Mazarinade

The mazarinades are satirical or burlesques pieces of poetry, Pamphlet S or Libelle S in prose which was published, of the time of the Fronde, about the cardinal Mazarin. Although, for the majority directed against this minister, the same name was also given to the made up writings to defend it and answer the attacks of the slingers.

Entitled the Request of the three states of the Government of the Ile de France at the Parliament of Paris, against Mazarin , the first of the mazarinades appeared towards the end of 1648. Since then until in 1652, appeared more than four thousand directed satirical writings, mainly, against the cardinal. | Since the mocking remarks against its Italian accent, its practices effeminatized until the coarsest attacks on its loves with the queen and the control of his/her nieces, all the kinds of insults are joined together in the mazarinades against the cardinal, who, according to all historical testimonys, appeared insensitive to these affronts.

By comparison with the Lampoon S of the time of the League where, under the heat of passions concerned, the violence linked with liveliness gives a serious character to the whole, the mazarinades of the Sling where petty vanities and resentments replaced passions, the railleuse lightness which bores through apparent violences lets, ultimately, cheerfulness carry it.

Paris was then taken of a héroï-comic madness. The Parisian ones landed only by verses:

are you party,

My friend,

Of Cop, Longueville and Conti?

Each morning, galleries of the Palais and New Pont flew away “like swarms of flies and Frelons which the hot summer dayss would have generated” the mazarinades of which the greatest part was extremely poor: “One made run here quantity of flying papers against Mazarin, but there is yet nothing which is worth. ” The cardinal of Retz said later: “II has there more than sixty volumes of parts made up in the course of the civil war, and I think I may say with truth that there is not hundred layers which deserve only one reads them. ”

Among the most famous parts, that dated from the March 11th, entitled Mazarinade gave its title to all the others. It, perhaps wrongfully, was allotted to Scarron:

With malheure, Mazarin,

Of the country from which Tabarin comes,

Es you come to disturb the nostre!

..........................

Case luggage and vistement.

..........................

Va-t'en in Rome estaller

goods that one let you fly.

Other songs, which had also much repercussion and which, by the poetic talent, deserve better a place in the literary history, are the songs of Blot and those of Marigny, though one and the other brought conviction little there. Spiritual Blot laughed and rimait to satisfy its desire for laughing and at rimer while Marigny chansonnait the Tweed duke on a sign of the cardinal of Retz then, and the cardinal on a sign of Mr. the Prince. One must with this last makes out it entitled Scale of price which one is agreed in an assembly the notable ones, to reward those which will deliver France of Mazarin which, notwithstanding his title assassin, is more pleasant than serious

Among the others mazarinades, one of most original and which reflects best the spirit of time, are the Catéchisme of the courtiers of the court of Mazarin which contains the following requests and answers: “- What Paris? The paradise of the women, purgatory of the men and the hell of the horses. - What the marriage? Martyrologe of the alive ones. - What a prosecutor? A man who, with his language, can empty the purse of his part without touching there. - What a prince? A criminal whom one does not dare to punish. - What is what a Jesuit? A wise policy which makes use skilfully of the religion, etc”

One still quotes, with the number of the principal writings against Mazarin: History of the barricades , Letter with the burlesque cardinal , Custode of the Queen , Virelay on the virtues of its Faquinance , Letter of Punchinello with Jules Mazarini , the Sending of Mazarin to the mount Gibet , the Minister flambe , the Billion or burlesque Praise Mazarin , Opinion, remonstrance and request by eight peasants of eight provinces on miseries and businesses of time present , etc Writings in favor of Mazarin, most famous is that of Naudé, entitled Jugement of all that esté printed against the Mazarin cardinal, since January sixth jusques with the declaration of April 1st, 1650 . More known under the name of Mascurat , this opuscule, is an apology for the cardinal in the form of dialog between Saint-Angel (Naudé) and Mascurat (the editor Camusat). The most known authors of the mazarinades are, in addition to Scarron and the authors named above, the cardinal of Retz, Saint-Lover, Loret, Sarrasin, Guy Patin, Laffemas, Patru, etc Cyrano of Bergerac initially wrote seven mazarinades against Mazarin, of which the Minister flambe , before taking its party in its Lettre against the Slingers of 1651.

The relative absence of continuations exerted against the lampoonists made it possible to make bulky collections with the format of them is almost always small in-4°. Many parts carry the heading of Antwerp or Brussels, the majority very incorrect from the typographical point of view, some decorated of engravings. The National library, the libraries of the Arsenal and Holy-Genevieve, have fort of it considerable: the collection of the latter reaches the figure of: 4272. The library Mazarine has the largest collection in the world, with more: 12000 parts, including one great number of doubles. It currently misses in this collection the mazarinades published in province, and in particular in Bordeaux. The library of Saint-Pétersbourg has 137 large volumes of mazarinades approximately containing: 6000 parts.

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