Les Livres des procurateurs de la nation germanique de l’ancienne Université d’Orléans 1444–1602. Troisième Livre des procurateurs de la nation germanique de l’ancienne Université d’Orléans 1567–1587. Texte des rapports des procurateurs Edited by Cornelia M. Ridderikhoff and Hilde de Ridder-Symoens (review)

The publication of the four volumes of the Livres des Procurateurs de la Nation germanique de l’ancienne Université d’Orléans was decided upon at a meeting of scholars in Orléans in 1964. Although the procurators’ books are extant for the years 1444–1732, the fundamental differences between the registers composed prior to 1602 and those afterward led to the decision to begin with the publication of the registers for the years 1444–1602. Thus the Premier Livre des Procurateurs (1444–1546) appeared in four volumes, the first in 1971 (the text of the register) and its three companion volumes (a biographical register of the students mentioned in the text) in 1978, 1980, and 1985. Cornelia M. Ridderikhoff edited the text of the Premier Livre with the collaboration of Hilde de Ridder Symoens. The two aforementioned scholars, along with Detlef Illmer, compiled the biographical register. The text of the Deuxième Livre des Procurateurs (1546–67) was published in 1988, edited by Ridderikhoff and Illmer; for various reasons, the biographical registers for the Deuxième Livre were never published.

Ridderikhoff and De Ridder Symoens, joined by Chris L. Heesakkers, have now completed editing the Troisième Livre des Procurateurs (1567–87). A forty-page introduction to the volume discusses the situation of both the University of Orléans and its German Nation during these two decades, framed as they were by the drama of the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). After a brief description of the responsibilities of the procurator to his register, the editors then describe each of the four books of the procurators’ registers. The nation’s cartulary is discussed next, with its constituent parts (statutes, indexes, the receivers’ books, and the assessors’ books). Finally, they list the lost registers that appear to relate primarily to the nation’s library. Their statement of editorial principles is followed by three useful annexes: texts of oaths taken by officials of the nation; the text of a diploma issued on May 10, 1583, for a graduate in civil law; and a register of law professors at the University of Orléans teaching between 1567 and 1587.

The editors then proceed to the edition of the Troisième Livre. The entries of twenty-six procurators, each serving four months, are presented in chronological—although not continuous—order, since there are three lacunae in the register ranging from two-and-a-half years to just over three years. These are the result of disruptions caused by the Wars of Religion. A typical trimester’s entries include the armorial crest of the procurator followed by his name and titles, as well as the names of the rector, the quaestor, and the assessor and prefect of the nation’s library. After these, the entry relates the election of the procurator. Important events—both happy and unhappy—occurring during the trimester are then noted. From July 1 to September 1, 1567 (pp. 111–19), for instance, we find entries related to violent deaths as a result of religious conflict and subsequent calls for revenge, internal and external embassies on behalf of the nation, collection of debts, and hostile attitudes on the part of the French toward foreigners. Each procurator’s entry concludes with lists of the trimester’s graduates followed by the names, regional origins, and payments made for those registering...