Katalisators vir verset teen tirannie: humanitas, sosiale welwillendheid en burgerlike ongehoorsaamheid in die Réveille-Matin des Francois (1573/1574) as 'n brug tussen humanistiese en Reformatoriese politieke teorie

Abstract

Catalysts for resistance to tyranny: humanitas, social benevolence and civil disobedience in the Réveille-Matin des Francois (1573/1574) as a bridge between humanistic and Reformational political theory

The French wars of religion of the sixteenth century was an age of pamphlets, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in particular, gave impetus to the production of high volumes of polemic literature – an incident that inspired inter alia the influential Huguenot tracts Franco-Gallia and the Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos. One of the first of the polemic pamphlets was the Réveille-Matin, which was published early in the year 1573 in both Latin and French, the French version being issued in Basle under the title Dialogue auquel sont traitéés plusieurs choses avenues aux Luthériens et Huguenots de la France. It was re-issued in 1574, with the addition of a second part. The French edition received the title of Le Réveille-Matin des Francois, and was dedicated to the queen of England. The Réveille-Matin has been attributed to at least three authors, but Nicolas Barnaud, from Crest in Dauphine, appears to have the strongest claim to its authorship. Although the Réveille-Matin was written to further the Protestant cause of the Huguenots, the second part of the pamphlet borrowed from the famous Discours de la Servitude voluntaire of the French humanist De la Boëtie. De la Boëtie’s Contr’un was written in 1548 and received the attention of the Protestant author Barnaud. De la Boëtie’s work reflects the influence of sixteenth century humanism – a movement strongly reliant on Disederius Erasmus’ The Education of a Christian Prince (1516) and other publications in the humanist fold, the central theme of which was the education of political rulers in the virtues of humanitas, prevention of tyranny and pacifism in matters of resistance to tyrannical rulers. In his Discours de la Servitude, De la Boëtie was prepared to propogate disobedience to tyranny in the event of assault by tyrants on the humanitas of their subjects. In Barnaud’s work he fuses three important elements of Protestant and humanist thought into a theory of disobedience to political tyranny: firstly, Martin Luther’s perspectives on social benevolence in human interaction, secondly, John Calvin’s stance on passive resistance to political injustice, and thirdly, De la Boëtie’s grounding of resistance to tyranny in the humanitas of subjects – an important step for the protection of civil liberties in post-sixteenth century political thought.