Name given to (mainly Catholic) moderates who, in the Wars of Religion, argued that it was better to seek a political solution to the troubles than to destroy the country by prolonging civil war. Such views were based less on the principle of religious toleration (which was, however, growing during this period) than on a pragmatic assumption that peace and order were preferable to civil strife. Given the generally fanatical religious climate, this meant that the Politiques were condemned as atheists by the extremists of both sides. Their view infringed the sacrosanct tradition that there should be ‘une foi, une loi, un roi’, and was accordingly hard to defend. Its apparent failure seemed to be confirmed by the dismissal of the moderate chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital in 1568. It received support, however, in times of crisis, notably after the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when many Catholics decided that attempts to exterminate the Protestants were both pointless and wrong, and after the death of Alençon in 1584. The latter left the Protestant Henri de Navarre (the future Henri IV) as heir to the throne, and many Frenchmen, notably Montmorency-Damville (the quasi-autonomous ruler of Languedoc), decided that it was better to support the legitimate heir to the throne in the hope that he might be persuaded to abjure than to raise arms against him. Similar views were espoused by Montaigne and by Pasquier, as well as by the authors of the Satire Ménippée.
[James Supple]
