Cremieu, 1536, restricting the jurisdiction of the seigneurs, and that
of Villers-Cotterets, 1539, designed to put an end to the encroachments
of the tribunals of the bishops upon those of the king, and restricting
their competence to spiritual or ecclesiastical causes only. Of the
principal offices of the crown, four were held by men of legal lore,
_hommes de robe longue_,--that of grand chancellor, who held the royal
seal and without whose advice nothing important could be decided; that
of the secretaries of State; that of the presidents, counsellors,
avocats, and all those to whom the administration of civil and criminal
justice was confided throughout the realm, and that of the treasurers,
precepteurs and receivers who administered the royal revenues. The
superior officers of justice and finance enjoyed privileges of nobility
which, while still confining them to their rank in society, exempted
them from various imposts and charges.

[Illustration: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ON THE QUAI D'ORSAY.]

Henri II was obliged, after the loss of the battle of Saint-Quentin, in
August, 1557, to convene an assembly of notables, in which the members
of the Parlement sat apart, like a fourth order in the State, below the
nobles but above the _tiers etat_. There were still survivals of the
feudal epoch in the administration,--the Connetable was invested with
authority over the army and the Grand Admiral over the fleet, but the
era of _ministries_ was beginning. "The _clercs du secret_, become
_secretaires d'Etat_ (in 1547), had in charge the correspondence of the
king on all public affairs. An ordinance of Henri II, in 1547, fixed
their number at four, each of them corresponding with a quarter of the
provinces of the kingdom and a quarter of the foreign countries. The
special attributions are of a later date; thus, all the affairs of the
_maison du roi_ and, later, of ecclesiastical affairs, were assigned to
one of them. The other three were: in 1619 and in 1636, war; in 1626,
foreign affairs; under Louis XIV, the marine; which did not prevent them
from apportioning France geographically among themselves for those
affairs which remained common to them all. The Chancelier was chief of
the department of justice, and the Surintendant, of that of finances.
The police, that great arm of monarchical times, was commencing."

The Parlement of Paris, however, cannot, by any means, be presented
always as maintaining a more or less courag