‘ACCEPTABLE TRUTHS’ DURING THE FRENCH RELIGIOUS WARS

Q2 Arts and Humanities

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Pub Date : 2020-11-11 DOI:10.1017/S0080440120000031

P. Roberts

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Abstract

Abstract This paper seeks to provide some historical perspective on contemporary preoccupations with competing versions of the truth. Truth has always been contested and subject to scrutiny, particularly during troubled times. It can take many forms – judicial truth, religious truth, personal truth – and is bound up with the context of time and place. This paper sets out the multidisciplinary approaches to truth and examines its role in a specific context, that of early modern Europe and, in particular, the French religious wars of the sixteenth century. Truth was a subject of intense debate among both Renaissance and Reformation scholars, it was upheld as an absolute by judges, theologians and rulers. Yet, it also needed to be concealed by those who maintained a different truth to that of the authorities. In the case of France, in order to advance their cause, the Huguenots used subterfuge of various kinds, including the illicit carrying of messages. In this instance, truth was dependent on the integrity of its carrier, whether the messenger could be trusted and, therefore, their truth accepted. Both sides also sought to defend the truth by countering what they presented as the deceit of their opponents. Then, as now, acceptance of what is true depends on which side we are on and who we are prepared to believe.

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"可接受的真理"在法国宗教战争期间

摘要本文试图提供一些历史视角来看待当代对真理的关注。真相总是受到质疑和审查，尤其是在动乱时期。它可以采取多种形式——司法真相、宗教真相、个人真相——并与时间和地点的背景有关。本文阐述了对真理的多学科方法，并在一个特定的背景下考察了真理的作用，即现代欧洲早期，特别是16世纪的法国宗教战争。真理在文艺复兴和宗教改革学者中都是一个激烈争论的主题，法官、神学家和统治者都认为真理是绝对的。然而，那些坚持与当局不同真相的人也需要掩盖这一点。就法国而言，为了推进他们的事业，胡格诺派使用了各种各样的伎俩，包括非法携带信息。在这种情况下，真相取决于其载体的完整性，信使是否可信，因此他们的真相是否被接受。双方还试图通过对抗对手的欺骗来捍卫真相。当时和现在一样，接受真实取决于我们站在哪一边，以及我们准备相信谁。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Arts and Humanities-History

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期刊介绍： The Royal Historical Society has published the highest quality scholarship in history for over 150 years. A subscription includes a substantial annual volume of the Society’s Transactions, which presents wide-ranging reports from the front lines of historical research by both senior and younger scholars, and two volumes from the Camden Fifth Series, which makes available to a wider audience valuable primary sources that have hitherto been available only in manuscript form.