Libertines and the law : subversive authors and criminal justice in early seventeenth-century France / Adam Horsley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horsley, Adam, author.

Series:

British Academy monograph

A British Academy monograph

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French literature--17th century--History and criticism.

Authors, French--17th century--Legal status, laws, etc.

Literature and morals--France--17th century.

Libertinism in literature.

French literature.

French literature--Censorship.

Vanini, Giulio Cesare, 1585-1619.

Fontanier, Jean, 1588-1621.

Viau, Théophile de, 1590-1626.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xvii, 405 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, for the British Academy, 2021.

Summary:

"Following the assassination of Henri IV in 1610, the political turbulence of Louis XIII's early reign led to renewed efforts to police the book trade. Yet this period also witnessed a golden age of so-called 'libertine' literature, including a plethora of sexually explicit and irreverent poetry as well as works of free-thinking that cast doubt on the dogma of Church and State. As France moved closer towards absolutism, a number of unorthodox writers were forced to defend themselves before the law courts. Libertines and the Law examines the notorious trials of three subversive authors. The Italian naturalist philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini was brutally executed for blasphemy by the Parlement de Toulouse in 1619. The Jewish convert Jean Fontanier was burned at the stake two years later in Paris for authoring a text refuting Christian teaching. Finally, the trial of the infamous poet Theophile de Viau for irreligion, obscenity, and poetic descriptions of homosexuality proved to be a landmark in French literary and social history, despite the poet eventually escaping the death penalty in 1625. These trials are contextualised with a conceptual history of libertinism, as well as an exploration of literary censorship and the mechanics of the criminal justice system in early modern France. Drawing from rarely explored archival sources, newly discovered evidence, and legal manuals, Libertines and the Law provides new insights into the censorship of French literature and thought from the perspectives of both the defendants and the magistrates. Through a diverse corpus including poetry, philosophical texts, religious polemics, Jewish teachings, and private memoirs, it sheds new light on this crucial period in literary, legal, and intellectual history."--Back cover.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I LIBERTINES AND THE LAW

1. Libertines

Slaves, slayers, and tavern-goers: libertine roots in the ancient and medieval worlds

The birth of an accusation: Jean Calvin and Guillaume Farel

Libertins in early seventeenth-century texts

Francois Garasse, Marin Mersenne, and the targeting of libertine authors

2. The Law

Early modern regulation of the publishing industry

The growing arm of the law: the Parlement de Paris and censorship

Pamphlet wars and their aftermaths during the regency of Marie de Medicis

Law courts and criminal procedure

pt. II LIBERTINE AUTHOR TRIALS

3. Hiding in Plain Sight: The Trial of Giulio Cesare Vanini (1618-19)

Vanini in England: a prelude of politics and deception

The Amphitheatrum aeternae providentiae (1615) and De admirandis (1616)

Rumour, disguise, and seduction: Vanini in Toulouse

Provincial justice: The Capitoulat and the Parlement de Toulouse

A star witness that never was? Le sieur de Francon and the shadow of conspiracy

What the servants saw: forgotten witnesses and forced testimony

The verdict and execution: a final act of subversion

4. Authorial and Confessional Identity: The Trial of Jean Fontanier (1621)

Jean Fontanier: identity, confession, and the shadow of doubt

Broken oaths: denunciation, arrest, and the sparing of the lambs

Between the law and the Louvre: the status of Jews in France

Resurrecting the material evidence: a reconstruction of the Tresor inestimable

Bellievre's strategies of accusation: a forensic linguistic approach

Fontanier's strategies of self-defence

Deliberations, questions of law, and sentencing

The memory of Jean Fontanier

5. A Last Stand: The Trial of Theophile de Viau (1623

25)

The recueils satyriques and a previous trial in absentia

Conspiracies leading to Theophile's arrest and his second trial

Theophile's interrogators

The early interrogations: a trial for obscenity or philosophy?

The use of literary analysis and Theophiles defence of his texts

Weaponising rhetoric: translation, imitation, pedagogy, and authorial culpability

The use of witness testimony

The corps judiciaire dismembered: Theophile's judges and the final deliberations

The verdict: a victory for Catholic orthodoxy?.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 365-392) and index.

ISBN:

9780197267004

0197267009

OCLC:

1223072322

Publisher Number:

99993316641