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Description
[SATIRE]
Menippean Satire: On the Virtue of the Catholicon of Spain and the Conduct of the Estates of Paris.
A collective political-satirical work concerning the Estates-General convened in Paris on 26 January 1593 by the Duke of Mayenne, leader of the Catholic League hostile to Henry IV, with the aim of electing a Catholic king to succeed him.
Paris, 1649.
12mo. Paperback. 206 pages.
Whilst Henri of Navarre, the future Henri IV, sought to reconquer the kingdom by force of arms, the Spanish proposed abolishing the Salic Law and declaring the Infanta of Spain Queen of France. Some members of the League, refusing to accept a foreign princess on the throne, were preparing to rally the capital behind Henry IV.
Legend has it that a gathering of upstanding citizens, ‘who remained French in politics and Gallican in religion’, lent their literary talents to Henry of Navarre through a work that was half-serious, half-humorous, in order to help bring those who had strayed back onto the path of truth and common sense.
This is how the idea for the *Satire Ménippée* is said to have come about, during a gathering at the Quai des Orfèvres, in the home of Guillot, a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, where a number of men of wit had gathered to defend, through a joint work, the true interests of France, which wished to remain Catholic and independent.
See original version (French)
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About the sale
Bibliophilia – A fine selection of antique and modern books
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Auction time
10/15/2026 at 1:00 PM
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