Document Record

Creator

France. Bibliothèque nationale.

Title

Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des manuscrits : Collection Baluze

Identifier

lac_mikan_100388
100388
MG 7 IA 4
R11313-13-7-F
Government
History of French Canada
oocihm.lac_mikan_100388

Document source

Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

Language

French

Description

The Bibliothèque nationale de France is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. It 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 library grew rapidly during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, due in great part to the interest of the Minister of Finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619 - 1683), who was a huge collector of books. The library moved to various locations over time and opened to the public in 1692. 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. Today, the library’s 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.
Étienne Baluze (1630 - 1718) was curator of the library belonging to Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) and to his son, the Marquis de Seignelay, from about 1667 to 1700. The collection of his manuscripts was purchased by the National Library in 1719. The document in this collection is a committee of the King granting Nicolas Gargot de La Rochette (1619 - 1664), comte de plaisance, the command of Newfoundland.

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_100388