support the papal cause for the reason that the French crown was in alignment with the party of church reform. In a word the relations of France to Martin V. during the period of transition which followed the council of Constance may be characterized as follows: on the English side a complete accord, though one radically inconsistent; on the French side an attitude of independence of the Holy See more apparent than real.
The double policy of the Duke of Bedford is partially to be explained by the fact that he was the English regent in France. Yet Bedford's conduct has never been entirely explained. M. Valois does not make the attempt, but is skeptical of Luce's explanation to the effect that Bedford needed the pope's support in order to put an end to the dissension between his brother the Duke of Gloucester and his ally the Duke of Burgundy. Bedford's advocacy of the papal cause was far from being disinterested and was not even wholly a matter of politics. He seems to have hoped to obtain concessions from the Holy See as reward for his support. When Martin V. refused, Bedford in retaliation labored to restore the "liberties", but was too cautious to abandon his old course and finally executed the constitution of Martin V. of April 13, 1425, in spite of the opposition of the parlement of Paris.
In concluding his preface M. Valois modestly says: "I do not flatter myself that I have exhausted the subject even thus limited [that is, between the dates 1418-1461]. Upon certain points it will be possible to enter more into detail. I do not think, however, that future research will sensibly modify the great lines of the present work" (p. vii). He refers enthusiastically to a forthcoming work of a member of the École Française de Rome, M. F. Eugène Martin-Chabot: Nicolas V., Charles VII. et la Pragmatique Sanction: Essai stir le Régime des Bénéfices Ecclésiastiques de France de 1447 à 1455. But it is devoutly to be wished that the narrow stipend allowed by the French government for publication of the dissertations of students of the École des Chartes and the École des Hautes Études may soon be increased. In 1897 M. Henri Chassériaud sustained a thesis entitled Étude sur la Pragmatique Sanction sous le Règne de Louis XI., and in 1902 M. Robert Huard followed with a brilliant study upon La Régence du Duc de Bedford à Paris de 1422 à 1435 (see Positions des Thèses de l'École Nationale des Chartes, 1897, 1902). Both these dissertations are still unprinted.
This volume of lectures "together with that forthcoming on the French Revolution will form the chief though not the only monument"
