Midterm Essay = 20%
Write a 1200-word essay on one of the topics below. The essay is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, 4 June. Follow the Guidelines for Written Assignments in the syllabus.
1. Mack Holt believes that "religion was...the fulcrum upon which the civil wars balanced" (p. 2). In what sense, according to Holt, were these religious wars? Do you find his thesis convincing? Why or why not?
In answering this question, concentrate on your evaluation of Holt's thesis. How consistently does he maintain this thesis, and how compelling is the evidence that he presents in favour of his thesis?
2. If, according to Holt, the "sacral monarchy was the very foundation of social and political order" (p. 79), why did the subjects of the monarchy plunge France into the chaos of warfare and prolong hostilities for three decades?
Base your answer on an analysis of Holt, The French Wars of Religion, and consider both Catholic and Protestant attitudes towards the sacral monarchy before and during the wars.
3. Does Natalie Davis' analysis of poor relief and of urban women support or challenge Mack Holt's approach to the religious divisions in sixteenth-century French society?
Base your answer on a thorough analysis of Chapters 2 and 3 of Society and Culture in Early Modern France and on a comparison of these chapters with relevant aspects of The French Wars of Religion.
4. "From the onset of the Reformation, political society in France was in chaos. On both the national and the more local scene, the power and authority of the monarchy and of the Catholic church were under siege, subject to resistance from various social groups. Sixteenth-century France is a classic example of how religious pluralism and social and political order could not coexist in early modern Europe."
Do you agree with this interpretation? Why or why not? Use information from Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France and Holt, The French Wars of Religion to support your position.
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