This book is the first modern study to examine the history of a single French community over the full course of the civil wars (1560–1600), and its account of local developments is enriched by frequent comparisons with events and conditions elsewhere in the country. An introductory chapter describes Rouen's economy, social structure and political institutions on the eve of the Wars of Religion. Successive chapters explore the rise and decline of Protestantism; the sociology of the faith; the causes and chronology of the popular violence which began to disturb the city after 1560; the roots of the militant Catholic movement of the Holy League; and the first signs of a renewal of Catholic religious life visible amid the agitation of the League. A concluding chapter seeks to show that many of the patterns visible in Rouen's history were also characteristic of communities throughout France, pointing the way to a reinterpretation of the Wars in which the actions and experience of the great mass of the population are given attention equal to that traditionally accorded to court elites and noble factions. The book will interest specialists in early modern history and particularly in the social, ecclesiastical, economic, demographic and political history of France in this period.
