Gallicanism

Abstract

“Gallicanism” is a 19th-century term used to refer to a range of ecclesiological and political theories extending from the High Middle Ages to at least the French Revolution that sought to decrease papal or increase royal control over the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its boundaries are poorly defined: it often formed part of larger ideological complexes with elements that might be defined as absolutist, constitutionalist, or Jansenist and it had complex but important relationships with similar movements in other polities and even, for example, with Protestant Erastianism. Typically, Gallicanism is understood as an erudite discourse among learned jurists and theologians, and scholarly interest in it has usually been undertaken within the context of the intellectual history of state formation in the Early Modern period and of Conciliarist and post-Tridentine Catholic theology. In the 16th century it was closely entwined with the rise of humanism and the Reformation; in the 17th century, with royal absolutism, religious revival, and the Jansenist controversy. More recent studies have investigated it as a broadly shared religious and national culture among French Catholics of varied backgrounds and ideological orientations. Its influence beyond France proper was complex and did not fully develop until the 18th century, but it has been the subject of some interesting work.