«NOTES» BY THE DUKE DE SULLY AS A SOURCE ON THE HISTORY OF FRANCE OF THE 16th CENTURY

The article analyzes the Notes by the Duke de Sully as an important source on the history of religious wars in France of the 16th century and the reign of King Henry IV. According to the fact that Sully was one of the most active participants in religious wars, being at the same time a close friend Henry of Navarre and the fact that later he actually took the post of his first minister Sully's Notes are undoubtedly the most valuable historical source on the history of the 16th century France. The peculiarity and significance of the Notes of the Duke de Sully unlike well-known memoirs of his contemprorary Theodore Agrippa d'Obigne consists in the fact that the author does not conine himself to purely personal memoirs but represents the contemporary epoch in all its diversity. It can be preconditioned by the fact that de Sully was not only an active participant of the Religious Wars in France of 16th century but was involved in the most important events as an eminent french statesman and immediate predecessor of the famous cardinal de Richelieu. Quite interesting is how Sully assessed the absolute monarchy as a form of state power. It is not a secret that many of his fellow-countrymen for example J.Bodin and F.Hotman sometimes expressed diametrically opposed opinions on this matter. For the Duke de Sully himself the absolute monarchy was the highest achievement of state building and the best form of state power. He believed that it was with absolute monarchy that all the members of society were in unity and obedience to the single head of state, which is the key to France s prosperity in present, and well-being of the country in future. A certain place in the article is devoted to the history of the irst translation of the Notes after the Duke de Sully into the Russian language carried out in the last third of the 18th century by the M. I. Verevkin. It is stressed that this translation is not the only, but the most complete one; it is defined by the role of the translator in the work on the original text and its interpretation.

notes, king, minister, state, religion, religious wars, Catholics, Huguenots, league, absolutism, i-nancier, subjects

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