9 September 1561 A.D. Huguenots in France: Poissy Conference Couldn’t Cure France
9
September 1561 A.D. Huguenots
in France: Poissy Conference Couldn’t Cure France
Graves, Dan. “Poissy Conference Couldn’t Cure France.” Christianity.com. Jul 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/poissy-conference-couldnt-cure-france-11630003.html. Accessed 20 May 2014.
As such conferences go, Poissy was a flop. By the
middle of the sixteenth century, France seemed ready to tear itself apart over religion.
A large minority of Frenchmen had converted to Reformation views. And while the
majority remained Catholic, there were divisions among them, too, some wanting
to stick firmly to the headship of Rome, others arguing for a semi-independent
French Catholic church.
While Charles IX was a minor, his mother, Catherine
de' Medici ruled France as regent. In a desperate effort to preserve order in
her nation, the queen summoned Catholic and Protestant theologians to work out
a religious agreement under which both sides could live. Although this
conference was stoutly resisted by France's leading Catholics, Catherine
brought it about.
On this day, September 9, 1561,
the Colloquy of Poissy met in the dining room of a local convent. Representing
the Catholics were six cardinals, 38 archbishops and bishops, and many other
clergymen. The two most famous of the Protestants in attendance were Theodore
Beza from Switzerland and the Italian-born humanist and scholar Peter Martyr
Vermigli.
Chancellor L'Hôpital opened the proceedings with a
speech assuring the delegates that it was appropriate for the monarchy to hold
such a conference for the sake of the church. There might be doubts in the
minds of the Catholics, he thought, because the Council of Trent was in session
and they might ask themselves if they did not belong there instead.
Beza stated the Protestant position and aroused
cries of blasphemy when he said that the body and blood of Christ were as far
from the bread and wine, as the highest heaven is from the earth. Catholics
believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ.
In the end, differences over the Eucharist (Lord's Supper) and the authority of
the pope proved to be walls the negotiators were not nimble enough to leap
over.
Not that they didn't try. Realizing that nothing
could be accomplished by the large convention, a much smaller committee was
delegated to look for solutions. Twelve men from each side sat together.
However, the pope's men did everything they could to sabotage the talks. They
simply had no intention of reaching an agreement with ideas they defined as
heresy.
Still, royal pressure was great to come up with
some kind of reconciliation so that France might not destroy itself in useless
strife. Therefore an even smaller committee of five from each side talked and
came up with a vague formula of agreement. But when they presented this wording
to the whole group at Poissy, neither side would accept it.
The next year, the Catholics and Huguenots went to
war. Battles and atrocities raged off and on for thirty years.
Bibliography:
1.
Grant, A. J. The Huguenots. Archon, 1969.
2.
Rothrock, G. A. The Huguenots; a biography of a minority. Chicago:
Nelson-Hall, 1979.
3.
"Poissy, Colloquy of." Encyclopedia
Britannica. Britannica, 1911.
4.
"Religious Discussions." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
5.
Various internet articles.
Last updated July,
2007
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