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Xerox University Microfilms 900 North Zaab Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48100 74-10,906 ACQUARIO, Thomas Joseph, 1945- AGRIPPA DtAUBIGNBtS HISTOIRE UNIVERSELLE: OBJECTIVITY AND PARTISANSHIP. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1973 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1974 THOMAS JOSEPH ACQUARIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. AGRIPPA D'AUBIGNfi'S HISTQIRE UNIVERSELLE: OBJECTIVITY AND PARTISANSHIP DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Thomas Joseph Acquario, B.A., M.A The Ohio State University 1973 Reading Committee: Approved by Eleanor W. Bulatkin Charles Carlut Gilbert Jarvis Department of Romance Languages and Literature VITA October 7, 1945 . Born - New York City 1967 ............... B.A., Siena College, Loudonville, New York 1967-1968 .......... N.D.E.A. Fellow in French at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968 ............... H.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1970-1973 .......... Teaching Associate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Department: Romance Languages and Literatures Major Field: Sixteenth Century French Literature Study on Agrippa d'Aubign€. Professor Robert Cottrell Minor Field: Medieval, Renaissance and Nineteenth Century Italian Literature. Professor Albert Mancini ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page VITA .................................................. ii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ................... 1 Etat Present Publication History Form and Shape of the Text II. SIXTEENTH CENTURY HISTORICAL PRODUCTION, OBJECTIVITY AND MILITARY ORIENTATION.......... 49 Histories, Memoirs and Pamphlets Henri de Navarre and the Protestant Cause Truth and Objectivity as Goals of the HiBtolre Universelle Military Orientation of the Histoire Universelle III. QUOTATION, ANECDOTE AND PORTRAITURE IN THE HISTOIRE UNIVERSELLE..............................122 Quotation: Objectivity and Theatricality Soldier, Humorous and Dramatic Anecdote Literary Portraiture IV. SUPERSTITION, THE SUPERNATURAL AND MYSTERY IN THE HISTOIRE U N I V E R S E L L E ..................... 178 Miracles | Dream Predictions and Magic Mystery and Assassination V. CONCLUSION TO THE TEXT ............................217 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................... 223 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND In 1616 Theodore Agrlppa d'Aubign6, the sixty-four year old Protestant soldier whose blunt candor and in­ transigence had become legendary during the civil and religious wars that marked French history during the latter half of the sixteenth century, completed two works that were to assure him of literary fame. The first was Lea Traqiques, perhaps the greatest epic poem in French literature. The second was the first volume of his Histoire Universelle, the work which d'Aubign£ considered to be his "grande oeuvre." Valuing the Histoire Universelle above Les Tragiques, d'Aubignd began his history with a dedication proudly addressed to posterity. Later genera­ tions, however, have devoted more critical attention to the Tragiques and to d'Aubign6's other volume of poetry, Le Printemps, than to his prose works, which include not only the Histoire and his memoirs entitled Sa Vie a Ses Enfants (published in 1729) but also several shorter pieces the most notable of which are the fictional Avantures du Baron de Faeneste (1617-1630) and a satire, La Confession du Sieur de Sancy (I960). 1 Past and Present Studies on the Histoire Universelle A first area of investigation in this examination of the Histoire Universelle will be a brief summation of re­ actions to the work from the time of its composition to twentieth century views and criticism of the text. While Brantdme, a voice from the sixteenth century , says in his "Capitaines Illustres” that "d'Aubignd est bon pour la plume et pour le poil, car il est bon capitaine et soldat, trds savant et tr6s eloquent et bien disant s'il en fut onques,"1 it is actually the lack of response to d'Aubignd's history from his contemporaries that is ironically the first significant reaction to be noted. As Geuch;en Ellerbroek puts it: nIls ne s'occupent gu&re de 1'oeuvre: il est vrai que le silence peut aussi Btre un jugement et rarement approbateur. "2 The fact of its publi cation at the end of the second decade of the seventeenth century at a time when the extreme intensity and the emo­ tional involvement of the religious wars had died down is, of course, reason enough to explain this lack of interest 1Pierre de Bourdelle, seigneur de Brantdme, Oeuvres Completes, ed. Ludovic Lalanne (Paris: Chez Mme Renouard, 1865), V, p. 268. *Geuchien Ellerbroek, Observations sur la Lanque de d'Aubigne (Enschede: M. J. Van Der Loeff, 1925), p. 15. in the work of a Protestant partisan dealing essentially with military events between 15G2-1602. One of the very few statements about d'Aubign€ and his history in the seventeenth century is this comment by Charles Sorel in his BibliothSque frangoises Le sieur d'Aubignfi . s'est monstr£ plus partial que tout autre exaltant beaucoup les Huguenots et ne faisant pas assez d'estime des Catholiques. Sur tout on le doit blSnter d'avoir taschd de rendre le Roy Henri III, non seulement ridicule et m6prisable, mais odieux a toute la post£rit&, par les contes qu'il en a faits, comrae celuy du Marchand de Lyon. On peut dire que ce conte et quelques autres qui touchent les Rois et les Princes de la Maison de France ressemblent aux Fictions de quelque Roman Satyrique plGtot qu'a une Histoire. Si on a estime ce livre de d'AubignS, c'est pource que les expeditions de querre y sont assez naivement d€crites, comme par un homme qui estoit du metier . son style brusque et martial a eu le don de plaire a quelques personnes . il avoit 1 'esprit propre a la Satyre; c'est pourquoi ce qu'il falloit moderer dans une Histoire veritable et importante.3 Sorel, interestingly enough, expresses strong reservations about partiality, especially concerning the episode at Lyon in which d'Aubignfi, mentioning similar accounts by two . catholic historians, actually goes to great length to guarantee his credibility. This particulal critique of both Protestant bias and naivete of description might very well represent the reason for much of the seventeenth cen­ tury' s reluctance to consider the Histoire Universelle as a serious work worthy of comment. There is also, however, 3 Quoted by Ellerbroek, p. 15. the important presence of d 'Aubign6'a remarkable grand­ daughter, Mme de Maintenon, who as mistress of Iiouis XIV, a staunch supporter of the Catholic church, was very much embarrassed by her family connections with the reformed religion. One needs very little imagination, of course, to predict the effect such influential embarrassment had on the literary reputation of d'Aubign€ in the seventeenth century, a situation which Harry Sauerwein sums up very well: During the time of his granddaughter, Mme de Main tenon, who shone in the most exalted sphere, many persons would have been employed in collecting the various incidents of his life and presenting him in full luster to the world had not his attachment to the reformed religion been considered, even by her, as a crime that overbalanced all his virtues.4 The eighteenth century, which did not react with any increase of interest to d'Aubigng'B history, produced accordingly very little significant commentary on the work. The only biography of d'AubignS in the century, for ex­ ample, was published in