D OSSAT, Arnaud

£2,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of this important collection of letters written by Arnaud D Ossat to Henry the IV of France of great historical significance. These letters formerly served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which d Ossat displays in them. The French Academy inscribed Ossat among the dead authors who have written our French language most purely . Wiquefort in his M émoires sur les ambassadeurs finds in them the clearest and most enlightened judgment ever displayed by any minister , and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the simplicity and clearness of Cardinal d Ossat s letters show how business letters should be written. Catholic Encyclopaedia D Ossat was a French diplomat and writer, and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy with the Papacy in the reign of Henry IV. He supported the cause of Henry IV at Rome, whose conversion to Catholicism he prepared Pope Clement VIII to accept. In 1593, Henri IV wrote directly to d Ossat in Rome that he was sending the Duc de Nevers to negotiate with the Pope, and he instructed d Ossat to share all of his knowledge of and influence in the Roman Court, as well as his wise counsel, to advance the affairs of France. His letters to the King are filled with detailed information concerning negotiations not only with France but covering most of the maj

• Binding: Hardcover

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