PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

absolutism’. 603 It will be shown how Boaistuau employed a wide variety of classical
sources to justify his thesis of a divinely appointed monarch, and how he described in
length his qualities, morals and responsibilities, and his role as guardian of peace and
defender of the Christian faith in the kingdom. The aim is to show that L’Histoire de
Chelidonius Tigurinus can be viewed as a study of the ways humanism was enlisted
for political ends in the middle of the century, and also that Boaistuau, as an exponent
of royal propaganda, was situated between its early manifestation by Guillaume Budé
and its later consolidation by Jean Bodin.
Part two will examine the Histoire de persecutions de l’Eglise chrestienne et
catholique, both as a historical work and as a religious polemic. It will discuss the
notion of history and the impact of humanism upon its study, and its different uses for
scholarly, political and religious purposes. The latter was closely associated to the
writing of works of ecclesiastical history, therefore a brief analysis will be made of
this particular literary genre. Boaistuau’s narration of the persecutions of the first
Church by the Roman Emperors and the spread of heresies, were the main topics
addressed in his Histoire de persecutions. It will be shown how these topics were
juxtaposed to the period of religious instability and uncertainty, typical of his time,
and how historical examples from the early Christian period were used for the shaping
of his anti-Protestant and anti-Anabaptist rhetoric. His aim was to show the power and
resilience of a Catholic Church protected by God, thus bolstering the Catholic faith.
This employment of the historical past for religious ends is a further example of the
various ways humanism was associated with the ongoing Reformations in early
modern Europe.
603 McNeil, D. O., Guillaume Budé and Humanism in the Reign of Francis I (Geneva, 1975), p. 44.
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