A French "Confessionalization of Humanism"?: French Humanists and the Early Reformation (1515-1547)

Abstract

The ascent of King Francis I to the throne in 1515 raised hopes among French humanists that the king would endorse their intellectual agenda due to a common interest in classical languages, literature, and philology. The young monarch soon met their expectations and even welcomed some of them into his inner circle.1 The outbreak of the Reformation, however, stirred religious enthusiasm and jeopardized the emerging cultural landscape. This article analyzes how French humanists navigated the religious controversies of the early sixteenth century and examines the circumstances that eventually forced them to make confessional choices. It does so by focusing on Reformation thought rather than on the concomitant aspect of positive Catholic confessionalization, whereby some French humanists rallied to defend Catholic orthodoxy.