Claude de Seyssel’s Explanatio moralis of 1515, One of Only Two Known Vellum Copies
Seyssel, Claude de. Explanatio moralis in primum caput evangelii divi Lucae. [Paris], Jodocus Badius Ascensius, 1515.
One of only two known vellum copies of Claude de Seyssel’s Explanatio moralis, printed in Paris by the great humanist printer Jodocus Badius Ascensius in 1515 and very possibly intended for the young King Francis I of France himself.
The companion vellum copy was presented by Seyssel to Pope Leo X and survives today in Florence. The present example, given Seyssel’s unique position between Paris and Rome and the conspicuous absence of another vellum copy from the royal collections recorded by Van Praet, was almost certainly destined for the French king.
Edition & Bibliographic Information
á4 a–o8 p6 = 4 leaves, 118 numbered leaves. Printed on vellum with marginal commentary columns. Small quarto (approximately 195 × 136 mm).
Title with printer’s device and six large criblé initials. Nineteenth-century dark blue English morocco binding, possibly by Charles Lewis, richly gilt throughout with elaborate dentelle borders and gilt edges. Preserved in a modern blue cloth slipcase.
Claude de Seyssel Between Politics and Mysticism
Claude de Seyssel (1450–1520), bishop of Marseille, diplomat, jurist, political thinker, and advisor to both Charles VIII and Louis XII, spent much of his life at the center of French power politics during the Italian Wars.
As an illegitimate son of the Marshal of Savoy, Seyssel rose through legal and theological study to become one of the most influential diplomatic figures in France. He negotiated with Swiss powers, navigated the conflicts between France, Maximilian I, and the papacy over northern Italy, and personally witnessed the increasingly unstable political and religious landscape of early sixteenth-century Europe.
Yet after the death of Louis XII on 1 January 1515, Seyssel withdrew from active politics. The Explanatio moralis, printed that same year and dedicated to Pope Leo X, reflects a profound spiritual reorientation.
The Mystery of the Incarnation as a Warning to Power
Rather than composing a broad biblical commentary, Seyssel focused exclusively on the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke: the Annunciation, the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth, the visitation to Mary, and the mystery of the Incarnation itself.
The work repeatedly returns to what Seyssel calls the incarnati verbi mysterium nostraeque salutis — the mystery of the Incarnate Word and human salvation.
The timing is striking.
Leo X, to whom the work was dedicated, embodied the height of Renaissance papal magnificence: nepotism, political maneuvering, indulgence culture, and artistic patronage intertwined at unprecedented scale. At precisely this historical moment, Seyssel turned away from diplomacy toward meditative theology and moral reflection rooted in human fragility, humanae conditionis fragilitas.
The book therefore reads almost like a spiritual admonition directed at the most powerful figures in Europe.
A Vellum Copy for a King?
The most fascinating mystery surrounding the volume is its intended recipient.
One vellum copy was unquestionably presented to Pope Leo X. But who was meant to receive the second?
The catalogue advances a compelling hypothesis: this copy was very likely intended for the young Francis I of France. Seyssel occupied precisely the diplomatic and intellectual position capable of mediating between Rome and the French court, and Francis I himself would soon ask Seyssel to compose La Grant Monarchie de France, one of the foundational texts of sixteenth-century French political thought.
If correct, the present volume becomes not merely an exceptionally rare vellum survival, but a royal presentation copy situated at the threshold between Renaissance statecraft and the coming religious upheavals of Europe.
Provenance
Possibly King Francis I of France. Later Philip Augustus Hanrott; sold Evans, 20 February 1834, lot 2694. Acquired from Payne & Foss by Beriah Botfield (1807–1863). Later Christie’s, London, Printed Books and Manuscripts from Longleat, 13 June 2002, lot 62.
Literature
Not in Adams or BM STC French; Brunet V, 328f.; Ebert 21077; Graesse VI/1, 379; Moreau 1515, 1220; Renouard III, 258; Van Praet, Bibliothèques I, 53, no. 111.
For a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, number 18:
Wunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume I
