POLITICAL JUST ICE AND THE OUT BREAK OF THE WARS OF RELIGION

This article presents new archival evidence which illuminates the dynamic of the violence in the Agenais, the 'laboratory of religious violence.' It shows how social networks coalesced in 1557-61 and formed into armed factions. It argues that, contrary to what is usually claimed, Protestant violence was not confined to iconoclasm, but was from its inception a highly politicized movement prepared to use force against identified enemies. The kernel of factionalism was a feud, which led to the creation of rival militias well before the outbreak of full-scale military campaigns in 1562. The violence was highly organized, not spontaneous and not inter-communal. In this respect the events in Guyenne are indicative of the political conflicts that would shape the ancien regime and even anticipate the violence that would attend its fall.