The court of France under Henry III as seen by an Englishman (1584-1585): French version
In 1988 I published a document that has informed the court of king Henri III of France at the time the court of France was undergoing major changes during the years 1580. It stemmed from the research of Richard Cooke of Kent, who remained in France in the early years 1580 during the embassy of Sir Henry Cobham in France. It is during these years that he collaborated, perhaps, with Robert Cecil, in the compilation of a few “treaties” of the aff airs of France that I published in 2004. In October 1584 he dedicated to the earl of Derby, on the point of leaving as ambassador extraordinary to present the order of the garter to the king of France, a long collection of texts in French, including the “description” of the court of France. Not having received the expected benefits, he wrote an English version and presented it to baron Cobham, the father of the ambassador that he had served, in February 1585. This is what I published in 1988. Historians of the court of France found the English version of a certain value for its observations on the ritual of the court of France. I present here the text in French of October 1584 in the hope that it would be of value more widely to readers in English. The text describes the state of the French court between 1579 and 1583, and must have been completed between 1583 and October 1584. It is supplementary to the regulations of the court to be promulgated by the king in January 1585. In some instances, the Cook has added some clarification in the French text in his translation, but it is for the most part the same text. The text is literate, but betrays the errors of an English writing in English.