Review Of `the Rites Of Violence: Religious Riot In Sixteenth-century France`

Davis, Natalie Zemon. "The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in Sixteenth-Century France." Past & Present 59 (May 1973): 51-91.

Introduction

Published works by Wolff, Estebe, Rude, and Verlinden promote the idea that conflict occurs between polar opposite groups of society. Davis regards these opposites based on living standards, for example she compares the rich to the poor and manufacturers to labourers. One of Davis' main aims in this article is to find an alternative perspective on this. She does say that she would not comment upon military activity and would classify the riots and massacres as 'collective disturbances' (p. 55) and this is how they will be referred to.

However there is no comparative study shown as to what constitutes as a riot or a massacre as proposed by Allan Tulchin . Throughout her study she has a primary focus on religious motivations over social and economic. This review will discuss two themes that embody Davis' analyses, the participation in, and religious motivation for violent disturbances.

I - Participation in violence

Using the 1572 massacres (Saint Bartholomew's Day massacres) Davis argues that skilled workers known as artisans along with the nobility were the contributing classes in society and not the unskilled or teaching class (p.80). She carries this notion throughout her article. However there has to be consideration for the uniqueness of these events as they stemmed from an assassination attempt on Admiral Coligny.

Davis does not mention the military involvement in the disturbances. By using Davis' table (p. 80) we see large numbers were killed. Tulchin differs to Davis in saying that this would have only been possible with an organised military force .

Davis' aim to deepen the understanding of these massacres is only partially answered as she fails to consider the wider context and examine local issues. Greengrass argues a number of hypotheses can be found when reviewing Denis Crouzet's Les guerriers de Dieu: la violence au temps des troubles de religion . The limitation to this however, is that a hypotheses may only be applicable to individual cases and not as a rule. This therefore does not pinpoint an underlying cause for conflict .

The involvement of women shows that these disturbances were not gender specific. In fact women had an active role as shown by Davis' example of a Catholic bookseller's wife setting fire to a Huguenot house and a Protestant solicitor's wife using arms to fight Catholics (p. 87).

There was also involvement of youths, primarily males. They had a festive licence to act as community conscience dealing with matters of discord (p. 88). Davis argues that these youths along with artisans led militant action. For Catholics they did so without criticism from elders, but in the Protestant situation they were acting, only on occasion, with the support of their fathers or elders. This is poignantly described by Davis as the idea of Calvinism cutting through the generational line (p. 88). II - Religious motivation

Religious motivation for disturbances is the main focus of Davis' article. Both Protestants and Catholics saw each other as defiling the scri ptures. They both acted according to God's will and proceeded to carry out these disturbances to reach certain religious goals.

Attempting to free society from 'pollution' (non-native religion) is a frequent cause for rioting (p. 57). When analysing this although a descri ption of events is given, Davis fails to acknowledge any political agendas from either side to stem the support and growth of each other's religion. Greengrass sees propaganda used as Protestants claim that it is not too far from the truth to believe Catholics lusted after Protestant wealth and offices rather than on religious grounds .

The defiling of the scri ptures is seen through religious members showing indulgences. This criticism from both Protestants and Catholics is seen along with the fact people did not deem these members to always take appropriate action in the face of heresy, suspected or not. Davis comments more upon a literary validation for these remarks rather than considering any morality issues. The entrenched displeasure that was carried through from the 1540's and 1550's is ignored. Although introducing Louise Tilly's 'The Food Riot as a Form of political Conflict in France' Davis merely uses the article to prove the Grain prices were not forcing people into poverty in 1560's and 1570's, but Louise Tilly's general analyses of the conflicts show the degradation of living standards, and that by the time the Grain prices had reduced society was not recovering .

There needs to be a consideration of the Geography of these religions to further substantiate the argument of Davis. Tulchin shows a link between a struggling economy or an intense boost in a certain area of an economy and occurring disturbances . This separation is seen post 1572 with the slow demise of Huguenots . The involvement of clerics and other religious members in the disturbances further gave justification for people to also take part as they saw it as God's will (p. 66). This sometimes led participants to act in a trance-like nature . Once again the importance of Calvinist beliefs, in this instance having the moral obligation to rebel against tyranny, is neglected by Davis. She does explain that during times of ritualistic ceremonies (p. 72) or processions (p. 73-74), many groups from both religions came together and this provided a further tension and ultimately led to more conflicts.

One of the most important ideas not expanded upon past a descri ptive level is Iconoclasm. Ridding Catholic churches of idols was an aim of Protestants, primarily Calvinists; however Greengrass gives the more religious approach of viewing it as a persecution of Catholicism and its worship . This is seen as a response to persecutions of Protestants by Catholic lay institutions .

III - Source engagement, writing style, and conclusion

Much of Davis' engagement with the sources is as a narrative for the disturbances due to her incisive use of primary source material creating the sense of a non-bias argument. Davis could further research the dispute between the house of Guise and the house of Bourbon and how Coligny rose to power after securing an alliance with Charles IX. She should also take in to account the secured peace that eventually came from the marriage of Margaret de Valois and Henry of Navarre and how this related to Spanish attempts to rid France of Protestantism. With this there are occurrences, especially post 1572 where there is a want for regicide , as proposed by Greengrass along with Tulchin's analysis of the Kalyvas model, providing two types of violence, selective and indiscriminate .

The final point that Davis could have explored is given by Greengrass, where he argues that you cannot draw a wide margin between ritualistic violence and that which is the responsibility of the military otherwise there are potential patterns that emerge throughout France and the wider context of conflict that would be missed.

WORKS CITED

Greengrass, M., 'The Psychology of Religious Violence', French History, Vol. 5, No. 4, (1981) NB: A review article of Denis Crouzet's Les guerriers de Dieu.

Tilly, Louise, 'The Food Riot as a Form of Political Conflict', Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2 (1971)

Tulchin, Allan A., 'Massacres during the French Wars of Religion', Past and Present 214 (2012)

OTHER CONSIDERED PUBLICATIONS

Benedict, Philip, 'The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacres in the provinces', The Historical Journal, 21, 2 (1978)

Crouzet, Denis, Les guerriers de Dieu: la violence au temps des troubles de religion, Vol. 2 (Champ Vallon: Seyssel, 1990)