Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots In Sixteenth Century France

Barbara B. Diefendorf, a distinguished historian, narrates the events prior to the St. Bartholomews Day despatch in France. The St. Bartholomews Day Massacre was a way for the judgment French monarchy to dispose or eliminate all Huguenots in France. aft(prenominal) the Protestant Reformation in Germany, there was a diversification of the Protestant confidence all over Europe. In Switzerland, Zwingli established a religious order that mixed Orthodox Catholicism and Lutheranism. In England, Henry VIII declare himself as the supreme head of the Church of England, without changing traditional elements of Catholic faith.In Geneva, a zealous preacher, John Calvin, taught the doctrine of predestination. According to this doctrine, before a man is born, his soul was ordained by God to be in either heaven or hell. Man, even by his own freewill, cannot substitute his destination. Thus, in order to assail his own salvation, he must video display to the world that he is destined to heave n. The trajectory of life, according to Calvin, is cloaked with perplexity of the afterlife. This doctrine shocked the even Calvins Protestant contemporaries, notably Luther and Zwingli.The pope even agreed with other Protestant leaders that such faith could not be Christian or borne out of Christ-centered faith. Thus, the low seeded player of persecution was released. Among all Protestant faiths, Calvinism suffered the longest and more or less brutal persecution. Other factors alike contributed to the Calvinist persecution in Europe (especially in France). Among were as follows 1) The Huguenots were able to tackle governmental and economic power (thus assuming significance in European affairs 2) The new faith rejected the absolute power of the monarchy.It proposed a new neighborly system that relies heavily on communalism and brotherhood 3) And, haul from the Papacy forced Catholic countries to realign their policies toward traditional faith and social system (this was a reactionary move to the ideals of Calvinism). Main Theme of the loudness In the book, the of import theme can be summed up as the gradual toleration of Huguenots in France generally resulted to increasing persecution of the adherents of Calvinism (although Huguenots comprised only 5% of the French population).The resulting struggle between Catholics and Huguenots was known as The Wars of Religion. For more than two centuries, France was the scene of legal and military struggle between the two factions, until primaeval Richelieu (the regent of Louis XIII) and King Louis XIV reposeed the last bastions of Huguenots in France. The main theme is subdivided into three sub themes. Here are as follows 1) The first stage of the conflict (from 1557 to 1563) was characterized by breakdown of order in the urban center of Paris.The Huguenots were initially granted toleration in the Edict of Amboise 2) The second stage (from 1563 to 1577) was seen as the initial criss-cross theological bat tle of Catholic and Huguenot theologians in both(prenominal) of Europes prestigious universities. Catholic theologians were led by the Jesuits. Huguenot professors were headed by the first students of Calvin 3) The third stage (from 1567 to 1572) was provoked by religious discontented of both Catholics and Huguenots.Catholics (especially the nobility and the French monarchy) wanted the deterioration of the economic and political power of the Huguenots. The Huguenots demanded more toleration (the opening of more districts for Huguenot worship and the removal of Huguenot books from the list of forbidden books). This was the period prior to the St. Bartholomews Massacre. Results Many Catholics in France felt that the degree of toleration granted to the Huguenots (the followers of Calvin) was more than fair to middling to destroy the authority of the Church and the Catholic monarchy.There was an increasing call among traditionalists to destroy the very foundation of Calvinism their worship districts. Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Huguenots, was severely wound after an assassination. Several clashes between Catholic and Huguenots were notably in most of Frances study cities. On the night of august 23, a decisiveness was taken at the Louvre to kill Coligny and the entire Huguenot hierarchy. Catherine de Medici, the mother queen, forced his son Charles IX to sign the order. Thus the infamous massacre in history finally came.Generally, the result of The Wars of Religion was the destruction of Huguenot power and the take of Catholicism as the official state religion of France. Methods The use of historic documents was highly noted in the book. Several documents dating back to the one-sixteenth century were presented to compound the main thoughts of the author. There was also a cogent reliance on the use of autobiographies, especially that of the Huguenot leaders who survived the massacre. In general, the methods employ by the author were complex in struc ture and analytical in form.General Critique The author was able to historically slice the events prior to the Huguenot massacre. This is contradictory other history books where events were seen as linear progression of cause and effect. Here, events were handle as a web of related forms, leading to a major event. It failed though to explain the conditions which gave Huguenots tremendous power in France despite their splendid number. BIBLIOGRAPHY Diefendorf, Barbara B. Beneath the Cross Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris. (New York Oxford UP, 1991).