering two or more books: thus the total
1 See
below, p. 92.
'
2
Captivite du roi Francois ler, ed. A. Champollion-Figeac (1847), pp. 518-19, 522-3.
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