ABSTRACT
On the Sunday after Pentecost, 14 June 1609, there was an unfortunate roadside encounter not far from the south-west French town of Libourne between Daniel Moulans, the Protestant pastor of Duras and his congregation, on the way back from celebrating Sunday worship at the place allowed them by law at 'Villaux', and the redoutable Archbishop of Bordeaux, François d'Escoubleau Cardinal of Sourdis. Moderation, more than just a doctrine to be espoused, was a confused living experience: the hard-won result of local and patchy mediations and negotiations that were part and parcel of religiously divided Europe. This chapter examines the uses of the term 'charity' in the sixteenth century. 'Charity' was at the heart of the Christian understanding of friendship, good neighbourliness and social accord. Food and drink were the physical manifestations of the spiritual message of commensuality, even though the theological dimensions of such a message were fraught with Reformation argument.
