Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580-1730

At the conclusion of the wars of religion in France in 1598, the Catholic Church was in a perilous condition. Throughout large areas of the country, its buildings had been attacked and destroyed, clergy had abandoned their posts, and the state had seized and sold off church property to help pay its debts. In this book, Joseph Bergin shows in depth and detail how the French Church recovered during the long seventeenth century, a task that involved rebuilding but also reforming. The result was a reinvigorated institution, both materially and spiritually, and a model for the rest of Europe in a fashion similar to the influence exercised by the French state of Louis XIV. Bergin's book consists of five major sections, starting with the geographical and financial base, followed by extended treatments of clerical personnel and the ways in which they redefined their work and image. He then examines the “instruments of religious change,” a broad category that includes devotions, sacramental practices, schools, missions, and spiritual writings. The work concludes with a section on “movers and shakers” that focuses on the work of key religious actors—confraternities, dévots, and Jansenists—involved in various ways with the work of reform. Bergin acknowledges that this focus on internal organization leaves out important elements in the history of the early modern French Church, most notably its ongoing conflict with Protestantism and its complex and evolving relationship to the French state—issues he will explore in a subsequent study.

Business · Church History · Debt · Institution · Political science · Protestantism · Sociology · State (computer science) · Work (physics) · Classics · Engineering · European Political History Analysis · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies