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Jean de Serres and the politics of religious pacification, 1594–8

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

W. B. Patterson
W. B. Patterson*
Affiliation:
Davidson College, North Carolina
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Extract

Like most other rulers of his time, king Henry IV of France wished to see a single religion practised within his realm. But in the late sixteenth century, as is well known, the state of France was such as to make this objective singularly difficult to achieve. The protestants, of whom Henry had been until his accession the political leader, were a sturdy minority, with a well-developed system of church courts for the definition of doctrine and the administration of discipline. The catholics, who adhered to the centuries-old established church of the kingdom, had no doubt become much more aware of their own religious heritage by the thirty years of civil and ecclesiastical strife they had had to endure. Henry himself, who announced his second conversion to catholicism in the summer of 1593, was never able to shed a certain aura of denominational ambivalence; he himself said, in a famous anecdote, that his own religion was one of the mysteries of Europe. Yet some measure of religious pacification and conciliation was clearly essential for France in the 1590s, both for the health of the country and for the security of the man who was her sovereign ruler. And under the circumstances existing in France, new initiatives and fresh ideas were needed. As an english historian observed, some years ago, for Henry to be accepted by the french as their ‘Most Christian King and eldest son of the Church, a new definition of Church and Christian would be required.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 12: Church Society and Politics , 1975 , pp. 223 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1975

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References

1 Mousnier, Roland, The Assassination of Henry IV: The Tyrannicide Problem and the Consolidation of the French Absolute Monarchy in the Early Seventeenth Century, trans Spencer, Joan (London 1973) pp 106-16, 138-83Google Scholar; Livet, [Georges], Les guerres de religion [(1559-1598)] (2 ed Paris 1966) pp 28–50 Google Scholar; de Péréfixe, Hardouin, Histoire du roy Henry le Grand (rev ed Amsterdam 1664), pp 116–257 Google Scholar.

2 Leathes, Stanley, ‘Henry IV of France,’ CModH 3 (Cambridge 1907) p 657 Google Scholar.

3 Vivanti, [Corrado], Lotta politica e pace religiosa [in Francia fra Cinque e Seicento] (Turin 1963) pp 132-86Google Scholar and passim; Kelley, Donald R., Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship: Language, Law and History in the French Renaissance (New York 1970) pp 222-98Google Scholar.

4 Pithou, Pierre, Les libertez de l’Eglise gallicane (1594), in Traitez des droits et libertez de l’Eglise gallicane, ed Dupuy, P., 2 vols (Paris 1639) 1, pp 1–22 Google Scholar; see also, for other treatises, 1, pp 275-398, 405-44. The development of gallicanism is dealt with in Martin, Victor, Les origines du Gallicanisme, 2 vols (Paris 1939)Google Scholar and Le Gallicanisme et la réforme catholique (Paris 1919).

5 Dardier, [Charles], ‘Jean de Serres, [historiographe du roi, sa vie et ses écrits d’après des documents inédits, 1540-1598’], R[evue] Historique], 22, 2 (Paris 1883) p 298 Google Scholar. Dardier’s work, which appeared in two parts in the Revue Historique (22, 2, pp 291-328; 23, 3, pp 28-76) supplements and, in some instances, corrects the account in [E., and Haag, E.], La France protestante, 9 (Paris 1859) pp 253-68Google Scholar. For a recent assessment of de Serres, see Vivanti, Lotta politica e pace religiosa, pp 246-68. I am very grateful to professor Robert M. Kingdon for directing me to manuscript sources in Geneva which throw additional light on de Serres’s career.

6 State Archives, Geneva, MS Notary Records, Jean Ragueau, vol 11, fols 232-6: the marriage contract between Jean de Serres and Margaret Godare.

7 de Serres, Jean, Commentariorvm de statv religionis et reipublicae in Regno Galliae [primae partis libri III] (Geneva 1571)Google Scholar; other volumes followed in 1575 and 1580. According to a recent article, de Serres’s history first appeared in 1570 as Rerum in Gallia ob religionem gestarum libri tres. See Vermaseren, B.A., ‘La première édition des Commentaires de Jean de Serres,’ Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance, 23 (Geneva 1961) pp 117-20Google Scholar.

8 For de Serres’s historical achievement, see Hauser, Henri, Les sources de l’histoire de France: XVIe siècle (1494-1610) 4 vols (Paris 1912) 3 pp 68–70 Google Scholar, and Thompson, J.W. and Holm, B.J., A History of Historical Writing 2 vols (New York 1942) 1, pp 561-2Google Scholar.

9 Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH 22, 2 (1883) pp 309-10Google Scholar.

10 Jean de Serres, Πλάτωνоς άπαντα τ σωЗsóμενα Platonis opera quae extant omma, ex nova Joannis Serrani interpretatione, perpetuis ejusdem notis illustrata, 3 vols (Geneva 1578).

11 Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH, 22, 2 (1883) p 314 Google Scholar. The relationship between de Serres and de Bèze may be traced in Univ[ersity] Lib[rary], Gen[eva], MS Arch[ives] Tron[chin] 5, fols 4-10, 21-3, 25-6, 31, letters between de Serres and Geneva, 1580-96. For the often complicated relations between Geneva and the reformed church in France, see Kingdon, Robert M., Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (Geneva 1956)Google Scholar and Geneva and the Consolidation of the French Protestant Movement, 1564-1572 (Geneva 1967).

12 de Serres, Jean, Qvartvs anti-Iesvita, siue, Pro Verbo Dei Scripto et vere Catholica Ecclesia, aduersus Ioannis Hayi monachi Iesuitae commenta & conuitia, in Doctrinae Iesviticae praecipva capita, tomus quartus (La Rochelle 1586) pp 28–32, 153, 246, 301, 309, 375Google Scholar. For John Hay’s career, see the account by Cooper, Thompson, DNB, 9, pp 267-8Google Scholar.

13 de Serres, Jean, Qvarti anti-Iesuitae, siue De vera verae Ecclesiae autoritate, aduersus Ioannis Hayi monachi-Iesuitae commenta & conuicia, responsionis posterior pars, in Doctrinae Iesviticae praecipva capita, tomus sextus (La Rochelle 1588) pp 276-7Google Scholar.

14 de Serres, Jean, Pro vera Ecclesiae Catholicae autoritate, defensio: Aduersus Ioannis Hayi Iesuitae disputationis, sacrae antiqvitatis iudicio simplicissime explicata (Geneva 1594)Google Scholar Sig *iii verso—*v.

15 Henry IV, Recueil des lettres missives [de Henri IV,] ed Berger de Xivrey, 9 vols (Paris 1843-76) 1, p 256 (letter dated 4 November 1579).

16 Henry IV, Recueil des lettres missives, 1, p 324 (letter dated beginning of November 1580).

17 Haag, , La France protestante, 9, pp 264-5Google Scholar; Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH, 22, 2 (1883) pp 316-19Google Scholar; Aymon, [Jean], Tous les synodes [nationaux des églises reformées de France] 2 vols (The Hague 1710) 1, p 156 Google Scholar.

18 Haag, , La France protestante, 9, pp 265-6Google Scholar; Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH, 22, 2 (1883) p 320 Google Scholar.

19 Aymon, , Tous les synodes, 1, pp 186-7Google Scholar; Quick, [John], Synodicon in Gallia Reformata [:Or, The Acts, Decisions, Decrees, and Canons of Those Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France] 2 vols (London 1692) 1, p 166 Google Scholar.

20 Univ Lib Gen MS Arch Tron 5, fol 9v: Letter of de Serres to de Bèze, Dauphiné, 27 Mar. 1594.

21 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 32: Copy of the letter of the colloquy of Valentinois to de Serres, Montélimar (1594).

22 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 32.

23 Ibid fol 28: Copy of a memorandum on a union between catholics and protestants.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid fol 28v.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.

31 Ibid fol 29.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid fol 29v.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid.

39 This, at least, is the order of events implied by the opening paragraph of MS Fr 412 fol 33. Compare Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH,23, 3 (1883) p 39 Google Scholar.

40 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 18: letter of the colloquy of baronies to the company of pastors, 16 November 1594.

41 Univ Lib Gen MS Arch Tron 5, fol 13: letter of de Serres to de Bèze, 20 October 1594.

42 Ibid fol 13v.

43 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 33: extract from the acts of the colloquy held at St Paul-Trois-Châteaux, 14-16 December 1594.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid fols 21-7: copy of the memorandum of Jean de Serres on the possibility of a union between catholics and protestants.

46 Ibid fol 27.

47 Ibid fols 33v-6v.

48 Ibid fol 20v Jean de Serres to the reformed churches, from the preface to his Harmonie.

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid fols 41r/v: letter to the pastors of Geneva from the synod of Anduze, 17 April 1595.

51 Aymon, , Tous les synodes, 1, pp 195, 200-1, 206, 209Google Scholar; Quick, , Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, 1, pp 175, 180, 185, 187Google Scholar.

52 de Serres, Jean, Inventaire général de l’histoire de France, illustré par la conférence de l’Eglise et de L’Empire (Paris 1597)Google Scholar. The work was continued to the end of the sixteenth century by de Montlyard, Jean and published as Inventaire [général de l’histoire de France depuis Pharmond jusque à present] 3 vols (Paris 1600)Google Scholar. The latter is the edition used here.

53 De Serres, Inventaire, 1, Sig. a vi.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid, Sig. e iv-e viiiv. Compare Vivanti, Corrado, ‘Alle origini dell’idea di civiltà: le scoperte geografiche e gli scritti di Henri de la Popelinière,’ RSI 74, 2 (1962) pp 231-2Google Scholar.

56 Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH, 23, 3 (1883) p 59 Google Scholar. De Serres’s continuing association with the king is suggested by letters of Henry IV in 1596 and 1597. See Henry, IV, Recueil des lettres missives, 8, p 611 Google Scholar, and 9, p 227.

57 de Serres, Jean, Aduis povr la paix [de l’Eglise & dv royavme] (Paris 1597)Google Scholar, published by lamet Mettayer and Pierre l’Huillier, printers to the king. This edition is rare; the copy used here is to be found in Univ Lib Gen MS Arch Tron 143, fols 145-9. The tract was republished as one of the Deux advis par souhait pour la paix et l’Eglise et du royaume in Hotman, François, Opuscules françoises des Hotmans (Paris 1616)Google Scholar fols 192-3v.

58 De Serres, Aduis povr la paix, p 3.

59 Ibid p 4.

60 Ibid pp 5-6.

61 Ibid pp 7-8.

62 de Serres, Jean, De Fide Catholica, [siue principiis religionis Christianae, communi omnium Christianorum consensu semper et vbique ratis] (Paris 1597)Google Scholar; the work was reprinted under the same title in 1607. The latter is the edition used here.

63 De Serres, De Fide Catholica, Sig. A iv.

64 Ibid pp 3-5.

65 Ibid pp 6-9.

66 Ibid pp 10-12.

67 Ibid pp 29-56.

68 Ibid 70-116, 126-76.

69 Ibid pp 89-106. Compare Vivanti, Lotta politica e pace religiosa, pp 262-6.

70 De Serres, De Fide Catholica, pp 106-13.

71 Ibid pp 176-87.

72 Proposals are advanced for solving some of the structural problems of a united church in France in a manuscript included among materials relating to de Serres. Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fols 30-1: Project for the reunion of the two religions in France. For discussions of the contents of this document, see Vivanti, Lotta politica e pace religiosa, pp 266-67, ane Livet, Les guerres de religion, pp 48-50.

73 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 413, fols 55-9: letter to the pastors of Geneva from the church of Nîmes, 22 March 1598, containing extracts from the acts of the colloquy of Nîmes, 13 November 1597, relative to the two publications of Jean de Serres.

74 Ibid fols 61-2: letter to the pastors of Berne, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Basle, Heidelberg, the Hague, Amsterdam, ‘for the affair of the Synod of Montpellier,’ from the company of pastors at Geneva, 3 April 1598.

75 Dardier, , ‘Jean de Serres,’ RH, 23, 3 (1883) p 70 Google Scholar.

76 Aymon, , Tous les synodes, 1, p 219 Google Scholar; Quick, , Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, 1, p 196 Google Scholar.

77 Aymon, , Tous les synodes, 1, p 222 Google Scholar; Quick, , Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, 1, pp 196-7Google Scholar.

78 Succeeding national synods were concerned lest the condemned propositions were not actually to be found in de Serres’s works. At Gergeau in 1601, the church at Paris was asked to re-examine de Serres’s writings to ascertain whether he had actually made the statements cited at Montpellier. But the church at Paris evidently declined to act; at Gap in 1603 that church was censured for not having carried out its work. Nothing further was heard of the matter. Aymon, , Tous les synodes, 1, pp 246, 265Google Scholar; Quick, , Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, 1, pp 218, 232Google Scholar.

79 l’Estoile, [Pierre de], Journal [de L’Estolle, pour le règne de Henri IV,] ed Lefèvre, Louis-Raymond, 3 vols (Paris 1948-60) 1, p 521 Google Scholar. Henri Estienne was a well-known printer in Geneva; Jérôme Commelin, of Douai, was a printer, scholar, and classicist who lived in Heidelberg, where he had taken refuge for his religion.

80 L’Estoile, , Journal, 2, p 554 Google Scholar.

81 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 32.

82 Univ Lib Gen MS Arch Tron 5, fols 8-10v.

83 See Salmon, J.H.M., ‘The Paris Sixteen, 1584-94: The Social Analysis of a Revolutionary Movement,’ JMH, 44 (1972) pp 540-76Google Scholar.

84 Univ Lib Gen MS Fr 412, fol 28.