Iron and Blood : Civil Wars in Sixteenth-Century France

Iron and Blood will permanently change the way we perceive sixteenth-century French history. Henry Heller shows that mounting social unrest in the first half of the century finally resulted in the French Civil Wars. Challenging the works of Fernand Braudel and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Heller argues that well before the 1560s, in the midst of the apparent prosperity and tranquillity of the French Renaissance, French society was marked by acute social tensions that regularly exploded in uprisings and rebellions. Heller demonstrates that the historical events of sixteenth-century France were unified by an increasing level of social conflict.

Heller refutes Roland Mousnier's thesis that early modern France was a society of orders in which most people knew and accepted their status in society. This concept of order certainly had meaning for the sixteenth-century élite because of aristocratic domination over land and people, but it is not clear that this was also the view of the commoners. Heller maintains that for peasants, craftsmen, and merchants the decline of the French economy started at the beginning rather than the middle of the sixteenth century. This resulted in unrest which spread from town to countryside, culminating in the three great popular movements of the civil wars: the Calvinist Revolt of the 1560s, the Catholic League's challenge to the power of the Monarchy, and the revolts of the 1590s. Heller stresses that the history of sixteenth-century France is one of both resistance and domination. It was often the upper class which took the initiative, directing much of the violence toward the commoners, and many of those involved in the civil wars were fighting for their own economic positions. Iron and Blood helps to clarify the significance of the French Civil Wars by showing them to be rooted in an aristocratic reaction against the earlier social unrest which began among the common people.

Contents Preface Glossary Introduction I: The Golden Age Turns to Iron: The Small Producers' Revolt II: Bourgeois Calvinism and Aristocratic Reaction III: The Huguenot Republic IV: The Commoners' Revolt V: The Democratic League VI: The Croquants' Revolt VII: A Society of Orders in Crisis Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z This study traces the mounting social unrest in the first half of the 16th century which eventually resulted in the French Civil Wars. The author argues that in the midst of the apparent tranquility of the French Renaissance, society was marked by social tensions that triggered rebellion.