The Jesuits and the Monarchy

Descrizione

This study reconsiders the forces behind dramatic developments within the French church through the re-examination of a classic question in French history: Why was the Society of Jesus able to integrate successfully into the French church in the opening decades of the seventeenth-century, despite being expelled from much of the kingdom in 1594 for its alleged role in the attempted assassination of the king? The expulsion, recall and subsequent integration of the Society into the French church offers a unique window into the evolution of French Catholicism between 1590 and 1620. It provides new insight into how Henri IV re-established royal authority in the French Catholic church following the collapse of the Catholic League and how this development helped to heal the rifts in French Catholicism wrought by the League movement. It also explores in unprecedented detail how Henri played an important role in channelling religious energy in his kingdom towards forms of Catholic piety - exemplified by his new allies the Jesuits - which became the foundation of seventeenth-century French Catholic renewal. In so doing this book makes a contribution to our understanding of the wider European Catholic reform movement by providing a useful examination of how corporations like the Jesuits dedicated to international Catholic reform were shaped by the needs of national authorities to make specific contributions in local contexts.