Lit Review

2,000 word 'review essay' – due week 6

Pick a piece of interest, list of key secondary works suggested to be analysed – compare/contrast –
which are more convincing, which parts are missed?

- Hole in historiography in linking martyrology, sin, and death, to previous Albi Crusade

Themes on figurative language during FWOR

- Rhetoric of similarity to Albigensian Crusade  use for essay

o Racaut examples of similarity
o Greengrass non-conformity of Toulouse (and potentially Seong’s link of Raymond?)
o Wylie Sypher on Calvinism vs Albis

- Kings authority – Royal metaphors

o Roberts King’s two bodies
 Vs Leonardo on cleansing royal body of sin
o Smither on Charles IX in pamphlets – two distinct views but moderate after taking
responsibility for massacre
 Vs Bell – mask of Henri III
 Vs Cameron – fictional account of Henri III life but also - Old testament
reference and his death confusing
 Vs Parker Old Testament article Calvinism  no mention of King
o Knecht on reputation of Henri III  aiming to rebuild it  “reputation has
fluctuated” – first English biography on him since 19th cent.
o Barker - Use of words as metaphors – e.g. weapons

- Representations of Protestant threat  use for essay

o Benedict Of Marmites – struggle and metaphors
 Bell – metaphor of kings mask helping Prot (?)
 USE Barker! – Request copy of faith, nationalism – court poetry and their
critics
o Wylie Sypher – “deformed” and lesser Frenchman being more susceptible to
Protestantism
 Vs Nicholls – Spectacle of Protestant Martyrs
o Parker – Old Testament imagery (is this threatening?)
o PROTESTANTS WERE THREATENING BECAUSE THEY WERE LIKE ALBI CATHARS AND
CRUSADERS  Time of French difficulty returning?!
 Idea of Racaut ‘moving historiography’ past who was more successful with
their use of imagery
o Zemon Davies – Purification of water
o Barker on words as weapons vs Davies weapons symbolized
Questions:

1. Do I list all works read even if not explicitly mentioned in essay?

2. Do I bring in other works by the same author that support/contradict even if not explicitly
analysing them? Only reference (no)
3. Do I need to ensure a range of books, chapters, and journals?  Seong e.g.
a. Max 6 articles, min 3 (fewer things in more detail – do not skim stuff)
4. Ask about Raymond reference in Seong’s work  not mentioned but similar? Look into in
essay
5. Can I talk through my intended essay structure in detail with you (as nothing written or
marked?) Yes please do so often
6. Can’t find John Gay’s L'Histoire des scismes et heresies des Albigensians primary source (not
for Lit Review but other interest)
7.

Answers

- Graham Murdock – 16th cent. 1998 – Importance of being Josiah – Calvinist – link to Parker

Timeline – see a gradual move away from kings and big events to the way the people were
interacting with local area

1974 – Cameron – anti-Christian Henri III

1980s – Nicholls – utilizing

1982 – Wylie Sypher – Image of Protestantism  but very pamphlet

1989 – Bell – Unmasking Henri III – placed his view directly in the world of pamphlets

1991 – Diefendorf Beneath the Cross – discussion of preachers using Old Testament for current time
 teaching how heretics should be killed without mercy

1993 – Parker – Old Testament Calvinists -

2002 – Racaut – metaphors of Albigensians  careful as only printing  use one chapter in this and
another chapter in other essay

2002 - Leonardo – Catholic League and metaphor

2007 – Roberts Kingdom’s Two Bodies  signals a return?

If they do not draw on each other this reveals a limitation in the historiography for not connecting
common themes of ___ alongside the metaphoric use of the past.

Intro

- It is common for people to draw on the past to help analyse the present, as is the essence of
history, but during the French Wars of Religion (FWOR), it became clear that historians
 shifted from metaphors describing individuals to more thematic metaphorical analysis of
France in the 21st century as the more personal metaphors used represented the sixteenth
century French fear of their contemporary climate. Utilizing
- Even in her discussion of the metaphorical importance king’s two bodies, one being
metaphorical, she cannot avoid the link to past religious sources when discussing her
primary sources from the time.
- The views of these readings indicate how metaphors and placed more than religion into the
wars, but also reverted France back to the medieval age
- Most of these articles branch off from Diefendorf’s 1991 work (and she even draws on
Nicholls earlier works) to try and assess the impact of metaphors have been utilized in the
FWOR

Thesis – The metaphor of sin being rife in France used by Catholics to justify actions (new view =
revitalized archaic religious views in not only attacking but also with people and places)

Questions that need to be addressed in my essay

Historians refer to old religious motifs and events/people used as metaphors for contemporary
conflicting climate

- D
- D

Historians describe more mainstream view that sin had to eradicated and the use of corporeal
metaphors masks the true purpose of the problems of individuals in France  not mentioned in
historiography (king and Prots)

Notes from reviews of how to review

- Bring up leading historian in a field regardless of timeframe

- Mention scarcity of discussion on a certain aspect
- Mention how timing affects who the initial author can discuss: “Appearing too late to receive
detailed comment in Crouzet's work, Bouwsma systematically complements his analysis of
Calvin's thought”
- Do not be afraid to do some length own analysis of ideas brought up in literature
- GO sentence of own view, how the author’s views link to this, then build for analysis point
- Bring up overarching point (hinted at in other work) that should be brought up more
(essentially reason for writing review)
o is there not an institutional - and thus a social - context (beyond that of the sacral
monarchy) in which religious discourse of the kind Crouzet analyses can be
understood, even though he has not chosen to interpret it in this way?”
 - Take time exploring how convincing certain explanations are
- No need to go back to beginning of historiography
- Say what interested authors most about their subject focus
- Describe major shifts and how they make previous work seem outdated
- Discuss how obvious main argument is (and does it run throughout)
- Note astute criticisms that the author makes
- Make mention of the wider course of a book if doing one chapter
- Look up who was a student/studied under who I am talking about
- Talk about book/articles greatest strengths
- Explain one in depth (multiple paragraphs)
- Do small conclusions at each paragraph summing up view and how their study persuasively
shows something
- Mention things that multiple authors allude to
- Can choose another source that contrasts sharply
- Do analysis and then bring in a quote from author: “Thus, nobles from both sides of the
confessional divide were forced to join forces in order to defeat this advancing middle-class
locomotive. This is the "class war from above" advanced by Heller”
- Can bring up “problem of the book/article”
o But say why other articles and own view are more convincing based on evidence
- Do summary of what learned from all the books/articles
- Say what modern authorship has done to change people’s way of thinking

Greengrass – Psychology of Religious Violence

- History before writing about the protagonists of change and now more on mental world
- “It was a violence which sought to destroy the infidel. The desire to purify the world from
the pollution of heresy (pace Natalie Davis) was only one aspect of a more fundamental
drive to be the conduit of God's wrath, to feel part of God's immanence in the Last Days. The
Old Testament provided a lexicon of language, symbols and gestures with which to evoke
this 'imaginaire de l'immanence'.”
- “Huguenot propaganda sought to undermine the hidden agenda of Catholic violence by
suggesting that it arose from profanity; they lusted after Protestant wealth and Protestant
offices.”
- “It would have been beneficial, too, had the role of women, and female symbolism, in
ritualized violence been explored to the same degree as Crouzet does in respect of children.”

Racaut - THE POLEMICAL [persuasive/passioned] USE OF THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE DURING THE
FRENCH WARS OF RELIGION - Convincing article bringing up valid points to broaden the discussion
of how Catholics shaped the Protestant identity

- Figures of the past became metaphorical reincarnations

- Comparing heretical Protestants to Albis indicated
- “Protestant martyrologists gradually came to terms with the Catholic comparison with
medieval heresy and turned it to their advantage” 261  compare how he has taken
Nicholls ideas and run separately
 - Initial Catholic idea of publishing Albi history during FWOR was “intended to serve as an
example of how heretics could be defeated in battle by a decisive monarch.” 262 
compare to Two Bodies and how Roberts takes this idea further by saying how a monarch
can directly change France body
o “The Albigensian Crusade and the reign of St Louis had originally been intended as
an example for the Valois monarchs, at a time when Francis II and Charles LX came
to the throne” 279
- Simile of prince of Conde being Raymond of Toulouse 264
- Analyses use of the word semence (seed) for how Albis dropped back into discussion on
Reformed movement, but this moves from simile usage to direct metaphorical comparison
(not picked up by Racaut) 279
- Albigensian Crusade history published to convey “similar message in the face of the royal
policy of conciliation.” 265  act as a figurative example
- “Simon de Montfort was not exclusively compared to Henri de Valois, however, as he was
also compared to Francois, second due de Guise who had become a martyr and a saint for
the Holy Catholic League.” 267
o “the theme of the Albigensian Crusade was appropriated by the Catholic League
which used it as a polemical weapon against Henri III” 267
- “geographical identity between erstwhile centres of Albigensianism and contemporary
hotbeds of Protestant resistance in the Midi” 268
- Though primarily mentioning the Waldensian link in his chapter, he refrains from discussing
the similarity between the massacres and burnings in Carcassonne and the martyrdom that
occurred in FWOR – by pushing my own view
- Noel Beda accusation of Luther unearthing old heresies (Uni of Paris)  link to Marie-
Humbert Vicaire work
o Contrary to this, Catholics rescued Albigensians from oblivion to use example
against reformers
o Used to scare court and de Medici
- Political events and divisions similar – death of kings and division of kingdom – both
involved regency 262-3
- Hotman response to Francis II primary source –
- Catholic reprint of Albi heresies in opposition to royal policy of conciliation
- Francis of Lorraine linked to de Montford
- Persecution of Albis described by Formier like his own persecution witnessed

Trace evolution of Roberts – Kingdom’s two bodies

- Metaphor of king being the head but also doctor of the French ‘body’  compare with her
article on justice and how important they are
- “threat of heresy” linked into “unique identification of the king with the well-being of his
kingdom” p. 147
- “monarchical authority was bolstered by the king’s undisputed role as head of the body
politic and protector of, and physician to, his realm” 147
o She has utilized major works on kingship and spotted the link between all
sixteenth century French kings from Francis I to ___ in their use of “physical and
spiritual aspects” in their desire to show “the status of France itself” 147  key
 point she brings up is her discussion the importance of the realm’s image in
relation to the King
- Writes on fifty year anniversary of Kantorowicz King’s Two Bodies study 148
o Discusses its influence but also controversial status
o Discusses how historiography has tended to discuss two separate lives of king, but
this “a single entity”
o But uses primary source metaphor of marriage to say how “royal duality resides
here, in the relationship between the monarch and his realm, both the territory and
its people” 149
 Compare to Katorowicz who uses less primary sources perhaps? (look up)
- “when the kingdom was threatened the king was held responsible for its defence, when it
was injured he was expected to tend its wounds”  describes commonality of body analogy
in writing on kingship
o “often drawn from biblical” sources  link to other books 149
- King is always the head in anatomical analogy  “While the monarch was assigned the role
of primary importance, he was constantly reminded of his dependence on the other parts
for the proper functioning of the state.” 150
- “clear interdependence between the health of the monarch and that of the realm. To
threaten one, might well be to risk the dissolution of the other” 150
- the king was warned, in choosing the wrong remedy he risked not only the death of the
patient but also incurring God’s wrath” 150  further religious reference
o the state of the kingdom — an ailing body in need of succour — became a metaphor
for the state of the monarchy” 150
 contemporary “debate existed largely on a metaphorical, if symbolically
charged, plane” 151
- Discusses how “coincidence of religious and civil strife” gave metaphors more relevance 151
but CHALLENGE with previous religious issues and other metaphors  Roberts does not
align the other biblical and issues of the past to why this is not coincidence
- the preservation of the integrity of the body versus the amputation of its diseased
members” 152 is the metaphor for the options for the ‘head’  king
- PRIMARY SOURCE analysis – “Guillaume Blaignan’s Pourtraict du très-chrestien et très
victorieux Henri IIII of 1604, with its emphasis on the mystical and metaphorical nature of
the king’s body. This contrasts with the extraordinary bodily depictions of Henry III as an
hermaphrodite or diabolical monster produced by the League-controlled Parisian presses”
- Discusses historiographical use of cancerous and contagious metaphor of heresy  her view
is that this language links to the civil strife where peace is remedy 154
o “Invasive use of metaphor of disease for the spread of the Reform” 154
 Builds on Diefendorf analysis of body metaphors to justify exterminating
heresy
 Elwood similarly brings up Protestants attack “on the real presence in the
Eucharist” “tearing Christ’s mystical body” 154
 Roberts takes idea further than Diefendorf by expanding from
preachers to clerks using biblical language to say how illness is
prolonged by Protestants 155
- Links kings as physicians metaphor to king’s traditional spiritual powers of healing 159
 o Uses this as analysis for what was said about kings forcing peace in the realm, but
could be taken further to link to ____ work considering the older use of the
traditional spiritual king (find work)
- “To ruin Protestants would be to ruin the kingdom” 161  As an integral part of the state,
for the king to reject the Huguenots was to assault himself” 162
- Yet, although the metaphor of disease was powerful, the duty of the doctor to seek a cure
for his patient ultimately proved more effective.” 164
o Concluding point is that king was “too important” to kingdom and this maintain
corporeal unity of France

Roberts - Royal Authority and Justice during the French Religious Wars Past & Present, 08/2004,
Volume 184, Issue 1

- But revealed “the extent to which the king depended on the members” of parlements and
law courts”  members not meaning limbs but still indicates more of a royal necessity for
the rest of his ‘body’  three years before ‘two bodies’
- “Pacification was an exercise by the monarchy to ensure the loyalty of both sides,
reinforcing royal authority” 11  authority a struggle when just king-led

Roberts – Troyes

Parker (turning to primary sources) - Old Testament images were not just metaphors used for
polemical purposes; they were models that Calvinists employed to make sense of their predicament”

Nicholls - Theatre of Martyrdom

- Public executions
o The purpose of executing heretics was total obliteration: heresy had to be driven out
of society like disease from the body and the social body completely cleansed of all
impurities.” 50
o Dismemberment an insult and symbolic degradation 58
o “Repeated spectacle of martyrdom here becomes the symbolic purification of a
whole subversive itinerary” 55
o The solemn assertion of Catholic solidarity and affirmation of the urban social
hierarchy embodied in such processions, then, was part of the same expulsion of the
scapegoat and ritual cleansing of the city as was the theatre of execute” 61
o Repeatedly, offenders would strike the image of the Virgin Mary
- Mentions Richet noticing change of thought after 1559 where “Huguenots lost their
martyrdom complex” to be more resistant and more aggressive
- Claims “the theatre of martyrdom had failed to preserve orthodoxy” 71  but (own view)
had succeeded in reminding the French public that cleansing sin had to be with burnings just
like in Albi Crusade. The burnings that Nicholls outlines in 1988 should be regarded with
greater importance than just a spectacle, as / The burnings that Nicholls outlines in 1988 do
highlight the importance of the spectacle, but more recent works such as ___ raise the
 awareness of how the burnings played a greater part in acting as a metaphorical (explain
better) reminder that French Protestants should think fearfully of the past.
-

Dalia M. Leonardo - CUT OFF THIS ROTTEN MEMBER ": THE RHETORIC OF HERESY, SIN, AND DISEASE
IN THE IDEOLOGY OF THE FRENCH CATHOLIC LEAGUE – More in-depth focus on how one
organization used metaphors among other things to discuss Prot problem

- Immediately refers to Diefendorf’s work on Catholic League in Beneath the Cross 247
- “d. League supporters argued that complacency on the part of Catholics, including the
monarch, had led to the manifestation of God's anger at human society” 248
- League apologists relied on a variety of ancient sources for inspiration and guidance,
especially the Scriptures and the Church Fathers” 248
- League propaganda as a whole relied on beliefs and myths shared by a vast majority of the
population” 248  written in the vernacular for widest audience
o References Pallier and Yardeni works from 70s but not others on my list?
- Describes “League’s crusading zeal” 249  could say it doesn’t go far enough
o “using the same terminology to differentiate themselves from heretics” 249
- Estoile provided foundation for historiography of the League 251
- Discussion of “Leagues concern for the health of the religious and social body” and
“adherence to an organic notion of society” 252
o Describes inescapability (new view) of the idea that corporeal metaphor would
emerge as Calvinists “severed all ties to the Catholic community and were no longer
members of the body of Christ” = reason for heresy link  different to Racaut
o more general idea of Catholics metaphorically treating the bread as the body
(transubstantiation?) being a reason they easily brought up metaphor of body in this
situation rather than Prots 252
- Biblical/Saint reference important too as “Leaguers consulted the works of the Church
Fathers to prove that heretics were eternally excluded from the Body of Christ” 253
o D’Orleans PRIMARY SOURCE example of including writings of Saints Ambrose and
Jerome using metaphor of “mangy sheep” that Catholics would have to look out for
253  link religious past to metaphors
o Must sacrifice or risk contaminating all with sin “to maintain the health of the
whole” 253
 Then goes onto discuss Catholic personal duty to “protect the “ailing French
body” by cutting off rotten parts as Catholics and heretics cannot coexist
(does not discuss how this is opposite of traditional regal role)  more
focused on League idea of this 253
 Huguenots also described as chameleons 254
 Claims Catholics felt an understanding that suffering and festering heresy
would affect all family of future not just their generation 256
o Continues rhetoric of Crusade and Catholics having to “work as a common voice” to
achieve this 255
 Holy war in Old Testament  use metaphor of (CAREFUL AS NOT
METAPHOR REALLY)
- Moves Crouzet’s work on apocalyptic visions to Old Testament discussion of God’s wrath
threat – “France must redeem itself” from being “blinded” by plague of heresy metaphor
 - Moves conversation from just Catholics not being able to live with Protestants 262 to
“heretics represented the greatest threat to Christianity”  claims both are ideas of the
League 262

- Barts massacre supported by “an oratory of violence and intolerance advocated by the
League”
- “Leaguers were certain that divine wrath could only be appeased once Catholics
collaborated in finally cleansing the social and religious body. As long as Protestants were
allowed to live and interact with Catholics, France would remain divided and overrun by
sin and heresy.”
- “One of the League's greatest strengths was its ability to use well-known religious and
political symbols to influence its audiences”

David A. Bell - Unmasking a King: The Political Uses of Popular Literature Under the French Catholic
League, 1588-89

- analysis of Pamphlets by League after murder of Guise in 1588

- they “used the traditional conventions and motifs” to show how illegitimate Henri III was
o League pamphlets where “of particular importance was the motif of the mask, by
which it was suggested that Henri was a king in appearance only.” 371
- Picks up on primary sources referencing negative biblical figures such as Herod (side analysis
of historical links to further metaphor’s traction)
- The polemical literature against Henri III has often figured in histories of the Wars of Religion
as a gruesome, illustrative footnote. Yet in only a few cases have historians analysed its
content” 372  direction Bell is moving historiography (towards what is inside the
metaphors)
- Uses contemporary account of Duke’s murder to reference likening to “a martyred saint”
373  link to other readings
- “The difference between press and pulpit was further reduced by the fact that the
pamphlets were often read aloud” 376
- Importance of king “never called Henri III” 376 by League to delegitimise his claim but also
attempt to decapitate French head and rid sin (?)
o Not mentioned in two bodies OR LEAGUE CUT OUT TONGUE article analysis  but
provides some foundations  maybe indicates a move away to different literature?
See if Bell is mentioned in Diefendorf work
o Not much focus outside of murder for context  bring in my own?
- “In every case, the pamphlets alleged that Henri III had disguised his true, evil nature under
a pious mask until the moment of the murders” 378  mask is a way of placing League’s
political point of view into pamphlet 378
- Songs and clergy criticising his return from Poland and court life 379-380
o Claims most serious criticism came from clergy, but question this with popular
opinion and pamphlets referenced throughout and also other readings
- Describes mask as “almost perfect” 380  believable to most but can be seen through
- “preoccupation with Henri's dual nature” 381  link to Roberts
 o “seeking to heighten the contrast between Henri's exterior and interior” (same
person) 381 compared to Roberts two different people (but not brought up in her
work)
- sixteenth-century French theories of kingship. According to these theories, the King of
France was a magical figure, endowed with supernatural attributes (most notably, the ability
to cure scrofula by touch). These powers could never be extinguished but were passed on to
the successor at the moment of burial.58 If the pious and regal appearance of Henri III was
nothing but a mask, then his royal powers were a sham, and his claim to the throne that of a
usurper.” Pp 381-2  tradition theme
- Does not mention how Charles IX was not attacked in same way for advocating death of
Coligny and Prots, here Henri III only implicated but still more aggressive  mention as
part of ‘could be taken further’  but reference knowledge of Catholic League being bigger
players at this time
- Claims that image of the mask is as important as League desiring dominance and claiming
higher authority 386

- “any character could be concealing a devil's snout beneath a mask of piety”

- “In the many descriptions of the murders at Blois, images of disguise, masking, and
dissimulation arose with astonishing frequency”
- De l'Estoile, Metnoires-Jouriaux, 3: 258.  primary source of reference to image of the mask

Barker 2013 – faith, nationalism and war in the poetry of the first French War of Religion

- Poetry recreated conflict for readers – uses quote: “God wants the end to come differently,
and wit hthe great fire of war alight like a “tyzon” (lost meaning) of fire consumed by smoke”
162  while mainly focusing on military poetry, use of Ronsard’s poetry can’t escape the
metaphorical rhetoric of God’s wrath and cleansing through fire
- “Repeated use of this metaphor [image of weapons  look up] within these poems
demonstrates how keenly people appreciated the power of the word” 163 “shaping of
words into “weapons” is an explicit choice made by the authors”
- “Blood was split both metaphorically, and literally” when paper was stained with blood 164
- Offers revisionist view on Racaut’s thought that printers were “unaware of their effect” by
assessing metaphorical usage of weaponizing books and words p. 169

Conclusion

- Even in her discussion of the metaphorical importance king’s two bodies, one being
metaphorical, she cannot avoid the link to past religious sources when discussing her
primary sources from the time.