The first edition of Gabriel Naudé's Considerations politiques sur les coups d'état bears the imprint Rome, 1639. The place of publication is almost certainly false, and the actual date of publication might have been somewhat later. The book was reprinted many times in the late seventeenth century and was translated into several other languages. It enjoyed a wide and lasting influence on European political discourse, and its title gave currency to a locution still common, though now with a slightly different meaning. Naudé's coups d'état do not always involve the overthrow of a government: His usage includes the modern meaning but extends beyond it to encompass any extraordinary act by which a state, a religion, or a constitution is established. The founding of Rome, of the Hebrew nation at the time of the Exodus, and of the Muslim religion all qualify as coups d'état, as do the giving of laws by Romulus or Moses. In addition, a coup can occur whenever extraordinary or surprising means are employed to maintain an existing state, especially when these involve the use (or abuse) of religion as an instrument of state: The conversion of Henry IV of France and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre were just as much coups d'état as the sudden military usurpations and palace revolts to which modern use of the term has been limited.