Acknowledgements
Towards the end of the 1520s, the decade when François Hotman was born, France suffered an outbreak of plague. It seems curiously appropriate that five centuries later the present text, unpublished in its authorâs lifetime, has been prepared for publication in circumstances dictated by a pandemic of global impact. In these circumstances travel has been severely restricted, libraries and university campuses have suffered closure, and interaction with fellow-scholars has depended almost entirely upon electronic means of communication. I am therefore even more than usually grateful to the staff of the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull, who by some means of other have managed to make books and other published materials available to me.
I am deeply indebted to a number of friends and colleagues, not only for their continued encouragement of my work, but also for practical services. It was Mark Greengrass who suggested that I attempt an edition of François Hotmanâs Antitribonian, and in due course gave my draft Introduction a critical reading in his usual constructive style. For astute, indeed salutary, comments on the Introduction Glenn Burgess has once again earned my warm thanks. Yet neither the Introduction nor the rest of the volume would have found a publisher had it not been for the kind interventions of Quentin Skinner and George Garnett, the latter of whom compounded my obligation to him by giving the Introduction another perceptive reading when demands upon his time were especially heavy. Mention of publishers prompts me also to thank Brillâs anonymous reader for some useful comments; and, not least, the administrator of the series in which the book has found its place, Marcella Mulder, for her helpfulness and efficiency at every stage of the publication process.
Even so, my greatest obligations are to the members of my family, sources of emotional support of a kind without which academic work can be onerous indeed. To one of them the book is dedicated. And to my wife, Gaynor, I owe more than I could ever express, not only for our children, but also for companionship of unfailing interest and delight, over so many memorable years.
HALl
Hull
May 2021