The Price of Peace of French Pacification Policy, 1560-1598

FAIN: FEL-288745-23

George Hoffmann
Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1015)

Research and writing leading to a book on religious toleration policies in early modern France (1560-1598).

In place of implementations of toleration that could prove noxious, sixteenth-century Gallicans advocated national unity by manifesting a surprising indifference toward what transpired in reformers’ homes. In admitting a private freedom of conscience, in place of a public freedom of worship for which reformers actually called, they were groping toward a conception of nation that differed quite markedly from the socially coercive practices of their day. Their limitation of public expression in order to reduce sectarian conflict helps reveal stark choices that still confront the question of peace or war today.