Stuart Carroll - Noble Power during the French Wars of Religion: The Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy

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The Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy

Noble affinities were the essence of power in sixteenth-century France. This is the first bookto analyse the development of a noble following during the whole course of the Wars ofReligion and the first substantial study of the Guise the most powerful family of the period to appear this century.

The Guise, champions of the catholic cause, were the largest landowners in Normandyand used the province the wealthiest in France as a base for their support of catholicismin the British Isles. The family exploited religious dissension to build a formidable ultra-catholic party in Normandy which ultimately challenged the monarchy. This study breaksnew ground by illuminating the relationship between high politics and popular confessionalsolidarities, especially the rise of radical catholicism. It exploits new archival sources toconsider all groups in political society, reinterpreting court politics and discussing groupsusually excluded from the traditional political narrative, such as the peasantry.

STUART CARROLL is Lecturer in History, University of York

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Edited by Professor Sir John Elliott, University of Oxford

Professor Olwen Hufton, University of Oxford

Professor H. G. Koenigsberger, University of London

Dr H. M. Scott, University of St Andrews

The idea of an early modern period of European history from the fifteenth to the lateeighteenth century is now widely accepted among historians. The purpose of CambridgeStudies in Early Modern History is to publish monographs and studies which illuminate thecharacter of the period as a whole, and in particular focus attention on a dominant themewithin it, the interplay of continuity and change as they are presented by the continuity ofmedieval ideas, political and social organization, and by the impact of new ideas, newmethods and new demands on the traditional structure.

For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book

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The Guise Affinity and theCatholic Cause in Normandy

STUART CARROLL

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Some images in the original version of this book are not available forinclusion in the netLibrary eBook .

PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS (VIRTUAL PUBLISHING) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESS SYNDICATE OFTHE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Stuart Carroll 1998

This edition Cambridge Press (Virtual Publishing) 2001

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevantcollective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1998

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeset in Postscript Ehrhardt 10/12 pt [VN]

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Carroll, Stuart, 1965

Noble Power during the French Wars of Religion: the Guise Affinity and

the Catholic Cause in Normandy/Stuart Carroll.

p. cm. (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 0 521 62404 5

1. Normandy (France) History Religious aspects. 2. France History Wars of the Huguenots, 15621598. Guise, House of.4. Nobility France Normandy Political activity. 5. CatholicChurch France Normandy History 16th century. I. title.

II. Series.

DC611.N894C37 1998

944.2dc21 9738680 CIP

ISBN 0 521 62404 5 hardback

eISBN 0-511-00747-7 virtual (netLibrary Edition)

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