9 September 1561 A.D. Convocation of Colloquy of Poissy, France—Huguenots v. Romanists; Reformed “Wolves,” “Foxes,” "Serpents" & “Malicious Monkeys”
9
September 1561 A.D. Convocation
of Colloquy of Poissy, France—Huguenots v. Romanists; Reformed “Wolves,” “Foxes,” "Serpents" & “Malicious Monkeys”
Wheeler, Pierre. “The
Colloquy of Poissy.” Evangelical Times. Nov 2011.
http://www.evangelical-times.org/archive/item/5211/Historical/The-Colloquy-of-Poissy/.
Accessed 29 Aug 2014.
The Colloquy of Poissy - Pierre Wheeler
November 2011
The Colloquy
of Poissy
Over the weekend of 10-11 September 2011, the town of Poissy, near Paris, commemorated the first official ecumenical debate to be held in France — 450 years ago.
Over the weekend of 10-11 September 2011, the town of Poissy, near Paris, commemorated the first official ecumenical debate to be held in France — 450 years ago.
It is called the Colloquy of Poissy and was a debate
between Roman Catholics and Protestants lasting from 9 September to 14 October
1561. The colloquy was convened by the Catholic Queen Regent, Catherine de
Médecis, in the reign of her young son, Charles IX.
Catherine has left on record her reason for this attempt
at religious reconciliation. In a letter addressed to the French ambassador in
Spain, she suggested that they should change the 'medicine' administered to
Huguenots. Until now, she wrote, violence had only served to advance their
'contagion'. But now she recommended a 'way of sweetness'1.
It was another attempt by a French monarch to gain
increasing authority, not only over Catholic subjects but over Huguenots, as
the Protestants were called. In the mid-sixteenth century, French Protestants
numbered nearly two million, comprising a fifth of the total population.
Poissy 2011
The official title for the commemorative weekend in
September was 'Colloquy of Poissy, 2011 — in the heart of liberty:
dialogue and tolerance'.
Its main purpose was to examine these values, as
expressed in the present 'secularity' of France. It must be noted that French
secularity is not the same as mere secularism, for it recognises freedom of
religion within varying limits imposed by different local governments.
The Poissy 2011 speakers included the town mayor and his
deputy, 15-20 academic professors (all PhDs) and political representatives.
The exhibition (still continuing) begins by highlighting
the political and religious context in France during the first half of the
sixteenth century, and then examines in detail the 1561 colloquy.
It describes the succeeding development of religious
tolerance in France, culminating in a law passed in 1905 separating church and state.
New thought
To appreciate the 1561 colloquy's importance, we must
recall the religious history of France during the first half of the sixteenth
century.
New Renaissance ideas, as expressed in art, architecture
and literature, were welcomed in France by King Francis I (reign 1515-1547).
European horizons were dramatically widening, as a mighty cultural revolution
was embraced by Europe. This was further stimulated by such geographical
discoveries as the 'new world' of America and the sea route to India.
In addition, the invention of the printing press by
Gutenberg, at Mayence inGermany, opened the way for the rapid propagation of
new learning. In northern Europe the Italian Renaissance took on a distinctly
religious turn. The first book to be printed by Gutenberg was the Vulgate Latin
Bible.
In the early sixteenth century, Martin Luther
(1483-1546), an Augustinian monk from Germany, after a tormented search for the
salvation of his soul, found relief through Paul's letter to the Romans and its
teaching concerning justification by faith alone.
Reformation
God then used Luther to begin the movement now called the
Reformation.
This movement came to France, first impacting Meaux, a
city 30 miles east of Paris. The Catholic humanist, Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples,
had translated the Vulgate into French — the New Testament in 1523 and the Old
Testament in 1528 — earlier than Luther's complete 1534 translation of the
Bible into German. So the fires of Reformation in France were soon alight!
Francis I was, at first, favourably inclined to the new
teaching, but this changed after a strategic blunder by the Protestants.
'Placards' or religious posters were suddenly put up
everywhere in France, violently criticising Catholicism and its practices, and
especially the Roman mass. One was even placed on the door of the king's
chamber. We can imagine his reaction!
His response was now persecution, and so was that of the
next king, Henry II. After Henry's death, his queen, Catherine of Médecis, an
Italian niece of the pope, entrenched her own authority as she was regent over
the successive reigns of her three sons.
It was during the reign of Charles IX, a boy of only 10
years old, that she organised the Poissy debate of 1561.
Poissy 1561
The 1561 colloquy intended rapprochement between Catholicism
and Protestantism, but though the States General (comprising nobility, clergy
and burghers) were open to reconciliation, influenced by the chancellor Michel
de l'Hospital, the triumvirate of Catholic lords was determined to maintain
French Catholicism, whatever the cost.
Catherine de Médecis, a child of the Italian Renaissance,
was essentially for freedom of thought, but had also told Philip of Spain, who
disliked the idea of the colloquy, that she meant to remain mistress of her own
house.
An array of Catholic dignitaries were present — six
cardinals, several archbishops, and other bishops and theologians. The
cardinals were arrayed in scarlet, the dozen or so Protestant leaders in black
gowns.
The Protestants had received royal safe-conducts. Admiral
Coligny brought Theodore de Bèze (Beza), in place of John Calvin, from Geneva.
However, in short, the Poissy Debate failed to achieve
the consensus desired by the queen on the doctrinal issues before it.
Beza's exposition of reformation doctrine was listened to
respectfully at first, but when he refuted the mass by saying the resurrected
body of our Lord was 'as far from the bread and wine as was the highest
heaven from the earth', the Catholic response was vehement.
The cardinal of Tournon shouted, 'He's blaspheming!', and
complained that these 'new evangelists' were using 'abominable words'.
At the end of the colloquy, Beza presented to the young
King Charles a first edition copy of the French Protestant's confession of
faith (later called de la Rochelle), but one wonders how much the lad would have understood.
Virulent
words
Lainez, the general of the Jesuits, arrived at the
colloquy a few days after its commencement. He had been sent by the pope. His
words were virulent, as he called the Protestants 'wolves', 'foxes', 'serpents'
and 'malicious monkeys'.
He begged the queen to throw them out of the kingdom and
sought to persuade the French government to promulgate the decrees of the
Council of Trent, along with its anathemas on those holding opposing doctrines.
However, it did not all go the Catholics' way. The Queen
of Navarre, a fervent Protestant and mother of future king of France Henry IV,
was officially received at the colloquy and allowed to celebrate the Lord's
Supper in the abbey chapel.
One outcome, in January 1562, was the drawing up of the
Edict of St Germain, giving permission for the Huguenots to hold their services
outside walled cities and in all villages.
Many villages were embracing Reformation doctrine. Not
long after, the French reformer, Guillaume Farel, spoke of 300 villages in the
valley of the River Gironde, in south west France, that had 'put down the
mass'.
But, sadly, this edict did not prevent the eight
religious civil wars that followed the Poissy colloquy, during which the worst
tragedy of all took place — the infamous massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572.
This started at Paris immediately after Henry, prince
of Navarre, married Princess Margot, daughter of Queen Catherine.
The persecutions spread throughout France and tens of
thousands of Huguenots were savagely put to death.
The decision of King Henri IV, to become a Catholic after
four years of his reign (1589-1610), was a political move. In 1598, he
proclaimed the Edict of Nantes, concerning religious tolerance.
Seeds sown
There are a number of lessons that can be learnt from
Poissy in 1561. First, whatever persecutions followed on then, the idea of
religious tolerance had been sown. This fact was recognised by the Poissy
colloquy organised in September 2011.
Secondly, because of the failure of the 1561 colloquy,
most French evangelicals are appreciative of the 1905 law that separates
religion from the state and that broke the power of the Roman Church over
freedom of conscience.
In the days of Louis XVI, when Gallicanism prevailed2,
and after 1685 when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, the Protestants were
without any status as citizens. For a century they could not officially marry,
their children were illegitimate and their property could not be legally
inherited by their offspring. Happily, even writers like Voltaire fought
against such intolerance.
Thirdly, 1561 and Theodore Beza's example reminds us of
the necessity of remaining faithful to evangelical and biblical doctrine. Had
Beza failed to contend for this, the Huguenots may have been enticed into some
unholy covenant with Rome.
So Poissy 1561 was a 'happy' failure, ultimately honoured
by God. It underlined the impossibility of Protestant reconciliation with
Romish dogma and tradition. And, today, evangelicals do well to show a similar
faithfulness to God's Word.
Pierre Wheeler
Footnotes:
1. Célébrations
nationales 2011; Ministère de la Culture et de la
Communication, Paris (2010).
2. Gallicanism meant in practice that, althoughFrancewas
a Catholic country, its monarch preserved the right to choose bishops. The
resultant political process increased the monarchy's power.
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