GRASSAILLE, Charles de

Regalium Franciae libri duo, iura omnia & dignitates christianiss. Galli(a) regum, continentes

      Simon Vincent heirs (Jean Crespin), Lyon 1538 - Contemporary calf (early spine repairs, very worn but sound) 8vo . FIRST EDITION of this important treatise which argues the juristic basis of dynastic right to the French throne and over the privileges of the French king and his relationship to the rule of law. The author, Charles de Grassaille, (Degrassalius: 1495-1582) promotes the idea that the kings power is without equal. The attractive woodcuts depict the king in various offical acts as well as a map of Europe. "Both of the texts by Chasseneuz and Grassaille were written at a time when the nature of political power in France was undergoing a radical change. As is well known, the diffused power of late-medieval feudalism, form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies was being converted to the much more centralized and absolutist monarchy that would come to define Renaissance France. This shift was profound and far- reaching. . Chasseneuz, Grassaille, and other legists such as Charles Du Moulin, tried to legitimate the French monarchy by searching history for precedents of royal prerogatives and privileges. One of the privileges of the French king noted by Chasseneuz, for example, was that he had the right to call himself an emperor in his own realm" ("On the evolution of toads in the French Renaissance"; Renaissance Society of America; Brandeis Univ.) 2 parts in 1 vol. [20], 322 pp. 1 blank; [2], 137, [4] pp. General title-page with four part woodcut border incorporating the woodcut device of A Vincent; 2 woodcut title borders to each part, 40 text woodcuts and numerous woodcut initials. Some minor damp stains and light foxing; contemporary ownership inscriptions on front flyleaf early marginal annotations. § BM/STC French 130; not in Adams. [Attributes: First Edition]