Abstract
Prodigy collections, also known as wonder books, are important but little-used sources for understanding the experience of violence in France during the Wars of Religion. Authors Pierre Boaistuau, Jean de Marconville, François de Belleforest and Simon Goulart included many stories of violence and cruelty in their wonder books, with a notable focus upon violence within families and toward children. Civil war impacted upon community and family connections, and these authors sought to generate strong emotional responses in their articulation of a brutally disordered world on a wider scale. While prodigies are often understood in terms of natural phenomena like floods, earthquakes and monstrous births in recent scholarship, this essay argues that human violence forms a crucial element of early modern prodigy culture.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spinks, J. (2016). Civil War Violence, Prodigy Culture and Families in the French Wars of Religion. In: Spinks, J., Zika, C. (eds) Disaster, Death and the Emotions in the Shadow of the Apocalypse, 1400–1700. Palgrave Studies in the History of Emotions. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44271-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44271-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-44270-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-44271-0
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)