LOUISE OF SAVOY. Letter signed "Loyse" as regent, countersigned by the king's secretary Robert Gédoyn, addressed [to the parliament of Paris]. Blois, "the second day of September". 1 p. in-4, address on the back, margins trimmed, bindings pinched in one margin. A STEP IN FAVOR OF LOUIS DE BERQUIN. " ... We have nagueres escripted you to make come by this maistre André Verjus [adviser in the parliament of Paris] and by luye send us the charges, books, traictez and other things produced against Berquin, TO HAVE THEM SEEN, VISITED AND HEARD HERE BY SEVERAL GOOD, GREAT AND NOTABLE PERSONS, THEOLOGIANS AND OTHERS IN THE KNOW, AND TO HAVE THEM REAPPRAISED IF NECESSARY. Since then, we have had no news of it, and because the poor gentleman remains there at great cost and expense, and desires, as soon as he is able, to go where he will be ordered to do service to the king, our dear sr. and son, where the matter will be, we have kindly written to you again and ask you that, either by the said Master André Verjus or other that you may advise, send us the said charges, books, tracts and other writings produced and put forward against the said Berquin, and advise us incontinently of what you will do in order to ensure that the said gentleman no longer loses time without cause. If you do not fail to do so... " THE EVANGELICAL HUMANIST LOUIS DE BERQUIN, MARTYR OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. A strong personality, the humanist Louis de Berquin (1490-1429) became known in intellectual circles for his French translations, especially of texts by Erasmus, with whom he was in contact. However, he also translated Luther and Melanchthon, and published himself militant, caustic texts, criticizing for example the cult of the Virgin. In fact, he retained from Lutheranism only that which was consistent with his own evangelism, but he was nevertheless attacked by the Faculty of Theology in Paris, which had him locked up three times, in 1523 and 1526. Despite the protection of Francis I, his sister Marguerite de Valois, and their mother Louise of Savoy, he was eventually sentenced to death by strangulation and fire, a sentence executed on April 17, 1529. MOTHER OF FRENCH I AND TRUE WOMAN OF STATE, LOUISE DE SAVOIE, was never queen, but played a leading political role. Granddaughter of Duke Amédée VIII of Savoy and Marguerite de Bourbon, she was brought up at the French Court by her cousin Anne de Beaujeu (daughter of her aunt Charlotte of Savoy and Louis XI). In 1488, she married Charles d'Angoulême, great-grandson of Charles V: from this mismatched marriage, except for a common taste for the arts and letters, were born a daughter, Marguerite (1492), and a son, François (1494), but Charles d'Angoulême died prematurely in 1496. Louise invested herself personally in the education of her children, attentive to their intellectual formation, making them learn, for example, the Italian and Spanish languages. The union of heart and mind that developed between them never faded. Francis ascended the throne in 1515, and Louise of Savoy devoted her life to the service of her son, over whom she exercised a real influence, for example in foreign policy, even if she could not prevent him from embarking on distant warlike adventures. She exercised power directly on two occasions as regent of the kingdom, from July 1515 to January 1516, while Francis I was carrying out the conquest of Milan, and especially from August 1523 to March 1526 during the second Italian campaign and the king's captivity after his defeat at Pavia. She proved equal to her task, maintaining order, supervising diplomatic negotiations for the constitution of a pro-French party in Europe, and for the release of the king. Later, she played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the "Peace of the Ladies" in Cambrai with Charles V's envoys in 1529. Provenance: papers of the first president of the Parliament of Paris, Jean de Selve. On this one, see above n° 4.