François Hotman
Un homme d’action, entre droit, histoire et théologie
Published on Thursday, October 05, 2023
Abstract
François Hotman (1524-1590) was born five hundred years ago. To mark the occasion, we thought it a good idea to dedicate to him an international conference in Geneva on November 21-22, 2024. A famous Calvinist jurisconsult, a virulent pamphleteer and a political thinker who is now part of the European philosophical tradition, Hotman remains a figure whom research only embraces through a few major works that receive recurring scrutiny. In reality, his writings as a humanist and jurist, his international correspondence, his connections with the most important Protestant theologians of the century, and his family of Ligue and royal officers are all objects of study that call for a re-problematisation of our interpretation of this dominant figure in Calvinist legal thought.
Announcement
Conference at the University of Geneva, 21-22 November 2024
Argument
2024 marks the quincentenary of the birth of François Hotman (1524-1590). Born into the Parisian elite of judges and magistrates (the robins), Hotman became one of the most famous jurists of his time, the Calvinist pendant to Jacques Cujas, while his life was marked by academic peregrinations, a ruinous disinheritance and permanent exile. He remained a devoted follower of Calvin throughout his life. He was a close friend of Theodore de Bèze, who, on the death of the jurist in 1590, made him a veritable “Huguenot hero”, calling him HOTOMANUS MAGNUS in a funeral hymn. In 1573 he published what has long been regarded as the first formulation of modern constitutionalism, the Francogallia.
At first glance, works on Hotman may seem abundant. He is one of the rare representatives of so-called ‘legal humanism’ in the Renaissance to have been made the subject of a full-scale intellectual biography. We owe it to Donald Kelley to have immortalised for the following literature Hotman as Rodolphe Dareste had already begun to sketch him a century earlier: that is, as a politically hyperactive man, whose network covered a considerable section of the Republic of Letters, and whose lively, even incendiary style was perfectly in tune with the violence of the Wars of Religion. Hotman was seen in turn as a rebellious man of action (John Salmon), an advocate of the right to resist (Robert von Friedeburg), and even as a revolutionary and a distant ancestor of Rousseau (Jules Michelet). For Myriam Yardéni, Hotman was the man who fled to Geneva in 1548 and used his pen effectively in the service of the Huguenot cause; finally, Jane Garrison has shown how his writings circulated in Protestant assemblies across Europe.
But where are Hotman's antiquarian and legal works in these compelling descriptions? Where are his works as a humanist? Where is his criticism of canon law? Where is his intellectual effort to channel the various discoveries of the historicist French school of law of the sixteenth century into a useful and applicable form? We are no doubt familiar with his voice of 1560 as he denounced the Guises’ tyranny in Le Tigre (Daniel Ménager), before eventually supporting a system of constitutional monarchy for France (Paul-Alexis Mellet). We also are all too familiar with the ups and downs of his doctrine of legitimate resistance that grew out of the violent events of his time – after all, Hotman narrowly escaped the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Bourges (Ralph Giesey). But this image of Hotman, which still dominates historiography, is too simple: based solely on the correspondence and a few pamphlets of the humanist-jurist, it is that of a polemicist without any real scholarly work, reduced solely to his political and religious activism.
The 500th anniversary of his birth presents us with a perfect opportunity for a fresh look at Hotman and his work. This is why we are organising an international colloquium on the great humanist jurisconsult in Geneva in November 2024. It seems to us that it could be structured around the following themes:
Hotman's life, networks and family
How did Hotman's conflict with his father, Pierre, develop? Why did François remain a constant point of reference for his son Jean, despite the latter's irenic spirit (Mona Garloff)? To what extent were relations between the Hotman Ligueurs (Antoine) and the Hotman Calvinists severed (Neil Kenny)? What is the best possible description of Hotman’s epistolary network: a reflection of the Protestant or Calvinist international, of the whole republic of humanist letters, or merely of the corporation of jurisconsults?
Hotman and the law
What was Hotman's place within the broader intellectual movement of the mos gallicus? What were his relations, particularly from an intellectual standpoint, with his colleagues in Bourges, such as Charles Dumoulin? with his former students, such as Étienne Pasquier? and with his competitors, or even rivals, such as François Baudouin and Jacques Cujas? To what extent can it be said that Hotman was the author of a single doctrine? Was he rather a labile and versatile thinker, willing to change his positions according to circumstances (Sophie Nicholls)? What was the reception of Hotman’s thought and teaching in subsequent legal thought, particularly among jusnaturalists and proponents of the Usus modernus Pandectarum?
Hotman and the Reformation
In what sense can Hotman's legal thought be said to be, strictly speaking, Reformed? Do his ecclesiological writings (De statu primitivae Ecclesiae, Brutum fulmen) and devotional writings (Consolatio e sacris litteris) have theological sources other than Calvin and Théodore de Bèze? To what extent does the spirit of the Reformation permeate his writings and teaching, as his contemporaries have suggested? Are the responses to Hotman's writings (Papire Masson, Arnaud Sorbin, William Barclay) simply royalist or even specifically Catholic and even Tridentine?
Hotman and history
What are the main characteristics of Hotman's antiquarian/historical practice? Can the relations of the events of the civil wars that he wrote both for the general public (De furoribus Gallicis) and for the princes of the Empire to whom he was close, such as Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel (Gerhard Menk), be interpreted as the work of a historian? Were his writings written in bad faith and did he lie shamelessly solely to further the interests of the Protestant cause?
Hotman and politics
Given his celebrity and beyond his aulic titles (historiographe du roi, maître des requêtes, etc.), what was Hotman's relationship with the courts of the Valois and the Bourbon? Given his character, which seems to be universally recognised as ebullient, did he actually serve as a diplomat for the Huguenots with the princes of the Empire? Can the effectiveness of his interventions be measured? What did this great thinker on political systems think of the different regimes he encountered during his wandering life?
Hotman and pamphleteering
Did Hotman write genuine pamphlets? Was he consistently the most virulent academic Calvinist polemicist throughout his life, with no modulation of tone? Can other pamphlets be attributed to him? Is there a specifically Hotmanian polemical register?
These lines of enquiry are merely indicative, and not intended to be exhaustive. Our hope is, however, that the conference will become a catalyst for new research.
Submission guidelines
Please send your paper proposals (title + abstract of approximately 250 words) to Christian Martens, at the following e-mail address: christian.martens@unige.ch
by 27 November 2023.
Papers may be presented in French, English, German or Italian.
Organisation
- Christian Martens (Geneva/Warwick)
- Paul-Alexis Mellet (Geneva)
- Ingrid De Smet (Warwick)
Subjects
Places
- Geneva, Switzerland
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Monday, November 27, 2023
Keywords
- Hotman, humanisme, calvinisme, révolte, renaissance, bèze, antiquaire, ligue, mos gallicus, humanisme juridique, guerres de religion, gallicanisme, république des lettres, réforme
Contact(s)
- Christian Martens
courriel : christian [dot] martens [at] unige [dot] ch
Information source
- Christian Martens
courriel : christian [dot] martens [at] unige [dot] ch
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« François Hotman », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, October 05, 2023, https://doi.org/10.58079/1bxm
