City on the Ocean Sea: La Rochelle, 1530-1650: Urban Society, Religion, and Politics on the French Atlantic Frontier (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions)

This important volume presents the first comprehensive history of early modern La Rochelle, a port town whose fractious residents became embroiled in the French Reformations. Opening chapters situate the Rochelais within the geopolitics of an oceanic frontier, where urbanites created a strong, heavily armed civic government, in part because they perceived themselves as isolated civilizing agents surrounded by the savage inhabitants of a lawless environment. Analysis of the city's Reformation proceeds within this context of place and politics, showing how various ranks of the citizenry idiosyncratically adopted the tenets of Calvinism, amalgamating these salvific doctrines with traditional civic rites and values - to the consternation of more orthodox pastors. Juxtaposing serial sources from multiple archives, Robbins shows with innovative detail how local political and religious struggles intermeshed, setting the city and its Reformed congregations on a fatal collision course with the Bourbon monarchy. Concluding chapters examine how great aristocratic families, churchmen, and Catholic magistrates joined in a local Counter-Reformation, remaking urban power politics from the ground up. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 List of Figures 14 List of Tables 16 Abbreviations 18 Introduction 20 Chapter One: A City in a Landscape of Islands and Frontiers 28 1. Unsettling Neighbors 29 2. Local Topographies of Power 46 3. Problematic Relations Between Town and Country 56 4. Dimensions of the Townscape 63 Chapter Two: An Introduction to the Power Politics of Sixteenth-Century La Rochelle 80 1. Powers and Prerogatives of Municipal Government 80 2. Formative Conflicts Between City and Crown 88 3. The Resurgence of Urban Political Infighting 112 Chapter Three: No City on a Hill: The Rochelais Reformation Circa 1550 – Circa 1620 126 1. The Weakness of Catholic Culture and the Origins of the Reformation in the French West Country 128 2. The Calvinist Clergy of La Rochelle 140 3. The Calvinist Consistory of La Rochelle 151 4. The Calvinist Congregations of La Rochelle 165 5. Disinheriting the Pastorate: Calvinist Testamentary Practices in La Rochelle 183 6. Printing and Religious Politics in La Rochelle 192 Chapter Four: The Course of Urban Politics in La Rochelle and the Consolidation of a Calvinist Governing Oligarchy Circa 1560 – Circa 1614 203 1. Introduction 203 2. Conversions in Civic Rulership 204 3. Town Politics Embroiled in Calvinist Dissent 220 4. The Siege of 1573 and Its Effects on Urban Politics 229 5. Contours of La Rochelle’s Calvinist Ruling Oligarchy 241 Chapter Five: Transforming Civic Authority: Bourgeois Political Rebellion, Destruction of Oligarchical Town Government, and Popular Assault on the Pastorate in La Rochelle, Circa 1580 – Circa 1614 260 1. The Breakdown of Rochelais Communal Government After 1580 263 2. From Bourgeois Political Dissent to Bourgeois Political Rebellion 272 3. The Social Dynamics of Urban Rebellion 293 Chapter Six: The Advent of a New Civic Regime: Urban Politics, Religious Dissent, and Defiance of the Crown 1614–1628 317 1. The Repercussions of Bourgeois Political Violence 317 2. The Embourgeoisement of Municipal Government After 1614 326 3. Disavowals of Mayoral Authority and Provocations of the Crown by the New Masters of Rochelais Politics 354 Chapter Seven: Counter-Reforming La Rochelle: Feudalizing the Townscape, Catholicizing Municipal Government, and Transforming Agencies of Police within Urban Society, Circa 1628 – Circa 1650 373 1. Introduction 373 2. Subjecting the Rochelais to the Fief St. Louis, An Ineffaceable Punishment of Their Rebellion 378 3. The Catholicizing of Municipal Government After 1628 386 4. Prosecuting the Counter-Reformation in La Rochelle 404 Conclusion 430 Appendix One 448 Appendix Two 450 Select Bibliography 454 Indexes 466 1. Index of Personal Names 468 2. Index of Place Names 477 3. Index of Subjects 480 Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought 484 Presenting a comprehensive history of early modern La Rochelle, this volume traces the port town whose fractious residents became embroiled in the French Reformation.