Edict of Châteaubriant
The Edict of Châteaubriant , French L'édit de Châteaubriant , often also Edict of Châteaubriand or in the ancient spelling, Edict of Chasteaubriant , was issued on June 27, 1551 by the French King Henry II . It was part of a series of increasingly strict measures against the Huguenots , whom the king regarded as heretics . The repression against Protestant members of the parliament was thereby also extended to the regional parliaments.
Introduction and history
After the death of his father Franz I, Heinrich II became King of France in 1547. In contrast to his father, however, he takes a more intransigent role towards Protestantism , which is probably due to his advisors Diana of Poitiers , Anne de Montmorency and the Guise . Nevertheless, the Reformation continued to spread under his rule , which is why Henry II, himself a strict Catholic, decided to take drastic measures against the Protestants.
In order to be able to take more rigorous action, on October 8, 1547, Henry II had brought into being a special legal chamber for heresy only , which consisted of members of the parliament. The Huguenots gave it the name Chambre ardente , which can be translated as glowing chamber . The task of this Chambre ardente was clearly to persecute the French Protestants, to convict them and to execute their sentences. Within three years, the chamber had around 500 arrests carried out and was therefore directly responsible for the violent repression of the Huguenots between 1547 and 1549. This judicial repression was intensified in 1549 by the Edict of Paris , since from now on ecclesiastical judges were also empowered to pronounce sentences.
content
In the preamble to the Edict of Châteaubriant, issued at the court of Anne de Montmorency in Châteaubriant in Brittany, it is unabashedly admitted that the previous measures against heresy in the kingdom had no effect. She goes on to report that the heretics come together in secret, enforce schools, spread out on the court benches and force tolerance from the judges.
Very clear and detailed instructions appear in the edict itself. Civil and ecclesiastical courts are required to track down and punish all heretics. Strict restrictions are then imposed on the Protestants, which could go as far as the loss of a third of their property, which was then transferred to the informants under immunity. After Geneva escapees confiscations threatened of movable and immovable property. It was also a punishable offense for royal subjects to correspond with these people or even to send them money.
Fourteen of the forty-six articles deal with censorship . It strictly forbids the press to sell, import, or print books that have not been approved by the Sorbonne School of Theology in Paris. In addition to their own book directory, booksellers also had to display a copy of the books indexed by the faculty. To ensure that these regulations are followed, faculty delegates should visit each bookseller twice a year. As early as 1542, the rule had come into force in France that book items from abroad had to be opened and unpacked in the presence of envoys from the theology faculty. According to Roger Doucet, the Faculty of Theology had de facto taken over the intellectual course of the kingdom .
Excerpt
In the Priulege du Roy (royal privilege) of 1556 on the right, the Edict of Châteaubriant reads as follows:
"... contenant, que par nostre Edict doné à Chasteaubriant le vingtßeptiesme iour de Iuing dernier, ayons ordonné et statué entre autre choßes, que tous marchands, Imprimeurs, Libraires et vedeurs de liures, en quelques villes et lieux ou ileroz Fußent,’ tenuz et contrainctz d'auoir un catalog (de livres censurez), et le tenir en leurs boutiques ... "
“... in view of the fact that, in our Edict of Chasteaubriant issued on the 27th day of the previous June, we ordered and, among other things, carried out ... that all dealers, printers, bookstores and booksellers - no matter in which city and places they are - are stopped and forced to have a catalog (of the censored books) in possession and put it in their shop for inspection ... "
Conclusion and outcome
In conclusion, it can be said that the Edict of Châteaubriant continues a long series of edicts and consequently further cemented the control of the Catholic Church over printing. It was the clear intention of Henry II and his advisors - all Catholics were convinced - to curb as much as possible the spread of Reformation ideas, which were rapidly gaining a foothold in France and the rest of Europe , precisely because of the successes in book printing . It was therefore perfectly clear that all printed matter that dealt with the theses of the Reformation and especially with the theses of Calvin would be subject to censorship.
Even if the Edict of Châteaubriant went so far as to forbid discussion of religious subjects at work, in the fields or at meals, it could not stop the flood of impending religious reforms. Therefore, in the following edict, the Edict of Compiègne in 1557 , far more severe penalties should be promised, such as the death penalty for heresy.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Linda L. Taber: Religious Dissent within the Parlement of Paris in the Mid-Sixteenth Century: A Reassessment . In: French Historical Studies 16.3 . 1990, p. 685 .
- ^ Raymond A. Mentzer, Jr .: The Legal Response to Heresy in Languedoc, 1500-1560 . In: Sixteenth Century Journal 4.1 . 1973, p. 22 .
- ↑ James K. Farge: Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France: The Faculty of Theology of Paris, 1500-1543 . Brill, Leiden 1985, pp. 218 .
- ↑ Georges Minois: Censure et culture sous l'Ancien Régime . Fayard, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-213-59445-7 , pp. 53-54 .
- ↑ Elizabeth A. Chesney: The Rabelais encyclopedia . 2004, ISBN 0-313-31034-3 , pp. 31-32 .