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September 5, 2025Open Access

Veluti ansam quandam : The Nithard MS. Troyes 3203 as a Historical Guidebook from Claude de Marteau to Pierre de L’Estoile (1588)

Key Points

The manuscript was misattributed to Pierre Pithou, but evidence suggests it should be linked to Claude de Marteau instead.
L’Estoile received the Troyes manuscript in 1588 as a thoughtful gift, aimed as a source of consolation amidst political troubles.
The analysis uses newly discovered correspondence to clarify the manuscript's origins and importance in historical context.
Marteau's work parallels the Carolingian history detailed by Nithard, showing the manuscript's timeless relevance.

Abstract

In an earlier publication that described the Nithard manuscript Troyes, Médiathèque de Troyes Champagne Métropole, 3203, I relied on unexamined claims and assumed that the volume was produced by Pierre Pithou. In the present essay, I demonstrate that the ascription of the manuscript to Pithou is incorrect and, in light of a recently discovered letter, suggest that it should rather be attributed to the hand of the poet, avocat in Parliament, collector of manuscripts, and brother-in-law of Pierre de L’Estoile, Claude de Marteau (d. 1595). Marteau created Troyes, MTCM, 3203 as both a sophisticated gift for L’Estoile in 1588 and an offering of consolation and hope that their realm’s current troubles, much like those of the Carolingian past recorded and analyzed by Nithard, might soon disappear.

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