'Et de sa bouche sortait un glaive': les monarchomaques au XVIe siècle — Actes de la journée d'étude tenue à Tours en mai 2003 (review)

The term 'monarchomac', both by etymology and by sound, has an ominous ring to it. Coined by Barclay in 1600 to refer to those who sought to overthrow or even kill their monarch, it is normally applied by French historians mainly to those political works which appeared after the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre and, for the purposes of this study, have in common 'l'opposition à la tyrannie, l'idée de contrat, la théorie de la souveraineté partagée, celle enfin de l'obéissance conditionnelle' (p. 7). The seven contributions, preceded by a short but pertinent introduction, are divided into three parts. In the first, the writings of the French monarchomacs are replaced in the European tradition. Thierry Ménissier examines the debate over the nature of obedience. Readers of Machiavelli had the impression that their world reflected his in that it was a place where the strong could assert themselves and take power and then maintain it through ruse and stratagems. The dissent between Protestants and Catholics highlighted the spiritual and temporal aspects of their differences. Montaigne, the monarchomacs and Bodin all revealed the new trends in political thought, if not in the same way. Cornel Zwierlein examines the case of Savonarola's resistance to the Pope and then the evolution in German Protestant thinking about the need for self-defence. We see how Luther was forced to change his stance and how it was subsequently modified by Bucer.

In Part 2, Paul-Alexis Mellet considers whether it was the St Bartholomew's Day massacre which was the inspirational force behind the monarchomac writings. He shows, convincingly, how many of the ideas that they developed were circulating before 1572 and that they had a European dimension. This latter idea is illustrated by Hugues Daussy, who illustrates how the Vindiciae contra tyrannos(attributed by him to Plessis Du Mornay), published in the Low Countries in 1578-9, was consonant with the poitical situation there and emphasizes the European dimension of the work. Robert M. Kingdon considers whether Théodore de Bèze was in favour of regicide. Nowhere has he found in Bèze's work a definite statement to this effect; on resistance, yes, but on assassination, no. The final section contains an interesting contribution by Arlette Jouanna on the evolving concept of a social contract and of being able to negotiate with a ruler. Isabelle Bouvignies provides another aspect of the development of political thought by discussing how Bodin shapes his absolutist and autonomous theories. This relatively short collection of essays is important for the stress it lays upon the greater European context of the monarchomac writings and for the sensitive way in which it follows the intricacies of the evolution of political theory in the face of long accepted spiritual values as they are questioned by temporal misuse.