Claude FLEURY (1641-1723) priest and writer (of the Académie Française), author of an important Histoire ecclésiastique; assistant to Fénelon as sub-preceptor to the Duke of Burgundy, he became confessor to Louis XV. Autograph manuscript on the Peers, [April 1699]; 5 pages in-4. Text intended for the education of the Duke of Burgundy. Fleury explains the formation of the nobility and the birth of dignities: counts, lords, peers; role of bishops and assemblies; until 1576 when Henry III gives rank to the princes of the blood before the peers... "Nobility comes from the Franks and other conquering barbarians with whom the Gauls or free Romans were confused in the following. Roturiers come from the slaves with whom in times of disorder the free poor were confused. Fiefs come from the lands given originally to the francs to make the service of war has proportion "... A L.A.S. from Fleury, Versailles June 26, 1694 (page in-4), speaking of Father La Chaise, to whom he made an approach, is attached.