The French kingdom dissolved into civil wars, known as the ‘wars of religion’, for a generation from 1562 to 1598. This book examines the reactions of France's governing groups to that experience. Their major political endeavour was securing peace, which they attempted to achieve through a religious pluralism not envisaged in any other state on this scale in this period. Its achievement would only be fulfilled, however, alongside a reform of the kingdom's institutions and society. Peace and social reform went hand in hand — a moral agenda for restoration. France's notables drew on reservoirs o ... More

The French kingdom dissolved into civil wars, known as the ‘wars of religion’, for a generation from 1562 to 1598. This book examines the reactions of France's governing groups to that experience. Their major political endeavour was securing peace, which they attempted to achieve through a religious pluralism not envisaged in any other state on this scale in this period. Its achievement would only be fulfilled, however, alongside a reform of the kingdom's institutions and society. Peace and social reform went hand in hand — a moral agenda for restoration. France's notables drew on reservoirs of classical and Christian moral philosophy and wisdom to find practical answers to the difficult problems of governance that confronted them. The resulting public introspection and vocal debates are difficult to match anywhere else in Europe at this time. They were an essential part of the profound sense of crisis that France's governing elites experienced during the later 16th century. This book analyses the debates at the Estates General of Blois (1576–1577) and the Assembly of Notables at Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1583–1584. It shows the French polity in a fresh light, presenting major issues of political thought in their public and practical context. It also re-examines the crucial and little understood reign of Henry III, the last ruler of the Valois monarchy, suggesting how Bourbon France could have emerged very differently from the civil wars of the late 16th century.