Hatred in Print: Catholic Propaganda and Protestant Identity During the French Wars of Religion

by Luc Racaut

Overview

Catholic polemical works, and their portrayal of Protestants in print in particular, are the central focus of this work. In contrast with Germany, French Catholics used printing effectively and agressively to promote the Catholic cause. In seeking to explain why France remained a Catholic country, the French Catholic response must be taken into account. Rather than confront the Reformation on its own terms, the Catholic reaction concentrated on discrediting the Protestant cause in the eyes of the Catholic majority. This book aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over the nature of the French Wars of Religion, to explain why they were so violent and why they engaged the loyalities of such a large portion of the population. This study also provides an example of the successful defence of catholicism developed independently and in advance of Tridentine reform which is of wider significance for the history of the Reformation in Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780754602842
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/18/2002
Series:	St Andrews Studies in Reformation History
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Racaut, Luc

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction; Print, censorship, and the vernacular during the French Wars of Religion; The problem of violence during the French Wars of Religion; Polemic, debate and opinion forming in 16th-century France; The use of the 'blood libel' on the eve of the French Wars of Religion; Accusations of insurrection and Protestant responses; The 'world turned upside down', the femmelettes and the French Wars of Religion; The polemical use of the Albigensian Crusade; The Albigensians as Protestant martyrs; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Valuable in itself, Hatred in Print also suggests many avenues for further research.' Seventeenth-Century News 'Clearly written, carefully researched, and judiciously argued... succeeds at the same time in opening a new and important avenue of research in the field...' H-France Reviews '... [this] careful analysis of Catholic propaganda reminds us again how broadly conceived the religious 'other' was in early modern France and how important these images could be to the construction of Protestant identity down to the 20th century.' Huguenot Society Proceedings '...[this] book, based on a vast number of printed texts, is an important contribution to the growing literature on sixteenth-century French Catholicism and its response to the Protestant challenge.' The Catholic Historical Review '... a useful contribution to sixteenth-century propaganda studies. Its citations, notes, and bibliography are especially helpful.' Sixteenth Century Journal 'As a story of the consequences of unrelenting bigotry, this lucid account takes some beating.' Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte

From the Publisher

Drawing somewhat on his 1999 doctoral dissertation for the University of St. Andrews and on articles he has published previously, Racaut (history, U. of Glasgow-Dumfries) examines the production and impact of Catholic propaganda against Protestants during the Reformation of the 15th century. The Protestant use of printing is well documented and studied, he says, but modern scholars perpetuate the image of Catholicism as obscurantism and superstition, and have paid little attention to its writings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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