Deux vieilles France en échauguette

Abstract

Two old Frances at watch towers. The wars of religion, Janine Garrisson. From 1559 to about 1600, two Frances stood face to face. The most obvious break was the religious division and the confrontation between Catholics and Protes tants. But this Franco-French war can be interpreted as the continuation of older conflicts, those that opposed the North and the South, the inhabitants of cities and those of the countryside, the faithful supporters of royal power and the big feudal lords : two different political conceptions and two visions of society. This major conflict, which brought about 40 years of murders and plunder, seems to have been effaced from the collective memory of the French, which has retained only one event : the Saint Barthelemy day massacre. As if the horror of this massacre hid the very foundation of the wars of religion : the existence of several Frances, each refusing to listen to the other.