ABSTRACT
Calvinism built on the strength of the Lutheran Reformation but its opponents had had more than 30 years to adjust to the new medium of religious discourse; a completely different situation from the Lutheran Reformation where the Reformers themselves encouraged the production of polemical pieces and vicious attacks against the Papacy. In France, the roles were reversed and it was the Catholic theologians, notably from the Faculty of Theology, who spearheaded the polemical efforts to debase Protestantism. The outcome of the use of the 'blood libel' on the eve of the French Wars of Religion points to the interaction between print and public opinion. The versatility of Catholic propaganda is shown by its use of the 'battle of the sexes' and the popular topos of the 'world upside down'. Catholics and Huguenots not only fought doctrinally and physically but also created competing narratives and representations of each other.
