The Royal Huguenot

Diane Margolf looks at the Paris Chambre de l’Edit in this well-researched study about the special royal law court that adjudicated disputes between French Huguenots and the Catholics. Using archival records of the court’s criminal cases, Margolf analyzes the connections to three major issues in early modern French and European history: religious conflict and coexistence, the growing claims of the French crown to define and maintain order, and competing concepts of community and identity in the French state and society. Based on previously unexplored archival materials, Margolf examines the court through a cultural lens and offers portraits of ordinary men and women who were litigants before the court, and the magistrates who heard their cases.

A brief history of the French Protestants. Largely Calvinist, the Huguenots suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority, and many thousands emigrated from France.

The purpose of this book is to describe the Duke of Rohan's role as a political leader of the Huguenot party from 1621 to 1629 placing somewhat less emphasis on his military achievements. It makes no claim to biographical completeness. The narrative is based on con temporary books and pamphlets and on manuscripts in the Biblio theque nation ale, the British Museum, and the Public Record Office. Research was also done at the Newberry Library, the Library of Congress, and at the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Library, notably in its Montauban, Tank, and French Pamphlet collections. In the preparation of this book I have received advice and assistance from many people. Personal thanks are due to William P. Kaldis, Jack Ray Thomas, and Howard S. Miller for reading the manuscript and to my wife Anna for typing several drafts of it. Marguerite Chris tensen, reference librarian at the University of Wisconsin, helped me secure a number of rare volumes on interlibrary loan. I would also like to thank Cynthia Kaldis for translating a large number of diplo matic letters from Seventeenth century Latin.

An exploration of the character and identity of the Huguenot movement in early modern France.