Rouen, François Regnault, 26 July 1523.
Small Gothic folio with (230) leaves. Title printed in red and black, some waterstains. Brown calf entirely blind-stamped, ribbed spine. Contemporary binding.
275 x 188 mm.
Extremely rare Gothic edition of the customs of Normandy printed in Rouen for François Régnault on July 26, 1523.
Gouron et Terrin n°1300 ; Brunet, II, 378 ; Frère, Manuel du bibliographe Normand, 300.
Besides the Coutumier properly speaking, the collection includes three other unpaginated parts: a “Tractatus arboris consanguinitatis” illustrated with 2 large wood engraved genealogical trees, ” La Charte aux normands” which includes the ordinances issued by the kings, dukes, counts, and Norman barons, and ” le stille et ordre de procéder en pays de Normandie“.
“The Norman customary law appeared in Normandy at the beginning of the 10th century from an admixture of Scandinavian legal principles with the Frankish law in use in ancient Neustria, part of which had been entrusted to the administration of Jarl Rollo. The codification of these practices during the reign of William the Conqueror resulted, in the mid-13th century, in a unified system recorded in two custumals, the “Très ancien coutumier” (1200-1245) and the “Summa de legibus Normanniae in curia laïcali” (1235-1258), as well as various decisions of the exchequer known as ‘Arresta communia de Scacario’. A double influence of Roman law and canon law is also noted“. (Robert Besnier, La Coutume de Normandie, Paris 1935).
The main provisions of the Coutumier de Normandie were in effect in their medieval state in France until the Revolution. However, it was modified over time by decisions of the Normandy parliament or royal decisions of the grand council forming jurisprudence. An important reform was adopted in the 16th century and synthesized in this edition, the last of the 16th century.
The text and glosses are printed in Gothic characters in two columns. Numerous adorned or stippled initials embellish the text.
The very first Gothic editions of the 16th century of the customs of Normandy are extremely rare:
. Caen, April 28, 1510 for Michel Angier and Jean Macé,
. Rouen, January 21, 1515, for Jean Richard.
This one, printed for François Regnault with Regnault’s mark of the elephant at the end of the coutumier, is “no less rare than the two previous ones”. (Brunet).
This precious edition, complete with all three treatises, is extremely rare in its original blind-stamped binding.
It comes from the library of the Le Court family with two printed ex-libris Henry Le Court and Henri Le Court Deauville.
