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Pacifying the Kingdom of France at the Beginning of the Wars of Religion: Historiography, Sources, and Examples

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Pacifying the Kingdom of France at the Beginning of the Wars of Religion: Historiography, Sources, and Examples chapter 4 Pacifying the Kingdom of France at the Beginning of the Wars of Religion: Historiography, Sources, and Examples Jérémie Foa 1 Introduction Contrary to popular perceptions, the Wars of Religion that disrupted French society from the 1560s to the early 1600s did not constitute an uninterrupted stretch of violence or a relentless parade of battles. Rather, beginning with the reign of Charles ix (1560–1574), the crown thought of itself as an agent of har­ mony and peace.1 It tried by every means possible to contain the religious hos­ tilities by devising ambitious programs, often from start to finish, aimed at reducing conflict and enabling its Catholic and Protestant subjects to coexist in the same city, the same street, and sometimes the same house.2 The task was not easy, since memories were bitter and cried out for vengeance. People were repulsed by the idea of having to live with heretics, enemies but yesterday and a likely future threat to the salvation of all. For the crown, making peace required distinguishing between faithful Chris­ tians and loyal subjects, desacralizing the political community, and detaching, at least partially, the terrestrial and celestial spheres. Although still thought to be mired in religious error, the Huguenots, by virtue of the edicts of pacifica­ tion (the Edict of Amboise in March 1563, the Peace of Longjumeau in March 1568, and the Edict of Saint­Germain in August 1570),3 received for the first time the inalienable rights held by all the king’s subjects, regardless of their religious position. It meant the guarantee of their persons and property, eligi­ bility for public offices, and freedom of conscience as well as a limited right to 1 Denis Crouzet, Le haut cœur de Catherine de Médicis, une raison politique aux temps de la Saint-Barthélemy (Paris: 2005). 2 Olivier Christin, L’autonomisation de la raison politique au XVIe siècle (Paris:1997); idem, “Citoyenneté ou parité? Deux modèles de coexistence confessionnelle au XVIe siècle,” in La tolérance. Colloque international de Nantes, (ed.) Guy Saupin (Rennes: 1999), 133–40. 3 The best edition of the edicts of pacification, established under the direction of Bernard Barbiche, can be found online: “L’Edit de Nantes et ses antécédents” (http://elec.enc .sorbonne.fr/editsdepacification/). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi �0.��63/97890043�0377_006 <UN> Pacifying the Kingdom of France at the Beginning of the Wars 91 public worship. While compelled by “the necessities of the times” to authorize the Reformed religion in his kingdom in the hope of maintaining peace and preserving unity, the young Charles ix encountered intense opposition to this conciliatory policy. The traditional pillars of royal authority (parlements, bailli- ages, governors, municipalities and the like) were especially opposed. Thus, in order to execute his reviled policy and bypass a recalcitrant administration, the king dispatched “commissioners for the application of the edicts of pacifi­ cation.” They were men chosen by him alone from among his most faithful officials, dismissible at will and not accountable except to him. They numbered twenty for the Edict of Amboise and fifteen for the Edict of Saint­Germain.4 At this singular moment, he played the extraordinary (the new commissioners) against the ordinary (traditional officials). Given the necessities of the times, the king felt authorized to skirt the law and increase his interference. Endowed with substantial executive and judicial power, the commissioners were dis­ patched in pairs to travel the roads, each in his own “department,” and charged with applying the pacification legislation and settling the differences between Protestants and Catholics.5 Following a brief historiographical introduction, we will turn to the princi­ pal sources for the “process of pacification” in France, focusing on the particu­ lar example of the commissioners of the edicts during the reign of Charles ix. The commissioners were witnesses as well as players of the first order in the study of the process that was set in motion to establish peace following the religious conflict. What were the destabilizing issues resulting from the wars that required urgent repair? How were yesterday’s belligerents to be reconciled in the absence of common religious points of reference? What balance was to be found between the right to justice and the practical need to forget past offenses? These were questions that vexed the commissioners. They tried to respond step by step through a policy of local accommodation rather than by setting a universal standard devised in the shadowy corridors of power. Put differently, the pacification process enables us to learn what the Huguenots endured during the wars and what their hopes were upon the return of peace. It is an invaluable observation point for understanding what it meant to sur­ vive in a civil war. 4 Jérémie Foa, Le tombeau de la paix: Une histoire des édits de pacification, 1560–1572 (Limoges: 2015); idem, “Making Peace: The Commissions for Enforcing the Pacification Edicts in the Reign of Charles ix (1560–1574),” French History 18 (2004), 256–74. 5 Commission expédiée par le Roy pour envoyer par les provinces de ce royaume certains commis- saires pour faire entretenir l’edict et traicté sur la pacification des troubles advenuz en iceluy (Paris: 1563). <UN>.
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