The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in Sixteen-Century France

42 Pages·3.3 MB·English

by  Natalie Zemon Davis.

The Past and Present Society
The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in Sixteenth-Century France
Author(s): Natalie Zemon Davis
Source: Past & Present, No. 59 (May, 1973), pp. 51-91
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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THE RITES OF VIOLENCE: RELIGIOUS
RIOT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE *
These are the statutesa nd judgments,w hich ye shall observe to do in the
land, which the Lord God of thy fathersg iveth thee... Ye shall utterly
destroya ll the places whereint he nations which he shall possess served their
gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green
tree:
And ye shall overthrowt heira ltars, and break theirp illars and burn their
groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graveni mages of theirg ods, and
destroyt he names of them out of that place [Deuteronomy xii.
1-31].
Thus a Calvinistp astort o his flocki n 1562.1
If thy brother,t he son of thy mother,o r thy son, or thy daughter,o r the
wife of thy bosom, or thy friend,w hich is as thine own soul, entice thee
secretly,s aying Let us go serve otherg ods, which thou hast not known,t hou,
nor thy fathers... Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearkenu nto him
... But thou shalt surelyk ill him; thine hand shall be firstu pon him to put
him to death, and afterwardst he hand of all the people ....
If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath
given thee to dwell there,s aying,C ertain men, the childreno f Belial are gone
out froma mong you, and have withdrawnt he inhabitantso f theirc ity,s aying
Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known... Thou shalt
surelys mite the inhabitantso f that cityw ith the edge of the sword,d estroying
it utterlya nd all that is therein[ Deuteronomyx iii. 6, 8-9, 12-13, 151.
And [Jehu]l iftedu p his face to the window and said, Who is on my side?
Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said,
Throw her down. So they threw [Jezebel] down: and some of her blood
was sprinkledo n the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot ...
And theyw ent to buryh er: but theyf ound no more of her than the skull and
the feeta nd the palms of her hands ... And [Jehu] said, This is the word of
the Lord, which he spake by his servantE lijah... saying, In the portiono f
Jezreels hall dogs eat the flesho f Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be
as dung upon the face of the field [II Kings ix. 32-3, 35-71].
Thus in 1568P arisianp reacherhs eldu p to theirC atholicp arishioners
the end of a wickedi dolater.2 Whatevert he intentionos f pastors
* The research for this paper has been aided by grants-in-aidf rom the
American Philosophical Society, the American Council of Learned Societies
and the Universityo f California,B erkeley. The present article is based upon
a paper read at the Newberry Library Renaissance Conference marking the
anniversaryo f the Saint Bartholomew Day Massacre, held on May 5 and 6
1972, under the chairmanshipo f ProfessorA lfred Soman. The proceedings
of the Conference are being edited by Dr. Soman and will be published by
Martinus Nijhoff,T he Hague.
1 Histoiree ccldsiastiqude es JlglisesR iformdesa u Royaumed e France (hereafter
Hist. eccl.), ed. G. Baum and E. Cunitz, 3 vols. (Paris, 1883-9), i, p. 537.
2 Claude Haton, Me'moiresd e Claude Haton contenantl e recitd es ve'nements
accomplisd e 1553 a 1592, principalementd ans la Champagne et la Brie, ed.
Felix Bourquelot (Collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de France),
2 vols. paginated continuously( Paris, 1857), pP. 527-8.
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52 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 59
and priestss, uch wordsw erea mongt he manys purst o religiousr iot
in sixteenth-centurFyr ance. By religious riot I mean, as a
preliminaryde finitiona,n y violenta ction,w ithw ords or weapons,
undertakena gainstr eligioust argetsb y people who are not acting
officiallyan d formallya s agents of political and ecclesiastical
authority. As foodr ioterbs ringt heirm orali ndignatiotno bearu pon
the stateo f the grainm arkets,o religiousr iotersb ringt heirz eal to
bear upon the stateo f men's relationst o the sacred. The violence
of the religiousr ioti s distinguisheda,t least in principlef, romt he
action of politicala uthoritiesw, ho can legallys ilence, humiliate,
demolish,p unish,t orturea nd execute;a nd also fromt he actiono f
soldiers,w ho at certaint imesa nd places can legallyk illa nd destroy.
In mid sixteenth-centuFrrya nce,a ll theses ourceso f violencew ere
busilyp roducing,a nd it is sometimesh ard to tell a militiao fficer
froma murderearn d a soldierf roma statue-smasher.N evertheless,
therea re occasionsw henw e can separateo utf ore xaminatioan v iolent
crowds et on religiousg oals.
The sixteenthc enturyi tselfh ad its own generalizationasb out
crowdv iolence. Once in a while it was seen as havinga kind of
systemo r sense. In CorpusC hristiD ay drama,t hev iolencea gainst
Christi s representeda s a series of formalc ompetitive" games",
whichh ide fromH is tormentortsh ef ullk nowledgeo fw hatt heyd o.3
In Diirer'sM artyrdomof the Ten Thousandt,h e Persiant orturerosf
the Christiansa re spaced apart,d oing theirt erribleb usinessi n an
orderlym, ethodicawl ay.' Most oft het ime,h owevera,s in Breugel's
flamingD ulle Grieta nd The Triumpho f Death, the image of the
crowd was one of chaos. Learned writerst alk of grainr iotersi n
Lyon as "the dregs of the populace, with no order,n o rein, no
leader... a beast of manyh eads... an insane rabble" and of the
Paris mob as "an ignorantm ultitudec,o llectedf roma ll nations...
governedb y thea ppetiteo ft hosew hos tirt hemu p [to] extremre age,
just lookingf ort he chancet o carryo ut any kindo f cruelty".5
3 V. A. Kolve, The Play Called Corpus Christi( Stanford,1 966), ch. 8. Also
see L. Petit de Julleville,H istoire du theatree n France. Les mystdres2, vols.
(Paris, 188o), ii, pp. 391, 408, 444-5. Breugel's Processiont o Calvary has some
of this same gamelike, "orderly" quality.
4 Philipp Fehl, "Mass Murder, or Humanity in Death", TheologyT oday,
xxviii (1971), pp. 67-8; E. Panofsky, The Life and Art of AlbrechtD iirer
(Princeton,1 955), pp. 121-2. For the range of sixteenth-centureyx planations
of human violence, see J. R. Hale, "Sixteenth-CenturyE xplanations of War and
Violence", Past and Present,n o. 51 (May 1971), PP. 3-26.
5 Guillaume Paradin, Memoiresd e l'Histoire de Lyon (Lyon, 1573), P. 238;
Hist. eccl., i, pp. 192-3. See also Christopher Hill, "The Many-Headed
Monster in Late Tudor and Early Stuart Political Thinking", in C. H. Carter
(ed.), From the Renaissance to the Counter-ReformationEs. says in honour of
GarrettM attingly( London, 1966), pp. 296-324.
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RELIGIOUS RIOT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURYF RANCE 53
Nowadayst hish ydram onsterh as takeno n a moreo rderlys hape,
as a result of the work of George Rude, Eric Hobsbawm,
E. P. Thompson, Charles Tilly, EmmanuelL e Roy Ladurie and
others.6 We may see these crowdsa s promptedb y politicala nd
moralt raditionws hichl egitimizea nd even prescribet heirv iolence.
We may see urban riotersn ot as miserable,u prooted,u nstable
masses,b ut as men and womenw ho oftenh ave some stakei n their
communityw; ho may be craftsmenor better;a nd who, even when
poor and unskilled,m ay appear respectablet o their everyday
neighbours. Finally,w e mays ee theirv iolence,h oweverc ruel,n ot
as random and limitless,b ut as aimed at definedt argetsa nd
selectedf roma repertoryof traditionapl unishmentasn d formso f
destruction.
This pictureo f pre-industriaclr owd violence has been drawn
primarilyf romt he studyo f grain and bread riots,t ax riots,c raft
violence,a nd certaink indso f peasantr evolts. The broad spectrum
ofr eligiousr iot,h oweverh, as notr eceiveda nalyticaalt tentione,x cept
in thec ase oft hea nti-Semitipco groma nd them illenariamn ovement,7
both of which have evidentc ontemporarysi gnificancaen d non-
religiousf eatures. To present-dayc hurchh istorianse,s peciallyi n
an age of ecumenicalismt,h e popularv iolenceo f theirC alvinista nd
Catholica ncestorsm ay have been an embarrassmen(ats is Belfast).
6 The literatureo n crowds and violence is vast. I list here only those works
which have especially assisted the preparation of this paper: George Rude,
The Crowd in History.A Study of Popular Disturbancesi n France and England,
1730-1848 (New York, 1964); E. J. Hobsbawm, PrimitiveR ebels, Studies in
Archaic Forms of Social Movementi n the I9th and 2oth Centuries( Manchester,
1959); E. P. Thompson, "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the
EighteenthC entury",P ast and Present,n o. 50 (Feb. 1971), pp. 76-136; Charles
Tilly, "Collective Violence in Nineteenth-CenturyF rench Cities" (Public
Lecture, Reed College, Feb. 1968); "The Chaos of the Living City", forth-
coming in Charles Tilly (ed.), The Building of an Urban World; Charles Tilly
and James Rule, Measuring Political Upheaval (Princeton, 1965) - I am also
gratefult o Charles Tilly for his comments on this paper; Emmanuel Le Roy
Ladurie, Le paysans de Languedoc, 2 vols. (Paris, 1966), i, pp. 495-
391-414,
508, 607-29; Roland Mousnier, Fureurs paysannes (Paris, 1967); M. Mollat
and Philippe Wolff,O ngles bleus,J acques et Ciompi, Les rdvolutionpso pulaires
en Europe aux XIVe et XVe sikcles( Paris, 1970); J. R. Hale, "Violence in the
Late Middle Ages: A Background", in Lauro Martines (ed.), Violencea nd Civil
Disorderi n Italian Cities,1 200-1500 (Berkeley,1 972), pp. 19-37; Neil J. Smelser,
Theoryo f CollectiveB ehavior (New York: Free Press Paperback, 1971). There
are also some helpful classificationso f crowds in Elias Canetti, Crowds and
Power, tr. Carol Stewart (German edn. 1960; N.Y., 1966), pp. 48-73.
As in, for instance, Philippe Wolff," The 1391 Pogrom in Spain. Social
Crisis or Not?", Past and Present,n o. 50 (Feb. 1971), PP. 4-18; Norman Cohn,
The Pursuito f the Millennium( 2nd edn., N.Y., 1961); Sylvia L. Thrupp (ed.),
Millennial Dreams in Action. Studies in RevolutionaryR eligious Movements
(New York, 1970).
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54 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 59
To socialh istorianist is thes eeming" irrationalityo"f m osts ixteenth-
centuryr eligiousr iott hath as been puzzling. To bear the swordi n
the nameo f a millenniadl reamm ightm akes omes ense,b ut whyg et
so exciteda boutt heE ucharisto r saints'r elics? It is hardt o decipher
the social meaningo f such an event.
Not surprisinglyth, e pioneeringr emarkso f C. Verlindena nd his
colleagueso n populari conoclasm,a nd of JanineE stebe on popular
Catholic violence,i nsist upon a strongl inkageb etweenr eligious
conflicatn d economici ssues. It is arguedt hata risei n grainp rices
triggerst hese disturbances,a nd that the Saint Bartholomew's
massacresa re also a "class-crime"," rich Huguenotsb eing attacked
and pillagedb y preference". Beyondt his,E stebe accountsf ort he
crowda ctioni n them assacresa s an expressionof t hep rimitivseo ul of
the people, pushed by eventsi nto pathologicalh atred. Similarly,
in PhilippeW olff'ss tudyo f anti-Semiticp ogromsi n Valencia and
Barcelonai n 1391 and in George Rude's analysiso f anti-Catholic
riotsi n eighteenth-centuLroyn don, therei s a tendencyt o identify
the "real" elementsin the disturbancaes thes ocialo nes,s ocialb eing
definedo nlyi n termso f a conflicotf p oora gainstr ich,a rtisanasg ainst
wealthyb urgherso r craftsmena,n d wage-earnersa gainst manu-
facturerasn d merchants.8T here is no doubt that some religious
violenceh as thisc haracter- Wolff'se videncef orB arcelonai s very
good indeed- but is thist heo nlyk indo fs ocialm eaningin herenitn
a religiousr iot? What does one makeo f popularr eligiousv iolence
wherec lass conflicot f thist ypei s not present?
I will tryt o answert heseq uestionsi n regardt o sixteenth-century
France in the courseo f thisp aper. My firstp urposei s to describe
the shape and structureo f the religiousr iot in French cities and
towns,e speciallyin the I56os and early1 570s. We will looka t the
goals, legitimationan d occasionsf or riots; at the kinds of action
undertakenb y the crowdsa nd the targetsf or theirv iolence; and
brieflyat thep articipantisn ther iotsa nd theiro rganization.W e will
considerd ifferencebse tweenP rotestanatn d Catholics tyleso f crowd
behaviour,b ut will also indicatet he manyw ays in whicht heya re
8 C. Verlinden, J. Craeybeckx,E . Scholliers, "Mouvements des prix et des
salaires en Belgique au XVIe sidcle", Annales. E.S.C., x (1955), pp. 185-7.
Janine Esthbe, Tocsinp our un massacre.L a saison des Saint-Barthdlemy(P aris,
1968), pp. 97-8, 196 I135-6, 189-98. Though I will take issue at several
points in this paper with Esthbe's interpretationo f the massacres, her valuable
book is surelyt he most imaginatives tudyw e have had of the social psychology
of that event. Wolff," Pogrom", p. I6; Rud6, Crowd in History,p p. 62, 138:
M. Wolffc haracterizest he pogroma t Valencia, where "violence directeda gainst
the Jews predominates,c ommittedm oreoverb y persons fromt he most diverse
social backgrounds", as "pseudo-religious" (p. I6).
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RELIGIOUS RIOT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURYF RANCE 55
alike. Our sources will be contemporaryCa tholic and Protestant
accountso f religiousd isturbancef,r omw hichw e will do our best to
sorto ut utterf abricationfr oml ikelyf act.9 I hope thisi nquiryw ill
put the massacreso f Saint Bartholomew'ds ay in a new perspective,
and also deepen our understandinogf the religiousr iota s a typeo f
collectived isturbance.
I
Whatt henc an we learno f the goals of popularr eligiousv iolence?
What weret he crowdsi ntendingto do and whyd id theyt hinkt hey
must do it? Their behaviours uggests,f irsto f all, a goal akin to
preaching:t he defenceo f true doctrinea nd the refutationof false
doctrinet hroughd ramaticc hallengesa nd tests. "You blaspheme",
shoutsa woman to a Catholicp reacheri n Montpellierin I558 and,
havingb rokent he decorumo ft hes ervice,l eads parto ft hec ongrega-
tiono ut oft hec hurch. "You lie", shoutsa sheathmakeirn them idst
of the Franciscan'sE aster sermon in Lyon, and his words are
underscoredb y the gunshotso f Huguenotsw aitingi n the square.10
9 Where possible, I have triedt o use both Catholic and Protestanta ccounts of
the same episode. For instance, for events in Toulouse in 1562, I have used
among otherst he account of the Catholic G. Bosquet (Histoired e M. G. Bosquet,
sur les troublesA dvenuse n la ville de Tolose l'an 1562 [Toulouse, 1595]) and that
of the Reformed Histoiree ccldsiastique. I have taken especially seriouslyd es-
criptionso f Catholic violence coming fromC atholic writers( as in the Memoires
of the priestC laude Haton) and descriptionso f Protestantv iolence comingf rom
the Histoire ecclesiastique. These sources are not necessarilyt elling the whole
truth about their party's violence, but at least we can assume that what they
positively describe did occur. I have also taken especially seriously the
omissiono f certaink inds of violence in accusations made by one partya bout the
opposing party (for instance, that Catholic accounts say very little about the
desecrationo f corpses by Protestantc rowds), since these writerss how so little
willingness to put their opponents in a favourable light. If certain kinds of
violence are regularlyn ot attributedt o the enemy, then I thinkw e can assume
that they did not in fact occur very often.
In regard to accepting evidence about acts of desecrationo f corpses, torture
and acts of filth,w here there is no way of getting "impartial" eye-witness
accounts, I have used my judgement,b ased on a general understandingo f the
range of possibilities in sixteenth-centuryb ehaviour. My guides here have
been French legal practice and penalty, Rabelais, descriptions by Pierre
de L'Estoile of behaviour in Paris in the late sixteenth century, and the
commentso f Montaigne on torturesi n his time( "On Cruelty"," Of Cannibals").
10 Hist. eccl.,i , p. 248; Jean Gueraud, La chroniquely onnaised e Jean Gudraud,
ed. Jean Tricou (Lyon, 1929), p. 151. Other examples: Geneva, Advent 1533,
a young man interruptsa sermon of the Catholic theologian Guy Furbity,
"Messieurs, listen... I will put myselfi n the firet o maintain that all he has
said are lies and words of the Antichrist"; "Into the fire", shout some of the
congregation: Jeanne de Jussie, Le levain du Calvinisme ou commencemendte
l'hdrdside e Genkve( Geneva, 1865), p. 74. Rouen: a barber's journeymand enies
at the end of a Franciscan's sermon that there are seven sacraments,i nsisting
that therea re only two: Hist. eccl., i, p. 355. Rouen, March 1562 in Hist. eccl.,
iii, p. 713, n. I. Toulouse, 4 May 1562 in Bosquet, Histoire,p . 38. Provins,
1560, Protestantsd isturb a Catholic sermon: Haton, Mimoires,p p. 136-7.
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56 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 59
"Look", criesa weaveri n Tournai,a s he seizest hee levatedh ostf rom
the priest," deceivedp eople, do you believet hisi s the King, Jesus
Christ,t he true God and Saviour? Look!" And he crumblest he
wafera nd escapes. "Look", says a crowdo f image-breakertso the
people of Albiac in I56i, showingt hemt he relicst heyh ave seized
fromt he Carmelitem onastery",l ook,t heya re onlya nimalb ones".11
And the slogan of the Reformedc rowdsa s theyr ush throught he
streetso f Paris,o f Toulouse, of La Rochelle,o f Angoulemeis "The
Gospel! The Gospel! Long live the Gospel! "12
Catholicc rowdsa nswert hisk ind of claim to truthi n Angersb y
takinga FrenchB ible, well-bounda nd gilded,s eized in the homeo f
a rich merchanta,n d paradingi t throught he streetso n the end of
a halberd. "There's the truthh ung. There's the trutho f the
Huguenots,t he trutho f all the devils". Then, throwingit intot he
river," There's the trutho f all the devils drowned". And if the
Huguenotd octrinwe as true,w hyd idn'tt heL ord comea nd savet hem
fromt heirk illers? So a crowd of Orleans Catholicst auntedi ts
victimsin 1572: "Wherei s yourG od? Wherea re yourp rayersa nd
Psalms? Let hims ave youi fh e can". Even thed ead werem adet o
speak in Normandya nd Provence,w here leaves of the Protestant
Bible weres tuffedin tot he mouthsa nd woundso f corpses. "They
preachedt he trutho f theirG od. Let themc all himt o theira id".13
The same refutationw as, of course, open to Protestants.A
Protestantc rowd cornersa baker guardingt he holy-wafebr ox in
Saint Medard's Churchi n Paris in 1561. "Messieurs",h e pleads,
"do nott ouchi tf ort heh onouro fH imw hod wellsh ere". "Does your
God of paste protecty ou now fromt he pains of death?" was the
Protestanta nswerb eforet heyk illedh im.14 True doctrinec an be
defendedi n sermono r speech,b ackedu p by the magistrate'ssw ord
againstt he heretic. Here it is defendedb y dramaticd emonstration,
backedu p by the violenceo f the crowd.
11 Jean Crespin, Histoire des Martyrsp ersecuteze t mis acm ortp our la Verite
de l'Evangile, depuisl e tempsd es Apostresju sques a present( 1619), ed. D. Benoit,
3 vols. (Toulouse, 1885-9), ii, pp. 307-8. Ibid., iii, p. 515 fora similare pisode
in Flanders. Hist. eccl., i, p. 931.
12 Haton, Mdmoires,p . I82. "Relations de l'emeute arriv6ea Toulouse en
1562", in L. Cimber and F. Danjou (eds.), Archivesc urieusesd e l'histoired e
France (hereafterA rch. cur.) (Paris and Beauvais, I834-40), iv, p. 347. Hist.
eccl., iii, p. 989. [Richard Verstegen], Thgatred es cruautdsd es herdtiquesa u
seizizme sidcle, contenant les cruautes des Schismatiques d'Angleterre.. . les
cruautesd es Huguenotse n France, et les barbariesc ruellesd es CalvinistesG ueux
aux Pays-Bas. Reproductiond u texte. .. de 1588 (Lille, 1883), p. '3 8.
13 Hist. eccl., ii, pp. 650-I; "Massacres de ceux de la Religion Orl6ans",
Arch. cur.,v ii, p. 295. Hist. eccl.,i i, p. 839 (Valognes), iii, p. 315 (Orange).
14 From the memoirs of Canon Bruslart of Paris, quoted in Arch. cur.,
iv, p. 57, n.I .
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RELIGIOUS RIOT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURYF RANCE 57
A more frequentg oal of these riots,h owever,i s that of ridding
the communityo f dreaded pollution. The word "pollution" is
ofteno n thel ips oft hev iolent,a nd thec oncepts ervesw ellt o sum up
the dangersw hich rioterss aw in the dirtya nd diabolic enemy.
A priestb ringso rnamentas nd objectsf or singingt he Mass into a
Bordeauxj ail. The Protestanptr isonersm ashest hema ll. "Do you
wantt o blasphemet heL ord's namee verywhere?I sn't ite nought hat
the templesa re defiled? Must you also profanep risonss o nothing
is unpolluted?"15 "The Calvinistsh ave pollutedt heirh ands with
everyk indo fs acrilegem enc an thinko f", writesa Doctoro fT heology
in 1562. Not long aftera t the Sainte Chapelle,a man seizes the
elevatedh ostw ith his "pollutedh ands" and crushesi t underf oot.
The worshippersb eat him up and deliverh im to the agents of
Parlement.16 The extentt o whichP rotestantcso uld be viewed as
vesselso f pollutioni s suggestedb y a popularb eliefa bout the origin
of the nickname" Huguenots". In the cityo f Tours, le roi Huguet
("King Huguet") was the genericn ame for ghostsw ho, insteado f
spendingt heirt imei n Purgatoryc,a meb ackt o rattled oorsa nd haunt
and harmp eople at night. Protestantws ento ut at nightst o their
lasciviousc onventiclesa,n d so thep riestsa nd thep eopleb egant o call
them Huguenotsi n Tours and then elsewhere. Protestantws ere,
thus,a s sinistera s the spiritso f the dead, whomo ne hoped to settle
in theirt ombso n All Souls' Day."7
One does not have to listenv eryl ong to sixteenth-centuvroyi ces
to hear the evidencef ort he uncleanlinesasn d profanationof either
side. As for the ProtestantsC, atholicsk new that,i n the styleo f
earlierh ereticst, heys nuffedo ut the candles and had sexual inter-
course after the voluptuous Psalmsingingo f their nocturnal
conventicles. When theirs ervicesb ecame public,i t was no better,
fort heirH oly Supper was perceived( in the wordso f a merchant-
draper of Lyon) as disordereda nd drunken," a bacchanalia".18
15C respin, Martyrs,i i, p. 470.
"1 Claude de Sainctes, Discourss ur le saccagementd es Eglises Catholiques,p ar
les Heretiquesa nciense t nouveaux Calvinistese n l'an 1562 (1563) in Arch. cur.,
iv, p. 368; Haton, Mimoires,p . 375.
11H ist. eccl., i, p. 308. On popular attitudest oward ghosts and the souls of
the dead, see Arnold Van Gennep, Manuel de FolkloreF rancais, 4 vols. (Paris,
1943-58), ii, pp. 791-803; Andr' Varagnac, Civilisationt raditionnelleet genres
de vie (Paris, 1948), ch. 7; Roger Vaultier,L e Folklorep endantl a guerred e Cent
Ans d'apres les Lettresd e Remissiond u Trdsord es Chartes (Paris, 1965), p. 80;
Keith Thomas, Religiona nd the Decline of Magic (London, 1971), PP. 587-606.
18 Haton, Me'moires, pp. 49-50, and p. 511 on "incest" among Huguenots,
spurred on by reading the Bible in French. Crespin, Martyrs, ii, p. 546.
Gabriel de Saconay, Genealogie et laTF in des Huguenaux, et descouverted u
Calvinisme( Lyon, 1573), fo. 68v, who cites a work by Antoine Mochi, alias
(conto. np . 58)
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58 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 59
But it was notj ustt hef leshlyli cencew ithw hicht heyl ivedw hichw as
unclean,b ut thet hingst heys aid in their" pestilentialb" ooksa nd the
thingst hey did in hatredo f the Mass, the sacramentsa nd whole
Catholicr eligion. As the representativoef the clergys aid at the
Estates of Orleans,t he hereticsi ntendedt o leave "no place in the
Kingdomw hich was dedicated,h oly and sacred to the Lord, but
would onlyp rofanec hurches,d emolisha ltarsa nd breaki mages".1"
The Protestantss'e nseo f Catholicp ollutiona lso stemmedt o some
extentf romt heirs exual uncleannessh, eres pecificallyof the clergy.
Protestantp olemic nevert ired of pointingt o the lewdnesso f the
clergyw itht heir" concubines". It was rumouredt hatt he Church
of Lyon had an organizationof hundredso f women,s orto f temple
prostitutesa,t the dispositiono f priestsa nd canons; and an observer
pointedo ut withd isgusth ow,a ftert heF irstR eligiousW ar,t heM ass
and the brothelr e-enteredR ouen together. One ministere ven
claimed that the clergyw ere for the most part Sodomites.20 But
more serious than the sexual abominationso f the clergyw as the
defilemenotf the sacred by Catholicr ituall ife,f romt he diabolic
magico ft he Mass to thei dolatrouws orshipo fi mages. The Mass is
"vile filth";" no people pollutet he House of the Lord in everyw ay
moret hant he clergy". Protestancto nvertts alkedo f theiro wn past
(note1 8 cont.)
De Mochares, Apologie contrel a Cene Calvinique, printed in Paris in 1558.
Gueraud, Chronique,p . 147. Also, note the reactiono f the Catholics Florimond
de Raemond and Claude de Rubys to male and female voices joining together
in the Psalms: Florimond de Raemond, L'histoire de la naissance,p rogrez et
decadence de l'herdsied e ce sikcle( Rouen, 1623), p. I,010; Claude de Rubys,
Histoirev eritabled e la ville de Lyon (Lyon, 1604), pp. 390-I ("Leurs chansons
Androgynes",e tc.).
19G entian Hervet, Discourss ur ce que les pilleurs,v oleurse t brusleurds 'Eglises
disentq u'ils n'en veulentq u'auz Prestres.A u Peuple de Rheims,e t des environs
(Paris, 1563): "The execrable words of diabolic ministers"," pestilential little
books full of poison"; Haton, Mbmoires,p . I5o; harangue of Canon Jean
Quintin at Orleans, Dec. I56o, in Hist. eccl., i, p. 476. Another Catholic
quotation expressing these attitudes and fears is: "Nothing remains in the
churches. The impious takes away everything. He destroys,h e overturns,h e
pollutes all holyp laces" - fromt he MS. "De tristibusF rancorum" illustrated
with pictures of the iconoclastic Protestants of Lyon with animal heads:
Leopold Niepce, Monumentsd 'art de la Primatiale de Lyon, ddtruitso u aliends
pendant l'occupationp rotestantee n 1562 (Lyon, 1881), pp. 16-17.
20 Le Cabinet du Roi de France, described in Jean-Jacques Servais and
Jean-PierreL aurend, Histoiree t dossierd e la prostitution(P aris, 1965), p. 170.
Crespin, Martyrs, iii, p. 324, i, PP. 385-90. [Pierre Viret], Le Manuel ou
Instructiond es Curez et Vicaires de l'Eglise Romaine (Lyon, 1564), p. 137; for
the identificationo f the authoro f this work see R. Linder, The Political Ideas of
Pierre Viret( Travaux d'humanisme et renaissance,l xiv, Geneva, 1964), p. 189.
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RELIGIOUS RIOT IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURYF RANCE 59
lives as a time of befoulmenatn d dreadedp resent" contamination"
fromC atholicc hurchesa nd rites.21
Pollutionw as a dangeroust hingt o sufferin a communityf,r om
eithera Protestanot r a Catholicp oint of view, fori t would surely
provoket he wratho f God. Terriblew ind stormsa nd floodsw ere
sometimest aken as signs of His impatienceo n this count.22
Catholics,m oreoverh, ad also to worrya bouto ffendinMg arya nd the
saints; and thought he anxious,e xpiatoryp rocessionso rganizedi n
the wakeo f Protestansta crilegem ightt emporarilayp peaset hem,t he
hereticsw eres ure to strikea gain.23 It is not surprisingt,h en,t hat
so manyo ft he acts ofv iolencep erformebdy Catholica nd Protestant
crowdsh ave( as we shalls ee moref ullyla tero n) thec haracteeri thero f
riteso f purificatioonr of a paradoxicald esecrationi,n tendedt o cut
down on uncleannessb y placingp rofanet hingsl,i ke chrismb, ack in
the profanew orldw heret heyb elonged.
This concern of Catholic and Protestantc rowds to destroy
pollutinge lementsi s reminiscenotf the insistenceo f revolutionary
millenarianm ovementst hat the wicked be exterminatedth at the
godly may rule. The resemblancei s real, but is limited. Our
Catholic and Protestantr iotersh ave a convictionn ot so much of
theiri mmanentg odlinessa s of the rightnesso f theirj udgement,
envisagen ots o mucha societyo f saintsa s a holiers ocietyo f sinners.
21 Hist. eccl.,i , p. 486; "R6cit de l'oeuvre du Seigneur en la ville de Lyon pour
action de grace" and "Epigramme du Dieu des papistes" in Anatole de
Montaiglon (ed.), Recueil de podsiesf rangoisesd es XVe et XVIe sikcles( Paris,
1867), vii, pp. 36-9, 42-5. On the loathsome and magical aspects of the Mass,
Antoine de Marcourt, Declaration de la messe( Neuchitel, 1534). Les cauteles,
canon et ceremoniesd e la messe (Lyon, 1564) (see n. 82 below). Thomas,
Religion,p p. 33-5. Jean Calvin, Institutiond e la religionc hretienneB, ook Iv,
para. i8, in loannis Calvini Opera quae supersunto mnia,e d. G. Baum, E. Cunitz,
E. Reuss, 57 vols. (Brunswick, 1863-96), iv, col. 1,o77 (ces villaines ordures).
Calvin's comments on the "mire" of his earlier life in the Preface to his
Commentaries on the Psalms, Commentaires ur le livre des Pseaumes in Opera
omnia,x xxi, col. 22. On the danger of "pollution" and "contamination"f rom
Catholic religious life, Crespin, Martyrs, i, p. 563 and Haton, Mimoires, pp.
407-8.
22 Haton, Mdmoires,p p. 427-8; [Jean Ricaud], Discours du massacred e ceux
de la ReligionR eformeef,a it &L yon par les catholiquesr omains,l e vingthuictieme
de moisd e aoat et jours ensuivantd e l'an 1572 (1574) (Lyon, 1847), pp. IIO-II ;
De l'effroyablee t merveilleuxd esbord de la riviare du Rhosne en 1570 (first
published Lyon, 1576; Lyon, 1848 edn.), p. 6.
23 There were expiatoryp rocessionsi n Paris in the wake of "execrable crimes"
against religiouss tatues in 1528, 1547, 1550, 1551, 1554 and 1562, described in
Le Journald 'un bourgeoisd e Paris sous le rdgndee Franfois ler (1515-1536), ed.
V. L. Bourrilly (Paris, I9Io), pp. 290-4; M. F6libien and G. A. Lobineau,
Histoired e la ville de Paris (Paris, 1725), iv, pp. 676-9, 728, 748, 755, 765, 804-5;
Arch. cur., iv, pp. 99-102. Note also the expiatoryp rocession in Lyon aftera n
iconoclastic outrage in 1553 in Gueraud, Chronique,p p. 65-6.
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