Louis Prosper Gachard and the edition of Margarita de Parma's correspondence

Abstract

The work that was carried out in the 19th century by archivists like Louis Prosper Gachard, focused on the correspondence of the governors of the Netherlands during the 16th century, as well as on other topics, has been and is a reference for the edition of epistolaries. The documents were scattered in different European archives and editing them was necessary. This paper aims to analyze the conditions under which these works took place, the spirit that encouraged them, and the results that were obtained. It is necessary to review this enormous work in order to continue it. In the first place, not to repeat what was already done and, secondly, to continue a work that still deserves the admiration of historians, philologists and archivists.