ABSTRACT
Examination of overlapping themes explored by Catholic and Huguenot political theorists reveals that both sides responded to violence by discussing the role of kingship in enforcing God’s will and divine justice in Renaissance and Reformation-era France. Though many French political philosophers allowed their religious loyalties to determine their opinions of the precise practices and rituals of French kingship, political theory written by Catholics and Huguenots reflected preoccupation with kings of France as handpicked representatives of God who were charged with enforcing divine justice over the people. In light of the tensions between Catholics and Huguenots, French political theory contained language indicating that social order rested on the king’s embodiment and enforcement of God’s will, meaning, that the people could live as though ruled directly by God. Political theorists drew attention to imagery of the divine and languages of justice versus anarchy to highlight the French king as God’s deputy on earth, a ruler who functioned as the source of social justice for the entire state and had the power to end violence and maintain peace, which became the foundation for absolutism of the seventeenth century.
