BERGEDÉ (Nicole).

Ɵ L'Arrest des troys espritz, sur le trespas de treshault et trespuissant Prince Claude de Lorraine Duc de Guyse, &c. Paris, Estienne Groulleau, 1550. Booklet in-8, red morocco, jansenist, gilt title on the spine, inner lace, gilt edges (Godillot). Very rare first edition of this poem on the death of Claude de Lorraine, first duke of Guise and comrade in arms of François I, which occurred in 1550. Only 2 copies would be listed in public collections: Berne and BnF (Arsenal) (see French Vernacular Books, n°3674). Nicole Bergedé, an obscure poet from Vézelay whose name is sometimes spelled Bergède or Bargedé, is also the author of Odes pénitentes du moins que rien (1550). This mound of Claude de Lorraine, founder of the illustrious house of Guise, is rather curious: It is a kind of Plea between Heaven, Earth & the genius of France. The Prince was attacked by a mortal disease; the Earth asks for his body, the Sky wants his soul, the Genius of France solicits the return of his health, claiming that the good of France requires that the Prince lives still long. Three spirits, coming out of the bodies of François I, Marguerite de Valois, & Godefroi de Lorraine, are summoned to decide the dispute (the abbot Goujet). Beginning of a crack in one of the jaws. Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°55.