michel de l’hôpital & christophe de thou under the increasing absolutist tendency of the crown, royal magistrates became subdued partners in the new authoritarian order. It must be remembered, however, that the king, for his part, needed to depend continually on his judges in the parlements and great nobles throughout the ancien régime. The making of an absolutist monarchy, or resistance to it, was far from a unilateral process. What has been described in this article is a kind of dilemma that confronts key players in politics, not uncommon in history as well as in our world today. The respective stances of L’Hôpital and de Thou were dictated by their duties. In the 1560s the exigency of civil war imposed on them added burdens. How these two judges each responded to the various demands of the time sheds light on the role of individuals in the face of the inexorable unfolding of historical forces. 168
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