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3. Gallicanism in the Wars of Religion
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chapter 3 Gallicanism in the Wars of Religion I of the Wars of Religion, then, Gallican jurists developed a new, humanist, ideological complex that largely replaced its medieval predecessor. This ideology provided a way for them to assert their continued importance in the political discourse in a period when they had few concrete political victories to boast of. This point of view, like any ideology, arose out of and was continually applied to specific situations. The conflict over the role of the Catholic Church in the French state was not the only arena in which it developed, but it was probably the most prominent and important.While the first signs of a Gallican revival built on the foundations of humanist historiography were visible in the s, it was only after that all the elements came together to create a new tradition, distinct from the old reformist ecclesiastical nationalism and in opposition to the French clergy as often as the curia.The Council of Trent, the appearance of the Society of Jesus, and, of course, the outbreak of religious civil war made the issue of the Church’s role in France all but unavoidable. Through the successive stages of endless military conflict, the St. Bartholemew ’s Day Massacre, and the failure of Henri III’s policies, the situation continued to deteriorate. Around , a genuine antiroyalist Catholic party began to appear, above all once François d’Anjou’s death left Henri of Navarre heir presumptive to the throne. The erudite Gallicans expressed their reactions to this chaos in an explosion of pamphlet literature, particularly in the final stages of the religious wars. By the time Henri de Navarre 6! Gallicanism in theWars of Religion .This schema coincides in its general outlines with the periods of tension in parlementaire religiosity identified by Nancy Lyman Roelker, One King, One Faith:The Parlement of Paris and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ), –, while departing from it in several details. .The best summary of this long-standing situation is still to be found in Félix Aubert, Histoire du parlement de Paris de l’origine à François Ier (–), vols. (Paris: Picard, ), :–. Aubert suggests, based on impressionistic evidence, that the later fifteenth century was an era of relative good feeling between courts and clergy. triumphed in , the treatise on Gallican liberties formed a recognized and healthy genre, and the Gallicans an equally well-recognized political party.1 The development of erudite Gallicanism as a political and intellectual movement did not occur in an institutional vacuum, however. Above all, it was attached to the Parlement of Paris. It was explicitly based on that body’s long tradition of supporting the Crown against the papacy and of broad opposition to ecclesiastical jurisdiction in general. This had been the case for as long as there had been a French state, and it was typical of all of Europe . From time out of mind, royal courts had clashed with the clergy, attempting to narrow the competence of the ecclesiastical courts, both local and supranational; becoming involved in local political disputes with bishops ; and, when they met resistance, moving to distrain the temporal possessions of their opponents.The clergy, for its part, fought back with (usually ineffective) excommunications of the magistrates and with whatever political influence they could bring to bear, which was often a great deal.2 The Parlement, as the most powerful court in the land both legally and intellectually , had always been at the forefront of this tradition. Moreover, it was strong enough to protect the friends and persecute the enemies of its brand of Gallicanism. Less obviously, the Parlement, and particularly the gens du roi, lawyers who represented the king’s interests before it, held a strategic location between the abstract law and actual government, and between the idea of an impersonal Crown that embodied the interests of the state and the actual royal government. The gens du roi of the sovereign courts, and in particular of the Parlement of Paris, were the most important proponents of juristic Gallicanism well into the seventeenth century.The details of this issue are somewhat technical, but for men of the law in the old regime they were of vital importance because they delineated the most natural and effective means for them to form and express political opinions. An example will make the issues at stake clearer. On November , the Parlement of Paris received Mathieu...