Dans Les Coulisses: Bellievre and the Struggle for the Seals, 1599-1607

Abstract

According to the letters patent of late 1604, Henri IV nominated a keeper of the seals in response to Chancellor Pomponne de Bellièvre's request that he create one, ‘in order to assist and relieve him’. Behind the formal explanation of an impending change in status, or the relinquishing of office in early modern France, there often lay a history of collegial manoeuvring. We examine these interpersonal aspects of Bellièvre's career as chancellor (1599–1607). Our analysis shows how and why Bellièvre, an honest and highly principled royal servant, forfeited the king's favour, despite the chancellor's struggle to keep the great seals of France in face of the machination of enemies, defection of allies, betrayal by friends and the vulnerability of old age. To reconstruct these alarums and excursions ‘dans les coulisses’ enables us to grasp more effectively the human dimension of politics that underpinned changes in staff or the formulation of policy.