Raymond A. Mentzer

Morals and Moral Regulation in Protestant France

The investigation by the consistory of the Reformed Church of Montauban of an unmarried pregnancy and attempted abortion in the sixteenth century offers important insights into moral and social relationships within the early modern European community. Though the effect of the consistorys activities on the lives of those that it sought to discipline ought not be overestimated (intrusive as those activities might be by modern standards), a close reading of the narrative embedded in the consistorial records provides a valuable understanding of the Protestant churchs role in reordering traditional attitudes and everyday behavior.

Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris.

The religious conflicts of sixteenth-century France, in particular the St Bartholomews Day massacres of 1572, continue to draw a good deal of attention from historians. What started as a limited coup against the Huguenot leadership became instead a conflagration that left two thousand or more Protestants dead in the streets and ushered in a series of bloody religious battles. Previous histories of the religious conflicts have been preoccupied with their political aspects, but have not examined the mass violence. Diefendorf focuses on popular religious fanaticism and religious hatred. She examines the roots and escalation of the conflicts, the propaganda of Catholic and Protestant preachers, popular religious beliefs and rituals, the role of the militia, and the underground activities of the Protestant community after the massacres. Using a wide array of published and unpublished sources, she provides the most comprehensive social history to date of these religious conflicts.