Holy War or Sedition? The Prophetism of Parisian Preachers and Catholic Militancy, 1558–1588

Abstract

The uses of prophetism—that is, prophetic activities and personas, as well as prophecy itself—by several celebrated Parisian preachers were transformed during the Wars of Religion. The personal charisma of the pulpits' occupants carried less weight than it had during the Middle Ages. By contrast, the collective identity of those preachers who were doctors of theology was affirmed by references to the sacerdotal Judaism of the Levites. As a result of this evolution, the Faculty of Theology came to lead the battle against religious pacification. Reinforcing the analogy between preachers' freedom of speech and that of the biblical prophets transformed the meaning of obedience to the king. At the same time, biblical imaginary promoted the politicization of sermons. Alongside the struggle against irenicism, a theocratic ideology came to oppose the divine right of kings. Prophetic preaching thus became an instrument for legitimating the right of resistance, which found its institutional form in the 1588 Edict of Union.