- MANUSCRIT - The Usage of Savoy concerning ecclesiastical... Lot 15

- MANUSCRIT] - The Usage of Savoy concerning ecclesiastical matters in relation to secular power and jurisdiction. S.l., s.d., (circa 1730), in 4°, 219 ff. covered with a medium and legible handwriting (about 20/25 lines per page), [16] blank ff. in marbled fawn basane, spine ribbed with partitions and fleurons, edges speckled with red (period binding). Some rubbing to the binding. In spite of an introduction that hinted at a publication ("This work was made by order of His Majesty who wanted to be instructed in the said uses, ..."), this text was not delivered to the printer. A copy is in the Mediatheque of Chambéry under the number Ms. 116, and another in the National Library of Turin. It is a compilation on the thorny question of the relations between the Senate of Savoy and the courts of officialdom. The Senate of Savoy had always shown its independence from the Holy See, especially when it came to promulgating bulls, letters, writs and other apostolic and conciliar mandates. The application of these texts in Savoy depended on the authorisation of the Sovereign Court, which reserved the prerogative of verifying their conformity to the rights of the Sovereign and his States, of the Nation and of the public interest. Our document, the drafting of which was undertaken but never really completed, had indeed been requested by Victor-Amédée II (1666-1732, abdicated in 1730). It was written between 1724 and 1729. As it stood, it was nevertheless read twice a year to the members of the Society, which helped to spread among the Savoyard jurisconsults the regalist principles with which it was imbued. It must be said that the canonical situation of the dioceses of Savoy constituted a major imbroglio for the civil power, tending to unification: Chambéry and its surroundings formed the Deanery of Savoy and depended on the bishopric of Grenoble, located in the kingdom of France and therefore excluded from the jurisdiction of the Senate; at the same time, the metropolitan was the archbishop of Vienne who also exercised his authority over the dioceses of Maurienne and Geneva. These prelates were sometimes Piedmontese or even Romans who were too often absent. Only the very old archbishopric of Tarentaise was autonomous and metropolitan of the dioceses of the Aosta Valley and of Sion, for the Valais. In addition, in the Savoyard foreland, the Petit Bugey depended on the bishop of Belley, himself a suffragan of the archbishop of Besançon... Copy of P. Ract, with ex-libris vignette pasted on the first endpapers. - Memoirs for the history of France. S.l.n.d., (circa 1700), folio, title-frontispiece and 47 plates engraved by Jongelinx, Berterham and especially Harrewyn, marbled fawn basane, spine with mute nerves decorated with gilt fillets and rat's teeth, marbled tr. (binding of the time) A fine copy. Very beautiful and rare suite of historical portraits, arranged in no order, but most of which refer to the period of the reign of the last Valois and Henri IV, among whom one recognizes Catherine de Médicis, François II king of France, Louise de Lorraine, the duke of Epernon, the prince of Condé, Maris Stuart, Hendri IV, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Louis XIII. Copy of Michel-François Pelckmans (1732-1808), from Louvain, and passionate of local history, with a bookplate dated 1768. He left numerous works, including memoirs, all of which remained in manuscript and were distributed among various Belgian libraries.