Theodore Beza and the quest for peace in France, 1572-1598 Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Manetsch, Scott Michael, 1959- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 08/10/2021 13:21:14 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289544 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the tact directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter &ce, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproductioii is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Infonnation Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Aibor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THEODORE BEZA AND THE QUEST FOR PEACE IN FRANCE, 1572 - 1598 by Scott Michael Manetsch A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1997 UMI Number: 9738954 UMI Microform 9738954 Copyright 1997, by URU Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against wiauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Scott Michael Manetsch entitled Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572 - 1598 and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy / / Prof./Alan BeVnstein Date r// /f/ Prof. Helen Nader Date/ / Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation r.qyij-ement. , Dissertation Director Date Prof. Heiko A. Oberman 3 STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained by the author. SIGNED: // 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with pleasure and gratitude that I acknowledge a number of people who, in sharing their expertise, wisdom, and encouragement, have contributed so much to the completion of this dissertation. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Heiko A. Oberman for his untiring support and attention during my graduate smdies at the University of Arizona. This dissertation is in large part a product of his remarkable kindness and concern. I wish also to thank Professors Alan Bernstein and Helen Nader, members of my doctoral committee, for carefully reading and suggesting valuable revisions to drafts of this work. So too, I am gratefiil for the many words of encouragement that Luise Betterton shared during the most intense months of research and writing. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to a number of colleagues in Geneva, Switzerland who provided invaluable advice and assistance. Professor Francis Higman and the researchers of the Institut d'histoire de la R^ormation welcomed me warmly and were generous in sharing their time and knowledge of sixteenth-century sources. In particular, I wish to thank Reinhard Bodenmann for his friendship, hospitality, and patience with my many questions. I am indebted as well to the editors of Beza's Correspondance, Alain Dufour and Beatrice Nicollier-de Week, who helped me interpret several difficult letters and introduced me to Swiss culmre over coffee. My research in Geneva was funded by a grant from the Fulbright Conmiission and was facilitated by the ready assistance of librarians at the Bibliotheque publique et universitaire and the Archiv d'Etat de Geneve. Finally, I wish to thank my dear wife Cathy for her patience, support, and love during these long years of graduate school. This dissertation—and the lessons learned along the way—are in no small part the result of her encouragement and prayers. 5 To Cathy, with my deepest appreciation and love. Proverbs 31:10-11 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 ABSTRACT 10 INTRODUCTION 12 Theodore Beza and the Refugees 12 The 'French Connection' 22 I. SAINT BARTHOLOMEW AND ITS AFTERMATH, 1572-1576 50 The French Diaspora 53 The Charpentier Affair 70 Under the Cross 77 History and Hysteria 83 The Genevan Triumvirate 92 The Politics of Resistance 106 The Trumpeter of War 119 n. THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE, 1576-1584 130 The Search for Security 133 Courting a Prince 144 The Catholic Offensive 157 The Jesuit Threat 166 Protecting the Past 178 m. THE RETURN OF NAVARRE, 1584-1589 193 The Catholic League 195 The Right to Rule 201 The Campaign Against Apostasy 219 Responding to Rome 225 The Return of Navarre 232 The Theatre of God's Providence 246 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued IV. THE TEMPTATIONS OF 'DAVID,' 1589-1593 260 Counsel for a King 263 Mirrors for a Prince 276 Old Problems, New Fears 285 No Middle Ground 294 The Lescaille Controversy 309 The Sins of David 325 V. THE PATH TO NANTES, 1594-1598 337 Standing in the Breach 340 The Great 'Apostasy' 356 The Age of Iron 367 The Affair of de Serres 378 The Last Protestant Bourbon 400 Stemming the Tide 410 The Edict of Nantes 424 CONCLUSIONS 434 APPENDIX A 445 APPENDIX B 447 REFERENCES 449 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1, France during the Wars of Religion 23 FIGURE 2, Protestant Churches in 1562 41 FIGURE 3, Title Page of the//isfoire (1580) 129 FIGURE 4, The Bourbon Succession 204 FIGURE 5, Geneva and Her Neighbors 414 9 ABBREVIATIONS Aymon Aymon, Jean. Tous les Synodes Nationaux des Eglises de France. 2 Vols. La Haye, 1710, Bibliographie Gardy, Frederic. Bibliogrc^hie des oeuvres ... de Theodore de Beze. Geneve: Librairie Droz, 1960. BHR Bibliotheque d'humanisme et renassaince. Vols. 1-58 (1941- 1996). Bulletin Bulletin de la societe de I'histoire du protestantisme frangais 1-142 (1853-1996). CB Correspondance de Theodore de Beze. Eds. Hippolyte Aubert, Henri Meylan, Alain Dufour, et al. Vols. 1-19. Geneve: Librairie Droz, 1960-1996. CDM Chaix, Paul, A. Dufour, and G. Moeckli. Les livres imprimes a Gen^e de 1550-1600. Geneve: Librairie Droz, 1966. CO loannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia. Eds. G. Baum, E. Cunitz, E. Reuss. Brunsvigae, 1863-1900. 59 vols. Friedlaender Friedlaender, Gottlieb. Sammlung ungedruckter Briefe des Reuchlin, Beza und Bullinger nebst einem Anhange zur Geschichte der Jesuiten. Berlin, 1837. FP Haag, Eugene and Emile, eds. La France protestante. 10 Vols. Paris, 1877-1888. Geisendorf Geisendorf, Paul. Theodore de Beze. Geneve: Alexandre JuUien, editeur, 1967. OER Hillerbrand, Hans, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the R^ormation. 4 Vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. RC Registers of the Small Council. Archives d'Etat de Geneve. Vols. 67-101 (1572-1605). RCP Registers de la Compagnie des pasteurs de Geneve au temps de Calvin. Eds. J. F. Bergier, R. Kingdon, Olivier Fatio, et al. Vols. 1-8. Geneve: Librairie Droz, 1962-1986. sa Sixteenth Century Journal. Vols. 1-28 (1970-1997). 10 ABSTRACT "Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France" examines the changing political strategies and religious attitudes of French Protestant leaders between the Saint Bartholomew's day massacres (1572) and the Edict of Nantes (1598). The hand-picked successor of John Calvin in 1564, Theodore Beza was an influential teacher, preacher, and power-broker in Geneva, as well as a prominent exiled leader of the French Reformed churches during the next four decades. Drawing on Beza's correspondence network, city archival materials and rare Huguenot pamphlets, I reconstruct the survival tactics of French Protestants in response to Catholic advances, document the decline in Huguenot expectations after 1572, and examine how social and political factors created widening ideological fissures within the Reformed movement by century's end.