PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

CHAPTER 4
Religion, political theory and history in Pierre Boaistuau’s work
This chapter examines two less known works of Boaistuau which remain hitherto
completely unexplored by modern scholarship, L’Histoire de Chelidonius Tigurinus
and the Histoire de persecutions de l’Eglise chrestienne et catholique. They were the
writer’s first and last work respectively, representing the beginning and the end of his
very eminent writing career. L’Histoire de Chelidonius Tigurinus was the result of
Boaistuau’s combination of humanism and political theory. As such, it belonged to a
particular genre of works praising a divinely ordained French monarchy, also
employing for their purposes contemporary developments in law and the study of
history. On the other hand, the Histoire de persecutions de l’Eglise chrestienne et
catholique was a work of ecclesiastical history, which revealed Boaistuau’s
preoccupation with historical writing and the ways it could be blended with theology.
It used similar tools to Chelidonius Tigurinus but had a different purpose: the
bolstering of the Catholic faith. Careful examination of these two works reveals a new
aspect of Boaistuau which re-defines his current picture as a writer, and in addition
sheds new light on the uses of humanism in sixteenth-century France. In order to
investigate these, this chapter will be divided into two parts.
The first will focus on L’Histoire de Chelidonius Tigurinus and Boaistuau’s political
ideas. It will examine the nature of the political system in France, and the use of
humanist research in support of a ‘consultive’ absolute monarchy, which appeared
early in the sixteenth century. As David O. McNeil has noted, ‘the involvement of
humanism with affairs of the Crown, along with humanistic apologies for royal
power, was an aspect of Francis’ move toward greater centralization and
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