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Abstract :
Urban studies understandably dominate the historiography and our comprehension of the French Wars of Religion. Social, religious and, more recently, political issues have all been in vogue in studies of the wars and, therefore, in the histories of towns. Confessional conflict and coexistence, relations between royal and municipal authorities, affiliation to Protestantism or the Catholic League, have all exercised urban histories. Key moments during the wars highlight the importance of the towns and the trauma they experienced. Yet, despite tension and division, urban communities had a shared concern in the maintenance of civic order and the defence of local integrity.
Key-Words: France - Wars of Religion - Towns - Huguenots - League - Communities.
The urban context of the French religious wars of the sixteenth century has proved of longstanding interest to francophone and anglophone historians alike. In France, as elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation was largely an urban event.
French Protestants, or Huguenots as they were termed by their opponents, were disproportionately concentrated in the towns, and thus most confessional confrontations and traumatic events were played out in an urban environment. The most obvious example is the St Bartholomew's Day massacres of 1572. which erupted in Paris but soon spread to at least a dozen other cities.1 Equally, the adherence of many towns to the Catholic League from 1588-1594. in opposition to the accession of a Protestant king. Henri IV. was significant, as was their capitulation to the king in negotiated articles of reconciliation following his conversion to Catholicism in 1593. Such episodes give structure to the numerous urban studies of the period: ( 1 ) from the eve of the wars through their first decade to 1 572; (2) from the aftermath of the massacres to the advent of the Catholic League: (3) to the League itself and the resolution of the conflict.
As Protestant congregations grew, particularly in the 1550s. verbal and physical violence carried out by both Catholics and Huguenots increased on the streets of French cities. Often it was fomented by the declarations of Catholic preachers and the actions of Protestant radicals. The sacred spatial organisation of towns increased confessional fervour and opportunities for provocation: Protestant attacks on statues in niches on street corners and local shrines,...