PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

philosophy. Short overviews of the genres of miseria humanis and dignitas hominis
will serve as introductions before identifying the principal themes of the work, and the
ways Boaistuau blended classical philosophy and Christian theology to promote his
moralising message.
Chapter Four focuses on two works by Boaistuau completely ignored by modern
scholarship, L’Histoire de Chelidonius Tigurinus and the Histoire des persecutions de
l’Eglise chrestienne et catholique, examining their contents for the first time. The first
part of the chapter will analyse the ways in which humanist research was used for
political purposes, through a close examination of L’Histoire de Chelidonius
Tigurinus which reflected Boaistuau’s political theory and was written in support of
the Crown. The notion of divine monarchy in France will be discussed, and also the
genre of mirror for princes which focused on the qualities and morals of the ideal
ruler. Boaistuau’s work continued this tradition, describing in length the portrait of a
just and wise Christian king, and emphasising on his responsibilities as guardian of
peace and defender of the faith. Part two will examine the Histoire des persecutions
de l’Eglise chrestienne et catholique, a narration of the persecutions and heresies
inflicted upon the early Church. It belonged to the tradition of works of ecclesiastical
history; thus, this genre will also be addressed in short, and will be shown to have
been used to serve religious ends. The analysis of Boaistuau’s work will shed new
light on the writer’s preoccupation with the study of history, as well as on the shaping
of his anti-Protestant rhetoric aiming to bolster the Catholic faith.
The immensely successful Histoires prodigieuses and its various associations with
sixteenth-century natural philosophy will be the topic of the fifth and final chapter,
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