Kevin Gould Catholic activism in south west France,1540 1570 (2006)

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.Shouldthey require extra manpower, he added, the council was to contact himimmediately and reinforcements would be dispatched forthwith fromBordeaux.78 Catholic domination of Bordeaux was now complete, asevidenced by the lavish ceremony that welcomed the arrival, on 9 October1569, of the baron de la Garde, whose fleet of eight galleons was stackedhigh with supplies of food and armaments for the town.On mooring, de laGarde was greeted by a committee consisting of Montferrand, Roffignac,d Escars, Sanssac, Vaillac, Malvin, Baulon and Lange, with the remainingCatholic officials of Bordeaux forming an honorary guard to escort thebaron to a reception at the maison de ville.This was quite a welcome, andreflected a renewed sense of Catholic confidence and optimism followingthe travails of the previous decade.Only Monluc was missing, his arrivaldelayed by continuing military operations in B�arn.79A final, intriguing footnote to the Catholic success story concerns thereturn of the Jesuits to Bordeaux.Even though Catholics had consoli-dated control over political and administrative functions in Bordeaux by1569, reform ideology still flourished within its three academic institu-tions: the coll�ge de Guyenne and the chapter coll�ges of Saint-Andr� andSaint-Seurin.This left the town without a major Catholic school, a lacunathat Catholic parlementaires viewed as an affront.80 In early 1570,Baulon moved to correct this, proposing that a number of Jesuits beinvited to return to Bordeaux to establish and oversee a Catholic school,to be supported by the local clergy, but out of reach of the coll�ge deGuyenne and those remaining moderates within the parlement.81 Aconsortium of Catholic magistrates was thus formed to coordinate thisendeavour, led by Baulon and Lange, both of whom had been in contactwith Jesuit dignitaries during the previous months.Lange, in fact, hadplayed host to Fran�ois Borgia, g�n�ral of the Society of Jesus, and cardi-nal Alexandre, nephew and papal legate to Pius V, on their recent visit toBordeaux in 1569, and had subsequently been commended to Rome bythe delegation as wise and eloquent, a man of strong Catholic zeal.8278J.-F.Samazeuilth, Histoire de l Agenais, du Condomois et du Bazadais (2 vols, Auch,1847), II, p.149.79AHG, 13, p.266.80Even at the height of the sectarian struggle in 1563, the Bordeaux parlement seemedaware of the importance of the coll�ge de Guyenne for the town, granting additionalpayment for its upkeep despite its continuing problems with Protestant �coliers: ADG, 1B262, Arr�t du parlement (22 September 1563), fo.207.81Gaullieur, Histoire du coll�ge de Guyenne, pp.291 2.82Darnal, Chronique Bordelais, Suppl�ment, p.81.Lange was also cited by Arnauld dePontac, bishop of Bazas, as one of the bons catholiques of Bordeaux, in a letter to Romeconcerning the possibility of a Jesuit college being established in Bordeaux in 1569 (ibid.).82 CATHOLIC ACTIVISM IN SOUTH-WEST FRANCE, 1540 1570What was remarkable about the composition of this consortium was thatit echoed almost exactly the faction that helped establish the Catholicsyndicate nine years earlier: Roffignac, Malvin, Lange, Baulon andCazeaux, with Sanssac and his nephew, Charles Dusault, second avocat-g�n�ral to the parlement, lending support.83Sanssac, in fact, would be instrumental in persuading the leading Jesuittheologian in the south-west, Edmond Auger, to leave Toulouse to headthis new college at Bordeaux, which was to be created within the arch-bishop s palace.84 Baulon secured an initial rente of 2000 livres to facili-tate Auger s move, and soon acquired an additional 24 000 livres tofinance his annual keep.85 The Catholic consortium, however, had yet toinform the crown of their plans, no doubt wary of the traditional mistrustbetween the French monarchy and the Jesuit order.It would take twoyears before such a request was forthcoming, only for Catherine deMedici to reject Baulon s petition within the week.86 Tradition historiesthus paint this as a failed enterprise, with the Jesuits having to wait untilthe 1580s, under the auspices of the Catholic League, before returning toBordeaux in any formal capacity.87 The archives suggest a less conclusiveverdict, however.Certainly, the proposal to re-establish the Jesuits hadbeen denied by the crown, but it seems that on 20 May 1572 theBordeaux parlement agreed to allow Baulon to continue with his schemeregardless.88 Shortly afterwards, Auger and several of his followers arerecorded as having arrived within the town, and to have founded a smallhospice for the poor and a refuge for pilgrims.89 Worthy of consideration,here, is the date: 20 May 1572, the day after the feast day of Saint-Yves.Itis interesting to note that, just as the ceremonial that accompanied theconfraternity s festivities had underpinned initial Catholic militancy,allowing basochiens, confr�res, officials and magistrates to mix freely,and had provided the forum from which activists went on to establish thesyndicate in 1561, so this same environment would be chosen as the hostfor the re-establishment of that most Catholic of sixteenth-century mili-tant groups: the Jesuits.83Gaullieur, Histoire du coll�ge de Guyenne, p.296.84The Jesuit Edmond Auger was also known in the south of France as Charles Sager.SeeDom Devienne, Histoire de l �glise de Bordeaux (Bordeaux, 1862), p.95.85ADG, H 2512, fo.5.It would later transpire that these funds had not, as Baulonclaimed, been collected from Catholic benefactors, but had instead been diverted from theparlement s financial expenditures.86ADG, H 2380, liasse 68 2, Actes de Grandes Personnages (4 May 1572).87See, for example, Devienne, Histoire de l �glise de Bordeaux, pp.95 6.88BMB, ms 828, 5, fo.32.See also ADG, H 2512, fos 1 4.89ADG, H 2380, liasse 68 2, Personnel (August 1572); ADG, H 2380, liasse 68 2,Coll�ge de Jesus (17 November 1572).CHAPTER SIXCoalition and Consensus at AgenA second arena of Catholic militancy in Guyenne centred on the town ofAgen and its environs, the Agenais.Situated 110 kilometres south-east ofBordeaux, Agen was in many respects a miniature version of its provin-cial capital.Its population, around 7000 in 1560, was less than one-seventh that of Bordeaux, but its robust walled defences, stout gates anddominant position on a bend of the river Garonne mirrored the architec-ture and geography of its neighbour quite closely.1 As with Bordeaux,such advantages meant that Agen would be prized as a command centreby both faiths throughout the 1560s.For Catholics, the town s location,equidistant from its sister bastions of Bordeaux and Toulouse, made it animportant staging post for the distribution of troops, munitions andresources across the region, and a hub for communication betweendispersed Catholic communities.For Protestants, the capture of Agenwould sever this umbilical cord and establish a significant satellite for itsown forces instead [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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