Note 27 — Chapter I · The History of the “Ambassadors” from 1533 to 1654

This deed, preserved at Villiers-par-Cerny, near La Ferté-Alais (Seine-et-Oise), and never before published, was kindly placed at the writer’s disposal by the Marquis de Selve. The Papal licence forms an authoritative standard by means of which the many loose statements regarding the bishop’s age, with which the printed notices of his life abound, may be easily checked. Villiers was owned by Jean de Selve, Premier President, father of the Bishop of Lavaur, at least as early as 1528.