Abstract
Two days after Mary Queen of Scots had been beheaded at Fotheringhay on the orders of Elizabeth I, Lord Burghley noted zealously ‘the tree of treasons has been cut off’.1 By 1 March, two weeks later, news of the execution had reached Paris. Henri III was outraged by this decision and responded immediately by severing diplomatic ties with England. The spiritless public interest in Mary that had characterised the period 1561–86 was at once transformed into an energetic and passionate defence of the dead Queen. Nevertheless, the convergence of royal policy and public opinion on this issue was at best transitory and at worst an illusion. News of the death of Mary erupted on to an already fragile political context in which many French Catholics already exhibited signs of hostility towards the King. Successfully exploiting news of the execution and other current affairs, militant Catholic opinion embodied by the Catholic League quickly gained substantial popular support in the capital. When, in May 1587, Henri III healed fractured relations with England, open demonstrations erupted in Paris in defiance of his foreign policy of appeasement towards England and his domestic policy of pragmatic toleration towards the Huguenots.
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Notes and References
N.M. Sutherland, ‘Henri III, the Guises and the Huguenots’, in Keith Cameron (ed.), From Valois to Bourbon. Dynasty, State and Society in Early Modern France (Exeter, 1989), pp. 21–34; see also N. M. Sutherland, The French Secretaries of State in the Age of Catherine de Medici (London, 1962), ch. xvi.
Elie Barnavi, Le Parti de Dieu. Etude sociale et politique des chefs de la Ligue parisienne 1585–94 (Brussells and Louvain, 1980), ch. 10.
Pierre de L’Estoile, Mémoires Journaux de Pierre de L’Estoile, ed. M. Brunet, A. Champoillon, E. Halphen, P. LaCroix, C. Reid, T. de Larroque & E. Tricotel, (Paris, 1876), t. III, p. 139.
Charles Labitte, De la Democratic chez les predicateurs de la Ligue (Geneva, 1841, 1971); Arlette Lebigre, La Revolution des cures. Paris 1588–94 (Paris, 1980).
Denis Pallier, Recherches sur l’Imprimerie a Paris pendant la Ligue, 1585–94 (Geneva, 1976).
Frederic J. Baumgartner, Radical Reactionaries: the political thought of the French Catholic League (Geneva, 1975–6), p. 80.
Ibid., p. 81.
Jean de Caumont, Advertissement des advertissements. Au Peuple treschrestien (1587)
Nicolas Poulain, ‘Proces-Verbal’, in Cimber and Danjou (eds.), Archives curieuses de l’Histoire de France, t. XI (Paris, 1826), p. 308; cited in Baumgartner, Radical Reactionaries, p. 44.
Nicolas Poulain in Memoires relatifs a l’histoire de France, ed. Claude-Bernard Petitot (Paris, 1825), p. 419, cited in Salmon, ‘The Paris Sixteen’, p. 244.
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Denis Pallier, ‘Les réponses catholiques’, in Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin (eds.), Histoire de 1 Edition Française (3 vols., Paris, 1983), t. I, p. 340, cited in Racault, ‘The cultural obstacles to religious pluralism’.
Pierre Fayet, Journal Historique de Pierre Fayet sur les Troubles de La Ligue, ed. Victor Luzarche (Tours, 1852), p. 33.
Palma Cayet, Chronologie Nouvenaire, p.32, cited in Denis Pallier, Recherches, p. 64. For details of the trial, from 23 October 1586 to his condemnation on 22 November 1586, see Philippe Renouard, Documents sur les imprimeurs, libraires, cartiers, graviers, fondeurs de lettres, relieurs, doreurs de livres, faiseurs de fermoires en lumineurs, parcheminiers et papetiers ayant exerce a Paris de 1450 a 1600. Recueillis aux Archives Nationales et au Département des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris, 1901), t. I, pp. 48–9.
[Nicolas Rolland.,] Remonstrances tres humbles au Roy de France et de Pologne Henry et miseres de ce royaume, ((Paris] 1588); cited in Denis Pallier, Recherches, p. 230.
Pierre de Belloy, De 1 Authorite du Roy, et crimes de leze majesté, qui se commetent par ligues, designation du successeur, et libelles escrits contre la personne et dignite du Prince ([Paris], 1587). An editions of his Examen du discours publie contre la maison royalle de Paris ([Paris], 1587) may also have been published in the capital.
[Louis d’Orleans], Premier et second advertissernents des catholiques anglois aux francois catholiques (Lyon, Jean Pillehotte, 1590), Alv.
[John Leslie], Oraison funebre sur la mort de ia Royne d’Escosse (Paris, Jean Charron, 1587).
[John Leslie], Oraison funebre sur la mort de tr’es-heureuse mémoire Marie Stuard Royne d’Escosse ([Paris, Jean Charron], 1587).
Renaud de Beaune, Oraison funebre de la tres-chrestienne, tres-illustre et tresconstante, Marie Royne d’Escosse (Paris, Guillaume Bichon, 1588).
Jean de Caumont, Advertissement des advertissemens au peuple tres—crestien (1587), a[sic for A]2r. This pamphlet was published no less than eight times in 1587.
R. Hari, ‘Les placards de 1534’ in G. Berthoud et al., Aspects de la propagande religieuse (Geneva, 1957), pp. 79–142.
On Germany, see Robert Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Oxford, 1981, 1994).
P. Renold (ed.), ‘Letters of William Allen and Richard Barret, 1572–90’, Catholic Record Society, 58 (1959), p. xxxix; cited in Carroll, ‘Revolt of Paris’, p. 319.
See Jean-Pierre Seguin, ‘L’Illustration des feuilles d’actualité non periodiques en France aux XVe et XVIe siecles’ in Gazette des BeauxArts, July 1958; see also Jean—Pierre Seguin., L’Information en France avant la périodique, 517 ranardc imprimes entre 1529 et 1631 (Paris 1–196411
Jean-Marie Constant, La Ligue (Paris, 1996), p. 120 mentions this, without citing any source.
‘J’envoye aussi l’Epitaphe de la Royne d’Escosse composée par Ponthus de Thyart, évesque de Chaslon, que V.A goustera paraventure’, René de Lucinge, Lettres de 1587. L’Annee des Reitres, ed. James Supple (Geneva, 1994), p. 240.
See also James Phillips, Images, pp. 162–9 for a detailed discussion of this poetry.
Pierre de L’Estoile, MernoiresJournaux de Pierre de L’Estoile (Paris, 1982 — reprint of the Paris edition of 1876), p. 18.
Jacques Le Bossu, Deux devis, d’un catholique et d’un politique, sur l’exhortation faicte au peuple de Nantes, en la grande Eglise de sainct Pierre, pour iurer l’union des Catholiques, le huictiesme iour de juin, mil cinq cens quatres vingts & neuf, (Nantes, Nicolas des Marestz & Francois Fauerye, 1589), Flv-F2r. The quatrain itself also appeared, along with numerous other verses, in several other printed books, including Coppie de la requeste presentee au Turc par l’agent de la Royne d’Angleterre (Verdun, Jacques Eldreton, 1589), poem IV.
L’Estoile, Memoires, t. III, p. 14.
Charles Labitte, De la Democratie chez les Predicateurs de la Ligue (Geneva, 1971 original edition 1841), p. 108.
Alexandre Teulet (ed.), Papiers d’etat, pieces et documents inédits ou peu connus, relatifs a l’histoire de l’Ecosse au XVIe siecle, tires des bibliotheques et des archives de France (3 vols., Paris, 1852), t. II, p. 157. See also Francisque-Michel, Les Ecossais en France. Les Franfais en Ecosse (2 vols., London, 1862), t. II, p. 106, n.2 and Bernardino de Mendoza to Philip II, 6 March 1587, CSP Spanish 1587–1603, no. 32, p. 31.
Jacques-Auguste de Thou, Histoire Universelle de Jacques-Auguste de Thou depuis 1543. jusqu’en 1607 (16 vols., London, 1734), vol. 9, pp. 648–9.
Ibid., p. 649. See also Jehan de La Fosse, Journal d’un Cure Ligueur de Paris sous les trois dernieres Valois suivi du Journal du Secrétaire de Philippe du Bec, Archeveque de Reims, de 1588 a 1605, ed. Edouard de Barthélemy, (Paris, 1866), p. 204.
Renaud de Beaune, Oraison funebre de la tres-chrestienne, tres-illustre, Marie Royne d’Escosse, morte pour la foy, le 18. Febrier 1587 par la cruaute des Anglois hérétiques, ennemys de Dieu ([Paris, Guillaume Bichon], 1588), A4v.
On this, see David E. Duncan, Calendar. Humanity’s Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year (New York, 1998).
For instance, Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots (Bungay, 1976) originally published 1969, p. 590 has written, ‘as the gates of Fotheringhay were locked, so were the English ports closed immediately after the death of the queen of Scots. It was three weeks before the French ambassador Châteauneuf could write back to his master in Paris with tidings of the calamity’.
Jeffrey K. Sawyer, Printed Poison. Pamphlet propaganda, faction politics, and the public sphere in early seventeenth century France (Oxford, 1990), p. 134.
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© 2004 Alexander S. Wilkinson
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Wilkinson, A.S. (2004). Spreading News of the Execution: Mary Queen of Scots and the Parisian Catholic League. In: Mary Queen of Scots and French Public Opinion, 1542–1600. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286153_5
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