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The Politics of Piety
Franciscan Preachers During the Wars of Religion, 1560-1600
Megan C. Armstrong
The Politics of Piety situates the Franciscan order at the heart of the religious and political conflicts of the late sixteenth century to show how a medieval charismatic religious tradition became an engine of political change. The friars used their redoubtable skills as preachers, intellectual training at the University of Paris, and personal and professional connections with other Catholic reformers and patrons to successfully galvanize popular opposition to the spread of Protestantism throughout the sixteenth century. By 1588, the friars used these same strategies on behalf of the Catholic League to prevent the succession of the Protestant heir presumptive, Henry of Navarre, to the French throne.
This book contributes to our understanding of religion as a formative political impulse throughout the sixteenth century by linking the long-term political activism of the friars to the emergence of the French monarchy of the seventeenth century.
Megan C. Armstrong is assistant professor of early modern Europe in the History Department of the University of Utah.
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DETAILS
6 b/w illustrations
284 pages
Size: 9 x 6 in
13 digit ISBN: 9781580461757
Binding: Hardback
First published: 15/Oct/2004
Last reprinted: 15/Oct/2004
Price: 75.00 USD / 40.00 GBP
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe
Subject: History of Religion
BIC class: AVH
STATUS: Available
Details updated on 18/11/2008
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Reviews
This is an extremely readable account, written in a lively and fluent style, establishing an effective balance between quotation, anecdote and analysis. The main themes are clearly enunciated and followed through, and it presents a convincing case for the importance of the Franciscans' political and spiritual role and their contribution to the triumph of Catholicism. H-FRANCE
Engagingly written...it is solidly based on manuscript and primary printed sources...what she has done in this book is to put in place an important piece of the puzzle of explaining why France remained Catholic. CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW
Written in a lively and engaging style Armstrong demonstrates how the medieval spiritual tradition and broad popular appeal of the Franciscans provided an ideal mix for the political-even militant-activism that would create a distinctively Catholic absolutist monarchy. The book provides much needed balance for the primarily political studies that have shaped our understanding of the French Religious Wars and their aftermath. The Politics of Piety is essential reading for those interested in early modern France, religious history, and the development of French political institutions. --Larissa Juliet Taylor, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Colby College
Politics of Piety contributes to refining the picture of traditional religion by showing that, although they owed a great deal to their medieval roots, Franciscans were not slavish followers of papal supremacy and recognised the importance of the Gallican claims to spiritual independence that arguably ensured the continuity of the Catholic Church, as it was orchestrated by the French monarchy in the seventeenth century. --JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
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