Paris, Frederic Morel, 1595.
Booklet 8vo [169 x 100 mm] of 8 pp. Preserved in later wrappers of marbled paper.
First edition of the judgement delivered by the Parliament of Paris against Jean Châtel after his murder attempt on King Henri IV. Bulletin de la Librairie Morgand et Fatout 10767; Rosenthal 4254; Catalogue Peignot 2521.
On December 27th, 1594 the king Henri IV was coming back victorious from Picardie to Paris, and was coming into the bedroom of Gabrielle d’Estrées, his mistress, rue Saint-Honoré. Various nobles went there to greet him. At the moment Henri IV was bending down to get up a noble who was in front of him from his knees, a young man, who slipped into the crowd up to the king, tried to stab him; but the stab only hit the upper jaw, split his lip and broke up one teeth. This young man, named Jean Châtel, son of a middle-class person from Paris, immediately confessed his crime. The king wanted to forgive him; but informed that the murderer was a pupil of the Jesuits, to whom he did a great favour by suspending the judgment of the Parliament that was leading to drive them from the kingdom, he changed his mind. At once Jean Châtel was driven to the Fort-l’Evêque: his family as well as all the Jesuits of Paris were arrested in the same way. While interrogated, Jean Châtel did not charge the Jesuits, declared that he had acted on his own authority, that he was urged to this murder because of his zeal for religion, convinced that it was allowed to kill the kings that were not approved by the Pope. Jean Châtel was sentenced to death on December 29th, 1594 and quartered on the Grève square. on the same day, the Parliament accused the Jesuits of being behind the murder, and by the same judgment that condemned Chatel to be quartered by four horses, the Jesuits were expeled from France.
The Parliament declared the murderer guilty of divine high treason in first and foremost, because of the dreadful parricide made on the king’s person.
This historical piece presents the judgment of the Parliament delivered against Jean Châtel just before his execution, on Thursday 29th December 1594.
A rare booklet recording a major event in the history of France and the history of religions in the 16th century.
