Portraits from the French Renaissance and the Wars of Religion (review)

Abstract

Portraits from the French Renaissance and the Wars of Religion. By Andre Theve t. Translated by Edward Benson; edited with introduction and notes by Roger Schlesinger. [Early Modern Studies, 3] (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2010. Pp. xxxiv, 214. $39.95 paperback. ISBN 9781-931-11298-7.) This book is an annotated translation of thirteen selections from Andre Thevet's Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres (Paris, 1 584). Most of the individuals featured in this edition were Theve t's contemporaries: kings (Francois I, Henri II, Charles IX), aristocrats and warriors (including Francois de Lorraine, duke of Guise; Constable Anne de Montmorency; and Chancellor Michel de L'Hospital), and scholars (Guillaume Bude and Guillaume Postel). This gallery of portraits contains little that is new. Thevet's eulogies of powerful political figures often are trite and at times redundant. As Frank Lestringant wrote in his biography of Theve t, a certain realism, if not opportunism, dictated the cosmographer's writing. As a protege of Cardinal Jean de Lorraine, who funded his first voyage to the Levant in 1549,Thevet celebrated de Lorraine (the cardinal's nephew) as a martyr during the first Wars of Religion. According to Lestringant, Theve t reconfigured his political position from 1563 to support the policy of conciliation led by Catherine de Medici and advocated by L'Hospital. After the St. Bartholomew Day's massacre in 1572, Thevet justified persecution of seditious Huguenots. He increasingly veered toward the Catholic Ligue and, before his death in 1590, received protection and favors from Charles, duke of Mayenne and son of de Lorraine. This rapidly shifting political stance may explain why Thevet, a laicized Franciscan and the queen mother's chaplain, largely avoided thorny issues of confessional conflict. The overall absence of ideological steadfastness in Les vrais pourtraits may reflect his career as a quintessential courtier - he managed to serve as royal cosmographer under four successive kings. The introduction in this English edition provides a balanced picture of the events and developments surrounding the Wars of Religion, but it rarely mentions Thevet's political opinions, paying perhaps too much attention to his earlier travel accounts. One wonders whether it would have been more helpful if the editor had attempted to discuss Thevet in the context of political patronage and power politics of the time. …