A DEFENSE OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS DUKE OF ANJOU AGAINST THE CALUMNIES OF CERTAIN PERSONS, by Ioannes Monlucius, Bishop of Valence, Legate of the most Christian King of the Gauls.

A decorative drop cap 'S' features intertwined foliage and a serpent-like creature.

Certain babblers, hired for this one task and for a price, to rend the reputation of the most illustrious Duke by any means possible, since they had received nothing about him that could be rightfully criticized, decided that calumnies must be concocted. The first and foremost of these is that this Prince, in whom no traces of savagery ever appear, has nevertheless suddenly become most cruel and inhuman, as they most impudently assert. And, so that this most absurd invention might be applauded by all, they have feigned that his father and grandfather were also most cruel, because at that time many men were burned for the profession of the Evangelium Gospel/Protestant faith. But not only the Gauls, but almost all foreigners, understand that this was done by the authority of the Senate, not the King. But why do these same people cunningly dissemble the fact that an almost infinite multitude of them was committed to the flames in Germany, in Belgium, in Spain,