DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61669#0085
JEAN DE DINTEVILLE
laisser jouir de si grans privileges qu’ils ont accoustumd, dont est cause le tort
qu’on lui faict a Rome, qui est si grand que plus ne peust : c’est chose estrange
que 1’Empereur ait tant de pouvoir avec le Pape, qu’il soit par ce empeschd de
rendre raison et justice Ih ou il la cognoist.”1
The private letters of the ambassadors and other public characters
to each other form an interesting commentary on the political events of
the time. The Bishop of Auxerre, who, in spite of detractors, stood in
high repute for learning, love of art, and distinguished office, had many
such correspondents. Among these, to mention only a few conspicuous
names, were Lazare de Baif, a classical scholar of some celebrity, who
was now French ambassador at Venice ; the Marquis de Saluce, who,
after enjoying high favour, later became a traitor to the French Crown ;
and Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes. Of
lesser correspondence, none throws more light on the fortunes of the
Dinteville brothers at this period than that of Balavoyne, or Belle
Avoine, the Bishop of Auxerre’s steward in France, who collected his
revenues, and sent him news of his family, during his absence at Rome.2
These letters and those of Berthereau, the secretary of Montmo-
rency, enable us to follow with some precision the movements of the
Bailly of Troyes and his brothers during the year i 532. In the summer
Francis I. made a tour in Brittany, prior to the annexation of that
province to the Crown of France, taking with him the Dauphin Francois.
The latter selected from among his gentlemen, to be his special attendant
on this occasion, Guillaume, Seigneur Deschenetz. Jean de Dinteville
and his brother Vanlay meanwhile remained with their respective
charges, the Dukes of Angouleme and of Orleans, at the Court of
Queen Eleanor. The plan was to spend Easter at Tours, and later to
1 Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 78b, La Pommeraye to the Bishop of Auxerre,
20 March, 1532. The avowed object of La Pommeraye’s mission was to support the
king’s desire that his cause should be heard in England and not at Rome. (Letters and
Papers, Henry VIII., vol. v., 1531-32, No. 614, Chapuys to Charles V.)
2 Balavoyne was the maternal uncle of Theodore de Beze, the historian of the French
Reformation, whose uncle, on the paternal side, Monsieur de Beze the elder, an orthodox
Catholic, died beneath the protecting roof of the bishop’s house in Paris, during the
absence of the latter in Rome. Paris, Bibl. de 1’Institut, Coll. Godefroy, p. 254, Nos.
23, 34-
59
laisser jouir de si grans privileges qu’ils ont accoustumd, dont est cause le tort
qu’on lui faict a Rome, qui est si grand que plus ne peust : c’est chose estrange
que 1’Empereur ait tant de pouvoir avec le Pape, qu’il soit par ce empeschd de
rendre raison et justice Ih ou il la cognoist.”1
The private letters of the ambassadors and other public characters
to each other form an interesting commentary on the political events of
the time. The Bishop of Auxerre, who, in spite of detractors, stood in
high repute for learning, love of art, and distinguished office, had many
such correspondents. Among these, to mention only a few conspicuous
names, were Lazare de Baif, a classical scholar of some celebrity, who
was now French ambassador at Venice ; the Marquis de Saluce, who,
after enjoying high favour, later became a traitor to the French Crown ;
and Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes. Of
lesser correspondence, none throws more light on the fortunes of the
Dinteville brothers at this period than that of Balavoyne, or Belle
Avoine, the Bishop of Auxerre’s steward in France, who collected his
revenues, and sent him news of his family, during his absence at Rome.2
These letters and those of Berthereau, the secretary of Montmo-
rency, enable us to follow with some precision the movements of the
Bailly of Troyes and his brothers during the year i 532. In the summer
Francis I. made a tour in Brittany, prior to the annexation of that
province to the Crown of France, taking with him the Dauphin Francois.
The latter selected from among his gentlemen, to be his special attendant
on this occasion, Guillaume, Seigneur Deschenetz. Jean de Dinteville
and his brother Vanlay meanwhile remained with their respective
charges, the Dukes of Angouleme and of Orleans, at the Court of
Queen Eleanor. The plan was to spend Easter at Tours, and later to
1 Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 78b, La Pommeraye to the Bishop of Auxerre,
20 March, 1532. The avowed object of La Pommeraye’s mission was to support the
king’s desire that his cause should be heard in England and not at Rome. (Letters and
Papers, Henry VIII., vol. v., 1531-32, No. 614, Chapuys to Charles V.)
2 Balavoyne was the maternal uncle of Theodore de Beze, the historian of the French
Reformation, whose uncle, on the paternal side, Monsieur de Beze the elder, an orthodox
Catholic, died beneath the protecting roof of the bishop’s house in Paris, during the
absence of the latter in Rome. Paris, Bibl. de 1’Institut, Coll. Godefroy, p. 254, Nos.
23, 34-
59