ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1540s and 1550s, spontaneous clashes between Catholic and evangelical groups on the streets of Bordeaux became a feature of everyday life. Prominent on the Catholic side were two groups in particular: the associates of the confraternity of Saint-Yves, the representative corporation of the avocats and procureurs of the parlement of Bordeaux. As the confrontations grew in size and violence, it would be the confrres and basochiens who spearheaded Catholic militant reactions. In this, they received the support of prominent Catholic parlementaires, who defended their actions within the court, and who came to play an increasing role in administrative functions of the confraternity. The basoche, as members of the confraternity, proffered the Catholic voice in Bordeaux, deriding reform ideology and innovation, and defending traditional church structures. During the high period of evangelism in the 1550s, Catholic sentiment turned on the magistrates and clergy suspected of sympathizing with the reform church, with anti-magisterial and anti-clerical performances increasing dramatically across France.
