Libertines and the Law : Subversive Authors and Criminal Justice in Early Seventeenth-Century France Subversive Authors and Criminal Justice in Early Seventeenth-Century France

Abstract

Following the assassination of Henri IV in 1610, the political turbulence of Louis XIII's early reign led to renewed efforts to police the book trade. Yet it also witnessed a golden age of 'libertine' literature, including a plethora of sexually explicit and irreverent poetry as well as works of free-thinking that cast doubt on the dogma of Church and State. As France moved towards absolutism, a number of unorthodox writers were forced to defend themselves before the law courts. Part I offers a conceptual history of libertinism, as well as an exploration of literary censorship and the mechanics of the criminal justice system in this period. Part II examines the notorious trials of three subversive authors. The Italian philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini was brutally executed for blasphemy by the Parlement de Toulouse in 1619. Jean Fontanier was burned at the stake two years later in Paris for authoring a text to convert Christians to Judaism. The trial of the infamous poet Théophile de Viau for irreligion, obscenity, and poems describing homosexuality was a landmark in French literary and social history, despite him eventually escaping the death penalty in 1625. Drawing from rarely explored sources, archival discoveries and legal manuals, it provides new insights into the censorship of French literature and thought from the perspectives of both the defendants and the magistrates. Through a diverse corpus including poetry, philosophical texts, religious polemics, Jewish teachings, and private memoirs, it sheds new light on this crucial period in literary, legal, and intellectual history.