Arlette Jouanna - en hommage

Arlette Jouanna in 2008 at the award to her of the prix Guizot-Calvados for La Saint-Barthélemy. Les mystères d’un crime d’Etat (reproduced with permission of the president of the Association François Guizot) This volume is dedicated to the memory of Arlette Jouanna (1936–2022), distinguished early modern historian of France and professor emerita at the Université Paul-Valéry (Montpellier III), who sadly passed away in January 2022 at the age of eighty-five. Her publications over many decades, primarily on the French nobility, but also other aspects of French politics and culture, were and continue to be profoundly influential on work both in the francophone and anglophone academic spheres. In this regard, special mention should be given to Le Devoir de révolte. La noblesse française et la gestation de l’État moderne, 1559–1661 (1989), her direction of the indispensable Histoire et dictionnaire des guerres de religion (1998), Le Pouvoir absolu: naissance de l’imaginaire politique de la royauté (2013; recipient of the 2014 Prix Chateaubriand) and her biography of Michel de Montaigne (2017) that works so well as a companion to the Essais. In addition, her 2007 book on the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, La Saint-Barthélemy. Les mystères d’un crime d’Etat, was a tour de force, a coherent and comprehensive synthesis of all that was known and had been written about the events of 1572. Both the original and the translation of 2013 by Joseph Bergin were prize winning. In 2020, Arlette Jouanna was deservedly awarded the title of Chevalier dans l’ordre de la Légion d’honneur. Despite the academic world’s loss, it continues to benefit from her erudition with her last book, Le Sang des princes, that has just been posthumously published by Gallimard. Those colleagues and students who knew her best have written moving eulogies in tribute above all to her modesty, generosity, dynamic intellect, support and friendship. Among those is this by Hugues Daussy, member of French History’s editorial board, which can be read here: Hommage à Arlette Jouanna (1936–2022) – GRHP (hypotheses.org).

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