marie seong-hak kim that Chancellor L’Hôpital and Président de Thou were pitted against each other in their official capacities. At the time of the issuance of the Edict, Premier Président Gille Le Maitre was ill, and Président de Thou took over his duties.51 De Thou, charged with the unenviable task to present the Parlement’s opinion to the king, carefully explained why it opposed the edict: the unity of religion was the heart of peace in society and the foundation of the monarchy. This was a view that fully demonstrated the “mentalités unanimistes” of the time, grounded on the fear that the edict, by allowing Protestant worship, would create a calamitous division in the state and in the family and rend the whole fabric of society.52 De Thou’s remonstrance summed up the Parlement of Paris’ institutional presumption that the maintenance of peace and social order was inseparable from upholding Catholicism as the only religion in France. L’Hôpital was not convinced; he told the parlement’s delegates that repeated remonstrances would not help the situation.53 The Parlement of Paris again dragged its feet in registering the Edict of Amboise in 1563. The chancellor called “malicious” the Parlement’s attempts to interpret the peace treaty approved by the king. He asked the judges: “Which is more important: the judgment of the king and his council or your own judgment? The peace treaty or your opinion?” This was like putting themselves as “tutors and curators of the king.”54 Rarely had a chancellor before L’Hôpital used as harsh and rigid language as his in addressing the parlements, openly rebuking their disobedience to the royal authority.55 It has been pointed out that the common image of the French chancellors monolithically concerned with promoting the unlimited power of the king must be nuanced. Yet, L’Hôpital occupied a conspicuous place even among the highhanded royalist ministers. In a meeting between L’Hôpital and de Thou on May 9, the court was ordered to 51 Daubresse, Sylvie 1998a p. 393. 52 Daubresse, Sylvie 1998b p. 532; Wanegffelen, Thierry 1998 p. 103. 53 Sécousse, Denis-François, 1743 vol. 3 p. 57-58. 54 Remonstrance of 19 March 1563, to the Parlement of Paris, after the peace of Amboise, in L’Hospital, Michel de and Petris, Loris 2002 p. 459. 55 Michaud, Hélène 1967 p. 27. The parlements in the provinces were not any more cooperative. See Kim, Seong-Hak 1997. 145
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