191 - [CATHOLIC LEAGUE]. Royal decree to all officers and others entitled to have their offices and privileges confirmed, on pain of being deprived of them.

[CATHOLIC LEAGUE]. Royal decree to all officers and others entitled to have their offices and privileges confirmed, on pain of being deprived of them. First Parisian printing of this decree issued on March 8, 1590, by Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, who had assumed leadership of the Catholic League a year earlier. In Paris, at the shop of Nicolas Nivelle & Rolin Thierry, 1590. In-12 booklet, white cover. 6 pp. and 1 f. of privilege, printer’s mark on the title page, banner, and initial. Cover slightly faded with light crease marks. First edition, printed in Paris, of this act of the Catholic League issued at the “camp of Mante” on March 9, 1590—just five days before the famous Battle of Ivry (March 14, 1590) between the Duke of Mayenne and Henry IV. Following the assassination of Henry III in 1589, Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, took the helm of the Catholic League as Lieutenant General of the State and Crown of France. He thus exercised power on behalf of the League faction in opposition to Henry IV. Through this order dated March 1590, the League leadership sought to secure the loyalty of royal officers and subjects by requiring official confirmation of their offices and privileges within two months, under penalty of forfeiture. The primary aim was to raise funds (“at a moderate rate”) to support the League’s war effort (“in light of the present war… for the defense and preservation of our holy Catholic Religion”). An extremely rare document, published at the height of the Eighth War of Religion and the conflicts of the Catholic League. In very fine condition.