Ralph E. Giesey

In the 1560's and the 1570's, several authors outside of Spain recorded the text of an oath supposedly uttered by the Aragonese people when they received their king. While most modern historians doubt the authenticity of the oath, they agree that it has frequently served the purposes of political propaganda whenever an Aragonese patriot has wished to epitomize his nation's tradition of resistance to tyranny. This book studies the oath "We, who are worth as much as you, take you as our king, provided that you preserve our laws and liberties, and if not, not" as an example of historiographical fiction which belongs to a complex of legal-historical legends about the origins of Aragon. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In the 1560's and the 1570's, several authors outside of Spain recorded the text of an oath supposedly uttered by the Aragonese people when they received their king. While most modern historians doubt the authenticity of the oath, they agree that it has frequently served the purposes of political propaganda whenever an Aragonese patriot has wished to epitomize his nation's tradition of resistance to tyranny. This book studies the oath "We, who are worth as much as you, take you as our king, provided that you preserve our laws and liberties, and if not, not" as an example of historiographical fiction which belongs to a complex of legal-historical legends about the origins of Aragon. Originally published in 1968. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

For at least two centuries after its first appearance in 1573 Hotman's Francogallia influenced the way in which men regarded the European past and appraised the validity of political institutions. The intricate collation of the variorum Latin readings by Professor Giesey here demonstrates that nearly half the complete work consists of material added by Hotman to later editions in such a manner as substantially to modify the argument and balance of the original Francogallia. This definitive Latin edition contains a facing English translation by Professor Salmon, and a joint introduction in which the editors discuss the genesis and development of the text, which can no longer be regarded as written in response to the massacre of St Bartholomew. The editors analyse the discordant elements in Hotman's thought as his Calvinist background, his fundamentalism in both constitutional and religious doctrine and his ambivalent attitude to his profession as an eminent jurist.

Quel fut reellement le role de la loi salique dans la succession a la couronne de France? Quel principe justifiait que femme ne succede pas au royaume ? Quelles furent les raisons de l'avenement des Valois? Comment les Bourbons monterent-ils sur le trone? C'est avec une erudition remarquable, en s'appuyant sur des documents negliges et sur de nombreuses sources juridiques, que Ralph E. Giesey repond a toutes ces questions. Il montre que, contrairement a l'opinion communement admise, le droit d'une fille de roi a revendiquer le trone de France, en l'absence d'un heritier male, fut officiellement reconnu par la famille royale et les grands du royaume en 1316, et que l'exclusion des femmes avait des motifs purement politiques et pas misogynes. C'est dans le debat sur la legitimite des Valois que la loi salique et son article d'exclusion furent invoques pour la premiere fois. Cense exclure de la succession a la couronne les filles de roi et leurs fils, l'article fut decouvert par un juriste italien du xive siecle et repris par plusieurs auteurs qui inventerent ainsi, en se fondant sur des textes expurges ou mal compris, ce que Ralph E. Giesey appelle la legende de la loi salique . Battue en breche par des juristes de la Renaissance, la legende reussit a se maintenir. L'exclusion des males en ligne feminine deboucha sur la notion de princes du sang, capitale pour comprendre la fin des Valois, les demeles d'Henri de Navarre avec la Ligue et l'avenement des Bourbons. Professeur emerite a l'universite de l'Iowa, Ralph E. Giesey fut l'assistant d'Ernst H. Kantorowicz a l'Institute for Advanced Study de Princeton. Il est unanimement reconnu comme un specialiste de la pensee juridique de la France de l'Ancien Regime, et on lui doit notamment Le Roi ne meurt jamais, ouvrage qui connut un grand retentissement.

The common theme of these essays is the emergence of the modern state in late medieval and renaissance France. They examine, on the one hand, how the image of the king was enhanced in a variety of royal ceremonials as well as in the political writings of Jean Bodin and Cardin le Bret. The limits of the sovereign's authority, on the other hand, were forcefully enunciated in the works of François Hotman and Théodore de Bèze. The stability of the monarchy was maintained by the noblesse de robe, a new form of hereditary nobility that virtually owned the high judicial and administrative offices they held. The last two articles are devoted, first to the author's view of the concept of the French king's "two bodies" and second to the life of his mentor, Ernst H. Kantorowicz, who wrote the seminal work, The King's Two Bodies.