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Section I

June 1635-January 1636


Roi ne puis, prince ne daigne, Rohan suis[1]


1) There have been many tries at making snappy English translations of this motto of the Rohan family, none of them very successful, partly because of the disparate meanings of the word “prince” in French and English and partly because the English word “deign” is obsolete but has no other one-syllable equivalent. The meaning, if not the pithiness, is conveyed by: I can’t be king; I don’t condescend to be a feudal subordinate; I am Rohan.


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Framed