Traicte des Droicts Honorifiques des Seigneurs es Eglises
Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1615.
First edition of this important French legal treatise. Octavo in duodecimo format, laid paper, a4 A-Q8 R4. [viii], 263, [1] pp. with errata page at rear and the following pagination errors: p. 116 misnumbered as 114, p. 121 misnumbered as 122. Bound in contemporary limp vellum with leather ties, title in ink to spine. Near Fine with light wear and staining to covers, ties broken short, vellum stiffened and yellowed with age. Trivial foxing to margins throughout, small round stain to outer margin of pp. 113/114; contents overall clean and binding tight. Rare, with just one OCLC listing at the Bibliotheque Nationale.
Mathias Mareschal, Lord of Saudricourt and Patron of the Church of Saint-Lambert in Vaugirard, was the Duke of Orleans' lawyer in Parliament. His defense of the rights of lords over churches on their lands was naturally in the Duke's interest and was dedicated to the Duchess of Orleans, Marie de Bourbon. Mareschal set out to prove that her indisputable rights had been unjustly challenged by her vassals, leading to “great inconveniences, losses, scandals, and public harm.” This document, intended to make the vassals' obligations clear to them, is one of the most important legal treatises of its time and was issued in numerous editions over the next 200 years.
Price: $1,250