Satyre Ménippée de la vertu du Catolicon d'Espagne

Small 12mo, 18^th century red morocco, triple gilt fillet, decorated smooth spine, green morocco title page, gilt edges.

126 x 78 mm.

Satyre Ménippée de la vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne et de la tenue des Estats de Paris durant la Ligue en l'an 1593. Augmenté outre les précédentes impressions, tant de l’interprétation du mot de Higuiero D’Infierno, & qui en est l'Autheur, que du Supplément ou suitte du Catholicon. Avec les pourtraicts de deux charlatans, du seigneur Agnoste, & la procession martialle, & singerie de la ligue. Plus le regret funèbre d'une damoiselle de Paris, sur la mort de son Asne Ligueur.

Imprimé sur la copie de l'année 1593. S.l.n.d.

Edition mentioned by Tchémerzine of the famous Satyre Ménippée printed in 1594.

Tchemerzine, II, 391, e ; J. P. Barbier-Mueller, in Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance, LXVII, n° 2, Genève, Droz, 2005, pp. 373-394.

“Since Rabelais, Gallic genius had produced nothing more scathing” (Yves Cazaux).

Charles Nodier, who had the Satyre republished in 1824, noted that it brilliantly showcased French spirit and character.

Pierre Champion called the work: “A book of great patriotism and sound common sense, summarizing our history from the perspective of divisions stirred up by foreign powers with the aim of weakening France.”

In the course of the eighth and final War of Religion, the year 1593 marked a crucial turning point. Since his tragic accession to the throne on August 2, 1589, Henry IV had been nothing more than a king without a kingdom: most of France had fiercely rejected this Huguenot prince, siding with the ultra-Catholic League. Paris was the main bastion of resistance to the “Bearnois,” led with an iron fist by the formidable members of the Seize, a group of fanatical hardliners. In early 1593, the capital hosted the long-delayed meeting of the Estates General, convened by the Duke of Mayenne, leader of the League. This gathering of the three orders of the kingdom (clergy, nobility, and Third Estate), with only 122 deputies, was to appoint a new, devoutly Catholic sovereign. Denounced as illegal by Henry IV, these “States of the League” nevertheless opened on January 26th, but were quickly adjourned. Even the common people of Paris mocked this parody of an assembly, which many suspected of serving the interests of Spain.

A group of Parisian friends, who were among those moderate Catholics loyal to Henry IV known as the “Politiques,” took advantage of the situation to give a satirical account of the events. The idea came from Canon Pierre Le Roy, who quickly shared it with his friends: Jacques Gillot, Jean Passerat, Florent Chrestien, Gilles Durand, Nicolas Rapin, and Pierre Pithou. All belonged either to the clergy or to the legal profession; all were remarkable scholars, and often poets as well. Their collaboration produced a colorful text, interweaving prose and verse, hence the name Satyre Ménippée. The first version of the title, which is the one given in the manuscripts circulating in 1593, was simply Abbregé et l’Ame des Estatz convoquez à Paris en l'an 1593 le 10 de febvrier. The 88-page edition then incorporated La Vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne, before Mettayer's editions provided the final title.

The work opens with the hype of two shady peddlers who have come to sell the French a drug with miraculous properties: the “Higuiero d'inferno, or Catholicon composée,” a “sovereign electuary.” The character of the “Spanish charlatan” is none other than Filippo Sega, Cardinal of Piacenza and papal legate in France, associated with the “Lorraine charlatan,” Nicolas de Pellevé, another cardinal, devoted to the Guise family. After describing the parade of deputies—the famous “procession of the League”—and the tapestries with comical subjects decorating the meeting room, the narrator transcribes the speeches of the main speakers, harangues as droll as they are grotesque. The entire small world of the League, from the great lords to the petty bourgeoisie of Paris, is singled out, displaying its crudeness, fanaticism, and above all its stupidity. The following are reported, in order, the “Harangue of Monsieur le Lieutenant” (the Duke of Mayenne himself, self-proclaimed lieutenant-general of the kingdom) written by Pithou, the “Harangue de Monsieur le Légat [Sega]” and its macaronic Italo-Latin invented by Gillot, the “Harangue de Monsieur le Cardinal de Pelvé” written by Florent Chrestien (although some ancient sources give Jacques Gillot as its author), the “Harangue de Monsieur de Lyon [Pierre d'Épinac, archbishop of that city],” undoubtedly by Nicolas Rapin, as was the following harangue, put into the mouth of Guillaume Roze, rector of the University of Paris and bishop of Senlis. The floor is then given to the “Sieur des Rieux,” a true brigand, chosen by Jacques Gillot to represent the noble league. Finally, after a censored speech by the “prince of fools,” Sieur d'Angoulevent, who also intended to symbolize the new aristocracy, the spokesperson for the Third Estate, Claude Daubray, addressed the assembly last: his was the most accomplished speech, finally giving voice to reason, tinged with “patriotism.” This masterpiece of polemical literature was written by Pierre Pithou.

The aim of the work was to expose the League's pretensions, its secret intentions, its follies, and even its crimes. Neither a robust legal treatise nor a pamphlet full of foul language, the Satyre... quickly found a wide audience thanks to its undeniable literary quality and humorous tone. It seduced and convinced.

A century and a half later, President Hénault, himself a writer and historian, concluded with wonder: “Perhaps the Satyre Ménippée was no less useful to Henry IV than the Battle of Ivry; ridicule has more power than we think.”

The Menippean Satire was not a passing fad, a fleeting success. Long after the events it described, when the facts and their protagonists had already become part of history, new editions continued to appear. A wave of reprints in the early 17th century, in a version expanded with new (and apocryphal) pieces, was soon followed by the first annotated editions: the first, by Pierre Dupuy, appeared in 1664; the pamphlet became a literary classic. The scholar Jacob Le Duchat added his comments to those of Dupuy in 1709: already expanded with other pieces published at the time of the siege of Paris, the Satyre Ménippée now occupied three thick octavo volumes, reprinted many times until the end of the 18th century.

In the following century, in a country plagued by frequent revolutions and institutional crises, and where the Romantics were rediscovering the Renaissance, the first modern critical editions began to flourish. In 1824, the novelist and bibliophile Charles Nodier inaugurated a long period of excitement surrounding this great political and literary text, followed by the works of Charles Labitte in 1845, Charles Read in 1876, Edouard Tricotel in 1877, and finally Charles Marcilly in 1889. Since the early 1980s, many researchers have once again taken an interest in this text, which remains a work in progress.

One crucial question remains unanswered: what was the first edition of the Satyre Ménippée? The original version of the work first circulated, probably from the spring of 1593, in the form of manuscript copies among the “Politiques.” Then came the time of printing, with an already expanded version of the text. Most of the surviving copies have a title page, which of course lacks any indication of the place or name of the printer, but is clearly dated 1593. This date is misleading: certain passages, referring to well-known events, indicate that the text could not have been written, or at least completed, before the spring of 1594, when Paris had already opened its gates to Henry IV.

This edition comprises 565 pages and contains Le Supplément du Catholicon ou Nouvelles des régions de la Lune (The Catholicon Supplement or News from the Regions of the Moon) on pages 377-564 and a sonnet to the Jesuits by Pierre de Ronsard printed on the last page. It is illustrated with six woodcut figures, including two large fold-out plates depicting the procession of the League and the mockery of the States of the League, and four vignettes showing the Spanish charlatan, the Lorraine charlatan, Lord Agnostus, and Spanish coins.

An attractive copy preserved in its 18^th century red morocco.