Mechanisms of Peace

Abstract

Historians of the French religious wars have rightly emphasised the political character of the implementation of the king’s peace policy.¹ They have interpreted the actions of the crown as an attempt to take the sectarian tensions out of the process by subordinating religious difference to the rule of law. Olivier Christin, in particular, has stressed the importance of the enforcement in establishing Huguenot rights.² For the monarchy, the best means by which peace could be achieved in France was through the proper exercise of royal justice as upheld by its specially appointed commissioners. As agents of the king, these judicial officials were instructed to enforce his will by establishing the parameters of coexistence between the faiths as set out in successive legislation. A series of royal edicts in the 18 months or so prior to the outbreak of war had gradually established freedom of conscience and eventually rights of worship for the Huguenot minority. Despite the failure to avert war, this policy would be continued and extended through the edicts of pacification which punctuated the conflict. Yet, it is only recently that the mechanisms employed in this process have been subject to systematic analysis.³ A close examination of the first efforts at peacemaking have much to tell us about the strategies employed and the problems faced in undertaking this responsibility.