Gargantua 2: religion and reform

Gargantua 2: religion and reform

Plan of lecture • Old-style religion: the Sorbonne and Janotus de Bragmardo • Monks: the siege of Seuillé and its aftermath (Gargantua, chs 25/27 and 38-39 / 39 – 40 • Monkish traits • The example of Frère Jean • Evangelical / Protestant theology with respect to monasticism • Pilgrimages (Gargantua, chs 36/38 and 43/45) • Gargantua eats 6 pilgrims – giant humour • Parody of Psalm 124 • Religious freedom: Erasmus and radical folly

The trip to Paris

The Sorbonne at the time of Rabelais • All teaching done in Latin • Faculties: • Theology • Law • Medicine • Arts • Anti-innovation; debate stultified; anti-humanist

The Collège royal • Founded by the humanist Guillaume Budé – 1530 • 6 lecteurs royaux in • Greek • Hebrew • Maths • Latin (eloquence)

A climate of tension • 1533 – Noel Beda (Principal of Faculty of Theology, Sorbonne, banished for sedition) • 1533 – Sorbonne ban the Miroir de l’âme pécheresse by Marguerite de Navarre (sister of François 1er). • (1534 – L’Affaire des Placards)

Giant humour: the theft of the bells • ‘Les compissa si aigrement qu’il en noya deux cens soixante mille quatre cens dix et huyt sans les femmes et petiz enfans.’ • Parody: • ‘And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children’ Matt 14: 21 • ‘Elles [les cloches] serviroient bien de campanes au coul de sa jument…’

Satire of Janotus chs 19 - 20 • parody – scholastic vocabulary • Nos faciemus bonum cherubin (nous faisons bonne chère) • Vultis etiam pardonos – pardons / indulgences • Chlochidonnaminor nobis • Parisius habet clochas. Ergo gluc. • […] s’il ne vous faict tous vifz brusler comme bougres traistres, hereticques et seducteurs’

A point of comparison? • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PubPWuEQp8 • Also see: • Dorothy Coleman, Rabelais, pp. 105 -109 • M A Screech, Rabelais, pp. 150 - 162

http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Image%20Collection/ImageCollection-00114.xmlhttp://digital.library.villanova.edu/Image%20Collection/ImageCollection-00114.xml Vows: Poverty Obedience Chastity Role: To intercede for the world through prayer Monkish traits

Monks’ response Prayers to saints Processions Chants Auricular confession Weaknesses displayed Cowardly Ineffective Ignorant (see Gargantua’s response : chs 38/40) The Monks of Seuillé: defensive action

Frère Jean’s characteristics (ch 25/27) • Benedictine monk • Thin and amorous • Big nose (drinks too much) • Gallops through his offices (prayers, masses etc) • Greedy and lecherous • Effective: takes action by fighting • Heroic: ‘jamais Maugis, hermite, ne se porta si vaillamment […] ‘

Plainchant • For some examples of the kind of liturgical chanting that the monks in Seuillé would be practising, click on the examples below: • Caritas pater est (Plainchant by Chant Group Psallentes)-youtube

Critics of monasticism Christian humanists: Erasmus Evangelicals Protestants : Luther Criticism levelled at monks Petty-minded Obsessed with rules Lack of piety Criticism levelled at monasticism Celibacy not superior to matrimony Vows impossible to keep Criticism of monks in this period

The pilgrims Led by Lasdaller (‘tired of walking…’) Prayers to Saint Sebastien (whom they believe has sent the plague…) Condemnation of pilgrimage: Superstition: saints do not send plagues Pilgrimages cause neglect of family and home pilgrimages (chs 38/39 and 43/45)

Erasmus of Rotterdam (Holbein) - Praise of Folly (see electronic extract available here http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/electronicresources/extracts/fr/fr115 Criticism of Church by reformist Catholics

St Paul 1 Corinthians 1: 18 • For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the word of God.

François Rabelais (c. 1494 – 1553): - Pantagruel - Gargantua - Le Tiers Livre - Le Quart Livre Criticism of Church by reformist Catholics

Criticism of Church by reformist Catholics Marguerite de Navarre, L’Heptaméron (1559): • Poking fun at monks (ie: 41, 48) • Serious demonstration of abuse of power by monks and clergy (22, 23, 72) • Explicit questioning of the theology which venerates monks and clergy (23)

Guillaume Briçonnet Bishop of Meaux Headed the Groupe de Meaux (evangelical humanist) Spiritual advisor to Marguerite de Navarre Criticism of Church by reformist Catholics

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) Justification by faith = central tenet of Protestant theology Protestant reformers

Jean Calvin (1509 – 1564) Institution de la religion chrétienne first published in French 1541 Protestant Reformers

Find out more about the Reformation • A History of Christianity • Reformation: The Individual Before God Available here: http://bobnational.net/record/_pzIAjYKhy7p3iWIjIBIbIR and on the Gargantua page

Research project • The court of François 1er: art, architecture and leisure • The court of François 1er: women at court • L’Affaire des Placards • Rabelais, Erasmus and the Just War

Instructions • Groups of 4 • 6 minutes per group • Use presentational tools • Powerpoint • Prezi • Poster • mindmap

Gargantua 2: religion and reform