The Tales Of The Heptameron Volume V Part 20

HIRCAN, in M. de Lincy's opinion, might be the Duke of Alencon, Margaret's first husband. Messrs. Frank and Mont-aiglon, following M.

Lacroix, prefer to identify him as Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre.

They conjecture the name of Hircan to be derived from Ilanricus, a not uncommon fas.h.i.+on of spelling Henricus. It might, however, simply come from _hircus_, a he-goat, for Hircan is a man of gross, sensual tastes.

LONGARINE, a young widow, is supposed by M. de Lincy to be Blanche de Chastillon, _nee_ de Tournon (concerning whom see _ante_, vol. i. p. 84, n. 7, and p. 120 _et seq_.; vol. iv. p. 144, n. 2; and vol. v. p. 25, n.

2). M. Frank, however, thinks she is Aimee Motier de la Fayette, lady of _Longray_, widow of Francis de Silly, Bailiff of Caen, and _gouvernante_ to Queen Margaret's daughter, Jane of Navarre. Miss Robinson shares this opinion, but M. de Montaiglon thinks that _Longarine_ would rather be Aimee Motier de la Fayette's daughter Frances, married to Frederic d'Almenesches, of one of the branches of the house of Foix.

SIMONTAULT (occasionally _Symontaut_), a young knight, is thought by M.

de Lincy to be Henry d'Albret, Margaret's second husband, who was of an extremely amorous disposition, and much younger than herself. Messrs.

Frank and de Montaiglon, however, fancy _Simontault_ to have been Francis, Baron de Bourdeilles, father of Brantome. It is admitted, however, that if this be the case, it is curious that Brantome should not have alluded to it in any of his writings, whereas he does speak both of his mother and of his grandmother in connection with the _Heptameron_.

ENNASUITE (occasionally _Ennasuitte_ or _Ennasuicte_, and in some MSS.

_Emarsuite_), is supposed by Messrs. de Lincy, Frank, and de Montaiglon to be Anne de Vivonne, wife of Francis de Bourdeilles and mother of Brantome (see ante, vol. iv. p. 144, n. 2). It is pointed out that the name may be transformed into the three words _Anne et suite_.

DAGOUCIN, a young gentleman, is thought by M. Frank to be Nicholas Dangu (see ante, vol. i. p. 20, n. 4, and p. 40, n. 3), who became Chancellor to the King of Navarre. M. Lacroix, however, fancies this personage to be a Count d'Agoust.

GEBURON, apparently an elderly man, would in M. Frank's opinion be the Seigneur de Burye, a captain of the Italian wars to whom Brantome (his cousin-german) alludes in his writings. The name of de Burye is also found in a list of the personages present at Queen Margaret's funeral.

M. de Montaiglon shares M. Frank's views.

NOMERFIDE, so M. de Lincy suggests, may have been the famous Frances de Foix, Countess of Chateaubriand; but M. Frank opines that she is a Demoiselle de Fimarcon or Fiedmarcon (Lat. _Feudimarco_), who in 1525 married John de Montpczat, called "Captain Carbon," one of the exquisites of the famous Field of the cloth of gold. Miss Robinson, however, fancies that Nomerfide is Isabel d'Albret, sister of Margaret's second husband, and wife of Rene de Rohan.

SAFFREDENT, so M. de Lincy thinks, may be Admiral de Bonnivet; M. Frank suggests John de Montpezat; and Miss Robinson Rene de Rohan, who, after his father Peter de Rohan-Gie (husband of Rolandine, see _ante_, vol.

iii., Tale XXI, notes 2 and 15), had been killed at Pavia, was for some years entrusted to Queen Margaret's care. As Miss Robinson points out, _Saffredent_ literally means greedy tooth or sweet tooth.

Those who may be desirous of studying and comparing these various attempts at identification, will find all the evidence and arguments of any value set forth in the writings of M. Frank, M. de Montaiglon and Miss Robinson, which are specified in the Bibliography annexed to this appendix.--Ed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Fourteen MS. copies of the _Heptameron_ are known to exist. Twelve of these are at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, one is at the town library of Orleans, and one in the Vatican library. We also have some record of four other copies which were in private libraries at the end of the last century.

The twelve MSS. at the Bibliotheque Nationale are the following:--

I. (No. 1511 in the catalogue). A folio volume bound in red morocco, bearing the Bethune arms. This MS. is on ruled paper, and only one leaf, the last, is missing.

II. (No. 1512). A small folio, calf gilt, 350 leaves, from Colbert's library. The handwriting is that of the middle of the sixteeenth century, and is the same throughout; the last page bearing the signature "Doulcet." This supplied the text followed in the present translation.

III. (No. 1513). A small folio, half-bound in red morocco, stamped with King Louis Philippe's monogram. It contains only twenty-eight of the tales.

IV. (No. 1514). A large quarto, calf, from the De Mesmes library.

Contains only thirty-four of the tales.

V. (No. 1515). A small folio from Colbert's library, bound in calf, in Groslier's style. The text is complete, but there are numerous interlinear and marginal corrections and additions, in the same handwriting as MS. VII.

VI. (Nos. 1516 to 1519). Four quarto vols., red morocco, Bethune arms.

The first prologue is deficient, as is also the last leaf of tale lxxi.

VII. (No. 1520). A folio vol., calf and red morocco, stamped with fleurs-de-lys and the monogram of Louis XVIII. This MS. on stout ruled paper, in a beautiful italic handwriting of the end of the sixteenth century, is complete. Unfortunately Queen Margaret's phraseology has been considerably modified, though, on the other hand, the copyist has inserted a large number of different readings, as marginal notes, which render his work of great value. It is frequently quoted in the present translation.

VIII. (No. 1523). A folio vol., calf, from the De La Marre library. The first two leaves are deficient, and the text ends with the fifth tale of Day IV.

IX. (No. 1522). A small folio, bound in parchment, from the De La Marre library. Only the tales of the first four days are complete, and on folio 259 begins a long poem called Les Prisons, the work probably of William Filandrier, whom Queen Margaret protected. On the first folio of the volume is the inscription, in sixteenth-century handwriting: _Pour ma sour Marie Philander_. The poem _Les Prisons_ is quoted on pp.

x.x.xviii.-ix. vol. i. of the present work. It concludes with an epitaph on Margaret, dated 1549.

X. (No. 1524). A folio vol. from Colbert's library, bound in red and yellow morocco, on which is painted, on a blue ground, a vine laden with grapes twining round the trunk of a tree. On either side and in gold letters is the device, _Sin e doppo la morte_ (until and after death).

Following the t.i.tle-page, on which the work is called "The Decameron of the most high and most ill.u.s.trious Princess, Madame Margaret of France,"

is a curious preface signed "Adrian de Thou," and dated "Paris, August 8, 1553." This Adrian de Thou, Lord of Hierville and canon of Notre Dame de Paris, counsellor and clerk of the Paris Parliament, was the fourth son of Augustine de Thou and uncle to James Augustus de Thou, the historian. He died in October 1570. His MS. of the _Heptameron_, a most beautiful specimen of caligraphy, contains a long table of various readings and obscure pa.s.sages; this was consulted in preparing the text for the present translation. The t.i.tles to the tales have also been borrowed from this MS.; they were composed by De Thou himself, and figure in no other MS. copy.

XI. (No. 1525). A small folio, calf, from Colbert's library, very incomplete and badly written, but containing the _Miroir de Jesu Crist crucifie_, the last poem Queen Margaret composed (see _ante_, vol. i. p.

lx.x.xvi.).

XII. (No. 2155). A small quarto, red morocco, from the library of Mazarin, whose escutcheon has been cut off. The text, which is complete and correct, excepting that a portion of the prologue has been accidentally transposed, is followed by an epitaph on the Queen. The handwriting throughout is that of the end of the sixteenth century.

The other MSS. of the _Heptameron_ are the following:--

XIII. (Orleans town library, No. 352). A folio vol. of 440 pp. It is doubtful whether this MS. is of the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

It bears the t.i.tle _L'Heptameron des Nouvelles, &c_. There are numerous deficiencies in the text.

XIV. (Vatican library, No. 929; from the library of Queen Christina of Sweden). A folio vol., calf, 95 leaves, handwriting of the end of the sixteenth century. This only contains fifteen of the stories.

XV. (present possessor unknown). A folio vol., red morocco; text (ending with tale lxix. ) in sixteenth-century handwriting, with illuminated initial letters to each tale. _Catalogue des livres de feue Mme. la Comtesse de Verrue_, Paris, G. Martin, 1737.

XVI. (possessor unknown). MS. supposed to be the original, a large folio, handwriting of the period, antique binding, containing the seventy-two tales. _Catalogue des livres, &c., du cabinet de M. Filheul, &c._, Paris, Chardin, 1779, pp. xxi. and 280.

XVII. (possessor unknown). A folio vol., blue morocco, gilt. No. 1493 in the catalogue of the _Bibliotheque de Simon Bernard, chez Barrois_, Paris, 1734; and No. 213 in a _Catalogue de ma.n.u.scrits interessants qui seront vendus... en la maison de M. Gueret, notaire_, Paris, Debure fils jeune, 1776.

XVIII. (possessor unknown). A folio vol., blue morocco, gilt, stamped with the arms of France, from the Randon de Boisset library; the seventy-two tales complete, a very fine copy. _Catalogue des livres de la bibliotheqzie de l'Abbe Rive_, Ma.r.s.eilles, 1793. (This MS. should not be confounded with No. xvii. See L. J. Hubaud's _Dissertation sur les Contes de la Reine de Navarre_, Ma.r.s.eilles, 1850.)

The following are the editions of Queen Margaret's tales issued from the press from the sixteenth century to the present time. The list has been prepared with great care, and we believe it to be as complete a one as can be furnished; it includes several editions not mentioned in Brunet's Manual:--

I. _Histoires des Amans Fortunez dediees a tres ill.u.s.tre princesse, Mme.

Marguerite de Bourbon, etc., par Pierre Boaistuau, dit Launoy_, Paris, 1558, 40. The authorisation to print and publish was accorded to Vincent Sertenas, and the work was issued by three different booksellers; some copies bearing the name of Gilles Robinot, others that of Jean Cavyller, and others that of Gilles Gilles.

This, the first edition of the Queen's work, contains only sixty-seven of the tales, which are not divided into days or printed in their proper sequence; the prologues, moreover, are deficient, and all the bold pa.s.sages on religious and philosophical questions, &c, in the conversational matter following the stories, are suppressed.

II. _L'Heptameron des Nouvelles de tris ill.u.s.tre et tres excellente Princesse Marguerite de Valois, Royne de Navarre, &c., dedie a tres ill.u.s.tre et tres vertueuse Princesse Jeanne, Royne de Navarre, par Claude Gruget, parisien_, Paris, Vincent Certena, or Jean Caveillier, 1559.

This contains all the Queen's tales excepting Nos. xi., xliv., and xlvi., which Gruget replaced by others, probably written by himself. The other stories are placed in their proper order, but none of the names and pa.s.sages suppressed by Boaistuau are restored. The phraseology of the MSS., moreover, is still further modified and polished.

The text adopted by Boaistuau and Gruget was followed, with a few additional modifications, in all the editions issued during the later years of the sixteenth century. Most of these are badly printed and contain numerous typographical errors:--

III. _L'Heptameron des Nouvelles, &c_. Reprint of Gruget's edition, sold by Vincent Sertenas, Gilles Robinot & Gilles Gille, and printed by Benoist Prevost, Paris, 1560.

IV. _L'Heptameron des Nouvelles, &c_., 1560, 16mo. (No bookseller's or printer's name appears in this edition. )