Commentaires sur la Guerre civile de France: de la surprise de Meaux à la bataille de Saint-Denis (1567), avec un plan d'André Thevet (review)

Covering the events between Charles IX's hasty return to Paris on 29 September 1567, after the surprise appearance of the Huguenots in Meaux, and the Battle of St Denis on 10 November 1567, this hitherto unedited, relatively short text in Latin (with the editors' translation into French alongside) is an interesting document, throwing light on the events themselves, the death of the Connétable, and the author's own prejudices, both religious and social. The work is accompanied by two engravings by André Thevet — the town of Paris and the site of the battle — both of which do not appear elsewhere and here have been joined to make one composite plan. It was dedicated to the Italian Cardinal Vitellozzo Vitelli, who became Bishop of Carcassonne in 1567 but died in Rome in 1568, at the age of thirty-seven, without ever visiting his diocese. The identity of the author of the manuscript is more uncertain and the editors put forward the hypothesis that Étienne Vitelli was a young relation of the Cardinal and may have taught law in one of the Paris colleges – on the other hand, the Latin version of his name could hide an 'Etienne Leveau ou Vittel ou de Vitteaux . . . plutôt que Stefano Vitelli' (p. 12). The dynamic text makes interesting reading as the author is at pains to explain to the dedicatee the background — political, historical, cultural and so on — of the 'eye-witness' events described in his narration. The Bretons are described at length; for example, 'ils ont grande abondance de légumes, de blé, d'herbes [. . .] ils boivent du jus de pomme [. . .] ils se livrent à la piraterie [. . .] ils ne rendent guère de service militaire' (p. 103). The death and the funeral of the Connétable, Anne de Montmorency, are related in detail (pp. 119–23); however, the king was not present for reasons not clear to the author, and he adds that the king 'se rendit cependant dans la maison privée d'un bourgeois et regarda pendant un moment, par la croisée, ce spectacle solennel' (p. 123). The substantial introduction discusses the originality of the text and of the Thevet engravings. Historians will find this edition valuable in that it provides another version of the events and further evidence of contemporary mentality; the literary specialist will appreciate the niceties of the genre.