141-566: The Bibliothèque nationale de France ( French: [biblijɔtɛk nɑsjɔnal də fʁɑ̃s] ; 'National Library of France'; BnF ) is the national library of France , located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as Richelieu and François-Mitterrand . It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including books and manuscripts but also precious objects and artworks, are on display at
282-677: A bride for Philip II of Spain . Now she sought a marriage between Margaret and Henry III of Navarre , Jeanne's son, with the aim of uniting Valois and Bourbon interests. Margaret, however, was secretly involved with Henry of Guise , the son of the late Duke of Guise. When Catherine found this out, she had her daughter brought from her bed. Catherine and the king then beat her, ripping her nightclothes and pulling out handfuls of her hair. Catherine pressed Jeanne d'Albret to attend court. Writing that she wanted to see Jeanne's children, she promised not to harm them. Jeanne replied: "Pardon me if, reading that, I want to laugh, because you want to relieve me of
423-463: A chill after a game of tennis, contracted a fever and died shortly after, leaving Henry the heir. Suspicions of poison abounded, from Catherine to Emperor Charles V. Sebastiano de Montecuccoli confessed under torture to poisoning the Dauphin. As dauphine , Catherine was expected to provide a future heir to the throne. According to the court chronicler Brantôme , "many people advised the king and
564-841: A complete catalogue entry of a book to any publisher who sends a final draft or some form of galley proof of a book currently in production. Other national libraries offer similar services or enforce mandatory practices similar to this. The second part of the goal is achieved by thorough acquisition programs and collection development policies which target book markets in other nations, and which foster international agreements with other countries with national libraries who have national bibliographic control as one of their goals. Exchange and access protocols are defined permitting these countries to read each other's catalogues, and to standardize catalogue entries, thus making it easier for each national library to become aware of every possible published document which might concern their country. Another one of
705-734: A digitized copy of Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger (1913) became Gallica's millionth document. In February 2019, the five millionth document was a copy of the manuscript "Record of an Unsuccessful Trip to the West Indies" stored in the Bibliothèque Inguimbertine and on 30 March 2023 the ten millionth document was added. As of 2024, Gallica had made available online approximately 10 million documents : Most of Gallica's collections of texts have been converted into text format using optical character recognition (OCR-processing), which allows full-text search in
846-668: A fear that I've never had. I've never thought that, as they say, you eat little children." When Jeanne did come to court, Catherine pressured her hard, playing on Jeanne's hopes for her beloved son. Jeanne finally agreed to the marriage between her son and Margaret, so long as Henry could remain a Huguenot. When Jeanne arrived in Paris to buy clothes for the wedding, she was taken ill and died on 9 June 1572, aged forty-three. Huguenot writers later accused Catherine of murdering her with poisoned gloves. The wedding took place on 18 August 1572 at Notre-Dame , Paris. Three days later, Admiral Coligny
987-676: A free copy within one year of publication. The international nature of the book publishing industry ensures that all significant English language publications from elsewhere in the world are also included. In the Republic of Ireland, the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 specifies that one copy of every book published is to be delivered to the National Library of Ireland , the Trinity College Library, Dublin,
1128-472: A full city block in Paris, surrounded by rue de Richelieu (west), rue des Petits-Champs (south), rue Vivienne [ fr ] (east), and rue Colbert [ fr ] (north). There are two entrances, respectively on 58, rue de Richelieu and 5, rue Vivienne. This site was the main location of the library for 275 years, from 1721 to 1996. It now hosts the BnF Museum as well as facilities of
1269-787: A military colony and a buffer against the Habsburg . This plan also had the added advantage of removing the Huguenots from France, but it failed to interest the Ottomans. On 27 September 1567, in a swoop known as the Surprise of Meaux , Huguenot forces attempted to ambush the king, triggering renewed civil war. Taken unawares, the court fled to Paris in disarray. The war was ended by the Peace of Longjumeau of 22–23 March 1568, but civil unrest and bloodshed continued. The Surprise of Meaux marked
1410-690: A move that endangered Henry's throne, Francis allied with the Protestant princes against the crown. On 6 May 1576, Catherine gave in to almost all Huguenot demands in the Edict of Beaulieu . The treaty became known as the Peace of Monsieur because it was thought that Francis had forced it on the crown. Francis died of consumption in June 1584, after a disastrous intervention in the Low Countries during which his army had been massacred. Catherine wrote,
1551-603: A pair of scissors. Catherine, who was said to have received the news without emotion, made a tearful visit to Coligny and promised to punish his attacker. Many historians have blamed Catherine for the attack on Coligny. Others point to the Guise family or a Spanish-papal plot to end Coligny's influence on the king. Whatever the truth, the bloodbath that followed was soon beyond the control of Catherine or any other leader. The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre , which began two days later, has stained Catherine's reputation ever since. There
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#17327661494951692-530: A part of the collection of the kings of Aragon . Louis XII , who had inherited the library at Blois , incorporated the latter into the Bibliothèque du Roi and further enriched it with the Gruthuyse collection and with plunder from Milan . Francis I transferred the collection in 1534 to Fontainebleau and merged it with his private library. During his reign, fine bindings became the craze and many of
1833-414: A political marriage to a foreign princess. Rumours of Henry's inability to produce children were by that time in wide circulation. The papal nuncio Salviati observed, "it is only with difficulty that we can imagine there will be offspring ... physicians and those who know him well say that he has an extremely weak constitution and will not live long." As time passed and the likelihood of children from
1974-510: A proper and speedy deposit, such as a tie-in with laws affecting copyright of the same documents, and/or a cataloguing-in-publication (CIP) service. Approximately three million new English-language books are retained by the British Library and Library of Congress each year. One of the main goals of a national library is fulfilling their nation's part of the common international goal of universal bibliographic control , by ensuring
2115-604: A reference catalogue, cooperates with other national and international establishments, as well as participates in research programs. The National Library of France traces its origin to the royal library founded at the Louvre Palace by Charles V in 1368. Charles had received a collection of manuscripts from his predecessor, John II , and transferred them to the Louvre from the Palais de la Cité . The first librarian of record
2256-722: A sarcastic allusion to the successful TGV high-speed rail system). After the move of the major collections from the Rue de Richelieu , the National Library of France was inaugurated on 15 December 1996. As of 2016, the BnF contains roughly 14 million books at its four Parisian sites (Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand, Richelieu, Arsenal , and Opéra ) as well as printed documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, maps and plans, scores, coins, medals, sound documents, video and multimedia documents, and scenery elements. The library retains
2397-552: A scheming Italian, who had acted on Machiavelli 's principles to kill all enemies in one blow. Two years later, Catherine faced a new crisis with the death of Charles IX at the age of twenty-three. His dying words were "oh, my mother ..." The day before he died, he named Catherine regent, since his brother and heir, Henry the Duke of Anjou, was in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , where he had been elected king
2538-547: A series of regime changes in France, it became the Imperial National Library and in 1868 was moved to newly constructed buildings on the Rue de Richelieu designed by Henri Labrouste . Upon Labrouste's death in 1875 the library was further expanded, including the grand staircase and the Oval Room, by academic architect Jean-Louis Pascal . In 1896, the library was still the largest repository of books in
2679-615: A turning point in Catherine's policy towards the Huguenots. From that moment, she abandoned compromise for a policy of repression. She told the Venetian ambassador in June 1568 that all one could expect from Huguenots was deceit, and she praised the Duke of Alba's reign of terror in the Netherlands, where Calvinists and rebels were put to death in the thousands. The Huguenots retreated to the fortified stronghold of La Rochelle on
2820-428: A week. It spread to many parts of France, where it persisted into the autumn. In the words of historian Jules Michelet , "St Bartholomew was not a day, but a season". On 29 September, when Navarre knelt before the altar as a Roman Catholic, having converted to avoid being killed, Catherine turned to the ambassadors and laughed. From this time dates the legend of the wicked Italian queen. Huguenot writers branded Catherine
2961-404: A wife; instead, he openly took mistresses. For the first ten years of the marriage, the royal couple failed to produce any children together. In 1537, he had a brief affair with Philippa Duci , who gave birth to a daughter, whom he publicly acknowledged. This proved that Henry was fertile and added to the pressure on Catherine to produce a child. In 1536, Henry's older brother, Francis , caught
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#17327661494953102-485: Is a service of The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). The first national libraries had their origins in the royal collections of the sovereign or some other supreme body of the state. One of the first plans for a national library was devised by the English mathematician John Dee , who in 1556 presented Mary I of England with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and
3243-535: Is organised: Gallica is the digital library for online users of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and its partners. It was established in October 1997. Today it has more than six million digitized materials of various types: books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, cartoons, drawings, prints, posters, maps, manuscripts, antique coins, scores, theater costumes and sets, audio and video materials. All library materials are freely available. On 10 February 2010,
3384-483: Is reason to believe she was party to the decision when on 23 August Charles IX is said to have ordered, "Then kill them all! Kill them all!" Historians have suggested that Catherine and her advisers expected a Huguenot uprising to avenge the attack on Coligny. They chose therefore to strike first and wipe out the Huguenot leaders while they were still in Paris after the wedding. The slaughter in Paris lasted for almost
3525-706: Is so much treachery about that I die of fear." Henry was unable to fight the Catholics and the Protestants at once, both of whom had stronger armies than his own. In the Treaty of Nemours , signed on 7 July 1585, he was forced to give in to all the League's demands, even that he pay its troops. He went into hiding to fast and pray, surrounded by a bodyguard known as " the Forty-five ", and left Catherine to sort out
3666-631: Is that library which has the duty of collecting and preserving the literature of the nation within and outside the country. Thus, national libraries are those libraries whose community is the nation at large. Examples include the British Library in London, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. There are wider definitions of a national library, putting less emphasis to the repository character. National libraries are usually notable for their size, compared to that of other libraries in
3807-530: Is the International Standard Bibliographic Description or ISBD, which has served as a basis for national and international cataloguing codes, such as AACR2 . Catherine de Medici Catherine de' Medici (Italian: Caterina de' Medici , pronounced [kateˈriːna de ˈmɛːditʃi] ; French: Catherine de Médicis , pronounced [katʁin də medisis] ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589)
3948-461: Is to have the honour of God before my eyes in all things and to preserve my authority, not for myself, but for the conservation of this kingdom and for the good of all your brothers". Charles IX was ten years old at the time of his royal consecration, during which he cried. At first Catherine kept him very close to her, and even slept in his chamber. She presided over his council, decided policy, and controlled state business and patronage. However, she
4089-555: The Bibliothèque Mazarine , which evolved from its origin as a royal library founded at the Louvre Palace by Charles V in 1368. At the death of Charles VI , this first collection was unilaterally bought by the English regent of France, the Duke of Bedford , who transferred it to England in 1424. It was apparently dispersed at his death in 1435. The invention of printing resulted in the starting of another collection in
4230-563: The BnF Museum (formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles ) on the Richelieu site. The National Library of France is a public establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture . Its mission is to constitute collections, especially the copies of works published in France that must, by law, be deposited there, conserve them, and make them available to the public. It produces
4371-477: The Château of Chenonceau , which Catherine had wanted for herself, to his mistress Diane de Poitiers instead, who took her place at the center of power, dispensing patronage and accepting favors. The imperial ambassador reported that in the presence of guests, Henry would sit on Diane's lap and play the guitar, chat about politics, or fondle her breasts. Diane never regarded Catherine as a threat. She even encouraged
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4512-537: The Dauphin to repudiate her, since it was necessary to continue the line of France". Divorce was discussed. In desperation, Catherine tried every known trick for getting pregnant, such as placing cow dung and ground stags' antlers on her "source of life", and drinking mule's urine. On 19 January 1544, she at last gave birth to a son , named after King Francis. After becoming pregnant once, Catherine had no trouble doing so again. She may have owed her change of fortune to
4653-563: The Dissolution of the Monasteries , many priceless and ancient manuscripts that had belonged to the monastic libraries began to be disseminated among various owners, many of whom were unaware of the cultural value of the manuscripts. Sir Robert's genius was in finding, purchasing and preserving these ancient documents. After his death his grandson donated the library to the nation as its first national library. This transfer established
4794-571: The Duchy of Urbino to the Papal States , permitting Florence to keep only the Fortress of San Leo . It was only after Leo's death in 1521, that his successor, Adrian VI , restored the duchy to its rightful owner, Francesco Maria I della Rovere . Catherine was first cared for by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini . After Alfonsina's death in 1520, Catherine joined her cousins and
4935-716: The Duke of Alba to tell Catherine to scrap the Edict of Amboise and to find punitive solutions to the problem of heresy. In 1566, through the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire , Guillaume de Grandchamp de Grantrie , and because of a long-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance , Charles and Catherine proposed to the Ottoman Court a plan to resettle French Huguenots and French and German Lutherans in Ottoman-controlled Moldavia , in order to create
5076-579: The First Prince of the Blood , and then, with more success, to his brother, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , who backed a plot to overthrow the Guises by force. When the Guises heard of the plot, they moved the court to the fortified Château of Amboise . The Duke of Guise launched an attack into the woods around the château. His troops surprised the rebels and killed many of them on the spot, including
5217-711: The National Library Board at their own expense within four weeks from the publication date. Other countries, like the United States, do not follow this requirement. The United States does, however, require that any publisher submit two copies of a copyrightable work to United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress – this is known as mandatory deposit – but the Library is selective about which works it retains. The international nature of
5358-715: The National Library and Archives of Québec . Since 1537, all works published in France must be deposited with the Bibliothèque nationale de France . Since 1997, it has also received deposits of digital works. Since 1661, the Swedish Royal Library has been entitled to a copy of all works published in Sweden. In Singapore , the National Library Board Act requires all publishers in Singapore to deposit two copies of every publication to
5499-554: The Real Biblioteca by Manuel Antonio Flórez , the Viceroy of New Granada . In the newly formed American republic, James Madison first proposed instituting a congressional library in 1783. The Library of Congress was established on 24 April 1800, when president John Adams signed an act of Congress providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. Part of
5640-567: The Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth granted the Library the right to receive a free legal deposit copy of every book printed in the country. Following the failed Kościuszko Uprising , on the eve of Third Partition of Poland and the collapse of Polish statehood, the Library of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was closed down and taken to St Petersburg in 1794, on the decision of Empress Catherine II , where it formed
5781-476: The bibliographic control of all the books or book-like documents published in that particular country or talking about that particular country, in any way. The first part of the goal is usually achieved through the means of legal deposit laws or (as is the case of the United States) by a host of different programs such as a cataloguing in publication service. By this service, the Library of Congress gives
Bibliothèque nationale de France - Misplaced Pages Continue
5922-839: The radical phase of the French Revolution when the private libraries of aristocrats and clergymen were seized. After the establishment of the French First Republic in September 1792, "the Assembly declared the Bibliotheque du Roi to be national property and the institution was renamed the Bibliothèque Nationale . After four centuries of control by the Crown, this great library now became
6063-499: The 16th century. Catherine de' Medici was born Caterina Maria Romula de' Medici on 13 April 1519 in Florence , Republic of Florence , the only child of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino , and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne , the countess of Boulogne. The young couple had been married the year before at Amboise as part of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Lorenzo's uncle Pope Leo X against
6204-545: The 38-year-old Diane de Poitiers , whom he adored for the rest of his life. Even so, he respected Catherine's status as his consort. When King Francis I died on 31 March 1547, Catherine became queen consort of France. She was crowned in the Basilica of Saint-Denis on 10 June 1549. Henry allowed Catherine almost no political influence as queen. Although she sometimes acted as regent during his absences from France, her formal powers were strictly nominal. Henry even gave
6345-541: The Act of Union, which gave in to all the League's latest demands. On 8 September 1588 at Blois, where the court had assembled for a meeting of the Estates, Henry dismissed all his ministers without warning. Catherine, in bed with a lung infection, had been kept in the dark. The king's actions effectively ended her days of power. At the meeting of the Estates, Henry thanked Catherine for all she had done. He called her not only
6486-550: The BnF, the library of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (in the Saller Labrouste since 2016), and the library of the École Nationale des Chartes . It was comprehensively renovated in the 2010s and early 2020s on a design by architects Bruno Gaudin [ fr ] and Virginie Brégal. On 14 July 1988, President François Mitterrand announced "the construction and the expansion of one of
6627-463: The Catholic world. Philip II of Spain prepared for an invasion of England. The League took control of much of northern France to secure French ports for his armada . Henry hired Swiss troops to help him defend himself in Paris. The Parisians, however, claimed the right to defend the city themselves. On 12 May 1588, they set up barricades in the streets and refused to take orders from anyone except
6768-422: The Duke of Guise's brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise , whom Henry's men hacked to death the next day in the palace dungeons. Immediately after the murder of Guise, Henry entered Catherine's bedroom on the floor below and announced, "Please forgive me. Monsieur de Guise is dead. He will not be spoken of again. I have had him killed. I have done to him what he was going to do to me." Catherine's immediate reaction
6909-482: The Duke of Guise. When Catherine tried to go to Mass, she found her way barred, though she was allowed through the barricades. The chronicler L'Estoile reported that she cried all through her lunch that day. She wrote to Bellièvre, "Never have I seen myself in such trouble or with so little light by which to escape." As usual, Catherine advised the king, who had fled the city in the nick of time, to compromise and live to fight another day. On 15 June 1588, Henry duly signed
7050-545: The French court, while Mary of Guise governed Scotland as her daughter's regent . On 3–4 April 1559, Henry signed the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with the Holy Roman Empire and England, ending a long period of Italian Wars . The treaty was sealed by the betrothal of Catherine's teenage daughter Elisabeth , aged 13, to Philip II of Spain . Their proxy wedding was celebrated in Paris on 22 June 1559. As part of
7191-589: The French crown. Catherine had at least taken the precaution of marrying Margaret, her youngest daughter, to Navarre. Margaret, however, became almost as much of a thorn in Catherine's side as Francis, and in 1582, she returned to the French court without her husband. Catherine was heard yelling at her for taking lovers. Catherine sent Pomponne de Bellièvre to Navarre to arrange Margaret's return. In 1585, Margaret fled Navarre again. She retreated to her property at Agen and begged her mother for money. Catherine sent her only enough "to put food on her table". Moving on to
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#17327661494957332-604: The French king". For the moment, Catherine worked with the Guises out of necessity. She was not strictly entitled to a role in Francis's government, because he was deemed old enough to rule for himself. Nevertheless, all his official acts began with the words: "This being the good pleasure of the Queen, my lady-mother, and I also approving of every opinion that she holdeth, am content and command that ...". Catherine did not hesitate to exploit her new authority. One of her first acts
7473-544: The French people. On her return to Paris in 1579, she was greeted outside the city by the Parlement and crowds. The Venetian ambassador, Gerolamo Lipomanno, wrote: "She is an indefatigable princess, born to tame and govern a people as unruly as the French: they now recognize her merits, her concern for unity and are sorry not to have appreciated her sooner." She was under no illusions, however. On 25 November 1579, she wrote to
7614-506: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I . According to a contemporary chronicler, when Catherine was born, her parents were "as pleased as if it had been a boy". Within a month of Catherine's birth, both her parents were dead: Madeleine died on 28 April of puerperal fever , and Lorenzo died on 4 May. King Francis wanted Catherine to be raised at the French court, but Pope Leo refused, claiming he wanted her to marry Ippolito de' Medici . Leo made Catherine Duchess of Urbino but annexed most of
7755-456: The Hotel Tubeuf itself would remain occupied by French East India Company and later by France's financial bureaucracy until the 1820s). Bignon also instituted a complete reform of the library's system. Catalogues were made which appeared from 1739 to 1753 in 11 volumes. The collections increased steadily by purchase and gift to the outbreak of the French Revolution , at which time it was in grave danger of partial or total destruction, but owing to
7896-460: The Louvre inherited by Louis XI in 1461. Francis I transferred the collection in 1534 to Fontainebleau and merged it with his private library. The appointment of Jacques Auguste de Thou as librarian in the 17th century, initiated a period of development that made it the largest and richest collection of books in the world. The library opened to the public in 1692, under the administration of Abbé Louvois , Minister Louvois's son. Abbé Louvois
8037-474: The Medici were overthrown in Florence by a faction opposed to the regime of Clement's representative, Cardinal Silvio Passerini , and Catherine was taken hostage and placed in a series of convents. The final one, the Santissima Annuziata delle Murate was her home for three years. Mark Strage described these years as "the happiest of her entire life". Clement had no choice but to crown Charles of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor in return for his help in retaking
8178-498: The Memory in the World ), a 1956 short film about the library and its collections. 48°50′01″N 2°22′33″E / 48.83361°N 2.37583°E / 48.83361; 2.37583 National library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries , these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. A national library
8319-507: The National Library of Wales. In Australia, the Copyright Act 1968 and other state acts require that a copy of every book published in Australia be deposited with the National Library of Australia , the relevant state library for the state in which the book was published, and some states other libraries such as parliamentary and university libraries. A similar system also exists in Canada with respect to its national library, known as Library and Archives Canada , and in Québec with respect to
8460-467: The Queen". For the next ten days, Henry's state fluctuated. At times he even felt well enough to dictate letters and listen to music. Slowly, however, he lost his sight, speech, and reason, and on 10 July 1559, he died, aged 40. From that day, Catherine took a broken lance as her emblem, inscribed with the words " lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor " ("from this come my tears and my pain"), and wore black mourning in memory of Henry. Francis II became king at
8601-438: The United Kingdom, the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 restates the Copyright Act 1911 , that one copy of every book published there must be sent to the national library (the British Library ); five other libraries (the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, the Cambridge University Library , the National Library of Scotland , the Trinity College Library, Dublin , and the National Library of Wales ) are entitled to request
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#17327661494958742-420: The activities of Antoine-Augustin Renouard and Joseph Van Praet it suffered no injury. The library's collections swelled to over 300,000 volumes during the radical phase of the French Revolution when the private libraries of aristocrats and clergy were seized. After the establishment of the French First Republic in September 1792, "the Assembly declared the Bibliothèque du Roi to be national property and
8883-418: The administration of Abbott Camille le Tellier de Louvois , the minister's son. The Abbé Louvois was succeeded by Jean-Paul Bignon , who in 1721 seized the opportunity of the collapse of John Law 's Mississippi Company . The company had been relocated by Law into the former palace of Cardinal Mazarin around Hôtel Tubeuf , and its failure freed significant space in which the Library would expand (even though
9024-416: The age of fifteen. In what has been called a coup d'état , the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise —whose niece, Mary, Queen of Scots , had married Francis II the year before—seized power the day after Henry II's death and quickly moved themselves into the Louvre Palace with the young couple. The English ambassador reported a few days later that "the house of Guise ruleth and doth all about
9165-431: The basis of the National Library of Russia . Before taken to Russia the collections numbered about 400,000 volumes, including about 13,000 medieval and modern manuscripts. Between 1795 and 1918 no central institution existed collecting printed and handwritten works from the lands that had once formed Poland. Some smaller libraries aimed to fill the gap it left, albeit on a smaller scale. The National Library of Poland
9306-435: The bedroom with King Francis, who is said to have stayed until the marriage was consummated. He noted that "each had shown valour in the joust". Clement visited the newlyweds in bed the next morning and added his blessings to the night's proceedings. Catherine saw little of her husband in their first year of marriage, but the ladies of the court, impressed with her intelligence and keenness to please, treated her well. However,
9447-416: The book publishing industry ensures that all significant English language publications from elsewhere in the world are also included. It also has the Federal depository libraries , which must receive a copy of all of the publications of the Government Printing Office . In addition to having a law requiring publishers to deposit books, those countries with legal deposits usually have many other incentives for
9588-425: The books added by him and Henry II are masterpieces of the binder's art. Under librarianship of Jacques Amyot , the collection was transferred to Paris and then relocated on several occasions, a process during which many treasures were lost. Henry IV had it moved to the Collège de Clermont in 1595, a year after the expulsion of the Jesuits from their establishment. In 1604, the Jesuits were allowed to return and
9729-509: The business of finding her a husband. On her visit to Rome, the Venetian envoy described Catherine as "small of stature, and thin, and without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes peculiar to the Medici family". Suitors, however, lined up for her hand, including James V of Scotland who sent the Duke of Albany to Clement to conclude a marriage in April and November 1530. When Francis I of France proposed his second son, Henry, Duke of Orléans , in early 1533, Clement jumped at
9870-412: The celebrations, a jousting tournament was held on 30 June 1559. King Henry took part in the jousting, sporting Diane's black-and-white colours. He defeated the dukes of Guise and Nemours, but the young Gabriel, comte de Montgomery , knocked him half out of the saddle. Henry insisted on riding against Montgomery again, and this time, Montgomery's lance shattered in the king's face. Henry reeled out of
10011-433: The chancellor advocated this policy to an Assembly of Notables at Fontainebleau . Historians regard the occasion as an early example of Catherine's statesmanship. Meanwhile, Condé raised an army and in autumn 1560 began attacking towns in the south. Catherine ordered him to court and had him imprisoned as soon as he arrived. He was tried in November, found guilty of offences against the crown, and sentenced to death. His life
10152-505: The city. In October 1529, Charles's troops laid siege to Florence . As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. Some even suggested that she be handed over to the troops to be raped. The city finally surrendered on 12 August 1530. Clement summoned Catherine from her beloved convent to join him in Rome where he greeted her with open arms and tears in his eyes. Then he set about
10293-477: The clash, his face pouring blood, with splinters "of a good bigness" sticking out of his eye and head. Catherine, Diane, and Prince Francis all fainted. Henry was carried to the Château de Tournelles, where five splinters of wood were extracted from his head, one of which had pierced his eye and brain. Catherine stayed by his bedside, but Diane kept away, "for fear", in the words of a chronicler, "of being expelled by
10434-497: The collection was moved to the Cordeliers Convent , then in 1622 to the nearby Confrérie de Saint-Côme et de Saint-Damien [ fr ] on the rue de la Harpe . The appointment of Jacques Auguste de Thou as librarian initiated a period of development that made it the largest and richest collection of books in the world. He was succeeded by his son who was replaced, when executed for treason, by Jérôme Bignon ,
10575-488: The collections from Rapperswil and Paris created by Polish émigré communities. During World War II the most valuable part of the National Library's holdings – almost 800,000 registered items (including c. 50,000 manuscripts destroyed by German Nazis) – were lost forever. The first national library to establish in the Americas became the National Library of Colombia having been founded on 9 January 1777, as
10716-486: The commander, La Renaudie. Others they drowned in the river or strung up around the battlements while Catherine and the court watched. In June 1560, Michel de l'Hôpital was appointed Chancellor of France . He sought the support of France's constitutional bodies and worked closely with Catherine to defend the law in the face of the growing anarchy. Neither saw the need to punish Protestants who worshipped in private and did not take up arms. On 20 August 1560, Catherine and
10857-460: The court on a progress around France that lasted from January 1564 until May 1565. Catherine held talks with Jeanne d'Albret , the Protestant queen regnant of Navarre (and the wife of Antoine de Bourbon ) at Mâcon and Nérac . She also met her daughter Elisabeth at Bayonne near the Spanish border, amidst lavish court festivities . Philip II excused himself from the occasion. He sent
10998-425: The death of Charles VI , this first collection was unilaterally bought by the English regent of France, the Duke of Bedford , who transferred it to England in 1424. It was apparently dispersed at his death in 1435. Charles VII did little to repair the loss of these books, but the invention of printing resulted in the starting of another collection in the Louvre inherited by Louis XI in 1461. Charles VIII seized
11139-457: The death of her uncle Clement on 25 September 1534 undermined Catherine's standing in the French court. The next pope, Alessandro Farnese, was elected on 13 October and took the title Paul III . As a Farnese he felt no obligation to keep Clement's promises, broke the alliance with Francis and refused to continue paying her huge dowry. King Francis lamented, "The girl has come to me stark naked." Prince Henry showed no interest in Catherine as
11280-403: The deathbed of Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre , after he was fatally wounded by an arquebus shot. Catherine insisted on visiting the field herself and when warned of the dangers laughed, "My courage is as great as yours". The Catholics took Rouen, but their triumph was short-lived. On 18 February 1563, a spy called Poltrot de Méré fired an arquebus into the back of the Duke of Guise , at
11421-473: The domestic libraries of Voltaire and Diderot , which she had purchased from their heirs. Voltaire's personal library is still one of the highlights of the collection. The plan of a Russian public library was submitted to Catherine in 1766 but the Empress did not approve the project for the imperial library until 27 May [ O.S. 16 May] 1795, eighteen months before her death. The cornerstone of
11562-474: The duplicate collections, making it possible, as Napoleon said, to find a copy of any book in France in the National Library. Napoleon furthermore increased the collections by spoil from his conquests. A considerable number of these books were restored after his downfall. During the period from 1800 to 1836, the library was virtually under the control of Joseph Van Praet. At his death it contained more than 650,000 printed books and some 80,000 manuscripts. Following
11703-640: The first of a line of librarians of the same name. Under de Thou, the library was enriched by the collections of Queen Catherine de Medici . The library grew rapidly during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV , due in great part to the interest of Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert , himself a dedicated collector of books. The site in the Rue de la Harpe becoming inadequate, the library was again moved, in 1666, to two adjacent houses in Rue Vivienne. After Colbert, Louis XIV's minister Louvois also took interest in
11844-539: The foreign-language department came from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the form of Załuski's Library (420,000 volumes), nationalized by the Russian government at the time of the partitions . The Polish-language books from the library (numbering some 55,000 titles) were returned to Poland by the Russian SFSR in 1921. Although Germany was only constituted as a state in 1871, the first national library
11985-610: The formation of the British Library. The first true national library was founded in 1753 as part of the British Museum . This new institution was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. The museum's foundations lay in the will of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane , who gathered an enviable collection of curiosities over his lifetime which he bequeathed to
12126-407: The fortress of Carlat, Margaret took a lover called d'Aubiac. Catherine asked Henry to act before Margaret brought shame on them again. In October 1586, therefore, he had Margaret locked up in the Château d'Usson . D'Aubiac was executed, though not, despite Catherine's wish, in front of Margaret. Catherine cut Margaret out of her will and never saw her again. Catherine was unable to control Henry in
12267-469: The founding of a national library, but his proposal was not taken up. In England, Sir Richard Bentley 's Proposal for Building a Royal Library published in 1694 stimulated renewed interest in the subject. Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington , a wealthy antiquarian , amassed the richest private collection of manuscripts in the world at the time and founded the Cotton Library . After
12408-624: The fuse that sparked the French Wars of Religion . For the next thirty years, France found itself in a state of either civil war or armed truce. Within a month Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , and Admiral Gaspard de Coligny had raised an army of 1,800. They formed an alliance with England and seized town after town in France. Catherine met Coligny, but he refused to back down. She therefore told him: "Since you rely on your forces, we will show you ours". The royal army struck back quickly and laid siege to Huguenot-held Rouen . Catherine visited
12549-475: The future Henry III (born 19 September 1551); and Francis, Duke of Anjou (born 18 March 1555), Claude (born 12 November 1547) and Margaret (born 14 May 1553). The long-term future of the Valois dynasty , which had ruled France since the 14th century, seemed assured. However, Catherine's ability to bear children failed to improve her marriage. About 1538, at the age of 19, Henry had taken as his mistress
12690-539: The idea of the Library dates back to 1732 (presented in Programma literarium by Józef Załuski). The library was one of the first national libraries and largest public libraries of eighteenth-century Europe. Following the death of its founders the library became the property of the Polish state and from 1774 was named the Library of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ( Polish : Biblioteka Rzeczypospolitej ). In 1780
12831-549: The institution was renamed the Bibliothèque Nationale . After four centuries of control by the Crown, this great library now became the property of the French people." A new administrative organization was established. Napoleon took great interest in the library and among other things issued an order that all books in provincial libraries not possessed by the Bibliothèque Nationale should be forwarded to it, subject to replacement by exchanges of equal value from
12972-531: The king lived to take responsibility or stabilise the country. Therefore, her policies may be seen as desperate measures to keep the House of Valois on the throne at all costs and her patronage of the arts as an attempt to glorify a monarchy whose prestige was in steep decline. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power. Catherine has been called "the most important woman in Europe" in
13113-616: The king to spend more time with Catherine and sire more children. In 1556, Catherine nearly died giving birth to twin daughters, Jeanne and Victoire . Surgeons saved her life by breaking the legs of Jeanne, who died in her womb. The surviving daughter, Victoire, died seven weeks later. Because their birth very nearly cost Catherine her life, the king's physician advised the king that there should be no more children; therefore, Henry II stopped visiting his wife's bedroom and spent all his time with his longtime mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Catherine had no more children. Henry's reign enabled
13254-589: The king, "You are on the eve of a general revolt. Anyone who tells you differently is a liar." Many leading Roman Catholics were appalled by Catherine's attempts to appease the Huguenots. After the Edict of Beaulieu, they had started forming local leagues to protect their religion. The death of the heir to the throne in 1584 prompted the Duke of Guise to assume the leadership of the Catholic League . He planned to block Henry of Navarre's succession and place Henry's Catholic uncle Cardinal Charles de Bourbon on
13395-454: The largest and most modern libraries in the world, intended to cover all fields of knowledge, and designed to be accessible to all, using the most modern data transfer technologies, which could be consulted from a distance, and which would collaborate with other European libraries". Due to initial trade union opposition, a wireless network was fully installed only in August 2016. In July 1989,
13536-471: The legislation appropriated $ 5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ... and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and three maps, was housed in the new Capitol . The Imperial Public Library was established in 1795 by Catherine the Great , whose private collections included
13677-468: The library and employed Jean Mabillon , Melchisédech Thévenot , and others to procure books from every source. In 1688, a catalogue in eight volumes was compiled. Louvois considered the erection of an opulent building to host it on what would become the Place Vendôme , a project that was however left unexecuted following the minister's death in 1691. The library opened to the public in 1692, under
13818-568: The library materials. Each document has a digital identifier, the so-called ARK ( Archival Resource Key ) of the National Library of France and is accompanied by a bibliographic description. Raoul Rigault , leader during the Paris Commune in 1871, was known for habitually occupying the library and reading endless copies of the newspaper Le Père Duchesne . Alain Resnais directed Toute la mémoire du monde ( transl. All
13959-679: The library of the University of Limerick , the library of Dublin City University , and the British Library . Four copies are to be delivered to the National University of Ireland for distribution to its constituent universities. Further, on demand in writing within twelve months of publication a copy is to be delivered to the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, and
14100-405: The main goals of many a national library is the "export aspect" and the collaborative sides of the universal bibliographic control of all the books in the world. This is done by the exchanges and accords mentioned in the previous section, and also by fostering the creation of standard conceptual tools such as library classification systems and cataloguing rules. The most commonly used of these tools
14241-503: The marriage receded, Catherine's youngest son, Francis, Duke of Alençon , known as "Monsieur", played upon his role as heir to the throne, repeatedly exploiting the anarchy of the civil wars, which were by now as much about noble power struggles as religion. Catherine did all in her power to bring Francis back into the fold. On one occasion, in March 1578, she lectured him for six hours about his dangerously subversive behaviour. In 1576, in
14382-408: The mess. The monarchy had lost control of the country, and was in no position to assist England in the face of the coming Spanish attack. The Spanish ambassador told Philip II that the abscess was about to burst. By 1587, the Catholic backlash against the Protestants had become a campaign across Europe. Elizabeth I of England 's execution of Mary, Queen of Scots , on 8 February 1587 outraged
14523-434: The monarchy were complex and daunting. However, Catherine kept the monarchy and state institutions functioning, if at a minimal level. At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Calvinist Protestants known as Huguenots . However, she failed to fully grasp the theological issues that drove their movement. Later, she resorted in frustration and anger to hardline policies against them. In return, she
14664-428: The mother of the king but the mother of the state. Henry did not tell Catherine of his plan for a solution to his problems. On 23 December 1588, he asked the Duke of Guise to call on him at the Château de Blois . As Guise entered the king's chamber, the Forty-five plunged their blades into his body, and he died at the foot of the king's bed. At the same moment, eight members of the Guise family were rounded up, including
14805-632: The nation for £20,000. Sloane's collection included some 40,000 printed books and 7,000 manuscripts , as well as prints and drawings. The British Museum Act 1753 also incorporated the Cotton library and the Harleian library . These were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library, assembled by various British monarchs . The first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759, and in 1757, King George II granted it
14946-514: The next day: "I am so wretched to live long enough to see so many people die before me, although I realize that God's will must be obeyed, that He owns everything, and that He lends us only for as long as He likes the children whom He gives us." The death of her youngest son was a calamity for Catherine's dynastic dreams. Under Salic law , by which only males could ascend the throne, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre now became heir presumptive to
15087-485: The offer. Henry was a prize catch for Catherine, who, despite her wealth, was of common origin. The wedding, a grand affair marked by extravagant display and gift-giving, took place in the Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins in Marseille on 28 October 1533. Prince Henry danced and jousted for Catherine. The fourteen-year-old couple left their wedding ball at midnight to perform their nuptial duties. Henry arrived in
15228-418: The physician Jean Fernel , who may have noticed slight abnormalities in the couple's sexual organs and advised them how to solve the problem. However, he denied ever providing such advice. Catherine quickly conceived again and on 2 April 1545 she bore a daughter, Elisabeth . She went on to bear Henry a further eight children, seven of whom survived infancy, including the future Charles IX (born 27 June 1550);
15369-540: The political arena as mother of the frail 15-year-old Francis II. When Francis II died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son Charles IX and thus gained sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months. Catherine's three sons reigned in an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France . The problems facing
15510-518: The property of the French people." The library was founded by King Philip V in 1711 as the Royal Library or Palace Public Library. The Royal Letters Patent that he granted, the predecessor of the current legal deposit requirement, made it mandatory for printers to submit a copy of every book printed in Spain to the library. In 1836, the Crown transferred the library to the Ministry of Governance and it
15651-410: The resulting Colloquy of Poissy ended in failure on 13 October 1561, dissolving itself without her permission. Catherine failed because she saw the religious divide only in political terms. In the words of historian R. J. Knecht, "she underestimated the strength of religious conviction, imagining that all would be well if only she could get the party leaders to agree". In January 1562, Catherine issued
15792-557: The right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the museum's library would expand indefinitely. Anthony Panizzi became the Principal Librarian at the British Museum in 1856, where he oversaw its modernization. During his tenure, the library's holdings increased from 235,000 to 540,000 volumes, making it the largest library in the world at the time. Its famous circular Reading Room
15933-427: The rise of the Guise brothers, Charles , who became a cardinal , and Henry's boyhood friend Francis , both of whom became Duke of Guise . Their sister Mary of Guise had married James V of Scotland in 1538 and was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots . At the age of five and a half, Mary was brought to the French court, where she was promised to the Dauphin, Francis. Catherine brought her up with her own children at
16074-491: The royal army ran out of cash, conceded wider toleration to the Huguenots than ever before. Catherine looked to further Valois interests by grand dynastic marriages. In 1570, Charles IX married Elisabeth of Austria , daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor . Catherine was also eager for a match between one of her two youngest sons and Elizabeth I of England . After Catherine's daughter Elisabeth died in childbirth in 1568, she had touted her youngest daughter Margaret as
16215-783: The same country. Some subnational states that wish to preserve their particular cultures have established comparable libraries with all the attributes of national libraries, such as legal deposit . Many national libraries cooperate within the National Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to discuss their common tasks, define and promote common standards and carry out projects helping them to fulfill their duties. National libraries of Europe participate in The European Library . This
16356-535: The services of the architectural firm of Dominique Perrault were retained. The design was recognized with the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 1996. The construction was carried out by Bouygues . Construction of the library ran into huge cost overruns and technical difficulties related to its high-rise design, so much so that it was referred to as the "TGB" or " Très Grande Bibliothèque " ( lit. ' Very Large Library ' ,
16497-407: The siege of Orléans. The murder triggered an aristocratic blood feud that complicated the French civil wars for years to come. Catherine, however, was delighted with the death of her ally. "If Monsieur de Guise had perished sooner", she told the Venetian ambassador, "peace would have been achieved more quickly". On 19 March 1563, the Edict of Amboise , also known as the Edict of Pacification, ended
16638-411: The throne instead. In this cause, he recruited the great Catholic princes, nobles and prelates, signed the treaty of Joinville with Spain, and prepared to make war on the "heretics". By 1585, Henry III had no choice but to go to war against the League. As Catherine put it, "peace is carried on a stick" ( bâton porte paix ). "Take care", she wrote to the king, "especially about your person. There
16779-501: The tolerant Edict of Saint-Germain in a further attempt to build bridges with the Protestants. On 1 March 1562, however, in an incident known as the Massacre of Vassy , the Duke of Guise and his men attacked worshipping Huguenots in a barn at Vassy , killing 74 and wounding 104. Guise, who called the massacre "a regrettable accident", was cheered as a hero in the streets of Paris while the Huguenots called for revenge. The massacre lit
16920-641: The town of Leipzig, seat of the annual Leipzig Book Fair, the Kingdom of Saxony and the Börsenverein der Deutschen Buchhändler (Association of German booksellers) agreed to found a German National Library in Leipzig. Starting 1 January 1913, all publications in German were systematically collected (including books from Austria and Switzerland). The principle of legal deposit applies in some countries. In
17061-445: The use of the Rue de Richelieu complex for some of its collections. The Manuscripts department houses the largest collection of medieval and modern manuscripts worldwide. The collection includes medieval chansons de geste and chivalric romances , eastern literature, eastern and western religions, ancient history, scientific history, and literary manuscripts by Pascal, Diderot, Apollinaire, Proust, Colette, Sartre, etc. The collection
17202-469: The war. Catherine now rallied both Huguenot and Catholic forces to retake Le Havre from the English. On 17 August 1563, Charles IX was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen, but he was never able to rule on his own and showed little interest in government. Catherine decided to launch a drive to enforce the Edict of Amboise and revive loyalty to the crown. To this end, she set out with Charles and
17343-440: The way she had Francis and Charles. Her role in his government became that of chief executive and roving diplomat. She travelled widely across the kingdom, enforcing his authority and trying to head off war. In 1578, she took on the task of pacifying the south. At the age of fifty-nine, she embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the south of France to meet Huguenot leaders face to face. Her efforts won Catherine new respect from
17484-499: The west coast, where Jeanne d'Albret and her fifteen-year-old son, Henry of Bourbon , joined them. "We have come to the determination to die, all of us", Jeanne wrote to Catherine, "rather than abandon our God, and our religion." Catherine called Jeanne, whose decision to rebel posed a dynastic threat to the Valois, "the most shameless woman in the world". Nevertheless, the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , signed on 8 August 1570 because
17625-674: The world, although it has since been surpassed by other libraries for that title. By 1920, the library's collection had grown to 4,050,000 volumes and 11,000 manuscripts. In 2024, the library removed four 19th-century books from its public access, namely two volumes of The Ballads of Ireland published in 1855, a bilingual anthology of Romanian poetry dating from 1856, and book of the Royal Horticultural Society published between 1862 and 1863, after tests indicated that their covers and bindings were coloured using green pigments containing arsenic . The Richelieu site occupies
17766-490: The year before. However, three months after his coronation at Wawel Cathedral , Henry abandoned that throne and returned to France in order to become King of France. Catherine wrote to Henry of Charles IX's death: "I am grief-stricken to have witnessed such a scene and the love which he showed me at the end ... My only consolation is to see you here soon, as your kingdom requires, and in good health, for if I were to lose you, I would have myself buried alive with you." Henry
17907-631: Was Catherine's favourite son. Unlike his brothers, he came to the throne as a grown man. He was also healthier, though he suffered from weak lungs and constant fatigue. His interest in the tasks of government, however, proved fitful. He depended on Catherine and her team of secretaries until the last few weeks of her life. He often hid from state affairs, immersing himself in acts of piety, such as pilgrimages and flagellation . Henry married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont in February 1575, two days after his coronation. His choice thwarted Catherine's plans for
18048-489: Was Claude Mallet, the king's valet de chambre, who made a sort of catalogue, Inventoire des Livres du Roy nostre Seigneur estans au Chastel du Louvre . Jean Blanchet made another list in 1380 and Jean de Bégue one in 1411 and another in 1424. Charles V was a patron of learning and encouraged the making and collection of books. It is known that he employed Nicholas Oresme , Raoul de Presles (conseiller de Charles V) [ fr ] , and others to transcribe ancient texts. At
18189-492: Was an Italian ( Florentine ) noblewoman born into the Medici family . She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French kings Francis II , Charles IX , and Henry III . The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France. Catherine
18330-529: Was blamed for the persecutions carried out under her sons' rules, in particular the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, during which thousands of Huguenots were killed in France. Some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, but evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters. In practice, her authority was limited by the effects of the civil wars, and she suffers in comparison to what might have been had her husband
18471-756: Was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino , and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne . In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France , who would become Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by her cousin Pope Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici). During his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from state affairs, instead showering favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers , who wielded much influence over him. Henry's sudden accidental death in 1559 thrust Catherine into
18612-408: Was never in a position to control the country as a whole, which was on the brink of civil war. In many parts of France the rule of nobles held sway rather than that of the crown. The challenges Catherine faced were complex and, in some ways, difficult for her to comprehend as a foreigner. She summoned church leaders from both sides to attempt to solve their doctrinal differences. Despite her optimism,
18753-501: Was opened in 1857. Panizzi undertook the creation of a new catalogue, based on the "Ninety-One Cataloguing Rules" (1841) which he devised with his assistants. These rules served as the basis for all subsequent catalogue rules of the 19th and 20th centuries, and are at the origins of the ISBD and of digital cataloguing elements such as Dublin Core . In France, the first national library was
18894-555: Was raised by her aunt, Clarice de' Medici . The death of Pope Leo in 1521 briefly interrupted Medici power until Cardinal Giulio de' Medici was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523. Clement housed Catherine in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, where she lived in state. The Florentine people called her duchessina ("the little duchess"), in deference to her unrecognised claim to the Duchy of Urbino. In 1527,
19035-580: Was re-founded after Poland regained its independence in 1918, and formally opened in 1928 under the Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland . Following the Treaty of Riga of 1921, most of the manuscripts of Zaluski Library and a large proportion of the prints were returned to Warsaw from Soviet Russia . National Library of Poland also included the collections of other Warsaw-based libraries and
19176-562: Was renamed as National Library of Spain . A year later, women were allowed access to the library for the first time, after a petition from writer Antonia Gutiérrez was granted by Queen Regent Maria Christina . The National Library of Poland continues the tradition of the Załuski Library . The Załuski Library was opened to readers in Warsaw on 8 August 1747, thanks to Józef Załuski's cooperation with his brother Andrzej Załuski , but
19317-609: Was saved by the illness and death of the king, as a result of an infection or an abscess in his ear. When Catherine realized Francis was going to die, she made a pact with Antoine de Bourbon by which he would renounce his right to the regency of the future king, Charles IX , in return for the release of his brother Condé. As a result, when Francis died on 5 December 1560, the Privy Council appointed Catherine as governor of France ( gouvernante de France ), with sweeping powers. She wrote to her daughter Elisabeth: "My principal aim
19458-778: Was set up in the context of the German revolutions of 1848 . Various booksellers and publishers offered their works to the Frankfurt Parliament for a parliamentary library. The library, led by Johann Heinrich Plath, was termed the Reichsbibliothek (" Reich library"). After the failure of the revolution the library was abandoned and the stock of books already in existence was stored at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. In 1912,
19599-649: Was succeeded by the Abbé Bignon , or Bignon II as he was termed, who instituted a complete reform of the library's system. Catalogues were made which appeared from 1739 to 1753 in 11 volumes. The collections increased steadily by purchase and gift to the outbreak of the French Revolution , at which time it was in grave danger of partial or total destruction, but owing to the activities of Antoine-Augustin Renouard and Joseph Van Praet it suffered no injury. The library's collections swelled to over 300,000 volumes during
19740-509: Was to force Diane de Poitiers to hand over the crown jewels and return the Château de Chenonceau to the crown. She later did her best to efface or outdo Diane's building work there. The Guise brothers set about persecuting the Protestants with zeal. Catherine adopted a moderate stance and spoke against the Guise persecutions, though she had no particular sympathy for the Huguenots, whose beliefs she never shared. The Protestants looked for leadership first to Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre ,
19881-466: Was walking back to his rooms from the Louvre when a shot rang out from a house and wounded him in the hand and arm. A smoking arquebus was discovered in a window, but the culprit had made his escape from the rear of the building on a waiting horse. Coligny was carried to his lodgings at the Hôtel de Béthisy, where the surgeon Ambroise Paré removed a bullet from his elbow and amputated a damaged finger with
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