SATIRA MENIPPEA DELLA VERTU DEL CATTOLICON DI SPAGNA E DELLA TENUTA DELLI STATI DI PARIGGI 1593.
| Author | SATYRE MENIPPEE |
| Price | 6500 € |
AN UNKNOWN ITALIAN TRANSLATION OF THE CELEBRATED SATYRE MENIPPÉE DE LA VERTU DU CATHOLICON
Manuscript on paper, Italy, ca. 1594-’95.
95 [recte 105] numbered leaves. Bound in contemporary flexible vellum, title lettered in ink along the spine. Very fresh with untrimmed edges.
This manuscript is a strictly contemporary Italian translation of the most celebrated among the political-religious pamphlets of the end of the 16th century: the Satyre Menippée de la vertu du Catholicon d’Espagne et de la tenue des Estats de Paris.
This title is that of the 1595 edition chosen by the French scholar Martial Martin as a reference text for his critical edition of the work (Satire Menippee, Édition critique de Martial Martin, Paris, 2007) among the many variants of the about twenty issues published between 1594 and 1595.
The story of this text, gathering the contributions of various authors, is incredibly complicated as well as the bibliography of the numerous editions printed from 1594 to the end of the 16th century and again in the following centuries.
As written above, the work was produced by more than one author: it is the fruit of the intelligence and wit of a group of cultivated gentlemen who, during the Religious Wars, belonged to the party of the so called ‘Politiques’: they were men of law, priests, writers and poets, alert observers of what was going to happen during the course of the ‘États generaux’ summoned by the Ligue in ordered to appoint a king beeing catholic, faithful to Rome and to Spain.
The Satyre was conceived by Pierre Le Roy (canon of Rouen and champlain to the Cardinal of Bourbon) during conversations among friends (French in politics and gallican in religion) held at Jacques Gilot’s home (chaplain of the Saincte-Chapelle). It was written by Nicolas Rapin, Jean Passerat and Florent Chrestien, revised and corrected by Pierre Pithou.
In those times France was torn by internal strife between fanatic catholics (‘Liguers’) and protestants (‘Huguenots’); a third smaller party was that of the above mentioned ‘Politiques’ (so called despisingly by the ‘Liguers’): they were few but they were the wisest part of the population. For dynastic reasons Henry of France was to become the next king of France, after the death of Henry III, killed in 1589 by a fanatic monk, but he was a protestant. After four years of struggles, the Liguers headed by the Houses of Guise and d’Aumale summoned the ‘États generaux’ witht the strong support of Philip II of Spain and the Pope.
The Satyre Menippée is precisely a satirical account, in prose and verse, of that event and of the orations (harangues) delivered by the civil and religious authorities. There is only a speech, the last one, not attained by mockery and is that delivered by Monsieur d’Aubray, the representative of the ‘Tiers état’: then we lissen to the voice of reason and patriotism.
At first, the texts composing the Satyre spread separately in form of manuscript, but after the enthronement of Henry IV, they begun to be printed, giving birth to a number of editions. Most of them were incomplete; the first complete edtion containing all the prose texts and the 42 pièces en vers is the number 16 of the already mentioned bibliography by Martin.
We compared our manuscript with the critical edition and they match almost perfectly, both in content and their arrangement. Specifically: the ms. has only 37 pieces of poetry instead of 42; the “complete” edition has a sort of ‘Appendix’ not present in our translation.
Since our manuscript is thoroughly complete in itself, as witnessed by many evidences, we can reasonably assume that this fine translation (certainly made by a man of letters, perfectly acquainted with French language and contemporary France’s history) is the version of one of the earliest editions, possibily one of the seven issued in 1594 without the ‘Addition’ found for the first time in the 1595 edition, that chosen for editiong the critical text of the work.
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