The Catholicisms of Coutances: Varieties of Religion in Early Modern France, 1350-1789 9780773588363

Table of contents :
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Maps and Graph
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
1 Coutances, Its People and History
2 Official and Unofficial Catholicism in Early Modern Coutances
3 The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances
4 The Catholicisms of the Clerical Elite of Coutances
5 The Catholicisms of the Religious of Coutances
6 The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy of Coutances
7 The Catholicisms of the Catholic Laity of Coutances
8 The Other Catholicisms of Coutances
Conclusion: The Catholicisms of Coutances in Their Norman Context
Appendices
1 Vocations and Sunday mass attendance by population
2 Differing levels of religious practice
3 Vocations, 1742–1781
4 Vocations, 1699–1781
5 The Protestant presence
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y

Citation preview

A  The Catholicisms of Coutances

M c Gill-Queen’s Studies in the History of Religion Volumes in this series have been supported by the Jackman Foundation of Toronto. Series One: G.A. Rawlyk, Editor 1 Small Differences Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, 1815–1922 An International Perspective Donald Harman Akenson 2 Two Worlds The Protestant Culture of Nineteenth-Century Ontario William Westfall 3 An Evangelical Mind Nathanael Burwash and the Methodist Tradition in Canada, 1839–1918 Marguerite Van Die 4 The Dévotes Women and Church in Seventeenth-Century France Elizabeth Rapley 5 The Evangelical Century College and Creed in English Canada from the Great Revival to the Great Depression Michael Gauvreau 6 The German Peasants’ War and Anabaptist Community of Goods James M. Stayer 7 A World Mission Canadian Protestantism and the Quest for a New International Order, 1918–1939 Robert Wright 8 Serving the Present Age Revivalism, Progressivism, and the Methodist Tradition in Canada Phyllis D. Airhart

9 A Sensitive Independence Canadian Methodist Women Missionaries in Canada and the Orient, 1881–1925 Rosemary R. Gagan 10 God’s Peoples Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel, and Ulster Donald Harman Akenson 11 Creed and Culture The Place of English-Speaking Catholics in Canadian Society, 1750–1930 Edited by Terrence Murphy and Gerald Stortz 12 Piety and Nationalism Lay Voluntary Associations and the Creation of an Irish-Catholic Community in Toronto, 1850–1895 Brian P. Clarke 13 Amazing Grace Studies in Evangelicalism in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States Edited by George Rawlyk and Mark A. Noll 14 Children of Peace W. John McIntyre 15 A Solitary Pillar Montreal’s Anglican Church and the Quiet Revolution Joan Marshall 16 Padres in No Man’s Land Canadian Chaplains and the Great War Duff Crerar 17 Christian Ethics and Political Economy in North America A Critical Analysis P. Travis Kroeker

18 Pilgrims in Lotus Land Conservative Protestantism in British Columbia, 1917–1981 Robert K. Burkinshaw

22 A Full-Orbed Christianity The Protestant Churches and Social Welfare in Canada, 1900–1940 Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau

19 Through Sunshine and Shadow The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario, 1874–1930 Sharon Cook

23 Evangelism and Apostasy The Evolution and Impact of Evangelicals in Modern Mexico Kurt Bowen

20 Church, College, and Clergy A History of Theological Education at Knox College, Toronto, 1844–1994 Brian J. Fraser 21 The Lord’s Dominion The History of Canadian Methodism Neil Semple

24 The Chignecto Covenanters A Regional History of Reformed Presbyterianism in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 1827–1905 Eldon Hay 25 Methodists and Women’s Education in Ontario, 1836–1925 Johanne Selles 26 Puritanism and Historical Controversy William Lamont

Series Two  In memory of George Rawlyk Donald Harman Akenson, Editor 1 Marguerite Bourgeoys and Montreal, 1640–1665 Patricia Simpson 2 Aspects of the Canadian Evangelical Experience Edited by G.A. Rawlyk 3 Infinity, Faith, and Time Christian Humanism and Renaissance Literature John Spencer Hill 4 The Contribution of Presbyterianism to the Maritime Provinces of Canada Edited by Charles H.H. Scobie and G.A. Rawlyk 5 Labour, Love, and Prayer Female Piety in Ulster Religious Literature, 1850–1914 Andrea Ebel Brozyna

6 The Waning of the Green Catholics, the Irish, and Identity in Toronto, 1887–1922 Mark G. McGowan 7 Religion and Nationality in Western Ukraine The Greek Catholic Church and the Ruthenian National Movement in Galicia, 1867–1900 John-Paul Himka 8 Good Citizens British Missionaries and Imperial States, 1870–1918 James G. Greenlee and Charles M. Johnston 9 The Theology of the Oral Torah Revealing the Justice of God Jacob Neusner

10 Gentle Eminence A Life of Cardinal Flahiff P. Wallace Platt 11 Culture, Religion, and Demographic Behaviour Catholics and Lutherans in Alsace, 1750–1870 Kevin McQuillan

20 A History of Canadian Catholics Gallicanism, Romanism, and Canadianism Terence J. Fay 21 The View from Rome Archbishop Stagni’s 1915 Reports on the Ontario Bilingual Schools Question Edited and translated by John Zucchi

12 Between Damnation and Starvation Priests and Merchants in Newfoundland Politics, 1745–1855 John P. Greene

22 The Founding Moment Church, Society, and the Construction of Trinity College William Westfall

13 Martin Luther, German Saviour German Evangelical Theological Factions and the Interpretation of Luther, 1917–1933 James M. Stayer

23 The Holocaust, Israel, and Canadian Protestant Churches Haim Genizi

14 Modernity and the Dilemma of North American Anglican Identities, 1880–1950 William H. Katerberg 15 The Methodist Church on the Prairies, 1896–1914 George Emery 16 Christian Attitudes towards the State of Israel Paul Charles Merkley 17 A Social History of the Cloister Daily Life in the Teaching Monasteries of the Old Regime Elizabeth Rapley 18 Households of Faith Family, Gender, and Community in Canada, 1760–1969 Edited by Nancy Christie 19 Blood Ground Colonialism, Missions, and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799–1853 Elizabeth Elbourne

24 Governing Charities Church and State in Toronto’s Catholic Archdiocese, 1850–1950 Paula Maurutto 25 Anglicans and the Atlantic World High Churchmen, Evangelicals, and the Quebec Connection Richard W. Vaudry 26 Evangelicals and the Continental Divide The Conservative Protestant Subculture in Canada and the United States Sam Reimer 27 Christians in a Secular World The Canadian Experience Kurt Bowen 28 Anatomy of a Seance A History of Spirit Communication in Central Canada Stan McMullin 29 With Skilful Hand The Story of King David David T. Barnard 30 Faithful Intellect Samuel S. Nelles and Victoria University Neil Semple

31 W. Stanford Reid An Evangelical Calvinist in the Academy Donald MacLeod 32 A Long Eclipse The Liberal Protestant Establishment and the Canadian University, 1920–1970 Catherine Gidney 33 Forkhill Protestants and Forkhill Catholics, 1787–1858 Kyla Madden 34 For Canada’s Sake Public Religion, Centennial Celebrations, and the Re-making of Canada in the 1960s Gary R. Miedema 35 Revival in the City The Impact of American Evangelists in Canada, 1884–1914 Eric R. Crouse 36 The Lord for the Body Religion, Medicine, and Protestant Faith Healing in Canada, 1880–1930 James Opp 37 600 Years of Reform Bishops and the French Church, 1190–1789 J. Michael Hayden and Malcolm R. Greenshields

42 Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Congregation of Notre Dame, 1665–1700 Patricia Simpson 43 To Heal a Fractured World The Ethics of Responsibility Jonathan Sacks 44 Revivalists Marketing the Gospel in English Canada, 1884–1957 Kevin Kee 45 The Churches and Social Order in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Canada Edited by Michael Gauvreau and Ollivier Hubert 46 Political Ecumenism Catholics, Jews, and Protestants in De Gaulle’s Free France, 1940–1945 Geoffrey Adams 47 From Quaker to Upper Canadian Faith and Community among Yonge Street Friends, 1801–1850 Robynne Rogers Healey 48 The Congrégation de Notre-Dame, Superiors, and the Paradox of Power, 1693–1796 Colleen Gray

38 The Missionary Oblate Sisters Vision and Mission Rosa Bruno-Jofré

49 Canadian Pentecostalism Transition and Transformation Edited by Michael Wilkinson

39 Religion, Family, and Community in Victorian Canada The Colbys of Carrollcroft Marguerite Van Die

50 A War with a Silver Lining Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899–1902 Gordon L. Heath

40 Michael Power The Struggle to Build the Catholic Church on the Canadian Frontier Mark G. McGowan 41 The Catholic Origins of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, 1931–1970 Michael Gauvreau

51 In the Aftermath of Catastrophe Founding Judaism, 70 to 640 Jacob Neusner 52 Imagining Holiness Classic Hasidic Tales in Modern Times Justin Jaron Lewis

53 Shouting, Embracing, and Dancing with Ecstasy The Growth of Methodism in Newfoundland, 1774–1874 Calvin Hollett 54 Into Deep Waters Evangelical Spirituality and Maritime Calvinist Baptist Ministers, 1790–1855 Daniel C. Goodwin

59 The Covenanters in Canada Reformed Presbyterianism from 1820 to 2012 Eldon Hay 60 The Guardianship of Best Interests Institutional Care for the Children of the Poor in Halifax, 1850–1960 Renée N. Lafferty

55 Vanguard of the New Age The Toronto Theosophical Society, 1891–1945 Gillian McCann

61 In the Name of the Holy Office Joaquim Marques de Araújo, a Brazilian Comissário in the Age of Inquisitional Decline James E. Wadsworth

56 A Commerce of Taste Church Architecture in Canada, 1867–1914 Barry Magrill

62 Contesting the Moral High Ground Popular Moralists in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain Paul T. Phillips

57 The Big Picture The Antigonish Movement of Eastern Nova Scotia Santo Dodaro and Leonard Pluta

63 The Catholicisms of Coutances Varieties of Religion in Early Modern France, 1350–1789 J. Michael Hayden

58 My Heart’s Best Wishes for You A Biography of Archbishop John Walsh John P. Comiskey

A

The Catholicisms of Coutances Varieties of Religion in Early Modern France, 1350–1789

J. Michael Hayden

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston · London · Ithaca

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2013 iSBN 978-0-7735-4113-9 Legal deposit second quarter 2013 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Publications Fund at the University of Saskatchewan. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Hayden, Michael, 1934– The catholicisms of Coutances : varieties of religion in early modern France, 1350–1789 / J. Michael Hayden. (McGill-Queen’s studies in the history of religion. Series two ; no. 63) Includes bibliographical references and index. iSBN 978-0-7735-4113-9 1. Coutances (France) – Religion.  2. Coutances (France) – Church history.  3. Catholic Church. Diocese of Coutances (France). I. Title.  II. Series: McGill-Queen’s studies in the history of religion. Series two ; no. 63

dc801.c9h39 2013  944’.21  c2012-908285-6 Set in 10.5/13.5 Calluna with im Fell Flowers 1 Book design & typesetting by Garet Markvoort, zijn digital

A  Contents

Maps and Graph  xi Abbreviations xiii Preface xv Introduction 3 1 Coutances, Its People and History  19 2 Official and Unofficial Catholicism in Early Modern Coutances 37 3 The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances  55 4 The Catholicisms of the Clerical Elite of Coutances  90 5 The Catholicisms of the Religious of Coutances  124 6 The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy of Coutances  147 7 The Catholicisms of the Catholic Laity of Coutances  195 8 The Other Catholicisms of Coutances  232 Conclusion: The Catholicisms of Coutances in Their Norman Context 254

Appendices 1 Vocations and Sunday mass attendance by population  268 2 Differing levels of religious practice  270 3 Vocations, 1742–1781  272 4 Vocations, 1699–1781  276 5 The Protestant presence  282 Notes 285 Bibliography 335 Index 359

A  Maps and Graph

Maps 1 2 3 4

The Diocese of Coutances to 1789  21 Mass attendance, 1987  245 Vocations, 1699–1732  246 Protestant presence  249

Graph Ordinations, 1699–1785  153

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A  Abbreviations

abpo acdn ada adc AdN basj bma bmc bmv bnf bsan bspf dac msac nmdm puf pwsf ra rag rc RdlM rhef

Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l’ouest Annuaire des cinq départements de la Normandie Ancien diocèse d’Avranches Ancien diocèse de Coutances Annales de Normandie Bulletin de l’Association Saint-Joseph Bibliothèque municipale d’Avranches Bibliothèque municipale de Coutances Bibliothèque municipale de Valognes Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de Normandie Bulletin de la Société d’histoire du protestantisme français Diocesan Archives of Coutances Mémoires de la société académique du Cotentin Notices, mémoires et documents publiés par la Société d’agriculture, d’archéologie et d’histoire naturelle du département de la Manche Presses Universitaires de France Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History Revue de l’Avranchin Revue de l’Avranchin et du pays de Granville Revue catholique (title of srdc from 1867 into the 1890s) Revue du département de la Manche Revue de l’histoire de l’Église de France

rmc sphan srdc

Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine Société parisienne d’histoire et d’archéologie normandes La Semaine religieuse du diocèse de Coutances et Avranches

A  Preface

This book evolved from a project that Malcolm Greenshields and I began to work on in the late 1980s: a study of the effects of the Catholic Reformation on rural priests and their parishioners in Normandy. The major source was to be the diocesan collections of transcripts of pastoral visits. Our primary method was to be quantitative analysis. Over time it became apparent that a quantitative and qualitative analysis of synodal statutes would add depth to the study and that the Diocese of Coutances should be the focus of our study. After the project had been underway for a number of years, I made two mistakes. First, I decided that the book needed an introduction that would provide context by tracing episcopal efforts to accomplish ecclesiastical reform in France over a long period. Then I decided that the introduction should become a separate book. I told Malcolm that I would do the necessary research, using the four volumes of the Réper­toire des visites pastorales de la France and the revised edition of the Réper­toire des statuts synodaux des diocèses de l’ancien France as the guides to the sources, and then write a first draft. I assured him that it would not take long. In fact, developing and using a method of comprehensive quantitative analysis of the visits and a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the statutes and then writing a first draft took me a very long time. Turning the first draft into a book took both of us through many revisions. The result appeared in 2005 as 600 Years of Reform: French Bishops and the French Church, 1190–1789. After this experience Malcolm decided to return to the study of violence in Early Modern France, which had been the subject of his first

xvi  preface

book, An Economy of Violence. I decided to return to the original book. It developed into the present volume. Over the years I have received much help and advice. Above all, I wish to thank Malcolm with whom I began the journey that led to this book. Without his encouragement, driving skills, companionship, and ability to charm archivists, as well as the long hours he spent reading and coding visits, the project out of which this book grew would not have been successful. Along the way Pères Georges Couppey, JeanBaptiste Lechat, and Bernard Pasquet of the Archives of the Diocese of Coutances helped with our research. Also helpful were Yves Nédélec and Gilles Désiré dit Gosset, successively heads of the Archives départementales de la Manche. I also wish to thank the staffs of the bibliothèques municipales of Coutances, Avranches, Cherbourg, and, especially, Valognes, the Archives départementales of Calvados and Orne, and the diocesan archivists of Sées. The interlibrary loan staff of the University of Saskatchewan Library were consistently helpful, as were Cheryl Avery, Tim Hutchinson, and Patrick Hayes of the University of Saskatchewan Archives. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided generous funding in the early days of the project, as did the University of Saskatchewan. Ralph Underwood played a crucial role in recording the pastoral visits of Coutances on the microfilms which are now preserved in the University of Saskatchewan Archives. Denyse Saint-Georges Smith and Victoria Caswell helped Malcolm and me with the reading and coding of the pastoral visits of Coutances. Ruby Ensz entered the codes into the database. Geoff Cunfer of the University of Saskatchewan History Department and its Historical gis Laboratory created the maps. Joe Bergin of Manchester University and members of the University of Saskatchewan History Department provided helpful advice on what eventually became chapter 8. Rev. Ron Griffin, csb, read and commented on chapter 2. Don Akenson of McGill-Queen’s University Press was once again an encouraging and very helpful editor. Kate Merriman was a copy editor extraordinaire. My wife, Del, has read and commented on the whole manuscript and has put up with my obsession to finish this book long past the time I should have retired from such endeavours.

A  The Catholicisms of Coutances

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A  Introduction

What you are about to read is not a history of the Diocese of Coutances, either in its present-day or its pre-French Revolution form. It is, rather, a history of the changes in religious beliefs and practices of the people living in that diocese during the early modern period. The Diocese of Coutances was chosen for study because of the large number of records available. The invented word “catholicisms” used in the title and throughout the book is an umbrella word that covers all the variations in religious beliefs and practices within the diocese. The early modern period is usually defined as the years between about 1450 and 1750. For the purposes of this study, I am taking the phrase to mean the period between the start of the Hundred Years War shortly before the mid-fourteenth century and the beginning of the French Revolution near the end of the eighteenth century. Before 1350 the culture of Coutances was clearly medieval. By the late eighteenth century, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, along with changing economic conditions, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment, were significantly influencing the beliefs and practices of the people of Coutances: the world was moving toward modernity. Then came the French Revolution, after which there would be no return to the past. This book is not a study of interactions between church and state, between rulers and ruled, or between the elite and the non-elite. It is not an attempt to relate changes in religion to changes in political, economic, or social structure. It is not a study of the relationships among culture, economy, politics, and religion. It does not deal with

4  the catholicisms of coutances

the Catholic Church’s economic foundation, institutional practices, or social reproduction. In those relatively few instances where some of these issues are relevant to the topics under study, they are considered, but this is not a book of historical, political, social, literary, or philosophical theory. This book focuses on the actual religious beliefs and practices of the people of an individual French diocese during a specific period and the observable effects that these beliefs and practices had on them. It suggests that, by extension, understanding what happened in Coutances helps one understand what happened throughout France. The book has several purposes. Chapters 1 through 7 address the first three. The first is to describe and analyse the origins and development of the catholicisms of early modern Coutances. The second is to discuss the positive and negative effects of the catholicisms on individuals and, through them, on their society. The third is to make evident the extreme importance of religion to the people of early modern Coutances. The fourth purpose of this book, dealt with in chapter 8, is to trace the continuation of the pattern of religious practice of Coutances from the late seventeenth century to the present. The fifth purpose – to compare the catholicisms of eighteenth-century Coutances and the catholicisms of the rest of Normandy – is addressed in the conclusion, which also provides a summary of chapters 1 to 8. The physical and linguistic geography and the history of the Diocese of Coutances are presented in chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the official and unofficial beliefs present in the diocese in the midfourteenth century. In the subsequent chapters, the religious history of early modern Coutances is presented through descriptions of the evolution of the catholicisms of the groups who made up the society of the diocese. Bishops are the subject of chapter 3. The French Catholic Church was led, in theory, by the pope. In reality, however, it was under the control of the bishops who ruled the approximately one hundred French dioceses. In general, these men had a high opinion of themselves and were convinced of their entitlement to status, wealth, and power in a hierarchically organized church. During the seventeenth century, bishops gradually became better educated and more directed toward their religious duties. This led to serious efforts at reform. In 1720 Charles-François Loménie de Brienne, the bishop largely respon-

Introduction 5

sible for the full development of the second Catholic Reformation in Coutances, died. During the rest of the eighteenth century, the bishops of Coutances, like those throughout France, thought that reform had been achieved and simply had to be maintained by routine pastoral visits and imposition of strict rules of religious practice. They did not realize that the attraction to the unofficial religion was still strong, and they failed to recognize the significance of the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the growing discontent of both clergy and laity with financial imbalance within the church. The canons, diocesan officials, and scholars who formed the clerical elite of Coutances are discussed in chapter 4. The Catholic reformations had some influence on the various parts of this elite, but its members never lost the conviction of their own superiority, nor did they feel obliged to limit their financial and social privileges – despite growing opposition among the laity and lower ranks of the clergy. The canons were generally impressed with their own status and believed that they were, or should be, the locus of power in the diocese. They were likely to see the church as existing to provide them with a career supported by significant income, hopefully culminating in the attainment of the office of bishop. The other members of the clerical elite were the diocesan officials and individuals born in the diocese who, through advanced study, attained professional status, usually outside the diocese, as philosophers, theologians, canon lawyers, or as pastors of important parishes or, rarely, as bishops. Theology and canon law were the two learned professions of the Catholic clergy. Professional theologians clarified, explored, and expounded the details of belief, while canon lawyers elaborated details of religious practice. Members of religious orders are the subject of chapter 5. In the early part of the period under consideration, most members of religious orders were either members of mendicant orders who preached in parishes and taught in universities or monks and nuns whose duty was to stay in their monasteries and pray for society. These groups had different ideas about what religion was and what practices were necessary. In the seventeenth century new types of men and women religious became involved not only in preaching and teaching but also in what today would be called social work. The later groups were respected by the laity. By the eighteenth century, monks, in particular, were not so well regarded.

6  the catholicisms of coutances

Clerics who were not canons, scholars, or members of religious orders usually served in the parishes of the diocese. They believed in and practised various versions of Catholicism, depending on their position (dean, curé, vicar, habitué, deacon, subdeacon, in minor orders or simply tonsured), location (urban or rural), relationship with the laity, marital status, and type of education (on-the-job training or seminary attendance). These clerics, especially those serving in the parishes of the diocese, their evolution and fate, are the subject of chapter 6. The vast majority of the population, the laity (from laos, meaning the people) – those who were not bishops, priests, clerics, or members of religious orders – are the subject of chapter 7. The different catholicisms found among this very large and diverse group grew out of differences in social position, time, education, location, personality, and occupation. While these variations stretched from the most orthodox to the almost pagan and changed over time, there were enough commonalities to make it possible to discuss all the laity, from the nobles to the peasants, in one chapter. Chapter 8 describes the beliefs and some of the practices of two relatively small groups of people in the diocese who are not usually referred to as Catholics. These are the Protestants and the deists. Chapter 8 also traces the patterns of belief in the Diocese of Coutances from the seventeenth century to the present. This aspect of the chapter will be discussed later in the introduction under the heading of location. The Protestants considered themselves to be members of the catholic (with a small c) church. The deists most definitely did not, but they are included because they tended to define themselves in opposition to Catholicism and because, before the French Revolution, some “large C” Catholics, influenced by the Enlightenment, were attracted to many deist ideas. French Protestants were almost all followers of John Calvin and referred to themselves as members of the Reformed Church. The Roman Catholic majority referred to them as members of the Pretended Reformed Religion or, colloquially, as Huguenots. They were present in the Diocese of Coutances in significant numbers from the 1550s into the early seventeenth century, then in slowly diminishing numbers until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. After the revocation, some left France while many were forced to become Catholics, at least on the surface.

Introduction 7

By the mid-eighteenth century, there were some deists in the diocese but, because they were not organized, their numbers cannot be established. One indication of the small numbers and late growth of deists is the fact that the first Masonic lodge in the diocese was not founded until 1782 in Cherbourg, followed by those of Granville, Cou­ tances, and Valognes between 1786 and 1788. There were always some skeptics in the diocese, and those known as libertins érudits, probably some agnostics, and certainly there were people who were indifferent to religious practice (for example, those men mentioned in pastoral visits who frequented taverns during Sunday mass), but there is no way of providing an estimate of the numbers of these groups. There are no atheists discussed in this book (despite the tendency of Catholics to label Protestants as atheists in the sixteenth century and of Catholic missionaries to use the same name for skeptics and the indifferent in the seventeenth century) because no records have been found that document their existence in the Diocese of Coutances during the years in question. Also absent from the discussion are the close relatives of Christians, the Jews. There had been a significant Jewish community in the diocese, especially in the area around Valognes, St-Lô, and Coutances. However, the expulsion of Jews from France in 1306 brought to an end a community that may have dated back to Roman times.1 I have drawn on the large number of early modern records that have survived from the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances to illustrate the complex nature of early modern European Roman Catholicism. The most important sources are pastoral visit records, synodal meeting records and statutes, ecclesiastical conference records, reports of missionaries, chapter records, seminary and ordination records, collation and insinuation records, catechisms, confession manuals, and lists of grievances prepared for the Estates General of 1789. In addition, I have used ancient and contemporary accounts of the lives of bishops, priests, and the laity, an excellent seventeenth-century history of the diocese, and the diary of a sixteenth-century noble. The combination of approaches used sets this book apart from others, including a number of excellent works on early modern French dioceses.2 I have used the information and many of the methods of the authors listed in note 2, but there are significant differences in my

8  the catholicisms of coutances

approach to the subject. This book employs a unique methodology, used originally in 600 Years of Reform, to interpret pastoral visit and synodal statute records.3 Other important differences include the employment of a longer time scale, the inclusion of all social groups, and the careful delineation of the similarities and differences in religious belief and practice, inherently and over time, within each group and among all the groups. The result is an in-depth and thick description of varieties of religious belief in an early modern French diocese over a four-hundred-year period. Qualitative analyses of diocesan records were used to discover the ideas and practices of individual bishops and nobles and seventeenthcentury reforming clergy, as well as groups of canons, monks, nuns, friars, and other religious. Parish priests and their parishioners, whether nobles, bourgeois, or peasants, were approached primarily through quantitative and qualitative analyses of pastoral visit, synodal statute, seminary, and ordination records, and the cahiers of 1789. The end notes serve several purposes. They are a crucial source for those interested in learning more about the methodology behind this book. They provide additional information for those who wish to check the validity of statements made, pursue individual issues further, or learn more about the French context of developments identified in the Diocese of Coutances. Unless immediately relevant to the purposes of this book, I elaborate on my interpretation of matters of current scholarly debate in the notes. And because of the complexity of some of these issues and questions of methodology, they are handled by page references to 600 Years of Reform where they are discussed at length. Frequently, the nature of the beliefs of the people of Coutances was derived from the practices connected with those people. Studying practices to infer beliefs necessarily included differentiating carefully among the actions of individuals and groups of individuals over the whole period. The resulting detail (for example, of the careers of all the bishops and the actions of the elite clergy in chapters 3 and 4) is a consequence of the goal of the study, not the result of an antiquarian approach to the past. No serious scholar can doubt that religion plays an important role, be it positive, negative, or both, in the events of the early twenty-first century or that present-day societies cannot be understood without a

Introduction 9

thorough understanding not only of the religions and religious practices alive in those societies, but also of the attitudes of others in and outside those societies toward those beliefs and practices. Unfortunately, despite the myriad of articles and books written during the last fifty years by historians, anthropologists, and others who have analysed the Europe that existed between the end of the Middle Ages and start of the French Revolution, a significant number of contemporary scholars do not fully understand that the same holds true for those years. As Silvana Seidel Menchi said about contemporary social history of the Reformation, it is too often “a secularized historiography addressed to an audience of agnostics” in which “religion supplies the ideology for social forces mature enough to come into their own.”4 Too many historians adopt an approach that unnecessarily distorts a past that, even in the best circumstances, can never be fully reconstituted. Some do this by concentrating on only one or two aspects of the past – for example, the application of the theories of either confessionalism (concentration by church officials on discipline and order, consolidation and control) or confessionalization (the three-way combination of confessionalism, state-building, and state-imposed social discipline) – when studying early modern religion. Another contemporary approach places too much reliance on postmodernist insights. In both cases too little attention is paid to acquiring detailed knowledge of the past and striving to understand it in itself and for itself before assessing it from modern perspectives.5 Another approach, the worst by far, in my opinion, is the currently fashionable denigration of religion, past and present. This takes two major forms. One brands all religion as superstition. The other indulges in outright distortion. This approach was expressed forcefully, if crudely, by a Globe and Mail columnist: “From 1345 to 1750 … the church, a murderous, terrorist, woman-hating force, seized considerable power. It was not Christian culture, but rather the opposition to this Christian threat [by the Enlightenment] that made Europe great.”6 The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth recently summed up a strong current of European and North American opinion on the subject: “Today many believe that religion is unnecessary because we have scientists to explain the universe and technologists to control it. We have politicians to govern society and business persons to create wealth. If you’re ill you go to a doctor, not a priest. If you feel guilty you go to a psychotherapist, not to

10  the catholicisms of coutances

confession. If you are depressed you take Prozac and not the Book of Psalms. And if you seek salvation you go to our new cathedrals, namely shopping centres, where you can buy happiness at extremely competitive prices.”7 In stark contrast, the people of early modern Europe believed that religion was absolutely necessary for many reasons including maintaining health, safety, and a measure of comfort and happiness. Above all, life was short and not particularly pleasant, while eternity was forever. They believed that the means of attaining a happy eternity was the proper practice of the right religion. Religion was not just a matter of belief. There were rules that had to be followed. Failure to do so brought eternal damnation. Consequently, awareness of sin, fear of its consequences, and knowledge of the means available to find forgiveness for it were dominant parts of the lives of the people of early modern Europe, no matter which version of Christianity they accepted. If one wishes to understand as fully as possible the people who lived in Europe in the years between the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the eighteenth century, one has to know what their religion was both in theory and in its various forms of practice, what it was as interpreted by influential individuals and by the various parts of society. Theory was the domain of the theologians and varied far more widely than many now realize. Practice was dictated by religious leaders and involved a myriad of rules and abuses thereof that few understand today. The interpretation of the theories and rules and the implementation of the practices varied over time and according to one’s country, place in society, education, and inclinations. The interpretation and implementation that took place in the Diocese of Coutances is a core topic of this book. Achieving an understanding of the religion of the people of early modern Europe is absolutely necessary even if it disturbs one’s postmodern sensibilities. The proper practice of religion was more important to the people of early modern Europe than were the issues of race, class, gender, or sexual preference, so dear to many twenty-firstcentury historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. Early modern France was a land of linguistic differences, with at least four languages (French, Occitan, Basque, and Breton), each, especially the first, with many dialects, and with neighbours on its borders speaking Flemish, German, Italian, and Spanish. Some members of the

Introduction 11

French elite were in the process of learning about the varieties of life beyond Europe, and for a small minority in the seventeenth and, especially, the eighteenth century, the status of the aboriginal inhabitants of the colony of Quebec raised profound questions. Nevertheless, race was not a question of any importance to the vast majority in a uniracial France where few people travelled very far from their birthplace. Early modern France was a land of significantly differing social groups, but the concept of class was beyond the understanding of people who lived in a society of orders, the organization of which they believed was ordained by God. Gender did make a difference, but most saw either no need to change the existing order, or no way of doing so. However, as will be seen in chapter 5, some women found a way around the limitations imposed on them in a male-dominated society.8 As for sexual preference, almost everyone in France considered heterosexuality to be normal. This very large majority regarded any other sexual orientation to be a perversion. For religious reasons most people in early modern Coutances were repelled by the very idea of male or female homosexuality. However, this issue was not at the front of their minds. Celibate Roman Catholic clerics, even those most involved in the Catholic Reformation, accepted that intercourse using the “missionary position” engaged in by husband and wife for the purpose of procreation was acceptable (except, perhaps, during Advent and Lent). However, they regarded such activity as potentially sinful if too much pleasure was involved. Any other sexual activity was gravely sinful in a complicated ascending order of seriousness depending on which people of which age, gender, and state of life were involved and what they did. The confessional manual of Jean Eudes, a missionary in the Diocese of Coutances from the 1630s into the 1670s, provides an extensive range of questions on possible sexual sins. Confessors, however, were warned not to probe too deeply unless there were indications of wrongdoing, so as not to shock penitents or give them ideas. It is evident from the comments of this experienced confessor, in a professional book written not for public consumption but to prepare priests for anything they might hear in the confessional, that few people in the diocese committed what he considered to be the most evil forms of these sins (sodomy and bestiality) and those who did were filled with shame.9

12  the catholicisms of coutances

The problems of interpretation facing twenty-first-century historians of early modern France are made more complex by the persistence of the stereotype that the Roman Catholic Church that emerged from the Middle Ages was a monolithic and corrupt institution that reacted to the Protestant Reformation by becoming more monolithic and authoritarian and then proceeded to reject the modern world of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Reality, as historians know, is complex. This stereotype is far from totally inaccurate in the case of the early modern Roman Catholic Church considered as an institution. It is far less true of early modern Catholicism defined as what Catholics actually believed and practised. For clerics and members of religious orders, religion was a profession practised on a scale ranging from minimal effort to full-fledged devotion. It provided a living ranging from poverty to extreme wealth. In what was a technologically and scientifically primitive society, members of religious orders provided food for the hungry and care of the sick. Monks preserved classical learning. Catholic artists and intellectuals (clerics and others) discovered the individual, and Catholics made the technological advances that prepared the way for modern life. The leaders of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment built on what had been accomplished before them by believing and practising Christians. For some of the laity, the Roman Catholic religion informed every aspect of their lives and provided them with day-to-day direction, solace in times of trouble, and hope for a happy life after death. For others, lack of religious instruction led to the mindless recital of official prayers and the absent-minded following of liturgical routines that meant little to them. This pattern was combined with firmly held beliefs and practices that mixed Catholicism and paganism with the object of securing good crops, health, and, eventually, heaven (most probably after a long and painful sojourn in purgatory). There was and is one Roman Catholic Church, but there are and always have been many variations in belief within that Church. In fact, despite the belief of many outside the Church and assorted official pronouncements within it, every member has his or her own conscience and interpretation of “proper” beliefs and practices. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify groups of people within the Church who, in general terms, share beliefs and practices.

Introduction 13

I have coined the phrase “the catholicisms” to denote the variations in religious beliefs and practices among definable groups or in a series of individuals in one group (for example, bishops or canons) within the Roman Catholic Church. Used in the singular the phrase denotes the religious beliefs and practices of one person or group of persons within the Roman Catholic Church. In both forms it will always appear in the lower case to distinguish it from “Catholicism,” that is “the faith, practice, or system of Catholic Christianity.” As will be seen below, a distinction will be made between “official” and “unofficial” Catholicism.10 Religion in this book is defined in the fifth sense provided by the Oxford English Dictionary: “Recognition on the part of man [sic] of some unseen higher power as having control of his [sic] destiny, and as being entitled to obedience, reverence, and worship; the general mental and moral attitude resulting from this belief, with reference to its effect upon the individual or the community, personal or general acceptance of this feeling as a standard of spiritual and practical life.” In other words, religion is here defined as a combination of belief in a god and the practices flowing from that belief. It is not defined as a belief system created to answer questions or problems, as is fashionable among some modern atheists. Because of the nature of the documents available, very often the beliefs of individuals will be derived from a study of practices. Religious practice in the Catholic context has been concisely defined by Gabriel Le Bras: “To practice Catholicism is … to adopt an intellectual and moral, cultural and sacramental attitude … to affirm, defend and spread dogmatic truth, to flee vices, to cultivate moral virtues, [all] according to the Gospels, to accomplish all the requirements – reception of the sacraments, attendance at church services – that canon law prescribes or counsels.”11 There are, of course, numerous historians and other scholars who know that religion was important to the people of early modern Europe, but they may not understand clearly what that religion was in theory and practice. Some historians, of course, do understand the complex nature of early modern Catholicism and have written important articles and books on the subject. Unfortunately, their numbers are few relative to the number of historians at work on early modern French history, especially those whose first language is English. The latter group is one of the audiences to whom this book is directed. Two

14  the catholicisms of coutances

other groups for whom this book is intended are scholars who study early modern European societies and people interested in the history of religion, especially its Roman Catholic variety.12 From the beginning there have been many varieties of Christianity. Very soon after Jesus’ crucifixion, his followers began to argue about whether circumcision and acceptance of the dietary practices of Judaism were necessary for those Gentiles who wanted to join them. Soon a complicated series of doctrinal disagreements developed among those who were beginning to call themselves Christians. Was there one god, a god of good and a god of evil, or three persons in one god? Was Jesus god and man, only god, only man? Was human nature good or evil or a mix of the two? What should one do or not do to attain heaven? Despite the unifying work of the Church Fathers from the second century onward and the canons of various church councils, especially those of Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381, the questions and the answers have never ceased. Over time Christians became divided into two major groups, Roman Catholic and Orthodox and then, much later, into a third, Protestant. Each of these groups developed subdivisions. Within each subdivision there were and are many variations of belief and practice. People have always understood Christianity differently because of differences in personality, gender, race, class, wealth, geography, education, work, experience, luck, and many other factors. Because of these differences there have always been multiple Christianities and those varieties which have not disappeared because of persecution, war, or other circumstances have continued to evolve. At any given moment in each version of Christianity there is an orthodoxy and one or more varieties of dissent. Over time the dissidents either secede or succeed in becoming the new orthodoxy. This book isolates a geographic and temporal slice of the past to illustrate this pattern of belief and change which, I hope, will shed light on both the past and the present of Christianity. As a student of early modern social and religious history, I have long been aware of the thesis that in pre-nineteenth-century Europe there were two religions, that of the elite and that of the peasants, of the various debates surrounding that theory, and of the evolution of the various shadings of it.13 Over time, however, I have developed my own version of this thesis: there was the official religion as defined

Introduction 15

by the church and the unofficial religion, largely based on traditions, myths, and superstition, believed in and practised in varying degrees by all members of society. For most, if not all, members of the early modern Catholic Church, what the vast majority of people in twentyfirst-century Europe and North America, including Roman Catholics, would consider superstition was an essential part of their religion, as was fear of God’s anger.14 I am convinced that many varieties of Catholicism co-existed in early modern France and, I strongly suspect, in all of Europe. I do not pretend to be able to pronounce definitively on religion in early modern Europe, or even France, although I have amassed a significant amount of information on the state of religion in that country between the late twelfth and late eighteenth centuries. In what follows I will restrict myself to that small part of France that I know best – the Diocese of Coutances in what English speakers might call western Normandy, but the French call Basse-Normandie. Nevertheless, on the basis of my wider reading, I strongly suspect that much, if not most, of what I have found in Coutances was prevalent throughout France and Western Europe. The importance of location in the study of catholicisms came into focus for me on 28 May 1987 – Ascension Thursday. Malcolm Greenshields and I were involved in the second research trip in Normandy of what we liked to call the Équipe visite pastorale. Proudly secular France still celebrates many religious holidays and so, on that day, the municipal and departmental archives were closed. The diocesan archives of Coutances, where we were spending most of our time, were even more firmly shut. We therefore decided to drive around and visit some of the towns whose pastoral visit records we had been reading. We found that in some villages large numbers were attending mass while in others everyone seemed to be at the village market, usually held in front of the parish church which was almost empty during the feast day mass. It was evident that there was a pattern of practice of Catholicism in the modern Diocese of Coutances. When I read the studies of the practice of Catholicism in France which have been conducted over the past sixty years, I discovered that these patterns were consistent over time. Practice was weakest around Cherbourg in the far north. The in-

16  the catholicisms of coutances

habitants of that city and the immediately surrounding area were and are generally indifferent to the practice of religion, at least its Catholic variety, though not to the same degree as the Normans of Le Havre, Rouen, or Lisieux, but to about the same degree as those of Caen. The part of the Diocese of Coutances with the second lowest level of practice of Catholicism was and is in the northwest and in a corridor through the middle of the diocese. Practice of Catholicism was and is strongest along the southern and southeastern edge of the diocese.15 Precise data does not exist for Coutances before 1930, but the pattern was undoubtedly present at least by the end of the nineteenth century and probably earlier. Recent studies suggest that the choices made by curés and their parishioners in 1791 are reflected in the religious contrasts that lasted into the twentieth century. Evidence presented in chapter 8 points to a different conclusion: these variations in religious practice existed at least as early as the end of the seventeenth century and perhaps earlier. My original supposition was that the varying reactions of peasants to the efforts of Catholic reformers to crush what they considered peasant superstition played a role in the patterns of practice of Catholicism from the late seventeenth century onward. I now know that the problem is more complex, but I think that the past pattern of Protestantism is an important factor. I found that there is a correlation between, on the one hand, the existence of Protestantism (overt or clandestine) in the years between 1550 and the mid-eighteenth century, and its subsequent disappearance, and, on the other hand, the level of the practice of Catholicism from at least the late seventeenth century to the present. Trying to find the reasons for the religious patterns of the Diocese of Coutances became a passion for me. My conclusions are discussed in chapter 8. One question remains. Why concentrate on the Diocese of Cou­tances? The reason is the availability of an unusually wide variety of sources described earlier. Two sources deserve further mention. Although a number of histories of the diocese exist, by far the best of these for the period up to the end of the seventeenth century is Histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse de Coutances written by René Toustain de Billy. He was born in 1642 or 1643, most likely in Bény in the Diocese of Bayeux. His mother and father were both from the minor nobility. He held a

Introduction 17

doctorate in theology from the University of Caen. In 1676 he was appointed curé of the parish of Messnil-Opac, south of St-Lô, in the Diocese of Coutances. He died there on 17 April 1709 and is buried in the church, along with his mother and a brother. During his time as curé he used his own funds to refurbish the church, most probably after June 1690 when the pastoral visitor stated that the church needed extensive repairs.16 Toustain de Billy spent an enormous amount of time copying the cartularies of the monasteries of the Diocese of Coutances, as well as the records of monasteries in neighbouring dioceses which had dependant priories in Coutances. He also collected an immense amount of material from the archives of the chapter of Coutances. These sources formed the basis for his history of the diocese, which existed only in manuscript form until it was published in three volumes between 1874 and 1886. Most of the charters Toustain de Billy copied were destroyed either during the French Revolution or in the bombing of the archives of the Département de la Manche in 1944. His collection of charters has disappeared, but at the request of Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, Marquis de Magny, he wrote several works on the civil history of Basse-Normandie, based on that collection. Two were published in the nineteenth century, one on the district of Mortain in the Diocese of Avranches and the other on the cities of St-Lô and Carentan in the Diocese of Coutances. The latter was part of a larger work on the cities of the Cotentin peninsula which exists only in manuscript. He also wrote a life of the medieval priest Blessed Thomas Hélye of Biville and a memoir on the abbey of Blanchelande. Neither of these works is known to exist.17 Hipployte Sauvage, who published Toustain de Billy’s short work on Mortain, said that the author was endowed with “rare patience.” Also evident throughout his Histoire ecclésiastique is his intelligence, sense of humour, wide reading in ecclesiastical and secular history, and good judgment. It is also apparent that he was very much a cleric of the Old Regime, interested in the maintenance of the rights, privileges, and revenues of the Church and its clerics and occasionally inclined to a free interpretation of some of the rules connected with these matters. He was also, on occasion, conscious of his noble status. At the same time, he was critical of those who abused their offices. He preferred fifteenth-century vestments, chalices, and religious ornaments

18  the catholicisms of coutances

to those which resulted from what he called “the politesse de nôtre siècle.” Despite his great admiration for his bishop, he had no use for his decree that clerics could not hunt with guns. What is the use of living in a marsh, he asked, referring to his surroundings, if you cannot hunt ducks?18 Throughout this book Toustain de Billy’s information and comments are combined with information gathered from the surviving diocesan records, found mostly in the diocesan archives of Coutances, but also in the departmental archives of la Manche, Calvados, and Seine-Maritime, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and the Archives Nationales. These records are far more informative than those extant for almost all other French dioceses in the early modern period. Modern-day historians of the Diocese of Coutances also have the advantage of access to the diaries of Gilles Picot, seigneur de Gouberville et du Mesnil-au-Val (c. 1521–1578). Gilles de Gouberville, as he is usually known, was a minor noble who lived in the northeast corner of the Diocese of Coutances. What makes him important is his journal of daily activities between 25 March 1549 and 24 March 1563. Through these pages the lives of the lower nobility, peasants, and parish priests of the diocese are brought to life. There are almost no other similar sources available to historians of early modern France. Finally, the works of a number of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century local historians that are of a particularly high quality were used.19 The Diocese of Coutances was the home of the historian and political commentator Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859), a member of an old Norman family, the Clérels. The first proven indication of the family’s nobility dates to the fifteenth century, though Alexis felt he had proof of descent from one of the companions of William the Conqueror. Between 1590 and 1661, through marriage and negotiations the Clérels managed to gain the fief of Auville and merge it with that of Tocqueville, located close to Mesnil-au-Val and Gouberville. Unfortunately, despite Alexis’s magisterial L’Ancien régime et la Révolution and his developing love for the Cotentin after he took up permanent residence there in 1837, he wrote little that was specifically about the Diocese of Coutances and what he did write concerned mostly his own time.20

A  1 Coutances, Its People and History

Before the catholicisms of Coutances can be discussed, it is necessary to provide some context. That is the aim of this chapter. The structure of the diocese, including the state of its records, is the first element of that context. The second is the geography of the diocese, physical and linguistic. The third is a brief history of the diocese to 1789. The final element is a short description of the conditions of life between 1350 and 1789. These four elements are intertwined and must be discussed in that manner, rather than being treated separately. In the case of all four, emphasis is placed on those factors that had the greatest influence on the religious outlook of the people of the diocese. Coutances today is a city of some 10,000 people located in northwestern France. It is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of the same name. The diocese is coterminous with the Département de la Manche which is located just north of Brittany and adjacent to the Channel Islands. The département is immediately recognizable on a map because its northern third, the Cotentin Peninsula, juts into the English Channel (known to the French as la Manche – the sleeve) pointing toward Bournemouth, England, 125 km to the north. Unless otherwise stated, the Diocese of Coutances in this book is the diocese as it existed before the French Revolution. It was one of the two westernmost of the seven dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Normandy. Before the French Revolution the diocese did not include the southern third of the present diocese. That area was then the small Diocese of Avranches; the most famous landmark in western Normandy – Le Mont-St-Michel – was located just inside its southwestern border.

20  the catholicisms of coutances

The major part of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances was composed of some 494 parishes on the mainland organized into twenty-two deaneries, each supervised by a dean. The deaneries were gathered into four archdeaconries. These were Cotentin, Bauptois, Chrétienté, and Val-de-Vire, each supervised by an archdeacon (see Map 1, The Diocese of Coutances to 1789).1 The Channel Islands, with 24 parishes divided into two deaneries (one for Jersey, the other for Guernsey, Aurigny, Herm, and Sark), were under the religious jurisdiction of the bishop of Cou­tances. These islands had been under the political control of the kings of England since the early thirteenth century. In 1499 King Henry VII obtained a papal bull transferring the islands to the Diocese of Winchester. The bishops of Winchester, however, were not interested and the bishops of Coutances remained in nominal control until 1569 when the islands became officially Anglican in religion and completely separate from Cou­tances. Nevertheless, in the seventeenth century there was still an official in the Diocese of Coutances with the title of Dean of the Isles. His duties were not onerous. As for the people of the islands, French remained their language. Those living in Jersey evidently welcomed Protestantism, though of the French Calvinist variety. At first the inhabitants of Guernsey preferred to hold on to their old religion, but in the end had no choice but to submit to English pressure to become Anglican.2 The ecclesiastical province of Normandy was significantly rearranged during the French Revolution. The Diocese of Coutances gained all 180 parishes of the Diocese of Avranches and 43 from the Diocese of Bayeux, while losing 28 parishes to Bayeux. The Diocese of Lisieux was split between the dioceses of Bayeux, Sées, and Évreux, while Évreux gained parishes from Rouen.3 Records which permit a study of historical religious variety are far more abundant for Coutances than for any other Norman diocese except Rouen. Rouen and Évreux (for which very few records are extant), usually called Haute-Normandie, had much more contact with Paris and the rest of France than did Basse-Normandie. Of the five dioceses of pre-revolutionary Basse-Normandie, the fewest records are extant for Lisieux and Avranches, the two dioceses that disappeared in 1790. There are more records available for Bayeux and Sées, but not nearly as many as are extant for Coutances.4

Map 1  The Diocese of Coutances to 1789

22  the catholicisms of coutances

Over time the French state seized most of the records of the dioceses, parishes, and religious houses of the Catholic Church, especially those that had anything to do with property. These documents were housed in the archives départementales in each département. From the French Revolution through the nineteenth century, officials of the Diocese of Coutances managed to avoid the confiscation of most of its documents concerning parishes and the diocesan clergy, “by chance” according to the official statement, but actually by hiding them, probably in the cathedral itself. During the past two hundred years, a succession of diocesan archivists have protected and organized these records and a number of local érudits, clerical and lay, have used them to preserve part of the religious past of the diocese. In the early twentieth century, diocesan authorities simply refused to turn over many of their records to the departmental archives, despite government orders. Because of this action, they escaped destruction when the Archives Départementales de la Manche in St-Lô was totally destroyed in a 1944 American air attack.5 The bishop was the religious leader of the Diocese of Coutances, but his power to appoint pastors in his diocese were very limited, as was common in Normandy. He could appoint curés in only 5 per cent of the parishes. Religious houses controlled the appointment in 42 per cent of the parishes, while local seigneurs controlled 43 per cent. Appointments in the few remaining parishes were in the hands of the cathedral chapter (5 per cent), the king (3 per cent), the Hôtel-Dieu of Coutances, and the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The bishop had the right to reject an unsuitable appointee, but he could not force the appointment of his own choice, and he might be forced by a parlement to accept the original candidate.6 There were five abbeys of monks and three of canons regular in the diocese, all founded or refounded between 1039 and 1150. In addition, at one time or another there were some eighty small priories, almost all dependent on an abbey. From the thirteenth through the fifteenth century, one Dominican, one Trinitarian, and two Franciscan houses were established in the diocese. At some point before the sixteenth century, a house of Franciscans was established in Guernsey. In the seventeenth century two houses of reformed Franciscans (Capuchins), a house of reformed Dominicans, and a community of Eudistes were founded. A Camaldolese hermitage was either re-established or, more

Coutances, Its People and History 23

likely, established in the early seventeenth century. Two houses of Christian Brothers were established in the eighteenth century. There were fourteen formally organized female religious houses in the diocese. Two Benedictine priories were founded in the Middle Ages. All the other houses, two of which were abbeys, were founded in the seventeenth century. There were Augustinian hospitaller sisters in Coutances and in the suburbs of Vire, and Augustinian canonesses in Carentan. There were two convents of Urusuline nuns and five convents of sisters involved in education and hospital work in other parts of the diocese. Finally, during the course of the eighteenth century, Sisters of Charity, formally organized or not, singly or in groups of two, provided primary education to girls in a number of villages. Relative lack of documents is not the only reason for the exclusion of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Avranches from this book. Whether one considers geology, geography, history, or language, the territory that was incorporated in that diocese is different from the rest of the present-day Département de la Manche. In geological and geographical terms, the northern third of the département (the Cotentin Peninsula) is underlain with slate, granite, and sandstone. In general it is an uneven plateau that is cut off from the rest of the world (except through its port, Cherbourg) by cliffs, especially in the northwest, ocean on three sides and, until the twentieth century, marshes to the south, except for a strip along the western coast. The northwestern part of the peninsula, known as the Hague, is often distinguished from the lower-lying northeastern portion, known as Le Val-de-Saire. Central la Manche, beginning roughly at a line running from the east coast through the town of Carentan to the west coast south of the city of Cou­tances, including the hilltop cities of St-Lô and Coutances, is, in general, a low-lying area made up first of the marshes that isolated the Cotentin for a good part of the year (now mostly drained), then of the bocage – the land of fields separated by earthen levees planted with trees and hedges. The southern third of the département (the former Diocese of Avranches), is also bocage country, but in a landscape dominated by hills and valleys, similar to Brittany to its south.7 During pre-Roman times, the southern third of la Manche was the territory of the Abricanti. The rest of the present département was the land of the Unelles. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the people of the southern third of the present-day département were much

24  the catholicisms of coutances

less accepting of the English invaders than were those in the northern two-thirds. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the southerners were more prone to armed resistance to the state, and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more likely to practise their religion.8 The people of the southern third had a different way of naming places (in common with the area to the south of it). The northern two-thirds used the system employed in Picardy and parts of the Low Countries, which may well go back to the fifth century in la Manche, supplemented by variations of Viking names dating back to the ninth century. The same pattern exists in the pronunciation of a number of consonants. In this case the dividing line (known as the Joret Line) is located slightly north of Granville and Villedieu, both located just north of the southern boundary of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Cou­tances. The people of the diocese spoke the Cotentinais dialect of Norman French. This dialect is considered by many scholars to have five main subdialects. The Avranchin dialect of the Diocese of Avranches was different from all five.9 The pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances was bounded on the west and north and partly on the east by the English Channel. The diocese stretched from the northern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula south to an irregular line starting slightly south of Granville at the mouth of the River Thar, which marked the southern edge of the parish of St-Pair-sur-Mer and the beginning of the Diocese of Avranches. The dividing line between the two dioceses ran northeast along that river, passing just south of La Haye-Presnel and then irregularly northeast and southeast to Noirpalu. From there the border moved first northeastward to the parish of Sautchevreuil and then generally southeastward to the Vire River at a point south of the town of Vire, where the Rivière de la Lande meets the Vire at the southern border of the parish of La Lande-Vaumont. With the exception of a small area around StLô, the Vire formed the eastern boundary of the diocese north to its mouth, after which the Channel formed the eastern boundary. The diocese was approximately one hundred kilometres long. It was about fifty kilometres wide at the northern and southern edges and thirtyfive to forty kilometres wide in between. The total area was approximately forty-five hundred square kilometres.10 The population of the diocese was around 260,000 in the 1630s and 280,000 in the early eighteenth century. Perhaps 12 per cent of the population could be classified as urban, but no town was large. In the

Coutances, Its People and History 25

early eighteenth century, Coutances had a population in the neighbourhood of 4,500 while St-Lô had about 5,000 inhabitants, Valognes about 3,500, and St-Germain-de-Tallevende had about 3,000. Bricquebec, Cherbourg, and Hambye each had some 2,500 inhabitants, while Carentan, Percy, Montpichon, and Villedieu had about 2,000.11 Today the territory encompassing the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances has a population of approximately 375,000. There are only 43 parishes in place of the 494 of the Old Regime, each of which groups many villages (each still with a church often used only once or twice a year). Today the largest city is Cherbourg in the far north, with some 30,000 inhabitants (and about 60,000 people living in the immediately surrounding area). Altogether, over a quarter of the population is now in the far northwest of the diocese. Maritime-related industry, uranium reprocessing, spent uranium storage, and a nuclear power plant account for this concentration. St-Lô, the administrative centre of the Département de la Manche, has a population of just over 20,000, Granville has about 13,000, and Coutances about 10,000. Valognes has some 7,500 inhabitants, Carentan just over 6,000, while Bricquebec has 4,400 and Hambye has only 1,121. St-Germain-de-Tallevande has a population of about 1,700, but has been part of the Diocese of Bayeux since the French Revolution. Another seventeen towns in the presentday diocese have between 2,000 and 4,500 inhabitants. Together these population centres account for 53 per cent of the population of the old diocese. Officially, the Département of la Manche is 48 per cent urban, but the former Diocese of Avranches is more rural than the old Diocese of Coutances.12 The history of la Manche begins with indications of the activities of hunter gatherers that date to about 5500 BC. Archeologists have found artifacts from the Bronze and Iron Ages (2000–450 BC) in what eventually became the Diocese of Coutances, but the first certain date in its history is the conquest of the territory of the Unelles by the Romans in 56 BC. During the following century, the pre-Roman settlements of Coutances (originally called Cosedia by the Romans, later Constantia in honour of the emperor Constantius Chlorus), Cherbourg (Coriovalum), Valognes (Alauna), Carentan (Crociatonum), and Saint-Lô (Briovera) developed into towns.13 The Germanic invasions of the third through the fifth centuries AD wiped out most traces of Roman civilization. A lasting conversion of the area to Christianity began in the sixth century, though it

26  the catholicisms of coutances

took perhaps two centuries to complete the process. Saints Laud and Romphaire, both bishops of Coutances in the sixth century, are usually given credit for the start of the conversions, though some credit Saint Ereptiolus, who may or may not have become the first bishop of Coutances around 430. The first of the three bishops is remembered in the administrative capital, St-Lô; the second has only a small village to his name, while there is no geographic remembrance of Saint Ereptiolus. Many churches and monasteries were destroyed during the successive invasions of the Vikings (the Norsemen, i.e., the Normans) which began in 836. The fortified churches of the diocese still bear witness to these troubled times (and those of the later Hundred Years War). Centuries later the Viking invasions were still remembered in one of the petitions in a litany sung in the pre-revolutionary diocese: “From the furor of the Norsemen deliver us, Lord.”14 The establishment of the Duchy of Normandy in 911 marked the beginning of a new pacification of the area. For safety the bishops of Coutances had taken up residence in Rouen during the invasions. St-Lô became the official episcopal residence in 1025 and Coutances in 1048. The building of a Romanesque cathedral in Coutances between 1048 and 1054 marked the completion of the restoration of Catholicism in the diocese. Bishop Geoffroy de Montbray (bishop 1048–1093), who took time out to participate in the Norman invasion of England in 1066, was primarily responsible for the building of the cathedral and for the reorganization of the diocese. The belief that during his episcopate many miracles took place at the shrine of Notre-Dame-du-Puits, which featured a holy well now located in the southern arm of the cathedral’s transept, is a sign of his perceived importance.15 A number of monasteries were founded in the twelfth century. In the following century, Bishop Hugh de Morville (bp 1208–1238) initiated the construction of the present gothic cathedral. The new church incorporated a significant part of the old cathedral, partially destroyed by fire in 1218, by encasing it in the new structure. A second period of construction took place during the episcopate of Jean d’Essey (bp 1251–1274). The lateral chapels of the nave and the loggia of the upper part of the west front were added in the fourteenth century. The insecurity of life in the diocese is seen in the request made in 1293 by Bishop Robert d’Harcourt to fortify the cathedral, his nearby palace, and the houses of the canons which were adjacent to it. Per-

Coutances, Its People and History 27

mission was granted, but the fortifications were not built until after the siege of 1358, during which the cathedral was severely damaged. A wall was built around part of the city at the same time. During the repairs of the cathedral after the 1358 siege, Bishop Sylvestre de la Cervelle (bp 1371–1386) added the Circata Chapel behind the main altar where he held his synods and where he was later buried. During the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) the clergy, religious, and laity of the Diocese of Coutances, along with their churches, monasteries, and records, suffered severely (as did those of the dioceses of Bayeux and Avranches) because of the fighting between the French and English troops and their allies and the pillaging carried out by both sides (and independent brigands) between battles. The worst times were during the invasions of 1346, 1356 (when Coutances was besieged and the cathedral was severely damaged), and 1417, as well as during the English occupation of 1417–1449. In 1348 the Black Death came to Coutances, and plagues would return periodically for three hundred years. Plagues and wars increased the attraction of the unofficial religion, especially its more morbid aspects.16 The peasants in the areas around St-Lô and Coutances were particularly hard hit in the fourteenth century. Some hid in tunnels, others fled to the marshes. The inhabitants of Cherbourg, Périers, St-Saveurle-Vicomte, and Valognes also suffered because of the actions of the troops. By the early fifteenth century, roaming bands were attacking travellers throughout the diocese. During the first half of the fifteenth century, when some peasants in the St-Lô, Carentan, and Coutances areas made efforts to resist, the English authorities responded with harsh reprisals. During the years 1418 to 1449, the city of Coutances was occupied by the English, who imposed their will there and elsewhere in the diocese through hanging, beheading, and in the case of at least three women, including Thassine de Foullon in Coutances in 1443, burial alive.17 Despite the fact that King Philip Augustus had occupied Normandy in 1204 and declared it subject to the French Crown, it was only in the second half of the fifteenth century that the structure of French government was firmly installed in Normandy. The last act of opposition was the so-called League of Public Good which opposed Louis XI. Coutances was involved and, as a result, Louis had the walls of the city torn down in 1468.

28  the catholicisms of coutances

In political matters the royal government placed the Diocese of Coutances, along with the Diocese of Avranches, in the bailliage of Cotentin. In fiscal matters, from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the Diocese of Coutances contained three of the nine élections of the généralité of Caen and shared two others with the Diocese of Bayeux. Two élections were wholly within the Diocese of Bayeux, while two were contained in the Diocese of Avranches.18 After the death of Bishop de la Cervelle in 1386, the bishops of Cou­ tances were usually elsewhere than in their diocese, sometimes because of service to the church, sometimes for political service, and sometimes for personal reasons, honourable or otherwise. Too often, wrote Toustain de Billy, the pastors deserted their flock during the war years.19 Local nobles often used their influence in the election of bishops and the choice of canons in the Diocese of Coutances. The changes in papal policies during the Avignon Residency (1309–1377) and the Great Western Schism (1378–1417) increased interference. Cut off from traditional Italian income, the popes sought control of dioceses, monasteries, and parishes and, in effect, sold leadership positions to men more interested in income and status than in being good bishops, abbots, or pastors. Kings also became more interested in influencing episcopal appointments. This trend culminated in the early sixteenth century in the Concordat of Bologna, as will be seen in chapter 3. The inhabitants of the Diocese of Coutances experienced relative peace between 1468 and the start of the Wars of Religion in 1562. These wars, which were an unintended result of the growing influence of the religious ideas of John Calvin, left a mark on the diocese that remained well into the seventeenth century. Despite the name, the Wars of Religion, which lasted intermittently to 1598, were as much political as religious. Catholics and Protestants were already disgusted with each other. Catholics were superstitious idolaters to Protestants, who were blasphemous heretics to Catholics. Both groups were encouraged by nobles who were interested in increasing their power vis à vis the faltering monarchy. In the ensuing battles, many participants on both sides believed they were carrying out God’s wishes. The combination of Protestant sacking, the battles, and dramatically increased royal taxation took a heavy toll on Catholic churches and monasteries, as well as ecclesiastical income and records. The Diocese of Coutances

Coutances, Its People and History 29

was the scene of much brutal fighting. The worst times were 1561 to 1563, 1566, 1568, and 1574 to 1575. However, because of the efforts of the royalist Lieutenant General Matignon, the diocese was not affected by the aftermath of the Saint Bartholomew Day Massacre of 1572.20 A report by Bishop Briroy of Coutances, brought to the Estates General held in Melun in 1580, stated that 12,092 persons had been killed in his diocese during the wars. These included 11 priests, 16 religious, 128 Catholic gentry, 162 Protestant gentry, 5,400 Catholic soldiers, 6,200 Calvinist soldiers, and 165 persons of all ranks executed after a trial. The accuracy of these numbers is unknown. The soldiers’ deaths must be given in round numbers. Further, there is no way of knowing how many of them were from the diocese. Another complication is that, during the wars, the diocese was hit by plague on a number of occasions, especially in 1575, 1578, and from 1592 to 1595.21 The Catholic Reformation was coterminous with the rise of Protestantism in France and in the Diocese of Coutances. The generally accepted picture of that reformation is inaccurate. There is clear and convincing evidence that there were two Catholic reformations in France, that both began in the north of the country, and that both were largely self-generated by French bishops, though the Council of Trent (1545–1563) also played an important part in the full development of the second Catholic Reformation in France because of its definition of doctrine and its influence on the education of priests and on the development of stricter rules of behaviour. The First Catholic Reformation took place between the early 1480s and the late 1580s. The first phase of the Second Catholic Reformation followed, lasting until the late 1680s. This was the high point of the reform movement. Then came the second phase of the Second Catholic Reformation which lasted in one form or another until the French Revolution.22 The first Catholic Reformation had only a limited effect in the Diocese of Coutances because of the conditions resulting from the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion, as well as the lack of consistent episcopal reform efforts. The second was much more influential, with the bishops playing a very important role from the late sixteenth century onward. The first half of the seventeenth century was a time of plague, very high taxes, and unrest in all of Normandy. The already disproportionately high rate of taxation was increased due to the efforts of Cardinal

30  the catholicisms of coutances

Richelieu, the first minister of Louis XIII, to roll back the expansion of the empire of the Hapsburg rulers of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1634 the deputies to the Estates of Normandy complained that many wore rags and were reduced to eating grass and roots.23 Throughout the Cotentin during the 1620s and 1630s there was significant passive resistance to tax collection, coupled with occasional outbursts of violence: an uprising of second hand merchants in Coutances in 1623, violent protests by tanners against increased taxes on leather in St-Lô in 1628 and 1634, and protests of various sorts in Rouen and Caen through the 1630s. Taxes and the creation of venal offices (offices sold by the state to raise money) were at the root of all the protests.24 The most violent of the uprisings was directed at rumoured change in the collection of salt taxes, which would have profoundly affected those whose livelihood depended on harvesting salt from the sea or smuggling it to other parts of France. Known as the Nu-Pieds (barefoot) revolt, the uprising began in the summer of 1639 when a plague was at its height. It took place mainly in two areas in the Diocese of Avranches and, to a lesser extent, in the southwest of the Diocese of Coutances. There were also some isolated outbreaks in the dioceses of Bayeux and Rouen. In Avranches workers in the salt drying industry rebelled against what they perceived as unjust taxation of salt. In the cities those who protested were in the textile trades. Some priests and minor nobles joined a protest against royal government policies, especially with reference to taxation. In the Diocese of Coutances the main outbreak was in Coutances itself in early September. Tax collectors were the target there. The leaders of the uprising effectively used printed propaganda to attract sympathy and support for the plight of those whose livelihood was under attack by outsiders. Neither the local nor the central government had been prepared, but by March 1640 the uprising had been brutally crushed. Many leaders and participants, including inhabitants of the Diocese of Coutances, were tortured to gain information and then hung to provide a warning to anyone else thinking of further protests. To speed up the process, Chancellor Seguier had a gallows constructed in Coutances on which four men could be hung at one time.25 The other major political disturbance of the 1640s, the Fronde, was the attempt to remove Cardinal Richelieu’s successor, Cardinal Mazarin, from power as advisor to the monarchy. Nobles were forced to

Coutances, Its People and History 31

choose sides, and various towns and chateaus were fortified. The inhabitants of Valognes fled a three-week siege in 1649 and returned to find their homes in ruin. The various armies pillaged and stole from many farmers in the northern third of the diocese and from those nobles who had to choose sides. Claude Auvry, the new bishop of Coutances, became involved as a supporter of Mazarin.26 The wars of Louis XIV, especially from the late 1680s to 1715, meant that taxes were still a significant fact of life. Males living on the coasts of the diocese were subject to being drafted into the French navy. After the defeat of the French fleet off the Cotentin coast in 1692, a special levy was imposed on Normandy to pay for rebuilding fortifications in the northern part of the Diocese of Coutances. This same area suffered when troops were gathered for an invasion of England, an invasion that never took place. Nevertheless, life improved somewhat in the second half of the seventeenth century, despite poor weather, especially between 1693 and 1709, and serious crop failures in 1675, 1685, and between 1690 and 1692. Attacks of the plague were fewer and less serious. The salt tax was not changed and the level of the main direct tax – the taille – declined somewhat.27 The eighteenth century began poorly for the people of Coutances because of war and contagion, but after the terrible weather and sickness of 1709, life improved slowly until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. The Revolution brought internal strife and foreign war that lasted for twenty-five years. Accurate population figures are not available before the eighteenth century, but it seems certain that the first third of the seventeenth century saw a decline in population because of bad weather, consequent poor crops, and sickness. During the rest of the century, the population may have held more or less steady. Better weather and improving farming practices led to better agricultural production which led to better health during the course of the eighteenth century.28 Parish registers show that men tended to marry in their late twenties and women in their mid-twenties. As a result, only about fifteen years were available for childbearing. Births tended to be about two years apart, but high infant mortality kept family numbers low.29 During the years 1350 to 1789, bishops and canons generally did well economically. More will be said about this in chapters 3 and 4. The quality of life of the nobility, who made up about 2 per cent of the

32  the catholicisms of coutances

population of the diocese, varied, according to status, property, and the changes in political and military conditions, from poverty to significant wealth. Life was rarely pleasant for the peasant majority of the Diocese of Coutances or for their parish priests. Unfortunately, with the single very important exception of the journals of the Sire de Gouberville, there is no contemporary source that provides a comprehensive picture of the daily life of ordinary people of the diocese during the pre-Revolutionary period, and almost nothing before the late eighteenth century.30 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall spent about two weeks in the Diocese of Coutances in August 1775. He found Cherbourg “a wretched collection of houses crowded together in a sandy valley, close to the shore, dirty, mean and irregular.” In general he enjoyed the countryside, though he said that the roads of Basse-Normandie were such that he would not have come had he known how bad they were. Wraxall noted that there seemed to have been a good harvest, but that there was “an apparent penury in the dwellings of the people.” Further, “the hand of oppression is visible in their dress, their hovels, and their whole appearance.” He liked Coutances because it “repaid me by the objects it affords of entertainment.” Unfortunately, he did not provide any details. He was not impressed by the fact that “monks” made up a great part of the population of Coutances which, he said, had little commercial activity. Many of the houses, he estimated, were five or six hundred years old. He was impressed by the cathedral. He observed the country on all sides from its central tower and found it “a garden, rich, cultivated and shaded with woods.”31 The well-travelled Englishman Arthur Young had a few words for the Cotentin Peninsula, which he passed through shortly before the French Revolution. He was impressed with the harbour of Cherbourg, but said that “Cherbourg is not a place for a residence longer than necessary.” The area around Carentan was marshy but rich, and the farmers raised marvellous cows. The area from Carentan to Coutances was heavily treed and “thickly enclosed.” It had the best mud barns and houses he had ever seen. The houses, some three storeys high, had walls two feet thick. He felt they were much more durable than English lath and plaster houses. Given Wraxall’s comments, these must not have been the houses of ordinary people. As for Granville, it was “a close nasty, ugly, ill built hole.”32

Coutances, Its People and History 33

Charles Duherissier de Gerville (1769–1853) was one of the archaeological pioneers of la Manche and was also interested in the study of chateaux, abbeys, and place names. His work in these areas, especially place names, is dismissed today, but he spent his life walking through every part of la Manche in search of its past, and the resulting description of the people he was born among and observed closely provides a picture of traditional life before the modern world had had any appreciable effect.33 Gerville described the farmers and fishers of the diocese as generally short but sturdy. He thought that the hardiest men were those who lived on the coasts, which surrounded most of the diocese, and both fished and farmed. The most patient, he said, were those from the western coast, especially around the port of Granville, who spent part of the year fishing for cod as far away as Newfoundland while their wives and children farmed. The men in the northwest of the diocese fished for mackerel in the North Sea. As for the farmers in the interior of the diocese, they had patience but their continual hard labour made them “beaucoup plus sauvage” than the people of the coasts. In general, they had less food and were more mistrustful. There were no large farms in the diocese. In the north the peasants lived in villages, as did those who lived on the coasts. In the bocage country, people were more isolated, living in hamlets with hedgerows and levees planted with trees enclosing their small plots. The soil was the worst in the southeast of the diocese. The peasants of that area often supplemented their meagre income by travelling eastward each year as peddlers, masons, carpenters, or labourers. Gerville did not discuss the fact that the areas near the sea coast were more populous than the interior of the diocese because it was so much easier to find enough to eat. Not only did the coast dwellers have access to fertilizer in the form of tangue (a slimy mixture of sand, silica, sea salt, and humus which lightened compact soil) and varech (seaweed), but they could also fish and harvest the abundant shellfish of the tidal flats. Most farmers in the interior had to rely on straw for fertilizer, though lime was available in a few areas. Those farmers in the southern part of the diocese who lived close to the mouth of a slow-moving river where tangue was found, or could afford a cart or boat to travel, could try to collect loads of it. Via the Vire, places as far inland as St-Lô had access to tangue.

34  the catholicisms of coutances

Access to seaweed was a great concern to the people of the northern seacoasts. In the late seventeenth century, it was finally decreed that seaweed that washed up on the shore in a storm was available to all, while the seaweed that ended up on the coastal rocks belonged to the people who lived along the coast because the rocks were part of their property from which the soil had been washed away over time. In addition to the problem of trying to grow food, militia service was a threat to the livelihood of peasants in the interior. Coastal life was made harder from the sixteenth century onward by forced service in the coast guard. In addition, many male coastal dwellers were sailors and, as noted earlier, were liable to be drafted into the navy in times of war.34 According to Gerville, the graziers of the Cotentin Peninsula were more used to society because they frequently attended fairs to buy and sell their animals, but they were less frugal and had less patience than the farmers. The graziers, Greville thought, tended to have a more developed stature but had less strength and resistance to fatigue and privation than the farmers. What Gerville did not realize was that the occupation of grazier became common only from the end of the seventeenth century onward as the land in the northern part of the diocese was converted to pasture. Before that time, as the diaries of Gilles de Gouberville make clear, farming the rocky, thin, wooded, and wet fields of the Cotentin was a difficult way of life.35 Living conditions were starting to improve for the ordinary farmer by Gerville’s time, but during the period covered in this book severe hunger was a common experience for the farmers of the interior of the diocese, especially in late winter. Buckwheat, barley, wheat, and apples were the major crops. Cider was the universal drink. Grapes were very hard to grow and beer was considered a luxury item. For many months of the year thin gruel was an all too common staple for many families in the interior. Meat was rarely eaten and even eggs from domestic birds were a treat, though wild bird eggs may well have been eaten. Hunting was severely limited by the rights of nobles whose protected pigeons and rabbits ate seeds and crops.36 In addition to the usual common maladies such as colds and intestinal disorders, fevers of various sorts were common along the coast from the northeast tip of the diocese southeastward to the border with the Diocese of Bayeux and in the marshes between Valognes and St-Lô.

Coutances, Its People and History 35

Smallpox was common throughout the diocese. Mention of various contagious sicknesses, generally described as the plague, are common in the records of the chapter of the cathedral in Coutances, especially from the 1580s through the first half of the seventeenth century.37 Gustave Dupont, drawing on government reports concerning the Généralité of Caen, provided a clear picture of the diocese in the years 1727 to 1731. In the élection of Coutances in the southwest, those who farmed on the coast grew barley, buckwheat, and lentils, while in the interior there were mainly pastures and apple orchards with some fields of wheat, though in many areas much land was uncultivated. The élection of Carentan north of Coutances had the most developed grazing activity, with some fifteen to sixteen thousand cattle (not counting milking cows) and some fifteen thousand sheep. Most of this activity took place near the seacoast. In the élection of Valognes, which covered the north of the diocese, there was a combination of pasture and mixed grain farming, as well as a significant amount of uncultivated land and forest. In the southeast of the diocese, in the élections of St-Lô and Vire, the small, poor farms of the bocage dominated. Toustain de Billy, writing in the very late seventeenth century, divided the St-Lô area into wheat growing to the south and grazing to the north. As for Carentan, he deplored its marshes, saying that you had to be born there to be able to live there.38 An 1852 report by the archivist of La Manche provides a count of primary schools in the Diocese of Coutances in 1675. In the 494 parishes there were 104 schools for boys and 32 for girls. The percentage of parishes with schools ranged from 15 per cent in the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté to 25 per cent in Val-de-Vire. In the 1680s and 1690s Bishop Brienne was trying to arrange for the creation of 200 more schools for boys and another 176 for girls. How successful he was is unknown. The cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789 show that more schools were still needed.39 Opportunities for education beyond basic literacy were limited to colleges in Coutances, Valognes, St-Lô, and Cherbourg, mostly founded in the sixteenth century, and seminaries in Coutances and Valognes founded in the seventeenth century.40 Traditional craftsmen and women were found in towns and villages throughout the diocese, but there was very little real industry. The production of woollen cloth was traditional, especially in Cherbourg, Val-

36  the catholicisms of coutances

ognes, and Coutances, but lack of capital led to decline of the trade in the eighteenth century. The villages around Coutances and in Canisy, Carantilly, and Cerisy participated in the production of linen. Here and there were forges and limestone kilns. Leather was produced in Cherbourg, Valognes, and Coutances. In the mid-seventeenth century, a glass factory which had been established in Tourlaville near Cherbourg some hundred years earlier became the first in France to produce mirrors. Colbert made it a royal factory and at its height, around 1780, it employed more than five hundred workers. There was also an older glass factory in the area that specialized in making bottles. The demand for wood and seaweed ash for soda for these factories caused problems for the farmers of the surrounding areas. The five subdialects of the diocese were close enough that they did not greatly impede communication, but the five differing systems of weights and measures in use in the diocese were a problem for anyone trying to do business on anything but a strictly local basis.41 The pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances was neither large nor heavily populated, and its peasant majority shared low income, high taxes, lack of education, poor diet, and frequent illness. Nevertheless, within its borders there existed many varieties of religion. The catholicisms of Coutances will be the subject of the following chapters.

A 2 Official and Unofficial Catholicism in Early Modern Coutances

In order to understand the importance of religion to the people of early modern Europe one must understand what that religion was. This chapter has three goals. The first is to describe in general terms the official Catholic beliefs of the mid-fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries as understood, in principle at least, by the bishops and priests of Coutances. The second is to describe the duties that flowed from these beliefs, duties which the clergy taught to the laity along with some of the official beliefs. The third is to describe in general terms the popular beliefs and pastoral practices that made up an unofficial Catholicism that influenced almost everyone in the diocese. Subsequent chapters will discuss the development of official religion, especially as a result of the Catholic Reformation, and the different ways in which bishops, members of religious orders, parish clergy, and the laity blended official and unofficial Catholicism to produce the catholicisms of Coutances from the Hundred Years’ War to the French Revolution. As early as the eighth century, and certainly from the eleventh century to the mid-sixteenth century, Catholicism was the official religion of all but a few of the people of the Diocese of Coutances. From the mid-sixteenth century to the French Revolution, Catholicism was the religion of the vast majority. Starting around 1550 a significant number of people in the diocese became Protestants. Their numbers declined during the seventeenth century. Some converted, at least on the surface, some kept a low profile, and others emigrated, especially after 1685. In the course of the eighteenth century, a slowly growing number of the inhabitants of the diocese came under the influence of the En-

38  the catholicisms of coutances

lightenment and its religion, deism. From 1350 to 1789, the people of the Diocese of Coutances, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Deist, were either Catholics or opponents of Catholicism. No one was neutral. The official religion of the diocese in the mid-fourteenth century was Catholicism as defined by the Roman Catholic Church. This definition evolved very slowly over time and continues to do so. To learn the dogmas, doctrines, and practices of the Catholic Church at a particular time in a particular place one must consult the works of theologians, papal statements, the canons of ecumenical and provincial councils, and the synodal statutes of the relevant diocese. The unofficial beliefs and practices are more difficult to unearth not only because they were never codified but also because they varied according to place, time, social status, and gender.1 The beliefs of official Catholicism in Coutances in the mid-fourteenth century can be summarized in the Apostles’ Creed and other creeds, such as the Nicene, of the ecumenical councils of the church; the canon of scripture; and dogmas derived therefrom. There is one God in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (the doctrine of the Trinity). God created the world. According to the Book of Genesis, the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. They were exiled from the Garden of Eden and condemned to a life of labour, pain, and eventual death. The account of their disobedience, along with some sections of the New Testament, was elaborated into the doctrine of Original Sin. The sin of Adam is inherited by all humans and prevents entry into heaven after death. God promised to redeem fallen creation. God made a covenant with Israel, his chosen people, first through Abraham, whose descendants would be a blessing to all the nations (Genesis 12 and following), then through the Law (the Ten Commandments) (Exodus 20) and the prophets, to guide their individual and corporate behaviour. Over time many other dietary, lifestyle, and ritual rules were developed. The Jewish scriptures, the Tanakh, with some alterations in order, became the Old Testament, the first section of the Christian Bible. “In the days of King Herod of Judea” (Luke 1:1), God sent his Son to redeem humanity. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died. He rose from the dead on the third day (Easter) and ascended into heaven. The risen Christ bestowed the gift of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost. The life of Christ and the events following his death are described in the second section of

Official and Unofficial Catholicism 39

the Bible, the New Testament, which is divided into the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles, and the Apocalypse. The belief of the first followers of Jesus, the apostles, that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19) was elaborated into the doctrine of the Trinity. While on earth, Jesus founded the Catholic Church and placed it under the direction of Peter, the leader of the apostles (Matthew 16:18). Peter eventually became the bishop of Rome. His successors in that position, who came to be called popes, were considered by many to be the leaders of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. When theological and political differences led to a split between western and eastern Christianity in the eleventh century, the popes became the leaders of what came to be called the Roman Catholic Church, as distinguished from the Eastern Orthodox Church. The exact powers of the pope (including infallibility) in relation to the authority of other bishops and the king were still under discussion in early modern France. A significant number of early modern French Catholics, clerical and lay, thought of themselves more as Gallican Catholics than as Roman Catholics. They accepted the pope as the spiritual head of the church, but considered the Catholic Church in France to be a special case, the so-called eldest daughter of the church, with special privileges and a distinct degree of independence. According to late medieval Catholic doctrine, Jesus instituted seven sacraments as a means of making available the help, known as grace, which his followers would need to do good, to avoid sin or to seek forgiveness for it, and to be accepted into heaven when they died. The first of the sacraments is Baptism. Its purpose was to free the recipient, usually a new-born child, from Original Sin. In cases of necessity, when a priest was not present, any baptized person could administer this sacrament as long as the official Latin words were used and the proper ceremony, pouring water on the forehead of the recipient, was followed. Baptism appears in the epistles of Paul, the Gospel of John, and the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the life of the early church. The insistence on saying the exact words and following the exact ceremonies was repeated for all the sacraments. Contrary to the opinion of some Church Fathers, especially Saint Augustine, and the leading scholastic philosopher, Saint Thomas Aquinas, as well as present-day theologians, late medieval theologians defined sacraments as instru-

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ments of grace which produced spiritual effects through the performance of a prescribed ritual in a prescribed manner by an authorized person. The recipient of the sacrament did not have to understand the words spoken and the minister of the sacrament did not have to be in a state of grace. The belief that the words and ritual caused grace as long as the recipient was not in a state of mortal sin fed into the popular belief in magic words and led to many abuses.2 After baptism, six other sacraments were available to the believer. Confirmation was a replication of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. Its purpose was to strengthen faith. Like Baptism, Confirmation could be received only once. This was the case with one other sacrament, Holy Orders. When a bishop ordained a man as a priest that man became capable of administering the other sacraments, except Confirmation and Holy Orders. Holy Orders is not clearly described in the New Testament. Theoretically, the sacraments of Penance (Confession) and Eucharist (Communion) could be received often. The first consisted of confession of sins to a priest who forgave them in the name of God. It was the only sacrament which could be received in a state of mortal sin since its purpose was the forgiveness of sin. Its origin was traced to Jesus saying to the apostles, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). The Eucharist was the Body and Blood of Christ which were created by a priest when he said specific words over unleavened bread and wine during the central ceremony of the Church – the mass. Its origin was traced to Christ’s words and actions at what was known as the Last Supper which took place on the night before he was crucified. Its purpose was to enable Catholics to resist the temptations of the world. Marriage was the only sacrament which the laity alone could administer. The Church required that a priest be present as a witness, but it was the two people being married who administered the sacrament to each other. In the minds of many laity, however, it was the priest who did the marrying. There is no trace of marriage as a sacrament in the New Testament and it only slowly came to be regarded as such. For example, it was still not considered to be a sacrament in southern France in the thirteenth century. The seventh sacrament was Extreme Unction. The only sign of this sacrament in the Bible is in the Epistle of James. It consisted of a priest anointing with blessed oils a person considered to be in danger of

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death. It could be received more than once and was believed to forgive all sins. A cause of great worry for many was the belief that anyone who died with one mortal sin unforgiven would go straight to hell forever, even if they had previously led a blameless life. The bishops repeatedly insisted that priests could not charge fees for the administration of sacraments. Nevertheless, priests were permitted to charge for ceremonies surrounding their administration, for documentation of them, and for non-sacramental religious ceremonies. Since the distinction was not clear in the minds of many, the matter of fees was a source of abuse and dissatisfaction.3 The Bible was not available in the vernacular in medieval France and only the clergy were encouraged to read it. The clergy used stories from the Bible when they preached at Sunday mass. Stained glass windows and statutes in churches often were based on biblical stories. As late as the 1660s the bishop of Coutances was apparently the last in France to require lay persons to receive authorization before reading the New Testament.4 The now accepted understanding of the development of doctrine and practice over time was not part of the official belief of the early modern Catholic Church. The explanation for the existence of sacraments, as well as articles of faith such as the Trinity, elaborate ceremonies such as the mass, and organizational features such as popes and cardinals that were not found in the Bible was that they were part of apostolic church tradition handed down from the earliest days of Christianity. Tradition was given equal status with the Bible. Its basis was the concluding words of the Gospel of Saint John that there was much that Jesus did and said that was not recorded. Sacramentals were an important part of Tradition. These were officially defined as “sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them … various occasions in life are rendered holy.”5 Examples of sacramentals include holy (blessed) water, blessed candles, palm branches, saints’ relics, exorcisms, and blessings of fields, houses, and individuals. Sacramentals became mixed with extant pagan beliefs in magic and led to abuses that the Protestant Reformers forcibly rejected. Purgatory and limbo were among the beliefs based on Tradition that developed over time. Limbo (from the Latin limbus, meaning border) was the place where good people who were not baptized (everyone

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from Abraham and Moses, Plato and Aristotle, to stillborn infants) went when they died. It was not a place of suffering, but it was not heaven. This belief has only recently been officially dismissed. Purgatory was a place in between heaven and hell. People who died with all their sins forgiven and all atonement made went to heaven. People who died without their serious (mortal) sins forgiven through confession or an act of perfect contrition went to hell. Most people, it came to be believed, went to purgatory where they stayed until they had suffered enough to remove their less than serious (venial) sins and to atone fully for them (in technical terms to remove the temporal punishment due to sin).6 It was believed that people on earth could pray for those in purgatory (but not limbo) and help them get to heaven sooner. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, the doctrine of indulgences was developed. All Catholics, whether on earth, in heaven, or in purgatory, were believed to be members of the mystical body of Christ (an idea based on the epistles of Saint Paul). Since many saints had, in effect, over-achieved and had acquired more grace than they needed to get to heaven, the Church, which had control over this “treasury of grace” and the pope, as head of the Church on earth, could transfer this grace to people who said prescribed prayers or did certain good works. It was also believed that people on earth could earn indulgences for people in purgatory. The development of the doctrine of purgatory opened the way to abuses in which people were encouraged by unscrupulous ecclesiastical salesmen to believe that paying money to support causes deemed worthy, such as the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, could provide immediate salvation by gaining a plenary indulgence applicable to a soul in purgatory. Martin Luther’s strong critique of this abuse played a significant role in initiating the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformers also rejected most (but not all) articles of faith that were based on Tradition rather than the Bible. There were a number of beliefs based on Tradition surrounding Mary, the earthly mother of Christ, known usually as the Blessed Virgin. Two of these beliefs were that she was born without Original Sin (the Immaculate Conception) and that she physically ascended into heaven after her death (the Assumption). These were widespread, but not yet officially defined, doctrines.7

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It was believed that people who had died and had been declared saints by the Church could intercede with God for people on earth. This important belief melded with pre-Christian beliefs in local gods and, as will be seen later in this chapter, was the source of much superstition about the power of saints to bring luck, prosperity, and good weather and to heal illness, and about the means to be used to convince the saints to do this. The work of the bishops and theologians who attended the Council of Trent, which met intermittently between 1545 and 1563, produced more precise definitions and clarification of a number of church doctrines questioned or rejected by Luther, Calvin, and other leaders of the Protestant Reformation. These included scripture, tradition, grace, the sacraments, purgatory, and indulgences. The Council of Trent placed greater emphasis on the authority of the pope and insisted that under his guidance bishops should lead a reform of the abuses in the church. The reform was to be from the top down. Bishops were to educate priests who, in turn, would educate the laity in the important details of a more precisely defined religion. The council’s emphasis on the power of the pope created conflicts with both kings and bishops, but its insistence on the crucial role of bishops in the reform of the Church helped produce the Second Catholic Reformation, which was responsible for the most important changes in the Catholic Church between 1350 and 1789. Duties flowed from beliefs. Members of the Catholic Church had the duty to attend mass and abstain from servile work on Sundays and designated holy days (forty-eight in Coutances in the fifteenth century, fifty-three in the early seventeenth century) and to go to confession if they had committed a mortal sin. According to canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Catholics were to confess their sins to their pastor at least once a year and receive the Eucharist at Easter. The Council of Trent renewed this requirement, which came to be called the Easter duty. Catholics were also required to abstain from meat on Fridays and the eve of certain religious feasts and to fast during Lent and Advent. Abstinence and fasting were not particular burdens because the vast majority could afford to eat meat only rarely and never had much food at the best of times.8 Finally, there was a duty to support the Church by paying the dime (a tithe) and by paying various fees for services rendered by priests. As

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Bishop Montjeu put it in 1438, everyone who wished to have the love and the grace of God should render account to God of what he has grown on his land and should pay tithe on grain, fruits, honey, wax, wood, wool, lambs and all beasts who produce revenue, fowl that are sold, and all results of fishing. To make his point, the bishop added that those who did not pay the tithe would be excommunicated.9 Bishop Montjeu’s decree points to an important fact. To understand the Catholicisms of the people of Coutances it is necessary to understand how the official religion was interpreted over time by their religious leaders. Synodal statutes are an important source for understanding the official religion of a diocese as it was actually taught to priests and parishioners. Bishops were required to assemble the curés and perpetual vicars (both were pastors in modern English parlance) of their diocese every year in a synod. This meeting was used to educate these men about their duties, which included teaching the people in their care what they should and should not do. In Coutances all those with care of souls were required to come to a spring synod. In the fall the diocesan officials, archdeacons, and rural deans attended a second synod. When a bishop was particularly interested in reform, he promulgated a set of synodal statutes or re-promulgated an older set of statutes, often with some changes and additions. Before the invention of printing, every cleric with the care of souls was supposed to have a handwritten set of the most recently promulgated statutes. Often that was not the case. From the late fifteenth century onward, these statutes were usually printed and distributed to all priests who had the care of souls.10 For the Diocese of Coutances the first two known promulgated synodal statutes appeared at some point prior to 1294. There are twelve extant (or partially extant) sets of statutes that were promulgated between 1300 and 1563. The next known promulgated statutes are those of 1637. By then the influence of the Catholic Reformation had brought significant changes to the statutes.11 The pre-seventeenth-century statutes of Coutances were very similar to the statutes throughout northern France. The bishop was the ultimate authority in the diocese. Priests should dress decently, live simply, and attend synods. They should keep the altar of their church and its cloths and chalices clean, the hosts well made and fresh, and

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the wine not acidic. The baptismal font should be kept locked and the holy oils should be securely stored to prevent theft of the water or oils for purposes of sorcery. Priests should say the divine office (a collection of psalms, other scriptural readings, and prayers) every day. They should not permit priests not approved by the bishop to say mass or preach in their church. They should know what property and goods belong to their church and not let anyone take anything. If a priest had an illegitimate son, the son was not to be allowed to serve at the altar. Throughout the Middle Ages, French synodal statutes concentrated on the duties of the clergy. These duties included teaching the laity to accept without question a few basic beliefs (divine creation; redemption by the divine Christ through his death and resurrection; the seven sacraments; and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church headed by the pope and managed by the bishops and his assistants, the priests), to say two prayers (the Our Father and the Hail Mary), and to perform several essential duties (receiving baptism, attending mass on Sunday and holy days, making yearly confession, receiving communion at least once a year, and materially supporting the church and the clergy). There was no concern about directly involving the laity in the liturgy. What went on at the altar in a language most of the laity could not understand was the concern of the clerics. According to the statutes, priests should know that there are seven sacraments, what their function is, and how to administer them. They were to teach their parishioners about these sacraments, especially Baptism, Confirmation, and Penance. It was particularly important that parishioners know that lay persons could baptize in cases of necessity. To do so they had to know the Latin words and the proper way of pouring the water. Priests were to encourage people to be confirmed by the bishop. Priests were given careful instruction in the synod statutes about the seven capital or deadly sins (pride, envy, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, and sloth) which were considered the source of other related sins. The statutes provided instruction for confessors about the questions they should ask to discover sins. Lust was a particular concern for clerics. In their world view women, the daughters of Eve, were the source of temptation while men were the perpetrators of sexual sins. The opposites of the seven deadly sins, the theological virtues of faith,

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hope, and charity and the cardinal virtues of temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice, were not emphasized before the seventeenth century.12 Prohibition was a constant theme from the late thirteenth through the fifteenth century. In his synodal statutes of 1294, Bishop Robert d’Harcourt forbade holding confraternity banquets and dances in churches. In 1372 Bishop de Cervelle renewed the prohibition of clandestine marriages and excommunicated fortune tellers and usurers. He warned parents not to sleep with their infants for fear of suffocating them. He forbade brothers, sisters, and other relatives from sleeping in the same bed for fear of incest or “lubricious acts.” His 1375 synodal statutes forbade dancing, teaching, or selling in cemeteries and talking loudly, playing games, or throwing stones or balls in church during divine services. The 1434 synodal statutes issued by the vicars of Bishop Philibert de Montjeu forbade conducting business on Sundays, allowing the laity to enter the choir of the church during services or to approach the altar, and talking in church. Priests were ordered to proclaim a list of those forbidden to receive communion before distributing it. Included on the list were people who had not repented their sins and confessed them, who were possessed by hate or rancour, who held alienated goods and were not prepared to make restitution, who practised usury and had not made public satisfaction, and who engaged in fortune telling.13 After the mid-fourteenth-century attack of the bubonic and pneumonic plague, known as the Black Death, running themes of the sermons were the shortness of life, the certainty of death, the duty to pray for the dead in purgatory, the sinfulness of humans, the need for baptism for all, repentance, confession and communion at least once a year, and reception of Extreme Unction before death. The penalty for serious transgressions (including appropriating church property) was excommunication removable only by the bishop. Death without the removal of excommunication doomed a person to hell forever. The existence of unforgiven venial sins and forgiven mortal and venial sins for which temporal punishment was still due was believed to condemn most people to a significant amount of time in purgatory.14 Before the seventeenth century not much official attention was paid to the beatitudes enunciated by Christ (blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, etc.) or to what became known as the gifts of the Holy

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Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God). Another change that came in the later seventeenth century was an attempt to increase emphasis on Christ, at least in part to move focus away from saints as wonder workers. How much of the official doctrine and its local interpretation did rural parish priests know? How much did ordinary people know? How well were the rules followed? How did belief and practice change over the years? These topics will be discussed in the following chapters. Whatever the answers to these questions, for ordinary people in early modern Coutances an important aspect of their religion could be summed up in the words of the 1530 statutes of the Confraternity of Saint Thomas in St-Lô: “The whole Church Militant is nothing other than a mystical body of which all righteous Christians are members, organized and joined together with their head, which is Jesus Christ, by bonds of love and charity.”15 This concern for community carried over from this world to the expected next world. The chapter, monastery, and parish records of the Diocese of Coutances show a consistent concern among the upper clergy, the nobility, and wealthy bourgeois for the welfare after death of one’s self and one’s ancestors. The rest of the population undoubtedly shared their concern, but they could not afford to pay for the establishment of permanent memorials. Worry about the perils of life after death seems to have grown over time. Before he died in 1208, Bishop Vivien made financial arrangements for a service to be held in the cathedral each year on the anniversary of his death so that prayers would be said for the repose of his soul. Similar, though more elaborate, arrangements were made for Bishop Hugues de Morville when he died in 1234. He seems to have made at least some of the arrangements himself by making donations. When Bishop Robert de Harcourt died in 1315, he made provisions for annual prayers to be said for him in the cathedral and a number of monasteries. There are a myriad of records detailing the donation by noble couples of land and sources of income to monasteries “for the salvation of their souls and those of their ancestors.”16 The growth in concern became particularly apparent after the Black Death of 1348– 1350 and its continuing aftershocks. This is seen both in the growing complexity of services paid for in advance and the spread of the concern beyond the bishops and nobles as seen in parish records.17

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Catholicism was an integral and important part of the lives of almost everyone in early modern Coutances, although the depth of knowledge and the type of practice varied according to time and social group. However, no matter the date or the social group to which people belonged, they shared a large number of “unofficial” beliefs that impinged on their understanding and practice of the official religion. These unofficial beliefs are what historians of early modern Europe usually call popular religion. In essence, early modern popular religion consisted of a set of ideas about nature and the methods that could be used to control it. Included in “nature” were sickness and health, weather, the growth of crops, the behaviour of animals, and human and animal sexual functioning and fertility. Methods of control included prayer to the saints (including the Blessed Virgin), reputed to have special powers, and processions or pilgrimages in their honour. God, and the persons of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – were directly appealed to much less often. Other religious acts, including the veneration of relics and the use of prayers reputed to have special powers, were also involved. Even more unofficial were the widespread beliefs in the powers of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Evil spirits, demons, werewolves, vampires, fairies, and other natural or preternatural beings lurked in the background. In this area, official and unofficial beliefs fed on each other because belief in the devil and the possibility of a person being possessed by an evil spirit were official beliefs. The accretion of elements of the belief systems and philosophies of the societies that surrounded the Catholic Church is a constant in the history of the church. The result was that a mixture of Jewish, Greek, Roman, and Germanic ideas mingled with Catholic theology in the minds of most people. The literature concerning the influence of Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Roman legal and political systems on Catholic theology is immense. What is most relevant in the context of the beliefs of early modern French Catholics is the influence on the Church of the ideas of the people who inhabited the Cotentin peninsula before the Romans came: the Unelles and then the people often referred to as the barbarian invaders of the fifth, sixth, and ninth centuries – Franks, Burgundians, Vikings, and others. These people were responsible for many of the popular beliefs already referred to in this

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chapter, especially the supposed control of saints over weather, crops, and health. There are no good grounds for holding that a pagan religion, Druid or otherwise, continued to exist independently into the early modern period or that the peasants had their own religion which was separate from the official religion.18 As was the case throughout Europe, the missionaries who came to Coutances in the sixth through the tenth centuries did not try to erase completely the religion they found. They said that the new converts could pray to the saints, those holy human beings who had died and gone to heaven, and ask them to intercede with God. In place of sacrifices to gods, the missionaries promoted ceremonies and processions in honour of specific saints and prayers asking for their support. The problem was that, in practice, people tended to attribute to saints the powers their ancestors had attributed to their local gods. Without anyone realizing it, pagan gods had been changed into Catholic saints. Every parish had a patron saint after whom its church was named. This saint was usually considered to have special powers, for example to bring good weather or heal particular illnesses. Since the patron saints of different parishes were reputed to have different powers, pilgrimages to the shrine of particular saints developed. Among the more noteworthy shrines for particular purposes in the diocese of Coutances were four favoured by those couples who wanted children: NotreDame-des-Anges in St-Sever, Saint Gilles near St-Lô, Saint Floxel in Le Val-de-Saire, and Blessed Thomas Hélye in Biville. The presence of a relic of the saint increased the interest because of the power relics were believed to possess. Blessed Thomas’s shrine was believed to be particularly effective because his complete remains were preserved there, openly exhibited, as they are today.19 The reputation of certain saints spread widely, perhaps because of the stories their devotees developed. The list of such saints is extensive. Examples are Saint Blaise, invoked for throat disease because he was said to have saved a boy who had a fish bone caught in his throat; Saint Christopher, prayed to for protection while travelling because he was supposed to have carried the Christ child through a raging river; and Saint Laurence, who was invoked to cure burns because of the torture by fire that he underwent.20

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Pastoral visitors of the seventeenth century demanded that certain statues be removed from churches because they considered them to be “indecent.” The indecency usually consisted of representations considered to be too graphic or undignified. An example of the first was the statue of Saint Mammès, patron of those suffering from stomach problems, who was portrayed holding his entrails in his hands. In the second category were statues of saints who were priests or bishops who were not dressed in ecclesiastical robes or were too crudely sculpted or painted. Attempts by some clerics beginning in the eighteenth century to control the attribution of special powers to specific saints were only partially successful. In fact, the beliefs were often encouraged by church officials through the nineteenth century. Remnants of these beliefs remained strong until the Second Vatican Council, and traces remain today.21 Almost a quarter or the parish churches in what is now the Département de la Manche were named in honour of the Blessed Virgin, usually under the title of the Assumption. Saint Martin followed closely with about 20 per cent of the parishes named for him and, thus, placed under his protection. Saint Peter was third with close to 15 per cent of the parishes. Saints John and George were each the patrons of about 4 per cent of the parishes. Between 1 and 3 per cent of the parishes were (in descending order) under the protection of Saints Germain, Nicolas, Ouen, Lawrence, Aubin, Michael, Remy, Stephen, Vigor, Hilary, and Pair. The rest of the parishes were placed under the protection of one of seventy-four other saints, only eight of whom were women.22 Confraternities traditionally had a patron saint as did professions and trades. It was customary to hold special celebrations on the patron’s feast day. These celebrations were often anything but religious in character. The Second Catholic Reformation brought attempts to reform confraternities by restricting celebrations, by substituting recently canonized saints, and by introducing confraternities that encouraged newer devotions such as the Rosary.23 Another example of popular religion is provided by the paraliturgical ceremonies which took place on important feast days. For example, in the cathedral of Coutances, on the feast of the Ascension a mannequin would be lifted up to the top of one of the towers representing Christ ascending into heaven. At Pentecost flaming pieces of hemp were dropped from the dome into the nave of the cathedral to symbol-

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ize the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. On Good Friday tableaux vivants portraying aspects of the events of Holy Week would be presented. At Christmas a cow and a donkey would be paraded into the cathedral while the people imitated their cries and popular Christmas songs were sung.24 Along with the appropriation of the powers of the old gods by the saints went old pagan practices that emphasized the importance of exact words said at an exact time in an exact place. The Catholic emphasis on using exact words in administering the sacraments and at the consecration of bread and wine during mass contributed to the belief in the magic of words among the majority who had little theological education. The emphasis on exact words and ceremonies also led rich individuals to provide for elaborate annual ceremonies for the dead carried out in an exact way with carefully prescribed prayers. Some of the popular beliefs of the Cotentin are found in all preScientific Revolution societies in Europe. These included belief in witches, sorcerers, magic, evil spells, good luck charms, werewolves, vampires, and assorted semi-humans such as elves and fairies. Celebrations welcoming summer, including leaping over St John’s fire, are also found throughout Europe, as are celebrations connected with the coming of spring, the harvest, and winter (including many Christmas customs). All had pagan origins. Further examples were the eve of All Saints Day (All Hallows Eve – Hallowe’en) and Valentine’s Day, both of which involved ceremonies that harked back respectively to Druid and Roman celebrations. Over time the pagan connections were forgotten, but the intentions of the celebrations and many of the actions involved, such as providing food and light for the dead who supposedly came to visit communities on the eve of All Saints Day, remained the same. Church leaders fought against sorcery and magic from the beginning, but the fight was often driven by belief in its reality because of the powers of Satan. During the Middle Ages synodal statutes throughout France reveal the fear that blessed water would be stolen from baptismal fonts for purposes of sorcery. This concern had disappeared by the sixteenth century, but the synodal statutes that were in force in Coutances from 1637 to the French Revolution prescribed that couples planning marriage should go to confession before the ceremony to protect themselves from black magic (“contre les malefices”). Among

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the people whom the bishop alone could forgive, according to the 1637 edition of the statutes, were “sorcerers [including witches], poisoners, enchanters, magicians and diviners.” In the 1694 edition, reference was made to conventicles of the devil and assemblies of “sorcerers, magicians or people who had that reputation.” By the early sixteenth century, the hold of popular religion was beginning to weaken among the university educated, lay and clerical. These beliefs were in decline among the better off city dwellers by the latter part of the sixteenth century. During the seventeenth century educated clerics countered the popular religion of the peasants by prescribing study of the catechism and by sending missionaries and then educated pastors to the villages to root out practices deemed to be superstitious and to work to replace them with official devotions. These efforts were financially supported by the educated among the bourgeoisie. Jean-Baptiste Thiers, a curé in the Diocese of Chartres and author of a compendium of popular superstitions, provided a definition of superstition. It was a belief in the ability of an action or object to produce an effect that it ordinarily could not produce unless it had been instituted by God or the Church.25 Over time, the hold of superstitions diminished in some parts of society, but the process was slow and uneven. For example, as will be seen especially in chapter 7, belief in witches, both male and female, was still widespread throughout the Diocese of Coutances in the second half of the seventeenth century. Thiers wrote in 1679 that superstitions “are believed in by the elite, have credence among the middling and are in vogue among the simple people. Every kingdom, every province, each parish has its own types … They enter even into the holy practices of the Church … and sometimes … they are authorized by the ignorance of certain ecclesiastics.”26 After the establishment of a seminary in Coutances in the midseventeenth century, the hold of popular religion on new priests began to decline significantly, but the process was much slower among the rural clergy already in place. Among the peasants, many of these beliefs were still very influential into the early twentieth century. During the eighteenth century the male members of the bourgeoisie began to fall under the spell of the Enlightenment and became progressively less interested in the strictures of reformed Catholicism or in magic, sorcery, and alchemy.27

Official and Unofficial Catholicism 53

One other aspect of religion and its practice in the Diocese of Coutances needs to be introduced at this point to provide context for what follows. This is the pattern of the Catholic Reformations. The material presented in the following paragraphs will be developed further in the following chapters. As stated in chapter 1, there were two Catholic Reformations in France. The first began in the late fifteenth century and lasted until the onset of the Wars of Religion in the 1560s. The second began in the 1590s and lasted until the French Revolution, though it was greatly weakened by the 1750s. As will be seen below, the first Catholic Reformation had only a limited effect in the Diocese of Coutances. That was not the case for the second of the reformations, which profoundly affected the catholicisms of the people of the diocese. The pattern of the Second Catholic Reformation in Coutances is revealed through an analysis of the change over time in questions asked by pastoral visitors. Study has shown that use by visitors of questions that fall into 96 of the 309 categories, subcategories, and subsubcategories devised by the CNRS is an excellent indicator of the strength of the Second Catholic Reformation for the dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Rouen.28 By dividing the years for which pastoral visit records are extant for Coutances into ten-year segments and comparing the use of the 96 questions in each segment, we find that there was a steady level of usage in the years 1634 to 1673 at a rate higher than the mean for the province of Rouen. This was followed by a steady rise in usage of the ninety-six questions to 1694, after which there was a plateau at that level (well above the mean for the province of Rouen) which lasted through 1713. This indicates that the reform movement in Coutances was stronger than elsewhere in Normandy from the 1630s through the first decade of the eighteenth century. A slow decline followed, with usage dipping below the mean for the province of Rouen in the 1760s and then ranking at about the mean of Rouen in the 1770s and 1780s.29 When the use of the ninety-six questions is matched with the years of episcopal tenure, the importance of Bishop Brienne as a reformer during his tenure (1668–1720) is confirmed. There was a sharp drop in usage back almost to the level of the 1650s during the episcopate of his successor. During the episcopates of the last two pre-revolutionary bishops, the level of usage was at its lowest.30

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As early as the 1630s the rate of use of the ninety-six reform questions in the Diocese of Coutances compared very favourably with the rest of France. This confirms that the Second Catholic Reformation was underway in the diocese at least as early as the episcopate of Léonor de Matignon (1633–1646). The favourable comparison with the whole country remained well into the eighteenth century. While the visitors of 1757 onward in Coutances used only twenty-three of the ninetysix questions (compared with seventy-six during Brienne’s episcopate), this was more or less at the national level. Only ten of the questions attracted significant interest from the visitors compared with thirtynine during Brienne’s time. However, usage during the years from 1757 onward indicates that the Catholic Reform had not completely disappeared from the diocese.31 The pattern of development of the second Catholic Reformation just described was not evident to the people of the Diocese of Coutances. Nevertheless, their catholicisms were slowly being changed by it. The following chapters will make this change evident.

A  3 The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances

The bishop was, in theory at least, the religious leader of a diocese. It makes sense, therefore, to begin the study of the catholicisms of the Diocese of Coutances with its bishops. All the bishops of Coutances between 1350 and 1789 are included in this chapter. This approach is not an exercise in antiquarianism. It is the result of a choice to show the complexity of the catholicisms of the diocese and the varying patterns of development. Describing the general pattern of episcopal activity, or lumping bishops into groups of scoundrels, reformers, and placeholders, would save space, but would blur the complexities, shades, and patterns of reality. Despite their evident differences in character, personality, intelligence, and action, all the bishops of Coutances would have nodded their heads in agreement if they had heard the description of bishops provided in the speech given at the opening of the Estates General of 1614 by Denis de Marquemont, archbishop of Lyon: “Dispensers of His sacraments and of His mysteries, shepherds of the sheepfold of God, interpreters of His oracles, we have the tables of the law to teach the people fear of God and obedience to the King, the rod to lead them, the manna to feed them.”1 Marquemont and his fellow bishops had no doubt that they were the spiritual leaders of the rest of the clergy and, through them, of the people of France. It had not always been so. Quite likely the earliest bishops were men placed in charge of new Christian communities by the apostles or their representatives. Their job was to organize and stabilize the communities and set norms of belief and religious practice.

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With the spread of Christianity, the disappearance of the Jewish priesthood after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the development of Christianity’s implicit sacramental character, priests were chosen to help the bishops. Priests and bishops often lived in a particular community, but as a system of far-flung parishes developed in the western church, bishops assigned priests to provide spiritual care through instruction, saying mass, and providing the sacraments. Slowly, the western church was organized into a hierarchical structure analogous to that of the Roman Empire. Once the system was fully in place, the chain of command stretched from the pope (advised by the cardinals) through the archbishops to the bishops, through them to the parish priests and members of religious orders, and on to the laity. In practice, archbishops only rarely have had any practical control over bishops, while bishops had very imperfect control over members of religious orders. In reality, members of the laity were not full participants in the church. They were regarded as the beneficiaries of the sacramental ministrations of the clergy in a process controlled ultimately by the pope and his officials. This view would change slowly over time, but it was not until the Second Vatican Council that it would be seriously challenged. The remnant of the old community of bishop and priest was maintained by the cathedral chapter. Each bishop had “his” church which became known as a cathedral because of the chair (cathedra in Latin) from which he officially presided over his diocese. Each bishop had a group of clerics, known as canons, organized into a chapter of which the bishop was, in principle, the head. The canons served in the cathedral, carrying out the religious services, especially the chanting of the divine office every day. Over time the canons amassed spiritual power, privilege, and significant wealth. Throughout the Middle Ages, bishops were usually chosen by the cathedral chapter of a diocese. The chapter’s choice, of course, could be and often was influenced by powerful or influential local individuals. Once in office bishops were, in practice, fairly free of external ecclesiastical control. Often, however, they were involved in disputes with their chapter over questions of jurisdiction, responsibilities, and income. Beginning in the fourteenth century, popes and kings began to take over the choice of bishops. Disputes with chapters and problems with religious orders continued.

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 57

During the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, given the very frequent absence of the bishop, the governance of the Diocese of Coutances was most often in the hands of the men chosen by the bishop to be his vicars (one of whom came to lead and eventually became known as the grand vicar and then the vicar general). Often the vicars were members of the cathedral chapter. Since only a bishop had the power to administer the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders, it became customary to arrange for the ordination as bishop of one or more individuals, known as suffragan bishops, who travelled the diocese confirming and ordaining. Unfortunately, little more is known than the names and titles of both the vicars and suffragan bishops of the Diocese of Coutances. Over time many definitions of the word “church” developed. All Christians belonged to the church described in the Nicene Creed (one, holy, catholic, and apostolic). Those Christians who accepted the jurisdiction of the pope belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. Buildings reserved for Christian services were called churches. In this restricted sense the cathedral was the bishop’s church. In a fuller sense the whole diocese was his church. Just as he was responsible for both the physical and spiritual welfare of his cathedral, he was also responsible in the same way for the diocese. Toustain de Billy described bishops as being married to the Church of Coutances and, therefore, responsible for the spiritual and material welfare of the whole diocese.2 The Diocese of Coutances, one of seven in the ecclesiastical province of Rouen (whose head was the archbishop of Rouen), was not reputed to be a particularly attractive see for an ambitious cleric in early modern France. It was in a remote area, far from Paris and even farther from Rome. There was a saying among Norman clerics: “le blé vaut mieux que le sac” (the wheat is better than the sack), which makes sense when one knows that “sac” stands for the dioceses of Sées, Avranches, and Coutances, while “blé” stands for the dioceses of Bayeux, Lisieux, and Évreux. The saying reveals the popular conception of the relative worth to a bishop of six of the seven Norman dioceses. As for the seventh, the Archdiocese of Rouen, it was the real financial plum. The social plum was Lisieux because the bishop automatically became a count. In fact, the best modern estimate of early modern episcopal revenue puts Coutances ahead not only of Avranches and Sées but also of

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Evreux. On the other hand, Evreux was close to Paris, its amenities, and its opportunities for advancement. While the episcopal revenue of the bishops of Coutances was far less than that of the wealthiest of French bishops (with Rouen among the leaders in revenue), it was well above the episcopal income of the poorest diocese (as was the case in all the Norman dioceses) and equal to or higher than slightly more than half of all French episcopal incomes. As will be seen, the see of Coutances attracted the attention of a number of ambitious (and avaricious) men.3 Whatever the episcopal income connected to it, a diocese was a diocese and the transfer to a more lucrative or prestigious see was always a possibility (though this happened only once in Coutances after 1519). While the acquisition of wealth was important to many wouldbe bishops, being a bishop also brought high social status. Of course, many bishops were interested (or more accurately, also interested) in fulfilling their spiritual duties, though this was not readily apparent in Coutances in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries.4 As far as is known, with three exceptions, two of which were quite minor, the bishops of Coutances between 1315 and 1478 were not reformers. The combination of the Avignon Residency of the popes (1309–1377), the Great Western Schism (1378–1417), and the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) was almost fatal to reform. The popes, separated from traditional sources of revenue in Italy, needed money and used control of appointment to benefices, especially bishoprics, to raise revenue. Matters were made worse in Normandy because the kings of England and France vied for control of ecclesiastical appointments. Guillaume Legros, prior of the monastery of La Bloutière, described the time of the Hundred Years War in the Diocese of Coutances as a time of wolves, pestilence, famine, and death. According to Toustain de Billy, a significant number of parish priests were not fulfilling their duties. The Great Western Schism made matters worse because the English, who occupied parts, or all, of the diocese at various times, followed the pope in Rome, while most of the bishops of Coutances, like most other French bishops, followed the pope in Avignon. Bishop Guillaume de Thiéville (bp 1315–1345) was the last bishop of Coutances to be freely elected by the cathedral chapter. His successor, Louis Herpin d’Erquery (bp 1346–1370), chosen by agreement between the pope and the French king, was rarely in his diocese. In 1361 he was

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 59

the first bishop of Coutances known to have appointed a suffragan bishop, listed in the records only as Jean. The last suffragan bishop in Coutances was killed in 1590 during the Wars of Religion. For the most part, the years between 1361 and 1590 were not good ones for the Diocese of Coutances.5 The next bishop of Coutances, Sylvestre de la Cervelle (bp 1371–1386), was the major exception referred to above. The two minor exceptions were Philibert de Montjeu and Richard de Longueil whose terms as bishop will be discussed below. In the midst of confusion, suffering, and death, Bishop de la Cervelle worked to reform the clergy through the synods he held in 1372, 1375, and 1377. He insisted that priests attend his synods, reside in their parishes, wear suitable clothing, do nothing that even hinted of usury, avoid drunkenness and gambling, provide proper sacred vessels, and protect cemeteries. He also insisted that all alleged dispensations and indulgences be examined by him or his authorities. In addition to the prohibitions mentioned in chapter 2, he instructed pastors to frequently instruct parishioners to confess their sins during the Easter season.6 Bishop de la Cervelle’s successor, Nicolas de Tholon, was bishop for eleven months before obtaining a transfer to the Diocese of Autun. The next in line, Guillaume de Crevecoeur, rarely visited Coutances. Then came Gilles Deschamps, bishop in name only, who spent his time in negotiations to end the Great Western Schism. He was the first bishop of Coutances who was a cardinal. The next bishop, Jean de Marle, was killed in Paris in 1418, along with his father, the chancellor of France, by partisans of the Duke of Burgundy.7 Bishop Pandolphe Malatesta (bp 1418–1424) was an Italian who swore allegiance to the king of England and, as Toustain de Billy observed, found himself unable to command loyalty from the clergy and people of Coutances. He was followed by Philibert de Montjeu (bp 1424–1439) who spent much of his time at the Council of Basel and as a papal legate in Bohemia where he died. As seen in chapter 2, his vicars promulgated a set of synodal statutes in 1434. His successor, Gilles de Duremort, doctor and professor of theology at the University of Paris and abbot of Fécamp, was nominated by the English and was in his diocese only once during his episcopate to appoint vicars to serve in his place. He lived in Rouen and had been one of the judges who condemned Joan of Arc to death in 1431. He was followed by Giovanni Castiglione

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(bp 1444–1453) who had been simultaneously canon of a number of cathedrals from Liège to Milan, including Coutances. He made several visits to the diocese in 1445–1446 and then was transferred to the see of Pavia. He was the second bishop of Coutances to hold the rank of cardinal. By the time he went to Pavia several of his relatives had followed him to Coutances where they served as diocesan officials and canons.8 The year 1449 was an auspicious one for the Diocese of Coutances because the English troops left. The first bishop appointed after that year, Richard-Olivier de Longueil (bp 1453–1470), moved quickly to hold a diocesan synod in which he made clear his intention to defend the immunities, exemptions, and jurisdiction of the church. He was appointed cardinal in 1456, the third of seven bishops of Coutances to hold this rank. Until 1460 he was sometimes active in the diocese, although he was also president of the royal Chambre des Comptes in Paris. When he left France in 1463 because the new king, Louis XI, dismissed him from his royal office, he became active in the papal court.9 Longueil appointed two competent grand vicars to govern the diocese. They were his nephew, Guillaume de Longueuil, and Jean Le Rat. He arranged for a suffragan bishop to carry out the episcopal duties of confirmation and ordination. This is the first instance of such an appointment mentioned by Toustain de Billy, although, as seen above, the first such bishop was appointed in 1361. The explanation may be that the first diocesan secretariat records available to Toustain de Billy date from the late fifteenth century.10 Large numbers of men received tonsures and ordination to the four minor orders from the suffragan bishop because, as Toustain de Billy noted, “clerical privileges being still in their full state, many wished to enjoy them.” In other words, minor orders and even tonsure brought the significant legal privileges of the clerical state without imposing a vow of celibacy.11 Longueil’s suffragan bishop, always referred to by Toustain de Billy by his Christian name and episcopal title (Jean, évêque de Janopolis), served under the two following bishops and at some point was joined by Guillaume Chevenon (or Chevron), titular bishop of Porphyre, who began his suffragan career about 1478. The titular see of Porphyre would be passed along to a series of suffragan bishops in the Diocese of Coutances until the last, Philippe Troussay, abbot of Blanchelande,

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 61

was killed by Leaguers in 1590. After this the bishops of Coutances were consistently resident and did not need a suffragan.12 While the non-resident bishops received the episcopal revenues, their suffragans (at times there were two or three serving simultaneously) received income from the fees connected to ordinations. They also had income from their benefices which often included the position of in commendam abbot of a monastery in the diocese.13 The episcopates of the next two bishops marked the absolute low point of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century appointments. Benoît de Montferrand (bp 1470–1476) had been relieved by Pope Sixtus IV of his position as head of the Order of St-Antoine de Vienne on the insistence of its members, who called him a “ravaging wolf.” Sixtus then appointed him bishop of Coutances. Toustain de Billy said of him, “he was here so little and did so little that no memory of him exists.”14 In July 1476 Giuliano Cardinal della Rovere added Coutances to his string of bishoprics and other benefices. Without ever leaving Rome he resigned in favour of his nephew in December 1477. Cardinal della Rovere was the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV and the father of three daughters. He became Pope Julius II in 1503 with the help of bribes. As pope he was the patron of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante and a warrior prince who, clad in armour, led his troops to battle against the French in northern Italy. He probably had more influence on the outside world than any other bishop of Coutances. He was responsible both for the dispensation granted to the future Henry VIII to marry Catherine of Aragon and for the plan to grant indulgences in return for monetary donations to finance the building of St Peter’s Basilica. These two acts set the scene for the development of the Protestant Reformation in England and the Holy Roman Empire.15 The bishops of Coutances in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries belong to one of two types. For many, a bishopric was a means to an end. The end was money or power. For the others, service to church or state was their paramount interest. Two of the latter, Gilles Deschamps and Philibert de Montjeu, concentrated on solving serious problems within the church as a whole. Silvestre de la Cervelle definitely took his episcopal duties to Coutances seriously and is the only bishop of the diocese between 1350 and 1478 for whom evidence of a serious interest in reform of his diocese exists. Richard Longueil was

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heavily involved in church and state outside his diocese, but he did appoint a suffragan bishop to carry out his episcopal duties of ordination and confirmation. Although there is not enough evidence to pronounce definitively on the catholicisms of these men, there is no doubt that they were Catholics, in the sense that they believed in the existence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sin, heaven, hell, and purgatory, and the efficacy of prayer to bring salvation. All these bishops were afraid that on dying the temporal punishment due for their forgiven sins would send them to purgatory rather than directly to heaven, and that they might have to spend a long time there. Therefore, they all made careful provisions in their wills for prayers and religious ceremonies to be performed annually, or more often, for the repose of their souls. The next bishop of Coutances, Geoffroy Herbert (bp 1478–1510), was a transitional figure, partly medieval, partly early modern in his beliefs and episcopal actions. He was a reformer, but he granted many dispensations for lack of sufficient age for ordination and for non-residence for those who held benefices with the care of souls. He split the revenue from such dispensations with officials of the diocesan secretariat. He was involved in governmental affairs and was often away from his diocese. In addition, he provided church offices for his relatives, especially his three brothers whom he appointed canons. Two of them later became bishops; one in Aix, the other in Avranches. He modernized some ecclesiastical practices, but was fully medieval in the wording of his will which he made a short time before he died. He stated that he wished “to render an exact account to God our seigneur … of the good things we have done,” and thank Him for giving him a chance to “do penance and be converted.” He then arranged for many prayers to be said for the repose of his soul.16 Herbert won full praise from Toustain de Billy: “This prelate is one of the most distinguished we have had and certainly as long as the church and chapter of Coutances exist his name will be blessed and his name eternal because of his magnificence, the grandeur of his good works and his other virtues.”17 He is not much remembered these days in Coutances, but he certainly was a great improvement over his immediate predecessors. Herbert was the son of a superintendent of finances. He was educated and cultivated and served as an advisor to Duc Jean de Bourbon. Changing political fortunes led to a short time in prison, followed

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 63

by his being appointed to the royal council in 1483. He later became Lieutenant General of Normandy and in 1499 president of what would soon became the Parlement of Normandy. Herbert rebuilt the church of St-Pierre in Coutances and the episcopal château de la Motte in StEbremond-de-Bonfossé near St-Lô, where he spent most of his time. He donated a series of tapestries to the cathedral. Until the French Revolution these tapestries, whose subject matter was the labours of Hercules, were hung behind the choir each year from Easter to All Saints Day. Bishop Herbert provided money to support and educate the choirboys in his cathedral in return for prayers for his soul. This expense had formerly been borne by the chapter. He also spent a large sum on fourteen scholarships to the Collège d’Harcourt in Paris for young men from the Diocese of Coutances. This became an important means for ambitious fathers to start the ecclesiastical careers of intelligent sons. Toustain de Billy wrote that Herbert had no other bene­ fice than the bishopric of Coutances, but his will shows that he had obtained a significant amount of land and money over the course of his episcopate.18 A missal for the Diocese of Coutances was published in 1499. Herbert promulgated synodal statutes on four occasions (1479, 1481, 1487, and 1506). Though he was one of the most active reforming bishops of the First Catholic Reformation in France, his reforms, like those of the Middle Ages, were directed largely at the clergy and showed relatively little concern for the laity. In his 1481 statutes, however, Herbert did come out strongly against blasphemy by the laity and in those of 1487 he reduced the number of solemn holy days when no work was permitted, something that became common among later reforming bishops.19 Herbert encouraged devotion to the Blessed Virgin by ordering in 1481 that the Office of Mary be celebrated once a week in every church in the diocese. In his introduction to this legislation, he vividly described her as “a patron and advocate, the most effective mediatrix … which humans could hope for.” He thought this renewal of devotion was most important because “as the world grows old, iniquity increases, charity and the love of God and neighbour slackens and the fervour of devotion grows cold.”20 There are no extant pastoral visit records for Herbert’s episcopate. However, Toustain de Billy notes that pastoral visits were carried out

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every year between 1478 and 1507 by Herbert or his suffragan, the bishop of Porphyre, “under the pretext of conferring tonsure.”21 Herbert’s episcopate was an interlude in the history of the Diocese of Coutances signalling the coming of the First Catholic Reform to the diocese. Despite some efforts in the 1520s and 1530s, reform would not return to the diocese with strength until the 1560s. Herbert’s successor was definitely a throwback to his predecessors. The mother of Adrien Gouffier de Boissy (bp 1510–1519) was a member of the powerful Montmorency family. Gouffier was raised at the royal court and received many benefices at a young age. He continued to accumulate benefices throughout his lifetime, evidently showing little regard for the members of at least some of the monasteries he acquired. King Louis XII informed the cathedral chapter of Coutances that he wanted Gouffier chosen as bishop. The canons obliged unanimously. Such a charade would not be repeated because of the signing of the Concordat of Bologna in 1516 which, in effect, turned over the appointment of bishops in France to the king. After his consecration in 1511 Gouffier came to Coutances. He resided in the diocese until fear of the plague in May 1514 led him to flee, along with the other religious and civil officials. All of them except Gouffier settled in Orval, not far away. Gouffier returned to court where he became almoner of the new king, Francis I, and he remained at his side, including during the time spent in Italy negotiating the Concordat of Bologna. Gouffier was appointed a cardinal in 1515. In 1518 he was appointed papal legate a latere to France. This post gave him control of appointments to benefices in the country. He became the archbishop of Albi in 1519 (a see that brought a very large income with it), but was rarely there. He died in 1523. Toustain de Billy’s comment about his will was that “In it he forgot his spouses, the churches of Coutances and Albi.”22 During the years 1510 to 1519 most ordinations were carried out by Guillaume, titular bishop of Porphyre (d. 1520), and Jean d’Aloigny, titular bishop of Castoria, both of whom travelled the diocese. Gouffier himself held only two ordination sessions (September and December 1512), both in St-Lô. There are no other indications of episcopal activity.23 The next in line for the see of Coutances was Bernardo Dovizzi da Bibbiena, tutor of Giovanni de’ Medici who became Pope Leo X in 1513

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at the age of thirty-seven. Leo succeeded Pope Julius II who, as seen above, had been bishop of Coutances between 1476 and 1477. Leo X is infamous for his agreement to split indulgence revenue with the Archbishop of Mainz, which led to Luther’s break with the Catholic Church. Leo rewarded his tutor by making him a cardinal in 1513, legate to France in 1518 to preach a crusade against the Turks, and administrator of Coutances in September 1519. Bibbiena died in November 1520 without ever coming to Coutances. Toustain de Billy believed he was poisoned in the papal court.24 There is some confusion among the sources about what happened next. Toustain de Billy cites authors who believe that Bibbiena’s nephew followed him. Eubel states that the king nominated Frédéric de Fregosis, archbishop of Salerno. De Billy provides the best evidence: the ordination registers of the diocese for the years 1520 to 1525 (no longer extant) state that the see was vacant. He notes, however, that Bibbiena’s nephew may have received the income of the bishop of Coutances during those years.25 From 1520 to 1525 three suffragan bishops were active in the diocese. One was Robert Cockburn, the bishop of the Diocese of Ross in Scotland from 1508 to 1521 and the abbot in commendam of the abbey of St-Lô since 1511. The second was Jean d’Aloigny, titular bishop of Castoria (d. 1537), treasurer of the chapter, and archdeacon of Bauptois. The third was Charles Le Boucher, titular bishop of Megara in Greece and in commendam abbot of Montebourg in the Diocese of Coutances. Guillaume Quetil was the grand vicar, and thus administrator of the diocese from the time of Bishop Gouffier through the 1530s. He was assisted by other canons. He was most probably the person responsible for the efforts at reform of the diocese that took place in the 1520s and 1530s.26 Between 1525 and 1529 the bishop of Coutances was René de la Trémouville de Brèche, a Benedictine monk, abbot of five monasteries in southern France, and Grand Almoner of Francis I. He came to Coutances when he took formal possession of the diocese on 6 October 1527. He performed ordinations in December 1527 and early March 1528. He left the diocese shortly after that and died at the end of November 1529 without returning. The next bishop of Coutances was Philippe de Cossé, a grandnephew of Bishop Gouffier, a Benedictine, and Grand Almoner. He

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was bishop from 1530 until his death in 1548, although he never came to the diocese and was ordained bishop only in 1542. He spent most of his time in Paris where he was part of the intellectual and artistic elite. His episcopate marks the beginning of the de Cossé family’s control of the position of bishop of Coutances that would last until 1587. There were a few signs of reform in the 1520s and 1530s. The first was the provincial council held in Rouen in 1523, attended by representatives of the chapter of Coutances since there was no bishop in place. The second and third came in 1528 when arrangements were made to carry out visitations of priories and convents (abbeys were exempt) and Jean Guisle was commissioned to visit all the parishes of the diocese. In 1538 a collection of the synod statutes of Coutances was published. It is not known who was responsible for the publication, although Guillaume Quetil, the grand vicar, was the likely candidate. On the other hand, Toustain de Billy complained that the diocesan registers were full of instances of persons being permitted to hold three benefices with the care of souls. The members of the cathedral chapter focused their efforts on securing a papal bull in 1536 which gave protection to the extensive possessions, tithes, and other revenues of the chapter and its members. Little did they know that the combination of Protestant attacks and increased royal taxation would soon wreak havoc with their possessions.27 During the years 1548 to 1560 two more bishops came and went in Coutances, neither of whom spent much time in the diocese. The suffragans and vicars continued their work. Particularly important were Pierre Pinchon, abbot of Hambye (1524), successor to the titular bishopric of Porphyre (1537), and Guillaume Grimouville, who had become vicar general on the death of Guillaume Quetil in 1540. Pinchon added cantor to his titles in 1548 by trading his position of abbot of Hambye with the cantor François de Lautrec. He died in 1559. Grimouville continued in office into the 1570s.28 Payen d’Esquetot was bishop of Coutances from March 1548 to late December 1551. His sister was married to the brother of his predecessor. On 5 March he wrote a letter to the chapter calling himself the canons’ “good brother” and “best friend.” He introduced his vicar general, who would act for him, and promised to come to the diocese as soon as possible. In closing he asked the canons to pray that he would

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be able to carry out his duties. He finally arrived in Coutances in early May 1551. After his slow start Esquetot quickly set out on a pastoral visit of abbeys and parishes, at the same time performing many ordinations. According to one source, Esquetot stopped his series of parish visits because of a combination of fatigue and the discouragement caused by going from church to church and finding that so many priests and parishioners had joined the Protestants. By the end of May he was back in Paris where he died on Christmas Eve. He left money in his will for two religious services to be held in the cathedral of Coutances every year for the repose of his soul.29 Étienne Martel was bishop of Coutances from 1552 to 1560. He is the one exception to the control of the episcopate by the de Cossé family between 1530 and 1587. He first came to the diocese in February 1555, left quickly, returned for two days in December, and left again. He finally took personal possession of the diocese in October 1558, stayed long enough for the spring synod of 1559, then left, never to return. One source states that Martel left because he was afraid of the growing strength of the Protestants. He died on 26 May 1560.30 During these years the titular bishop of Porphyre performed the ordinations. From 1553 to the end of the sixteenth century, with one exception in 1575, ordinations were no longer performed throughout the diocese but conducted only in the cathedral “at the times prescribed by the canons,” noted Toustain de Billy. Whether the change of location was due to church law or the Wars of Religion is not known.31 There was an immense amount of traffic in diocesan offices during Martel’s episcopate. In the midst of the wheeling and dealing he made a particularly inappropriate appointment in an attempt to bring prestige to his diocese. In 1558 he made George Buchanan, the tutor of Charles de Cossé, Maréchal de Brissac, a member of the cathedral chapter by creating a vacancy so that he could appoint him to the prebend of Muneville-sur-Mer. Martel knew him as a man of letters in Paris. He evidently did not know that Buchanan had been imprisoned for heresy in Portugal in 1551 when he was teaching at the University of Coimbra. Buchanan never appeared in Coutances and in 1561 traded his prebend for the cure of Lisors in the diocese of Rouen. At some point during the years 1553 to 1561 he converted to Calvinism. In 1561

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he returned to his native Scotland where he became one of the leaders of the Church of Scotland. Buchanan’s appointment in Coutances happened at a time when Protestantism was spreading in the diocese, helped both by popular resentment of the tithes being paid to nonresident clerics like Buchanan and by the encouragement of a number of nobles who controlled the appointment of curés and were choosing men sympathetic to the doctrines of John Calvin.32 The quality of the catholicisms of the bishops of Coutances between the years 1510 and 1560, and of their motivation for service as bishop, were almost as poor as those of the majority of the bishops of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The year 1560, however, marks a change in the episcopal history of the diocese. Only two of the five bishops of Coutances between 1510 and 1560 are known to have been involved in any reforming activity, and that at a very low level, while nine of the ten bishops of the diocese between 1560 and 1789 were involved in reform activities, specifically pastoral visitation and the promulgation of synodal statutes, and four of them were significantly active compared to the bishops of all of France.33 The Catholic Reformation returned to the Diocese of Coutances during the long episcopate of Arthur de Cossé (1560–1587), a most unlucky and not always wise man whose reputation, nevertheless, has suffered unjustly. The main reasons were his part in the loss of the barony of St-Lô, reputed to have been part of the bishopric’s patrimony for a thousand years; his confiscation of the revenues of three abbeys; and the bloodshed, chaos, and steadily increasing royal taxation caused by the Wars of Religion, which tormented the people of the diocese throughout his episcopate. Arthur de Cossé was the nephew of Bishop Phillipe de Cossé and the illegitimate son of Charles de Cossé, Maréchal de Brissac. His father provided for him by arranging his legitimation and by preparing him for an ecclesiastical career through education and obtaining royal offices and benefices for him. One of his first benefices was that of in commendam abbot of Lessay in the Diocese of Coutances, which he obtained in 1558. In 1560 King Charles IX appointed him bishop of Coutances. By the time Cossé took possession of his diocese on 8 February 1562, fighting between Catholics and Protestants had spread from the Diocese of Bayeux to Coutances. In August 1561 Protestants broke into the

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 69

cathedral and held a service. In August 1562 they invaded the cathedral again, burnt the stalls of the canons, profaned the consecrated hosts reserved in the tabernacle, stole sacred vessels, and smashed statues. They then took the bishop and many canons as hostages. They also burnt many of the possessions of the canons and members of religious orders.34 Cossé, wearing an old gown and crowned with a paper mitre, was mounted backwards on a donkey and forced to hold its tail as he was marched off to St-Lô. He was mocked along the way and through the streets of the city. Some citizens, who were horrified at this treatment, arranged for his escape disguised as a miller’s servant leading a donkey loaded with grain. Eventually the canons were ransomed. Subsequently, Cossé went to Granville to be further away from the Huguenot headquarters in St-Lô and then on to St-Malo when the Protestant forces besieged Granville. Cossé returned to Coutances after the defeat of the Protestant forces and held a synod in 1563, after which he promulgated a set of statutes. Unfortunately no copy has survived. Through 1570 he held annual synods. During these synods, among other matters, he ordered that provisions of benefices be investigated and that deans carry out pastoral visitations twice a year. It appears, though, that obtaining revenue from the visits was one of his main concerns. After 1570 Cossé spent much of his time in his chateau of L’Oiselière near Granville in the parish of St-Planchers, which was dependant on the abbey of St Michel of which he was the in commendam abbot.35 As the civil-religious war continued, Jacques de Goyon de Matignon was appointed the leader of the royal, anti-Protestant forces in Normandy. In 1576 he convinced Cossé that there was a means available to rid himself of rebel vassals and gain new sources of revenue. Cossé accepted the offer and transferred the barony of St-Lô (with some exceptions, such as the château de la Motte) to Matignon in exchange for the seigneurie of Montgardon, which had an annual income of 3,000 livres, along with a grant of an additional 500 livres a year. At the time this seemed to Cossé to be a wise decision, given his hatred of the people of St-Lô, the turmoil, and his lack of funds. Royal pressure also may have been involved. However, the fact that he had traded away what was regarded as the oldest possession of the bishopric would always be held against him. He would also be condemned for appropriating

70  the catholicisms of coutances

the property of the three monasteries of which he was in commendam abbot. Toustain de Billy believed that he was driven to this in order to pay the ever rising royal taxes he owed on his benefices. He added, in his matter-of-fact way, that what Cossé had done was no worse than what the holders of many other benefices had done.36 Over the centuries dioceses and monasteries had acquired much land, their attached revenues, and the tithes paid by parishioners. Most of the land and the right to tithes came from nobles seeking prayers for the repose of their souls and those of their relatives. During the second half of the sixteenth century, the constantly rising sums levied by the monarchy on the clergy to fight the Wars of Religion forced bishops and in commendam abbots to sell property to nobles or to exchange one property for another less taxed one in order to raise the necessary funds. In this way the money donated by past nobles was recycled to present nobles. The peasants, who paid most of the tithes, complained about the situation and, in some cases, joined the Protestants, got no relief. Neither did the monks who complained about the in commendam abbots’ practice of skimming off a very significant portion of the revenues of their friaries.37 The St-Lô deal marks the beginning of the Matignon family’s dominance in the Diocese of Coutances. Because they enjoyed royal favour, they were able to choose the bishop of the diocese for the next seventy years. The original intention was that Matignon’s son Lancelot would follow Cossé, but he died within months of Cossè. Placeholders were appointed until Leonor I Goyon de Matignon became bishop in 1632. His transfer to the much wealthier and more prestigious see of Lisieux in 1646, also in Matignon territory, where he was followed by two nephews, the last of whom died in 1714, marked the end of the family’s intense interest in the Diocese of Coutances. Nevertheless, the great-great-grandson of Jacques de Goyon de Matignon and the grandnephew of the first Matignon bishop of Coutances would be bishop of Coutances from 1722 to 1757.38 The best thing Cossé did as bishop was to appoint Nicolas de Briroy, a priest of the diocese who had become a canon and then an archdeacon, to be his vicar general in 1575. From that time on, despite the presence of other vicars, Briroy was in charge of the diocese. He was an active reformer, responsible for a large number of pastoral visits in the diocese, which he continued after the death of Cossé in 1587; for

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 71

the formation of a committee to investigate the qualifications of all candidates for ordination, a much needed provision; and for the elimination of secular celebrations in the cathedral during the Christmas season.39 Cossé’s last two positive acts came in 1580. He ordered that alms coming from the celebration of a jubilee be split between the Dominicans of Coutances and the Franciscans of Granville for the rebuilding of their monasteries, which had been severely damaged during the Wars of Religion. He also approved a set of instructions which had been drawn up by Robert de Moulin, a canon who had just been appointed promoteur of the officialité of the diocese, for regular personal pastoral visits by the archdeacons. The instructions provided for a full program of pastoral visits as prescribed by the Council of Trent. The one element missing was that the fathers of Trent wanted the bishop to carry out these visits. Although Cossé required the archdeacons to report their findings, he was not interested in making the visits himself. Because “experience shows the utility or rather the necessity of these visits for the conservation of the faith, the correction of morals and good discipline of the Church in all times, but especially in these troubled times,” the instructions required the archdeacons to personally visit the parishes in their jurisdiction. The archdeacons were to inform themselves about the qualifications, life, and morality of the clerics and their parishioners and preach to the parishioners about how to lead a good life. They were to insist that curés preach and teach the Catholic faith. The visitors were required to inspect the church, its structure, cleanliness, “decency,” vestments, sacred vessels, and furnishings and to ensure that the Eucharist was reserved in a suitable place. They were to see that registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials were kept and that marriages were performed properly after bans were published. The parish accounts were to be checked and the visitors were to make sure that parish property had not been alienated or sold. The visitors were to insist that confraternity celebrations not be an excuse for drunkenness and dancing. Finally, visitors were to find out if mendicant friars were mixing with persons of “bad doctrine of the new sect which is a horrible atheism” and if clerics or laity swore, blasphemed, or were involved in incest or usury. That Cossé thought this order necessary is significant evidence of the poor state of the parishes of Coutances in the wake of the Wars of Religion.40

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In 1581 Cossé was busy with his duties as almoner to the Duc d’Alen­ çon and so he sent Briroy to represent him at the provincial council held in Rouen. This meeting and the publication of its canons in a French-language edition marked the beginning of the long-term attempt to introduce the reforms of the Council of Trent in Normandy and could be considered the start of the Second Catholic Reformation in the province. Despite Briroy’s publication of the canons of the council in the Diocese of Coutances and his other reforming efforts, Toustain de Billy remarked, “One could only wish that [the canons] could have been as well observed as they were known.”41 After making arrangements to travel to Rome, Arthur Cossé died in Paris on 7 October 1587. It is difficult to assess Cossé’s catholicism. He was part of two worlds. He definitely shared the older view that a bishop was both ecclesiastically and socially superior to his clergy and the laity, was not answerable to them, and deserved to have many benefices and do with them what he pleased, as long as someone was appointed to look after the care of souls involved. At the same time, he was influenced by the ideas of reform flowing out of the Council of Trent. He instituted some reforms himself and, most importantly, appointed a strong reformer as his vicar general.42 After Cossé’s funeral the chapter appointed Nicolas de Briroy as one of three vicars to serve during the vacancy of the see. Briroy, the vicar general, continued to dominate the administration of the diocese. King Henry III, knowing the wishes of Marshal Matignon, appointed his son Lancelot as abbot of Lessay and bishop of Coutances. Lancelot, however, died on the first day of January 1588 while on his way to Rome to receive his papal bulls. Henry III then sent Matignon a blank brevet for the position of bishop Coutances. Matignon chose Briroy and the king agreed. According to Toustain de Billy, Matignon’s rationale was that Briroy would not cause trouble over the matter of St-Lô and would not protest the large pension to be paid to Matignon from the revenues of the episcopate.43 Nicolas de Briroy was born in 1526 in Fierville into a minor noble family. In 1541, at the age of fifteen, he followed his uncle as curé of Fierville, located in the north of the Archdeaconry of Bauptois. He took possession of the benefice through a procurator and continued his studies, eventually gaining at least a licentiate and, perhaps, a doctorate in canon and civil law. In 1570 he succeeded his uncle as canon

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 73

and in 1574 was appointed archdeacon of Bauptois. As seen above, from 1575 onward he was, in fact, in charge of the diocese. He was a deputy to the Estates General of 1576 and 1580.44 Although Henry III nominated him in 1588 and Henry IV renewed the nomination in 1590, Briroy did not become bishop until 1597. The reason was that in 1592, after the death of Henry III and before the papacy recognized Henry IV, the pope had conferred the bishopric of Coutances on John Lesley. Lesley, who never came to Coutances, did not die until 1596. Throughout this time, with the unanimous support of the cathedral chapter, Briroy functioned as a nominated bishop and vicar general in spiritual matters.45 Despite the long wait and his growing age, Briroy served the Diocese of Coutances as an active bishop until his death in 1620. He took over all ordinations from the suffragan bishops. As often as his age permitted, he visited the parishes of the diocese every year, preaching and catechizing as he went. He worked to eliminate what Toustain de Billy described as the four great faults of ecclesiastics in the diocese (in addition to ignorance, he added): the plurality of benefices, nonresidence in benefices with the care of souls, simony, and confidences. The last abuse (the enjoying of the revenues of a benefice by a lay person while the benefice remained vacant) was close to Briroy’s situation since Matignon received such a large pension from the bishopric of Coutances. But contradictions, especially plurality of and absence from benefices, were ignored by many of the reformers of the Second Catholic Reformation who found reasons to excuse themselves.46 Bri­ roy also worked to restore the practice of confirmation in the diocese. According to one estimate he confirmed more than 300,000 persons. Given the population of the diocese, that number is almost certainly too high, but it indicates how infrequent confirmations had been in the preceding years when the suffragan bishops had concentrated on ordinations. In order to address the problem of clerical and lay religious ignorance and ritual deficiencies, Briroy promulgated synodal statutes and arranged the preparation and provision of new breviaries, missals, and other liturgical books, culminating with the Manuel de Coutances of 1601 (revised and enlarged in 1616). The last was a book of instructions which provided priests with the words and ceremonies connected with the five sacraments for which they were responsible (all but confirma-

74  the catholicisms of coutances

tion and orders). In addition it provided instructions for other pastoral duties including visiting the sick, providing blessings (for bread, bells, mothers, houses, sheep, and fields among others), performing exorcisms, and giving Sunday sermons. At the end there was a very short catechism.47 The Manuel de Coutances provided a set piece that was to be read by pastors each Sunday, either between the offertory and canon of the parish mass or at vespers. Briroy did this to prevent confusion among the people because of the variety of messages they might otherwise hear. Each week the priest was to begin with an explanation that Sunday was a day of rest and prayer and continue with statements that he and the people would now pray for forgiveness of their sins, for the Catholic Church, for the pope, cardinals, archbishops, and priests, asking that they be granted “knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, faith and charity to lead, instruct and edify the people committed to their care.” Then they would pray for rulers, especially the king of France, as well as members of the royal family, benefactors of the parish, all those who were afflicted or in necessity, “that it please God to give them the necessary patience and to deliver them when He judges it expedient for His glory and their salvation.” Then they would pray for good crops and all things necessary for salvation and human necessities. The curé was then to recite a Latin prayer asking for all the things he had just outlined. Next the curé was to announce that he would pray for the release from purgatory of the souls of the departed, which he did after leading the people in the Our Father and the Hail Mary (evidently in Latin). Then the priest announced any holy days, fasts, and special prayers for the dead coming up in the next week and read the bans for any approaching marriages. Finally, he declared any necessary excommunications. There followed a French summary of the Nicene Creed and the Ten Commandments and the six Commandments of the Church, the Our Father and the Angelus. Briroy stipulated that the priest could then explain any part of the creed or the commandments or the gospel of the day. The mass then continued with the people no more involved than they had been in earlier centuries.48 The Protestant presence was bothersome to ecclesiastical officials, but after Henry IV’s accession in 1589 they were not a military threat. During the 1580s and 1590s the diocese suffered from the presence of

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 75

those Catholic nobles who were members of the League and opposed Henry’s accession. Toustain de Billy wrote, “Our Cotentin … was full of Leaguers, some of whom by words, the others by iron, worked to turn the subjects of the king from their true duties.” The words he referred to included those preached by curés.49 During the Wars of Religion much land and, therefore, income had been taken from the cathedral and the parish churches. In addition, the documentary proofs of ownership and rental contracts had been burnt or otherwise destroyed. As can be seen in the pastoral visit records, the churches of the diocese of Coutances showed the deleterious effects of the Wars of Religion well into the seventeenth century. Religious houses also suffered.50 In 1610, at the age of eighty-four, Briroy tried to arrange for a coadjutor bishop to help him. Charles Prévost was nominated but never received his provisions from Rome. It is quite likely that the Matignon family intervened because they wanted their own candidate to succeed Briroy. In late 1619 Cardinal Retz tried to convince Briroy to choose a coadjutor. Nothing came of this, either because Briroy knew what would happen or because he died on 22 March 1620.51 There are no doubts about the catholicism of Nicolas de Briroy. Despite starting his clerical career at the age of fifteen as the inheritor of a cure from his uncle, he became a serious reformer who believed that bishops had more duties than rights. He not only did not have the acquisitive bent of previous bishops, he was renowned for his charity and died personally very poor. It is quite possible that he was influenced in these attitudes by the nature of his career. Most of it was spent as a vicar for others. Nevertheless, there is no cause to dismiss him, as some have, as a toady of the Matignon family. He worked hard for a very long time to bring the Catholic Reformation to the Diocese of Coutances. He did not finish that job, but he, more than anyone else, is responsible for getting the process started and for its progress to a point where his successors could complete it. Toustain de Billy, who never hesitated to criticize a bishop, was unrestrained in his praise of Briroy, calling him “the veritable restorer of piety and justice and a very affectionate father whose zeal ceded nothing to those great men who were the first bishops.”52 Between 1620 and 1633 there was a pause in reform in Coutances while the Matignon family continued to use its influence to keep the

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episcopate open for the eventual succession of a family member. In January 1621 Guillaume Le Blanc, a canon of the chapter of the Diocese of Agen, notified the chapter of Coutances that he was to be their bishop. He died in October that year without being consecrated or leaving Agen. According to Toustain de Billy, Jacques de Carbonnel was nominated immediately after this. A native of the diocese, he was the son of the Marquis de Canisy and the grandson of Jacques de Goyon de Matignon. Although trained for the church, he took a pension from the revenues of the bishopric and chose a military career. The pension was paid until his death from wounds in 1636.53 The next in line for the diocese was Nicolas de Bourgoing. Born in 1568 in Paris he was a noted preacher and an opponent of the League. Henry IV appointed him a canon of St-Malo. The Matignons arranged for his appointment as curé of St-Lô and as a member of the chapter of Coutances, where he rose in importance between 1609 and 1620. Toustain de Billy noted drily that he was not the type to go against the wishes of “the distinguished persons” who wanted him to be bishop, nor to involve himself in the question of the ownership of the barony of St-Lô. He was required to pay 5,000 livres in pensions. Officially, he was nominated by the king in 1622, received his provisions from the pope in May 1623, and was consecrated in July of the same year. He said he planned to follow the example of Bishop Briroy, but he died in April 1625 before he could accomplish much. However, he was very careful with his appointments to benefices, visited at least in Cherbourg in 1624, and was generous in donations to the cathedral.54 Léonor I de Goyon de Matignon, a grandson of Jacques, was officially nominated as bishop of Coutances in 1627, received his provisions from the pope in 1632, and was consecrated in October 1633 at the age of twenty-nine. Toustain de Billy notes without comment that he also received the title of Baron of St-Lô. Matignon usually lived in one of his abbeys – Lessay, north of Coutances, or Thorigny, near Paris – because the episcopal residence in Coutances was in ruins. He began the process of having a new palace built in a new location.55 The episcopate of Matignon is the first for which a significant num­ ber of records of pastoral visits are extant. Almost all were carried out by the archdeacons. They clearly show the continuing deleterious effects of the Wars of Religion on the fabric of the diocese, and the need for reform of priestly conduct. This is also apparent in accounts of the

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missionaries who began to preach in the diocese in the last years of Matignon’s episcopate and in the surviving records of the paschal and autumn synods of the 1630s and 1640s. These documents show that Matignon used the synods to reform the clergy and also to push them to provide instruction to their parishioners. He also introduced Cardinal Richelieu’s catechism to the priests of the diocese. Only one episcopal visit is known. It was to the abbey of Notre-Dame-du-Voeu in Cherbourg in 1637. Matignon’s vicar general, Raoul Le Pileur, however, was active in visiting. This would not have been done without the approval, and probably encouragement, of the bishop.56 Matignon, as Briroy had done before him, encouraged the establishment of convents and monasteries. He imposed reform on the abbey of Sainte-Croix in St-Lô. This activity is counterbalanced by his reimposition of in commendam leadership for the abbey of Lessay. During his episcopate Jean Eudes, with Matignon’s encouragement, undertook the first of an extensive series of missions to peasant communities, seeking to establish reformed Catholicism. By far the most important reforming activity of Bishop Matignon was his issuance of synodal statutes in 1637. As Toustain de Billy notes, almost no copies of the statutes promulgated by Bishop Briroy were available. Matignon’s statutes are unequivocally Tridentine in content, form, and language (French rather than Latin) and mark the full coming of the first phase of the Second Catholic Reformation to the diocese.57 Matignon’s preface begins with the customary disclaimer found in the statutes of most reformers of the First and Second Catholic Reformations: I am not departing from what has been ordered by my predecessors. The problem, Matignon wrote, is that very few copies of previous collections of statutes now exist and too few know their contents. In addition, life is now more complex. So I am renewing and augmenting the statutes in light of what I have learned from the pastoral visits of my archdeacons and from the pleas and propositions of many benefice holders, reserving the right to amplify them in light of what I learn in subsequent visits. All clerics and those wishing to become such were ordered to have a copy of the statutes and to read and follow them. Diocesan officials were ordered to enforce the statutes and to observe assiduously the lives of clerics and lay persons and to inform the bishop of any irregularities. Coutances had never heard such words before. They would

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hear them again because these statutes were republished with additions in 1676, 1687, 1694, and 1718 and remained in force through the eighteenth century. The order of the subjects treated and the emphases differ significantly from those of medieval statutes, which were mainly concerned with the life and training of clerics. Matignon began by ordering clerics with the care of souls to reside in their benefice, administer the sacraments, and teach the people as set out in Bishop Briroy’s Manuel. They were to give a short explanation of the gospel on Sundays and feast days. They were to teach adults and children Christian doctrine. Then he went on to provide regulations for clerical conduct, the conduct of divine services, and the care of the church and its contents and the cemetery. After regulations concerning parish finances and confraternities, almost half of the full text was taken up with a discussion of the administration of the sacraments. A final short chapter ordered the strict enforcement of cloister in male and female religious houses. Bishop Matignon ordered curés or their vicars to read successive parts of the statutes to their parishioners once each month, starting over at the same time each year. As Toustain de Billy pointed out, the parishioners would not only learn what they were to believe and do but they would learn what their pastors should do. In 1646 Matignon accepted a transfer to the richer and more prestigious diocese of Lisieux, where he would be bishop and count. The extent to which he himself was involved in obtaining this promotion is not known. There is no doubt that his family was involved. For an unknown reason he did not take possession of his new diocese until 30 December 1648. Once there he continued his reforming activity until he resigned in 1677. He took a firm line in favour of episcopal and papal authority, opposing both the Jansenists and their strongest opponents, the extreme casuists.58 Matignon obtained his position in the old way – at a young age through family connections. He was the in commendam abbot of Lessay from an early age. His formal education was not what was becoming expected of a bishop, that is, obtaining a doctorate in theology or law. A “confidentiary” pension was paid to his cousin from the revenues of the bishopric. To obtain more prestige and income he moved to a new bishopric in mid-career, long before Coutances had been reformed. Yet he pushed the religious reform of Coutances forward and

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his synodal statutes, with only minor editing, were the statutes of Coutances until the French Revolution.59 The bishop of Coutances between 1646 and 1658, Claude Auvry, was very different from his predecessors. He was a self-made man, not a noble, but the son of a Parisian stocking merchant. He did not promulgate statutes, seems to have visited parishes only once, was involved in long-term quarrels with his chapter, his metropolitan, and a number of other bishops, attracted literary satire, retired from his see with a large pension, and refused to accept another diocese when it was offered to him.60 Auvry studied at the Sorbonne in Paris with Abraham Basire, who later became a canon of Coutances and Auvry’s grand vicar. While studying in Rome Auvry attached himself to the Barberini family and through them to Cardinal Mazarin, for whom he performed diplomatic services and through whom he received the bishopric of Cou­tances. In return Auvry was a strong supporter of Mazarin during the Fronde, despite opposition to this stand in Coutances. From 1653 onward he was the treasurer of Ste-Chapelle in Paris. Auvry did not reside much in Coutances, but he was responsible for the establishment of two seminaries, one in Coutances and the other in Valognes, the first such institutions in the diocese. He also insisted on an examination of all holders of benefices with the care of souls to ensure that they had the knowledge necessary for the position. A synod held in June 1651, presided over by Abraham Basire, was devoted to pastoral duties of curés. A twenty-two-page pamphlet on the subject was published.61 Auvry was a moderate opponent of Jansenists, even though his for­ mer teacher and present grand vicar favoured them. He acquired a number of properties for the bishopric by convincing the Matignons to return part of the Barony of St-Lô, though the title of baron remained with them. Auvry also negotiated a tax reduction for the city of Coutances along with an exemption from lodging soldiers and serving as jailers of Spanish prisoners of war. Toustain de Billy wrote that Auvry “was good, but he had a coeur haut et impérieux; he wished to do everything himself according to his own will and authority.” Auvry was a careerist, an administrator, and both a capable diplomat and a fighter for what he considered his and his see’s rights and privileges. At the same time, reform was in the air,

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and he felt obliged to be part of the movement. In Auvry’s favour is the fact that the rural missionary Jean Eudes, who established the seminary in Coutances, thought highly of him. Eudes tried to convince Auvry to accept the bishopric of Bayeux when it became vacant after his retirement from Coutances. Claude Auvry died in Paris in July 1687 at the age of eighty-two, almost thirty years after his resignation from the see of Coutances.62 Auvry’s successor in Coutances was Eustache le Clerc de Lesseville, who was nominated by the king in September 1658 and was consecrated in March 1659. He was bishop of Coutances until his death on 8 December 1665. He came from a Parisian family of royal officials, was a doctor of the Sorbonne, and had a career of university administration and service in the Parlement of Paris. He had so long wished to be a bishop that, when Auvry approached him, he accepted the see of Coutances despite the fact that Auvry would have a pension of 12,000 livres a year from the revenue of the bishopric and take over two of Lesseville’s own benefices. The pension was more than the total yearly income of some French bishoprics and half or more of that of Coutances.63 The archdeacons continued to visit parishes regularly. Bishop de Lesseville is known to have carried out a pastoral visit only in 1664. As is the case with episcopal visits in Coutances throughout the seventeenth century, this may be a matter of missing records. He did not promulgate any synodal statutes. Lesseville was a learned theologian and, according to Toustain de Billy who himself knew many people who had known the bishop well, was an affable and kind person who was particularly concerned for the welfare of the priests of the diocese. He also examined carefully all candidates for ordination to ensure that they were properly prepared. Lesseville was responsible for the preparation and publication of a new breviary for priests to replace the one published by Bishop Briroy in 1603.64 Although Lesseville had little income, he had inherited a significant sum from his family. Toustain de Billy reports that he was saving this money in order to buy back the rest of the Barony of St-Lô for the bishopric and then live in Rome in hopes of being made a cardinal. He died in Paris in December 1665 at the age of fifty-two while attending the Assembly of the Clergy.65

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Charles-François Loménie de Brienne was thirty-one years old when he became bishop of Coutances in February 1668 after his older brother, who preferred to remain an Oratorian, turned down the position. Between then and his death more than fifty years later in April 1720, he brought the Catholic Reformation to its full development in the diocese.66 Brienne came from an old noble family with court connections. He received a good education culminating in a doctorate in theology in 1665. During his studies he was supported by the revenue from three abbeys he held in commendam. Louis XIV added a fourth because Claude Auvry was still drawing his large pension from the episcopal revenues of Coutances.67 Toustain de Billy aptly sums up Brienne’s episcopate until 1708 (where his manuscript ends, a few months before his death). Brienne chose his priests (of whom Billy was one) carefully, making sure they had the necessary education and training. He kept watch over them and continued their education through diocesan synods, archidiaconal assemblies, written reports, and ecclesiastical conferences at the deanery level. He provided the diocese with a catechism and ensured that it was taught in every parish. He promulgated revised editions of the 1637 synodal statutes. He provided a new missal for the prayers of the mass, a new ritual for the other religious ceremonies, and a new breviary. Brienne worked with some success to reform the religious houses in the diocese. He had particular success with two establishments of canons regular – the abbey of Notre-Dame in Cherbourg and the priory of la Bloutière. He opposed Quietism and Jansenism and tried to integrate into the diocese the Protestants forced to become Catholics after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. However, like other bishops, he left no doubt who he thought was in error and showed little, if any, sympathy for the human hardship and sorrow involved in forced conversion.68 A paragraph in the introduction of the catechism that Brienne published in 1676 provides a striking example of his determination to reform the priests of his diocese. He reminded them of the large num­ ber of children who were growing up in ignorance of their religion and asked a rhetorical but biting question: “What will those slothful pastors say when these unfortunate souls, finding themselves deprived

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of glory for eternity, carry their complaints to the Tribunal of Divine Justice where with tears of blood they will demand vengeance against these mercenaries who, by their laziness or cruelty, were the cause of their damnation.”69 Between 8 May and 25 May 1669, a little over a year after he arrived in the diocese, Bishop Brienne, accompanied by four assistants, visited fifty parishes. Because of a lack of records there is no way of knowing how many other rounds of visits he carried out. It is evident that he had planned his visits carefully and investigated every parish thoroughly. The questions were typical of the second Catholic Reformation and revealed a diocese in which reform was well underway.70 With seven exceptions, the churches were in a good state. A few of the exceptions needed significant repairs. In one instance Brienne forbade the use of the church. In seven churches the ceiling needed significant work. He found that sacred vessels were in poor repair in many churches, that several baptismal fonts needed repair, while a few statues were singled out as “indecent.” In addition, the terms of some endowments (fondations) were not being honoured. There was also some poor financial record-keeping. A significant number of families had arranged for burials within the church without paying the required fees and fifteen cemeteries needed a better enclosure to keep animals out. There were two priests who were not providing Sunday mass and a few suspect clerics. The marriage status of several parishioners needed attention. Finally, in two instances tavern keepers were singled out for serving wine and cider during mass. The surviving records of the paschal and autumn synods show clearly the concerns noted by Toustain de Billy. In addition, they show that the parish clergy were still in need of reform in the first fifteen years of Brienne’s tenure. At the autumn synods, when only the diocesan officials were present, each of the twenty-three deans was required to specify when they were holding their next calends (local clerical meetings) and to present detailed accounts of the faults of their clergy, though not all did so regularly. The deans were also supposed to provide a list of all Protestants living in their deanery. On some occasions the records specify the faults of the curés.71 For Brienne teaching catechism was the key to providing religious education. However, he ordered that on Sundays and Holy Days, in addition to the parish mass, an early mass should be provided during

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which, at the Offertory, the priest should read the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, and the Confiteor in both Latin and French, as well as the Ten Commandments and the commandments of the church, for the instruction of servants and “other simple people.” Brienne’s synodal statutes mark the full development of the second phase of the second Catholic Reformation in Coutances. Their purpose was to create an educated corps of parish priests who would live in parishes of the diocese to guide and spiritually nourish the faithful, but without participating in their way of life as parish priests of earlier times had. Over the years Brienne added provisions that he hoped would protect the laity from the influence of the practitioners of the black arts, from Protestants, and from worldly entertainment. The first of his revised editions of the synodal statutes appeared in 1676. There were more additions to the 1637 statutes than he indicated in his preface, a total of twenty-five pages. By the final revision in 1718 there were forty-two more pages. These additions, Brienne wrote, were based on his experience as bishop and on his reading of the annual reports on the clergy. They were typical of the Catholic Reformation and included emphasis on teaching catechism, dress regulations for the clergy, stricter regulations on women living in clerical households, cemetery regulations, stricter accounting of parish financial records, rules to make the sacrament of penance more available, and stricter marriage and ordination regulations. With regard to the latter the emphasis was on prior education before receiving orders. There was encouragement to found local schools, one for each sex, led by strictly regulated teachers. There was also a four-and-a-half-page addition from Bishop Auvry forbidding clandestine marriages. Finally, pages were added at the end concerning synods, other clerical assemblies, and pastoral visits.72 The second revised edition of the statutes of 1637 appeared in 1694. There were only two major changes from the previous edition. The statutes began with an order for curés and school teachers to make sure that the children of former Protestants (the so-called “new Catholics” or “new converts”) were taught catechism regularly and to report absences from lessons to the local royal judge. This was a response to a royal order. The second change was a final chapter “des assemblées défendues” which included one paragraph forbidding the holding of “conventus malignantium,” that is, meetings with the devil, assem-

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blies of sorcerers or magicians, and assemblies of heretics for praying, preaching, or any other act of “la Religion Prétendue Reformée.” This was followed by a nine-page episcopal ordinance forbidding attendance at comedies, farces, balls, or ballets; Brienne said that attendance at such events excited the passions, corrupted good morals, and could lead to divine retribution. As proof he cited the deluge of the earth in Noah’s time and the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the danger of sudden death while in a state of sin. He added that such conduct was even worse when France was at war and when there were many people in need. The final revision of the statutes appeared in 1718. It was a better organized version of the 1694 statutes. This remained the official guide of the clergy of the diocese until the French Revolution. Enforcement of the rules, however, remained an unsolved problem for Brienne’s successors. Bishop Brienne’s first successor, Léonor II Goyon de Matignon, was the great-great-grandson of the royalist commander in Normandy during the Wars of Religion. As was customary for the Matignons, he began his ecclesiastical career as the in commendam abbot of Lessay in 1714. He began to function as bishop of Coutances in early 1722, almost two years after Brienne’s death. In 1721, evidently fearing a long hiatus, the vicar general of Coutances arranged for the bishop of Avranches to give tonsure or ordain to minor or major orders a total of 233 candidates, including 97 who became priests.73 Only abbé Rouault, who rarely criticized any bishop and wrote his history of the bishops of Coutances during Léonor’s episcopate, has been able to be completely positive about the second of the Matignon bishops of Coutances. Other historians complain that he was ugly, short, and hunchbacked; severe, brusque, and authoritarian. The records show that he was a strict anti-Jansenist who made sure every priest in his diocese formally renounced that theology. He had a reputation of lacking intelligence. On the other hand, his pastoral letters were well written. In general, Bishop Matignon let his officials run the diocese. The archdeacons were very active pastoral visitors. He approved the preparation of a new breviary based on that of Paris and a ritual based on Rouen’s. He lived luxuriously, although he was generous to the poor. He spent a significant sum of money in building elaborate stables

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 85

which were able to withstand heavy bombardment in 1944 and, subsequently, served as part of the diocesan archives for many years.74 Once satisfied that Jansenism had been routed, Bishop Matignon relaxed somewhat. He visited some parishes on six occasions between 1727 and 1747. In common with most eighteenth-century French bishops, he did not promulgate a full set of synodal statutes. Partial records of five of his autumn synods are extant, but they provide very little information, except for the last which imposed the acceptance of his new Rituel and emphasized two reform items long part of bishops’ agendas. Curés were not to have as servants women (“personnes du sexe”) who were in any way “suspicious” and were not to eat or drink in cabarets less than a league from their house except in case of necessity.75 Between 1757 and 1764 the bishop of Coutances was Jacques Lefèvre du Quesnoy. He was born to a noble family in Valognes in 1694 and had a good education leading to a doctorate in theology, which was common for late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French bishops. He had served as a canon, archdeacon of Chrétienté, then of Cotentin, and vicar general of the diocese. He was tall, handsome, had good manners, and had been an active pastoral visitor since 1732. As bishop, Quesnoy spent most of his time either at his abbey of St-Sauveur-leVicomte or in Rouen where Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, a relative and close friend, was archbishop. The revenues from his benefices allowed him to live like a wealthy seigneur and to spend large sums rebuilding and lavishly furnishing the episcopal palace in Coutances on the same site it had occupied since the time of Bishop Léonor I de Matignon. He also restored the monastery of St-Sauveur. When he died he left a considerable sum for pious and charitable endowments, to support the work of several convents and hospitals, and to support poor priests.76 Despite the change in his lifestyle after his episcopal ordination, Quesnoy continued to be active in visiting parishes. Unfortunately, the records of visits to only three parishes made in the summer of 1760 survived the destruction of 1944. The procès-verbal reveals a traditional pastoral visitor concerned with the state of the church building and its contents, the cemetery, parish financial accounts, the tithe, the morality of the curés, some religious ceremonies, the schoolmasters, and midwives. His pre-episcopal visits were more thorough and more in line with the questions typical of the Second Catholic Reformation.

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This may indicate that he was less concerned with reform as a bishop than he had been before, or that he was more preoccupied with other matters. On the other hand, the differences may be because records of his episcopal visits are extant for only three parishes. Quesnoy announced that he was going to promulgate a new set of synodal statutes, but he issued only a few articles on clerical discipline during the paschal synod he held in 1761. However, since he felt that his predecessor had relaxed his vigilance in his later years, he tried to strictly enforce the existing statutes. This caused a degree of animosity among the parish clergy.77 Bishop Brienne’s two successors lived luxuriously, like the nobles they were. The only unorthodoxy that they were aware of was Jansenism. Generally speaking, the two bishops thought that the Catholic Reformation had been effective and that, as a result, all they had to do was carry out their routine duties of inspection. They were aware of some dissatisfaction among the parish clergy, but they did not realize that, as parish priests became aware of the new ideas circulating throughout France, the contrast between their own way of life and that of the curés and vicars was creating growing resentment. In this the bishops of Coutances were the same as their fellow bishops throughout France.78 During the eighteenth century, noble and urban families provided a decreasing percentage of vocations to the priesthood. More and more the parish priests of the diocese were sons of peasants. Seminary training, the spring synods, the calends, and the monthly ecclesiastical conferences opened up a new world to these men. The parish clergy, now isolated from the lives of their parishioners if they followed the strictures imposed by their training and the dictates of the synodal statutes, were meeting many more of their fellow clerics more often in calends and conferences and were coming to realize that they shared grievances – especially the grievance of poverty in absolute terms and, especially, when compared with the bishop and his canons. The eighteenth-century priests were also more educated than their predecessors and exposed to the new ideas in the writings of the philosophes.79 The last bishop of Coutances before the French Revolution realized that something was happening and tried to respond. He was not

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 87

successful. Ange-François de Talaru de Chalmazel was born in 1725, the illegitimate son of a noble family in the Bourbonnais. His first career was the army, where he rose to the rank of colonel in a cavalry regiment. He then decided to change careers and after studies was ordained and eventually appointed as in commendam abbot of both Blanchelande and Montebourg in the Diocese of Coutances. Together these positions, which he held until 1790, provided him with a substantial income. He became bishop of Coutances in 1765. As bishop, Talaru de Chalmazel concentrated on social work. Using his own funds, which were considerable, he established an orphanage in Coutances and turned the monastery of Montebourg (which no longer had any monks) into a home for retired priests. In the monastery grounds he established two workshops. One was staffed by young men and produced woven cloth; the other was staffed by young women and produced lace. However, despite these activities, which would gain praise from a philosophe, he remained a noble and spent three months of each year in the palatial abbot’s residence at Montebourg, living the life and acting the part of a grand seigneur. The parish clergy resented this and their attitude was transmitted to parishioners who complained frequently of episcopal absenteeism in their cahiers de doléances in 1789. The pre-eminent historian of late eighteenthcentury Coutances, Émile Sévestre, described Talaru de Chalmazel as “mild, timid, resigned, always inclined to melancholy in dealing with men and events.”80 The city of Coutances was not kind to Talaru de Chalmazel. He faced constant opposition from the cathedral chapter whose grand chanter, Jacques-Louis d’Hauchemail, tried to humiliate him publicly. Talaru’s efforts to reform the canons regular who staffed the HôtelDieu of Coutances were opposed not only by the canons but by local royal officials. In addition, he was attacked by a Parisian journal for his conduct. This led to further public humiliation in Coutances. Despite his unpopularity in Coutances, Talaru was elected president of the First Estate of the bailliage of Cotentin in 1789 and then as a deputy to the Estates General. However, he had to work hard to win the elections. Subsequently, he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly. He refused to accept the Civil Constitution of the Clergy promulgated by that assembly in 1791 or to become a constitutional bishop. He closed

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the diocesan seminary after ordaining all those he thought capable, even if they had only begun their theological studies. In 1792 he went into exile in London. He died there in 1798.81 In his speech at the Estates General in 1614, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, the Archbishop of Lyon, Primate of France, referred to teaching the people the fear of God and obedience to the king. Especially after the signing of the Concordat of Bologna in 1516, the bishops of Coutances, like the bishops throughout France, taught obedience to the king. Despite some opposition at first, they also allowed the pulpits of their dioceses to be used to make royal proclamations ordering celebrations for royal victories and mourning for royal deaths and to issue mandements demanding information on alleged crimes.82 The royal government contributed significantly to the reform of the episcopate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the alliance between the monarchy and the episcopate did not serve the episcopate well in the long run. The two institutions fell together at the end of the eighteenth century. It is only since the separation of church and state in the early twentieth century that the French episcopate has been free to concentrate on its religious mission. The thirty bishops of Coutances between 1345 and 1789 were a mixed lot and their catholicisms were as varied as they were. They were at their worst in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. For nine of the thirteen bishops of the years 1345 to 1478 a bishopric was primarily a source of status and income and almost the only evidence of any sort of catholicism was their care to provide enough money to the chapter to make sure that many prayers would be said for the repose of their souls and, sometimes, the souls of their relatives. It is evident, therefore, that they believed in God, heaven, hell, and purgatory and hoped to make it into the last on the way to heaven. How much more they believed cannot be known at this late date. Only one of these men, Sylvestre de la Cervelle, was a true reformer. Only he and two others made serious efforts to make available all the sacraments to the people of the diocese. Non-residence was the greatest fault of all because vicars and suffragan bishops did not have the authority or prestige to bring about reform. The best of the bishops saw themselves as the spouse of their church with a spiritual duty to all its members. Most of them also believed that they had a temporal duty to maintain, if not increase, the wealth of

The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances 89

their church (understood as the diocese and, especially, the cathedral). All the bishops of the Diocese of Coutances, with the possible exception of Nicolas de Briroy, believed that consecration as a bishop gave them not only a high religious status but also a high social status (or added to the status they already possessed through their family). They firmly believed that it was incumbent on them to maintain their status for the glory of God and his church. At their best, in the cases of bishops de la Cervelle, Herbert, Briroy, Léonor I Matignon, and Brienne, the bishops saw themselves as dutybound personally to lead their priests and through them the laity to a holy life consisting of holding the faith expressed in the Creed and believing in the efficacy of the sacraments to bring salvation, while living their lives in accord with the Ten Commandments and the laws of the Catholic Church. The five best bishops quite evidently believed as they wanted others to believe and acted accordingly. The nine worst seemed to have cared only for their status and wealth in this world. The others fell somewhere between the two extremes.

A  4 The Catholicisms of the Clerical Elite of Coutances

The bishop was the highest-ranking member of the clerical elite in the Diocese of Coutances. The relative ranking of the other members of the elite, however, was often a matter of contention. Most of this chapter is devoted to the succession of male clerics who were members of, or employed by, the chapter of the cathedral of Coutances between the late fifteenth century and the French Revolution. They were members of a group which existed largely separate from the people of the city and diocese. The exceptions were the four archdeacons who were pastoral visitors. Details of the lives of the archdeacons, the other canons, and other members of their community are used to discover the nature and variations of the catholicisms of an important segment of the elite clergy of Coutances from 1464, when the extant chapter deliberation records begin, to 1789.1 The final pages of the chapter deal in less detail with the other members of the clerical elite of Coutances. Little can be said about the deans and other diocesan officials who were not chapter members. Records permit slightly more discussion of two other groups – first, those who had been born and raised in the diocese but went away, usually to Paris, sometimes to Caen, to study and stayed outside the diocese to teach or to become parish priests; and second, those born in the Diocese of Coutances who became bishops elsewhere. The records of the Estates General of 1614 provide a window on the self-perception of elite clerics. While there are no extant local or governmental cahiers for any part of Normandy prepared by the clergy, the general cahier of the First Estate, prepared by an assembly dominated by bishops and canons, presents a very clear picture of what the clerical

The Catholicisms of the Clerical Elite 91

elite thought of itself and its place in society in the era just before the Second Catholic Reformation began to influence the canons of France. The records show that the bishops and chapter members differed over their relative powers and that the canons were definitely more interested in preserving their privileges than in introducing the reforms of the Council of Trent. Both groups were united, however, in their view of themselves, other clerics, and the world in general. They were certain that they were the leaders of the clergy, they hoped to be able to reform the rural clergy (though the cahier reveals that they had little understanding of the lives of these men), they saw themselves as the most important and best-educated group in the country, and they were convinced that they had the aptitude and training necessary to participate in governing France and, therefore, should have special places reserved for them in the supreme court of France (the Parlement of Paris) and in the royal councils.2 There is no means available to know what the clerical non-elite – the parish priests – thought of themselves and their relation to the elite clergy in 1614. One hundred and seventy-five years later, however, the cahier of the clergy of the Bailliage of Cotentin prepared for the Estates General of 1789 was written by curés for curés; men who by that time had been influenced both by the Catholic Reformation and by the ideas of the Enlightenment. There was no mention of clerical superiority; rather, the clerical deputies promised to work with the deputies of the Third Estate for the common good. The document concentrated on limiting the power of bishops, increasing the freedom and income of parish priests while decreasing their work load, and ensuring that tithes were devoted to the maintenance of divine worship and the care of the poor. The clerical world had changed.3 Details of the lives of the canons and their associates lie buried in the extensive records of the cathedral chapter, especially the records of members’ deliberations. Two individuals made it their avocation to read and summarize these deliberations. The first was Jacques Pouret, a native of the diocese, canon and pénetencier of the cathedral chapter of Coutances, and a contributor to Gallia Christiana. He spent his free time in the chapter room, enjoying the light and warmth that came through the high and narrow windows – on those occasions when there was sun in Coutances. More often he would have had to contend with the damp cold and dim light

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of a high-ceilinged stone room with no fireplace. His self-appointed task was writing a one-volume summary of the deliberations of the chapter for the years 1464 to 1745.4 Pouret was in no hurry to finish his work and had no reason to believe that the way of life he was describing would come to an end; nor did it occur to him that it needed defence. He did not shrink from recording abuses by individual canons. His context was the efforts of the group to reform erring brothers, restore traditional usages, and maintain privileges and revenues. Twenty-three years after Pouret’s death, the world of the canons of Coutances changed in ways that would have been unthinkable in 1766. The French Revolution brought the abolition of cathedral chapters, confiscation of their property, and cancellation of canons’ many privileges. French cathedral chapters were reinstituted by Napoleon in 1801. In the second half of the nineteenth century another canon of Cou­tances, Ernest Fleury (1860–1927) began his own summary of the chapter deliberations. Fleury’s work is a complement to Pouret’s. He includes many items that Pouret did not, while ignoring many of his predecessor’s concerns. Fleury reflects the interest of a post-revolutionary canon seeking out the flavour of the lost life of an Old Regime canon, while ignoring details about individual privilege and rights to income that would never again exist.5 The twenty-three sections of the Coutances chapter deliberation records include a multitude of registers. When thoroughly examined, they show that Pouret and Fleury, read together, enable us to identify all but one of the major concerns of the chapter members and the changes in these concerns over time. Not apparent in their summaries is the fact that the majority of the pages of the chapter deliberations are devoted to details of finance and property. Other extant chapter documents provide information that fills out the picture of the world of the members of the cathedral chapter of Coutances. In addition, whenever a critical issue was involved, I consulted the chapter deliberation records themselves.6 A cathedral chapter existed to perform the liturgy in the cathedral, the bishop’s church. The most frequently performed of the duties of its members was the chanting of the divine office from matins in the early morning to compline in the evening. The office was composed of the psalms, readings from scripture and other sources, and prayers.

The Catholicisms of the Clerical Elite 93

The purpose was to praise God and to ask for help for all members of the Catholic Church. The canons were also responsible for ensuring that all the religious ceremonies in the cathedral were carried out, especially the daily round of masses said and sung at the main altar and in the chapels. Twenty-six canons were the core of the chapter community, which was composed at any one time of 100 to 125 male individuals. Officially, the bishop could be considered the twenty-seventh member of the chapter since he held the first rank in its ceremonies and deliberations. But even resident bishops usually participated in religious services only on major feast days.7 The relationship between the bishop of Coutances and the chapter developed over time, and there were many grey areas of jurisdiction. Very often bishop and chapter were at odds with each other. In the beginning, the chapter elected the bishop, while the bishop had the final say in the appointment of canons. But the last free election of a bishop in Coutances took place in 1315. The chapter issued pro forma protests against royal appointment of bishops well into the seventeenth century. The custom remained, however, that the bishop had to swear fidelity to the chapter, put on the habit of a canon, and then take his seat in the choir stalls, as the first among equals, before sitting on the bishop’s throne.8 An agreement between the chapter and Bishop Jean d’Essey, reached in 1263, played an important role in the relationship of bishop and chapter. Among the thirty-one issues settled was the right of the bishop to “institute, dismiss and confirm” and receive the promise of obedience of abbots without seeking the advice of the chapter; to enforce his regulations in parishes where canons were curés, except in the parishes attached to a canonical position where the canon retained spiritual jurisdiction; to have civil and criminal jurisdiction over the archdeacons “not because they were canons but because they were archdeacons”; and to dispose of the episcopal forests as he chose. In return, the bishop agreed to ordain those canons the chapter recommended, to pay a forfeit to the canons when he did not take part in services on any of five major feasts when he was supposed to preside, and to accept that the chapter had civil and criminal jurisdiction over the canons, whether the crimes were committed in the cathedral or in the city. Finally, the bishop was to be in charge of the maintenance of

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the cathedral, but he was obliged to consult with the chapter when he thought repairs were necessary.9 Admittance to the chapter came as the result of one of three processes. A canon could resign in favour of another (very often a nephew) or two individuals could exchange benefices. The third avenue was appointment to a vacancy by the bishop, king, or pope, depending on what the vacancy was and how it had been created. Most often appointments were made by the bishop. For the periods for which most information about the geographic and social origins of canons is available (1450–1564 and the late eighteenth century), a solid majority seem to have come from Normandy, with close to a majority coming from the diocese. Over time there was a distinct change in social status. From the fifteenth into the sixteenth century, members of older noble families who were victims of war and plague were being replaced by the sons of the bourgeois of Coutances and St-Lô. By the seventeenth century many of these families were now members of the nobility. Representatives of newer bourgeois families became common during the seventeenth century. By the mid-eighteenth century a few members of prosperous peasant families were also in the chapter.10 Contrary to the custom in most dioceses, the cantor (grande chantre) was the president of the chapter in the absence of the bishop. Those of the four archdeacons who were also canons were next in rank; then came the scholastic, the treasurer, and the penitentiary. From at least 1538 there was also a théologal, who did not have a special rank among the canons. The four archdeacons and the scholastic were not necessarily canons and, as such, had no function in the cathedral, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they were almost always canons. Very little beyond name, degrees, if any, and prebend is known about most of these individuals. As will be seen below, some seventeenthand eighteenth-century archdeacons are known through their pastoral visit records.11 In the case of the cantors, a few details are known – about their background, controversies over possession of the office and over precedence, a few of their donations to the cathedral, and some instances of significant absenteeism. Among the most prominent cantors was Jean de Ravalet, of the family of the seigneurs de Tourlaville. He became in commendam abbot of Hambye at the age of twelve, eventually

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vicar general of Bishop Arthur de Cossé, and finally cantor from 1572 until 1602. Between 1573 and 1587 he made important contributions to the new college of Coutances. Three members of the Franquetot family held the position, one after the other, between 1602 and 1684. All but the first were frequent absentees. The second-last person to hold the office, Marie-Louis-Léonor de Cussy, from a locally prominent family, inherited the position from his uncle in 1767 at the age of thirty-one. He was evidently highly regarded by his confreres. He resigned his position in 1780. In the early days of the French Revolution, he was elected mayor of Coutances, but soon made enemies and ended up under the guillotine in Paris in 1794. The last of the cantors, the contentious Jacques-Louis d’Hauchemail, will be discussed later in this chapter.12 The scholastic was in charge of providing education to the younger canons and of choosing the proper texts for religious services. The treasurer kept the community accounts. The penitentiary was the confessor of the chapter members and, in the case of serious sins requiring the judgment of bishop or pope, was in charge of making the necessary arrangements. The théologal was a trained theologian, usually with a doctorate, whose duties were to preach on Sundays and give public lectures in the cathedral on the scriptures.13 Cathedral canons, unlike canons regular and monks, did not take a vow of poverty and, therefore, could possess private property. The twenty-six canons each held a canonicate distinguished by the name of the prebend associated with it. In seven of the prebends the canon had both ecclesiastical and feudal sovereignty. Since the revenue from tithes of the prebends was not equal (in 1680 the range was from 250 to 2,000 livres) that revenue was supplemented by revenue taken from the common funds. The common funds (la commune) came from other tithes and fiefs acquired by the chapter over time, often from benefactors, along with rents, fines, and revenue from vacant prebends. Based on the décime paid, it was estimated in 1680 that the revenue of the commune was about 25,000 livres. The estimate of episcopal revenue in the same year was 20,000 livres though, as seen in the previous chapter, a sizable part of that went to pensions of previous bishops from the 1640s onward. By the time of the French Revolution, the common revenue of the chapter

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had risen to 106,838 livres. This was significantly less than the chapters of Rouen, Lisieux, and Bayeux, but significantly more than the other three cathedral chapters of the ecclesiastical province of Rouen.14 In addition to the canons, many other clerics were attached to the chapter community and were paid out of the revenues of the chapter. Six vicars were in charge of masses and services at the high altar. There were forty-four chaplains, each connected to one of the twentyseven chapels in the cathedral. The fourteen habitués (clerics without a benefice or a chapel) participated in the singing of parts of the divine office, as did the chaplains. Vicars, chaplains, and habitués, along with the canons, were paid according to the number of choir services they attended. Only the canons, however, could attend the meetings of the chapter, where the financial, and sometimes spiritual, matters of the community were discussed. All clerical members of the cathedral community could attend the two general chapters held every year, one in February, the other in August.15 Vicars and chaplains and those habitués who were priests said low masses and sang high masses established over the years through endowments given by benefactors. In return, they received income from these endowments. The number of masses said each week by the habitués went up over time, but income from each remained constant, usually 21 sols per low mass. Finally, in 1713 the chapter recognized that these clerics were not being paid enough.16 The other members of the community were the six choirboys, aged twelve to eighteen, who were to be at all services, and three cousteurs, usually priests, whose duties were to ring the cathedral bells according to a complicated program, open doors, and march before or after processions.17 In addition, there was one sacristan, a person in charge of candles and lamps, one cross bearer, and one usher. Usually there were also a schoolmaster and an organist and, sometimes, a small choir on the cathedral staff.18 Some janitorial services and the washing of church linens were contracted out, but the washing of the chapels and the choir was handled by the lesser clerics since lay persons were not allowed into these spaces. There were also the various servants of the canons, though the number is uncertain. What is certain is that the canonical community was by far the largest employer and corporate consumer in Coutances.

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Each of the seven canons who held a prebend that conferred ecclesiastical and feudal sovereignty was a curé primitif of the parish. Other canons had a cure in the diocese attached to their prebend. Several other cures were controlled by the chapter. In all three cases, the parishes were turned over to a vicar, but occasionally a canon would visit “his” parish or the chapter’s parish, if only to collect money owing. In addition, the community that made up the chapter had various contacts with the outside world. For example, the canons and other clerics depended on the city and surrounding area for goods and services. Some of the canons came from outside the diocese and some of these men, along with some canons native to the diocese, were looking for preferment elsewhere and so kept their eye open for opportunities beyond the diocese. Chapter officials met with city officials in times of war and plague to plan joint efforts to address the situation. The chapter grudgingly contributed money to the city poor on occasion, for example on 13 January 1557 and 5 April 1656. The members of the chapter became concerned in the 1550s and early 1560s when people in the diocese were becoming Protestants, and in the seventeenth century when the peasants were too poor to pay their tithes. (Poverty was a significant issue in the early seventeenth century.) Most of the time, though, the chapter led an isolated life, fulfilling its duty to conduct the religious services of the cathedral.19 The four archdeacons were the members of the community who had the most contact with the outside world. They were in charge of overseeing the priests and parishes of the four archdeaconries of the diocese. In theory, the archdeacons should have been active in bringing reform to the priests and people of the diocese. In fact, much of their activity, like that of the other canons, centred around maintaining a medieval, semi-monastic way of life filled with liturgical activity, and protecting their privileges. Included in these privileges was exemption of the parishes they directly controlled from episcopal visitation. Nonetheless, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of the archdeacons were active visitors and reformers. Archdeacons were supposed to visit every parish in their archdeaconry every year. Because of a lack of records there is no way of knowing how often they fulfilled this duty. On the basis of surviving pastoral

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visit records, seven archdeacons stand out as particularly active reformers over a long period. The first was Nicolas de Briroy, later the bishop of Coutances. Though details are lacking, it is known that he was an active pastoral visitor. Jean Le Campion, who became a canon in 1629, was the archdeacon of Bauptois and was an active visitor from at least as early as 1634 until 1659, a year before his death. Jean de Gourmont was the archdeacon of Chrétienté and an active visitor between 1648 and 1674. Pierre le Rossignol, the archdeacon of Bauptois, visited parishes between 1663 and 1697. Gilles Douet, archdeacon first of Valde-Vire and then of Chrétienté, was a pastoral visitor between 1683 and 1717. Jean-François-Guy de Hennot de Théville, archdeacon of Val-deVire, was an active visitor between 1726 and 1761. Jacques Le Fevre du Quesnoy was archdeacon of Chrétienté, then of Cotentin, and, finally, bishop of the diocese. He was active as a parish visitor between 1732 and 1756.20 Something substantial is known about the lives of only two of the most active visitors, those who were bishops. Both men continued their rounds of visitation during their episcopate. Only snippets of Briroy’s visits are extant. Quesnoy’s visitation style was described in chapter 3. Each of the archdeacons had his own style of visitation, partly dependent on general interests and personality and partly dependent on his assessment of the problems existing in his archdeaconry. A short account of the concerns of the archdeacons who were the most active visitors provides important clues about their catholicisms. At the same time this will provide an overview of the development of the Second Catholic Reformation in the Diocese of Coutances which, along with the material presented at the end of chapter 2 and in chapter 3, sets the context needed to understand the life and catholicisms of the canons and the other members of the clerical elite of the diocese. In his visits in the Archdeaconry of Bauptois between 1634 and 1659, Jean Le Campion emphasized repairs to the parish church and its contents, the keeping of good financial records, the status and functions of habitués, clerical morality and pastoral zeal, performance of the Easter duty, and lay morality. His visitation style is discussed in detail in an article by Malcolm Greenshields, who describes it as “systematically laconic, but with the occasional expressive bursts surrounding some deficiency of priest or parishioners.” His visit to Quibou in

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October 1645 contained several such outbursts; he discovered that both laity and clergy had a number of serious faults that had not been revealed in his earlier visits. In his subsequent visits through 1655, Le Campion kept up the pressure on the clergy and laity of Quibou for improvement in sacred vessels, books and ornaments, the cemetery, the school, teaching of catechism, and lay morality. He was determined to change what he described as “the manifest abuse and lack of devotion of that parish.”21 Jean de Gourmont, whose known visits in Chrétienté took place between 1648 and 1674, was active in the generation following Le Campion. He was more selective in the parts of the church building and contents that interested him because of the progress in rebuilding that had taken place by the mid-seventeenth century. He concentrated on the choir and nave, sacred vessels, church windows, and cemetery closures. Gourmont had the same interest as Le Campion in parish accounts, but much more interest in the collectors of the tithe. Overall, he was less interested in clerical morality and pastoral zeal than Campion, though he came down hard on misbehaving clerics, especially in his early years of visiting. While Gourmont was more interested than Le Campion in the laity’s practice of confession and in the frequenting of taverns, he was less interested in the other aspects of lay behaviour, except for behaviour during mass, conflicts involving status, and the existence of illegitimate children. In 1661, for example, he was very strict with some of the laity of La Beslière who were taking over the seats of the clerics in the choir, preventing them from chanting the office. A sign of improvement over time is the fact that in 1664 the major complaint about the laity in Contrières was that they should make sure that birds were not using the clock tower to enter the church at night. Because of illness, Gourmont commissioned two others to help him with visiting in 1673. He managed to do the visiting in 1674, but had to delegate again in 1675. He died in 1676. Pierre Le Rossignol was active in the Archdeaconry of Bauptois between 1663 and 1697 during the height of the Second Catholic Reformation in Coutances. He died in 1698. His visit questions reveal his commitment to the reformation. His known visitations began four years after the end of Campion’s and lasted twenty-two years after Gourmont’s. His interests bridged those of the other two with emphasis on the proper functioning of ceremonies, keeping parish records,

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and the state of the cemetery. Of the three he was the most interested in lay confessions and in clerical and lay morality, especially all aspects of lay sexual morality. He was the first visitor in the diocese known to have asked questions about the teaching of catechism. Rossignol made it clear in his visits that he concerned himself only with public sins and matters that he thought the bishop should know about. One of these sins was failure to perform the Easter duty (confession and communion during the Easter season), which he found was increasing by the late 1670s. The other sin was sexual immorality, usually in the form of cohabitation without marriage. Sometimes publicity came late, as in le Mesnil in 1678 when some parishioners finally complained about their curé. What bothered them most was that he did not preach audibly and was often absent. Furthermore, they had no vicar. In the process of complaining to Rossignol, they mentioned that the curé had a servant with three illegitimate children who spent a lot of time in the presbytery, but who lived with a man nearby. The nature of the relationship of the servant and the curé is revealed in the orders Rossignol gave. The man was ordered to return to his birthplace and the curé was ordered to forbid entry to the presbytery to his servant. How she was going to support herself and her children did not seem to concern him. A very public sin is revealed by the complaint lodged by parishioners of Besneville in 1663 that there were “three or four taverns or cabarets” near the church where cider was sold, even during mass. Particularly galling was the fact that the singing in these places drowned out the singing in the church. Evidently, local lay church officials were involved in the business. Rossignol threatened a stiff fine, enforced by “the secular arm,” and excommunication if any more cider was sold during divine services. Gilles Douet was archdeacon of Val-de-Vire and then of Chrétienté. His extant visitation records in Val-de-Vire span the years 1683 to 1708, overlapping the last part of Rossignol’s active years. His visits in Chrétienté took place between 1709 and 1717. He asked the same types of questions in both dioceses, but the frequencies differed. His overwhelming concern in Val-de-Vire about the state of the parish church, its contents and financing reflects the situation of his archdeaconry where recovery from the destruction of the Wars of Religion was much slower than elsewhere in the diocese. Habitués and pastoral zeal

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were among his other major interests. This, too, reflects the situation in his archdeaconry, as will be seen in chapter 6. Confraternities, performance of the Easter duty, preaching, catechism, schools, midwives, parish morality (especially frequenting of taverns), social conflicts, and usurpation of church property were also of great interest to Douet. Many of these concerns are explained by his interest in the persons forced to become Catholics after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 in what was the most Protestant part of the diocese. Douet was not given to mincing his words. For example, he was very strict on the issue of Easter duty. Instead of saying, as visitors often did, that those who did not fulfill this obligation should do so within a set time period, Douet simply said, “Those men and women who have not satisfied their Easter duties can be excommunicated.” He was just as abrupt with men and women living together without being married and those who did not follow liturgical rules, though the latter were liable only to a fine, not excommunication. Douet was insistent that curés publicly shame those who did not follow his orders. A common order was that if, after a public rebuke, a named person did not immediately cease his actions, he or she should be reported to the ecclesiastical authorities so that excommunication could take place. As far as is known, Jean-François-Guy de Hennot de Théville was active as a visitor in Val-de-Vire between 1726 and 1753 and in Cotentin from 1759 to 1761. His visits came after the deaths of the other four archdeacons. Concern over church buildings and contents had declined somewhat since Douet’s days. In common with visitors throughout France at the time, he asked almost nothing about clerical morality or pastoral zeal. These were taken as solved problems. The carrying out of the services prescribed in pious endowments and the performance of the Easter duty were definite interests, as were confraternities, preaching, catechism, and schools. Théville was less interested in confraternities than Douet. He was also less concerned about Protestantism, probably because by then there were fewer incidents of open resistance to conversion. Théville’s Cotentin visits were basically the same as those he had carried out in Val-de-Vire, which indicates that he followed his personal choices in questioning. On the other hand, the variety of his responses to the answers he received shows that he tailored his visits to the situation prevailing in each parish. For example, in a few instances in his 1759 visit in Cotentin he imposed

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severe penalties on parents who did not provide religious education for their children. Jean-Jacques Blouet de Camilly (1632–1711) served as an archdeacon from 1671 until his death. Although there are fewer extant records of his pastoral visits than for those of the seven archdeacons just described, his activity is worthy of comment. He may have made visits for which records no longer exist or he may often have been too busy with many other tasks to visit. He was a member of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, founded by Jean Eudes, an active visitor as Archdeacon of Val-de-Vire at some point after 1674 and before 1683 and as Archdeacon of Cotentin from some time before 1690 until at least 1708. As will be seen in chapter 6, Blouet de Camilly’s greatest claim to fame was that he was superior of the Coutances seminary in the early 1670s and then from 1680 to 1711. As superior he was responsible for the training of the parish priests who launched the Second Catholic Reformation in the parishes of the diocese. He was also the second superior of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, beginning in 1680. There are enough records of Blouet’s visits available to make it possible to obtain an idea of the content and style of his visitations. The content was standard for the eighteenth century. His questions concerned the parish church, the cemetery, parish finances, performance of the Easter duty, schoolmasters, schools for girls, midwives, and illegitimate relationships and the resulting children. Blouet de Camilly was less harsh than Douet in treating those who failed to make their Easter duty. In most cases he announced that if private admonishment had not produced compliance, there would be a public announcement on three consecutive Sundays. Only the few who had not performed their duty for many years were threatened with excommunication. While in several instances he mentioned a number of nobles in his criticisms, on one occasion he did not give the name of a person who seems to have been a locally important individual. However, he held a hard line on public adultery and fornication, threatening excommunication un­less the relationship was broken off immediately, even if one of the parties was a member of the nobility, as in Sebeville in 1702. As for the other archdeacons of Coutances, seventeen are known to have made at least one round of visitation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Almost certainly they made more visits, as did other archdeacons for whom visit records have not survived. There is

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no way of learning about the visitation activity of the archdeacons of the sixteenth and earlier centuries. The archdeacons who visited were set apart from the other canons by the fact that they undertook the arduous task of travelling for two to three weeks on horseback from parish church to parish church, visiting four or five and sometimes as many as eight parishes a day. Their visits wound through fields, forests, and marshes, and there were few amenities available to them. In some years rain would interfere with progress, especially in the interior of the diocese and, above all, in the marshes of the Archdeaconry of Bauptois. Unlike the other canons, the visiting archdeacons came to know at least one part of the diocese and its inhabitants very well. By contrast, the world of the other canons of Coutances consisted of the cathedral and the immediately surrounding area where each had a house, most within the cloister. To understand fully the lives of the canons and the other members of the community connected with them, it is necessary to know their cathedral. This knowledge is best obtained by walking around its outside and, especially, its inside and then sitting for extended periods in its various parts. The cathedral survived the destruction of the Second World War but its neighbourhood, including the area where the houses of the canons still stood, was literally levelled. This makes it impossible to recapture the spirit of the canons’ limited world. The cathedral itself, as it exists today, lacks much of its pre-revolutionary ambience because the tombs and tapestries are gone and both the holy well used in religious ceremonies and the ordinary well used by canons and others for drinking and other uses are closed. Missing also is the succession of daily ceremonies that took place in the choir, at the main altar, and in all of the side chapels. Today there are no canons chanting the office throughout the day and evening, the chapels are never used, the once proudly displayed relics are discretely stored in a cabinet in the southern transept, and almost always silence reigns. Words alone are inadequate to describe the cathedral, but they will have to serve. The cathedral is ninety-five metres long and almost thirty-four metres wide. The nave is about thirty-nine metres long and just under twenty-two metres high. One tower is seventy-three metres high, the other seventy-four. The world of the canons was the choir of the cathedral. This starts at the eastern edge of the nave just beyond

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the vast open space created by the soaring lantern tower whose roof is forty-one metres above the floor of the cathedral. Before the French Revolution the boundary between nave and choir was marked by a rood screen which virtually isolated the choir and high altar from the rest of the cathedral. Grilled doors were added in 1721 which further isolated the choir. The choir stretched eastward about fifty-six metres to the end of the Circata Chapel behind the high altar. The focal point of this space was the high altar in front of which were located two double rows of stalls. The canons occupied the rear, higher rows and the other cathedral clerics the lower ones as they stood and sat to sing the office and participate in mass every day. Surrounding this inner space was the ambulatory, which connected with twelve of the twentyseven chapels of the cathedral where the chaplains said their masses for dead patrons.22 The entrance to the chapter room is located in the northern wall of the ambulatory, immediately east of the transept. The room is situated over the sacristy and is reached by two short flights of stairs. Here the canons met, usually on Wednesday and Friday, to discuss the affairs of the chapter. These affairs were primarily financial and procedural, though many other aspects of their lives peep through the minutes of their meetings. The canons sat on what amounted to bleachers surrounding a long table set in the centre of the room. Light came from five tall windows; four facing north and one facing west. The chapter archives were housed in a separate room up a flight of stairs that began in a corner of the chapter room. Toustain de Billy spent many hours there involved in his researches. Today the chapter room is empty and its door is rarely unlocked.23 The stalls of the canons could be lit by sunlight pouring into the cathedral through the windows of the lantern tower. But the skies are frequently grey in Coutances and from autumn through spring they are dark during many of the hours the canons sang the office. The winds are cold, the rain falls, and it was not unknown for the back of the cathedral to flood. The canons wore purple cassocks while chanting the office, the dignities wore red cassocks. For processions from Easter to All Saints Day (1 November), all the canons covered their cassocks with silk copes. For the rest of the year, they wore black cloth copes. In the choir in winter they wore hooded cloaks made of heavy black cloth.

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An organ was installed in the cathedral in 1501. It was damaged by the Protestants in 1562. An organist was appointed in 1583, but what instrument, if any, he played is not certain since plans were not made to repair the organ until 1588. A chaplain was appointed organist in 1588. Evidently, a thorough reconstruction of the organ was carried out in 1602. Further repairs took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.24 Members of the laity were free to attend masses in the cathedral, including the so-called obit masses said in the chapels for the deceased donors who had established endowments for the purpose. They were also invited for Lenten sermons. Members of the laity were not allowed into the choir and the canons had to take actions on a number of occasions in the seventeenth century to keep beggars out of the nave. The cathedral was not a parish church. The people of Coutances were members of one of two parishes and attended one of the two churches located near the cathedral, St-Pierre to the south and StNicolas to the north. The parishioners of the latter had once gathered for Sunday mass at the chapel of St-Nicolas in the cathedral, but the canons found this disturbing. They arranged for a chapel to be built where the church of St-Nicolas now stands. It was burned down by the Huguenots in the sixteenth century and then rebuilt.25 As noted, the primary role of the canons was to sing the divine office every day. They began with Matins which took place at 4 a.m. from Easter to All Saints’ Day and at 5 a.m. during the rest of the year. The other services were Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Compline, which were spread over the day and evening. In addition to chanting the office, the canons participated in many religious ceremonies, including a daily morning high mass. The chapter kept a collection of documents known as Usages which provides minute details for every aspect of the liturgical life of the chapter. For example, it took four double-sized pages to set out all the rules for bell ringing for all possible occasions.26 A description of the ceremonies carried out on the major feasts when the bishop was required to participate provides an idea of the lives of the canons. They started with a procession through the cathedral. Before the procession began holy water was sprinkled on the clergy assembled in the choir. The first person to move into the nave was a choir boy carrying a container of holy water used to bless those in the

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cathedral, followed by two of his confreres carrying incense and two others carrying thuribles filled with charcoal and incense. Then came a deacon carrying the processional cross and two subdeacons carrying the sacred books to be used in the ceremonies. They were followed by two deacons, one of whom had to be a canon, along with a subdeacon and two priests clothed in chasubles. Then came the four archpriests of the diocese, followed by the cantor and two canons wearing silk copes. At the end (the most prestigious position in clerical processions) came the bishop proceeded by the four archdeacons, accompanied by two acolytes holding processional candles and followed by his chaplain. The procession returned to the choir and mass was sung. Any laity present remained in the nave. The houses of the canons were located together in a cloister known as l’Enclos-Notre-Dame, to the north of the cathedral in the area bounded today by the rue du Perthuis-Trouard and the Square Flandres Dunkerque. This was also the original location of the episcopal palace. The latter was moved to its present position to the south of the cathedral in the 1630s and completely rebuilt on the same spot in the mid-eighteenth century and, again, after its destruction in 1944. Over time a number of the canons came to live outside the cloister, especially on what is now rue Amiral-L’Hermitte, located between the cathedral and the former seminary. The houses owned by the chapter were reserved for canons and others connected with the chapter. The chapter decided who got a house when a vacancy occurred. Since the houses were worth different amounts, the revenue from them was shared when they were rented. Renting took place when no canon wanted a particular house. Who could rent was always a controversial issue. The houses in the Enclos had been built by Richard de Poilley, the archdeacon of Chrétienté, using church funds. In 1213 he gave them to the canons in return for a pound of pepper each year. Each canon was to pay 100 sous per year for his house and this sum would be divided among the canons and other clerics who participated in an annual memorial service for Poilley. At least as early as 1476 the rent paid for the houses was set through discussion in the chapter. The houses were rebuilt by Bishop Herbert at the beginning of the sixteenth century. By 1618 they were reported to be in a terrible state. They were rebuilt in the mid-seventeenth century, but by 1683 they were reported to be

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in bad shape again. Canons who were not living in their houses at that time were charged for the necessary repairs. When Jacques Pouret was writing his summary of the chapter minutes in the eighteenth century, the houses seem to have been in good repair.27 During the twelfth century, popes had begun to grant dispensations to Norman canons to possess more than one benefice and to be absent from their cathedral for long periods. The late fifteenth century, the time from which chapter records are available, was a low point in the life of the chapter of Coutances. At some time in the fifteenth century, the pope dispensed everyone holding a benefice from the bishop or the chapter of Coutances from having to reside in any of their benefices. The early sixteenth century was not much better. A chapter document from 1508 discusses at length the right of chapter members to hunt on chapter lands. This was said to apply to the archdeacons while on their rounds of parish visitation and to the canons in general when they were not performing their religious duties.28 According to the extant records of chapter deliberations, the first sign of reform activity came in 1496 when it was ordered that all the statutes be read aloud, word for word, so that all canons would conform to them. By the early 1540s a copy of the statutes was hung in the choir so that everyone could read them. According to the chapter’s official collection of its statutes, the earliest reforms came between 1538 and 1543, during the episcopate of Phillipe de Cossé, although it is not known who was responsible for them. Another period of reform occurred in the late 1570s, with a third in the late 1580s, both during the episcopate of Arthur de Cossé. Nicolas de Briroy was probably the person responsible for the latter. The canons were particularly intent on forcing the vicars, chaplains, and habitués to dress decently, fulfill their duties on pain of not getting paid, and to refrain from worldly amusements, especially drinking in taverns. The habitués were considered a problem until the end of the seventeenth century; the chaplains were a particular concern in the late sixteenth century, while the period of vicar reform runs from the late sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. Reform of the canons themselves was concentrated in the seventeenth century.29 The use of French in chapter records and proceedings was first proposed on 11 December 1573 by Nicolas de Briroy and the chapter treasurer, but the proposal met with resistance. The records are mostly in

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Latin to 28 July 1575. After that date a significant number of records are missing. When the next register begins on 3 February 1578 French appears more often, though Latin predominated into the early seventeenth century. It was not until the years 1612 to 1619 that French became progressively the dominant language in the chapter records. Another issue during much of the sixteenth century was the banning of assorted popular practices – for example, releasing pigeons in the nave on Pentecost, bringing animals into the church at Christmas, and placing the youngest choir boy in charge of everyone on December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents – from the cathedral.30 The chapter statutes reveal that after the Wars of Religion periods of reform came in the years 1596 to 1600, between 1611 and 1616, in 1647, and then during the last years of each decade until the late 1670s. The reform statute of 7 August 1619 summed up the major efforts of the sixteenth and early seventeenth-century reformers. Canons, vicars, chaplains, and habitués were to have properly cut hair, beards, and tonsure; wear clothing appropriate to their ecclesiastical state; not go about in the city at night; not go to taverns or get drunk; not carry swords or other offensive weapons; nor do anything else scandalous. Not only was this ordinance to be posted so that no one could claim ignorance but any chapter member finding another member breaking the rules could make him a prisoner.31 In the second and third decades of the seventeenth century, the attention of the reformers switched from behaviour outside the cathedral and cloister to that which took place inside. Controlling walking around and talking during services, particularly by the habitués, had been a sixteenth-century concern. Nevertheless, as late as 5 November 1681 the chapter put someone in charge of catching those who talked or walked around the cathedral during services. Despite that effort, complaints were registered again in the general chapter meeting of 16 August 1686 about talking in choir, frequent exiting of the choir during the office, and walking about in the nave and aisles of the cathedral.32 More attention began to be paid to the habit of some members of arriving late or leaving before the services were over. The statutes show that regulations setting minimum attendance standards (very much in the spirit of the Catholic Church from the Council of Trent to the Second Vatican Council) were established between 1538 and 1688. In 1656 the problem of latecomers was handled by reinstating the old custom

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of hissing at those who came to choir after the Gloria Patri was sung at the end of the first psalm of matins or vespers, or to mass after the epistle had been read. The purpose was “to force those who try to make false entries leave in confusion.” Having left, they could not claim payment for that service. The same treatment was prescribed on 5 January 1672 with the stipulation that the miscreants would be denied entry to the choir for a month (thus losing income). On the same date a whole series of prescriptions concerning differing minimum attendance regulations for canons, chaplains, and habitués were reviewed.33 The appointment of Italian bishops in the fifteenth century led to the appointment of a number of Italian canons, some connected to Bishop Giuliano della Rovere, but especially members of the extended family of Bishop Giovanni Castiglione. Some of the relatives of the latter were active participants in the life of the chapter, but a number of them appeared only occasionally. From the beginning of the seventeenth century into the early 1660s, a serious discipline problem was created by the behaviour of a number of canons who came from outside the diocese to inherit the canonicate of a relative. These men, including Jacques de Franquetot, cantor from 1626 to 1664, seem to have considered themselves above the laws of the chapter and frequently absented themselves. In context, their behaviour was analogous to that of the absentee abbots of the abbeys of the diocese at the time. Outsiders tended to ignore local concerns.34 Unexcused absences seem to have been under control by the mid1660s, except for Antoine-Louis de la Luzerne de Brévands, Franque­ tot’s nephew and successor as cantor. Nevertheless, there were still problems defining legitimate reasons for a leave. A new twist to the problem was the custom, evidently begun in 1614, of permitting young canons and chaplains to receive some payments from chapter funds while attending classes at the college in Coutances or elsewhere to prepare for ordination. How much they were to be paid and what proofs of attendance would be required created much debate in chapter meetings. A severe crackdown on canons who avoided ordination came in 1672, 1676, and 1692.35 During Lent in 1663, twice-weekly conferences were organized for the young clerics of the cathedral. By then proper clothing seems to have become common. However, the wearing of wigs was now a concern, just as lack of tonsure and growing a beard had bothered many

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canons in the sixteenth century. In 1650, when the first canon appeared in choir with a wig, it was pulled from his head and thrown into a fire. By 1676, however, the chapter had accepted that some canons could wear a wig for health reasons, but ruled that they could not perch a skull cap on top of the wig. Finally, there was the question of the so-called six months of rigour. A canon was not supposed to share fully in the benefits of membership, nor be permitted any absences, until he had attended all services for six months. From time to time some canons were allowed to buy their way out of this requirement by donating church furnishings. This practice resurfaced as late as 1707, but by the early 1680s good order generally prevailed. What of the outside world? The concern of the leaders of the chapter was to keep the canons, vicars, chaplains, and habitués out of the world and the world out of the cloister. The seventeenth-century chapter records contain some documents which addressed the disciplining of a number of canons. Their crimes were drunkenness, gambling, attending plays, and living with women. The miscreants often ended up in the episcopal prison which was under the supervision of laymen. Letters to the chapter, from the likes of a cathedral chaplain, Guillaume Martin, charged in 1650 with wearing a wig in the choir and chasing and trying to kiss a young girl, make interesting reading. He complained of the food and the cold and damp in the jail and protested his innocence. The longest-serving cleric seems to have been the chaplain Guillaume Jordan who wrote a series of petitions to the chapter between 1669 and 1675 begging for release from prison.36 It was not only a matter of keeping the members of the chapter away from the outside world. That world also invaded the cathedral. Chapter deliberation records are lacking for the period of the Hundred Years War, but they make it clear that the problems created by the growth of adherents to Protestantism were a particular concern of the canons in the 1560s. The first remedy adopted to meet the threat was frequent sermons in the cathedral. Not surprisingly, this did not help matters. The next step was careful locking of the cathedral at night. Despite this precaution, in early December 1561 a group of Protestants forced their way into the cathedral, threw the priest custodian out of a tower window (he survived to report to the chapter), and held a service.37

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As the number and belligerence of the Protestants grew, chapter income was curtailed and much property was damaged, including the cathedral itself when, in early August 1562, Huguenots broke statues on the outside, emptied the tabernacle, destroyed the organ, damaged some of the chapels, and burned part of the interior, including the canons’ choir stalls. For several extended periods in 1562–1563, no meetings of the chapter were held. The chapter then decided that the only option was to meet in the Circata Chapel behind the main altar. The choir stalls were not restored until 1586. The chapels that had been damaged were rededicated in 1573. Between 1572 and 1574 Protestants were responsible for several disturbances in and around Cou­tances. As late as 1579 Huguenots burned down the church of the Franciscans in Coutances.38 The only other times when large numbers of canons were absent over extended periods were during the recurring attacks of the plague during the 1620s and 1630s. A major concern of the first half of the seventeenth century was finding means to restore the property and income of the chapter after the Wars of Religion.39 The chapter archives served as a storehouse of precedent useful for every occasion when the chapter members thought that outsiders – whether pope, bishop, king, nobles, government officials, or anyone else – were challenging their rights, property, or privileges. The extreme example of this was the amount of time and effort spent by chapter officials in the early sixteenth century to protect their possessions, tithes, and other revenues. Their work culminated in their obtaining a papal bull in 1536 which threatened excommunication and other ecclesiastical penalties for anyone who challenged the rights of the members of the chapter to the tithes of fifty-eight parishes that had been given to them from “time immemorial,” along with many more recent gifts of revenue or rights of appointment specified in the document. Within less than thirty years, both the royal government and the Protestants would ignore the bull.40 Bishops were a special case. Although technically a member of the chapter, in practice the bishop was a potential or actual threat to chapter autonomy, privilege, and financial resources. Episcopal efforts to reform the diocese were a special threat. Every time a bishop issued reform statutes, the canons insisted that they should not apply to them.

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Their reasons were many, ranging from papal decrees and prior agreements with one of the bishop’s predecessors to immemorial custom. The most prolonged dispute of the chapter with a bishop was with Claude Auvry in the mid-seventeenth century. Involved were both privilege and money. As early as April 1643 the chapter was concerned with the poor physical shape of the cathedral, including the timber arches, roof, windows, doors, and towers. In December 1644 wind pushed a significant amount of water through one of the doorways. After Auvry arrived in the diocese in September 1647, the chapter told him of the need of repairs. In fact, Auvry already knew this because his predecessor had promised to provide Auvry with money for cathedral repairs. Matters came to a head when a severe storm damaged the cathedral on 19 September 1650. Auvry told the chapter that it was their duty to pay for the repairs; the chapter said cathedral repairs had been the responsibility of bishops for eight hundred years, basing its claim on the agreement between Bishop Jean d’Essey and the chapter in 1263. The chapter, as always, was very protective of every precedent in its favour, while Auvry was ultra-sensitive to every perceived insult. After a second severe storm damaged the cathedral further in November 1651, the matter eventually ended up before the Requêtes de l’Hôtel in Paris. In 1652 that court decided that the bishop had to pay two-thirds of the cost, the chapter one-third. Despite this, the dispute was not settled until April 1658, five months before Auvry resigned his bishopric. By 1661 regular repairs were being made on the church under the supervision of the chapter, which paid part of the cost.41 The issue of payment for cathedral expenses did not disappear. In 1730 the chapter and Bishop Matignon reviewed the agreements made between bishops and the chapter in 1235, 1263, 1299, 1657, 1658, and 1724 and agreed on a list of the expenses for which each would be responsible.42 The chapter, like many religious houses, especially of women, suffered financially in the early 1720s. The problems were the rise in costs over the years and the radical decrease in the value of investments, both part of the unintended results of John Law’s banking and investment schemes. Because of the extent of its property holdings and through cost-cutting, the chapter was able to recover financially. Part of the recovery program was obtaining Bishop Matignon’s approval to

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reduce the number of obits (prayers for the deceased) paid for by past donations.43 All in all, the reforms had been successful, and during the eighteenth century life ticked along relatively serenely within the chapter until at least until 1777 when the extant records of deliberations end. Attendance at choir in proper attire was normal; the canons were well educated and almost all of them were ordained, did not carouse and, in general, fulfilled their canonical duties, though the rules permitted many holidays. How typical was the chapter of Coutances of the chapters of its region? A careful sampling of the extant records of deliberations by the chapters of the cathedrals of Bayeux, Évreux, Lisieux, Rouen, Sées, Nantes, and Vannes indicates that at least until the 1780s the members of the chapter of Coutances were very much like the members of the other chapters of Normandy and those in Brittany in their preoccupations, concerns, and problems.44 In a 1790 report to the government, the chapter stated that the canons were resident and carried out their duties, except when legitimately excused. What scraps of information are available for the years after 1777 about attendance at choir and chapter meetings indicates that the statement may have been an exaggeration. The events of the 1780s might explain the change.45 In 1780 Marie-Louis Cussy, who was well thought of in Coutances, resigned the office of cantor (but not his canonicate) to Jacques-Louis d’Hauchemail, who had just been admitted to the chapter. Hauchemail had a doctorate in theology, but he was only twenty-five years old. He was described by his many enemies as a tall, arrogant person who lacked a classical education, was too young, and had a face disfigured by a too small mouth and a too short nose. From the start of his cantorship he was involved in disputes with his fellow canons, often over minor matters, accusing them, among other things, of usurping his powers, denying him his rights, and not attending matins. They denied these charges. His greatest enemy was Jacques Hullot, who had the support of a varying number of other canons, depending on the issue. The fact that d’Hauchemail was young, new to the chapter, from a noble family, and arrogant, while Hullot, from a peasant family, had been a canon since 1760 and had experience both as a government

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official and as an entrepreneur involved in financing cod fishing expeditions off Newfoundland, may well have had something to do with their mutual animosity.46 In the latter part of the eighteenth century, the reputation of the members of the cathedral chapter among the people of Coutances was mixed. Several of the canons were well regarded for their involvement in the political life of the city and province. Others had a reputation for saintliness. Several were involved in business or land acquisition. Then came the actions of d’Hauchemail. The insults he directed at Bishop Talaru were public knowledge. His disputes with his colleagues, often over minor issues, became matters of public gossip thanks to his involving a number of notaries. In addition, the efforts of a number of canons to protect their privileges in the days immediately before the French Revolution did not sit well with the more liberal part of Coutances society, while the charitable activities of a few canons gained them favour.47 In 1790 a report on the resources of the chapter showed that financially all was well (unlike the bishopric which was in debt). The chapter reported assets of 108,386 livres, 8 sols. Outstanding bills, including salaries for curés and vicars of the parishes that paid their tithes to the chapter, amounted to 8,835 livres, 8 sols. In addition, repairs to parish buildings were needed which totaled 4,977 livres, 11 sols. This left a sum of 94,573 livres, 9 sols. This sum was divided by 28.5 (as always, the six vicars of the high altar were counted as 1.5 canons) so that as the chapter was dissolved by the revolutionary government, each canon received 3,318 livres, 7 sols, 4 deniers and each vicar received 829 livres, 5 sols, 10 deniers.48 Émile Vivier has provided details of the wealth of two of the canons. Jacques Varin was from an office-holding family, enjoyed good food and wine, amassed a sizeable fortune, and left his heirs almost 55,000 livres, along with a significant amount of land, houses, books, and furniture. Jacques Hullot, from a peasant family, left behind an estate worth 21,500 livres, including all his possessions. The cantor between 1763 and 1780, Marie-Léonor de Cussy, canon, vicar general, and archdeacon of Cotentin had an income of 9,342 livres. Jacques-Louis d’Hauchemail had a yearly income from all his offices and benefices of 11,686 livres, fifteen times the income of a parish priest receiving the portion congrue.49

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The social status of the families of twenty-seven of the thirty-four canons who were members of the chapter at some point during the 1780s can be identified. Fifteen of the families were noble, four were bourgeois, and eight were peasant. All but one of the thirty-four came from Normandy. The exception, Gabriel Valesque, came from Lyon with Bishop Talaru. Twenty of the canons were from the Diocese of Coutances, including six who came from the city of itself.50 Three of the twenty-six canons in office in 1789 are known to have been interested in the ideas of the philosophes. These three and nine more were supportive of the French Revolution in its early days. Twelve canons tried to protect their privileges before and during the meetings in Coutances preparatory to the Estates General. Once the revolution began, three and, perhaps, four canons took the oath supporting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, even though canons were not required to do this. Five or six canons fled the revolution as emigrés, two were executed during the Reign of Terror, five went into hiding in France. Nothing certain is known about the others, suggesting that they had found ways to escape notice.51 The world of Jacques Pouret came to a close when the chapter of Coutances was dissolved by the revolutionary government. Both the canons and the property of the chapter were dispersed. That was that – a thousand years of service to the church of Coutances ended with the dividing up of resources among its members. Three pre-revolutionary canons were part of the chapter reconstituted after the Concordat of 1801, but the world had changed forever. The canons of the nineteenth century, like Ernest Fleury, held what amounted to an honorary position without significant function or economic reward.52 What were the catholicisms of the members of the chapter of Cou­ tances? The canons would have agreed with Bishop Vivien (bp 1202– 1208), as did their predecessors, the chapter of the early thirteenth century: income was important for status. Bishop Vivien increased the revenue of the cantor significantly because, he said, dignity is supported by riches and the revenue of the cantor “is too little to uphold the qualité of the head of such a noble chapter.”53 The catholicism of a significant number of the canons and the other clerics who were part of the Coutances cathedral community seems to have had a distinct routineness. Chanting the office, saying mass, marching in processions, ringing bells; these were jobs that had to be

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done unless one could find an acceptable excuse – which many did. As seen above, there were some archdeacons who were reformers. Particularly in the seventeenth century some of the leaders of the chapter made serious efforts to educate young canons and to reform vicars, chaplains, and habitués. By the end of the eighteenth century, almost everyone seems to have been following a proper routine, though with the usual controversy found in small religious, and other, organizations. But there is little evidence of true devotion. There was a job to do and you did it and you expected to be paid for each part of the job, each time it was done. Along with the job came a comfortable way of life (even if you were cold sitting in the choir in the winter and had to rise early in the morning) and plenty to eat. Was there more? Except in relatively few cases the evidence does not exist to make a firm judgment.54 The one major exception is provided by the visiting activity of some of the archdeacons. There can be no doubt that they took their duties seriously. Though they visited at different times in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in different places and had different personalities, these men shared concerns that the sacraments and religious instruction be made available to the laity by parish priests who lived good lives and maintained “decent” churches and cemeteries and that the laity perform the required religious duties of learning the basics of their faith, attendance at (not active participation in) mass on Sundays and religious feast days, performance of their Easter duty, observing required fasting and abstinence, and avoiding debauchery of every sort. There is no indication that they expected any more than these minimum requirements, but that was the standard approach of the Catholic Reformation. Members of the laity were perceived as not being capable of more. There is no sign of interest in encouraging “saintly” behaviour in others, nor is there any evidence that most of them required any more than the minimum expected of clerics for themselves. The definite exception is Jean-Jacques Blouet de Camilly. As will be seen more fully in chapter 6, he was a saintly man. A distinctly possible exception is Nicolas de Briroy. The other visiting archdeacons seem to have been very much like Toustain de Billy. Catholicism was an integral part of their lives. They did not question it, nor did they strive for heroic virtue. They had a role, they carried it out. There were requirements, they fulfilled them.

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There were privileges, they enjoyed them. Sometimes custom permitted corners to be cut; that was how the world was. As explained at the beginning of this chapter, the canons were not the only members of the clerical elite of Coutances. Some information is available for some members of two other types of elite clergy. These are the men who left the diocese to study in Paris and found an ecclesiastical career there and the clerics of the Diocese of Coutances who became bishops of other dioceses. There was a third elite group, that of diocesan officials. The bishop’s suite of officials was led by the vicar general who often was a canon. The archdeacons also had split loyalties. Under them were the deans, who were not chapter members. In addition, there were other episcopal officers in charge of ecclesiastical courts and revenue collection. In some cases only their names are known. Much more often not even that is known. The first of the elite groups for which some information survives was composed of young men of the Diocese of Coutances who were thought to have intellectual talent. They were often provided with a bursary at the Collège d’Harcourt in Paris, which enabled them to obtain a university education. The college was founded in 1280 by Raoul d’Harcourt, a canon of Notre-Dame in Paris and formerly the archdeacon of Cotentin, and expanded in 1311 by his brother Rob­ert, bishop of Coutances. Those among the six choir boys who were deemed to have the necessary intellectual ability were provided with special bursaries. Several chaplain positions in the cathedral were reserved for former choir boys who had studied in Paris and received a degree. As noted in chapter 3, in the early sixteenth century Bishop Geoffroy Herbert endowed fourteen scholarships at the Collège d’Har­court for natives of the diocese of Coutances.55 On the basis of the work of James Farge and Vladimir Angelo, eight students who came from Coutances to study in Paris have been identified because of their subsequent careers either as members of the faculty of theology in the University of Paris during the years 1500 to 1536 or as curés of Paris parishes during the sixteenth century. Enough information about their lives has survived to make it possible to provide an indication of their catholicisms.56 All but one of the eight held the position of curé for at least part of their careers. Five held that position in the city of Paris, one in the outer

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part of the Diocese of Paris, and one in the Diocese of Coutances. Parisian curés of the time have been described as learned (they had to have at least a Master of Arts degree), ambitious men who lived much like their better-off parishioners and saw themselves as professionals with a duty to be in residence. They were the dispensers of sacraments and providers of solid, traditional religious instruction, but they expected to be paid any fee that was due to them for other non-sacramental activities and not to pay any sums they were not legally obliged to pay. However, there is no evidence that any of them used their position to enrich themselves. All available evidence indicates that they were positively influenced by the First Catholic Reformation and far more reformed than either the Parisian clergy who were neither curés nor vicars or the rural clergy throughout France.57 Guillaume Duchesne (c. 1450–1525), who came from the parish of St-Sever in the southeast of the diocese, was probably the oldest of the eight known individuals from Coutances. He gained his doctorate in theology in 1496 and favoured the moderate religious reform program of Josse Clichtove. As a supporter of Noel Beda he would have been an opponent of Erasmus. He was considered a conservative who preached often against the theology of Martin Luther. He attended the Council of Pisa-Milan (1511–1512) and was active in the faculty of theology, often charged with examining cases concerning matters of scriptural interpretation and charges of heresy. Probably the next oldest of the eight, Robert Goulet, who was born near St-Lô, earned his doctorate in 1504, and died in 1538. He held multiple benefices, including a Parisian parish for about six years. Goulet was active in the faculty of theology and was its dean for three years. He was well known for his book, published in 1517, describing the organization of the University of Paris. It is important enough to have been translated into English in 1928 and into French in 1978. His other books, published between 1514 and 1535, concerned scriptural history. He spent many years away from Paris serving as the head of the Collège d’Avranches. His patrons were Geoffroy Herbert, the bishop of Coutances, and his brother Louis Herbert, who was bishop of Avranches from 1512 to 1527.58 Besides Goulet, two others among the eight, Jean Michel and Margarin Quesnel, both doctors of theology, were also known for their attempts (partially successful) to accumulate benefices. Michel, the

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nephew of Guillaume de la Mare, curé of Mesnil-Amey, canon of Cou­ tances, and rector of the University of Caen, was reprimanded on at least two occasions by the chapter of Notre-Dame. In 1508 he served eight months in the ecclesiastical prison for absenteeism and associating with “mauvais garçons” in the cloister. Later he was reprimanded again for absenteeism, dissolute morals, and wearing unsuitable clothes. Despite this he was a Parisian curé from 1522 to 1551. Subsequently, he held several other positions in the Diocese of Paris before returning to Coutances to take up life in the seigneuries he inherited. In 1550 he was appointed a canon of Coutances and chancellor of the diocese. He was also curé of Muneville-le-Bingard, located a short distance north of Coutances. Michel donated money to the Collège d’Harcourt, where he had both studied and taught, and for the foundation of the Collège de Coutances. He was the author of two books written in Latin. One was on the ecclesiastical estate and the other was on the veneration of the sacred host. The second book, which was subsequently translated into French, was written in reaction to Protestant theology. He died suddenly in 1572 at the age of ninety while sitting in his choir stall in the cathedral. Of the eight Coutances natives under discussion, only Thomas Lamy, who received his doctorate in theology in 1573 and was curé of the parish of Saints-Innocents in Paris between 1584 and 1588, died later than Michel. Guillaume Le Sauvaige, who received his doctorate in 1512, spent much of his career in Paris involved in education, both in the colleges and in the faculty of theology of the University of Paris where he was involved in various activities. He was known for his eloquence and urbanity. Some of his associates commented that these attributes contrasted with his name and nicknamed him Silvestri. They were probably also joking about his diocese of origin. Le Sauvaige was a curé of a parish in the Diocese of Paris, at least between 1508 and 1513, and may well have been resident there. In his later years he lived in the Collège d’Harcourt where he died in October 1526. The collection of 150 books found in his rooms after his death, including thirteen works by Erasmus and six by Lefèvre d’Étaples, shows that he was very interested in church reform. Two of the eight Coutances natives have not been mentioned. Pierre Compere received his doctorate in theology in 1511. He was evidently active in the faculty of theology, but only one instance of his taking

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any leadership is known. He was unsuccessful in his two known attempts to gain a benefice. The least is known about Thomas Frémin, who earned a bachelor’s degree in canon law and held various benefices in the city of Paris before becoming curé of Ste-Marie-Madeleinede-la-Ville-l’Évêque in 1521. His parish church was the predecessor of the present-day church of the Madeleine. Based on the available evidence, the catholicism of these eight sixteenth-century natives of Coutances could be described as a combination of acceptance of traditional practices and support for reform within the Catholic Church. They were active men who considered the clerical state to be a profession with firmly established duties and privileges, both of which they accepted as natural and normal, often including the holding of multiple benefices, even those with the care of souls. Their interest in reform and participation in the non-clerical world separated them from the majority of the canons of the cathedral of Coutances. One other native of Coutances who attended the Collège d’Har­ court and took a degree in theology has been identified. His career was quite different from those of the eight men just discussed. Jean Michel, a nephew of the Jean Michel who was one of the eight, was born in Coutances in 1526, studied at the Collège de Coutances, and then went on to the Collège d’Harcourt. After receiving his doctorate in theology, he joined the strict Carthusian Order in Paris. Over time he became prior of the Paris house, then of the mother house, and finally general of the order. He wrote three books, including one that provides an important clue to the spiritual lives of the canons and monks of prerevolutionary Europe by presenting a method of maintaining attention during the chanting of the office. He died on 29 January 1600.59 There is no doubt that over the centuries many other young men went from the Diocese of Coutances to Paris and had an ecclesiastical career there, but no other group of them has been identified. A few individuals from other centuries are known, but there is not enough evidence available to make it possible to describe their catholicisms. An example is Raoul Le Pileur (d. 1652), a priest and doctor of theology who was born in the Diocese of Coutances and was the théologal of the Coutances chapter when he took possession of the diocese in the name of Léonor de Matignon in 1624. Subsequently he was appointed vicar general of Coutances and then followed Matignon to Lisieux

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where he assumed the same position. In both dioceses he was a strong supporter the missionary work of Jean Eudes. Other examples include two priests from the Diocese of Coutances who had careers in Paris and between 1650 and 1663 established endowments for the teaching of catechism in the diocese.60 Not members of the clerical elite, but worthy of note, were clerics of the diocese who wrote books that gained attention. A striking example was Jean Lecourt, curé of Herqueville, who wrote three books. The first was published in Coutances in 1657 by Robert de Cocquerel with a title that began with the words De la création et immortalité de l’âme. It could be called a spiritual self-help book, though how many could persevere through its 375 pages is not known. For those who wish to try, a copy still exists in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. No copy of his other two books is known to be extant. The first was published by the same printer in the same year as De la création. It was a spiritual biography titled La vie de la bienheureuse sainte Avoye. In the following year his third book appeared, again published by Cocquerel, with the title Les sacrés triomphes de la Croix. Another group of elite clergy living in the Diocese of Coutances were the abbots of the monasteries of the diocese. The catholicisms of these men will be discussed in the next chapter. The final group of elite clergy connected with the Diocese of Cou­ tances is composed of the six men who came from Coutances and became bishops in other dioceses during the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. As seen in chapter 3, three natives of the diocese became bishops of Coutances: Nicolas de Briroy, Léonor I de Matignon, and Léonor II de Matignon. Two other Matignons who were natives of the diocese became bishops outside the diocese. One, also named Léonor de Matignon, was bishop of Lisieux between 1675 and 1714, while his younger brother Jacques was bishop of Condom between 1672 and 1693. They were nephews of the reformer Léonor I of Coutances. Their mother, Anne Malon de Bercy, was a member of the dévot community of Normandy, a patron of the missionary and reformer Jean Eudes, and responsible for the establishment of the Nouvelles Catholiques convent in St-Lô discussed in the following chapter. While neither Léonor nor Jacques matched their uncle’s reforming activity, Léonor was active as a parish visitor and, especially, a promulgator of synodal statutes. His decision

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to resign as in commendam abbot of Lessay in 1714 opened the way for its reform. Jacques promulgated one set of synodal statutes. He seems to have acted like many others who were members of a well-connected noble family. He accepted lucrative and prestigious ecclesiastical posts as his right with little concern for his religious duties.61 Jacques Du Perron (c. 1590–1649) was born in St-Lô. Little is known of him except that he was the grand almoner of Louis XIII’s sister and was with her for several years in England when she was queen. He was bishop of Angoulême (1636–1646) and Évreux (1648–1649). His two uncles are often claimed as natives of the Diocese of Coutances, especially the older, Jacques Davy Du Perron. Jacques (1556–1618) was the son of a convert to Protestantism who left the Diocese of Coutances, probably slightly before his son’s birth in Berne, Switzerland. Jacques became a Catholic sometime before 1584 and later played an important part in the conversion of Henry IV, as well as a number of other prominent people. He became bishop of Évreux and then archbishop of Sens. He was skilled in apologetics, political and religious diplomacy, and in protection of the rights of the clergy and the pope. There is no reason to doubt either the sincerity of his conversion or that he tried to convince others to accept the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. He worked hard for king and harder for the church and its leaders, but he seems to have been more focused on this world than the next. Jacques’ brother Jean (c. 1565–1621), bishop of Sens from 1618 to 1621, was probably born in Vire, just outside the Diocese of Coutances. He lived in his brother’s shadow and little is known about him. He did, however, promulgate synodal statutes during his short episcopate. Nephew Jacques owed his career to his namesake. He was not a reformer.62 René Le Sauvage (c. 1635–1677), born near Granville, was bishop of Lavaur from 1673 to 1677. Jean-Hervé Bazan de Flamanville (1660–1721) was bishop of Perpignan from 1695 to 1721. Le Sauvage was an active reformer but his episcopal career was cut short by bad health. Bazan was an active educator and reformer. Both men were firmly committed to the ideals of the Second Catholic Reformation.63 The last bishop from Coutances in the Old Regime was JeanBaptiste-Charles-Marie de Beauvais, a native of Cherbourg, who was

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bishop of Senez from 1774 to 1783 when he resigned. He died in 1790. Throughout his episcopal career he was an active pastoral visitor.64 With the exception of the bishops born in the diocese, the archdeacons who visited parishes frequently, and the Coutançais known to have had a career in Paris, not enough is known to pronounce with certainty on the catholicism of the clerical elite of the Diocese of Coutances. However, the known details of their actions (and inaction) do not reveal any signs that any of them questioned their privileged place in society or their income. Over the centuries a number of canons were active in trying to reform their colleagues and, in the case of some of the archdeacons, the priests and people of the diocese. One sixteenth-century canon was accused of being a Protestant. At least two late eighteenth-century canons were interested in the ideas of the philosophes of the Enlightenment. This did not lead them to resign their positions, whether from conviction or for the sake of comfort. Nor are there any known cases of any member of the elite clergy, in or outside the cathedral, refusing the Last Sacraments. On the whole, the elite clergy of Coutances followed the rules and enjoyed the perquisites of a profession they had chosen or that had been chosen for them. Like the canons they probably had moved beyond the semi-pagan aspects of popular religion by the eighteenth century, but they had not entered fully into the spirit of the Catholic Reformation. The certain exceptions were the archdeacons who were the most active visitors.

A  5 The Catholicisms of the Religious of Coutances

There are several problems involved in discussing the catholicisms of the members of the religious orders of the diocese of Coutances. The first is establishing terminology to describe the variety of the religious organizations. In what follows, the words “religious order” are used to denote one of the religious orders, congregations, societies, clerical institutes, or secular institutes of the diocese approved by a pope or a bishop. The word “religious” is used to denote an individual member of a religious order, congregation, etc., bound by solemn or simple vows or promises and assigned, at least technically, to a religious community. The words “religious community” are used to describe a group of religious living in a specific location. The words “house” or “religious house” are used to denote the residence of a religious community. These residences included, but are not restricted to, abbeys (led by an abbot or abbess and inhabited by monks, nuns, canons or canonesses regular), priories led by a prior and inhabited by monks, nuns, canons and canonesses regular, or other religious, and convents inhabited by nuns, sisters, or filles séculières. The English word “convent” is customarily applied only to religious houses occupied by women, whereas the French word “couvent” refers to any religious house occupied by men or women that is not an abbey or priory; this includes what in English (and in this book) are known as friaries inhabited by mendicant friars. The word “couvent” is not used in this book. The word “monastery” is used as a general term to describe the residence of monks, nuns, and canons and canonesses regular, whether an abbey or a priory. A second and greater difficulty is the fact that little is known about life in the religious houses of the Diocese of Coutances. As explained

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in chapter 1, most of their records were confiscated by the government and placed in the departmental archives of la Manche which were destroyed in 1944. Series H, which contained the documents from the religious houses throughout the diocese, contained 3,600 folders occupying some 250 metres of shelf space. However, even if that catastrophe had not happened, we probably would not be much wiser about the catholicisms of the members of religious orders since most of the records in the archives were concerned with land and income.1 In the Diocese of Coutances during the years 1350 to 1789 approximately one hundred houses of male and female religious existed at one time or another. These communities were spread evenly across the diocese from north to south, but from east to west they were clustered in the vicinity of Coutances, St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, and St-Lô. There were two major periods of establishment. The first spanned the years from the mid-eleventh to the mid-twelfth century; the second took place during the seventeenth century. During the first period monasteries of monks, nuns, and canons regular were founded. During the second a wide variety of religious houses were founded. In the years between these two periods, only a few religious houses inhabited by monks, Franciscan or Dominican mendicants, or Augustinians were founded in the diocese.2 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who passed through the Diocese of Coutances in 1775, was not impressed by the fact that “monks” made up a great part of the inhabitants of a city that had little commercial activity. The “monks” of Coutances were actually Franciscan and Dominican friars, Eudiste priests who staffed the seminary, and the canons and other clerics connected with the cathedral chapter. Added to this would have been assorted clerics and religious visiting for church business. Altogether, this group probably made up about 170 individuals out of a population of some 4,000 – not all that many, but many more than Wraxall was used to seeing in England. Archbishop Eudes of Rouen carried out pastoral visits of twenty monasteries in the Diocese of Coutances between 1250 and 1266 and recorded the number of monks in each. He stopped at, but did not officially visit or give population figures for, seven other monasteries because they were exempt from episcopal oversight. Given the missing seven and the fact that he did not provide numbers for at least twenty priories, it can be safely estimated that there were between

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300 and 350 monks and canons in the diocese in the mid-thirteenth century.3 It is impossible to provide an accurate estimate of the total population of the religious houses for the years between 1266 and 1769 when the Commission des Réguliers took a census. It is doubtful, however, that there were ever more than 600 male and female religious in the diocese at any one time. Overall membership declined during the Hundred Years War, may have recovered somewhat in the late fifteenth century, and then definitely declined during the sixteenth century as monasteries lost members, especially during the Wars of Religion. Total membership climbed to its highest point in the seventeenth century because of the increasing number of male mendicants and missionaries and, especially, women involved in education and health services. By 1680 monastic numbers were sinking significantly. In 1692 there were only 26 monks in the five Benedictine abbeys of the diocese. By 1769 there were only 19 monks living in four of those abbeys.4 The total number of male religious in the Diocese of Coutances in 1769, not counting the Brothers of Christian Schools, was 163. The number of female religious was probably about 220. By the time all the religious houses in France were closed during the French Revolution, there had been a further decline in numbers.5 A further complication involved in understanding the role played in society by members of religious orders and their catholicisms is the fact that it is necessary to discuss the distinctions between the three concepts of clergy as a religious state, a social order, and a political estate, and their implications. Over time it became customary to divide Christians into three groups known usually as “religious states of life.” These were clergy, religious, and laity. The laity, by far the largest group, was defined negatively as the baptized males and females who were neither clergy nor religious. Religious were those Christian males and females who in some formal way, usually through vows, promised to lead a life in a community dedicated to prayer and some form of service to other members of the church, be it solely through their prayers or through prayer and some form of religious, educational, or social service. The clergy were males (at least since the sixth century) who were set apart from the laity and non-ordained religious by the ceremony of tonsure

The Catholicisms of the Religious of Coutances 127

which made them clerics. Subsequently, the cleric could receive power through one or more ordinations to perform certain religious rites for the laity and religious. During the Middle Ages it became accepted in France that everyone was a member of one of the three principal social orders: clergy, nobles, and commoners. In early modern French legal and political treatises, and during national or provincial meetings of the representative bodies known as estates general and provincial estates, the three orders were referred to as the three estates. The clergy and religious, often confusingly referred to together as the ecclesiastical order, formed the first estate. The nobility formed the second estate. The third estate was composed of everyone not included in the other two estates. In theory, members of the ecclesiastical order in France were those who had received one or more orders through ordination or had entered a religious order by taking solemn vows. In practice, anyone who had received tonsure or had formally declared an intention to take vows in a religious order by becoming a postulant or novice was treated as a member of the ecclesiastical order. Along with the nobles of the second estate, members of the ecclesiastical order were the privileged members of society. This meant that both clerics and religious (male and female) had a privileged place in French religious and secular society.6 The religious communities of the early modern Diocese of Cou­ tances can be divided into five or seven groups. To minimize confusion, the traditional ecclesiastical ranking of these groupings will determine the order in which the discussion of first the religious communities and then their catholicisms will proceed. According to the customary rules of precedence (based partly on the date of foundation, partly on the ecclesiastical rank of the leader), the most prestigious communities were male abbeys. Next in rank were the male priories, followed by commanderies and then other male religious communities. Within male religious communities there were various levels of status depending on the order in question. Beyond the superior (abbot, prior, etc.) the highest ranking members were ordained clerics, followed by choir religious or brothers, and then lay brothers (conversi). The least prestigious communities were the female convents which were inhabited by choir religious and lay sisters. Sometimes female abbeys and priories were included with the male

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versions; sometimes they were considered as a subspecies, in other instances as separate entities, in all cases inferior to male establishments, but superior to female convents. During the years 1350 to 1789 there were five abbeys of Benedictine monks and three of canons regular in the diocese. They were all founded, or refounded after the Viking invasions. All were damaged during the Hundred Years War and suffered the same fate during the Wars of Religion. One by one, on orders from the kings, the abbeys were placed under the financial control of in commendam abbots. These men were not members of the religious order concerned and had to be clerics only in the sense of having received tonsure. Two abbeys lost their independence in 1466. The first was St-Sever, in the far southwest of the diocese about eight kilometres from Vire, where Guillaume de Malestroit, titular archbishop of Thessalonika, be­ came in commendam abbot. The second was Notre-Dame-de-l’Étoile near Monte­bourg, about eight kilometres southeast of Valognes, where Guillaume Cardinal de Estouteville became the in commendam abbot. The next abbey to suffer this fate was St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, which had suffered heavily during the Hundred Years War. It was located near the town of the same name southwest of Valognes. The outsider who took over in 1472 was Reginald de Bourbon, Bishop of Laon. In 1484 the protonotary apostolic Jean Vaslin became in commendam abbot of the abbey of Ste-Trinité near Lessay, located about twenty kilometres north of Coutances.7 The monks and canons regular of two abbeys lost their independence during the first half of the sixteenth century. In 1510 the Augustinian abbey of Ste-Croix in St-Lô was given to Archdeacon Louis Herbert, the cousin of the bishop of Coutances. In 1548 François de Lautrec became in commendam abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Ste-Marie-de-Hambye, located about twenty kilometres southeast of Coutances. For this he traded his position of cantor of the Coutances chapter with Pierre Pinchon, who had been elected abbot in 1528.8 The last two abbeys of the diocese to come under the control of outsiders suffered that fate in 1557 and 1558. The canons regular of Premontré lived in the abbey of Blanchelande, located near Neufmesnil about three kilometres north of La Haye-du-Puits, in a place described in the Gallia Christiana as “deserted, rough and full of thorns.” In 1557 they came under the jurisdiction of François de Bouillers. He resigned

The Catholicisms of the Religious of Coutances 129

with a pension in 1575 and became bishop of Fréjus. In 1558 the canons regular of the abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Voeu in Cherbourg were forced to accept Guillaume de Fillastre as in commendam abbot. He died in the same year and the king accepted the nomination by his lieutenant general in Normandy of his young son, Lancelot de Matignon. Lancelot died in 1588 just after receiving the additional position of in commendam abbot of Lessay. At the time he was on the way to Rome to claim the see of Coutances to which the king had nominated him.9 A particularly striking example of the harm in commendam abbots could cause is provided by the case of the baron de Halberg, canon of Ratisbon (now Regensburg) in Bavaria, who was appointed in commendam abbot of the abbey of Ste-Croix in St-Lô in 1737 as a reward for his father’s service to the French cause in the Holy Roman Empire. He remained in the office until 1782 without ever visiting the abbey, paid little attention to spiritual matters, constantly changed priors, and concentrated on obtaining as much revenue as possible from the abbey.10 In 1680 the in commendam abbots of the eight abbeys in the diocese had a total revenue of 59,500 livres while the monks and canons who lived in them received 29,000 livres. The income of the abbeys was very unequal. The Benedictine abbey of Hambye was the poorest. The Benedictine abbeys of St-Sauveur and St-Sever and the Premonstratensian abbey of Blanchelande were not much better off. In the middle were the canons regulars of Ste-Croix in St-Lô, Notre-Dame-de-Voeu in Cherbourg, and the monks of Notre-Dame-de-l’Étoile in Montebourg. The extreme case was that of the wealthiest of the eight abbeys, the monastery of St-Trinité in Lessay, where Léonor I Matignon (Bishop of Coutances 1632–1646, Bishop of Lisieux 1646–1674), was the in commendam abbot from 1622 to 1680. In 1665 he received 15,000 livres while the monks received 6,000 livres. In 1714 his great nephew, Léonard III de Matignon (abbot in commendam 1714–1757 and Bishop of Coutances 1722–1757), gave up his revenue in exchange for a pension. The last two in commendam abbots were a diplomat and the archbishop of Besançon.11 In the mid-1720s the monetary arrangements at Lessay were the same as in 1665. The in commendam abbot of St-Sever received an annual income of 4,500 livres while the monks received 3,220 livres of which more than half went to various fixed charges. The in com-

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mendam abbot of Hambye received 15,000 livres a year. That left 1,500 livres for the eight monks. In Montebourg the in commendam abbot spent 4,000 livres to support the three monks and six secular priests who chanted the office and said the masses provided for in endowments. He pocketed the rest of his 20,000 livres income. At StSauveur-le-Vicomte the in commendam abbot spent about 1,200 livres to support one religious and four secular priests and kept about 10,800 livres for himself.12 By 1769 Hambye was vacant. The total annual revenue of the other seven abbeys had declined to 40,668 livres. At Lessay the in commendam abbot and eight monks had a combined annual revenue of 10,713 livres. Blanchelande’s income of 11,310 livres was shared (unequally) by the in commendam abbot and seventeen canons. The other five abbeys had an income ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 livres. NotreDame-de-Voeu, with ten canons and revenue of only 5,000 livres, was in the worst shape.13 In general, the in commendam abbots not only absorbed a significant proportion of the abbeys’ revenues; they usually ignored the material welfare of the religious and the upkeep of the buildings. This made it impossible for the monasteries to provide the traditional alms and other forms of aid to surrounding communities. In commendam abbots often ignored the material and spiritual needs of the parishes from which the abbeys collected the tithes. This had a profound affect on the attitude of the laity toward religious orders as seen in the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789. The in commendam abbots had no jurisdiction over an internal discipline already weakened by the disruptions of war, while the elected priors who, in theory, had that jurisdiction had few means available to enforce it. Exceptions did occur. In Coutances there were two. André Merlet reformed SteCroix in 1659 by making it part of the reformed Congregation of SteGeneviève. Léonor II de Matignon introduced the reform of St-Maur to Lessay in 1706 after having tried other means to bring reform to the abbey.14 Over time the practice of in commendam benefice holding created a convoluted system, not easily undone, that entangled many wellmeaning persons. For example, Gilles Poërier de Tallepied, the son of a président of the Élection of Valognes and a Benedictine monk, was the chambrier of the abbey of St-Étienne in Caen. As such he was re-

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sponsible for providing the clothing of the monks of his monastery. The money for this came from the revenues (amounting to some 4,000 livres) of two Benedictine priories in the Diocese of Coutances that were attached to his office (Fresne near Baupte and Selsouëf near StSauveur-le-Vicomte), along with the title of baron de Baupte. Since even sincere ecclesiastical reformers, such as Cardinals Du Perron and Richelieu, willingly benefited from the in commendam system, there was no chance that it could be eliminated. The two female abbeys in the diocese, both Benedictine, were founded in the seventeenth century. The first, Notre-Dame-deProtection, was established in Cherbourg in 1623 by Jean de Ravalet, seigneur de Tourlaville, and his wife with the understanding that the wife’s sister Charlotte de la Vigne, already a nun in the abbey of Vignats in the Diocese of Sées, would be the abbess. As was the case at Vignats, the new abbey followed the reform program inspired by the Catholic Reformation instituted by Louise de L’Hôpital in the abbey of Monti­villiers in the Diocese of Rouen. Near the end of 1626 a number of the religious died during an attack of the plague. The rest left Cherbourg, eventually settling in Valognes. They had planned to return after the plague ended, but the citizens of Valognes convinced the nuns to stay, which they did in 1629. By the time of the death of Abbess Charlotte in 1644, there were sixty nuns employed in educating girls and caring for aged women. By 1710 there were seventy-five. They maintained their reform and their activity until the abbey was closed by the revolutionary government in September 1792. The nuns of Notre-Dame were able to re-establish themselves after the Revolution. The only condition under which the municipal government would give them back their abbey was if they would become nurses in what was now a hospital. The remaining nuns wished to continue their traditional work and managed to acquire the former Capuchin friary in Valognes, which had been closed during the revolution. This is their home today, and they continue teaching and caring for the aged.15 What eventually became the second female abbey in the diocese was established in Coutances in 1633 as the priory of the Annunciation by Marthe de Malherbe, widow of François de Sarcilly de Brucourt. Her daughter Gabrielle was the first prioress. She brought three nuns with

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her from the abbey of Vignats. Marthe de Malherbe, who lived in the convent, died in 1648. Her daughter resigned as prioress in the following year. Because of internal problems four nuns from Notre Dame de Protection were sent to Coutances, with one of them serving as superior until 1653. In that year Charlotte-Scholastique de Carbonnel de Canisy, a member of a locally prominent noble family, was elected superior. By 1661 she had managed to transform the priory into the abbey of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. She was also responsible for the building of an expensive church which was destroyed during the French Revolution. After her death in 1679, her cousin Anne-Léonore became superior. She died in 1711. The nuns lodged women and educated noble and bourgeois girls in the abbey. They also provided a separate free school. The abbey, which then had thirty-eight nuns, was closed during the revolution and was never reopened.16 The ceremony in the cathedral of Coutances on 13 November 1661, during which Charlotte-Scholastique officially became abbess, shows clearly that an abbess, especially one from a noble family, had a significant status in both ecclesiastical and lay society. In the official documents she was referred to as “très noble religieuse dame” and signed the register of the chapter as abbots and abbesses of the diocese customarily did. When she signed the register it was resting on the main altar of the cathedral located in an area closed to women. Her signed oath is still pinned to the relevant page of the chapter deliberations.17 Between 1350 and 1789, there were somewhere in the neighbourhood of seventy priories of monks and canons regular in the Diocese of Coutances at one time or another. Almost all of them were small, dependent on an abbey, and led by a prior. Several of these abbeys were located outside the diocese. Two abbeys were particularly involved. These were the Benedictine abbeys of Le Mont St-Michel in the Diocese of Avranches and Cerisy-le-Forêt, located in the Diocese of Bayeux, just outside the boundary of the Diocese of Coutances. The first volume of Toustain de Billy’s Histoire ecclésiastique has numerous accounts of the founding of these houses, usually with lay support in the form of land or tithes.18 A significant number of priories were placed in commendam in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some disappeared, others joined the ranks of prieuré-cures which, in effect, were parish churches located

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in a benefice under the control of an abbey or priory, staffed by a priest who may or may not have been a member of the order concerned. By 1712 only twenty-two priories were still functioning as such with a prior of the order in place. Only two of them were still functioning as priories in 1789. These were the Benedictine priory of St-Fromond, founded in 1179, located about fifteen kilometres north of St-Lô, and the Trinitarian priory of Ste-Catherine de la Perrine, founded in 1238, which was about six kilometres west of St-Fromond, both in the deanery of Le Hommet.19 In the Middle Ages there were two female priories in the diocese, both part of the Benedictine order. One, the priory of Calvalande, located in Ouville about ten kilometres southeast of Coutances, closed in 1466 as a result of damages suffered during the Hundred Years War. Its possessions were amalgamated with those of the Hôtel-Dieu of Cou­tances.20 The other female priory was St-Michel-du-Bosq near Var­en­gue­bec, about nine kilometres northeast of La Haye-du-Puits. It seems to have done quite well between its founding in 1153 and its closure in 1793, except for the period of the Wars of Religion. Because of those wars, the monastery was deserted for a number of years before it was refounded in 1626 under an arrangement that temporarily united it to the abbey of Moutons in the Diocese of Avranches. After some difficulties, St-Michel had regained independence by 1641. Writing in the late seventeenth century, Toustain de Billy commented that the community had grown “to the honour of this diocese and the edification of all the people.”21 Despite its successful re-establishment, St-Michel was a source of worry for at least some male clerics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Council of Trent was quite firm about female religious houses. Nuns were not permitted to leave the cloister and no outsider was permitted entry without the written permission of the bishop or the superior. Further, because of “the rapacity and other crimes of evil men,” nuns whose monastery was located outside the walls of a town should be required by “bishops and other superiors” to relocate to an existing or new monastery within the walls “if they deem it expedient.” Secular force could be used if necessary.22 Though the synodal statutes of Coutances contain nothing about forcing nuns into towns, the male cleric responsible for drawing up the 1680–1681 financial statement of the diocese was worried about the

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priory of St-Michel and its “six or seven” nuns because it was located in the middle of a forest with only a hedge surrounding it, rather than a wall. He recommended that the monastery be transferred to a town “to avoid the disorders that could arrive.” That did not happen and the nuns continued to live in their accustomed location until the revolutionary government forced them to disband.23 For a time the Knights Templar had commanderies in Réville and Valcanville. The first was established in 1125, the second in 1215. After the suppression of the Templars in 1312, the two houses were taken over by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem (since 1530 usually known as the Knights of Malta). The Knights also had commanderies in Villedieu and, perhaps, Cambernon. Little is known about the last, though local tradition says that it was originally a Templar establishment. The Villedieu house was founded about 1130 by King Henry I of England. Members of religious orders took care of lepers and the sick at a number of locations. Estimates of the number of establishments for the care of lepers existing in the Diocese of Coutances range from twenty-seven to forty-six. All had been closed by 1600. There were at least ten Hôtels-Dieu functioning in the diocese in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These institutions were intended to care for the sick poor. The last male religious involved in this work were the Augustinian canons regular in Coutances. In the seventeenth century they were accused of not fulfilling all their duties and were left with only their religious duties. As will be seen below, the Hôtels-Dieu in Coutances and Vire were staffed by female religious beginning in the seventeenth century and were devoted to the care of the sick.24 Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, one Dominican friary was established in Coutances and three Franciscan friaries in Valognes, Granville, and on the Île de Chaussey off the coast near Granville. Friars of all four houses were involved in preaching throughout the diocese. This concerned a number of bishops because they had little control over this activity. The Île de Chaussey house disappeared relatively early. There was also a house of Franciscans on the island of Guernsey which was closed by order of King Henry VIII in 1538. The Dominican house in Coutances and the Franciscan friary in Granville suffered major damage during the Wars of Religion. Bishop Arthur de Cossé provided funds for the rebuilding of these two houses.25

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Pénitents of the Third Order of St Francis were established in St-Lô in 1629 where they were involved in catechetical work. The Capuchins, a reformed branch of the Franciscan order, established houses in Cou­ tances in 1616 and in Valognes in 1630. The Coutances community grew to thirty members. The Capuchins preached against the Huguenots, provided parish missions, and taught catechism in a number of parishes. In addition, they cultivated fruit trees, provided hospital care during epidemics, and, as Capuchins did throughout France, served as a municipal fire brigade. Reformed Dominicans came to MesnilGarnier near Villedieu in 1619. The members of what would become the Congrégation de Jésus et Marie (popularly known as the Eudistes because they were founded by Jean Eudes) in 1643 began preaching missions in the diocese in the 1630s. From 1650 onward they were in charge of seminary education, first in Coutances and then in Valognes. They also were in charge of the college in Valognes.26 The Jesuits established a general hospital in Cherbourg in 1682. The last male religious to arrive in the diocese were the Brothers of Christian Schools who had two houses, one in Coutances and one in Cherbourg, where they taught. In addition there was a Camaldolese hermitage in the forest of St-Sever near the monastery of the same name, most likely founded in the early seventeenth century.27 One convent of nuns, one of sisters, seven of filles séculières, and two which did not fit the usual classification system were established in the Diocese of Coutances during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, joining the two female abbeys and one female priory discussed above. The nuns took solemn vows and were bound by a papal constitution issued in 1566 to remain in their cloister. French bishops began to enforce this ruling early in the seventeenth century, but in 1607 it was agreed that women with solemn vows would be allowed to educate girls within their convent.28 The nuns who came to the diocese were Ursulines. They established convents in Coutances and Valognes where they followed the interpretation of the rule of St Augustine established by their founder, Angela de Merici, as modified over time by the intervention of French bishops and their own superiors. The Ursulines arrived in the diocese after 1640, but the destruction of the relevant records has made it impossible to discover when and from where they came. Most likely,

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the founders came from Caen in the neighbouring diocese of Bayeux where there was a vibrant community founded in 1624 by Ursulines from Paris. The attitude toward expansion of the dominant early superior, Mère Jourdaine de Bernières, suggests that the foundations came after the mid-1660s.29 The Ursuline community in Caen was influenced by the Third Order Franciscan Jean-Chrysostome de Saint-Lô (1594–1646), a leader of the Norman mystical school, and his disciple, the layman and Franciscan tertiary Jean de Bernières (1602–1659). Bernières was the brother of the superior of the Caen house during its formative years. Their writings, which emphasized an interior spiritual life and mysticism rather than external religious practice, also influenced Madame Guyon, the central figure in the development of Quietism. It is not surprising that the Caen Ursulines were as staunchly anti-Jansenist as the Jansenists were anti-Bernières. Jean-Chrysostome’s connection with the Third Order Franciscans of St-Lô provides another link for the Caen Ursulines with the Diocese of Coutances.30 Sisters who took private, simple vows lived in between the ecclesiastical rules, slowly becoming recognized as members of religious orders while escaping the requirement to stay in the cloister. The only representatives of this variation of religious life in Coutances were the Augustinian hospital sisters who were introduced to staff the HôtelsDieu in Coutances (1643) and the suburbs of Vire (1662). Those in Coutances were brought from Vernon to supplement the male Augustinian canons regular who, as seen above, were accused of neglecting their work. After the resistance of the male religious was suppressed, the two groups established a sharing of duties, but the controversy the canons created was not solved during the Ancien Régime, despite complicated ecclesiastical and civil proceedings. The hospital near Vire was staffed by sisters from Coutances.31 Filles séculières were an invention of the seventeenth century. Because they did not stay in a cloister, did not wear a veil, and did not take solemn vows, they were not considered as religious by the pope or the bishops. Though it would take a very long time for religious authorities to change this attitude, the filles soon came to be regarded as religious by most people in France and it became customary to refer to them as sisters. Some filles séculières took simple vows, others made promises, while some simply signed a notarized agreement to follow the

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community’s rules. Very importantly, unlike women who took solemn vows, they were generally required to bring a much smaller dowry with them when they entered a community. This opened a new way of life for women who did not come from wealthy noble or upper bourgeois families and wished to serve society in a wide range of social services including education, health care, and aid to the poor. This way of life also provided the same freedom from constant male control enjoyed by nuns but not by most other women in early modern Europe.32 A convent of Filles de le Bon Sauveur was established in St-Lô in 1712. The purpose of this foundation was to provide free education to young women and help the sick poor. They also trained rural school mistresses. Evidently, they also provided care for the insane and worked at rehabilitation of prostitutes. Convents of Filles de la Providence were established in St-Lô in 1728 and in Cherbourg at about the same time. They followed the rule of St Francis, taught in elementary schools, and trained girls for the lace-making trade. A house of the Daughters of Charity, founded by Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac, was established in 1688 in St-Marie-du-Mont (ten kilometres north of Carentan), in 1755 in Flammanville (five kilometres northwest of Les Pieux), and in 1767 in Coutances. In each case the duties of the filles were to run a hospital for the poor and provide education for girls.33 The Filles de l’Union Chrétienne (or des Nouvelles Catholiques) had a unique mission in the diocese – to teach in the course of several months the basics of Catholicism to women, especially between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, who were or had been Protestants, whether they wished this or not. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 the number of unwilling grew exponentially.34 In 1681 the first of these filles were brought to St-Lô by Anne de Malon, sister-in-law of Léonor I de Matignon, Bishop of Coutances. She was the mother of four nuns and of Léonor II de Matignon, Bishop of Lisieux from 1675 to 1714, and a financial supporter of the missions of Jean Eudes. The community had developed in Paris in the early 1650s under the influence of Saint Vincent de Paul. The women followed the rule of St Francis and were related to the Filles de la Providence. They also ran an external primary school for girls and provided rooms for women who wished to live in a religious community without becoming members of it. As time went on and the supply of Protestants declined, the sisters also taught trades to girls and helped the sick poor.35

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Two communities do not quite fit the usual classifications. A community of Augustinian canonesses regular, Les Filles de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame, was founded in Carentan in 1635. They were involved in education. A convent of Filles de l’Instruction Chrétienne was officially established in Périers in 1674 with the aid of the Eudiste superior of the Coutances seminary. They built on the educational activities of several women which had begun in 1652. In 1783 they became the Soeurs du Sacre-Coeur with a mission that included education, hospital work, and visiting of the sick in their homes. By 1790 they were in charge of three schools and one hospice in various parts of the diocese. Elizabeth Rapley, referring to all of France, states that by 1700 “there was hardly a town, however small, without at least one school for girls.” If this is true, then, despite the work of women religious, the Diocese of Coutances still had a way to go at the start of the fourth quarter of the seventeenth century. According to a report compiled in or near 1675 by the four archdeacons after their annual parish visitation tours, there were 104 schools for boys and 32 for girls in the diocese. As seen in chapter 3, subsequent to the report Bishop Brienne asked for the establishment of an additional 200 schools for boys and 176 schools for girls. Though new schools were founded, available records do not indicate that his goal had been reached by 1789.36 Older accounts of the founding of female religious communities usually give major credit to a male ecclesiastic. Recent studies indicate that it was the women themselves who were most responsible for the establishment and spread of the communities. The supposed priestfounders were the ones who dealt with opposition from ecclesiastical and secular bureaucrats who did not, and could not, believe that women were capable of acting on their own.37 There is little direct information available about the catholicisms of individual male and female religious of the Diocese of Coutances. But the rules and constitutions of the religious orders provide a means to ascertain what their catholicisms should have been. The known details of the lives of community members provide some measure of their actual catholicisms. Five of the eight male abbeys, the two female abbeys, at least fortysix of the male priories, and the two female priories followed the Rule of St Benedict formulated in the sixth century. This rule was moder-

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ate compared to earlier monastic rules. It provided detailed instructions for a life of prayer, reading, silence, and labour. A key feature was prompt and ungrudging obedience to the superior in all things lawful as a step toward obtaining humility. There was to be no private possession of anything without the leave of the abbot, who was, however, bound to supply the necessities of life. Fasting and abstinence from meat took place at specified times during the week and year. The paramount community activity was liturgical prayer throughout the day in the form of reciting the divine office, referred to as the Opus Dei (the work of God). Other duties included manual labour for support of the monastery, care of the sick in the community, and the provision of hospitality to all who came to the monastery. Actual observance varied over time. It can be taken for granted that at the founding of a monastery the rule was followed closely. However, the pastoral visits of Archbishop Eudes Rigaud of Rouen to the male Benedictine monasteries of the Diocese of Coutances in the years 1250, 1256, and 1266, about a century after their founding, show that over time reform was needed. The register of the visits of Archbishop Eudes is the only extant, comprehensive survey of the practice of the rule of St Benedict in the Diocese of Coutances. There are no surprises for anyone who has followed the lives of members of religious orders over the centuries. Abbots were often enjoined to keep better accounts and to make sure that guests were better cared for. The monks tended to eat meat more often than they were supposed to, too often slept in feather beds, did not follow all of the rules on fasting, and did not go to confession often enough. In addition, there were some instances where the laity were allowed too much access to the monastery. Visiting by women particularly bothered Eudes. Based on the evidence provided, this seems to have been most often because of the women’s devotion rather than monks’ lust. In general, the rule was followed better in the abbeys than in the dependent priories, especially when there were few monks residing there. Most often in these cases the monks were serving as parish priests whose parochial duties were bound to interfere with the prayer routine of monastic life.38 Whatever reforms were instituted as a result of the visits of Eudes, they faded over time. Donations from kings and nobles created wealth and consequent temptations to luxury in some of the abbeys. The

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death, disbursement, and destruction caused by the Hundred Years War seriously affected religious life, as did the imposition of in commendam leadership. Sixteenth-century efforts to reform Benedictine monasteries did not have any effect in the Diocese of Coutances. In fact, the overall effect of the attacks of Huguenot soldiers on the monasteries during the Wars of Religion was physical ruin far more serious than that suffered by the cathedral. In the aftermath, spiritual discipline collapsed. The one exception came at the end of the century. Between the death of Lancelot de Matignon in 1588 and 1620 there was no in commendam abbot in Lessay. Beginning in 1598 the old observance was reintroduced and lasted until the early 1620s. Reform decayed while Léonor I de Matignon was in commendam abbot between 1622 and 1680, especially after he exchanged the see of Coutances for that of Lisieux in 1646.39 The Maurist reform of Benedictine monasteries which began in 1616 at the abbey of St-Maur in Paris was strong in Normandy. As seen above, this reform was introduced in Lessay in 1706 by Leonor II de Matignon, Léonor I’s nephew. Lessay was the only abbey in the diocese where the reform was successful. Two attempts to introduce the Maur­ist reform at Hambye (1650 and 1731) failed. It was not even tried at the other Benedictine monasteries in the diocese. The Maurist method of reform united traditional Benedictine spirituality of communal liturgical prayer and work with that of the socalled French School of spirituality. The latter emphasized a personal experience of Jesus through meditation and a search for personal holiness aided by mortification of the body. The reform was introduced by bringing reformed monks into a monastery to practise the original monastic way while waiting for those who refused reform to die. This approach was adopted on the grounds that monks should not be forced to accept a way of life that they had not freely joined. This procedure required time and the expense of supporting both the non-reformed and reformed monks, while the in commendam abbot usually left only one third of the revenue for the monks. As money became available at Lessay it was used to repair or build new monastery buildings, including the church and library. The exchange of the abbatial revenue of Lessay for a pension by Léonor II Matignon in 1714 provided a substantial sum with which the non-reformed monks could be supported and the building process speeded up. Rebuilding was

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completed in 1752. The monks then lived a prayerful but comfortable life. However, by 1769 the spirit of the times had intervened and there were only eight monks left. The revolutionary government closed the monastery in 1791. By then there were only four monks left. Abbé Hulmel, the historian of Lessay, said of them, “It does not seem that their disappearance caused much regret.”40 Three of the four male Benedictine abbeys that refused to accept the Maurist reforms (Montebourg, Hambye, and St-Sauveur) were closed by the royal government in the early 1770s because there were too few monks left and because of unfavourable comments made to the royal commission charged with the investigation of monasteries. Secular priests were appointed to say the masses established by endowments. The other unreformed Benedictine abbey, St-Sever, had only six members in 1769, but it survived the 1770s closures mandated by the Commission des Réguliers because of special pleading by a conseiller of the Parlement of Rouen and because of its reputation as an observant monastery. This had not always been the case. Pastoral visits made in 1637 and 1639 had revealed an impoverished, minimally functioning monastery. In 1720 the curé of the neighbouring parish of St-Sever complained to a pastoral visitor that local women were entering the monastic enclosure. The complaint was not repeated during the next pastoral visit in 1723. St-Sever was closed by the revolutionary government in 1791.41 The priory located in Siouville was dependant on the abbey of StGeorges de Boscherville in the Diocese of Rouen which accepted the Maurist reform in 1660. Six priories were dependent on the abbey of Lessay and most probably accepted the Maurist reform in 1716. The abbey of Cerisy-la-Forêt had four priories in the diocese. These most probably accepted the Maurist reform when Cerisy did so in 1715.42 There was one other male religious establishment in the diocese that followed the Rule of Saint Benedict. This community did not need reform. It was the hermitage of Notre-Dame-des-Anges in the royal forest of St-Sever not far from the monastery of the same name. The monks there followed the Camaldolese version of the Benedictine rule. It may have been founded in the Middle Ages, destroyed during the Wars of Religion, and then re-established in the early seventeenth century. More likely, given the name Notre-Dame-des-Anges and the dates of the tombstones in the monastery church, it was established

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in the early 1600s. Louis XIV made it a royal hermitage in 1664. Significant rebuilding took place in the eighteenth century and a daughter community was established at Bricquebec in 1711. Very few records have survived. It is known, however, that there were five hermits in the community in 1758 when Bishop Lefevre du Quesnoy visited; he was impressed with their devotion. The community lasted until the French Revolution at which time it had seven members. Its church was still a place of pilgrimage in the late nineteenth century.43 The Rule of Saint Augustine was the basic guide of the canons regular who lived in the other three abbeys of the diocese and at least twenty-six of the priories. This rule was much more general than Saint Benedict’s, though each separate order added its specific injunctions through its constitutions. Its spirit is found in the opening words, “Before everything dearest brethren, let us love God, then our neighbour.” It was adopted and adapted by many male and female religious orders over the centuries. As interpreted by the canons regular, it emphasized community prayer in the form of singing the divine office, fellowship, sharing, and parish work. Two of the three male abbeys that followed the rule of Saint Augustine in the Diocese of Coutances came under the influence of a reform movement in the seventeenth century. The reform of the abbey of Ste-Croix in St-Lô, by making it part of the reformed Congregation of Ste-Geneviève in 1659, was mentioned earlier. The abbey of NotreDame-de-Voeu in Cherbourg accepted the reform of Bourg-Achard in 1687 because of the efforts of Bishop Brienne. Most probably the priory dependant on Notre-Dame-de-Voeu and the two dependent on Ste-Croix accepted the reforms of their mother houses. Bishop Brienne convinced the canons regular of the independent priory of La Bloutière, located about five kilometres north of Villedieu, to accept the Bourg-Achard reform in 1695. The Premonstratensian abbey of Blanchelande was allowed what was called a mitigated way of life and was never reformed.44 Notre-Dame-de-Voeu was closed in 1774 as a result of a petition from the city which wanted to turn the monastery into a hospital. In fact, it became the residence of the Duc d’Harcourt, governor of Normandy and commandant of the new military port. The canons regular of Ste-Croix and Blanchelande lasted until 1791. The latter had only four canons at the end. Most of the canons of Ste-Croix lived in the

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parishes they served in and around St-Lô. After almost a century of neglect by its in commendam abbots there was little religious life and only three canons left when the monastery was closed.45 The Franciscans (known as Cordeliers in France) were founded in the early thirteenth century by Saint Francis. His rule calls on members to observe the gospel by living in obedience, without property, and in chastity. They were to promise obedience to the pope and to their superiors. The order was centralized like the Dominicans and some orders of canons regular, but unlike most Augustinians and many Benedictines. Poverty was emphasized. The friars were forbidden to wear shoes unless compelled by infirmity or manifest necessity, such as riding on horseback. To banish idleness and to provide for their support, Saint Francis insisted on the duty of working, but in such a way that the spirit of prayer and devotion was maintained. The brothers were not to own anything, including their residence. The latter provision distinguished Franciscans from members of the other orders and also led to much dispute and eventual division within the Franciscans. Members of the order were to preach “for the utility and edification of the people, announcing to them vices and virtues, punishment and glory.” While praying the divine office was among the duties of the clerics in the order, the office was shortened to provide more time for other duties. This shortening would be copied by other orders and diocesan priests, particularly after the Council of Trent. The Dominicans were founded by Saint Dominic at about the same time as the Franciscans. The base of the Dominican rule was that of Saint Augustine. This helps explain an underlying similarity of the rule to that of canons regular in its emphasis on community. The key to the Dominican way of life was its constitution, which was the work of educated clerics with legal training. It is precise and detailed in setting out the purpose of the order and its organization. Over time many of its features were adopted by other orders. On the other hand, in 1475 the Dominicans modified their devotion to poverty, originally similar to that of the Franciscans, by allowing communities to own property. The particular charism of the Dominicans (known in France as Jacobins because of the location of their headquarters on rue St-Jacques in Paris) is revealed by their official name – Order of Preachers. They began preaching against the Albigensian heretics in southern France in the early thirteenth century. Shortly afterward they were placed in

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charge of the Inquisition. They then became involved in university teaching. Thomas Aquinas was their most famous member. The Eudistes were established by Jean Eudes in Caen in 1643 in the Diocese of Bayeux. Unlike the Benedictines, canons regular, Dominicans, and Franciscans, the Eudistes did not take religious vows. They were priests who belonged to an ecclesiastical society, the centralized administration of which was based on that of the Oratorians to which Eudes had belonged for twenty years. Members were also subject to the bishop in whose diocese they served as seminary and college teachers and conductors of parish missions. Of the religious communities, the abbeys and priories had been in existence for the longest time. They had gone through several reformations, but by the late eighteenth century those in the Diocese of Coutances had few members and most were not particularly observant. Their way of life, centred on separation from the world and prayer in honour of God and for their own salvation, was not much appreciated by the outside world, which favoured active work in the community in either education or parish work. In addition, their wealth had attracted the greed of bishops and other leading ecclesiastics while angering other parts of society. At least by the mid-seventeenth century many of the priories had become prieuré-cures, simply the home of a priest, usually not a mem­ ber of the religious community, who served the local parish as pas­ tor. Abbots, along with some priors, chose the curés and collected the tithes in almost 45 per cent of the parishes in the Diocese of Coutances. At least by the eighteenth century this had become a serious issue for both parish priests and the laity, a fact made abundantly clear in the cahiers prepared throughout France for the Estates General of 1789. By then only seventy-four monks and canons lived in abbeys and priories which had a combined annual income of over 50,000 livres. The eighty-nine male religious in the diocese who were not monks or canons were much more active in the community and had a combined annual revenue of just under 13,000 livres.46 The Commission des Réguliers established in 1766 by the royal government at the request of the Assembly of Clergy investigated the lives of all male religious in France, proposed many reforms, few of which were effective, and arranged for the closure of many small monasteries and the abolition of a number of small orders. In the process, its reports

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intensified negative public opinion about the usefulness of monastic life and attracted attention to the wealth of a significant number of monasteries. The anti-clerical leaders of the French Revolution would use this sentiment to their advantage to close not just monasteries but all religious communities, despite the protests of many city officials that women religious were needed to staff schools and hospitals.47 In general, the male religious who were not monks or canons regular maintained their original catholicisms into the mid-eighteenth century. The Capuchins, Pénitents, and Eudistes did so until the Revolution. The Jacobins, Cordeliers, and especially the Capuchins and Eudistes were able to maintain their numbers better than the monks and canons regular, at least partially because their catholicisms, centred on preaching and teaching, were far more active in ways that contemporary society appreciated. The nuns, sisters, and filles were valued by society because they taught and ministered to the sick and none of them had even sufficient income, let alone riches. The Church tried hard to keep women religious in their cloisters but the women found ways to carry out their work despite their would-be male protectors. The female religious in Normandy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries took their religion very seriously. Their asceticism and devotion to social service is evidence of that. Exact figures are not available, but when the French Revolution began there were somewhat less than two hundred male religious in the Diocese of Coutances and well over two hundred female religious. Within a few years all religious orders were abolished in France, some never to return.48 Today the beautifully restored church of the abbey of Lessay and its eighteenth-century buildings still stand. The church is a parish church. The abbey of St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte was restored in the early nineteenth century through the efforts of Marie-Madeline Postel, founder of the Soeurs de la Misericorde, now known in Europe, Latin America, and Africa as the Soeurs de Ste-Marie-Madeline Postel. The church of the abbey of St-Sever has become a parish church. The ruins of Hambye are substantial enough to provide visitors a good idea of what monastic life was like. Some parts of Blanchelande remain, including the abbot’s home built in the eighteenth century. The monastic church and vestiges of the original buildings remain in Montebourg. In Cherbourg only a few bits and pieces are left. Nothing is left of the abbey of

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Ste-Croix in St-Lô. The buildings of the priory of St-German-sur-l’Ay remain, as do those of La Bloutière and a number of the other priories and some of their churches such as St-Fromond. None of the pre-revolutionary male abbeys or priories functions as such today. Only one male religious house exists in what was the prerevolutionary Diocese of Coutances, the Cistercian abbey of NotreDame-de-Grace in Bricquebec. Nuns and sisters, however, are found throughout what was the old diocese. Four of the ten existing groups trace their origins to pre-revolutionary Coutances. Three were discussed earlier in this chapter: the abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Protection, the Institut des Filles du Bon Sauveur, and the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. The Congrégation des Soeurs des Sacrés-Coeurs de Jésus et de Marie is the result of the amalgamation of several congregations, one of which was the Soeurs du Sacré-Coeur (originally Filles de l’Instruction Chrétienne) discussed above. In addition, there are three groups called “new communities” that break down the old barriers by including the laity as an essential part of their membership. They are involved in prayer, contemplation, and evangelization.

A  6 The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy of Coutances

This chapter focuses on the priests who staffed the churches in the 494 parishes in the Diocese of Coutances, as well as in other public locations, such as rural and seigneurial chapels. These men, known as diocesan or secular priests, were the members of the clergy who interacted with the laity on a daily basis. As seen in the previous chapter, in pre-revolutionary France male and female religious had the legal and political status of clerics and the social and economic privileges of members of the ecclesiastical order. Because of this status, they had certain rights of precedence in both religious and secular society, freedom from most taxation, and access to ecclesiastical courts in many types of cases, rather than being subject to seigneurial or royal justice. In its religious sense, however, the clergy of early modern France were only those males who through tonsure became clerics and were thereby set apart both from the laity and from those members of religious orders who were not also clerics. Subsequently, through one or more ordinations, a cleric could receive the power to perform various religious rites for the other members of the Catholic Church. A male was made a cleric through the ceremony of tonsure, the cutting of the hair on the crown of the head by a bishop. The cleric was then eligible for appointment to benefices that did not include the care of souls and received certain civil rights. It was argued that the tonsure received by males when they entered religious life was not the same as that received by secular clerics and did not bring with it the right to secular clerical benefices or offices. The ceremonial cutting of the hair of female religious was not considered a tonsure. Some male

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members of religious orders also received tonsure on the way to ordination as priests. These men had full rights, in theory at least, to all clerical offices.1 Being a member of the clergy brought certain duties including wearing clerical dress and living “a good life.” There were additional duties attached to the different orders and offices one could obtain. Some individuals went no further than reception of tonsure and even married afterward, producing, at least as late as the mid-sixteenth century, the anomaly of married clerics in a church which supposedly had only a celibate clergy. In addition, some lay persons, such as church servants and agents of universities, shared in the juridical privileges of the clergy. Laymen who had the right of patronage over a church also had some elements of clerical status. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets of 1539 began the process of limiting the types of cases that could come before ecclesiastical courts in France. Article 40 of the Ordinance of Moulins of 1566 excluded any­ one from ecclesiastical privileges who was not “constituted in sacred orders and at least a subdeacon or other cleric actually residing and serving in the offices, ministries and benefices which he held from the Church.” The Council of Trent tried to impose a similar restriction on the enjoyment of juridical privileges throughout Europe. The inefficacy of all these attempts, at least in France, is testified to by the fact that Louis XIV found it necessary to insist in 1695 that the privilege of ecclesiastical justice was available only to one who was “a cleric living clerically, residing and serving in the offices or the ministry and benefices [he] hold[s] from the Church.” Whatever the effect of the 1695 edict, clerics “living clerically,” including, in practice, women religious, maintained the right of ecclesiastical justice through the eighteenth century, even though the state now had a stronger influence on its administration. A fuller participation in the ecclesiastical order came from ordination. In early modern Europe ordination was available only to tonsured males and, prior to the Catholic Reformation, boys who received tonsure were often between the ages of eight and eleven. In the seventeenth century, fourteen years or older was the norm. This was also the age at which a benefice could be acquired legally. For tonsure the Council of Trent required prior reception of the sacrament of confirmation, knowledge of the rudiments of the faith, and the ability to

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read and write. Beyond tonsure there were four minor orders and four major or sacred orders. The minor orders of porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte were originally distinct orders with specific functions attached, but in early modern Europe, despite a decree to the contrary from the Council of Trent, they were usually acquired together. The major orders were the subdiaconate, diaconate, priesthood, and, finally, the episcopate. The last three orders constituted, then and now, grades of the sacrament of Holy Orders. In the seventeenth century, however, the episcopate was not clearly defined as a separate order. It was more often referred to as the plenitude of the priesthood. According to the Council of Trent, candidates for the subdiaconate should understand Latin and should be at least twenty-two years old. The minimum age for ordination as a deacon was twenty-three, while priests were to be twenty-five. In the early sixteenth century the Concordat of Bologna set twenty-seven as the minimum age for bishops. In France these age limits, especially in the case of bishops, were not strictly followed until the second half of the seventeenth century. Trent set strict educational requirements, which could be attained only through a seminary education, for the priesthood. In the case of Coutances, the first seminary was founded in 1650, but it was many more years before Trent’s requirements were fully met.2 Each member of the ecclesiastical order had a specific status. This status (known in France as qualité) varied according to the orders gained through ordination and the offices held in the hierarchy of the Church. Most offices held by the secular clergy and some held by members of religious orders had an attached income (benefice). The number of orders was limited, but the variety of offices was large. Many individuals held more than one office and, thus, had a multidimensional qualité. The major divisions of office, in descending rank, among the secular clergy were cardinal, archbishop, bishop (considered both an order and an office), canon (cathedral or collegiate), diocesan official, curé, vicar, and chaplain. Diocesan offices were pastoral, judicial, and financial in nature. Cathedral canons often held some diocesan offices, though the combination was not necessary and the relative ranking of cathedral canons and diocesan officials was problematic. In Old Regime France, the main source of income of any cleric, from bishop to canon to parish priest, was a benefice. A benefice was defined as “a bien [i.e., a material thing which one can possess; in practice, rev-

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enue] of the Church attributed to an ecclesiastic because of functions performed by him.” Some benefices were reserved for secular clerics, some for religious clerics, while a few were mixed. The rule was that secular benefices could be possessed only by secular (i.e., diocesan) clerics and religious benefices only by clerics who were members of religious orders, but “nothing was more poorly observed than the second part of that rule.” The other important rule that was broken was the one forbidding accumulation of incompatible benefices. The benefice absorption practised by many bishops seen in chapter 3 and the proliferation of in commendam abbots seen in chapter 5 provide strong evidence of the disregard for the rule.3 The variety of benefices, who could hold them and who could appoint to them, is a complex subject. The major distinction was between simple benefices such as a canonicate, which did not have administration or jurisdiction attached, and benefices with the care of souls such as an episcopate or cure.4 In France most secular priests had the possibility of obtaining only one of three offices, curé, vicaire, or chaplain, though a significant number held none of these. The reality facing a priest in Coutances was, first, that there were only 494 parishes in the diocese and in almost all but a few there was only one curé, and second, the power to appoint curés was dispersed among the pope, the bishop, abbots and priors, and lay patrons. Further, the positions were open to a wide range of candidates, many from outside the diocese. Once appointed, the curé, in theory, received the income (usually in kind) known as the dime (tithe) which was attached to the benefice. In turn he was obliged to pay a tax known as the décime which, in effect, went to the royal government. About 8 per cent of the curés in the diocese were vicaires perpetuel because a religious house or cathedral chapter kept the title of curé (technically the institution was the curé primitif) and its revenue. The vicaire perpetuel received only the portion congrue, a modest sum set by the royal government. In many other parishes the person or institution in charge of choosing the curé (the collator, known usually as the gros décimateur) kept at least half of the tithe and other revenues of the cure.5 The vicar was the curé’s assistant, usually chosen and paid by the curé from the revenues of his benefice. In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries, curés were often absent from their parish. Others held two or more cures simultaneously. These men hired

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a vicar as a replacement. Reforming bishops were able to put an end to this practice. Thereafter, until the eighteenth century, a few large parishes had more than one vicar, most had none. Reforming bishops encouraged the appointment of at least one vicar per parish. Some vicaires perpetuels of large parishes tried to get approval for appointing one or more vicars, but the curé primitif often refused. The pastoral visit records show that in the Diocese of Coutances, from the late seventeenth century onward, there was a trend for parishes to have more than one priest, but before 1750 that priest was much more often a habitué than a vicar. In 1723, 41 per cent of the parishes had a vicar. In 1791, 77 per cent of the parishes had a vicar, but for most of the years between 1350 and 1789 very many ordinands had to be satisfied with a position of chaplain or, much more likely, finding a position as a habitué. Many others left the diocese for positions in other dioceses.6 There were several types of chaplains. Some held a small benefice attached to a chapel in a church with the duty to carry out the religious services specified by the founder of the chapel; others served in a chapel attached to a noble home or one established in a hospital or in a sparsely settled rural area. There was also a temporary position, that of desservant, a priest who served as pastor of a parish temporarily because the curé was sick or had died and was not yet replaced. Most other secular priests had no benefice. Many of them lived at home with their parents. Some lived in a community of priests. The parishes of Carentan, St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Sainteny, Néhou, Lessay, and Vesly, all in the Archdeaconry of Bauptois, were outstanding examples of the latter practice, as were Granville and Quettreville in the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté, Briquebec, Cherbourg, Valognes, and Alleaume in Cotentin, and Notre-Dame-de-St-Lô in Val-de-Vire. In Basse-Normandie both groups were known usually as habitués, though sometimes the word obitier was used. Some historians have referred to habitués, anachronistically, as an ecclesiastical proletariat. More accurately a habitué could be described as a freelance priest who, if lucky, survived on the very limited income he got from the stipends provided in the wills of deceased patrons of a parish or other institution or specified in endowments for saying masses, singing the office, or performing religious rites for the dead (known as obits), on specified days. These bequests became especially

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numerous after the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century. Longterm inflation and the financial crises in France that began in the early eighteenth century drained many endowments and decreased the in­ come available to habitués. Most probably as a consequence, the numbers in the habitué communities decreased, especially after 1750.7 The services of the habitués were needed on a regular basis in the parishes and, as will be seen below, the number of ordinations remained at a higher level than necessary for simple replacement of curés. Nevertheless, ecclesiastical authorities, despite their significant incomes, did not make funds available to support the habitués or fund the hiring of vicars. As a result, habitués often had to support themselves through menial labor, especially in the sixteenth century and earlier. By the eighteenth century the constant need for and the declining numbers of habitués enraged parish priests and parishioners, as is apparent in the continual complaints of parish priests to the Assembly of the Clergy and in the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789.8 In the Diocese of Coutances, as in all other French dioceses, at any given time between 1350 and 1789 there were far more secular priests than members of religious orders. Estimating numbers, however, is difficult. Analysis of clerical title, ordination, examination of ordinands, collation and insinuation records is one approach to the problem. Unfortunately, especially for the years before the eighteenth century, the Coutances collection of these documents has too many lacunae to provide definitive answers.9 In 1970 Yves-Marie Le Pennec published an often cited article on the chronological, geographical, and social patterns of recruitment of priests in the Diocese of Coutances during the eighteenth century. His source was a collection of the titres clericaux that acolytes had to obtain before proceeding to major orders. A clerical title was a certificate proving that an investment existed that would produce a guaranteed annual income (in the case of Coutances in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries amounting to 100 livres a year – a very small income by that date). The purpose was to ensure that clerics who did not obtain a benefice would have an income sufficient to “live honorably.”10 Le Pennec’s sources, methods, and conclusions raise a number of questions. These will be discussed in detail in chapter 8, but some must be mentioned here because they bear on his analysis of the patterns of

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 153 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 00 705 710 715 720 725 730 735 740 745 750 755 760 765 770 775 780 785 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

17

Graph 1  Ordinations, 1699–1785

ordination to the priesthood. First, Le Pennec had no information for two deaneries and incomplete data for three others. Particularly important is the fact that, as analysis of the ordination registers for the Diocese of Coutances shows, at least through the early 1730s, a significant number of those who arranged for a clerical title went no further than the rank of subdeacon or deacon, while throughout the century a number of others were subsequently released to be ordained priest in other dioceses.11 When ordinations to the priesthood in the Diocese of Coutances are considered, a pattern emerges that is different from Le Pennec’s. The first step is to compare the periods for which complete ordination records are available between 1699 and 1785. Between 1699 and 1707, an average of seventy-two natives of the Diocese of Coutances were ordained as diocesan priests each year. Between 1726 and 1731 the yearly average was eighty-six ordinations per year. Between 1740 and 1743 the average dropped to sixty-three per year. Between 1752 and 1757 the average rose to sixty-eight ordinations per year. Between 1762 and 1781 the average fell back to sixty per year. The years 1784 and 1785 are

154  the catholicisms of coutances

the last two before the French Revolution for which ordination records are available. There were fifty-three ordinations to the priesthood in 1784 and fifty-six in 1785. This seems to point to a first low point in the early 1740s, a slight recovery in the 1750s, and then a decline that lasted to 1785.12 The averages, however, cover up significant year to year variations. Graph 1 (Ordinations, 1699–1785) makes it clear that on a year-by-year basis, the high point came between 1727 and 1731 (not between 1710 and 1730 as Le Pennec stated or at mid-century as Tackett found across France). This was followed by a drop in ordinations that lasted until the end of the 1750s (as Le Pennec found, but not into the 1770s as was common in France according to Tackett). The revival in numbers peaked in 1766–1767 and held until 1770, with a revival in 1775 (disagreeing with both Le Pennec and Tackett). Afterward there was a significant drop to a lower level reached in 1778. This was followed by a slight revival in the 1780s. (Here there is agreement with Le Pennec, but not with what happened in the rest of France according to Tackett). A serious question raised by graph 1 is the extent to which its pattern was a response to the real or perceived presence or absence of available positions. That will be addressed below.13 Le Pennec’s conclusions about the changes in social status of priests in Coutances match what has been reported for most dioceses in France. There was a decline in the percentage of vocations coming from the nobility and the urban Third Estate elite and a corresponding growth in the percentage coming from rural areas, especially from the upper ranks of the peasantry. But Le Pennec’s source makes it impossible to account for between 8 to 14 per cent of the individuals involved since, as noted above, he did not have data for the whole diocese.14 Ordination records do not reveal social status but they do reveal the parishes from which those receiving tonsure and the minor and major orders came. In the years between 1699 and 1732 for which records are available, the eleven urban centres in the diocese (those with 2,000 or more inhabitants) accounted for 12 per cent of the population of the diocese but were the source for 21 per cent of the secular clerical vocations (that is, tonsures and ordinations to all minor and major orders). In 1742, 1752, and 1762 the percentage remained basically the same, declined in 1770, and then fell significantly to 13 per cent in 1781. Among the urban centres, St-Lô and Valognes were always the leaders,

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 155

followed by Cherbourg and Villedieu. All these conclusions differ from Le Pennec’s.15 A varying but significant number of male inhabitants of the Diocese of Coutances arranged for ordination as a priest in another diocese; Paris for the ambitious, often Rennes for the others. However, most of those who sought ordination planned to remain in the Diocese of Coutances. During the fourteen years between 1700 and 1731 for which full documentation is available, 1,130 men from the diocese were ordained as priests. That so many men became priests in a decade and a half in a diocese with a total population in the neighbourhood of 280,000 is striking to say the least. Of the 1,130 men ordained in those fourteen years, 728 were ordained for service in the 494 parishes of the diocese. Since all but a very few of these parishes had only one curé, the majority had no vicar until the latter part of the eighteenth century, and almost none had more than one vicar until late in the century, it is clear that far more priests were being ordained than there were paying positions available, even when chapels in churches, hospitals, chateaux, and rural locations are included and even if Sandret is correct in stating that there were 219 chapels in the diocese.16 The number of ordinations explains the existence of so many habitués in the parishes of Coutances and the large number of men who left to seek benefices in other dioceses. It also raises the question of whether vocation, job opportunity, or status was the major motivating force for men who entered the seminary in eighteenth-century Coutances. The possibility of obtaining a clerical position that paid a living wage was low, the path to ordination was becoming more difficult as seminary training became the norm, and both the requirements of the position and episcopal surveillance grew. Could rise in status for the son of a substantial peasant through ordination to the priesthood, family pressure on a second or third son to seek employment off the farm, or the real or perceived room available, given the age of priests already in office, offset the effort involved in becoming a priest and the economic disadvantages connected with the position, especially at the chaplain or habitué level which was the fate of most ordinands? Despite the contrary position held by many historians, the evidence points to the real possibility that, from the late seventeenth century onward, voca-

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tion was becoming a progressively more important motivation for ordination than job opportunity.17 Toustain de Billy’s accounts of the ordination tours of the bishops of Coutances during the second half of the fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth centuries, mentioned in chapter 3, show that oversupply of clerics was nothing new. While there is no way of estimating the number of priests in the diocese before the 1670s, there can be no doubt that for a very long time far more men were ordained to minor and major orders than could possibly have found employment in the diocese.18 Le Pennec does not provide any data for total numbers of priests at any point. Information derived from Coutances ordination records can be combined with analysis of pastoral visit records to provide an estimate of the number of priests in the diocese from the latter part of the seventeenth through the eighteenth century. On the basis of his analysis of pastoral visit records, Jean-Marie Gouesse estimated that there were about 1,400 parish priests in the diocese in the early eighteenth century. My analysis of the same records suggests that there were about 1,350 priests in the parishes of diocese in the mid-1670s. The number had risen slightly, to about 1,400 by 1690, and was still at that level in 1723. Over the course of the rest of the eighteenth century, there was a decline in the number of habitués and a rise in the number of vicars. There was also a significant decline in the number of men who took only minor orders, except, perhaps in the Archdeaconry of Val-de-Vire. By 1791 there were 1,157 curés and vicars in what had been the Diocese of Coutances who officially accepted or rejected the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Adding the priests who were not required to take the oath would bring the total to approximately 1,400. In other words, despite changes in numbers of vicars and habitués and immigration patterns, the number of priests serving in the parishes of the Diocese of Coutances remained stable from the late seventeenth century until the French Revolution.19 A number of mid-nineteenth–early twentieth-century clerical érudits, especially Ernest Fleury (the editor of chapter records discussed in chapter 4), Jean-Baptiste Leroux (1835–1922), and Louis Hulmel, extracted the names and approximate time of service of many parish priests from insinuation, collation, and pastoral visit records, mostly for the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries, and presented this information, along with bits of parish history, descriptions of build-

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 157

ings, and some civil history. However, they tell us little about the catholicisms of the parish clergy. Pastoral visits provide useful information on this topic but the earliest of any use date from 1634. There are only a few windows available before that date. Toustain de Billy and the Sire de Gouberville are the two major sources, combined with a close reading of the synodal statutes.20 The records available to Toustain de Billy enabled him to describe ordination practices from the mid-fifteenth century onward. Bishop Richard-Olivier de Longueil carried out ordinations himself in the first years of his episcopate. In 1460 in the cathedral he gave tonsure to 131 men and ordained 63 acolytes, 11 subdeacons, 12 deacons, and 23 priests. In the same year he gave the tonsure to 557 men while on a tour to eight towns. Since Longueil was often absent from the diocese because of involvement in royal and then papal administration, he appointed a suffragan bishop to tour the diocese confirming and ordaining. The practice continued under his successors. For example, in 1513 the suffragan bishop of Porphyre made an ordination tour of the diocese with twenty-six stops in which he tonsured 620 men and ordained 144 acolytes. The tonsure and ordination tours continued until the mid-sixteenth century, as did dispensations for lack of sufficient age and dispensations for not residing in benefices with the care of souls. As noted in chapter 3, Toustain de Billy, looking back from the late seventeenth century, commented drily, “clerical privileges being still in their full state, many wished to enjoy them.”21 An indication of the state of affairs in the Diocese of Coutances (which was no different from any other diocese in France in this re­ gard) is provided by the events in one year in the life of Jean de Ravalet, seigneur de Tourlaville. He was born about 1549 and was appointed abbot of Hambye at the age of twelve. On 13 January 1572, now in his early twenties, he was appointed vicar general of the diocese by Bishop Arthur de Cossé. On 28 February of the same year, Louis de St-Gilles, archdeacon of Coutances and newly ordained suffragan bishop of Porphyre, confirmed Ravalet, ordained him to minor orders, and then ordained him a priest on 1 March. Finally, on 4 June he was appointed grande chantre of the cathedral. All in all it was an eventful year for Ravalet.22 The rule by the seventeenth century was that tonsure led to orders and orders meant that you could not be married, but this had not always been the case throughout Europe, including the Diocese of Cou­

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tances. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, noted Toustain de Billy, “there were two sorts of clerics. The ones married and the others not married and they enjoyed clerical privileges almost equally.” He added that if clerics in Coutances were to maintain their freedom from civil law, they were required to wear clerical clothes, have a tonsure, and abstain from all secular commerce on Sundays and feast days.23 Some of the men with tonsure, especially those in minor orders, performed duties in the parish churches. A custom had grown up in the rural parts of the diocese that the parish curé was required to provide a dinner for all the clerics in his parish on certain feast days. When this did not happen, public disputes sometimes erupted. This led Bishop Herbert to decree in 1481 and again in 1506, that the practice was a not a custom, but a corruption and an abuse.24 Before seminaries were established in the Diocese of Coutances, there was no formal training for priests and, consequently, many were poorly prepared for parish ministry. This is evident in the writings of Gouberville and Toustain de Billy. The appointment of unworthy men to benefices, especially those with the care of souls, is recorded by the latter, including, for example, desertion of their posts by curés during the Hundred Years War and during the sixteenth century. Like many other curés, Maistre Roc de Monpeslier, who took possession through a representative of the cure of Mesnil-au-Val on 13 December 1551, was never present in his benefice. Gouberville, acting on the behalf of a serviteur of one of his friends, finally sought and received a replacement in April 1562 from the abbot of Cherbourg, who had the right of appointment to the benefice. Only the last name of the new curé, Sainte-Magueritte, is recorded in Gouberville’s journal, but he was resident.25 The accumulation of many benefices by one person compounded the problem. An example was Gouberville’s father’s older brother, Jean de Gouberville, who held the cure of Gouberville (where he did show up occasionally) along with two others, each in a different diocese. Gouberville also provides ample evidence of the need habitués had to support themselves with manual labour.26 Three priests involved in the religious life of Mesnil-au-Val figure prominently in the journals of Gilles de Gouberville. These were Jacques Auvré, his nephew Jehan, and Jehan Fréret. All three were members of local families. At different times the first served as vicar of

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 159

the parish. His nephew served as his assistant. Fréret sometimes filled in when the vicar was absent. Fréret was the closest of the Mesnil-auVal priests to Gilles and his family, saying mass in his chapel on days when the weather was bad and also, very often, on Easter when he heard their confessions before the mass at which they received communion. Fréret usually received a small payment for saying mass in the fam­ily chapel. On many occasions through the year, especially after Sunday mass, he was invited for supper. He was involved in Gouberville’s business affairs at times, but unlike the habitués, he did not work in fields. There may have been other habitués involved in the religious life of the parish of Mesnil-au-Val and definitely some men in minor orders. Habitués from other parishes appear in the journals involved in manual labour.27 At least by the sixteenth century curés usually had a university education. Desservants, vicars, and habitués – the men actually serving in the parishes – usually did not. The universities failed to provide relevant theological instruction, while diocesan officials, especially the théologal, failed to fulfill their educational duties. The result is apparent. The only Catholic sermons that Gouberville mentions were those preached by travelling friars. The implication is that they were the only ones worth listening to. Some priests provided some instruction each Sunday, but until well into the seventeenth century, there were many who did not and many who could not. During the middle years of the sixteenth century, for one reason or another, be it lack of theological knowledge, conviction, desire to marry, or pressure from either local seigneurs or parishioners, an unknown number of parish clergy switched their allegiance to Protestantism. Not all of the unknown number who did so were willing to surrender the monetary benefits of their former status, as seen in the case of George Buchanan cited in chapter 3.28 Parish priests who remained Catholic but did not fulfill their duties contributed to the increase in interest in Protestantism among the people of the Diocese of Coutances and elsewhere in Europe. Historians have muddied the waters by what they have said and left unsaid. The silliest attempt to mitigate the depth of disorder is the claim made by many Catholic historians from the eighteenth through the midtwentieth centuries that Protestants were to blame for the sad state of the parish clergy of the sixteenth century. On the other hand, the

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many acts of desecration of churches and killing of parish priests by Huguenot soldiers during the Wars of Religion, a subject often ignored or minimized by anglophone historians, increased loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church.29 Bonzon emphasizes the now fairly well-known fact that the rural parish clergy of the sixteenth century lived in the community and shared the lifestyle of the inhabitants. The laity were much less bothered by this than the people of later centuries. What bothered them was clerical absence from duty and diversion of the tithes they paid to non-religious uses.30 Living like parishioners meant not only sharing secular and religious ideas, occupations, and recreations. It also meant sharing life with a woman. The issue of the relationship between male clerics and women is not a recent phenomenon in the Roman Catholic Church. It has a long and complex history. The medieval part of the story has attracted attention from scholars during the past thirty years and the picture is now clear.31 All available evidence indicates that clerical marriage was common and accepted through the third century. The Council of Elvira (held at some point in the first decade of the fourth century) marked the formal beginning of an effort by reformers to restrain clerical sexuality by imposing harsh sanctions on clerical fornication, forbidding clerics to have female servants living in their houses unless they were close relatives, ordering higher clergy to divorce their wives, and all married clerics to cease sexual intercourse with their wives. Although these measures had the support of major figures such as Saints Augustine (354–430) and Jerome (c. 341–420), they had little practical effect. The next known formal efforts to restrict sexual contact between clerics and women came at widely separated times and places, including the Councils of Lerida (546), Braga (561), Nicaea (787), and Aachen (836). But it was not until the years between the Synod of Pavia (1022) and the First and Second Lateran Councils (1123, 1139) that the efforts to change the sexual habits of the clergy began to have a real effect. The leaders of the so-called Gregorian Reform were determined to abolish clerical marriage and all the sexual activity of deacons, priests, and bishops.32 A sign of the seriousness of the effort was that a marriage attempted by a priest was declared by the decrees of the Lateran Councils not only to be illicit, as it had been, but also invalid. The re-

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formers also worked to eliminate the practice of clerics having concubines, a growing problem as clerical marriage came under attack. Despite all the effort, it is estimated that on the continent of Europe in the second half of the twelfth century the majority of those in minor orders were married and a substantial number of those in major orders had a more or less permanent relationship with a woman. In the Diocese of Coutances a provision in a set of synodal statutes promulgated at some point during the thirteenth century indicates that clerical relationships with women were a fact of life. The provision stated that the illegitimate sons of priests could not live with their fathers because of the scandal it could give and that they could not be altar servers for their fathers because that would be unbecoming. The prohibition reappeared in the synodal statutes of 1481 without the phrase about service at the altar, but with stronger condemnation of common law marriage (or in French terms, concubinage). The diaries of Gouberville provide proof that concubinage continued but that pressure to hide it was growing.33 The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and the Council of Basel (1435) attacked clerical concubinage. The former also forbade clerics in minor orders to marry. Nevertheless, by the end of the fifteenth century it seems that many church leaders had concluded that the best that could be hoped for was limitation of clerical relationships with women. The best recent estimates are that between 15 and 20 per cent of parish priests in Western Europe were in a common-law relationship of some sort at that time.34 Medieval church authorities were convinced that women were temptresses; that sexual intercourse, even in marriage, was by nature impure; and that a priest who had sexual relations sullied himself, the sacred mysteries he performed, and the sacred vessels he touched. These ideas would continue to be taught to priests through the eighteenth century and beyond. Two additional factors were involved in the medieval campaign. These were the fear that the priesthood could become a hereditary caste and the worry that it would cost too much to support a priest, his wife, and their children. The leaders of the Protestant Reformation opposed clerical celibacy and pointed to the failure of the policy as one of the reasons to abolish it. Despite the wishes of a number of the participants in the Council

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of Trent, the decrees of that council were adamant in enforcing clerical celibacy. That the bishops of Coutances accepted this decision is abundantly clear in the synodal statutes of the seventeenth century. Despite the council and the bishops, at first there was little change in clerical practice. By the eighteenth century, however, there seems to have been a real change, and clerical celibacy had become not only the norm but an overwhelming fact. This development throughout France is made clear in the changes in synodal statutes over the years. In the early seventeenth century French statutes contain harsh provisions that not only forbade what was called clerical concubinage and imposed harsh sanctions on those who ignored the rules but also forbade a priest to have a woman living in his house who was not his mother or sister or over fifty years of age. After 1690 there are few references to clerical concubinage in the synodal statutes, though the concern with female servants continued, in Coutances as elsewhere, most probably because of both a desire to prevent “occasions of sin” for the priest and fear of public opinion. In the 1718 edition of the Coutances synodal statutes, Bishop Brienne, with or without justification, was worried that there might be priests in his diocese who had “so lost the fear of God” as to “hold, have or frequent women or girls suspected of incontinence.” If so, he was determined to excommunicate them, take away their benefices, and call on secular authorities to punish them further. In 1745 Bishop Matignon thought it necessary to include in his synodal injunctions that curés were not to have as servants women (“personnes du sexe”) who were in any way “suspicious.” Lay opinion on the subject was much more permissive. Gilles de Gouberville expressed no ill feelings toward priests such as his uncle, who had a long-term relationship with his housekeeper which produced children. In the cahiers prepared for meetings of Estates General between 1494 and 1614, concern among the laity about clerical concubinage was limited. Among peasants it appeared only when the woman involved tried to lord it over parishioners or when adultery, abortion, or murder was involved.35 There is no question that rural priests in France tended to live like their parishioners well into seventeenth century and that, particularly after the Council of Trent, bishops wanted to change that pattern. Though the efforts to achieve the goal of separation between priest and parishioners go back at least to

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the fourth century and increased from the twelfth century onward, it was the seminary system encouraged by the Council of Trent that sped up the process and led to its accomplishment in the eighteenth century.36 The provincial council held in Rouen in 1581 marks the beginning of the Second Catholic Reformation in the province of Normandy. One of the canons of that council called for the establishment of a seminary in each diocese (just as the Council of Trent had done). Nicolas de Briroy undoubtedly would have favoured such a foundation when he became bishop in 1587, but the Diocese of Coutances was not ready for such a move. This was not because it did not need a seminary, but because too many churches and monasteries were in such bad shape after the Wars of Religion and there were too few resources available to remedy that situation, let alone fund the building of a seminary. Briroy did insist that candidates for ordination be examined first, as ordered by the Council of Rouen. This was a step forward compared to late medieval practices when only a certificate from the candidate’s curé was required. In addition, Briroy conducted all ordinations himself.37 Charles Godefroy, a native of Carentan who had a doctorate in theology from the University of Paris and was the curé of Quettrevillesur-Sienne, presented a treatise he had written to the Assembly of the Clergy held in Paris in 1625. The subject was the necessity of establishing in each archdiocese what he called collèges de saints exercises which would be an annual, one-month training school for curés who did not know how to say mass and dispense the sacraments properly and devoutly or how to keep a church and its ornaments clean and proper. He also thought his college would be a good substitute for ecclesiastical prisons for misbehaving priests. In the future, he advocated, no one should be ordained a priest who had not spent some time in one of the colleges as a sort of novitiate. As for formal theological education, he trusted the universities and the Jesuits to provide that. Finally, Godefroy wanted to develop a core of priests to carry out this work and make sure it continued. The assembly approved the sentiment but did nothing substantive.38 Godefroy was unknown outside his area before the 1625 meeting and disappeared from view afterward. The first bishop in Normandy to heed his advice was Bishop Matignon of Lisieux (formerly bishop of

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Coutances) who in 1655 required every candidate for a benefice with the care of souls to make a one-month retreat in a seminary. A similar requirement was not introduced in Coutances until 1669. Bishop Claude Auvry wanted to found a seminary from the time he arrived in the Diocese of Coutances. He found the right person in Jean Eudes. From his base in Caen, Eudes preached a series of missions throughout the diocese, beginning with six in the northern part of the diocese in 1632, followed by many others between 1641 and 1673. Eudes’ involvement in the reform movement, the attacks upon him and his spirituality by Jansenists, whom Auvry despised, and his successful establishment of a seminary in Caen in 1644 led Auvry to ask him to found a seminary in Coutances. According to Eudes the purpose of the institution would be to teach its students how to live religiously and to carry out all clerical functions in a holy and decent manner. Teaching of letters and sciences was to be left to already existing colleges. Theology was taught only in universities, but Eudes planned from the beginning to include theological training for his seminarians. He was adamant that the seminary not be used as a substitute for an ecclesiastical prison, as was the practice in some dioceses.39 After some moving about in search for a suitable home, the Cou­ tances seminary was established in the area southwest of the cathedral where the lycée is located today. The chapel of the seminary, which still stands, was built between 1652 and 1655. It was the first chapel in the world dedicated to the Sacred Heart (or more accurately to “the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary.”) The title was chosen because Eudes said that their two hearts were one. This dedication indicates the nature of the spirituality of the seminary throughout its pre-revolutionary existence. It was firmly within the mystical, emotional, Christocentric spirit of the so-called French School of spirituality developed by Pierre de Bérulle (1575–1629), Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), Charles de Condren (1588–1641), and Jean-Jacques Olier (1608–1657).40 The spirituality of the seminary of Coutances could be described as anti-Jansenist without being pro-Jesuit. It did not emphasize human depravity as did the former or adaptation to the modern world as did the latter. This orientation is confirmed by the choice of the “godparents” of the bells of the chapel: Marie des Vallées and Jean de Bernières, both mystics and both highly suspect to the Jansenists. The tenden-

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cy of the two toward what would come to be called Quietism, represented by Archbishop Fénélon, rather than toward the activism of later seventeenth-century French spirituality, represented by Bishop Bossuet, is also indicative of the underlying spirit of the seminary of Coutances.41 All the staff of the seminary until the French Revolution would be members of the society of priests founded by Eudes. Between 1650 and 1670 the seminary had four superiors. The year 1670 marked the beginning of what one author has called its golden age. The person most responsible was the new superior, Jean-Jacques Blouet de Camilly. He began his studies in Coutances and then studied theology in Paris, though, on the advice of Jean Eudes, he took no degree. Louis Tronson, superior of the seminary of St-Sulpice in Paris, where Blouet had lived while a student, exercised the greatest influence on him. Through Blouet the ideas of Tronson were added to Eudiste spirituality in the formation of the priests of the diocese. Tronson’s influence was deepened because the bishop of Coutances between 1668 and 1720, Charles Lomenie de Brienne, had spent some time associated with the church of St-Sulpice in Paris while Tronson was there and referred to him as his mentor.42 Blouet de Camilly was superior of the Coutances seminary from 1670 to 1672 and from 1680 until his death in 1711. In the 1670s he served Bishop Brienne in a number of diocesan functions, including vicar general. As seen in chapter 4, he was archdeacon of Val-de-Vire and later of Cotentin. He became superior of the Eudistes on the death of Jean Eudes in 1680. As seminary director he favoured a firm but honest and respectful approach to directing the seminarians and fostered close contact between faculty and students to inculcate the spirit of their vocation.43 Two manuscripts provide a comprehensive picture of life in the Cou­tances seminary during the eighteenth century. One bears the title “Manuel du préfet ou directeur d’un séminaire” and was composed at some point prior to 1713 by a person who held that post in the Coutances seminary. The second was composed by a Eudiste priest, Fr Poitevin, at some point prior to his death in 1750.44 The first of the two documents discusses the problems faced in dealing with students for the priesthood in early eighteenth-century Coutances. According to the author, about half of the incoming stu-

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dents were lacking in knowledge, spirit, and soul. As for the others, their training in the humanities had not prepared them for a spiritual life.45 The remedy for this, as seen in both documents, was a very strict, basically monastic, life that began each day with arising at 5 a.m. from the end of September to Easter and at 4:30 during the rest of the year. According to the season, various forms of common prayer followed. The next step was attendance at mass at about 7. After breakfast the seminarians made their beds and cleaned their rooms. They were then to read a chapter of the New Testament while kneeling. In the process they were to memorize several passages to meditate on during the day and then to discuss with others during evening recreation. Theology was taught at 9:30. After the lecture, which the students were required to copy in detail, the seminarians returned to their room and then went to the chapel at 11 for prayer and to make an examination of their conscience – their examen particulier. After washing their hands, the seminarians ate a silent lunch during which they took turns reading to and serving the assembled group. After prayers in the church there was a recreation period. Next came an hour spent learning plainchant or liturgical practices, depending on the day. The rest of the time until supper was taken up with chanting the divine office in common and individual study. After supper there was recreation until 8 p.m., followed by a half-hour discussion of the scripture passages memorized earlier in the day or of various problems proposed by the faculty. After night prayers everyone was to be silent until after prayers the next morning. Everyone was to be in bed with his candle extinguished by 9:15. Seminarians were allowed to go into the town for part of one day per week, usually Tuesday, to buy whatever they needed, but were not to eat or drink anywhere except in the seminary refectory. Groups could walk in the country on those afternoons. Rules surrounded every aspect of seminarians’ lives. They were required to bring with them when they arrived a breviary, an ink stand, paper, a Bible (or at least a New Testament), a Council of Trent catechism, some books for spiritual reading, a book on singing plainchant, and two books that served as texts: Abelly on scholastic theology and Bonal on moral theology. Entrants were expected to be able to read and write French and read Latin. They were to bring with them a cassock, surplice, biretta, sash, and black socks. Even if their poverty meant their cassock was not new it should always be clean. Some pro-

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visions were made for poor students, but it was not until the eighteenth century that many of them could afford to enter the seminary. Seminarians were never to enter the room of another. They were to sweep their own room after breakfast on Saturdays, using brooms they constructed themselves. They were not to put chamber pots on their window sill or throw anything out a window, especially into the courtyard, nor spit in the church. Seminarians were required to confess and receive communion once a week. On confession days seminarians were to shave or be shaved, refresh their tonsure, and cut their hair if that was needed. At least once a month they were to spend time reflecting on whether or not they had worked to get rid of vile habits and inclinations and on how they had worked to be pious and gain grace. Above all, each seminarian was to remember that he was where he was because of a special gift from God. His duty was to gain piety and all the Christian and ecclesiastical virtues so that in the future he could work for the salvation of others. The examen particulier referred to above was an import from the seminary of St Sulpice where it had been developed by its chief spiritual advisor, Louis Tronson. Tronson had been formed by the twelve years he spent as a young man reading the Church Fathers and by his training in canon law, rather than philosophy or theology. The purpose of the method of examination and meditation he developed was to teach future priests how to make the virtues of Christ their own. This was accomplished by reading to them each day a set of reflections and questions that were meant to prod them to examine their consciences and, consequently, form good habits. He built on the work of the first generation of Sulpicians, but he directed his work, not to a spiritual elite advanced in the way of prayer, but to ordinary seminarians. Tronson’s goals were to inculcate a priestly spirituality founded on self-identification with “Christ the Priest” and to create a distinct type of cleric. This clerical type has been referred to as the classical priest – a man who lived in the world, but was not part of it. In the seminary two things were essential for this person: obedience to the rules and submission to his spiritual director. After leaving the seminary the most important virtues for a priest, in addition to faith, hope, and charity, were, in descending order of importance, mortification, humility, modesty, penitence, obedience, poverty, chastity, and patience. Like Christ, the priest “often does not drink or eat. When he drinks or

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eats he never does it for pleasure.” As for “personnes de différent sexe,” the images that Tronson used “present woman as a diabolic person.”46 To understand the spirit of the Coutances seminary one must understand not only Tronson and his examens particuliers but also Eudes and his devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In 1674 Pope Clement X approved the establishment of a Confraternity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the seminary chapel.47 Outside the Diocese of Coutances, Eudes is best known for his leading role in encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is a devotion that is difficult for most people to understand today, but it fit with the seventeenth-century devotion to various aspects of Jesus’ life, especially to his childhood. Eudes explained it as a devotion to divine love in a letter he wrote to Archbishop Médavy of Rouen asking him to approve the establishment of a feast of the Sacred Heart in his archdiocese. “This is why I ask you, very humbly, through this very adorable Heart which is the source of all that is holy and venerable in all the feasts which the Church celebrates, through the love with which it inflames you and through all the effects of this love which you have felt and which you desire to feel at the hour of your death.”48 Eudes and the Eudiste seminary superiors wanted seminarians to use Christ, rather than the saints, as their model. The major exception to this was Mary, Christ’s mother. Her Immaculate Conception and eternal virginity exempted her from condemnation. Eudes wanted seminarians to follow the example of Mary by conforming more and more perfectly to the divine will. Religious exercises in the seminary ended with the invocation, “Blessed be the most loving Heart and most sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the most glorious Virgin Mary His mother for ever and ever.”49 The spirituality Eudes wished to inculcate in the seminarians is summed up in the prayer he recommended: “O good Jesus, I deliver myself up completely to your divine power and to your holy love. Take me, if it pleases you, totally out of myself and absorb me sacredly inside you, so that I do not live, so that I do not speak and so that I do not act anymore except in you, by you and for you.”50 The education provided in the Coutances seminary was a practical one. Seminarians were to learn some philosophy, the basics of theology, and how to say mass and administer the sacraments. They especially had to know enough moral theology to hear confessions and to

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advise their parishioners on their morality and duties. Eudes included practice in preaching to prepare seminarians to teach the elements of faith through the catechism and sermons. The end result of this training was that, at the very least, the parishioners of the future priests would know and, it was hoped, follow the Ten Commandments and the six commandments of the church.51 The second seminary of Coutances had a very different history. It was founded by François Le Tellier, abbé of La Luthumière, with funds he received from inheritances. The building, provided in 1654 by Bishop Auvry, had been the episcopal residence in Valognes. Auvry was happy to have a second seminary because the one in Coutances was full. The Valognes seminary was named in honour of the Blessed Sacrament and placed under the protection of St Charles Borromeo and St Philip Neri, two sixteenth-century leaders of the reformation of the priesthood in Italy.52 Three professors of the Valognes seminary taught philosophy, theology, and humane letters and another taught singing and liturgy. The principal was Louis Lebourgeois, abbé de Héauville, a noble from the diocese. He held a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Sorbonne and was the author of a number of pious works. He was also influenced by the writings of Cornelius Jansen.53 The seminary in Valognes attracted far more students than that in Coutances, partly because the accommodations were better, partly because it also taught students who were interested in a humanistic education and were not planning to be ordained. It attracted seminarians from throughout Basse-Normandie. Bishop Auvry became worried about the accusations that the professors of the Valognes seminary were influenced by Jansenism and kept most of his seminarians in Coutances. Auvry’s two successors were also concerned. Bishop Brienne finally closed the seminary in 1675 because of the fear of Jansenism. He reopened it with different professors in 1702. In 1729 the Eudistes took over the direction of the Valognes seminary and remained in charge until the French Revolution. They brought with them the regimen and spirituality of the Coutances seminary described above. From 1730 the local college shared the same building, some of the same teachers, and the same leadership. During the eighteenth century the professors of the college were conversant with advances in physics and mathematics.54

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François Lefranc was the last pre-revolutionary superior of the Cou­ tances seminary (1768–1770, 1778–1786, 1789–1792). Some seminarians complained to Bishop Talaru de Chamazel that Lefranc was unfair because he refused to present them for ordination. Lefranc responded that he did not want to recommend anyone who had not worked hard at reforming their lives. The bishop concluded that Lefranc was too strict and did not understand the modern world, and proceeded to ordain them.55 Lefranc did persuade Bishop Talaru to issue a decree in 1783 that standardized what had slowly become practice. Anyone wishing to receive tonsure had to be considered intelligent, educated, and pious and had to have completed at least one year of study of philosophy, followed by attendance at a seminary for one month to test their suitability for the clerical life. While there they had to study introductory works on scripture or theology. Ordination as a subdeacon had to be preceded by six months in a seminary. Another three months were required for ordination as a deacon and three more months for ordination as a priest. Those who had not studied theology in a university and taken a degree had to pass an examination for each order. Before ordination as a subdeacon they were to study the sacraments in general, with emphasis on baptism and confirmation. Those to be ordained deacon were to study the sacrament of penance, as well as church teaching on purgatory and indulgences, and the Eucharist as sacrament and sacrifice. For ordination to the priesthood candidates had to study the sacraments of marriage, orders, and extreme unction, along with church law concerning simony and benefices. Finally, during the time spent in the seminary all candidates for the priesthood had to study a prescribed text of dogmatic theology. Those who chose to go outside the diocese for their education (often to Caen where there was a university) had to have the signed approval of their curé and a vicar general of the bishop and to register this with the diocese. Those who chose to go to Paris had to register with the diocese’s grand vicar in that city so that they could be supervised to make sure they led a suitable life. These individuals were subject to the same regulations as those who stayed in the diocese.56 In addition to seminary training, the older practices of holding calends in each deanery and diocesan synods were continued, while ecclesiastical conferences were introduced. All three institutions were

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used to educate and reform the parish clergy. Undoubtedly, war, pestilence, and episcopal absences interfered significantly with the regularity of convocation of synods and calends, especially before the mid- to late seventeenth century. In addition, it was always true that the further curés lived from Coutances the less likely they were to appear at the synods. By the thirteenth century it was common practice for French bishops to hold two synods each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. In Coutances it became the custom to convoke all the parish clergy to a synod held shortly after Easter, the so-called paschal synod. The deans and some other diocesan officials were called to a second autumn synod. It is not certain when the practice of holding calends began and no records of them are extant. Bishop Brienne noted that they were well established in the diocese when he arrived in 1668 and were held in the summer in each deanery of the diocese. They were a means of collecting information about clerical abuses which were then passed on to the autumn synods. The latter met in early October until the 1720s when they were moved to the eve of the paschal synod.57 For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the surviving records of the paschal synods provide the names and positions of the curés of the diocese, but only a little information about their lives. At times ordinances on a single subject were issued during these synods. At the autumn synods the deans were supposed to present detailed accounts of the faults of their clergy. On some occasions the records specify the faults of the curés. The surviving records of the paschal and autumn synods of the 1630s and 1640s show that Bishop Matignon used the synods to encourage rebuilding of churches and presbyteries (an ef­ fort begun before his episcopate by Bishop Briroy) and to reform the clergy. The faults of the clergy singled out were lack of residence in their benefices, preaching without episcopal authorization, using unapproved forms of divine services, and living with a woman. None of these, though, seem to have been widespread.58 During the 1635 paschal synod priests with theological training were ordered to provide instruction that ordinary parishioners could un­ derstand. That many priests did not have this training is evident in the order presented in the same synod that curés and vicars were to buy and read Cardinal Richelieu’s Instruction du Chrétien and then read aloud one of its twenty-eight chapters each Sunday after their sermon. Bishop Matignon even told the priests exactly where the 1627 edition

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was available (“Rouen chez la veuve d’Axe rue aux Juifs devant la Cour du Logis”). Curés and vicars were also required to acquire and read The Catechism of Confessors. The records of the autumn synods of the 1670s through the 1690s indicate that by far the most common fault of curés was the failure to have a vicar to help with parish duties. Other faults included failure to attend synods or calends. Faults mentioned only rarely included nonresidence, chewing tobacco before mass, hunting, and unseemly association with women, while a number of curés were ordered to see the bishop for unnamed faults. There are also occasional hints of scandals, for example lay incest and clerical concubinage, in the autumn synod of 1700. After 1700 almost no details of conduct are recorded. At the paschal synods between 1622 and 1646 for which attendance is known 90 per cent or more of the curés were present. In 1630 attendance was encouraged by charging those absent without an approved excuse 30 sols. This probably contributed to the 96 per cent attendance at the synod of 1635 when Bishop Matignon began the work that culminated in his promulgation of a complete set of statutes in 1637. After 1646 attendance fell off, even though Bishop Brienne raised the absence penalty to 100 sols in 1695. Attendance during Brienne’s episcopate was usually in the range of 50 to 65 per cent; however, he excused a significant number from attending. Excluding those excused, the attendance rate declined from 90 per cent to 69 per cent during his episcopate. For the few synods for which information is available after 1720 the attendance was only 35 to 45 per cent. It is debatable whether the decline in attendance led the bishops to rely on mandements rather than synodal statutes and to use ordinances and ecclesiastical conferences to continue the education of the parish clergy, or whether attendance at synods declined because of these practices.59 The paschal synods were often a confused gathering since, for most of the seventeenth century, the activities of 450 or more parish priests had to be coordinated for the religious services and processions that surrounded the actual meeting of the synod. There was a great deal of milling around and fraternizing. The latter became more frequent after the seminary system was in place since the rural clerics had this once-a-year chance to renew old friendships. As seminary training became common by the early eighteenth century and clerical abuses became less frequent, the yearly gathering of priests in the paschal synod lost some of its relevance. Other reasons

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for the improvement included issuance of new breviaries and rituals, the reform efforts of the bishops, and the deaths of the older generation of priests. It probably made more sense to leave individual cases needing correction to the calends and more general issues to episcopal ordonnances and mandements. The collection of these two types of documents in the diocesan archives is probably very incomplete, but the subjects in descending order of appearance were confession regulations, restrictions on female servants in presbyteries, liturgical regulations, and anti-Jansenism.60 What was needed was continuing theological education of the parish priests. Ecclesiastical conferences served this purpose and were easier to organize than synods. The agendas of the conferences provide a window on the catholicisms of the parish clergy of Coutances during the eighteenth century.61 Though the conferences established by Charles Borromeo in the Diocese of Milan in the mid-sixteenth century are often cited as the origin of ecclesiastical conferences, the primary influence in the Diocese of Coutances was most probably Jean Eudes, who encouraged meetings of priests. The example of the neighbouring dioceses of Avranches, Bayeux, and Lisieux may also have been a factor. The final element was Bishop Brienne’s contact with Louis Tronson, who convinced him of the usefulness of the conferences. The first known ecclesiastical conferences in Coutances were established by curés in the Valognes area in 1668. In his synodal statutes of 1676, Brienne announced that the calends would be reduced from twice to once yearly in each deanery and that he planned to establish monthly conferences to be held in many central points throughout the diocese. In the 1694 edition of his statutes, he provided rules for the then well-established conferences and then, early in the eighteenth century, he created the post of secretary general whose duty it was to coordinate the activity of the conferences so that all were discussing the same subjects. Unlike the case in many dioceses, until 1730 attendance was not obligatory, although it was strongly recommended. Unfortunately, the earliest conferences with extant records are those of Coutances in 1703 and Bricquebec and Cherbourg in 1705. The period with the most records is 1720 to 1760.62 In the beginning the conferences were used to develop the theological understanding of parish priests. As seminary attendance be­came universal, the conferences developed into schools of advanced moral

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theology which concentrated on the discussion of difficult cases that priests could be faced with in the confessional. The seminaries inculcated the idea that clerics were different from the laity and should live apart from them, serving as an example of the Christian life, raising community standards by their lives, and teaching. Participation in the social and economic life of the community, which had been common through the mid-seventeenth century, was actively discouraged. The conferences maintained this message. While paschal synods were attended only by benefice holders who had the care of souls (abbots, priors, and curés), ecclesiastical conferences were attended by all the priests of the area. These included curés, vicars, chaplains, and habitués and, often, those in minor orders who were serving in the parishes. The subjects of the Coutances conferences were similar to those of other dioceses: the importance of prayer, dignified celebration of the sacraments, teaching of catechism, preparation for death, dignified and correct conduct at all times. What is most important is the underlying message. Clerics formed an exclusively male society dedicated to God and loyal to the bishop. Consequently, they should seek fellowship and support only among fellow clerics, especially through the monthly meetings of the conferences. This message came through strongly in the first recorded conferences, those of May 1705. As seen in the records of the Bricquebec conference of 4 May 1705, the topics, as ordered by Bishop Brienne, were “how dangerous it is for ecclesiastics to talk too familiarly with women,” what circumspection should be used in conversations with them, and the faults one could commit. The priests were told that “without speaking of the [word missing] of iniquity that are so common,” conversations with women led clerics to indolence, failure to fulfill the duties of their ministry, and interruption of their prayers. The faithful cleric “carries the precious treasure of chastity in a fragile vase and to protect it had to flee the company of women.” The attendees were told to speak to women only when necessary and then with prudence and modesty. Assorted scriptural passages, canons of councils, and words of Church Fathers were presented to emphasize this view of the world. The same discussion was held in May 1705 in Haumoitiers and probably elsewhere in the diocese.63 During the following years, the Bricquebec conferences discussed, among other subjects, the virtues, both religious and

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secular, necessary for clerics. The meeting in April 1710 summarized these meetings by considering the statement “How important it is for all priests to know well what virtues are necessary for such a worthy state of life.” At the conferences of Périers on 7 August and Mesnil-Garnier on 16 August 1714, the attending clerics were warned that “unregulated” love of their family was “opposed to their perfection and to their salvation.” In Mesnil-Garnier on 18 September 1721, in the context of a discussion of the uncertainty of the time of death, clerics were warned that they would be lonely during their last illness. A positive interpretation of the message was given by Toustain de Billy who said the conferences were “a strong means for the learned to preserve their knowledge and practice of the ‘science des saints,’ for others to learn these things and, finally, for all to support and help each other on the road to salvation, for their sakes and for the people.”64 What were the results of seminary training, synods, calends, and ecclesiastical conferences in the Diocese of Coutances? That is, how does the Catholicism taught to priests in the seminary and the conferences compare with the catholicisms of the actual parish priests of the diocese? The answer to the question is provided by studying the lives of the priests in their parishes. This can best be done through the pastoral visits which reveal significant information about the education of parish priests, their spirituality, their performance of priestly duties, and their daily life. The short answer to the questions just posed is that in the earliest years for which a significant number of pastoral visits records are available (1634–1649) the majority of the parish clergy of Coutances in the archdeaconries of Bauptois and Chrétienté (the only archdeaconries with extant visits for the period) were fulfilling their duties and living lives that, at a minimum, did not scandalize their parishioners. The size of this majority grew steadily over the years and though later visits suggest that the clergy of the other two archdeaconries may have been slow to catch up, they too steadily improved. Robert Sauzet suggests that the reason that relatively little appears about clerical misconduct in seventeenth-century pastoral visit records is that people did not want to tell outsiders about their problems. This would fit with James Scott’s thesis about the nature of the reaction of peasants to outside authority. However, the peasants of

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the Diocese of Coutances were quite willing to complain to outsiders about problems with local church services, financial matters, and clerical conduct both during the visits of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and in the cahiers they prepared for the Estates General of 1789. Years of experience with reading pastoral visits from throughout France leads me to believe that, in general, visitors dealt publicly with public complaints about clerical activity or inactivity, while less public offenses were dealt with through the synods, the calends, in the officialité court, or directly by the bishop. Unfortunately, for Coutances there are no extant records for the calends, the officialité court, or the bishops’ meeting with individual clerics.65 On the other hand, the extant records for the synod meetings, chapter records, the ecclesiastical conference records, and the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789 all reinforce the conclusion that the parish clergy of the diocese were doing a relatively good job by the 1630s and improved over the years. It is equally true that the missionaries sent to rural Coutances by Jean Eudes were not pleased with the lives and activities of some of the priests they encountered in the 1640s and 1650s. This must be balanced by the fact that Eudes, his missionaries, and his early biographers all set very high standards of conduct.66 Analysis of the content of pastoral visit records using the codes devised and applied by the CNRS seems, at first, to reveal more about the clerics who were asking the questions than about the people to whom they were addressed. The questioners were clerical bureaucrats who, above all, wanted to know the state of parish finances and buildings and the identity of key personnel. When the records themselves are actually read in conjunction with the codes, rather than depending solely on the codes, the catholicisms of both the clergy and the laity of the Diocese of Coutances emerge.67 The earliest and fullest collection of pastoral visit records is from the Archdeaconry of Bauptois. In nine representative rounds of pastoral visits between 1634 and 1697 there were 710 pastoral visits to its eighty-four parishes. Forty-four percent of these visits resulted in positive general comments about the clergy of the parish and 43 per cent made no comment on them. The remaining 13 per cent of the visits (92) contained complaints about pastoral negligence (35), absence from the parish (17), violence (10), dress (10), drinking (8), sexual immorality (5), and greed (5).68

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There was general improvement over time, but individual cases of abuse continued to appear. For example, in 1685 the habitués of the parish of La Haye-du-Puits were combining drinking and greed, as even the ever circumspect Abbé Leroux could not resist pointing out. The visitor ordered the habitués not to open their houses for those who wanted to drink wine or cider on market and fair days.69 The visits of 1663 are typical of the Bauptois visits. Of the 325 priests resident in the archdeaconry that year, complaints were registered against only 16. Almost all the complaints concerned attendance at divine services. Eight were criticized for not attending religious services at all, four for attending infrequently, another for not only attending infrequently but for spending time in the tavern during services, and one was accused of dressing inappropriately during services. In addition, one priest was warned to live decently and stay out of cabarets and another to stop his practice of getting drunk and then fighting. For the following year, the number involved is hard to determine. “Several” clerics were accused of not wearing proper clothing during services. “A number” were accused of drinking in taverns, arguing, and fighting. Two priests were accused of sexual relations with women. Another was accused by a number of people of attacking parishioners from the pulpit and not providing sacraments to the sick at night. He replied that he was not the first priest to have trouble in that parish and that he was afraid he would be attacked if he went out at night. In addition, there were eight other complaints of pastoral negligence. After 1697 almost all these types of complaints disappeared. For example, in the visits of 1712 and 1723 there was a total of four complaints about negligence and one about inappropriate dress. None of the other complaints of the years 1634 to 1697 are to be found in those of the early eighteenth century. In the visit records for 1738 there are no complaints about the conduct of the clergy. The second oldest and second largest set of records pertains to the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté. In the earliest extant records, those of 1648, visits to ninety-eight parishes turned up nine causes for concern. Three of the cases concerned morality. The curé of Yquelon was accused of living with the wife of a parishioner for five years and fathering two children. He denied this. Legal action was underway. Unfortunately, no visit records are extant for Yquelon until 1660, so the outcome, if any, is not known. A habitué in the parish of Cambernon

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was ordered to appear before church officials to explain his absences. Whatever happened, he was not in the parish in the following year. Finally, the four clerics of Cérences were warned to stay out of taverns. The other six cases concerned complaints about who was responsible for paying for what in the parish or failure to obtain permission from the bishop to hear confessions or to serve as a vicar. The 100 visits in Chrétienté in 1649 reveal that the pastors of StJean-des-Champs and Orval were still arguing with their parishioners about who would pay for the early morning Sunday mass, which the two priests refused to allow to be said unless special payment was provided. There were also a few other financial squabbles. Two habitués were in trouble, one for absences and the other for living a life of public drunkenness. The worst case in Chrétienté in 1649 was that of Julien de Mauber, the curé of St-Pair et Queron. He was ordered to send his female servant away and was accused of not keeping proper accounts, performing divine services at inappropriate times, and not providing enough time for confessions. The name of his accuser is interesting. He was the local seigneur, Michel de Mauber. The 102 parish visits of 1660 were carried out by the same person who had visited in 1648–1649, the canon and archdeacon Jean de Gourmont. His major items of concern were parish accounts, church repairs, and the duties of caretakers and treasurers. Three curés were found to have been absent for long periods. One was excused because he was in Paris “a ses affaires,” two others because they were studying theology. The curé of Montcuit, however, was found to be non-resident without excuse and was ordered not to leave his parish without the bishop’s approval. Because of pastoral need, in four cases habitués were sent to be examined by the bishop to see if they were capable of hearing confessions. There were also two instances of curés being ordered to hire a vicar, again for pastoral reasons. The habitué in the parish of St-Aubin-des-Préaux was suspended because he had been absent for two years. The large communities of habitués in the parishes of Quettreville-sur-Sienne and Granville received admonishment from the visitor. The latter were told that if they did not assist at all the religious services in the parish, they would be forbidden to say mass (and thus lose their source of income). The situation in Quettreville was more complex. The habitués received a series of negative com-

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mands. They were to stay out of cabarets, not wear albs outside the church, not sing the Credo of the mass except in the accepted fashion, and not say more than one Mass a day. Thirty years later, in 1690 the vicar of Marigny was accused of demanding more than the prescribed fees for marriages, burials, and other services. The visitor’s comment about Pirou was that “negligence is always very great in that parish.” But it is not clear whether he was referring to the laity or the clergy. There were three complaints that obits and the provisions of endowments were not being executed fully and one about inaccurate records of baptisms, marriages, and burials. The curé of Roncey was ordered under pain of suspension to explain his absence, while a habitué in Milliers was reprimanded for absence during the visit. In the reports on the 102 parishes visited during the month of September 1723 the only note about clerical misconduct was the warning given to the clerics of Marchesieux to be more regular in attending church services. The first pastoral visits in the Archdeaconry of Val-de-Vire for which records exist took place in 1674. The records suggest that the clergy of this archdeaconry were the least reformed in the diocese. The visitor was Briand Marion, who had been commissioned by Archdeacon Pierre de Blanger. In the 99 (of 122) parishes in the deanery he visited, he found a significant number of priests who needed correction. The records are not explicit enough to give an exact number. For example, Fr Marion accused priests in St-Lô and area of failure to attend the ecclesiastical conferences, while in the parish visit to St-Martin-Don he stated that he had been told that some priests visited cabarets or gambled or did not wear their clerical habit or were involved in business affairs. Marion stated that he did not have enough proof to denounce them so he contented himself to “enjoin them in general terms to behave as clerics should” with a warning that should they engage in such conduct, the curé of the parish (who was the Dean of Val-de-Vire) would “incur the indignation of the bishop.” In Val-de-Vire in 1674 accusations of improper dress, refusal to perform the necessary rites and fully participate in the sacramental activity, as well as visiting cabarets were common. Instances of clerics fighting and using abusive language were also found. Missing, however, was the charge of cohabiting with women. The most original excuse came from the habitués of Coulonces who said that they went to

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the cabarets on Sunday after mass because they had to do something while waiting for vespers. The visitor was not impressed by that explanation. As was the case elsewhere, most of the priests who were accused of improper dress or behaviour in Val-de-Vire in 1674 were habitués. The response of the visitor was that when the curé discovered these faults, he should forbid the culprit to say mass for a week. Subsequent improper activity or dress would be met with suspension and then a report to the bishop. The curé of Bahais was reprimanded for wearing improper vestments during religious services. Four curés were accused of celebrating Sunday mass at an inconvenient time. It was noted that the curé of St-Fromond was in prison in St-Lô for having stolen a silver collection plate donated by a parishioner. In Le Hommet the curé failed to instruct his parishioners and was sloppy and irreverent. The curé of St-Aubin-de-Losque was reprimanded for refusing to take Holy Communion to the sick. The regent of the college in St-Lô was charged with carrying arms and not attending divine services. In all, priests in approximately twenty-five parishes in Val-de-Vire were accused of serious faults in 1674. Given the size of the clerical cohort in some of those parishes, this means that between one quarter and one third of the some 350 priests in the archdeaconry were deemed to be in need of reform. In 1690 a number of the 112 churches in Val-de-Vire visited by Archdeacon Georges Douet were still in poor condition despite repeated admonitions from past visitors. A number of the laity were reprimanded for living irregular lives or not making their Easter duty, but there were only four instances of correction of clerical actions. The curé of St-Martin-Don was suspended for a month because the children in the parish did not have enough religious knowledge. The suspension was then lifted on the condition that the curé strongly encourage the children’s parents to send their children to catechism lessons. The curé of Beslon was ordered to ensure that mass was said every Sunday in a rural chapel attached to his parish. A priest in St-Vigor-des-Monts was ordered to stay away from the parish of Coulonces because his presence there would scandalize some people. A habitué in La Lande Vaumont was to be forbidden to say mass in the future because he was too old to do so properly.

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Edme Nuque, the curé between 1693 and 1713 of Hébécrevon, loc­ ated north of St-Lô, stands out because of the protracted history of his activities. He first enters the visitation records one month after his arrival in the parish because of his quarrel with the parish schoolmaster, a former vicar of the parish who had been teaching for fourteen years. The visitor was not able to resolve the conflict. In 1697 Nuque, who was absent without permission during a visit, attending to “ses affaires” in Rouen, was reprimanded for his conflict with the new schoolmaster. Two years later the visiting archdeacon reprimanded Nuque for not replacing his aged vicar as he had been ordered to do in 1695. Moreover, the parish church, its books, ornaments, and papers were found to be in lamentable shape. In addition, Nuque employed a woman of twenty-five or thirty years of age to sell cider and keep house for him. The visit of 1698 revealed that not much had changed. The old, decrepit vicar was still there and Nuque had been absent without permission for three months. He was suspended because the only Sunday and feast day masses being said were those provided by a habitué from Notre-Dame de St-Lô who often did not show up. At the same time, Nuque was involved in a dispute with the priest who had been schoolmaster since 1694. Two years later the visitor found there was no vicar. Nuque, still employing the forbidden woman to sell his cider, was in Rouen pursuing his legal affairs, which included suing the bishop of Coutances for infringing his rights by making the schoolmaster the interim vicar. In 1703 Nuque finally had a vicar, but he was gone by 1707, while the long-suffering schoolmaster had become curé of his own parish. The church was still in terrible shape and the school was without a teacher. Pastoral visit records are missing for the rest of Nuque’s career. Nuque seems to have been the last of his kind. His successor, JeanBaptiste Le Rouxelet, curé from 1714 to 1747, repaired the church, taught catechism, and worked to convert the Protestants, who were still relatively numerous in the parish.70 The visits of 1720 and 1723 confirm that the Catholic Reformation was finally having its effect on the priests of Val-de-Vire. In 1720 there were two instances of minor trouble. In the large clerical community of Notre-Dame-de-St-Lô, the acolytes, subdeacons, and deacons were usurping the place of the priests in processions and seats in the choir

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of the church. In the parish of Sept-Frères the clerics were ordered to rearrange the way they sat in the choir both for the sake of clerical decency and so as not to block the special seating arranged for the local seigneur. The only clerical problem of 1720 that was seen as major concerned the abbey of St-Sever. The curé of the adjoining parish complained that women (“personnes de sexe”) were going into the monastery. The visitor replied that according to church law any woman who did this was ipso facto excommunicated and, therefore, should be refused the sacraments. Evidently, the threat worked since the same visitor, Archdeacon Vercingétorix René de Gourmont de Courcy, and the same curé were involved in the visit of 1723 and neither raised the issue. The only hint of a clerical problem in 1723 was that two habitués were suspended because they were not present during the visit to their parish. The first extant pastoral visit records for the Archdeaconry of Co­ tentin are those for 1679. By that time the efforts to reform the lives of priests in the diocese were well underway, though Cotentin seems to have been lagging behind Bauptois and Chrétienté, especially with regard to reform of the habitués. Nevertheless, of the 379 priests in the visited parishes only 40 were found wanting in some serious way.71 The bulk of the visits made in 1679 by Archdeacon Jean-Baptiste Hache de la Mothe (107 out of 167) were made during the course of eighteen days in July, at a rate of 4 to 7 per day (not an unusual rate in the diocese), with 9 being crammed into July 27. The rest of his visits were made in early August and mid-September. His task was made easier because the parishes were small and their churches relatively close to each other and because he had careful notes he had made on earlier visits. Poor administration of parish finances both by lay officials and by the curés was the main topic of the 1679 visits. Some attention was paid to the necessity of getting new missals and rituals and a few clerics were reminded of the importance of having a vicar and of teaching catechism. A habitué in Sideville was suspended for fifteen days for drunkenness and given a warning of worse to come if he offended again. A cleric in Biville was ordered to stay out of cabarets. Another in Helleville refused to fulfill his paschal duties. Three other habitués were reprimanded for absences. The eighteen habitués of Cherbourg

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were told to wear full clerical dress when in the city and one of them was warned to stay out of a specific cabaret. The habitué in Clitourps was given a final warning about his relationship with a woman. A habitué from Montfarville was found living in Rethonville where he had some land. He was ordered back to Montfarville where he faced the charge of living with a woman. He was there a day later when the visitor arrived. A habitué in Octeville l’Avenel was suspended for associating with a woman who evidently ran a brothel. He was also said to be the father of an illegitimate child. The vicar of Tocqueville had left the parish without permission, hoping to escape condemnation because he had made a woman pregnant. The former curé of Anneville was told to stop living with a woman or face suspension. The curé of Ormonville-la-Petite was absent for four months during the previous year according to some parishioners who, however, refused to sign a formal accusation. The second curé of Ste-Croix was absent, while the curé of Eculleville had refused to go to hear the confession of a sick parishioner because he had drunk too much wine the night before. The parishioner died two days later. The visitor said that a repeat of such action would result in suspension. The curé of Tourlaville was ordered to stop providing lodging for his sisterin-law. The sieur de Pouppiche, a priest living in the parish of Blosville, though not as part of the official équipe, was ordered once again, on pain of suspension, to send away from his house all “personnes de l’autre sexe” except those permitted by the diocesan statutes. On 16 July 1679 Jacques Girault, the desservant priest in Flamanville, reacted “with much insolence” when the visitor told him to act with more modesty so that the parishioners did not rise up against him. At the end of his July and August visits, Archdeacon Hache de la Mothe crossed the peninsula to return to Flammanville because he had noticed a great deal of “disorder and trouble” in the town on his first visit. Girault was gone, but this time he had to deal with the curé who had been absent in Rouen for some time. He was back but was not saying mass often and usually lived in a different town. It is evident from the record of the visit that there were long-term conflicts in the parish. In the report on the parish of Couville there is a curious statement about referring immediately to the bishop the “contestations” between the curé and a woman parishioner who was not “living in a Christian

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manner” and was interfering with the revenue of the parish. As a result of a complaint, the curé of Quinéville was ordered to stop the hunting that was interfering with his pastoral duties or face suspension. The curé, Jean Mouel, refused to sign the visitor’s report. The next extant set of pastoral visit records for Cotentin date from 1690. The visitor was Archdeacon Jean-Jacques Blouet de Camilly. This was not his first round of visits and he would continue to make them until at least 1702. It is apparent that he had been monitoring structural improvements in the churches for some time. All was evidently well among the habitués of Cherbourg and elsewhere, even though the number of habitués in the Cotentin had increased from 165 to 208 since 1679. The comment in the visit record of Hauteville suggests, however, that some troublemakers, at least, had been excluded from pastoral service. The scribe wrote simply that M. Jacques Jourdan was the replacement priest for “the curé and others who had been suspended.” There was also a case of suspension in Anneville. There were still a few troublesome curés in 1690. The curé of La Pernelle was suspended for what was called his unexplained absence. The visit report makes it clear that he was avoiding complaints that he was not saying mass when he should. At Cauguigny, Blouet de Camilly was met by a priest sent by the sieur de St-Luc, the brother of the curé. It was explained that though the curé had been absent for two months, it had been arranged that neighbouring curés would cover for him. The archdeacon was not impressed and ordered the curé to appear before him and explain himself or face suspension. The other problems included the complaint that a priest serving as a schoolmaster was not fulfilling his duties properly. The priests of Tourlaville were accused of not providing all the services for the dead provided for by past donations and the priests in Brix were said to be skipping the early part of the divine office. The curé of Tocqueville rejected the claim of the local grandee, M. de Tocqueville, that the parish needed a vicar, but the visitor insisted that he hire one.72 Almost all the priests seem to have been living properly and fulfilling their duties. The churches were generally in good repair, but parish finances were not well regulated and there were serious concerns about the lack of some religious practices. These matters will be discussed in the next chapter.

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In his 1702 visit Blouet de Camilly turned most of his attention to the laity. The outstanding clerical case was that of the former vicar of Morville. The clergy and a large number of parishioners complained about “his life, morals and conduct.” These were described as “infamous and abominable” with the result that the honour of many individuals was soiled. Whatever the exact nature of his conduct, he was charged in court and forbidden to live in the parish and to carry out any clerical functions. The only other clerical misdeed recorded was the absence of a habitué in Ste-Geneviève; he was ordered to report to the archdeacon either during his round of visits or in Coutances. The visit records of 1723 by Archdeacon de Lallier show that the number of habitués was still growing in the Archdeaconry of Cotentin, unlike the situation in the other three archdeaconries. Everywhere the visitor went the clergy were present and, with two exceptions, no complaints were lodged against them. In Les Perques a habitué was not attending church services. In Virandeville all the parishioners present at the visit reported “with sorrow” that a priest who lived there but was not part of the parish contingent continued to have “scandalous women” living with him. The archdeacon concluded that his only recourse was to turn him over to the bishop. There is not another word about misconduct of the some 450 priests of the archdeaconry. A few curés were worried about public reaction, however, because some parish funds had been invested in shares of the Banque Royale. Thus, even in one of the most remote parts of France, the failure of John Law’s investment schemes was beginning to have an effect. All else was in order except for the need for minor church repairs in some churches. During the eighteenth century the pastoral visitors in all four archdeaconries spent little time inquiring about the clergy. Every visitor listed the clergy in each parish, but they did not enquire about intellectual attainments, probably because by then all priests had been through some sort of formal education and attended the ecclesiastical conferences. Clerical morality was a topic of some interest in Chrétienté, but not after 1723. In Val-de-Vire and Bauptois little interest was shown in the topic throughout the century. The only example of a curé and his assistants all being thoroughly criticized was in the parish of Ermondeville in Cotentin in 1759. The curé was curtly ordered to preach the gospels and teach catechism and to say Sunday mass at the proper time. The other priests in the parish were told to celebrate

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their masses at a stated time on feast days for the convenience of the parishioners and to fulfill all the duties specified in endowments. They were further admonished to do all of this with dignity.73 Interest in pastoral zeal had been significant in the first half of the seventeenth century and was maintained during the Brienne years. While there was a significant drop in questions on this subject after 1730 (as was the case throughout France), visitors in Chrétienté and Cotentin maintained some interest. In both cases the major concerns were that catechism be taught and sermons preached. In the overwhelming majority of cases all was deemed to be well.74 The picture provided by analysis of the pastoral visit records must be compared with the traditional picture and with other records extant for the Diocese of Coutances. There is a historical tradition that the clergy of France were poorly educated, lived less than holy lives, and did not perform their pastoral duties. Statements from missionaries active in the diocese in the first half of the seventeenth century, summarized by their historian Pierre Costil (1669–1749) express that attitude succinctly: “The clergy are criminally lazy, do not have any rule of decency, dress like seculars, work and deal with them like day labourers when they are poor and when they are from a rich family they consume the income from their benefices in games, festivities and similar vanities.”75 François Bourgoing, who travelled widely throughout France visiting Oratorian houses between 1632 and 1646, wrote that there were three types of priests, a minority who were saintly, a minority who were totally lost and vicious, and the majority who fulfilled their duties. This majority said the office and mass and “abstained from major sins and scandal,” but they were “strongly attached to their interests.”76 The journals of Gilles de Gouberville provide some support for Costil’s comments as they apply to habitués, but the records of pastoral visits of the Diocese of Coutances show that progressively, over the course of the seventeenth century, the Catholic Reformation had a positive effect on the parish clergy of Coutances. For the eighteenth century, visit records, though sparse, along with chapter and notarial records, provide further proof of this. Émile Vivier used notarial records to describe the possessions and, through them, the lives of several members of the parish clergy in the eighteenth-century Diocese of Coutances. His conclusions are posi-

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 187

tive, but there is no way to know how representative his choices were. Jean-Baptiste Leroux’s account of clerical faults in the parishes of Gouey and Portbail in Bauptois from 1634 through the eighteenth century (which he hoped would remain “confidential and secret”) show the same pattern of faults described throughout this section. On the other hand, Émile Sévestre presents a dim view of the clergy. His criticisms of the upper clergy and the members of the older religious orders are accurate, but he is mistaken about the parish priests.77 The cahiers prepared for the Estates General in 1789 support a positive view of the parish clergy of Coutances. Early in that year the members of the First Estate of the Diocese of Coutances were ordered by the royal government to meet and prepare a list of grievances (cahier des doléances) to be sent along with their representatives to a meeting of the Estates General to be held at Versailles. Since this was the first meeting of that body since 1614, no one had any personal knowledge of the procedures. The government provided careful instructions and the ecclesiastics of Coutances followed them. The word “ecclesiastics” is used rather than clergy or clerics because the government officials, as was traditional, included not only priests and other clerics in the First Estate but all members of religious orders, men and women, ordained or not. Though that was a fact, society could not face the full consequences, so, as had always been the custom, female religious were summoned to the meeting but had to send a male to represent them.78 For the purposes of the Estates General the civil entities known as bailliages and sénéschaussées were used. This meant that the members of the First Estate from the dioceses of Coutances and Avranches meet together to draw up a single cahier for what was known as the Bailliage of Cotentin, just as they had done in 1614. This bailliage, which did not include the southeastern part of the Archdeaconry of Val-de-Vire, would, with only minor adjustments, become in 1790 what is today both the Département de la Manche and the Diocese of Coutances and Avranches.79 A total of 869 individuals (603 of them from the Diocese of Cou­ tances) were called to the assembly of the First Estate. All holders of benefices were called, along with representatives of chapters, religious houses, and some communities of habitués. The meeting began on 20 March 1789. All three estates met at the same time, each at a differ-

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ent site in Coutances. Four hundred and forty-five individuals actually took part in the meeting of the First Estate. Through procurations these men officially represented another 331 members. Ninety-three individuals who were convoked neither came nor gave a procuration to one of the attendees. A solid majority of the assembly were curés. Bishop Talaru de Chalmazel of Coutances was the president of the assembly and was eventually, though reluctantly, chosen by the deputies to be one of their representatives to the Estates General. He was accompanied by three curés. Unlike the Third Estate which held two levels of preliminary meetings, first in all parishes and then in a few larger cities, where cahiers were successively developed and refined, the members of the First Estate came directly to the bailliage meeting. Some brought formal cahiers with them, but none of these have survived. The final cahier of the First Estate of the Bailliage of Cotentin and the controversy surrounding its formation, beginning with the unsuccessful attempt of the cathedral chapters of Coutances and Avranches to convince the deputies to allow all canons to participate, provides an excellent window on the catholicisms of the clergy of the Diocese of Coutances in the latter part of the eighteenth century.80 The cahier begins with the subject of religion. The clerical deputies asked the king to continue to protect religion “in these unhappy times” by ensuring that synods and councils continued to be held “to support discipline and maintain morals,” by enforcing laws concerning the respect due to “religious things, days, places and persons,” by preventing the publication of “evil books,” by permitting only one rite in the French church (rather than each diocese having its own variation, as was then the case), and by modifying the 1787 edict concerning Protestants.81 In addition to this unsurprising first chapter, the cahier contains three others that discuss legislation, taxes and finances, and the clergy. The other two estates would have no quarrel with the clergy’s desires for the protection of individual liberty, reform of law codes, abolition of the salt tax and militias, and reduction of government expenses. A number of articles that favoured the lower clergy and would, in general, please the Third Estate, strongly displeased the upper clergy in the assembly. The curés, who formed a majority, had chosen a draft-

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 189

ing committee dominated by their peers. An article in chapter 2 of the cahier asked that bishops not be able to send curés to a seminary without due cause. Chapter 4 contained several pro-curé articles that asked for better representation of curés in diocesan assemblies. Another asked for the abolition of the déport, a custom that allowed the bishop and his archdeacons to split the revenue of a benefice for a year after the death of its holder. Chapter 4 also asked that the tithe be applied to the needs of the parish, not to the revenue of its collector, the gros décimateur, that the portion congrue be increased to 1,500 livres, and that more vicars be appointed in all parishes (both at the expense of the gros décimateur), and that in commendam benefice holding be forbidden. The fact that by 1789 a significant number of curés had been recruited from among the sons of farmers was surely a factor in the creation of this list of requests. All are found regularly in the cahiers of the Third Estate as will be seen in the following chapter. None are found in the noble cahier.82 The bishops, canons, and other upper clergy tried to remove the provisions described in the preceding paragraph from the cahier, but they were voted down by the curé-dominated assembly. This was not the case with another proposal of the committee. It wanted a statement that the First Estate would surrender all its pecuniary privileges. Howls of protest from the upper clergy and the representatives of in commendam abbots and priors, a formal written protest by the canons of Coutances and Avranches, and strong statements from the bishops of Coutances and Avranches resulted in two articles. The first was a statement in chapter 3 that the deputies of the clergy to the Estates General could make any “pecuniary sacrifices” which the interest of the kingdom demanded “in the present circumstances to achieve peace and union among the three orders.” The second appears at the head of chapter 4 stating that the clergy should be allowed to preserve its organization and maintain the right to divide the taxes it owed among its members as it saw fit.83 The cahier, including the two new articles, was accepted by the assembly on 24 March. The minutes of the meeting do not indicate how or by what sort of vote, if any, the acceptance came about. Subsequently, 262 deputies signed the cahier; 58 per cent of the 445 deputies who had been present when the meetings opened. It is not known

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how many were still in attendance, how many did not sign the cahier because they could not accept it, and how many did not sign because they could not be bothered to wait in line for their turn. Thirty-two curés cared enough to try to eliminate the words “in the present circumstances” in chapter 3 and replace the first article in chapter 4 with a statement that the clergy should be taxed like all the other orders, that each cleric pay in proportion to his revenue, and that the tax be in the same form and on the same tax roll as the other two estates. The proposal matched one made at the end of the cahier of the Third Estate. The thirty-two published their proposal and waited for the clerical assembly to respond. According to the minutes of the meeting of 28 March, the assembly agreed unanimously that everyone would sign a response rejecting the proposal of the thirty-two. In fact only 105 members signed the response, less than half the number who signed the cahier. Though the motives of those signing or not signing is not known, it is certain that there was a distinct split in attitude between the upper and lower clergy of the two dioceses.84 The upper clergy had not changed their position from that taken at the Estates General of 1614. They wanted to protect their privileges and their revenue no matter what the situation. The nobles asked the same for themselves in their cahier. Both the upper clergy and the nobles were willing to make an immediate financial sacrifice in a time of crisis, but insisted on keeping their rights and privileges intact. The lower clergy wanted a greater voice in clerical affairs, better pay for the poorest among them, and more help in fulfilling their priestly duties. At the same time they were much more in touch with the mass of ordinary Catholics and the political and economic state of France. This was decidedly not the case for bishops and canons, nor the few monks and canons still in their monasteries. Nevertheless, despite their greater awareness of life as it was actually lived by ordinary people and their concern for the welfare of their parishioners, the parish priests of late eighteenth-century Coutances, like their confreres throughout France, were now educated in the seminary, separate from the rest of society. They acquired a disdain for many of the personal and social aspects of the lives of their parishioners and developed a fear of women. They were taught to live in the world but not be part of it. In the ecclesiastical conferences, they became more and more involved in discussing the finer points of moral theology.

The Catholicisms of the Parish Clergy 191

The catholicism they learned was based on a spirituality that emphasized introspection and devotion to Jesus as exemplified by Mary, who was portrayed as consistently subservient to the will of her Son. God the Father was regarded from a distance with awe, the Holy Spirit was largely ignored, and the role of the saints was much smaller than it had been traditionally. All of this separated the parish clergy of eighteenthcentury Coutances from their parishioners. Seminary training and ecclesiastical conferences not only broke the close connection between ordinary parish priests and the peasant communities in which they lived; they also created a bond among priests. The more the curés à portion congrue, the curés who had to share the dime with the gros décimateur, the vicars and, especially the habitués met each other, the more they realized that their own problems were shared by other priests. The theory of Edmond Richer (1559–1631) that sovereignty in the church was shared by the curés melded with the ideas of the Enlightenment to encourage these men to seek more income and a greater voice in clerical politics.85 The catholicism of the parish clergy of the years between 1350 and the mid- to late seventeenth century had not been much different than that of their parishioners whose lives they shared. In general, the catholicism of the parish priests of Coutances during the one hundred years before the French Revolution was significantly different from that of both their predecessors and their parishioners. Despite this, as will be seen in the following chapter, the preliminary cahiers of the Third Estate drawn up throughout the Diocese of Coutances made a clear distinction between the bishops, gros décimateurs, and monks, all of whom they criticized heartily, and the ordinary parish priests who, in general, were respected by their parishioners as men who performed their spiritual duties well. Whatever their faults and isolation from the daily lives of their parishioners, the parish clergy of late eighteenth-century Coutances were much more in touch with the world around them than were the bishops, canons, and members of male religious orders. Their only rivals were the female religious who, through their teaching, social work, and health care, expressed a much more holistic and inclusive catholicism. The world of the clergy and religious of the Diocese of Coutances changed forever with the coming of the French Revolution. In 1791 ap-

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proximately 54 per cent of the curés and vicars of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances took the oath supporting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy which established a French national church, despite the opposition of the pope and their bishop. This is only slightly higher than the national average of 52 per cent, but significantly higher than the percentage in the neighbouring dioceses of Avranches (44 per cent) and Bayeux (39 per cent). The percentage of curés and vicars who took the oath varied by district. Sixty per cent of them did so in the district of St-Lô, 59 per cent in the districts of Cherbourg and Carentan, 53 per cent in the district of Coutances, and 43 per cent in the district of Valognes. Interpretation of the percentages is fraught with difficulties. Only priests who had what were defined as public functions were required to take the oath and were counted in determining the percentage of acceptance. Excluded were the small number of canons, members of religious orders, and the large number of habitués.86 Timothy Tackett has argued that the modern pattern of religious practice in France was established as a result of the decisions of priests in 1791 to accept or not accept the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. This matter will be discussed in chapter 8. Whatever the validity of his argument, Tackett provided a cogent series of factors that influenced acceptance and rejection of the oath. He proposed that in areas with a large number of rural clergy, clerics tended to see themselves as a separate group and that this perception was accepted by the laity. Both forces encouraged resistance to the Civil Constitution. The presence of Jansenism, he argues, worked in favour of accepting the constitution. Furthermore, acceptance of the decrees of the Council of Trent with regard to the life and duties of the parish clergy also encouraged resistance to the oath. Finally, resistance of parish clergy to financial policies of the church and a negative attitude to the bishop encouraged taking the oath.87 Tackett’s factors may well fit the situation in the “old” Diocese of Coutances where the various factors collided with each other. The diocese was rural, Jansenism did not have much support, the decrees of the Council of Trent had been implemented, and resistance of parish clergy to the financial policies of the church and an underly­ing partially negative attitude to bishops were evident throughout the eighteenth century and, especially, in the preparatory assemblies for the Estates General of 1789. Two other factors that may well have influenced the

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decision of parish clergy of Coutances were the failure of Bishop Talaru to take an early clear stand against the oath and the overwhelming rural nature of the diocese, which necessarily lessened the feeling many priests had in more urban dioceses that city dwellers were using the oath to attack the Catholic religion.88 The list of factors just presented leaves open the question of personal motivation. That cannot be known, but Sévestre has provided the testimony of a number of priests from the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances who subsequently retracted their oath, as well as some of those who took it and did not change their mind. These statements make it clear that many of the priests who took the oath did not fully understand what they were doing or took the oath because of fear or took it firmly believing that they were not rejecting the Roman Catholic Church but were supporting political change and/or a fairer distribution of the wealth of the church.89 When all the available evidence is combined, the indication is that as of the summer of 1791 most of the parish clergy of the prerevolutionary Diocese of Coutances, whatever their attitudes toward the upper clergy and the nobility, were living the type of life they had promised to lead, whether they took the oath or refused to do so. Unlike the situation that seems to have existed in the Diocese of Bayeux and, perhaps, in Lisieux, the habitués of Coutances seem to have been much less troublesome than in the past.90 What came after the summer of 1791 will have to be the subject of another book by another author. That person will have to identify and, above all, assess the motives of the oath takers, those who retracted their oaths, those who hid during the revolution and continued their ministry clandestinely, those who emigrated and, above all, those who became constitutional clerics. In the case of the latter group, especially, there were many possible motives. Some took the oath for political reasons, others for economic reasons (e.g., habitués who could finally have a decently paying position), others so that they could continue to provide Catholic religious services to their parishioners. Later decisions by the oath takers that need to be assessed include participation in the new religion of the Supreme Being and renunciation of their priestly status. When the revolution was over, there were more decisions to be made. Some pre-revolutionary priests of Coutances never broke with the Catholic Church, some reconciled themselves with the Church while others did

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not, either because they rejected Roman Catholicism or because they rejected the concordat with the papacy negotiated by Napoleon. Émile Sévestre researched deeply and wrote widely on the topic of the priests of Coutances and the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste Lechat has provided both guidance to sources and important information. Pierre Flament has shown what can be done with the history of priests during the revolution in his book on the Diocese of Sées. All three of these men were good historians, but they were pre-Vatican II priests and this distinctly influenced their choice of adjectives and adverbs. What is needed is a historian who can combine their skill and patience with a less partisan attitude.91

A  7 The Catholicisms of the Catholic Laity of Coutances

Chapter 2 contained a description of the official Catholicism of Coutances in the years between the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the Council of Trent, as well as an overview of the unofficial Catholicism of those years. Chapters 3 through 6 presented the catholicisms of the clergy and religious of the diocese. In passing, the different ways in which the clergy tried to teach official Catholicism to the laity at different times were mentioned – from medieval instruction in a few basics to the sermons and catechism lessons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the catholicisms of the Roman Catholic laity of the Diocese of Coutances from the midsixteenth century to the French Revolution. The journals of Gilles de Gouberville provide important but partial information for the second half of the sixteenth century. The hunt for the catholicisms of the laity is much easier in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because of the writings of rural missionaries, pastoral visit records, and the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1614 and 1789. Since it took four chapters to describe the catholicisms of the members of the First Estate of the diocese, who made up no more than 1 per cent of the population, how is it possible to treat the other 99 per cent in only one chapter? It can be done because, for much of the time under consideration, the 99 per cent had what could be called a single general catholicism composed of slightly varying blends of beliefs and practices that had their roots in centuries of Catholic teaching and the supposedly no longer extant Roman and northern European varieties of paganism. The proportion of the blend of official and unofficial be-

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liefs varied individually and collectively. It was influenced by many factors, but the elements were the same, and the overall differences were not great in 1350, 1450, or even 1550. Then, in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the catholicism of the laity began to develop into the catholicisms of the laity. A myriad of historical studies have documented the changes that came to French society from the sixteenth century onward. Particularly important in the Diocese of Coutances were the spread of literacy, the development of agrarian capitalism, and the growth of royal power. All these contributed to the decline of the seigneurial system, the rise of village ruling groups composed of farmers and rural merchants, and the growing social and political importance of royal officials. As a result of these developments and others, especially the Renaissance and the nascent Protestant Reformation, by the mid-sixteenth century several vectors of belief were becoming evident in the diocese. With the development of different levels of general and religious education, these vectors would slowly but steadily evolve in different directions. This process became more evident by the late seventeenth century as the influence of the Catholic Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment expanded.1 Nevertheless, at the death of King Louis XIV in 1715, despite all these influences and despite what so many historians have written, in the remote, overwhelmingly rural Diocese of Coutances the majority of the laity still shared a catholicism that varied only in degree. The pastoral visit and ecclesiastical conference records, episcopal mandements, and synodal statutes indicate that, during the course of the eighteenth century, the catholicism of the urban laity was increasingly diverging from that of the peasant majority. The cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789 show that the Enlightenment was having a limited influence on some of the clergy and urban laity, but not yet enough to bring a real break with the past for the overwhelming majority. That would soon change. During the first century and a half of the time period covered in this book, most bishops of Coutances were very concerned with their own well-being. This concern included efforts to increase their possessions and attempts to earn their way into heaven by leaving behind sufficient money for prayers to be said for them in perpetuity. They either thought it would take a very long time for their souls to move from

The Catholicisms of the Catholic Laity 197

purgatory to heaven or they wanted their names to be remembered forever. In some parts of France, beginning slowly in the late fifteenth century, bishops tried to bring reform to the church. This was the First Catholic Reformation. Only bishops Herbert at the beginning of the sixteenth century and Briroy near its end were fully part of that movement. From the 1630s onward the Diocese of Coutances came under the influence of the Second Catholic Reformation.2 For many of the bishops who lived before the Second Catholic Reformation, the laity existed to serve them by paying tithes. Priests had the duty of saying mass for the laity, providing them with the sacraments, and presenting them with basic lessons about their faith. Neither the priests nor the laity were expected to ask any questions. The bishops of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries generally expected higher pastoral standards of themselves, their priests, and the laity, but they still did not accept questions. In addition to ensuring that their children were baptized and, when possible, confirmed, the official duties of members of the laity in Coutances before the late seventeenth century were to attend mass and abstain from work on Sundays and specially designated holy days. People were encouraged to also attend two parts of the divine office – matins before mass and vespers in the afternoon – on those days. Confession and communion were required once a year during the Easter season. Abstinence from meat was required on Fridays, the vigils of some feasts, and on specified days in Advent and Lent. Fasting was to be practised during Lent, except on Sundays. In the Diocese of Coutances, Sundays and holy days combined amounted to 95 to 105 days, depending on the century. At first glance this seems to be an excessive number of days when people did not work. In present-day France, however, most people do not work on either Saturday or Sunday or on ten national holidays – a total of 114 days – nor on their annual five-week vacation. Ironically, in a country that is officially secular, eight of the national holidays were once Catholic holy days. Even more ironically, only three of the eight (Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas) are now considered to be major holy days by the Catholic Church.3 As seen in previous chapters, there were many more or less “official” religious beliefs and practices that, in fact, combined elements of Catholicism and paganism. These included the use of such sacramentals

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as blessed water (holy water), used in various ceremonies which, it was believed, could remove venial sins; the blessed oil used in ordinations, royal coronations, and baptisms; blessed incense used in the mass and other religious ceremonies; and blessed wax used in candles. Among the practices were the veneration of relics, gaining of indulgences, and holding processions whose purpose was to honour saints and seek good weather, good health, or other favours. There were also various elements of supposedly long-dead paganism that influenced the catholicisms of the laity of Coutances. Among these leftovers was the widespread popular belief in magic and sorcery. This belief presented a serious problem for theologians and bishops who believed in the power of the devil to do evil through humans, but wanted to eradicate popular superstitions by preventing the people who claimed to be magicians or sorcerers from acting. The medieval fear that blessed water would be stolen from baptismal fonts for purposes of sorcery had disappeared from synodal statutes by the sixteenth century, but according to the 1637 edition of the statutes of Coutances, only the bishop could forgive “sorcerers, poisoners, enchanters, magicians and diviners.” In the 1694 edition of these statutes, reference was made to conventicles of the devil and assemblies of “sorcerers, magicians or people who had that reputation.” The synod statues in force in Coutances during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries recommended going to confession before marriage to protect against evil magic spells (“contre les malefices”). The magic spell referred to was the “knotted lace” charm, which supposedly prevented the consummation of a marriage. Both the belief in and the attempt to use this charm were the targets of this recommendation which was backed by a provision in the Rituel in use in Coutances in the eighteenth century that called for the weekly public reading of a threat of excommunication of anyone who employed a sorcerer to create the charm.4 Belief in witches, a mixture of paganism and Christianity, was a phenomenon that, unlike the other popular beliefs, came and went during the early modern period. Then there were the superstitions that are found in all societies and have not completely disappeared in the twenty-first century: doing this or not doing that to bring good luck or avoid bad luck. All these beliefs and practices existed together with the official religion to produce the catholicisms of the laity of Coutances – and the rest of Europe.5

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It is difficult for people living in the twenty-first century to appreciate fully the mixture of old and new beliefs that seemed totally natural to the people of early modern Coutances. The life and death of Marie des Vallées (1590–1656) and two events that took place in the diocese in 1664, eight years after her death, provide insights into that world. The life of Marie des Vallées provides strong evidence of the interest of the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Coutances in both the mysticism described in chapter 6 and in the possibility of innocent individuals becoming possessed by an evil spirit or demon. These interests and similar examples can be found throughout France at this time.6 Marie’s mother and father were peasants living in the parish of St-SauveurLendelin, about nine kilometres north of Coutances. Marie’s father died in 1604, when she was about fourteen, and her mother married a man who was a violent drunkard. Fleeing his advances after her mother’s death, Marie lived with various relatives. She later reported that at the age of nineteen she refused an offer of marriage, following which her suitor arranged for a witch to throw a spell on her to win her affections. Marie said the spell worked because she felt “the great infernal fire of concupiscence.” As a result she began to emit horrible screams. On the basis of her lapses into panic attacks, blasphemy, hitting herself, and suicide attempts, those around her became convinced that she was possessed by an evil spirit. The affliction was particularly strong between 1617 and 1619 and again from 1622 to 1634. Signs of what was described as demonic possession occurred off and on until a year before her death. Various efforts were made to drive out the spirit with the religious ritual of exorcism, but to no avail. Between 1612 and 1614 the bishops of Coutances and Rouen became involved in the exorcisms. Then it was the turn of the Parlement of Rouen after Marie was accused of being a witch. After the usual intrusive physical tests, she was exonerated on the grounds that she was a virgin.7 Despite her affliction, Marie was often at peace and gained a reputation for giving wise advice and for being a mystic who had surrendered her will completely to God. She soon became a target for the Jansenists, who had little use for mysticism. There were many others who were skeptical about Marie. This attitude continued long after her death. Jean Eudes met Marie while he was conducting a mission in Coutances in 1641. His attempt to exorcize her was successful and he was

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soon seeking advice from the person he came to call his eagle. On the first occasion, he asked her advice about establishing seminaries to train priests. This is why Eudes chose her as one of the godparents of the bell of the seminary he established in Coutances in 1650. Marie was also influential in his decision to establish his own religious order and to expand his devotion to “the Sacred Heart of Jesus” to include “the Admirable Heart of Mary.” Eudes considered Marie’s visions to have a supernatural origin and continued to consult her until her death. Events that followed Marie’s death reveal another aspect of the spirituality of seventeenth-century Coutances. For reasons of both prestige and devotion, the canons wanted to bury her body in the cathedral, while the Eudistes wanted her in the seminary chapel. Others wanted to bury her in the chapel of the Dominicans because of her devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Virgin. The curé of the parish of St-Nicolas in Coutances, acting at least partially to assert his pastoral rights, claimed Marie’s body because she died in his parish. On the urging of Eudes, some of his lay supporters obtained permission from the Parlement of Rouen to bury Marie in the seminary chapel. On 4 November 1656, more than eight months after her death, some sixty individuals armed with swords and pistols staged an early-morning raid on St-Nicolas and by candlelight dug up her body, which they said they found to be in perfect condition, and buried it in the seminary chapel.8 The first of the two events of 1664, alluded to above, was described in the cathedral chapter deliberations of 20 August which note that a relic of St-Lô was responsible for a miracle. At the time, it was raining incessantly throughout Normandy, especially in the Diocese of Coutances. As a result the harvest was in great danger. Bishop Lesseville arranged for a procession carrying the relic to take place on 17 August. Despite menacing skies when the procession began, no rain fell during it. In fact, the skies cleared and, as of 20 August, no rain had fallen. What happened subsequently was not reported, but the second event of that year reveals that the change in weather was not permanent. On 11 November Bishop Lesseville had the body of Saint Gaud, the fifth-century bishop of Evreux, exhumed. The all-but-forgotten tomb had recently become the site of frequent miracles. In addition, the local curé reported that he had heard supernatural voices asking for the raising of the body. According to a report of the ceremony, some

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two thousand persons were in attendance, including representatives of the chapter of Évreux and the monastery of St-Michel. When first exhumed, the body was reported as uncorrupted, but it quickly began to putrefy, releasing sweet odours. By the time the ceremony was held, only the bones and a few pieces of skin were intact, swimming in a pool of what seemed to be perfumed white oil. The scent was said to last for a long time afterward. A final miracle was the fact that the day of the ceremony and the following day were the only two days of good weather in the midst of a long rainy period.9 The mixture of bishops, canons, friars, monks, sainthood, history, mysterious voices, preserved bodies, bones, miracles, and weather control demonstrates how much Roman Catholicism had absorbed from the world in which it existed. The first clear picture of the catholicisms of the laity of the Diocese of Coutances is found in the journal kept during the years 1549 to 1563 by Gilles de Gouberville, a minor noble who spent most of his time in his manor in Mesnil-au-Val about eleven kilometres southeast of Cherbourg and was active throughout the northeastern corner of the diocese in a triangular area bounded by Cherbourg, Valognes, and his estate in Gouberville, as well as in parts of the neighbouring diocese of Bayeux. What is the catholicism revealed in Gouberville’s journals? It is the official and unofficial religion described in chapter 2 combined with the practices described in this chapter and elsewhere, all lived in a largely unconscious manner. From the mid-seventeenth century onward missions, sermons, and the teaching of catechism would lead slowly to the development of greater religious knowledge and consciousness. Before this, as Lucien Febvre put it, Catholicism was the air that people breathed. Joseph Bergin, expanding on the words of Jules Michelet, wrote, “‘Everything’ was connected to ‘everything’ precisely because social and cultural life in the widest sense was suffused with religious imagery, language, sounds and gestures, which made it impossible for all but a handful of people to view the world as other than governed by supernatural forces.”10 In the mid-sixteenth-century Diocese of Coutances, Catholicism was part of life for almost everyone, be they peasants, nobles, or townspeople. No one except the small Protestant minority questioned

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the dogmas and practices, though the wealth of absentee higher clergy bothered many. Life was measured by the rotation of seasons and the unfolding weeks of the liturgical calendar. The calendar dominated, with its weekly repetition of Sunday and feast day matins, mass, and vespers, and the yearly repetition of religious fasts and feasts, the many processions in honour of God and the saints seeking health, good weather, and intercession for salvation. At the same time the recurring baptisms, marriages, and funerals, all presided over by the clergy and filled with prayers, marked the stages of the lives of families and communities. Gouberville’s journals make it clear that no one, including the author, always fulfilled all their religious duties. Participation in religious services was limited by frequent sickness, severe weather (especially heavy rain), and assorted secular concerns, including, above all, the harvest. But the services went on. People knew that they should be present and most often they were or made sure that at least one member of the household was. They followed the rules for seasonal fasts and abstinence as a matter of course. Gouberville noted laconically on 18 December 1555, “I went to Carentan where I stabled my horse with Sandrin and ate a couple of eggs because it was a Wednesday in Advent and then went to bed at la Cambe.” The socializing that went along with the religious ceremonies was an important part of the religious life of the community. This included talking with neighbours and learning the news before, after, and sometimes during mass on Sunday and feast days, as well as at the celebrations that followed marriages, baptisms, and funerals. Examples of this are found repeatedly in Gouberville’s journals. Two other important elements of the religious life of Coutances in the sixteenth century were first, the confraternities, which provided a combination of mutual help, opportunities for religious devotion, and annual social occasions (usually a banquet), and second, the religious plays with their combination of entertainment and religious instruction.11 The Second Catholic Reformation brought a very distinct change in the catholicisms of Coutances through the actions of the parish clergy. The catholicism that the clergy wanted to inculcate during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be ascertained by two particularly important means. These are the catechism that was used to teach children their religion and the confession manual that guided the priests

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hearing the confessions that were required at least once a year. After considering these two documents, the chapter moves on to an indepth study of the catholicism of the laity as it actually existed, based on the comments of Jean Eudes and his missionaries and an analysis of the pastoral visit records and then the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789. As seen in chapters 2 and 6, during the first third of the seventeenth century bishops Briroy and Matignon provided printed material for the parish clergy to use to teach the people the basics of their religion in the course of Sunday services. Catechism lessons were particularly important. Between 1634 and 1667 eight individuals established endowments to provide income for catechetical instruction in various parishes of the diocese. In addition, Jean Eudes and his fellow missionaries always included catechetical lessons in their missions. The book used by the catechist was a catechism. The instruction, usually through a series of questions and memorized answers, was a means for the laity, especially children, to obtain an understanding of their religion and its required practices. As Jean Eudes put it in his Catechism of the Mission, “Catechism is simple instruction by which one teaches what must be done and what must be avoided to honour God and save oneself.”12 Catechisms written in Latin existed from the early sixteenth century onward. The first catechism published in French was the 1541 Formulaire d’instruire les enfants en la Chrétienté of John Calvin. As a result of the Council of Trent, a catechism was prepared that was supposed to be used throughout the Catholic Church. It was in Latin, as were a number of other Catholic catechisms prepared during the sixteenth century. The first official catechism of the Diocese of Coutances in French, except for several prayers which were presented in both Latin and French, was introduced by Bishop Brienne in 1676. A second edition appeared in the same year. Eight editions appeared between 1709 and 1764. Three more editions with some changes appeared between 1766 and 1786.13 Brienne’s dire warning to curés who did not teach catechism, quoted in chapter 3, was an echo of what Jean Eudes wrote in 1642. Eudes went further than Brienne, saying that others were also required to teach catechism. Parents were to teach it to their children, teachers to their students, and householders to their servants. Those who did not “will

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be condemned by God with more rigour than pagans and infidels.” As for those who neglected to learn their catechism, “They will be condemned to eternal death.”14 The content and the question and answer format of Brienne’s catechism was closely modeled on one of the catechetical works, published in 1667, that came from the community of St-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet in Paris. This in turn had been heavily influenced by a number of other French and European catechisms whose underlying theme was that, in order to attain salvation, there were a certain number of things one must believe, ask, and do. These are to be found in the Creed, the Our Father, and the commandments.15 Despite its title – Catechisme avec les instructions pour les dispositions à la première communion & pour les principales fêtes & solemnitez de l’année – the Coutances catechism has seven parts. The three major parts referred to in its title were the creed, instructions for first communion, and a commentary on each of the principal religious feasts of the year. The other parts were an abridgement of the principal mysteries of Catholicism, a second, shorter abridgement “for the most uncivilized persons,” prayers to be said before catechism lessons, and ceremonies for the first communion of children. The first part of the catechism explained the twelve parts of the Apostles’ Creed which children were encouraged to know by heart and were required to understand. Then came an explanation of two prayers, the Our Father, described as the prayer most pleasing to God, and the Hail Mary, which were also to be memorized. The Ten Commandments came next, followed by the sacraments (with baptism emphasized) and details about mortal and venial sins. The section on sins included a description of the seven capital sins and was accompanied by the warning that one unforgiven mortal sin would send a person to hell. In the section on the commandments, the nature of the prohibitions of the sixth and ninth commandments was kept vague. There should be no lewd thoughts or actions and no “works of the flesh” except in marriage. In the lesson on the sacraments, marriage was defined as “a legitimate alliance between a man and a woman for the Christian education of children.” The duties of the married couple were to be faithful to each other; to encourage, aid, and console each other; and to make sure that their children were well educated.

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Six of the last seven chapters in part 1 were concerned with death which, it noted, could come at any moment, the particular judgment (when one’s accusers would be angels, devils, and one’s own conscience), hell, purgatory, indulgences, and heaven. The first part of the catechism ends with another example of the mixing of the old and the new in early modern Catholicism. It was a discussion of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), an ornament that could be worn around the neck made out of white wax mixed with holy oil and blessed by the pope. This practice, the catechism declared, was not superstitious but, rather, was meant to be a replacement for pagan idols and charms. The title refers to Christ as the sacrificial victim for humans. The Agnus Dei was supposed to protect persons from storms and tempests, help women in labour, save people from water and fire, wipe out venial sin, and serve as “a rampart against the devil.” The catechism also approved the carrying of relics of saints if they had been obtained from a reputable person and if the wearer imitated the life of the saint. The second part of the catechism explained the purpose of the celebration of first communion and what was necessary to make sure children received it properly. The third part described all the major feast days of the year. In the process it condemned in detail what it called the superstitious practices associated with the fires lit on the eve of the feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist (24 June) and condemned the celebration of Carnival before the start of Lent. On the other hand, people were ordered to take part in the processions held on Rogation Days in the spring for two reasons – first, “to deflect the anger of God” who was ordinarily “irritated by his people” during that season because so many did not make their Easter duty or received communion while in a state of mortal sin, and second, to ask God to bless “the fruits of the earth” which were still tender and subject to many accidents. The basic catechism for “les plus grossières” emphasized the Trinity; the divine and human nature of Christ; his conception, birth, death, and resurrection; the transubstantiation of bread and wine; and how to make a confession. The final section of the Coutances catechism outlined the basic duties of Catholics. They should know the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Creed. They should pray on their knees in the morning and evening. They should know and follow the Ten Commandments and the six commandments of the Church. Finally,

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they should know what were the seven capital sins and the seven sacraments. Anyone who studied the catechism and memorized the answers, even in the shortest abridgement, would have a much more extensive knowledge of Catholicism than most of the laity had had in previous centuries. The question is how many learned and how well? Available evidence suggests that by the mid- to late eighteenth century, because of the regularity of lessons and the reinforcement provided by confession, the answer is many and well. Jean Eudes and his missionaries were harsh in preaching and thorough in their questioning in the confessional, but Eudes recommended showing kindness to individual penitents. Since faculty members of the seminary of Coutances were Eudistes, the future priests learned Eudes’ method of conduct in the confessional. The missions he and his followers preached throughout the diocese from the 1630s into the 1670s would also have had significant influence on the laity’s views of themselves and their religion. Eudes’ confessional manual, therefore, provides important background for understanding the catholicisms of the laity of Coutances. Eudes’ manual, Le Bon Confesseur, was first published in 1666. It was a redevelopment of Avertissements aux confesseurs missionaires which he had published in 1644. His goal in both works was to mix the gentleness of Francis de Sales toward penitents with the firmness of Charles Borromeo, while rejecting the rigour of the Jansenists. Le Bon Confesseur began with the reminder that the priest in the confessional represented Christ and as such he was called on to be a pastor, a doctor, a mediator, a saviour, and a judge. The bulk of the manual discussed the qualities and duties of the confessor. He was to prepare the penitent by instruction if necessary, to aid him or her to recall sins through questioning (and in the case of mortal sins to specify their frequency), to inspire contrition, to give or refuse absolution depending on circumstances, to advise on how to avoid sin in the future, and finally to impose a penance. All this was to be done with cordiality and compassion and without asking unnecessary questions.16 Absolution was to be refused to some who had confessed their sins. These included those who had not forgiven their neighbours for injurious actions, those who had seriously hurt a neighbour through words or actions and had not sought reconciliation, habitual sinners

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who refused to try to break their bad habits, those who refused to stop being an occasion of sin to others, and those who refused to avoid occasions of sins. For example, alcoholics had to promise to stay away from cabarets and the unchaste had to agree to avoid bad companions, evil books, dances, and comedies.17 Eudes provided specific questions to be asked about each of the Ten Commandments, the six commandments of the Church, and the capital sins, as well as questions for members of different social groups. These questions were much more direct and detailed than the descriptions of sins in the catechism, which was meant mainly for the education of children. If all the questions were asked of each penitent, there would have been a long wait in line as Easter approached. What seems to be the case is that Eudes intended the full list to be used only when someone was making what was known as a general confession covering a long period of time.18 Included among the faults connected with the first commandment were conversing too familiarly or unnecessarily with heretics, that is Protestants, listening to one of their sermons, attending any of their religious ceremonies, and reading one of their books. These were sins against faith. Connected with the same commandment were sins against religion which included using various superstitious practices, consulting diviners or magicians, and using love potions. A dominant theme of the questions was the maintenance of society as it is. When discussing the fourth commandment, Eudes advocated exhorting children and servants to honour, love, serve, and obey their fathers, mothers, masters, and mistresses as persons who represent Christ. Vassals and workers were to regard their seigneurs and employers in a similar manner. On the other hand, servants and workers were to be paid fairly. The payment, however, should not be made on Sunday because that might result in their missing mass and spending all their wages in a tavern. Obeying the fourth commandment also involved respecting prelates, pastors, and confessors and paying the tithe. Sins against the sixth commandment were treated in far more detail than any other category of sin. So extensive was the treatment of sexual sins that Eudes skipped lust when discussing the seven capital sins. God could be offended “by all the powers of the soul and by all the senses and parts of the body.” The confessor was directed to ask a few questions about minor sexual sins and if no faults were found, he

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should then quickly move on to the next commandment. If faults were found, then the confessor was to start asking more questions, but still with caution unless he found a serious sinner. If such a sinner were found, the questions became intense. Male and female homosexuality (especially involving sodomy) and bestiality were the worst sins according to Eudes. Less serious but still very sinful were masturbation, fornication, contraception, and abortion. Other sins against the sixth commandment included a wife’s refusal of the rights her husband had “touching the usage of marriage” when she did not have a legitimate excuse. The discussion of the ninth commandment came back to the subject of marriage. Adultery was singled out, but for the most part the questions concerned impediments to a valid or licit marriage. The section ended with a discussion of the faults of women who rebelled against their husbands or were stubborn or troublesome. Included in the sins against the seventh commandment were creating monopolies to control trade, not paying debts, the dissipating or selling of a wife’s property against her wishes, and not paying a family for expenses created by fathering an illegitimate child. The other commandments were treated quickly, encouraging penitents to speak well of their neighbours and not covet their goods. The questions concerning the capital sins were few in number and what would be expected. The final section covered sins related to one’s status in life. Most of the twenty-two categories were connected with vocation or occupation, including priests (with a separate section for confessors) and religious, government officials of every sort, seigneurs, soldiers, lawyers, notaries, merchants, and tavern owners. The theme of this section was that a person should have entered his or her state in life for honourable reasons and should carry out faithfully all the duties connected with it. The section on clerics begins with the sin of entering the ecclesiastical state without a vocation and receiving tonsure only to get a benefice. The other thirty-four sins in that section are a catalogue of the faults of habitués described in chapter 6. Confessors were to be made aware that the slightest and most indirect breach of the seal of the confessional was a grievous sin. Judges should not ignore crimes nor punish them without sufficient proof. Merchants and artisans should use proper weights and measures, charge fair prices, not sell goods that could be used for evil purposes, not lie about competitors, and not mistreat their employees. Tavern owners should not sell drink while

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religious services were in progress or to patrons who were drunk. They should not sell watered wine or cider or charge too much. Children were to be questioned about attendance at mass, going to confession, receiving confirmation, saying their morning, evening, and mealtime prayers, playing in the cemetery, wasting time, and wasting money their parents had given them for boarding or books. Servants should not eat food that was not suitable for people of their station, pay artisans with bread or anything else that belonged to their master, keep secret any improper behaviours that took place, or do anything their master asked them to do that would harm another. Le Bon confesseur ends with a discussion of sins that only the pope could forgive (simony, burning down a house, stealing from a church, and violation of ecclesiastical immunities), release from vows, marriage impediments and, finally, chapter 50, titled “A very efficacious means of converting sinners.” Eudes believed he had received the advice this chapter contained from the Blessed Virgin through Marie des Vallées.19 Eudes began chapter 50 with a statement that clearly explains his mission methodology: “If you are going to preach, when you enter the pulpit you should bring with you cannons, thunder and the most powerful and terrible weapons of God’s words to fight against sin in general and to crush it and wipe it out of souls. But when you talk and communicate directly with an individual sinner to convert him you should conduct yourself with softness, benignity, patience and charity.”20 Eudes advised that you should treat a sinner like a poor sick person covered with sores and ulcers and treat him with the compassion a doctor would show to a frenetic patient. You should begin by seeing matters as the sinner does so that you can discover what his sores are. Then you can bathe them with the hot wine of charity and anoint them using the feather of Holy Scripture and the oil of the examples given by God, Christ, Mary, and the saints. You should never use the vinegar of harshness no matter how the sinner acts toward you. If this procedure does not work, you should try to get the sinner to pray for help from God or let you or someone else pray for him. Eudes ended the chapter with the words, “If after all of this they remain hardened you will have rendered glory to God and He will be as pleased as if you had converted them.”21 The accounts prepared by the missionaries Eudes sent out into the Diocese of Coutances provide a view of the religious life in the dio-

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cese in the seventeenth century. Coutances was not only the home of in commendam abbots and unreformed priests. It was a diocese influenced by two aspects of the Second Catholic Reformation. These were what Henri Brémond called a mystic conquest and what Charles Berthelot du Chesnay called a missionary invasion. Jean Eudes was involved in both, and both influenced clergy, religious, and the laity of the diocese. Evidence of the influence of Jean Eudes on members of religious orders in Coutances was seen in chapter 5 and on seminarians in chapter 6. In this chapter the effect on the laity will be seen in the work of the Eudiste missionaries in towns and villages and in the financial support provided the missionaries by wealthy nobles and members of the bourgeoisie.22 The missionary invasion was a two-pronged effort to convert Protestants and to educate Catholics in their religion. In most of France, the Jesuits and Capuchins concentrated on the Protestants while Oratorians and Priests of the Mission concentrated on Catholics. In the Diocese of Coutances Jean Eudes and his followers, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, combined both activities.23 The Eudistes were not very successful in their efforts to convert Protestants. They had a much greater influence on the lives of the Catholics of the Diocese of Coutances where, between 1632 and 1676, they conducted forty-eight missions in forty parishes. The missions covered the whole diocese, with only a few corners of it not within at least eight kilometres of one of the parishes involved. Eudes himself was involved in all but four of the missions.24 Contemporary accounts of the missions, written by participating missionaries and supporters, claimed that on occasion ten to twenty thousand people attended sermons. Eudes, it was claimed, was heard at times by ten thousand people. However many people actually attended or could have heard the sermon, it is a fact that participants came from all the surrounding parishes. Sermons and almost non-stop hearing of confession during the two or more weeks of the mission were the means used by the missionaries to instruct the participants and convince them to live a holier life.25 Eudes conducted missions in larger centres such as Coutances, St-Lô, Caen, Lisieux, and Bayeux, but he preferred to conduct them in rural parishes because, he said, “the needs there are more pressing and the disposition which the faithful bring to the instructions are more favourable.”26

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The view of the spiritual state of France that Eudes developed as a result of his work throughout northern France, especially in Normandy, is revealed in a memoir which he sent to the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, describing what he called the six great disorders of France and providing remedies for them. Three disorders were connected to attendance at mass. The other three were lack of chastity, blasphemy and, above all, heresy. Interestingly, he did not mention superstition. The first disorder was holding fairs on feast days, which led people to miss mass and to become involved in “perjury, cheating, theft, drunkenness and other sins.” The second was allowing “dances, games, drunkenness and other dissolutions” on the day when the patron saint of a parish was honoured. These days, he said, were more pagan than Christian and more sins were committed on such days than during all the rest of the year. The remedy for the first disorder was to hold fairs two or three days after major feast days. For the second the remedy was to forbid these activities and to levy heavy fines for infractions – with the money collected going to the Church or to the poor. The third disorder was the practice of royal tax collectors of seizing those who had not paid when they attended mass on Sunday and feast days. The result, said Eudes, was that those who had not paid the taille did not attend mass. Therefore, this practice should be outlawed. Chastity was threatened by balls and dances, “comédies d’amour,” love stories, lascivious songs, “the luxury, vanity and worldliness of women’s clothes,” and indecent sculptures and paintings. Eudes hoped that even if the king were not interested, Anne would intervene to inspire people to avoid such things. He pointed out that he knew from personal experience that people were imprisoned and beaten for selling a little salt illegally because it was considered in the king’s interest, but that the king should be much more interested in stamping out these attacks on chastity. Finally, there were the problems of blasphemy and heresy. The first could be controlled by enforcing the edicts already issued, the latter by extricating France from war and employing all the resources of the state to eradicate Protestantism.27 The “faults” that Eudes pointed to existed, though whether everything he mentioned was a fault can be debated, and his proposed remedies were definitely not realistic. Eudes and his missionaries also had some very harsh things to say about life in specific parishes in the diocese. To some extent these comments can be compared with what is

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found in the records of pastoral visits. This will be discussed later in this chapter.28 Though many of his former confreres in the Oratorians were never reconciled to Eudes’ ministry, and the Jansenists were very upset by his mystical tendencies and his support of Marie des Vallées, he gained the support of many members of the nobility and the haute bourgeoisie who were influenced by the Second Catholic Reformation. This support is evident in the sums of money they provided to support the missionaries while they were conducting the missions.29 A more nuanced view of the catholicisms of the laity of the Diocese of Coutances can be found by analysing the records left by the pastoral visitors. Usable records are extant for 185 rounds of pastoral visits to the parishes of the diocese over the course of the years 1634 to 1783. The earliest extant visit records are those for the Archdeaconry of Bauptois in 1634. The last pre-revolutionary visit for which records exist is that of 1783 in the same archdeaconry.30 In almost all the rounds of pastoral visits, the visitors asked questions about eight aspects of parish life. In all but 1 round, they asked about the management of parish finances. In only 3 rounds were there no questions about the performance of the parishioners in charge of the accounts. The other six of the most frequent questions were the identity of the curé (in 183 rounds), other parish priests (183), the vicar (182), the sacristan (181), and the state of the parish church’s choir and nave (179). An additional eight questions appeared in at least 75 per cent of the rounds of visits. Five were connected with the parish church and its contents. These were the sacred vessels and oils used in church services, the baptismal font, the chapels in the parish church, and its tower. The state of the wall surrounding the cemetery was also among the eight. The other two questions concerned the identity of other clerics in the parish and the number of parishioners fulfilling their Easter duty. The latter question was asked particularly often after 1685 for reasons that will be discussed in chapter 8. Twelve other questions appeared in at least half of the rounds of visits. Eight concerned the parish church, including its general state, altars, sacristy, tabernacle, windows, furniture, and tombs. Also among the twelve questions was one about profanation of the cemetery. Three questions were connected with the education of the laity. These con-

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cerned the teaching of catechism, preaching, and the existence and capabilities of the schoolmaster. These three questions were asked much more often from the late seventeenth century onward. A question that appeared in exactly one half of the rounds concerned the pastoral zeal of the curé. This question was posed much less often in the eighteenth century than it had been in the preceding century. The hearing of confessions was a question in 87 rounds. Other behavioural questions included conduct of the laity at religious services (76), illegitimate births (71), lay concubinage (69), the existence of schools for girls (70), morality of the laity judged by the clergy (66), community conflict (66), popular devotions (64), and attendance at parish assemblies (64). Questions never asked by the visitors in Coutances included the age of the curé, the contents of his library, his attitudes toward Jansenism and Quietism, and his parishioners’ attitudes toward those two theological positions and Gallicanism. In the rest of France the first of these questions appeared very rarely before the 1670s, at the height of the Second Catholic Reformation, then in about one third of coded pastoral visits, with interest tapering off in the eighteenth century. Questions about clerical libraries appeared in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but only rarely. Clerical Jansenism attracted very few questions, Quietism only one. As far as is known, no pastoral visitor in France ever asked about lay attraction to Gallicanism. It was a given in pre-Revolutionary France. Confirmations and ordinations were not part of the visits as had been the case in the past (and still was in some parts of France). Questionnaires filled out by curés were never used, unlike the practice in some dioceses in the eighteenth century, including nearby Sées. No visitor asked about the Jewish population because there was none. Questions about Protestants appeared in only 18 per cent of the visits, most of them taking place in the years immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The bulk of the extant records for the Diocese of Coutances are for the years 1648 to 1758. Fifty of these 111 years, divided into two clusters, 1679 to 1698 and 1712 to 1741, were times when records are extant for particularly extensive visiting throughout the whole diocese. During these years, records are extant for 24 years when the parishes of three or four of the four archdeaconries were visited. A third cluster

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is formed by the years 1648 to 1665, an 18-year period during which in 8 years the only two archdeaconries with extant records were both visited.32 One of the most important pieces of information that comes from reading the pastoral visits is the change over time in the questions asked by the visitors. As shown at the end of chapter 2, an analysis of change in the number of reform questions visitors asked over time contributes to an understanding of the general pattern of reform in the Diocese of Coutances in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To recapitulate, there was a steady, high level of usage of questions typical of the Second Catholic Reformation in the years 1634 to 1673 at a rate higher than the mean for the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. This was followed by a steady rise in usage of these types of questions to 1694, after which there was a plateau at that level through 1713. A slow decline followed, with usage dipping below the declining mean for all seven Norman dioceses in the 1760s and ranking close to a quite low mean in the 1770s and 1780s. While the influence of the Second Catholic Reformation brought new questions, the varying mixes of questions evident in different places during the same year depended on the choices of individual visitors. This is particularly apparent in the pattern of questioning of the five long-serving archdeacons whose styles of visitation were described in chapter 4. These choices were partly the result of education, reading, personality, and interests, but they also reflect the problems the visitors perceived in the parishes where the visits took place. The questions asked reveal the interests of the visitors. The answers to the questions reveal aspects of the catholicisms of those visited. One group of answers confirms that the parish was the basic community and that sociability was important. A second set of answers provides further information on the development of the Second Catholic Reformation. A careful study of questions and answers reveals that there were, in effect, two regions in the diocese. One was made up of Bauptois and Chrétienté in the centre of the diocese, the other of Cotentin and Valde-Vire, located at either end. In the former grouping, in general, the problems created by the Wars of Religion and the issues raised by the Catholic Reformation were solved earlier. By 1648 the pastoral visits of Bauptois and Chrétienté were showing a level of recovery and reform

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not yet attained in the other two archdeaconries in the 1670s when pastoral records are first extant for them. The answers connected with community concerned parish finances, parish assemblies, relations among social groups, cemeteries, confraternities, and the Easter custom called variously “le pain de la charité,” “le pain de Pâques,” or “la charité de Pâques.” As noted above, visitors almost always asked about parish finances, which were administered by the parish treasurer, known in Normandy as a marguillier, a layman elected by the men of the parish. These individuals also set the price for special seats in the church and for burials. They were in charge of accepting donations and endowments. They appointed ushers and bell ringers and sometimes the preachers for Advent and Lent. Louis XIV tried to make the office venal but no one was interested in buying a position because the possibility of making a profit was almost non-existent. No one doubted that parish finances were a community concern, but in 61 per cent of the visits in the Diocese of Coutances for which visit records are available, persons in charge of managing parish finances were in arrears in their collection or accounting. This was often because of arguments about who was responsible for what payments, the refusal of individuals to contribute as they were obliged, and the consequent reluctance of people to accept the position of marguillier. There was no significant chronological or geographical variation in the occurrence of these problems.33 One of the most serious problems was the refusal of the gros décimateur, usually a noble or an abbot, to pay what the community thought was fair for church and presbytery maintenance and repair. This slowed the process of rebuilding and refurbishing after the destruction that occurred during the Wars of Religion. In Bauptois and Chrétienté interest in this issue dropped significantly during the eighteenth century. It increased in the Cotentin and remained rather strong in Val-de-Vire. This seems to indicate varying success in solving the problem. The cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789 show, however, that the issue of the gros décimateur paying his fair share of parish expenses was still of vital interest in 1789.34 Another element of the problem of parish finance was the functioning of the parish assembly. Among other duties it was charged with electing the parish treasurer. The regional variation in interest closely

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paralleled that seen with the gros décimateur problem. The assembly was of least concern in Cotentin and greatest in Chrétienté and Bauptois. In the former, interest plummeted from the 1670s onward while in Bauptois the plunge came after 1720. In Val-de-Vire the peak came between 1683 and 1708 although it did not drop as sharply in the eighteenth century as in Chrétienté and Bauptois. In Cotentin interest peaked after 1720. Four issues were allied to the role of nobles in the community. These were the complaint that nobles were trying to assert their importance through seeking more preferential seating in the parish church, by arguments over who preceded whom in ceremonies and who got to be buried where, and by the usurpation of parish goods. The issue of preferential seating appeared in almost three-quarters of all rounds of visits, increasing over time. The pattern of disputes over precedence varied among the archdeaconries. It was of least concern in Bauptois and of moderate concern in Chrétienté. In both, interest disappeared in the eighteenth century. Concern was much higher in Cotentin and was a dominant interest in Val-de-Vire. In both, there was a drop in interest in the eighteenth century, but not to the extent this occurred in the other two archdeaconries. Again, the patterns seen in the preceding paragraphs pertain. Evidently, Cotentin and Val-de-Vire lagged behind the other two archdeaconries in solving financial and social problems. As part of the Second Catholic Reformation bishops, during the course of the seventeenth century, imposed stricter regulations on places of burial, so it ceased to be an issue. Usurpation of church property and possessions was not much of an issue after the sixteenth century, appearing in only 46 of the 185 rounds of visits. Cemetery questions increased markedly beginning in the mid-1670s. Secure enclosure of the cemetery was the biggest issue. The pasturing of animals and the use of the cemetery as a shortcut for carts particularly bothered the visitors. They continued their questioning throughout the eighteenth century because instances were still found of use of cemeteries for pasture, commerce, and as a space for community activities of all sorts. It was very hard for parishioners to relinquish the use of what they considered community space. Easter charity bread was a special loaf of bread distributed at the end of the parish mass on Easter Sunday to parishioners who had re-

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ceived communion that day. In some parishes wine was also provided. The money to buy the wine, where provided, and the wheat used to make the bread came from the parish treasury. Bishop Brienne tried to forbid the custom in 1676 on the grounds that it was a waste of parish money, money which should be used for other things such as church repair and feeding the poor. Many parishes continued the traditional practice and Brienne had to issue an even stronger condemnation in 1715.35 One aspect of community life that raised few questions or answers, except in Val-de-Vire, was confraternities. Even in Val-de-Vire, only devotional confraternities elicited many questions. Occupational confraternities were almost completely ignored.36 A second group of answers shows the development of the Second Catholic Reformation. These were responses to questions on the subjects of teaching catechism and providing preaching, especially on Sundays; provision of the parish mass on Sundays and attendance and behaviour at that mass; observance of rules concerning servile work on Sundays; and fulfillment of the Easter duty. Other issues that have some relevance are schools, fasting and abstinence, and midwives. The first known visits with questions about the functioning of catechism were those of 1665 in Bauptois. The interest of the visitors in the teaching of catechism grew over time. By the 1730s it is apparent that the answers visitors were receiving in the parishes satisfied them that, generally, catechism was being well taught. The admonition to the curé of Ermondeville in 1759 to teach catechism was a rarity (he had a number of other failings). The emphasis on teaching catechism in the seminary and in the ecclesiastical conferences probably ensured that this would be the case. There were, however, still local pockets of resistance. In 1759 in the Archdeaconry of Cotentin, Archdeacon Hennot de Théville ordered several curés to refuse the sacraments to parents who were not sending their children to catechism or school. With one exception, provision of Sunday mass was of moderate interest to visitors in the seventeenth century. It ceased to be of even moderate interest in the eighteenth century since it was almost unheard of that it not be provided regularly. Val-de-Vire was the one region where the interest was intense during the seventeenth century. This interest declined after 1720, but not to the very low level that obtained elsewhere in the diocese. Behaviour at mass was a topic of much

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inquiry in Cotentin and Val-de-Vire in the second half of the seventeenth century. Sunday preaching was a constant topic of interest to visitors in Val-de-Vire. In Chrétienté the interest stretched from the 1660s onward, while in Bauptois and Cotentin it started in the 1720s. The question of servile work on Sunday was never raised in Cotentin and was not of much interest elsewhere. The same pattern held for the question of observing fasts and abstinence from meat at certain times of the year, except that it seems to have been of no interest to any visitor after 1720. Visitors’ interest in performance of the Easter duty increased during the 1690s. Failure to perform the duty was a concern in Bauptois by the late 1670s and in Chrétienté by the mid-1680s. Questioning became more intense in the early eighteenth century since the answers indicated that a growing number of people were not fulfilling this requirement. This problem was most severe in the Archdeaconry of Cotentin, least severe in Bauptois, and was always an underlying problem in Val-de-Vire. The significance of the pattern of compliance and noncompliance at the parish level will be discussed in chapter 8. Midwives were of interest to visitors because they were often called on to baptize children in danger of dying shortly after birth. It is not surprising that this question was of greatest interest in Val-de-Vire because this was an area where there was a significant Protestant presence, whether overt or clandestine. Visitors in Chrétienté and Cotentin showed some interest in the question in the second half of the seventeenth century. For some reason the interest increased in the former during the eighteenth century. Schoolmasters were of interest in both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in all four archdeaconries, though much less so in Bauptois. The other educational question that raised significant interest was the provision of schools for girls. The concern was the greatest in Val-de-Vire and Chrétienté after 1720. With schools in only 15 per cent of its parishes, Chrétienté was the least schooled archdeaconry, while Val-de-Vire, with schools in 25 per cent of its parishes, was the most schooled. Overall, in 1675 there were only 104 schools for boys and 32 for girls in the diocese.37 Theoretically, there should have been some questions and answers that revealed something about unofficial or “popular” religion. The Eas­ter bread inquiry is one. It showed that the people were trying

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to hold on to traditional practices even though the reformers disapproved. Other questions that should have helped were those about statues, relics, processions, and confraternities. However, unlike the situation in France as a whole, few of these questions were asked in the visits in the Diocese of Coutances. Another subject that rarely appears in the pastoral visits of Coutances and the rest of France are questions concerning magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. These matters were handled in the synodal statutes. In the years 1669–1670 the Archdeaconry of Bauptois was the scene of a witch hunt that led to the development of a royal policy to replace execution with banishment for anyone convicted of witchcraft. The policy was first enunciated in 1672 and then finalized in 1682. In 1669, on the testimony of several teenagers, a large number of people who were accused of practising witchcraft and attending sabbats were arrested and imprisoned in La Haye-des-Puits. A total of forty-three persons were sent to Carentan for trial. They were all condemned to death. Five of them, two women and three men, were sent to Rouen for the mandatory appeal of their cases to the Parlement of Rouen. The others were supposed to follow later. Among the five was Antoine Questier, curé of Coigny since at least 1648 when he reported to the visitor that all was well in his parish. As expected, the Parlement supported the verdict. However, the first president of the Parlement intervened by writing to the finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Colbert convinced Louis XIV to commute the sentences of the five to banishment from the province and to release all the other prisoners on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing on the part of all of the accused. The Parlement of Rouen protested strongly, but the royal government formally upheld its decision in 1672 and applied it to the whole kingdom in 1682. Henceforth, banishment was to be the punishment for those convicted of witchcraft, unless there was certain proof of sacrilege.38 Coigny underwent a pastoral visit on 23 May 1669, less than a month before the accusations of witchcraft surfaced. On the basis of Questier’s statement, Archdeacon Le Rossignol recorded that all the priests were living properly, all but one of the some two hundred parishioners had made their Easter duty, and there were no scandals. When Le Rossignol next came, on 7 July 1670, Questier was gone and does not appear in the visit records again.39

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The public sins, often referred to as scandals, singled out by the visitors are not surprising: sex (adultery or fornication when two people were involved, prostitution when many were involved, but no indication of homosexuality), failure to perform the Easter duty, drinking (either too much or during mass times), gambling, dancing, violence, cheating, theft, and financial misdealing. Though one or more of these appear in most rounds of visits, on a parish-by-parish basis they appear in about 10 per cent of the visits. There was no temporal or geographic pattern except for failure to perform the Easter duty which was most frequently singled out after 1685. Few details are provided except, in many cases, the names of those involved in the scandal. The remedy was straightforward – stop doing it. The punishment for not stopping varied according to the visitor, ranging from no comment to deprivation of the sacraments to excommunication. It is instructive to learn what Père Eudes and his missionaries reported about the spiritual life of the people of two parishes and surrounding areas in the Archdeaconry of Bauptois in 1650 and compare that with what is revealed by the pastoral visits to the parishes in the same areas between 1648 and 1651. The missions took place in Vesly in the deanery of La Haye-du-Puits between 20 March and 25 April and in Denneville in the deanery of St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte between 1 May and 25 May.40 In the case of Vesly and area the missionaries, who had a month to learn about the parish and the surrounding area from which people came for the mission, claimed eyewitness proof of blasphemy, false swearing before judges, drunkenness, hereditary thievery, and poisoning of animals and humans. They reported that some people believed they had not sinned and others had not confessed previously because they were afraid that the priest to whom they confessed their sins would not maintain the seal of confession. Finally, they said, members of the clergy were administering the sacraments even though they were in a state of mortal sin. The remedy applied by the missionaries was preaching, teaching catechism and, especially, hearing confessions almost non-stop throughout the whole month. The missionaries claimed great success, including miracles and conversions of hardened sinners, sometimes because of horrible dreams or the appearance of demons. A few of the penitents said that they had not confessed their sins for thirty years. The mission ended with

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a procession in which, the missionaries claimed, “about ten thousand souls” participated. The following day a public burning of “evil books” took place.41 The mission of Denneville began only a few days after the end of the Vesly mission. No general description of the faults of the people survives, but a number of individual examples were provided by the historian of the missions. Two stand out. A male member of a religious order who had been living an evil life decided to change his ways – until, that is, he was asked to cut his long hair. He refused and returned to his drinking and whoring. The second case was that of a priest who seduced a married woman and fathered six children, all of whom were aborted. The priest died suddenly and the woman told the missionary that the priest confessed his sins before saying mass so she did not think it was a grave fault. She had done likewise and then received communion. Two sermons that were part of the mission in Denneville were said to have reduced the audience to tears. One was on “spiritual adultery” which was committed by giving the devil your soul. The subject of the other sermon was the foolishness of selling your soul for what had to be a poor price by sinning. A sermon on the Last Judgment was reported to have been very effective. People from twenty-four parishes along with one hundred clerics were said to have participated in the closing ceremonies. The missionaries then moved on to Fierville, about twelve kilometres distant where they began a new mission three days later. The visits carried out by Jean Le Campion throughout Bauptois between 1648 and 1651 were quick, each lasting only a few hours. This has led to the criticism that he and others who maintained a similar schedule did not see what was really happening. It is true that Le Campion records none of the faults or scandals reported by the missionaries. But he found many others. This raises questions about the missionaries’ claims, especially because Jean Eudes was very strict about maintaining the seal of the confessional. Further, when Le Campion’s visits over the years are considered as a whole, it is apparent that he usually saw what needed to be done in the parishes he visited. He concentrated on obtaining improvement in sacred vessels, books, and ornaments; protecting the cemetery from defamation; encouraging the establishment of schools; insisting on the teaching of catechism; and encouraging lay morality. On occasion he also came down hard on the parish clergy.

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This was apparent in his handling of the parish of Quibou as related in chapter 4.42 Eudes’ book Le Prédicateur apostolique promised to provide “the manner to preach on all sorts of subjects and many things which should be observed and avoided to preach in a Christian manner and also to teach catechism usefully.” In it, he told his followers to be direct and avoid the rhetoric and classical references of preachers who preach to themselves. He advised his confreres to read widely, especially scripture and the church fathers, to pray, to prepare every ser­mon, but not read or memorize it. Every sermon should both instruct and inspire the listeners. To instruct it was necessary to be clear, but when preaching a mission it was more important to touch hearts. After the sermon, when teaching catechism the missionary should talk naturally and simply.43 The missionaries arrived, hit hard, and left. How long the participants in the mission maintained their fervour is debatable. The visitors of the Second Catholic Reformation worked to ensure the provision of the preaching, catechism, and sacraments that they hoped would lead to permanent conversion. The program of the Catholic Reformation worked for as long as the visitors continued their work. For the year 1723, just after the death of Bishop Brienne, pastoral visit records exist for all four archdeaconries. The churches were generally in good shape. As seen in chapter 6, there were very few clerical scandals. Four instances of lay sexual misbehaviour were reported, all in Val-de-Vire. Catechism and religious instruction were universally available, though not all parents were taking advantage of it. Nonperformance of the Easter duty was still a problem with at least one case in 51 per cent of the parishes including the 13 per cent of parishes where ten to thirty persons or “many” had not fulfilled their duty. The parish of St-Jores in Bauptois reported that seventy persons had not been able to go to confession before Easter because there was no vicar to help the curé. On the other hand, in 31 per cent of the parishes it was reported that everyone had fulfilled their duty. In 18 per cent of the parishes the four visiting archdeacons did not ask about Easter duty, presumably because previous visits had revealed that performance of the duty was not a problem there. The few surviving pastoral visit records for the years after 1740 have much less detail than those from earlier years. The state of the parish

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church, cemetery, and financial records were still investigated as were the registers of baptism, marriage, and burial. The existence of catechism lessons and schools continued to be checked and the responses were usually positive. The failure to fulfill the Easter duty was much less an issue than it had been between 1685 and 1723. No questions were asked about dances, taverns, or sexual behaviour. The visits were not composed merely of routine questions. The variations in the transcripts show that because of earlier visits the visitors were aware of local conditions and problems. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the visits in the Diocese of Coutances were like those throughout France. This is because ecclesiastical officials throughout the country were convinced that the Catholic Reformation had been a success and that everything was basically in good order in most places. They would be proven wrong. There were concerns in the Assembly of the Clergy about radical ideas in some cities, especially Paris, but in overwhelmingly rural Coutances there did not seem to be any reason to worry about such things.44 Three aspects of daily life not connected with pastoral visits provide an indication of the growth of the influence of the Second Catholic Reformation on the way of life of the ordinary people of the diocese in the seventeenth century and its decline during the second half of the eighteenth century. The first is the influence of reforming bishops on Norman marriage law. During the seventeenth century the bishops managed to impose the Church’s rules for consanguinity which were much stricter than those of Norman customary law. The second indication is the fact that the number of illegitimate births dropped significantly in Normandy in the second half of the seventeenth century and then started to rise again after the mid-eighteenth century. The third is that by the second half of the eighteenth century, parish priests were becoming unhappy with their situation because of the significant differences in income among the clergy.45 Further information on the religious state of the Diocese of Cou­ tances in the late eighteenth century comes from documents created at the request of the royal government as part of its response to the serious financial and political problems it faced. As seen in the previous chapter, the only extant document that reveals in detail the attitudes of the clergy of the Diocese of Coutances on the eve of the French

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Revolution is the cahier they prepared in March 1789. The same is true for the nobles who were individually convoked to the meeting of the three estates held in the city of Coutances. Unlike the cahiers of the First and Third Estates, the noble cahier was not much concerned with religion or its practice. Only three articles mention matters connected with religion. The nobles had the same reservation about tolerance for Protestants that the clergy had. They wanted women to wait until the age of twenty-five before they took religious vows and men to wait until the age of thirty. Finally, the nobles were quite upset at the amount of money going from France to the papal court. The cahier of the Second Estate had one other article that might be considered to be connected with religion, though the wording also suggests Enlightenment influence: “The assembly considering that the most useful laws for the happiness of citizens are those that have the regulation of morals as their object, charges its deputies to concern themselves essentially with this object; in consequence they should seek for the best means to reform public instruction.” The rest of the noble cahier was concerned with seeking a solution for the political and, especially, the financial problems of France without, in any way, endangering the rights and privileges of the nobility.46 In what was then the Diocese of Coutances 475 cahiers were prepared by members of the Third Estate for the assemblies held in preparation for the meeting of the Estates General. Fifty-three per cent of them still exist, including the final cahier and all 7 second-level cahiers. These documents provide a clear picture of the catholicisms of a significant majority of the laity of the diocese on the eve of the French Revolution. The cahiers also complement the information gathered from the reports of the pastoral visitors. All but a very few of the Third Estate cahiers had far more to say about religion and its practice than did those of the Second Estate. Most strikingly, the Third Estate cahiers were in general agreement with the ideas expressed by the curés in the First Estate cahier. Before the following summary was prepared, all the extant cahiers for the Third Estate of the Diocese of Coutances were read and the conclusions drawn were compared with the results of the sampling of Shapiro and Markoff (noting their cogent criticisms of earlier authors) and with the interpretation of the cahiers by Alexis de Tocqueville (born sixteen years after the start of the French Revolution to a noble

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family long resident in the north of the Cotentin peninsula and resident there himself when he wrote about the origins of the French Revolution), as well as with the results of personal wide reading of Third Estate cahiers produced throughout northern France.47 The part of the Bailliage of Cotentin which contained the Diocese of Coutances had seven major political subdivisions. These were the bailliage principal of Coutances and six bailliages secondaires. The Bailliage of Cotentin contained 467 parishes, all of which were summoned to preliminary meetings in late February or at the beginning of March. The meetings were usually held after Sunday mass. The cahiers that were prepared during 243 of these meetings have survived, including 112 of the 127 prepared in the bailliage principal of Coutances and 124 of the 131 prepared in the bailliage secondaire of Valognes which together covered roughly half of the Bailliage of Cotentin.48 In early March a meeting was held in the chief town of each of the seven subdivisions and a cahier was prepared that was supposed to summarize the parish and community cahiers. Representatives from the seven subdivisions (along with the two subdivisions which covered the Diocese of Avranches) met in Coutances in mid-March to draw up a cahier for the Third Estate of the Bailliage of Cotentin. Attempts to work with the other two estates who were meeting at the same time in Coutances to develop a single cahier for all three estates failed.49 The cahier of the bailliage of Coutances summarizes the parish and community cahiers. The one prepared for the bailliage of Valognes, however, is basically a copy of the city of Valognes cahier, except for six of the forty-five articles which were added at the end to address peasant concerns about fertilizer, nobles’ pigeons, and land expropriation. The cahier of the city of Cherbourg was completely ignored. Not enough remains from the first level of cahiers of the other five bailliages to assess their relationship to the cahier of the chief towns.50 Three aspects of the parish and community cahiers of the Bailliage of Cotentin are the most striking. The members of the Third Estate shared many grievances. Contrary to many commentators, their perspective was often province- and nationwide. The order of importance of topics varies significantly from the national average. The people in the parishes and small communities of the Diocese of Coutances were as interested in taxation in general as their peers nationwide, but they were significantly more interested in clerical tax ad-

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vantages. The issues for them were the tithe, the general failure to use it for presbytery and church repair, clerical fees, the destruction wrought by nobles’ pigeons, access to fertilizer, the state of the roads, the lack of regular meetings of the Estates General, faulty tax allocation, forced recruitment of soldiers and sailors, and the fate of the poor.51 In the various parts of the diocese the wording was different, as was the selection, order of presentation, and level of desperation, but the same themes run underneath. There should be regular meetings of the Estates General, and the provincial estates should be re-established. Taxes should be reduced, and tax collectors and government officials in general should be fewer in number. Most importantly, the members of all three estates should be taxed in proportion to their revenue. All but the last of these items were common themes in the cahiers prepared for the Estates General in the second half of the sixteenth century and those of 1614. The inclusion of proportional taxation is the surest sign of the influence of the Enlightenment on the people of France, even in the remote Cotentin peninsula.52 In addition to the general issues just cited, the most frequent localized complaint not connected with religion was hatred of the pigeons (and in some places rabbits) who ate the farmers’ crops but could not be killed because they belonged to the nobles. People living along the coast complained that too many men were being pressed into naval service, while those in the interior complained about militia service. Access to tangue and seaweed for fertilizer was the other major com­ mon problem. The prohibition against owning firearms particularly bothered those who lived in or near forests because of the animals who preyed on their crops.53 Complaints connected with the practice of religion are found in all but fifteen of the parish and community level cahiers. Almost all the communities who did not mention religious issues were very poor and concentrated on one or two overwhelming problems threatening their existence. While there were no requests to abolish or radically change Catholicism or the clergy, a significant number of cahiers called for the abolition of papal annates and other taxes paid to the Roman curia. Even stronger was the condemnation of the parish patrons, the gros dècimateurs, who received the tithe that most members of the Third Estate believed should go to the curé, the local poor, and for repair

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of the presbytery and the church. The presbytery issue was raised at least as often as the pigeon problem. Non-resident and in commendam benefice holders were frequently criticized.54 The cahier of the Third Estate of the Bailliage of Cotentin, the document that went to the meeting of the Estates General in Versailles, contains an excellent summary of the extant local cahiers of the Diocese of Coutances with regard to the clergy. The local cahiers, however, transmit popular feelings more effectively and reveal the local variations in attitudes to the church and the clergy. In a few cahiers bishops were specifically singled out for criticism because of their income and because of the practice of déport. The most striking statement is found in the document prepared by the parish of Mesnil-Rogues which said that, though bishops represent the apostles who gave up everything to follow Jesus, they have immense wealth because of the “superstition, prejudice and poorly directed piety of our ancestors.” The solution was that bishops, along with all other clerics and the nobles, should be taxed according to their wealth. The people of St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte added that bishops should be chosen from among the clergy of the diocese concerned rather than through royal favour.55 There was general agreement that curés who depended on the portion congrue for their livelihood should receive more income and that all curés should have more vicars to help them. In both instances the patron was to be required to pay the costs involved. Several cahiers complained about priests charging honoraria for baptisms, marriages, and burials.56 The cahier of the community of Fierville in the bailliage of Valognes provided the most eloquent appreciation of curés who performed their duties and offered two suggestions to prevent problems. First, the patron, “if one wishes to preserve this right,” should choose a curé from a list prepared by the parish in question or by an ecclesiastical community. Second, the curé and the community should arrive at a clear understanding of the rights and duties of each. The cahier of Canteloup said that pastors should possess the “great art of guiding souls.” Therefore, no one should be appointed a curé if he was not capable of preaching and had not served “with edification” as a vicar for seven or eight years.57

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The people of Fierville were the only ones in the diocese to come close to calling for election of pastors, a provision found at times elsewhere in France. However, the cahier of La Lande-Airou in the bailliage of Coutances wanted a national council to meet and elect “a head of the Church of France,” with the stipulation that this person would not develop a new system of annates which, it noted, amounted to simony.58 The cahier of Montchaton in the bailliage of Coutances supported the granting of tolerance to Protestants that had occurred in 1787 in terms that were definitely redolent of the Enlightenment. Included was the statement that “because of the light spread through Europe we no longer have to fear that theological dissensions will trouble the tranquility of the state.”59 The few cahiers available for the bailliage of Carentan reveal distinct Enlightenment influence concerning equal taxation, voting by head rather than by estate in the Estates General, agriculture, commerce, education, and social issues. Included were articles advocating the use of revenues from uninhabited monasteries to provide for education and care of the sick and old, and elimination of begging by religious. The cahier of the parish of La Haye-du-Puits called for more money for the “more than 10,000 curés” who had a hard time feeding and clothing themselves. The cahier of the bailliage of Carentan, of which La Haye-du-Puits was a part, after summarizing these desires, ended with a jab directed at the upper clergy. If they were upset at some of the comments in the cahier, they had only themselves to blame because they were not willing to make necessary sacrifices for the general welfare.60 Support for the use of the revenues from closed or almost empty religious houses for education, hospitals, and poor relief is found in two instances in the bailliage of Coutances and four in the bailliage of Valognes. Several other parish cahiers favoured using the revenues from closed monasteries to reduce the debt of the state or to help the poor. The two strongest statements came from St-Aubin-des-Préaux and Montebourg. The former is located in the southwest corner of the diocese, an area where animosity directed at the tithe collection of the monastery of Le Mont St-Michel appears in several cahiers. The statement was that the rentes of abbeys could suffice for the needs of the state and in consequence abbeys and religious communities of men

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and women should be suppressed because they were not useful to society and did not render any service to the state. Montebourg in the bailliage of Valognes at the other end of the diocese was the home of a monastery that no longer had any monks, the revenues of which went to the bishop of Coutances. The cahier states, “Abbeys should be suppressed: the monks in the present time seem to be not useful to the State.” The cahier of Montchaton wanted monastic revenues used to build hospitals or to instruct the young in “arts useful to society and in commerce.” The people of Hauteville, Bretteville, Gonneville, Joganville, and Rauville la Bigot all voiced similar sentiments.61 The only voice favouring the maintenance of monasteries was an eloquent one in the cahier of the bailliage of St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte where the monastery of the same name was located. It asked that monasteries not be closed because they help the poor and the aged and provide education and a place for grown-up children to find a home and occupation.62 The cahiers prepared at the Estates General of 1484, 1560, 1576, 1588, and 1614 supported a church with trained, capable clergy. It denounced plurality of benefices and called for residence in benefices, more pay for curés, theological education in the parishes, pastoral visitation by bishops, and election of bishops and abbots who were French by canons of the dioceses and monks of the monasteries.63 The men who prepared cahiers in the Diocese of Coutances in 1789 agreed with the religious policies advocated by the deputies to previous Estates General, but many wanted further reforms in the spirit of the Catholic Reformation. Some wanted to go further in the spirit of the Enlightenment. The cahiers of the Third Estate in Coutances in 1789 reveal a catholicism that was loyal, but critical. Criticism was directed mostly at papal tax collection, in commendam abbots, vacant monasteries, and the upper clergy. These were items that the curés, vicars, and habitués of the First Estate of Coutances in 1789 would also support. In general, the lay cahiers supported the parish clergy and favoured care of the poor and education. There was no hint of a desire for the radically revised system of church governance established in 1791 by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. There was also no evidence in the cahiers of tension between popular and official religion. Despite the few examples of Enlightenment influence found in the cahiers, there were no Masonic lodges founded in the diocese before

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1782 and only two before 1787. No patriotic societies were founded in the diocese, except in Coutances itself, before late 1793, a relatively late date compared with much of France.64 Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “The priests were not hated because they claimed to regulate the affairs of the other world, but because they were landowners, lords, tithe collectors, and administrators in this one; not because the church could not take its place in the new society that was being created, but because it occupied the strongest and most privileged place in the old society which was being ground into dust.”65 Tocqueville misread his own diocese. In Coutances most parish priests were respected for what they did. It was those who did not perform their duties, especially those who also took the money of the people, who were hated, along with those who refused to move with the times and surrender some of their privileges. In other words, the elite clergy were the target of hatred, along with the monks. Support among the people for the church and its parish priests came from the fact that the parish was the centre of religious, social, and political life. Their ancestors had lived in the community for centuries, had helped build the church, and were buried in the parish cemetery. Most men in the Diocese of Coutances were used to participating in parish assemblies and confraternities. The vast majority of the people lived outside Coutances, St-Lô, Cherbourg, Valognes, and Carentan and had little experience with any other forms of association. But change was coming. In the hands of ambitious nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, the Protestant Reformation became a series of civil wars that resulted in significant destruction of church buildings and their contents. That destruction was made all the worse by the fact that the diocese had only partially recovered from the destruction inflicted by the Hundred Years War. During the seventeenth century the clergy, because they firmly believed that God could be worshipped properly only by using fitting vessels (that meant at least silver and, preferably gold) in a clean, waterproof, suitably furnished, and well-decorated stone church, wanted to rebuild and refurbish the churches. The problem was who was going to pay for the substantial repairs and purchases. The nobles, who were gros décimateurs in 43 per cent of the parishes of the Diocese of Coutances, were not anxious to spend their limited supply of money on church repairs. The in commendam abbots of the eight ab-

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beys in the diocese appointed the pastors and collected the tithes in 42 per cent of the parishes. These men owed their existence to the growth in papal and royal power in the thirteenth through the fifteenth century. Unlike the nobles, they very often lived outside the diocese. They had a large annual income from the almost vacant abbeys, but most often did not fulfill their duties. The non-noble laity, almost all of whom were very poor and progressively higher taxed, resisted doing their part until the tithe collector did his. The constant wrangling over parish finances and the long-lasting disrepair of churches so evident in the pastoral visits, as well as the growing anger of the non-noble laity about both this and the poor salaries of the parish clergy evident in the cahiers of 1789, gives ample evidence of the situation. There can be no question that the catholicisms of the clerical and lay gros décimateurs most often did not include fulfilling their financial duties to the community and to their religion and that this had a significant negative impact on the catholicisms of the rest of the community. Ironically, nationalization of church property, which was the reaction of leaders of the French Revolution and Napoleon to the resistance of the gros décimateurs, solved the problem of paying for church upkeep and providing equitable clerical salaries. As a result, these anticlerical and anti-Christian leaders unwittingly helped complete the work of the Catholic Reformation.

A  8 The Other Catholicisms of Coutances

This chapter has three parts. The first consists of a short description of the beliefs of the Protestants and Deists of the Diocese of Coutances. The second is a brief history of Protestantism in that diocese. The third is a discussion of the influence of Protestantism on the patterns of religious practice in Coutances from the sixteenth century to the present. The third part is the longest and most complex section of the chapter. Many strands of the history presented in previous chapters are woven together to show that while the catholicisms of Coutances have changed significantly since 1789, the pattern of religious practice in the ancien régime Diocese of Coutances has remained essentially the same from at least the late seventeenth century to the present, and that the differences that do exist seem to be, to a significant degree, connected to changes in the Protestant population.

The Beliefs of Protestants and Deists Protestants were one of the two groups who stood in opposition to the overwhelmingly large Catholic majority of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. Deists were the other group. Neither group had much respect for the other, although some deists campaigned for religious freedom for Protestants. The beliefs of these two groups provide contrasts to the portrait of the catholicisms of Coutances that was painted in the preceding chapters. In the context of defining the beliefs of the people of early modern Coutances, it makes sense to begin defining the Basse-Normandie version of Protestantism by emphasizing negatives. This is so because,

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overwhelmingly, its converts were not inspired by Renaissance learning or by study of the Greek New Testament. They were not harbingers of modernity espousing freedom of conscience, supporting the Scientific Revolution, or accepting the ideas of the Enlightenment. They were people in mid-sixteenth-century Coutances who were upset by those financial and moral abuses of the clergy of the Roman (or Gallican) Catholic Church that directly affected their lives. Some were also attracted by the preaching, often lacking in most parishes in the sixteenth century. The converts to Protestantism were, in effect, Catholics who, following the lead of a fellow Frenchman, John Calvin, and the missionaries he sent to France from his refuge in Geneva, rejected not only clerical abuses but, in search of primitive Christianity, also rejected the pope, tradition, five of the seven sacraments (while redefining the remaining two), transubstantiation, all the sacramentals, and the saints, along with their statues and processions. Essentially, the catholicism of the Protestants of the Diocese of Cou­ tances was Catholicism without what Catholics called Tradition and without the remnants of paganism that were still attached to Catholicism. Protestants believed that their duty was to read the Bible and follow its teachings, as interpreted by Calvin’s emissaries, their pastors. The firmness of the conviction of the members of the Reformed Church of France is seen in a resolution adopted in 1659 by their national synod. Louis XIV had expressly forbidden the assembled representatives to use three terms in their sermons or writings: calling the pope Anti-Christ, calling Catholics idolaters, and calling Roman Catholicism a deception of the devil. The resolution stated that the first of the three terms was in their liturgy and the other two were part of their profession of faith. Further, these terms “are the words which declare the reasons and the foundations of our separation from the Roman church and the doctrine which our fathers maintained in the most cruel times and which we have resolved, following their example, to never abandon with the grace of God, but to preserve faithfully and inviolably to the last moment of our life.”1 In the years after 1659 the increasing cruelty of the royal government and leaders of the Catholic Church in France heightened the feeling among the Protestant remnant that they were the chosen people of God who had to accept the punishments sent to them in the evil world in which they lived. Their hope was that, as members of the

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elect, their reward would come in heaven. But, as Calvin emphasized, no individual could be absolutely certain that God had chosen him or her for salvation, so members of the church could only continue to read the Bible, listen to and follow the advice of their pastors, and pray. The one thing they were sure of was that their Catholic neighbours were on the way to perdition. Since there was no deist church in pre-revolutionary France, there are no records of membership. Those who joined a Masonic lodge could be considered as deists or sympathetic to deism, but the first lodge in the Diocese of Coutances came into existence only in 1782 and the spread of lodges was very slow. Deist beliefs can be summed up in a few sentences. There is a god. God created the universe and its inhabitants, gave the universe a set of physical and moral natural laws, then sat back and let the universe run itself according to these laws. Human beings, by using their reason, could discover the laws and, if they lived their lives in accordance with them, the result would be the best of all possible worlds. What came after life on earth was unknowable. Before the mid-1760s it was generally believed by deists that this best of all possible worlds could be achieved relatively easily. However, Voltaire’s widely read novel Candide, published in 1759, combined with a growing awareness of the imperfections of nature (for example, the Lisbon earthquake of 1759) and human conduct (for example, warfare), led most deists and “modern” intellectuals (known usually as the philosophes) to accept that achievement of the new, better world would come only through hard work by individuals to change society.2 Some individuals accepted deism completely and had no ties with any church, except those required to marry and to obtain official recognition of a child’s existence, since marriage and birth registration were controlled by the Catholic clergy. Many of those attracted to deism before the French Revolution maintained some sort of connection with the official church of France – the Roman Catholic Church. Some did so because they held an office in that church which was their means of livelihood. A few of the canons of Coutances fit that description as did, most probably, some diocesan priests. Others maintained a connection with the Catholic Church because they were honestly pulled in two directions. Some simply lived with the contradictions, either from inertia or because they had not thought matters through thoroughly.

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Given the lack of organization and the multiple reasons for adherence to the ideas that came to be called deism, it is impossible to provide a description of the catholicism of the deists. Consciously or not, though, it was a form of anti-catholicism.

A Brief History of Protestantism in Pre-revolutionary Coutances There is no complete history of Protestantism in the Diocese of Coutances. One reason is a lack of interest in recent years on the part of everyone except the few Protestants still living in the diocese. But more important is the fact that there are few extant documents. Royal and ecclesiastical persecution in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and the bombs of the Second World War took a severe toll.3 The earliest recorded sign of Protestantism in the diocese was the execution in May 1532 of Pierre de Camprond, sieur de la Mare because of his “Lutheran” ideas. Early references to Protestants in the diocese often used the word “Lutheran,” but missionaries sent by Calvin from Geneva were active by about 1550. From that time, Calvin’s version of Protestantism, the Reformed Church, was, for all purposes, the only version.4 There has always been a debate about how la religion réformée came to the Diocese of Coutances. Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of King Francis I, was a strong advocate of reform of the Catholic Church. Alençon, the capital of her duchy, located in the nearby diocese of Sées, was a possible entry point for Calvinism into Coutances. Returning clerical graduates of Parisian colleges, Admiral Coligny (a convert to Protestantism), and a few noble families with Protestant contacts outside the diocese have also been nominated as sources of the new ideas, as have itinerant preachers. Nobles who “encouraged” their peasants to follow their change of religion were also a factor in the spread of Protestantism. Some of these nobles could appoint curés who were sympathetic to the new religious ideas. Rural artisans, especially the weavers who lived in the vicinity of Canisy, Carantilly, and Cerisy, were particularly attracted to the new religion.5 Members of some notable families and some curés in the diocese converted to Protestantism in the late 1540s or early 1550s. How many individuals were involved and how many people followed their

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example is not known. Some nobles, like Gilles de Gouberville, were attracted to Protestantism for a time, but then decided otherwise, whether from conviction, fear, or worldly prudence.6 There is no reason to doubt that Protestantism had arrived in the diocese by the early 1550s, later than in the rest of Normandy, and spread rapidly. Bishop Esquetot is reported to have stopped his series of parish visits in 1551 partly because he was discouraged by the discovery that many priests and parishioners had joined the Protestants. His successor, Étienne Martel, may have left the diocese because he was afraid of the growing strength of Protestants. The reporter of this information, the eighteenth-century curé Laurent Rouault, is not known for his accuracy. However, René Toustain de Billy, relying on contemporary documents, states that from 1554 onward Protestantism was spreading rapidly in the diocese and that when Arthur Cossé became bishop in 1562, three years after Martel left, he was unable to do anything much to remedy the situation.7 Matters were not helped by the state of the Catholic Church in the diocese. As seen in detail in chapter 3, with the exception of Geoffroy Herbert, the bishops of Coutances were rarely present in the diocese from the late fourteenth century to the mid-sixteenth century. Most diocesan officials and a growing number of curés were university graduates, but often the curés were absent and the priests who actually served in the parishes learned their theology and liturgy from poorly educated vicars. The increasingly negative reaction of peasants to absentee curés, abbots, and priors who claimed the parish tithes also contributed to the growing attraction to the theology of John Calvin. The destruction wrought by attacking Protestants on the financial records of the cathedral chapter, the abbey in Cherbourg, and the monastery of Montebourg in 1562–1563 are all testimony to this reaction.8 The cities of Caen and Rouen became the centres of the Protestant Reformation in Normandy. In the Diocese of Coutances, Reformed churches were established in La Chefresne (near Percy) by 1553 and in St-Lô by 1555. By 1561 there were probably eleven Reformed churches in the diocese, most of which attracted people from surrounding areas. By 1568 the number may have reached eighteen. This was the high point.9

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Unlike the situation in the rest of Normandy, Calvinism in the Cotentin was overwhelmingly rural. St-Lô was its only urban centre and the home of the largest congregation. There were 16 baptisms there in 1557, 88 in 1560, and 163 in 1564. The influence of the noble Sainte-Marie family of nearby Agneaux may have played a part. Proximity to Rouen and Caen may also have been a factor, as could the fact that St-Lô’s inhabitants were jealous of the status of Coutances, which derived from its religious prominence. The fact that families involved in business in St-Lô were the most attracted to Protestantism lends credence to this hypothesis.10 There is no means available to provide an accurate count of the number of Protestants in the Diocese of Coutances. The reasons for this are the lack of sufficient documentation and the fact that, after the Wars of Religion, the number of clandestine Protestants grew. In 1561 the Protestant leader Admiral Coligny provided the regent, Catherine de Médicis, with an estimate of the number of Protestants when he was trying to impress her with the strength of his cause. He claimed that there were 10,000 Protestants in the Cotentin organized in twenty to thirty communities. That would have amounted to roughly 4 per cent of the population of the diocese.11 Two lists, drawn up in 1585 and 1588, of people who had abjured Protestantism or refused to do so led to speculations by two Protestant historians about the number of Protestants who lived at that time in the Vicomté de Coutances (roughly the southern third of the diocese stretching from Coutances to St-Lô to Villedieu to Granville). One estimate was 1,000, the other 2,000.12 Given that no data were presented in the two lists for St-Lô, which had a Protestant population of about 1,500 in the early seventeenth century, and that several other localities where Protestants are known to have lived were not mentioned, the estimate of 2,000 is probably too low. Presuming that fewer Protestants lived in the northern half of the diocese because there were fewer churches there, it can be estimated that there were in the neighbourhood of 5,000 Protestants in the diocese in the last decade of the Wars of Religion, almost 2 per cent of the population of the diocese.13 By the time the wars had ended, some of the Protestants of the Co­ tentin had already emigrated to the nearby Channel Islands. After the victorious King Henry IV recanted his earlier re-conversion to Protest-

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antism, others followed him for personal, political, or economic reasons, even though the Edict of Nantes proclaimed in 1598 provided Protestants with limited freedom to practise their religion. It has been claimed that the efforts of Jean Eudes and his missionaries convinced some Protestants to convert to Catholicism in the 1630s and 1640s, but Eudes’ own testimony contradicts that claim. Franciscan and Capuchin friars entered into debates with Reformed ministers, a number of which were printed, especially those involving debates with Benjamin Besnage, the long-time pastor of the Reformed church of Ste-Mère-Église. Both sides claimed victory in the debates. Though there was no movement on either side in theological matters, the memory of the armed hostility of the sixteenth century faded and, in general, Protestant and Catholic laity got along peacefully, while the clergy on both sides condemned their own flocks for what they considered a sad state of affairs.14 From the 1630s and, particularly after 1659, the royal government, strongly encouraged by Catholic bishops, made life progressively more difficult for Protestants. For example, public singing of psalms was forbidden, schools were closed, and the sale of religious books was banned. Then came the closing of churches.15 St-Lô remained the centre of Protestantism in the Diocese of Cou­ tances, though decline is apparent. Baptisms went from an average of sixty-four per year in 1600 to 1609 to thirty-six per year in the 1670s. Nevertheless, the provincial synod of the Reformed Church held in Caen in 1675 reported that there were about 4,600 members in the Colloque du Cotentin. Though this would have included the territory of the Diocese of Avranches, the number seems high. A reasonable estimate for the Diocese of Coutances based on surviving evidence would be about 3,500.16 The number of Reformed churches (usually called temples) varied considerably between the mid-1550s and the end of the 1660s, depending on noble sponsorship, war, and government actions. Some consisted solely of services held in a noble chateau. In most cases the temples attracted worshippers from many small communities in their area. By 1670 there may have been as many as eleven congregations left, but only seven had permanent pastors. Between 1679 and 1681 four temples were closed by the government using various legal pretexts. The rest disappeared or were closed in 1684–1685.17

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 239

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 made it illegal to be a Protestant. This speeded up the process of emigration and conversion, forced or not, pretended or not. Sparse extant official records in St-Lô indicate that there were still 878 Protestants there in 1685 and that into the 1780s there was a small clandestine Protestant presence in the city and surrounding area. The total population of openly Protestant persons in the diocese in 1685 was in the neighbourhood of 1,600. In 1788 government officials estimated that only about 30 Protestants were left in what was then the Diocese of Coutances.18 Contrary to received opinion and despite the official figures, there were a surprisingly large number of places in the diocese where a covert Protestant presence remained at least as late as the 1730s. Many of these people pretended to be Catholic by allowing their children to be baptized by a curé. Some went so far as to marry in church and to receive communion. In other cases what remained was a Protestant sympathy among people who had officially converted (the so-called “nouveaux convertis”) or were descended from converts to Roman Catholicism. As will be seen in the next part of this chapter, the presence of these people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and their absence in the twentieth century seems to have had a distinct influence on the patterns of religious practice in the territory that was the Diocese of Coutances before the French Revolution.19

The Pattern of Religious Practice in Coutances, 1550–2010 As mentioned in the introduction, my interest in the pattern of religious practice in the Diocese of Coutances began with my experience on Ascension Thursday 1987. The hypothesis I eventually formed was that the differences in mass attendance that day were rooted in the reaction of peasants to the efforts of the new type of priest in the diocese in the early eighteenth century. These were priests trained in a seminary in the spirit of the Catholic Reformation who were sent into the rural parishes to remove what they perceived to be the superstitious elements in the peasants’ practice of religion. I thought it would be possible through the study of pastoral visits to determine where these new priests imposed the Catholic Reformation ideology and

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where they worked out a modus vivendi between the old and the new. According to my theory, where the curé imposed the new way peasants would lose interest in the official religion: this is because what the priests called superstition the peasants saw as the only means available to them to obtain the good weather they needed to grow their crops and the good health needed to live. Where the curé did not overly disturb traditional beliefs people would continue to attend mass. I proposed that, once a tradition of attendance or non-attendance was established in a village, that tradition would be maintained. Over time I realized I faced at least three very serious problems in trying to test my hypothesis. First, I found that the pastoral visit records did not provide the evidence needed to determine which parish priests were enforcing the Catholic Reformation and which were not. Second, as curés changed over time, policies could change. Third, from the restoration of the Catholic Church in France under Napoleon until the time of the Second Vatican Council in the mid-twentieth century, the leaders of the Catholic Church in France encouraged various semiofficial forms of popular religion and ignored others, none of which would have pleased a strict follower of the Catholic Reformation. Surely, this would have erased many of the effects of the actions of priests of an earlier period. My interest in the question was revived when I encountered the work of Fernand Boulard, his associates, and successors who mapped the levels of religious practice in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France. Their data and maps made it clear that the overall pattern of religious practice in the Diocese of Coutances was consistent throughout the twentieth century. Unlike the case for some other dioceses, there was little information available for the nineteenth century, but what existed suggested strongly that the pattern was present at least by the end of that century and probably earlier.20 The work of Timothy Tackett on the social history of the clergy of eighteenth-century France, culminating in his 1986 book Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France, provided important information. He argued that the modern pattern of religious practice in France was established by the decisions made by priests to accept or reject the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1791. As seen in chapter 6, Tackett proposed a number of factors that influenced the decisions of parish clergy. In the context of this chapter the most rel-

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 241

evant of his conclusions is that the acceptance or rejection of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a “seminal event” that “rapidly set in motion a complex concatenation of action and reaction.” The resulting “cultural revolution” changed France politically, economically, and religiously.21 It is true that Tackett’s map of the pattern of acceptance and rejection of the constitution matches well with Canon Boulard’s map of religious practice in France in the mid-twentieth century. Tackett, however, considered the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances as one region. When refusal to take the oath supporting the constitution in 1791 in the pre-revolutionary diocese is mapped using present-day cantons, the results do not match the pattern of religious practice of the twentieth century.22 As seen in chapter 6, Yves-Marie Le Pennec published an article in 1970 on patterns of clerical recruitment in the Diocese of Coutances. There are several problems associated with his treatment of the topic. First, he has very little data for the eastern deaneries of Le Hommet (where a significant number of Protestants lived) and St-Lô (also with a relatively large number of Protestant inhabitants and the location of St-Lô, the largest city in the diocese and home to a disproportionately large number of clerical vocations). In addition, he had few records for the deanery of St-Pair (including the city of Granville) and only partial records for the deaneries of Montbray and Gavray (including the city of Villedieu). This means that much of the data for the south and southeast of the diocese are missing. Further, his three periods of recruitment (1710–1730, 1730–1760, and 1760–1780) overlap, his recruitment statistics are vague, and he does not provide the data on which he bases his maps and graphs, nor does he reveal the size of his data base. Finally, and most importantly, Le Pennec’s analysis on a deaneryby-deanery basis of the geography of vocations in the diocese in each of his three periods (the largest part of his article) is invalid because he did not take account of the significant differences in population of the deaneries. Adjusting for differences in population among deaneries would have turned some large numbers of vocations per deanery into a low number per one hundred persons and some small numbers into a high number per one hundred persons. Since Le Pennec did not provide the raw numbers on which he based his calculations, there is no means available to adjust his data for population. If the population-

242  the catholicisms of coutances

adjusted data for vocations presented in column 1 of appendix 1 (which is divided into six sections to match Le Pennec’s divisions) is compared with his map of vocations for 1710–1730, there is a match in ranking in only three of the twenty-three deaneries (Val-de-Vire, Chrétienté, and Haye-du-Puits).23 Despite his claim, Le Pennec’s geographic pattern of recruitment for his third period (1760 to 1780 or 1785) does not match what he calls “the religious geography” of the twentieth century. Not only did he lack data for two deaneries in the east of the diocese, but his vocation levels do not match religious practice levels of the twentieth century “in large measure” as he claimed.24 The pattern of Sunday mass attendance in the twentieth century seemed to fit what the reading of pastoral visits had told me about the state of religious practice in the diocese in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The problem I faced was how to compare practice of religion in the twentieth century based on the percentage of the total population who attended Sunday mass with practice of religion in the pre-revolutionary period, given the lack of data concerning mass attendance before the twentieth century. I found that the solution was to gather vocation data parish by parish, adjust the results to account for differences in population in each parish, and then group the prerevolutionary parishes into present-day cantons.25 Some historians believe that Sunday mass attendance was almost universal in Old Regime France. There is a chance that this may have been so in the eighteenth-century Diocese of Coutances, but the evidence of Giles de Gouberville’s journals and the efforts of pastoral visitors throughout France during the seventeenth century to ensure that there was an early Sunday mass for servants and those who had to care for children or livestock, as well as their comments about taverns being open during the parish mass on Sundays, create great doubt for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Probably closer to the truth is the opinion that many people believed that one attendee per household was sufficient. In any case, it is impossible to measure mass attendance before the French Revolution.26 The ordination records of the Diocese of Coutances can be used to discover the varying level of vocations to the secular clerical life on a parish-by-parish basis during the first third of the eighteenth century, a time for which good population statistics are available. Intuition

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 243

suggested that if a significant number of clerical vocations came from a parish over a significant period of time, this would be an indication of a high level of practice of Catholicism. The opposite should also be true – if a parish never or almost never produced a religious vocation that should be a sign of a low level of practice of Catholicism. Evidence is not available to validate this intuition for early modern Coutances, but it can be validated by comparing the percentage of the total population attending Sunday mass in each canton in the Diocese of Coutances in the mid-1950s with the number of priests and seminarians who came from those cantons at the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s. Parish-by-parish comparison would have been better, but that information is not available. In one of two tests, the two variables corresponded closely in thirty of the thirty-six cantons (83 per cent) for which data are available; in the other test in twentyeight of the thirty-six cantons (78 per cent).27 Le Pennec used clerical titles as the basis for his analysis. For reasons explained in chapter 6 I relied on the ordination records preserved in the diocesan archives of Coutances. I used those for the years between 1699 and 1732 for which full records are extant (1699–1708, 1725–1732). I checked my findings by comparing them with the ordination records for 1742, 1752, 1762, 1770, and 1781. Le Pennec counted people who were already acolytes and were planning to go on to major orders. I counted everyone who became a cleric by receiving tonsure. I included tonsure because the days when young men received tonsure only as a means to gain employment or legal rights were long gone. By the end of the seventeenth century in Coutances the vast majority of those who received tonsure went on at least to minor orders.28 Each person was counted only once no matter how many ordination records they appeared in as they proceeded from tonsure onward. Once all the data were organized by parish I adjusted for population by translating the number of vocations in a parish into vocations per one hundred inhabitants, using the population figures available for the diocese for the years 1709 to 1720. I then grouped the parishes into the thirty-seven present-day cantons that cover the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. This made it possible to compare my data with the twentieth-century maps of religious practice. Since the most recent study of religious practice in Coutances identified five levels of religious practice, I divided my data into the same number of levels.29

244  the catholicisms of coutances

It is well known that the percentage of the total population attending Sunday mass has declined dramatically in all of France, especially since the early 1960s. Through analysis of the ordination records and comparison with maps of religious practice in the twentieth century, I discovered that in the territory that was the Diocese of Coutances before the French Revolution, though the percentage of attendance decreased, the pattern of attendance matches well with the pattern of vocations in the early eighteenth century. Thus, I argue that the pattern of religious practice has changed relatively little from what it was in the years 1699 to 1732.30 As can be seen in appendix 1 and maps 2 (Mass attendance 1987) and 3 (Vocations, 1699–1732), one can make two statements. First, relative to the rest of the diocese, at any given time fewer people practise their religion in the area around Cherbourg and in a band stretching diagonally northwest across the middle of the diocese from Carentan to Les Pieux that is roughly equivalent to three of the five deaneries of the pre-revolutionary Archdeaconry of Bauptois (Carentan, Bauptois, and St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte) and the Deanery of Les Pieux in the Archdeaconry of Cotentin. Second, significantly more people practise their religion in the southwest of the diocese.31 In more precise terms, as can be seen in appendix 2, it can be stated that when comparing the early eighteenth century to the twentieth century, the level of religious practice relative to the rest of the diocese is exactly the same in thirteen of the thirty-seven cantons, virtually the same in an additional twelve (one level of difference), somewhat different in eight (two levels of difference), and significantly different in only four cantons (three or four levels of difference). The twelve cantons where there is a difference in religious practice of two to four levels fall into two major groups with one outlier. The first group, located in the north of the diocese, is composed of the two cantons of Cherbourg, along with the canton of Bricquebec and the canton of Montebourg. The second group, located in the southern half of the diocese, is made up of seven cantons located in a semicircle around St-Lô running from St-Jean-de-Daye through Marigny to Coutances and then back through Cerisy-la-Salle and Canisy to Tessy-surVire and back to St-Lô-Est. Granville in the southwest is the outlier. Reasons for these differences in levels will be presented below. St-Lô-Est and Cherbourg-Sud-Est are two of the four cantons with a change of three or four levels. The reasons for the changes are easy to

Map 2  Mass attendance, 1987

Map 3  Vocations, 1699–1732

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 247

identify. In the eighteenth century both had large numbers of clerical vocations relative to population. In St-Lô-Est only two parishes were counted because they are the only ones in the post-revolutionary canton that were part of the pre-revolutionary diocese. Both parishes had small populations while one, St-Thomas-de-St-Lô, had an unusually large number of vocations. In the case of Cherbourg there was a large clerical community able and willing to welcome clerical recruits of all ranks. The areas around both cities have a Protestant tradition, as does St-Lô itself, and both experienced significant in-migration during the twentieth century. In other words, both are now very different places than they once were.32 The other two cantons with significant differences in ranking between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries are Marigny and Cerisyla-Salle. The fact that eight of the ten cantons, including Marigny and Cerisy-la-Salle, where there is now a higher level of Catholic religious practice than there was in the early eighteenth century, had a significant number of Protestants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led me to wonder if the reason for the divergence in all these cases was the continuing existence in the early eighteenth century of either clandestine Protestantism or Protestant sympathy that subsequently disappeared.33 I chose two approaches to investigate the possible influence of clandestine Protestantism on the pattern of ordinations in the first third of the eighteenth century. The first was the identification of those parishes that had few or no vocations. The second was the identification of parishes where a significant number of inhabitants did not fulfill their Easter duty. The mean for vocations in the diocese for the years studied between 1699 and 1708 and 1725 and 1732 was 0.97 vocations per 100 inhabitants. Appendix 3 shows that there were seventy-three parishes from which no one came who received tonsure and minor or major orders during those years. In the years 1742, 1752, 1762, 1770, and 1781 thirtynine of these seventy-three parishes still had no vocations. Another twenty-three of the seventy-three parishes had less than the diocesan average for the subsequent five chosen years. In addition, appendix 4 shows that there were one hundred parishes with fewer than 0.5 vocations per 100 persons in the years studied between 1699 and 1732 and less than 0.97 per 100 persons in the five following chosen years.

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A map of the diocese with the just-identified 173 parishes highlighted is too complex to be presented on a single page. Appendix 5 and map 4 (Protestant presence) present the same information by aggregating the pre-revolutionary parishes into present-day cantons and then ranking the cantons after adjustments have been made to account for the varying level of vocations and the number of parishes per canton. Except for the northeastern tip of the diocese, the pattern on the map is remarkably similar to a map of communes with Protestant inhabitants in the years 1650 to 1685.34 The adjacent cantons of St-Jean-de-Daye and Marigny score highest in Protestant presence along with Tourlaville to the southeast of Cher­bourg. The second-highest-scoring group of cantons includes Beaumont-Hague and St-Pierre-Église both near Tourlaville, Caren­ tan located just above St-Jean-de-Daye, and Tessy-sur-Vire somewhat south of Marigny. The third group of cantons fills in the spaces between the first two groups. Octeville does this in the north. Five can­ tons join Carentan to create the familiar diagonal band across the diocese, essentially recreating the old Archdeaconry of Bauptois. Finally come St-Lô-Ouest just east of Marigny and St-Jean-de-Daye, while Montmartin-sur-Mer is an outlier located south of Coutances. There is a fourth group of nine cantons spread throughout the diocese that fall on the borderline. Study of the pattern of performance of Easter duty provides the evidence needed to indicate whether or not they should be grouped with the fifteen cantons just identified. The same evidence also addresses the issue raised earlier – the reason for differences in levels of religious practice in some cantons between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Early modern Catholics were required to go to confession once a year and receive communion during the Easter season. In practice, the two duties became joined and were called in English the Easter duty. In France one had to “faire ses Pâques.” In early modern France every curé was supposed to check who performed their Easter duty. Pastoral visitors often asked for the number who did not fulfill the requirements. There were many reasons why people would not do so. For various personal reasons they might not want to confess their sins to the curé of their parish and had not been able to arrange confession to another priest, especially since this entailed receiving permission from one’s curé. Men who had served as

Map 4  Protestant presence

250  the catholicisms of coutances

a parish or confraternity treasurer and had an account significantly in arrears were often forbidden the sacraments until they had settled matters. Those involved in a serious quarrel with someone and not willing to reconcile with them could not receive absolution of their sins. Those who were “living in sin” and would not promise to end the relationship also could not receive absolution. Finally, a non-believer (Protestant or other) would very often not want to go to confession and communion. A striking feature of failure to fulfill the Easter duty in the Diocese of Coutances is that incidences of it reported to pastoral visitors increased dramatically immediately after 1685 when the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes made it illegal to be a Protestant in France. Particularly interesting is the fact that the pastoral visit records reveal that there was a significant increase in failure to fulfill the Easter duty after 1685 in all thirty-nine parishes with a consistent lack of vocations, as well as in twenty-one of the other thirty-four parishes with no ordinations during the years studied between 1699 and 1732 and in sixty-five of the one hundred parishes with fewer than 0.5 vocations per 100 inhabitants in those years.35 On the basis of significant increase in non-performance of Easter duty at least two and perhaps five of the borderline cantons in appendix 5 (those numbered from 16 to 24) deserve to be ranked with the fifteen cantons already identified. The two are Cerisy-la-Salle and Quettehou. In addition, Montebourg, La Haye-Presnel, and Gavray, which all fall on the borderline in both tests, probably belong in the group. Some Protestants left (most often relatively prosperous businessmen and artisans), others converted or pretended to convert to Roman Catholicism, and others tried to escape notice. These people were most often the poor peasants who made up the majority of the Protestant population of the Diocese of Coutances. Fake conversion and hiding was easier to accomplish in areas with small villages and isolated farms – the situation in most of the high-ranking cantons in appendix 5. In the first fifteen cantons listed in appendix 5 and at least two of the five just identified, it seems very likely that more Protestants than has been commonly believed went underground, simulated conversion to Catholicism, or maintained an anti-Catholic or pro-Protestant sympathy after 1685.

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 251

Over time this Protestant presence disappeared. Though this was not the only change that has taken place in these cantons in the intervening years, the evidence indicates that it is quite possible that the presence of a Protestant spirit in the first third of the eighteenth century played a significant role in the pattern of the practice of Catholicism in those parts of the diocese at that time. The other cantons in the fourth group in appendix 5 can be eliminated for varying reasons. Villedieu and Coutances both had large urban centres and few parishes. In each case a few small parishes with very few vocations skewed the results. In the canton of Villedieu four of its seven parishes saw an increase in failure to perform the Easter duty, but they made up only 22 per cent of the population of the canton and two of the four also had very low vocation-to-population ratios. In the canton of Coutances three of the seven parishes with 25 per cent of the population saw an increase in dereliction of Easter duty, while two of the three also had a very low vocation-to-population ratio. StSever-Calvados is eliminated because of the very low level of Easter duty non-compliance. Lessay remains an open question. Canisy and Percy would seem to present a problem because they are the only cantons for which the lower level of religious practice in the early eighteenth century than in the late twentieth century cannot be explained by the presence of clandestine Protestantism. However, the differences are slight and in both cases there are circumstances that explain the situation. Although Protestants had lived in both areas since the mid-sixteenth century, the two cantons rank far down the list in appendix 5 and both had low rates of non-performance of the Easter duty. In the case of Canisy, most of the fourteen communities had mediocre vocation ratios which meant that the four communities with very low ratios pushed the score into the low range. The same four communities were the only ones with significant non-performance of Easter duty. In the case of Percy, only the town of Percy, with over a quarter of the population of the canton, had a low vocation ratio and only La Chefresne and La Colombe, both long-standing Protestant centres, had significant refusals to perform the Easter duty.36 In 1987 five cantons had the lowest level of practising Catholics (Équeurdreville-Hainneville, Cherbourg-Sud-Est, Octeville, Tourlaville, and St-Lô-Est). There were Protestants in those areas in the early modern period and still are today, though their numbers are now very

252  the catholicisms of coutances

small. Perhaps these were areas where a tradition of opposition to the Catholic Church became entrenched, unlike the cantons where it disappeared over time. Whatever the case, it seems quite likely that in the Diocese of Coutances in the first part of the eighteenth century there were more Protestants than commonly believed who went underground and clung to their beliefs rather than leaving France or truly converting to Catholicism.37 Spread around the Diocese of Coutances there are twelve cantons where there was a slight divergence downward in the level of religious practice in 1987 compared with the early eighteenth century. In five cases the divergence is two levels. The other seven varied by only one. The decrease in Granville, Coutances, Valognes, and Cherbourg is probably explained by urbanization, while in Beaumont-Hague and Équeurdreville-Hainneville the explanation is most likely the result of in-migration to work in the nuclear industry. I have found no evidence that explains the decrease in the other six cantons. Interestingly, three of the six (Bricquebec, Montebourg, and Lessay) seem always to have been exceptions. There is one more aspect to this. There are three cantons where there was a high level of failure to perform the Easter duty but which never had a significant Protestant population. These are the contiguous northern cantons of Valognes and Briquebec, along with StSauveur-Lendelin further south. Could my original theory have some truth to it? Could these be areas where a significant number of people did not like the way the Second Catholic Reformation changed their religion? Or could it be the opposite case – could this be an area where the Catholic Reformation had a particularly strong effect? Were these the areas where curés worked hardest to extirpate what they considered to be superstition, where priests strove the hardest to live a life separate from that of their parishioners, where they were the harshest in imposing penances for a widening array of sins? Reports of failure to perform the Easter duty began to appear in pastoral visit records in the 1670s as the Second Catholic Reformation began to take hold in the Diocese of Coutances. There was an increase in non-compliance just after 1685. But there was also an even greater incidence of noncompliance reported in the second decade and early third decade of the eighteenth century – the time when the new seminary-trained priests were becoming firmly established as curés in charge of their

The Other Catholicisms of Coutances 253

own parish, instead as serving as assistants to older priests. Or was the increase in numbers a result of the new priests paying more attention to who was and was not performing their Easter duty? Such evidence as there is points to the second of the three alternatives. All three areas had a relatively high level of vocations in the early eighteenth century. The local and bailliage cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789 reveal a distinct call for church reform in favour of parish priests at the expense of religious and elite clergy. Finally, all but Bricquebec still have a relatively high level of religious practice. Whatever the case, the fact remains that the pattern of religious practice prevalent in the Diocese of Coutances today is, essentially, the same as it was in the first third of the eighteenth century. When the pattern began will most probably never be known, but it has existed for at least three hundred years. Perhaps it dates back to the mid-sixteenth century when Protestantism suddenly bloomed in Coutances. Or did Protestantism develop where local tradition encouraged it to do so?

A  Conclusion The Catholicisms of Coutances in Their Norman Context

The thirty men who were bishops of Coutances between 1350 and 1789, scoundrels, placeholders, and reformers alike, shared many beliefs. These included, most probably, all the basic Catholic doctrines set out in chapter 2. They also shared a desire to reach heaven after death. Most, if not all, left legacies to support the saying of prayers which they hoped would enable them to eventually leave purgatory for heaven. It is not known if the bishops shared anything else, except a sense of their importance in the society around them. Ordination first as a priest and then as a bishop gave them a qualité as leaders of the First Estate that they would not surrender even as France responded to an economic, political, and intellectual crisis in 1789. Much the same could be said of the clerical elite of the diocese. None of these men seemed to have questioned the high social status conferred on them by ordination and then appointment to a high office in the Church. In addition, with perhaps the exception of a few in the late eighteenth century, they shared basic Catholic beliefs. Some of them knew the state of the world around them, some had no concept of it. Those who were curés and actually resided in a parish and those archdeacons who visited parishes knew something of the world. Some of these men were reformers; many, perhaps most, merely followed the rules; some simply ignored them. The priests who actually served in the parishes of the diocese in the years between 1350 and at least 1650, if not 1700, shared the lives and beliefs of their parishioners. Bit by bit, from the late seventeenth century onward, they adopted the attitudes and spirituality taught in the seminary which set them apart from the laity. Many of the parish

Conclusion 255

priests of mid- to late eighteenth-century Coutances were unhappy with their place in society and, especially, their income. They did not have the financial means to establish endowments to ensure that prayers would continue to be said for them after death. Because of their vow of poverty, members of religious orders could not leave endowments, but they had the consolation of knowing that their confreres would continue to pray for the repose of their souls. The laity of 1350 shared a catholicism that emphasized knowing a few basic dogmas and fulfilling a few basic religious duties. As was the case with the clergy, the catholicisms of the laity of the Diocese of Coutances changed over time. Two nobles, the sire de Gouberville and the comte de Tocqueville, came from the same part of the diocese, but much had changed between the mid-sixteenth century and the end of the eighteenth century, and they would not have understood each other. In addition, Gouberville understood the catholicisms of his contemporaries, be they canons, friars, or priests, fellow nobles, townsmen, or peasants. Tocqueville, whose own catholicism is still a matter of debate, may well not have. Potentially, the laity of the Diocese of Coutances in the late eighteenth century faced many questions connected with their beliefs. Should they accept the Catholic Church as it existed? Should they try to change the elements they did not like? Should they abandon it for deism? Many, perhaps most, never asked the questions. For others the only sensible answer was to continue with life as it was. For some that was not enough. There were common elements in the catholicisms of all the individuals discussed in the preceding chapters. But when they are considered together, it is apparent that there were many differences. Sylvestre de la Cervelle, Geoffroy Herbert, Nicolas de Briroy, Léonor I de Matignon, and Charles-François Loménie de Brienne were all reforming bishops of Coutances, but none had the same catholicism. As just noted, the catholicisms of Gouberville and Tocqueville, nobles whose estates were located about two kilometres apart in the far northwest of the Diocese of Coutances, were no more alike than were the catholicisms of Saint Jean Eudes, Toustain de Billy, and Jacques Pouret who were all priests in the diocese whose lives overlapped. Consider Marie des Vallées, Charlotte-Scholastique de Carbonnel de Canisy, and Marthe de Malherbe, three women who lived in the city of Coutances at more

256  the catholicisms of coutances

or less the same time and were involved in the Catholic Reformation. They did not share the same catholicism. Each person’s catholicism was formed by a combination of personality, health, education, experience, and opportunity. Nevertheless, at any given time individuals who lived during the same era and had similar backgrounds and experiences held many elements of their catholicism in common. At any given time during the years 1350 to 1789 there were groups of people whose catholicisms were sufficiently similar to make it possible to describe, for example, the catholicism of parish priests in the second half of the seventeenth century. But that catholicism was not the catholicism of the parish priests of the late eighteenth century, let alone that of the parish priests of the time of Gilles de Gouberville. The peasants of the bocage, the weavers of Carantilly, and the cod fishers of Granville were unprivileged workers in the Diocese of Cou­ tances throughout the years 1350 to 1789. The merchants of St-Lô, the judges of Carentan, and the notaries and lawyers of Valognes and Cou­tances were part of the bourgeoisie of the diocese during the same years. None of these groups had the same catholicism and the catholicism of each group developed over time. The list goes on. The canons of the cathedral had a different catholicism from the parish priests of Flammanville or Coigny. Even though they both followed the rule of St Benedict, there is no mistaking the differences between the catholicism of the Camaldolese hermits of St-Sever and that of the eighteenth-century Benedictines of Hambye. Among the women religious, there is no mistaking the differences in the catholicisms of the nuns of St Michel du Bosc, the Filles de la Union Chrétien in St-Lô, and the filles séculières throughout the diocese. Underneath all the individual differences and the group similarities and differences lay a substratum of beliefs and experiences that influenced almost everyone in the Diocese of Coutances during the years between 1350 and 1789. The core of beliefs was embodied in the Apostles’ Creed (more or less understood and more or less influenced by unofficial beliefs according to time, place, and level of religious education). Common experiences taught everyone that life was precarious, continually subject to war, pestilence, famine, and death. Weather determined the amount of food available, mortal sickness was a threat to everyone. God’s anger could strike any individual or group at any time.

Conclusion 257

Evil spirits were always a threat. In the face of these threats, people sought the help of intermediaries. There were two groups of intermediaries – the saints in heaven who were close to God and the priests on earth who controlled the administration of the sacraments. The beliefs and experiences, as interpreted by the clergy, led to a common approach to religion. There were rules to be followed. The rules were mainly concerned with what should not be done. “Thou shalt not” reigned supreme. Bishops, priests, and religious were subject to more rules than the laity, but a few rules applied to everyone. Get baptized and confirmed; avoid mortal sins; go to confession if you commit a mortal sin, or at least once a year; receive communion at Easter time; attend mass when required; pray when you should; fast when the rules dictate. Some individuals went beyond the minimum; some never achieved it; very many did, more or less. The spirit of early modern Catholicism was not the “Lord, what must I do to be saved” of the gospels, but “Lord, what is the least I must do to be saved.” The leaders of the Catholic Reformation tried to inspire deep religious devotion and selfless living, and for a time they were successful, but they did nothing to change the underlying legalistic spirit. Rather, they increased the number of rules and raised the minimum standard. This spirit would not be seriously challenged until the Second Vatican Council in the mid-twentieth century, and it is still alive today. In the early modern Diocese of Coutances the vast majority accepted the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, more or less. They grew up with these beliefs and in a society that emphasized tradition – what existed was right because it was God’s will that it be that way. In addition, the system of beliefs seemed to fit and explain the world around them. Protestantism and the Enlightenment influenced small minorities in the diocese who were particularly upset by abuses and abusers. Atheists and deists had an anti-catholicism. Agnostics had a semi-catholicism. Protestants opposed Catholicism, but can be said to have had their own catholicism or catholicisms. During the years 1350 to 1789 the overwhelming majority of the people of the diocese were Catholics. At the same time each individual and each group had his, her, or their own catholicism and, for good or bad, that catholicism was an essential part of their being. Without understanding the catholicism of the individuals and groups of early modern

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Coutances, it is impossible to understand that society. By extension, without an understanding of the religion of the individuals and groups of any city, province, or country in early modern Europe, it is impossible to understand that individual or group. Understanding includes appreciating that religion for what it was in that time and place. Criticism can come only after the understanding and appreciation. To what extent were the catholicisms of the Catholics of Coutances similar to or different from other catholicisms? There are three parts to that question: How similar were they to the catholicisms of the people in the rest of Normandy, to those of the rest of France, and to those of the rest of Europe? I can provide a partial answer to the first question. I can only speculate about the other two. By giving information about the catholicisms of the dioceses of Rouen and Sées in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the work of Pierre Flament and Michel Join-Lambert, along with visitation records and synodal statutes, provide a context for the catholicisms of Coutances. With the partial exception of the Diocese of Avranches, it is not possible to extend the comparison to the rest of Normandy. In the case of the Diocese of Bayeux there was a new set of synodal statutes published in 1735 which were reprinted in 1781. Unfortunately, the effects, if any, of the statutes cannot be judged because the pastoral visits records are insufficient. They are few in number, there is no consistency in the area covered, and they never include more than a small fraction of the diocese. Further, except for schools and parish finances, almost no questions were asked about the lives of the laity after the very early seventeenth century. No synodal statutes were promulgated in the Diocese of Lisieux after 1701 and these were a re-issue of the statutes of 1686. They consisted of a straightforward list of the basic duties of the clergy and, especially, the laity. These statutes show a definite influence of the Catholic Reformation. Unfortunately, there are no pastoral visit documents that are of any use for determining the success of that reformation or the state of the catholicisms of the people of the diocese. In the Diocese of Évreux there were no synodal statutes published or republished after 1664. Those statutes promised reformation in the spirit of the Catholic reformation, but there is no evidence left to judge what success, if any, followed because the only pastoral visit records are those for one visit to 20 per cent of the diocese in 1706.1

Conclusion 259

The situation is somewhat better for the Diocese of Avranches because of the existence of extensive visits in 1694–1695, 1708–1709, 1721, 1749, 1770, and 1783–1784, and a run of synodal statutes in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The Second Catholic Reformation was brought to its full development in the diocese during the years 1692 to 1699 by Bishop Pierre Daniel Huet, a classicist, scientist, and fideist philosopher. His 1693 synodal statutes, to which he added supplements in 1695, 1696, and 1698, are different in content and organization not only from those of his predecessor, Gabriel de Froullay de Tessé (bp 1669–1689), but they are unlike any other Norman or French statutes of the eighteenth or earlier centuries.2 As he introduced his revision of existing synodal statutes, Huet praised the work of his immediate predecessor in establishing reform. Huet said that he was not content to follow “his own lights” so he consulted various ecclesiastics, but above all he was guided by “the Father of lights from whom comes all good and all perfection.”3 In his statutes, Huet set very high standards for clerics and was more precise in what was required and what was forbidden than was common in early modern French synodal statutes. For example, he encouraged curés and vicars to visit their parishioners often so that they would understand their spiritual and temporal needs and “give them all the help that one would expect from the charity of zealous and faith­ful pastors.” Huet wanted all religious ceremonies to be carried out properly and he wanted as many heads of households as possible to be at Sunday high mass where there would be a sermon and religious instruction, rather than going to an earlier low mass or to a chapel in a religious house. The servants who went to the early mass would be given religious instruction suitable for them. Catechism was to be taught on Sunday afternoons. Huet not only required sermons but he insisted that people should not step outside during them. Those who did not obey were to be warned privately three times by the curé. If they persisted they should be reprimanded in the presence of a witness with the threat of a public rebuke. However, if the public rebuke became necessary it was to be done with kindness and charity. The sacraments were to be administered properly. Baptism was to be prompt. Candidates for the priesthood needed references and had to spend time in the seminary which Huet reorganized and placed under the direction of the Eudistes. Confession was to be heard in a confes-

260  the catholicisms of coutances

sional. Couples were not to be married unless they knew the principles of the faith, the duties of their state of life, and had gone to confession. After the section on marriage the statutes conclude with advice to priests on what to do about men who had concubines or visited prostitutes and about the prostitutes themselves. Huet’s approach was much more lenient than approaches found anywhere else in early modern France. For the men Huet recommended helping them to achieve a true conversion by patient confidential counselling. For the women he recommended secret talks that combined force and kindness. If these methods did not work, then the matter should be made public and ecclesiastical and secular retribution should be threatened. In the last resort the threats should become reality. Despite his more advanced approach to sexual issues, Huet retained the traditional male belief that women were the main cause of sexual sin. The father of an illegitimate child would have to confess the sin of adultery or fornication. Women who gave birth outside of marriage had to do more. Huet revoked the existing regulation that the woman had to come to the city of Avranches to confess and receive her penance from the diocesan pénitencier before she could be absolved of her sin. Now the dean of each deanery could absolve such women. The reason for the change was that otherwise “women already inclined to evil by their nature and by the situations in which they find themselves would have an excuse to persevere in their crime.”4 Huet’s pastoral visits carried out between 1694 and 1698 show the breadth and depth of his concern for clergy and laity. His influence was limited, however, because poor health forced him to resign as bishop in 1699. César Le Blanc, a Croisier (Canon Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross), who was bishop of Avranches between 1719 and 1746, was almost as thorough a visitor as Huet, as were Joseph-François de Malide (bp 1766–1774) and Pierre-Augustin Godard de Belbeuf (bp 1774–1790). These visits were more intensive than the eighteenth-century visits in Coutances. Whether or not they were responsible, the reaction to the French Revolution was significantly more negative in Avranches than in Coutances.5 According to local folklore, the cathedral of Avranches collapsed in 1792 because of the sadness of the people at what the French Revolution had done to the Catholic Church. In fact there were several collapses between 1792 and 1794. The cause of the first partial collapse

Conclusion 261

was structural failure because of unwise renovations. The constitutional curé, who had witnessed the effect of the removal of the rood screen in the cathedral of Coutances in 1791, wanted to make the main altar fully visible to the laity in the nave. In 1794 a second, more serious collapse occurred due to failure to make sufficient repairs after the first incident and the removal of external lead roofing and internal iron work for use by the army. What remained was demolished bit by bit. Most of the site is vacant today except for a nineteenth-century statue and the stone where King Henry II knelt before the northern entrance to the cathedral in 1172 to receive papal absolution for his part in the death of Thomas Becket.6 While sadness does not destroy buildings, more clergy of the former Diocese of Avranches than of the former Diocese of Coutances rejected the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The laity of Avranches were much more hostile to the Revolution than the laity of Coutances and, to this day, the laity of what was the Diocese of Avranches attend Sunday mass more regularly than the laity of the old Diocese of Coutances.7 Abbé Pierre Flament, one-time archivist of the Diocese of Sées, prepared a careful study of the written answers to the questionnaires issued to curés by Bishop Louis d’Aquin (bp 1699–1710) prior to his pastoral visits. He later wrote a book, Deux mille prêtres normands, describing the clergy of the Diocese of Sées in the years 1789 to 1801.8 Flament found that nobles were, in general, a bad influence because of their attitudes toward the clergy and other parishioners. Specifically, nobles were trying to maintain and extend their privileges both in the church, especially regarding preferential seating and burial, and in the community through a revival of seigneurial rights and insistence on control of benefices. Further, some nobles were not fulfilling their Easter duty. A limited number of non-noble parishioners displayed the vices of avarice and debauchery at fairs and in taverns and cabarets, neglected their financial duties to the parish, and in some cases, practised sorcery. In general terms, the worst aspects of the lives of parishioners, according to Flament, were widespread superstition, a tendency toward disobedience of the curé, insubordination in matters connected with work and schooling, misuse of cemeteries, and constant litigation and disputes in matters connected with property and possessions. Finally, Flament describes a lack of decency in the churches, which included talking and immodest dress. Most of the items in this list can

262  the catholicisms of coutances

be found in the pastoral visits in Coutances, except for disobedience of the curé and insubordination. The faults just described, which Flament labelled “shadows,” were balanced by what he called “lights.” Among the nobles these were generosity toward the church, devotion to the parish, and charity to the poor. Among the non-noble parishioners Flament found faith, generosity, regular religious practice, study of the catechism, respect for Sunday, and fulfillment of the Easter duty. Flament provides detailed information on parents presenting their children promptly for baptism, regular teaching of catechism, attendance at Sunday Mass, and practice of Easter duty. This list agrees with what was found in the Diocese of Coutances. Evidently there were only a few traces of Jansenism, specifically in the city of Alençon which at one time had a significant number of Protestants. As for Protestants, the forced conversions to Catholicism were going slowly and some of those who had converted were less than sincere in their acceptance of the new faith. This was definitely the case in Coutances, although it was not as clearly revealed in the pastoral visit records. Flament’s general conclusion was that in the early years of the eighteenth-century disbelief had not spread into the countryside. In fact, he cites almost unanimous religious practice and “Christian vitality.” However, he ends his article with the words, “But the progressive negligence of Christian culture, the partial abandonment of catechism and of sermons, indicators of a change in religious vitality, are perhaps the first symptoms of future indifference and abandonment to come.”9 The extant pastoral visits records for the Diocese of Sées from 1621 through 1695 (mostly for the Archdeaconry of Houlme) reveal very little change in questions, which usually cover a restricted set of topics. And there is not much useable information in the answers. Records of various types are extant for a series of episcopal pastoral visits during the eighteenth century, each extending over a number of years because of the size of the diocese. The codes recorded in Répertoire des visites pastorales reveal no striking differences from those of the Diocese of Coutances during the same time period.10 In a later work, Père Flament noted a number of aspects of the Diocese of Sées that, to anyone who knows both dioceses, sets it apart from

Conclusion 263

the Diocese of Coutances. In Sées there were more Masonic lodges, more supporters of Jansenism and, thanks to its bishop between 1775 and 1791, more Gallicanism than in Coutances. On the other hand, the lower clergy of the two dioceses shared their unhappiness with a number of realities. These included sharing of the tithe, the wealth of the gros décimateurs, and the revenues of almost vacant monasteries and their in commendam abbots. However, on all these subjects the 1789 cahiers of Sées were much more adamant than those of Coutances.11 Père Michel Join-Lambert has provided a picture of the state of Catholicism in the Archdiocese of Rouen between 1660 and 1789. His reading of the pastoral visits of that vast diocese convinced him that religious practice was almost unanimous, whether in 1660 or 1789, with the exception of “refractory” minorities such as temporary workers, sailors, and vagabonds. There were also various degrees of fidelity according to “les milieux et les régions.” The “spiritual atmosphere” of the 1600s changed during the following century. As in Coutances, it was not until 1700 that the majority of the clergy of the diocese had a seminary education and perhaps about 1730 before they had a “very solid formation.”12 The evidence presented by Join-Lambert indicates that the teaching of catechism was more sporadic in Rouen than in Coutances. The level of Sunday mass attendance seems to have been the same in both dioceses. The laity of Rouen fulfilled their Easter duty more faithfully than those in Coutances both before and after 1685. Ordinations held steady in the 1750s (at the same level as in Coutances even though Rouen was a much bigger diocese), fell in the 1760s unlike Coutances, probably remained low in the 1770s while in Coutances there was a drop, recovered in the first part of the 1780s, and then fell at the end of the decade; again a different pattern than in Coutances.13 In Rouen, as in Coutances and most of France, as soon as order, regulation, and an approximation of ecclesiastical perfection were achieved, the clergy began to relax their efforts. Join-Lambert found signs of the problem in the disorders in confraternities and the decrease in the number of religious vocations. While attendance at the parish mass on Sunday was the same in 1789 as in 1660, “the initial dynamism had been quenched and become burdened with habit.” As for the parish clergy, what had changed was their attitude. Influenced

264  the catholicisms of coutances

by the Enlightenment, like almost everyone else, they were “more liberal, with less conviction perhaps” and they had given up fighting with “their too difficult flocks.”14 Philippe Goujard has added nuances to the Join-Lambert scenario. On the eve of the French Revolution, though vocations had decreased, the quality of the clergy had improved. The laity attended Sunday mass regularly, but vespers was losing out to more worldly amusements. An analysis of wills indicates that there was a decline in religious dispositions. Contraception was rising in the cities, but not the countryside, while there were more cases of illegitimacy in the cities than had been the case from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries. Belief in sorcery was still present, aided by the church’s practice of exorcism of misbehaving animals. Peasants still concentrated on religious gestures rather than the content of their faith. Everyone was trained to follow church regulations but at the minimum permissible level. Goujard emphasizes the growth of social control by the notables of all three estates. This was the case in Sées also. There are indications of this in Coutances, but not at the same level.15 Goujard also repeats the statement made by some others that, by emphasizing the difference between the sacred and the profane, the Catholic Reformation opened the way to secularization. On the other hand, it can be argued that the process of separating the sacred and the profane in Europe can be traced back to the effect of the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Between the early seventeenth century and the late eighteenth century Catholicism itself changed. As a result of the application of the reforms of the Council of Trent by bishops and then by parish priests during the course of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Catholic dogma and religious practice were now more clearly defined, more carefully and widely taught, and more rigidly imposed. The increased power of the royal government brought another change to the lives of the people of Coutances in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its regulations, laws, and increasing taxation, along with frequent wars that brought military and naval draft to the diocese, inured people to increased regulation of their lives – for the time being. At the same time the ideas of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment slowly began to have an influence in the diocese. The uneven spread of these ideas, as

Conclusion 265

well as the development of the Agricultural Revolution and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, produced much more diversity in the catholicisms of the laity of the Diocese of Coutances than had existed before. Peasants, shopkeepers, artisans, lawyers, notaries, government officials, and nobles all began to see the world in a different way. The process of change in the Diocese of Coutances was faster than in the Diocese of Avranches, but slower than in Paris or Rouen and, perhaps, slower than in Sées where Jansenism had some influence. But change was coming.16 The French Revolution would bring with it many more changes and more diversity. Despite the changes and the diversity, the basic pattern of religious practice would remain the same in the “old” Diocese of Coutances through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, even though the catholicisms of the people changed and the level of religious practice declined, especially from the 1960s onward. Returning to the beginning of this book, two concluding observations are in order. Just as the history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries will not be understood by future historians who do not fully understand the variety of islams of our time, so too the history of early modern Europe cannot be understood by those who do not fully understand the variety of catholicisms of that time. Finally, the similarities in the world view of many early modern Catholics to those of many modern Muslims provides, to those who understand early modern catholicisms, important insights into the beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, actions, and reactions of twenty-first century followers of Islam.

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A  Appendices

Appendix 1 Vocations and Sunday mass attendance by population, comparative ranking 1699–1732 1699–1732 1987 Deaneries Cantons Cantons Vocations Vocations per 100 per 100 Rank Le Val-de-Vire 1.75 St-Lô-Est 3.01 1 Cerisy-la-Salle La Chrétienté 1.6 Coutances 2.35 Tessy-sur-Vire St-Pair 1.23 La Haye-Presnel Percy Gavray 1.08 St-Lô 1.08 Cherbourg-Sud-Est 1.87 2 Marigny Valognes 1.02 Cherbourg-Nord-Ouest 1.87 Canisy Granville 1.59 St-Lô-Ouest Périers 0.98 St-Sever-Calvados 1.44 St-Sauveur-Lendelin Montbray 0.98 Villedieu-les-Poëles 1.39 Villedieu-les-Poëles La Hague 0.95 St-Lô-Ouest 1.29 Orglandes 0.9 Périers 1.26 Bricquebec 1.18 La Haye-du-Puits 0.89 La Haye-Presnel 1.08 Barneville 0.89 Valognes 1.08 Le Plain 0.87 Montebourg 1.05 Les Pieux 0.87 St-Malo-de-la-Lande 1.03 Percy 0.82 Percy 1.03 St-Sauveur-Lendelin 1.02

Attendance per 100

Rank

20+

1

15–19

2

Cérences 0.78 Ste-Mère-Église 0.94 3 Coutances Cenilly 0.71 Montmartin-sur-Mer 0.9 St-Jean-de-Daye Bauptois 0.66 Bréhal 0.88 Périers Carentan 0.63 Barneville-Carteret 0.84 Valognes Le Val-de-Saire 0.63 Gavray 0.83 St-Sever-Calvados Beaumont-Hague 0.79 St-Malo-de-la-Lande St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte 0.55 Tessy-sur-Vire 0.79 St-Pierre-Église Le Hommet 0.35 Lessay 0.78 La Haye-du-Puits Quettehou Barneville-Carteret Ste-Mère-Église Montmartin-sur-Mer Bréhal Gavray

Les Pieux 0.75 4 Cerisy-la-Salle 0.75 St-Pierre-Église 0.74 Canisy 0.73 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte 0.69 Équeurdreville-Hainneville 0.67 Carentan 0.67 Quettehou 0.64 La Haye-du-Puits 0.54

Cherbourg-Nord-Ouest Granville Bricquebec Montebourg Beaumont-Hague Lessay St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Carentan Les Pieux

St-Jean-de-Daye 0.41 5 St-Lô-Est Octeville 0.4 Cherbourg-Sud-Est Marigny 0.27 Équeurdeville-Hainneville Tourlaville 0.26 Tourlaville Octeville

10–14

3

5–9

4

0–4

5

Appendix 2 Differing levels of religious practice, 1699–1732 (A) and 1987 (B) compared Number

Canton

A

B

25 4 28 23 3 34 10 27 12 20 33 29 2 19 1 11 37 21 18

St-Lô-Est 1 5 Cherbourg-Sud-Est 2 5 Cerisy-la-Salle 4 1 Marigny 5 2 Cherbourg-Nord-Ouest 2 4 Granville 2 4 Bricquebec 2 4 Coutances 1 3 Montebourg 2 4 St-Jean-de-Daye 5 3 Tessy-sur-Vire 3 1 Canisy 4 2 Équeurdreville-Hainneville 4 5 Périers 2 3 Beaumont-Hague 3 4 Valognes 2 3 St-Sever-Calvados 2 3 St-Malo-de-la-Lande 2 3 Lessay 3 4

Difference -4 -3 3 3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 2 2 2 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1

No. at this level 1 3

8

12

7 35 16 8 32 13 14 17 15 24 9 26 22 6 36 5 30 31

St-Pierre-Église La Haye-Presnel La Haye-du-Puits Quettehou Percy Barneville-Carteret St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Carentan Ste-Mère-Eglise St-Lô-Ouest Les Pieux Montmartin-sur-Mer St-Sauveur-Landelin Tourlaville Villedieu-les-Poëles Octeville Bréhal Gavray

4 3 2 1 4 3 4 3 2 1 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 4 4 3 3 2 2 5 5 2 2 5 5 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

13

Appendix 3 Vocations, 1742–1781, no ordination for years 1699–1708, 1725–32 Canton

Deanery pre 1789 Parish/Commune

Pop 1742 1752 1762 1770 1781 Total Per 100

0 throughout 1 Beaumont-Hague La Hague 2 Beaumont-Hague La Hague 3 Beaumont-Hague La Hague

Ste-Croix-Hague Branville-Hague Éculleville

349 88 52

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

4 Bréhal

St-Pair

Ste-Marguerite

156

0 0.0

5 Gavray

Cérences

Pont-Flambart

157

0 0.0

6 Carentan

Carentan

Catz

111

0 0.0

7 Octeville

La Hague

Octeville

460

0 0.0

8 La Haye-du-Puits Bauptois

Ste-Suzanne

109

0 0.0

9 La Haye-Presnel Gavray

St-Léger

159

0 0.0

10 Marigny 11 Marigny 12 Marigny 13 Marigny

Le Hommet Le Hommet Le Hommet Le Hommet

St-Ébremond-sur-Lozon 116 Le Mesnil-Vigot 349 Le Mesnil-Eury 164 Le Mesnil-Amey 337

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

14 Montebourg 15 Montebourg

Valognes Valognes

Hautmoitiers Sortosville-Bocage

0 0.0 0 0.0

47 180

16 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cenilly

Quesnay

135

0 0.0

17 Périers

Périers

St-Christophe-d’Aubigny 133

0 0.0

18 Périers

Bauptois

Le Buisson

54

0 0.0

19 Ste-Mère-Église 20 Ste-Mère-Église 21 Ste-Mère-Église

Plain Orglandes Plain

Brucheville 330 Isle-Marie 13 Angoville-au-Plain

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

22 St-Pierre-Église 23 St-Pierre-Église 24 St-Pierre-Église

Val-de-Saire Vrasville Val-de-Saire Canteloup Val-de-Saire Angosville-en-Saire

25 St-Jean-de-Daye 26 St-Jean-de-Daye 27 St-Jean-de-Daye 28 St-Jean-de-Daye

Le Hommet Le Hommet Le Hommet Le Hommet

65 303 57

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

St-Jean-de-Daye 170 St-Martin-des-Champs 154 Amigny 190 Bahais 123

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

29 St-Jean-de-Daye Le Hommet Graignes 30 St-Jean-de-Daye Le Hommet Le Hommet

793 52

0 0.0 0 0.

31 St-Malo-de-la-Lande Chrétienté

Linverville

264

0 0.0

32 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Bauptois 33 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Orglandes

Les Moitiers-en-Bauptois 517 Biniville 208

0 0.0 0 0.0

34 St-Sever-Calvados Montbray 35 St-Sever-Calvados Montbray

St-Pierre-de-Tronchet 295 Ste-Marie-Outre-l’Eau 412

0 0.0 0 0.0

36 Tessy-sur-Vire 37 Tessy-sur-Vire 38 Tessy-sur-Vire

Percy Montbray Percy

Beaucoudray 349 Ste-Marie-des-Monts 128 Chevry 249

0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

39 Tourlaville

Val-de-Saire Bretteville-en-Saire

401

0 0.0

Canton

Deanery pre 1789 Parish/Commune

Pop 1742 1752 1762 1770 1781 total per 100

less than 0.97 per 100, 1742–1781 1 Barneville-Carteret Barneville 2 Barneville-Carteret Barneville

Carteret 330 1 1 0.3 Notre-Dame-d’Allone 360 1 1 0.3

3 Barneville-Carteret Barneville 4 Barneville-Carteret Barneville

St-Pierre-d’Allonne Sénoville

5 Beaumont-Hague La Hague

Flottemanville-Hague 434 1 1 0.2

6 Carentan 7 Carentan

Carentan Carentan

St-Pellerin St-André-de-Bohon

225 1 1 0.4 486 1 1 0.2

8 Octeville

Les Pieux

Tollevast

405 1 1 0.2

9 Gavray

Gavray

St-André-de-Valjouais 120 1 1 0.8

354 1 1 0.3 334 2 2 0.6

10 La Haye-du-Puits St-Sauveur-le- St-Symphorien-le-Valois 375 1 1 0.3 Vicomte 11 La Haye-du-Puits St-Sauveur-le- Neufmesnil 286 1 1 0.3 Vicomte 12 La Haye-du-Puits St-Sauveur-le- St-Sauveur-de-Pierrepont 466 1 1 1 3 0.6 Vicomte 13 Lessay

Chrétienté

Anneville-sur-Mer

14 Marigny 15 Marigny

Le Hommet St-Louet-sur-Lozon Le Hommet Remilly-sur-Lozon

630 1 1 0.2 893 3 1 4 0.4

16 Montebourg

Valognes

194 1 1 0.5

Écausseville

272 1 1 0.4

17 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences

Hyenville

247 1 1 0.4

18 Quettehou

Le Val-de-Saire Montfarville

1078 2 1 1 4 0.4

19 Ste-Mère-Église

Plain

Liesville-sur-Douve

330 1 1 0.3

20 St-Pierre-Église 21 St-Pierre-Église

Le Val-de-Saire Varouville Le Val-de-Saire Maupertus-sur-Mer

310 1 1 2 0.6 207 1 1 0.5

22 St-Jean-de-Daye Le Hommet Le Mesnil-Véneron

177 1 1 0.6

23 St-Malo-de-la-Lande Chrétienté

Le Homméel

245 1 1 2 0.8

1 Barneville-Carteret Barneville 2 Barneville-Carteret Barneville

St-Jean-de-la-Rivière St-Paul-des-Sablons

169 1 1 2 1.2 51 1 1 2 3.9

3 Beaumont-Hague La Hague

Tonneville

128 2 2 1.6

4 Canisy

St-Lô

St-Sauveur-de-Bonfossé 118 2 2 1.7

5 Octeville

Les Pieux

St-Martin-le-Gréard

6 Montebourg

Valognes

Tourville

89 1 1 2 2.2

7 Quettehou 8 Quettehou

Valognes Valognes

Ste-Croix Grenneville

92 1 1 1.1 96 1 1 1 3 3.1

more than 0.97 per 100, 1742–1781

9 St-Jean-de-Daye Le Hommet Le Mesnil-Angot 10 St-Sauveur-le- Vicomte

156 1 1 2 1.3

197 2 2 1.0

St-Sauveur-le- Neuville-en-Beaumont 141 2 1 3 2.1 Vicomte

11 St-Sever-Calvados Montbray

Fontenermont

242 2 1 3 1.2

Appendix 4 Vocations, 1699–1781 Canton Deanery Parish/Commune Pop

1699–1732 1742–81 Vocs per 100 Vocs per 100 Difference

less than 0.5 per 100, 1699–1732 less than 0.97 per 100, 1742–1781 1 Barneville-Carteret Barneville 2 Barneville-Carteret Barneville

Barneville 599 2 0.33 Sortosville-en-Beaumont 527 1 0.19

5 0.83 1 0.19

0.50 0.00

3 Beaumont-Hague 4 Beaumont-Hague 5 Beaumont-Hague 6 Beaumont-Hague 7 Beaumont-Hague 8 Beaumont-Hague

La Hague La Hague La Hague La Hague La Hague La Hague

Nacqueville Beaumont-Hague Vauville Urville Vasteville Ormonville-la-Rogue

2 0.37 1 0.42 1 0.28 2 0.48 2 0.36 2 0.45

1 0.19 0 0.00 0 0.00 2 0.48 2 0.36 2 0.45

-0.19 -0.42 -0.28 0.00 0.00 0.00

9 Bréhal

Cérences

Cérences

1,488 6 0.40

6 0.40

0.00

10 Canisy 11 Canisy 12 Canisy

St-Lô St-Lô St-Lô

Quibou 1,659 8 0.48 St-Ébremond-de-Bonfossé 812 3 0.37 Gourfaleur 649 3 0.46

5 0.30 1 0.12 2 0.31

-0.18 -0.25 -0.15

13 Carentan 14 Carentan 15 Carentan

Carentan Carentan Plain

Auvers Méautis St-Côme-du-Mont

3 0.42 2 0.38 1 0.22

0.14 0.00 0.00

538 238 351 417 550 443

711 2 0.28 528 2 0.38 459 1 0.22

16 Carentan 17 Carentan

Carentan Périers

Beuzeville-sur-le-Vey Raids

527 2 0.38 426 1 0.23

0 0.00 3 0.70

-0.38 0.47

18 Cerisy-la-Salle 19 Cerisy-la-Salle 20 Cerisy-la-Salle

Cenilly Cenilly Cenilly

Belval 516 2 0.39 Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly 1,529 7 0.46 Cerisy-la-Salle 1,914 9 0.47

2 0.39 7 0.46 9 0.47

0.00 0.00 0.00

21 Coutances 22 Coutances

Chrétienté Chrétienté

Cambernon Saussey

1,240 4 0.32 738 1 0.14

6 0.48 1 0.14

0.16 0.00

23 Équeurdreville- Hainneville

La Hague

Teurtheville-Hague

917 2 0.22

4 0.44

0.22

24 Gavray 25 Gavray 26 Gavray 27 Gavray

Gavray Gavray Gavray Gavray

La Baleine Le Mesnil-Villeman Le Mesnil-Bonant Le Mesnil-Amand

341 548 333 417

1 0.29 1 0.18 1 0.30 1 0.24

0 0.00 1 0.18 0 0.00 2 0.48

-0.29 0.00 -0.30 0.24

28 Granville

St-Pair

St-Aubin-des-Préaux

317 1 0.32

1 0.32

0.00

29 La Haye-du-Puits 30 La Haye-du-Puits 31 La Haye-du-Puits 32 La Haye-du-Puits 33 La Haye-du-Puits 34 La Haye-du-Puits 35 La Haye-du-Puits

La Haye-du- Montgardon Puits St-Sauveur-le- Varenguebec Vicomte St-Sauveur-le- Doville Vicomte Bauptois Coigny Bauptois Prétot St-Sauveur-le- Canville-la-Rocque Vicomte Bauptois Appeville

662

1

0.00

1

0.15

0.15

774 1 0.13

1 0.13

0.00

487 2 0.41

0 0.00

-0.41

324 1 0.31 612 1 0.16 340 1 0.29

1 0.31 2 0.33 1 0.29

0.00 0.16 0.00

504 2 0.40

1 0.20

-0.20

Canton Deanery Parish/Commune Pop

1699–1732 1742–81 Vocs per 100 Vocs per 100 Difference

36 La Haye-Presnel 37 La Haye-Presnel

Gavray Gavray

La Haye-Presnel St-Ursin

598 445

1 2

0.17 0.45

2 0

0.33 0.00

0.17 -0.45

38 Les Pieux 39 Les Pieux 40 Les Pieux

Les Pieux Les Pieux Les Pieux

Grosville Sotteville Pierreville

721 322 473

2 1 2

0.28 0.31 0.42

6 0 4

0.83 0.00 0.85

0.55 -0.31 0.42

41 Lessay 42 Lessay

Haye-du-Puits Bretteville-sur-Ay Périers Créances

442 1 0.23 1,033 5 0.48

1 0.23 2 0.19

0.00 -0.29

43 Marigny 44 Marigny 45 Marigny

Le Hommet Hébrécrevon Cenilly Marigny Le Hommet Le Chapelle-Enjuger

1,000 3 0.30 1,034 4 0.39 609 1 0.16

3 0.30 4 0.39 0 0.00

0.00 0.00 -0.16

46 Montebourg 47 Montebourg 48 Montebourg 49 Montebourg

Plain Valognes Valognes Valognes

St-Marcouf-de-l’Isle Quinéville Le Ham Hémévez

530 290 208 298

2 0.38 1 0.34 1 0.48 1 0.34

4 0.75 1 0.34 1 0.48 0 0.00

0.38 0.00 0.00 -0.34

50 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences 51 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences 52 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences 53 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences

Trelly Annoville Montchaton Hauteville-sur-Mer

846 462 501 265

4 0.47 2 0.43 2 0.40 1 0.38

1 0.12 4 0.87 1 0.20 0 0.00

-0.35 0.43 -0.20 -0.38

54 Percy 55 Percy

Percy Percy

Percy Villebaudon

2,322 10 0.43 367 1 0.27

7 0.30 0 0.00

-0.13 -0.27

56 Périers 57 Périers

Bauptois Périers

St-Jores St-Sébastien-de-Raids

639 1 0.16 288 1 0.35

2 0.31 1 0.35

0.16 0.00

58 Périers 59 Périers 60 Périers

Périers Périers Périers

Feugères Marchsieux Le Plessis

567 1 0.18 1,043 4 0.38 398 1 0.25

2 0.35 0 0.00 1 0.25

0.18 -0.38 0.0

61 Quettehou 62 Quettehou 63 Quettehou 64 Quettehou 65 Quettehou

Val-de-Saire Valognes Val-de-Saire Valognes Valognes

Valcanville St-Vaast-la-Hougue Ste-Geneviève Quettehou Videcosville

941 1,007 622 1,123 210

3 0.32 4 0.40 2 0.32 5 0.45 1 0.48

1 0.11 2 0.20 0 0.00 3 0.27 1 0.48

-0.21 -0.20 -0.32 -0.18 0.00

66 Ste-Mère-Église 67 Ste-Mère-Église 68 Ste-Mère-Église

Orglandes Plain Plain

Gourbesville 533 1 0.19 St-Martin-de-Varreville 421 2 0.48 Blosville 244 1 0.41

2 0.38 0 0.00 2 0.82

0.19 -0.48 0.41

69 St-Lô-Ouest 70 St-Lô-Ouest

St-Lô St-Lô

Agneaux Le Mesnil-Rouxelin

720 3 0.42 249 1 0.40

1 0.14 0 0.00

-0.28 -0.40

71 St-Pierre-Église 72 St-Pierre-Église 73 St-Pierre-Église 74 St-Pierre-Église 75 St-Pierre-Église 76 St-Pierre-Église

Val-de-Saire Val-de-Saire Val-de-Saire Val-de-Saire Val-de-Saire Val-de-Saire

Gonneville Clitourps Réthonville Carneville Tocqueville Le Vast

803 435 217 412 625 717

3 0.37 1 0.23 1 0.46 1 0.24 2 0.32 3 0.42

4 0.50 1 0.23 1 0.46 0 0.00 2 0.32 4 0.56

0.12 0.00 0.00 -0.24 0.00 0.14

1,194 5 0.42 1,084 5 0.46 438 1 0.23

6 0.50 3 0.28 2 0.46

0.08 -0.18 0.23

Carentan Montmartin-en-Graignes 1,208 1 0.08 Le Hommet Le Dézert 540 2 0.37 Le Hommet St-Aubin-de-1’Ocque 361 1 0.28

3 0.25 0 0.00 0 0.00

0.17 -0.37 -0.28

77 St-Sauveur-Landelin Périers 78 St-Sauveur-Landelin Périers 79 St-Sauveur-Landelin Périers 80 St-Jean-de-Daye 81 St-Jean-de-Daye 82 St-Jean-de-Daye

Le Mesnilbus Le Lorey St-Aubin-du-Perron

Canton Deanery Parish/Commune Pop 83 St-Jean-de-Daye 84 St-Jean-de-Daye 85 St-Jean-de-Daye

Le Hommet St-Pierre-d’Arthenay Le Hommet St-Fromond Le Hommet Le Mesnil-Durand

1699–1732 1742–81 Vocs per 100 Vocs per 100 Difference

373 1 0.27 652 2 0.31 329 1 0.30

0 0.00 1 0.15 0 0.00

-0.27 -0.15 -0.30

395 1 0.25

0 0.00

-0.25

87 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Orglandes Colomby 88 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte St-Sauveur-le- Catteville Vicomte 89 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Orglandes Hautteville-Bocage

582 1 0.17 205 1 0.49

1 0.17 0 0.00

0.00 -0.49

223 1 0.45

0 0.00

-0.45

90 St-Sever-Calvados 91 St-Sever-Calvados

Montbray Montbray

St-Aubin-des-Bois Pont-Farcy

636 2 0.31 823 2 0.24

4 0.63 2 0.24

0.31 0.00

92 Tessy-sur-Vire

Percy

Troisgots

370 1 0.27

0 0.00

-0.27

93 Tourlaville 94 Tourlaville 95 Tourlaville

Val-de-Saire Tourlaville Val-de-Saire Digosville Val-de-Saire Le Mesnil-au-Val

1,325 4 0.30 497 1 0.20 489 2 0.41

5 0.38 2 0.40 1 0.20

0.08 0.20 -0.20

96 Valognes 97 Valognes

Valognes Les Pieux

1,002 2 0.20 1,575 6 0.38

3 0.30 7 0.44

0.10 0.06

86 St-Malo-de-la-Lande Chrétienté

Boisroger

Montaigu-le-Brisette Brix

98 Villedieu-les-Poëles Montbray 99 Villedieu-les-Poëles Gavray

Ste-Cécile Champrépus

662 1 0.15 741 2 0.27

2 0.30 0 0.00

0.15 -0.27

100 Vire

St-Martin-de-Tallevende 636 3 0.47

5 0.79

0.31

Val-de-Vire

more than 0.97 per 100, 1742–1781 1 Barneville-Carteret Barneville

St-Pierre-d’Arthéglise

292 1 0.34

4 1.37

1.03

2 La Haye-Presnel

Gavray

Beslière

293 1 0.34

3 1.02

0.68

3 Les Pieux

Les Pieux

Surtainville

588

6

0.85

4 Lessay

La Haye- du-Puits

Angoville-sur-Ay

543 2 0.37

8 1.47

1.10

Lingreville

751 3 0.40

8 1.07

0.67

5 Montmartin-sur-Mer Cérences

1

0.17

1.02

Appendix 5 The Protestant presence Overall Category rank rank

Canton number

Score Level of lack 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of Easter Duty

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

23 20 6 7 33 1 17 19 16 15 26 13 5 24 14 12 35 31 8

4 2 3 9 19 11 1.73 medium 6 1 6 13 26 17 1.53 very high 1 0 3 4 6 4 1.50 very high 3 2 6 11 19 20 0.95 very high 3 0 1 4 10 11 0.91 low 3 1 6 10 17 20 0.85 high 1 2 5 8 12 15 0.80 hign 2 0 5 7 11 16 0.69 medium high 1 3 7 11 16 26 0.62 high 3 1 3 7 14 24 0.58 very high 1 1 4 6 9 16 0.56 high 0 4 2 6 10 18 0.56 low 1 1 0 2 3 6 0.50 high 0 0 2 2 2 4 0.50 low 2 0 3 5 9 18 0.50 low 2 1 4 7 12 25 0.48 medium 1 0 2 3 5 11 0.45 low medium 1 1 4 6 9 20 0.45 medium 0 1 5 6 7 18 0.39 high

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4

Marigny St-Jean-de-Daye Tourlaville St-Pierre-Église Tessy-sur-Vire Beaumont-Hague Carentan Périers La Haye-du-Puits Ste-Mère-Église Montmartin-sur-Mer Barneville-Carteret Octeville St-Lô-Ouest St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Montebourg La Haye-Presnel Gavray Quettehou

20 5 21 6 22 7 23 8 24 9 25 1 26 2 27 3 28 4 29 5 30 6 31 1 32 2 33 3 34 1 35 2 36&37 3

37 27 18 36 28 21 11 22 29 30 9 34 32 2 10 25 4&5

St-Sever-Calvados 2 0 2 4 8 22 0.36 very low Coutances 0 0 2 2 2 6 0.33 medium Lessay 0 1 2 3 4 13 0.31 low Villedieu-les-Poëles 0 0 2 2 2 7 0.29 low Cerisy-la-Salle 0 0 3 3 3 11 0.27 high St-Malo-de-la-Lande 1 0 1 2 4 16 0.25 low Valognes 0 0 2 2 2 8 0.25 very high St-Sauveur-Landelin 0 0 3 3 3 12 0.25 high Canisy 0 0 3 3 3 12 0.25 low Bréhal 1 0 1 2 4 17 0.24 very low Les Pieux 0 0 3 3 3 15 0.20 medium Granville 0 0 1 1 1 6 0.17 medium Percy 0 0 2 2 2 13 0.15 low Equeurdreville-Hainneville 0 0 1 1 1 7 0.14 high Bricquebec 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.00 high St-Lô-Est 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.00 low Cherbourg 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 low

Column 1: number of parishes with no vocations in all years tested Column 2: number of parishes with no vocations 1699–1732 and fewer than 0.97 per 100 persons in other years tested Column 3: number of parishes with fewer than 0.5 vocations per 100 persons 1699–1708 and fewer than 0.97 per 100 persons in other years tested Column 4: total of cols. 1–3. Column 5: total adjusted for time of low or no vocations (the sum of col. 3 + 3 × col. 1 + 2 × col 2) Column 6: the number of parishes in the canton Column 7: total adjusted for number of parishes in the canton (column 5 divided by column 6)

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A  Notes

Introduction 1 Golb, The Jews in Medieval Normandy, 99–103, 415. According to tradition, at a later date there was a group of people in the town of Créances who were descended from Jews who had ended up there while trying to flee from Portugal to the Netherlands. 2 Especially influential were Louis Pérouas on la Rochelle, Jeanne Ferté on Paris, Pierre Goubert and Anne Bonzon on Beauvais, Robert Sauzet on Chartres and Nîmes, John McManners on Angers, Nicole Lemaître on Rodez, Claire Dolan on Aix-en-Provence, Marc Venard on the dioceses of the province of Avignon, Philippe Goujard on Rouen, and Bruno Restif on the dioceses of Haute-Bretagne. 3 The only basis for Marc Venard’s criticism of the method used to analyse pastoral visits in 600 Years of Reform (rhef 93 [2007]: 497–500) is that it was not his method. For our reasons for rejecting his method, see note 67 in chapter 6. Because far fewer pastoral visits are involved in this book than in 600 Years of Reform, conclusions are based both on the method explained in that book (1–21, 416–507) and the reading of a very large number of the extant Coutances pastoral visits. The rest of Venard’s review of 600 Hundred Years of Reform gives a radically distorted account of what we wrote and ignores our conclusions. 4 Menchi, “Italy,” in Scribner et al, The Reformation in National Context, 183. 5 Some historians call confessionalism “the weak theory of confessionalization.” See Benedict, Faith and Fortune of France’s Huguenots, 311–16. Benedict argues convincingly that while the theory of confessionalization does not apply to the history of France, that of confessionalism may. Ibid., 316–25. As will be seen in chapters 3 through 8, although the terms are not used in this book, there are elements of confessionalism and a few hints of confessionalization

286  Notes to pages 9–17 in the religious history of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Coutances because of the efforts of Bishop Brienne and King Louis XIV. 6 Doug Saunders, “Baby-booming Muslim hordes take Europe? Rubbish!” Globe and Mail (20 September 2008), F3. For an attempt to modify the negative approach, see Luria, Sacred Boundaries, especially xiii–xxxviii. His footnotes provide a convenient guide to the relevant literature. 7 Lord Sacks of Aldgate, 2009 annual Theos lecture, quoted in the Tablet, 14 November 2009, 12. 8 For the society of orders and for the role of gender in early modern France, see Hayden, “Models, Mousnier and Qualité,” 375–98. 9 A short excerpt from the first edition of Eudes’ manual concerning types of homosexuality is printed in Merrick and Ragan, Homosexuality in Early Modern France, 5. For the full text in its final form, see Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 4:307–17. See chapter 7 for more on this subject. For the European context, see Delumeau, Sin and Fear, 214–20. 10 The quotation is from Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 181. 11 Le Bras, Introduction à l’histoire de la pratique religieuse, 1:2. Cited in JoinLambert, “La pratique religieuse … 1660–1715,” 247. 12 Volumes 2 and 3 of Le Goff and Rémond, eds, Histoire de la France religieuse provide a good introduction to the early modern French Catholic Church. The best introduction to the latter part of that period is Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580–1730. For the eighteenth century, McManners, Church and Society in Eighteenth-Century France is invaluable. 13 See, for example, the following chronologically arranged books and the sources cited in them: Davis, Society and Culture; Delumeau, Catholicism between Luther and Voltaire; Galpern, The Religions of the People; Bossy, Christianity in the West; Briggs, Communities of Belief; Comerford and Pabel, eds, Early Modern Catholicism. 14 The two main sources of my version of the thesis were the study of religious orders and their interaction with the laity in medieval and early modern England and France and the reading and analysis of French synodal statutes and pastoral visits for the years between 1190 and 1789. 15 In France these studies are traditionally called studies of religious practice. In fact, most of the studies are based on Sunday mass attendance or performance of the so-called Easter duty; therefore, they are studies of the practice of Catholicism. Until recently, not including other religions has made very little statistical difference in Normandy. As the Muslim population of France grows that may change. 16 The pastoral visit record is in dac adc XXVIII, fols. 31r–31v. Toustain de Billy was not born in Maisoncelles-la-Jourdan as is often stated. 17 Toustain de Billy began writing Histoire ecclésiastique about 1693 and was writing his last chapter on 22 December 1708, less than four months before his death. The sudden ending seems to indicate that he intended to write more. Ibid., 3:333, 343, 355.

Notes to pages 18–20 287 18 The quotation is from Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:256. See Histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse de Coutances, 3:i–xxv for details of and sources for de Billy’s life. Many manuscript copies of his works exist. The editors of Histoire ecclésiastique used several in an attempt to restore the original text. The editors were wrong in thinking that the text we have is a translation of the original Latin. Ms 23 of the municipal library of Coutances is one of the best manuscript copies. 19 For Gouberville the year began on 25 March, as it did throughout the Diocese of Coutances at the time. Careful comparison confirms that the 1993–1994 reprint of the 1892–1895 editions is complete and exact, including pagination. The best guide to the contents of Gouberville’s journal is Le Sire de Gouberville by Madeleine Foisil, my fellow student in Victor-Lucien Tapié’s 1960–1961 Sorbonne seminar. 20 Tocqueville, Oeuvres, papiers et correspondances, 10:44–5, 593–745; 11:63–5. Tocqueville, Recollections, 86–95. Benoit, “Lorsque Tocqueville écrit à son évêque,” 19–31. See also Redier, Comme disait, 15–31, Jardin, Tocqueville: A Biography, 3–36, Brogan, Alexis de Tocqueville, 1–18, 86–7, 314–17. Alexis’s father, Hervé (1772–1856), though much less known than his son, was a historian of his family and of eighteenth-century France. See Palmer, The Two Tocquevilles, 3–37.

chapter one 1 Chrétienté was often called the Archdeaconry of Coutances. The original name of the Archdeaconry of Bauptois was des Îles. The number of parishes in pre-revolutionary Coutances varied slightly over the years as new ones were created and old ones were amalgamated. There were an additional five parishes in the Archdeaconry of Cotentin, known as the “exemption de SteMère-Église,” which were part of the Diocese of Bayeux. Some say that the reason for this was that the sixth-century missionary to this area, Saint Marcouf, came from the Diocese of Bayeux. Toustain de Billy (Cotentin et ses villes, 4–9) believed that the five parishes were traded for six Bayeux parishes located east of the Vire River near St-Lô, which were the patrimony of Saint Laud, the sixth-century bishop of Coutances. In addition, the priory of St-Lô, in the city of Rouen, was subject to the bishop of Coutances, though this was contested. See Glanville, Histoire du prieuré de St-Lô de Rouen, 45–53 and Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:13–22. 2 Dupont, Histoire du Cotentin et de ses Îles, 2:1–48. Eagleston, The Channel Islands under Tudor Government, 36–40, 49–65. In 1538 the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Faculty Office granted a dispensation from third degree affinity to a couple “of the island of Guernsey, Coutances dio.” In the following year the same office approved a request from nine Franciscan friars on Guernsey “Coutances dio.” to be allowed to hold a benefice, undoubtedly because their friary had been closed by order of Henry VIII. Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, 133, 197.

288  Notes to pages 20–3 3 See the map in Chaline, Histoire religieuse de la Normandie, 311. In the revolutionary rearrangement Coutances lost to Bayeux the whole Deanery of Val-de-Vire and almost half of the Deanery of Montbray, both part of the Archdeaconry of Val-de-Vire. Compare the list in DAC ADC XXXIV or Lecanu, Histoire des évêques de Coutances, 464–555 with the entries in Beaurepaire, Les Noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Manche. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight parishes transferred from Coutances to Bayeux are now part of one large parish, St-Croix-en-Bocage, made up of nineteen communities with a total of 7,668 inhabitants located in the canton of St-Sever-Calvados. Since the mid-nineteenth century the official name of the Diocese of Coutances has been Coutances and Avranches, while the official name of Bayeux is Bayeux and Lisieux. 4 For the Archdiocese of Rouen between 1680 and 1789 the indispensable source is Goujard, Un catholicisme bien tempéré. To provide a contrast, see the excellent work on western Brittany in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Restif, La Révolution des paroisses. 5 Monastic and some diocesan and parish records (mostly financial in nature, though including a significant number of pastoral visit records) came into government hands and were lost in the bombing which came after German troops had left St-Lô. The extent of the loss of parish documents can be estimated by consulting Archives Départementales de la Manche, Répertoire numérique de la Série G (St-Lô, 1913). For the full story of the vicissitudes of the chapter records, see Daireaux, “Les Divers périls,” 91–6. For the monastic records, see the four inventaires sommaires described in Nédélec, Répertoire des bibliothèques et archives de la Manche, 47–9. For the official government statement referred to, see Nédélec, Répertoire des bibliothèques et archives de la Manche, 46. See also Bridrey, Cahiers de dolèances, 72–6. 6 The power to appoint was shared in ten parishes. See DAC ADC M 6, “Estat general et ecclésiastique de l’Evesche de Coutances” drawn up in 1680–1681; Sandret, L’Ancien église de France, part VII; and Lecanu, Histoire des évêques, 464–555. Only in Normandy and Alsace did the nobles have such great control of appointments. Some of the kings’ rights to appoint came from seizure of the property of nobles who had supported the English during the Hundred Years’ War. Ste-Chapelle was given the right of appointment in parishes which the Knights Templar had controlled before their suppression. Benefices controlled by ecclesiastics were open to a myriad of interventions in appointment by the pope, the king, some members of parlements, and by a holder resigning in favour of another person. All this is spelled out in detail in McManners, Church and Society, 1:615–46. See also Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 187–90. 7 Some authors divide the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances into five regions. The first two are in the northern third of the diocese made up of la Hague in the northwest corner beginning at Surtainville, Val de Saire in the

Notes to pages 23–5 289 northeast corner beginning at Valognes. The third division is the Cotentin with Carentan as it chief town. The fourth part is a narrow strip extending along the western coast from Portbail past Coutances and Granville to StPair. The final area is the bocage extending southeastward from the Cotentin toward St-Lô, Vire, and Villedieu. The best short description of the regions of the diocese is provided by Lecanu, Histoire, 2:95. In the Middle Ages the term “le bocage” was applied to the then forested area situated between Valognes and Le Val-de-Saire. Beaurepaire, Les Noms des communes … de la Manche, 82–3. 8 Quellien, Histoire des populations du Cotentin, 11–28. Boulard, Matériaux pour l’histoire, 2: 65–75 and the sources cited there. 9 Guéné, Memento du département de la Manche, 11–29. Beaurepaire, Les Noms des communes, 13–57. Lepelley, La Normandie dialectale, 45–130. See also Guizé, Tout sur le département de la Manche, 103–26. For the situation in the 1970s, see Brasseur, Atlas linguistique. For the French context, see Robb, The Discovery of France, 19–70. 10 In Canadian terms the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances was roughly 1,000 sq km smaller than Prince Edward Island; in US terms about 1,000 sq km larger than Rhode Island; in UK terms about 500 sq km smaller than Northumberland County. The exception to the Vire boundary is the territory of the six parishes mentioned in note 1. 11 Cerisy-la-Salle had a population of about 1,900 and Granville had just over 1,800 inhabitants. The population estimates are based on the lists of numbers of feux in Dupâquier, Statistiques démographiques du bassin parisien, 1636–1720, 5–10, 139–210, for all of the parishes then in the Diocese of Coutances. The number of households (officially feux, that is hearths) was multiplied by 4.25. That figure was obtained by comparing the number of feux to the number of people in the Élection of Vire (part of which was in the Diocese of Coutances) in 1700. Other scholars have used ratios varying from 4.5 to 5. The royal government’s population estimate in 1789 was 258,964, though the calculations are suspect. See Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:395–7. 12 The information concerning the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances was developed by analysing the information available on the websites of the dioceses of Coutances and Bayeux: www.coutances.catholique.fr and www.bayeuxlisieux.catholique.fr. All population figures are those for 1999. The modern Diocese of Coutances has a total of sixty-two parishes of which forty-two are within the territory of the old Coutances. The forty-third parish has been in the Diocese of Bayeux since 1790. See note 3. 13 The most useful secondary sources for the history of the Diocese of Coutances (all of them have significant faults) are Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 864–911 and Instrumenta, cols 218–82, Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse de Coutances and Lecanu, Histoire des évêques de Coutances. Of less use are Laplatte, Le diocèse de Coutances, Lecanu, Histoire du diocèse de Coutances et

290  Notes to pages 25–30 Avranches, Rouault, Abregé de la vie des évesques de Coutances, and Toussaint, Coutances des origines à la révolution. See also Gustave Dupont, Histoire du Cotentin et de ses Îles, and André Dupont, Histoire du département de la Manche, as well as the various works by Bernard Jacqueline listed in the bibliography and some of the articles in Chaline, Histoire religieuse de la Normandie. See Laplatte, Le diocèse, 122–9, for a generally good discussion of the relative worth of the historical sources. 14 Quellien, Histoire des populations du Cotentin, 31. For the early monasteries in the diocese, see DAC ADC XXXIV, Notes de R.P. Masselin, 273–7. 15 Jacqueline, “Le Palais des barons-évêques de Saint-Lô,” 81. Fournée, “Le culte populaire et l’iconographie,” 15–26. The well was restored in 1915. 16 For the negative effects of the war on the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Coutances, see Barker, Conquest, 87, 133–4, 210–13, 247, 332–3, 360–2, 389. For the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the Diocese of Coutances, see G. Dupont, Histoire du Cotentin et de ses Îles, vols 2–3; Denifle, La Guerre de cent ans, 1:69–70, 76, 295, 303–10, 453; 2:305–10, 752–4; Lecanu, Histoire, 219–61; Jacqueline, “La Grande pitié des diocèses de Coutances et Avranches,” 39–45. For St-Lô, see Toustain de Billy, Cotentin et ses villes, 43–56. For a short history of epidemics in Coutances, see Toussaint, Coutances, 1:173–78. 17 It was considered indecent to dismember women because their naked bodies would be visible. See Barker, Conquest, 66. 18 Caen lost one of its original ten élections to the new Generalité of Alençon in 1636. Mirot, Manuel de Géographie, 367–70. 19 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:255–56. 20 For an understanding of French society at the time, see Holt, The French Wars of Religion. For military details, see Knecht, The French Civil Wars. For the Diocese of Coutances, see Canu, “Les Guerres de religion et le protestantisme dans la Manche,” 225–326, and A. Dupont, Histoire, 5:51–94. For the St-Lô area, see Toustain de Billy, Cotentin et ses villes, 75–128. 21 Quellien, Histoire des populations, 100–1; Lecanu, Histoire, 320–1. For all aspects of life in the Cotentin peninsula during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Goujard, La Normandie. 22 Among the strongest proponents of the contrary view that there was a single Catholic Reformation with southern and foreign origins are Marc Venard and Marie-Hélène and Michel Froeschlé-Chopard. See especially Atlas de la réforme pastorale en France de 1550 à 1790 by the Chopards with an introduction by Venard. For a full discussion of the geography and chronology of religious reformation in France, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 63–187. 23 Beaurepaire, Cahiers des États, 3:25. 24 For details of the various uprisings of the 1630s and 1640s and discussion of the long-term social and political effects on Normandy, see Goujard, La Normandie, 165–227.

Notes to pages 30–5 291 25 See Floquet, Diaire, 31–3, 301–20, 435–44; Foisil, La Révolte des Nu-Pieds, 183–7, 202–28, 339–42; Dupont, Histoire du département de la Manche, 6:5–53; and Briggs, Communities of Belief, 144–53. 26 See Dupont, Histoire du département de la Manche, 6:55–72 and the sources he cites. Auvry’s involvement will be discussed in chapter 3. 27 For details, see Goujard, La Normandie, 245–93. 28 For the ups and downs of the population of Normandy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Goujard, La Normandie, 176–7, 264–5. 29 See Jean-Marie Gouesse, “Parenté, famille et mariage en Normandie aux XVIe et XVIIIe siècles,” and “La formation du couple en Basse-Normandie”. See also André Dupont, Histoire du département de la Manche, 7:98–104 and the sources he cites. 30 The most thorough description of Gouberville’s life and views is Tollemer, Le Journal du Sire de Gouberville. All subsequent writers on Gouberville have used this work extensively. Important context for both Tollemer and the journals themselves is provided by Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville. See also Fedden, Manor Life. 31 Wraxall, A Tour through the Western, Southern and Interior Provinces of France, 1–14. 32 Young, Travels during the Years, 1787, 1788 and 1789, 1:96–7; 2:50. 33 Except where noted what follows is based on Gerville, Études géographiques et historiques, 43–6, 62–77, complemented by Quellien, Histoire de populations du Cotentin, 39–102. 34 Toustain de Billy, Cotentin et ses villes, 153. Varech and tangue were still an issue of significant concern in the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789. Militia duty and coast guard service were also very important topics in those cahiers. See Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:154–5, 189–90, 469, 564–5; 2:128. 35 Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie provides a short summary of farming conditions and practices in the Cotentin in Gouberville’s time in “In Normandy’s Woods and Fields,” Territory of the Historian, 133–45. A detailed treatment is provided by Tollemer, Le Journal du Sire de Gouberville, 269–400. See also Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville, 105–28, and J.-P. Bourdon “Les Labours aux Mesnil-au-Val” in Foisil, Le Cotentin, 15–41. 36 For the post-revolutionary importance of hunting and hatred of rabbits in the Cotentin, see Tocqueville, Oeuvres complètes, 10:681–4. Tocqueville also advocated allowing peasants to collect the eggs of all birds, not just game birds. For most peasants in most of France, conditions did not really improve until the twentieth century. See Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen, 3–22. 37 Tollemer, Le Journal du Sire de Gouberville, 228–69; Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville, 209–18; Fedden, Manor Life, 144–50. 38 Dupont, Cotentin et ses îles, 4:424–41; Toustain de Billy, Cotentin et ses villes, 159. For further details on the soil and economy of Basse-Normandie and the lives of the peasants in the eighteenth century, see Bernier, Tiers-État rural, 20–73.

292  Notes to pages 35–44 39 RC, 2:227–9; Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 21:25–7. 40 Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 22:97–122; 23:45–65; 24:34–50; Toussaint, Coutances, 1:184–8. Compère and Julia, Les Collèges, 2:219–20, 236–9, 623–5, 676–9. 41 Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:594.

chapter two 1 A convenient guide to the historical development of Roman Catholic theology is McBrien, Catholicism. For the development of Christianity in the early modern period, a good starting point is Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400–1700. 2 For a summary of the contemporary Catholic position on sacraments, see McBrien, Catholicism, 734–45. 3 An episcopal ordinance issued by Bishop Philibert de Montjeu of Coutances in 1438 sets out in detail the extensive fees connected with marriage, birth, excommunication, travellers’ and pilgrims’ certificates, last wills, and ceremonies connected with death. See Jacqueline, “Histoire des synodes,” 14–16. 4 McManners, Church and Society, 2:44. 5 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 415 (no. 1667). 6 Medieval and early modern theologians distinguished between the “limbo of the fathers” reserved for the “just” pre-Christians who had to wait for Christ to open the way to heaven and the “limbo of the children,” infants who died unbaptized and therefore with Original Sin, but no sin of their own. 7 The belief in the Immaculate Conception was particularly strong in Normandy. See Jean Fournée, “La Place de Rouen et de la Normandie dans le développement du culte et de l’iconographie de l’Immaculée-Conception” in Chaline, Histoire religieuse de la Normandie, 125–40. 8 Schroeder, Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, 80 (canons 9, 11), 103 (canon 8). Easter came to be interpreted as the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost. Communion remains a duty, but confession is now required only in the case of serious sin. 9 Quoted in Jacqueline, “Histoire des synodes,” 14. 10 At times the bishops of Coutances issued one or a few statutes after a meeting of the spring synod. Today these exist only in the diocesan synod records which are extant only for the seventeenth century (DAC ADC XXXVII). 11 The source for all of these statutes is Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis 2:541–76. Bessin’s source is a manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (Ms fr 14544). The most complete set of medieval synodal statutes for Coutances are those promulgated on an unknown date in the thirteenth century found in Bessin, 2:543–58. These statutes remained the basic text for the diocese until the early seventeenth century and were re-promulgated as late as 1538. The other extant medieval statues were promulgated in 1300, 1372, 1375, 1377, 1434,

Notes to pages 45–9 293 1454, 1479, 1481, 1487, 1506, 1538, and 1563. For the development of synodal statutes in France between 1190 and 1589, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 25–41, 70–3. For Coutances, see also B. Jacqueline, “Histoire des synodes” and “La Fréquentation des sacrements dans le diocèse de Coutances.” 12 The confessional manual of Jean Eudes, who gave missions throughout the Diocese of Coutances between 1632 and 1673, provides detailed guidance for confessors and reveals much about the religious mentality of the society. More detail will be provided in chapter 7. See Eudes, Oeuvres complètes, 4:151–452. 13 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:558–66. 14 Jean Delumeau captured an essential part of the spirit of early modern Europe in the title of his book Le Péché et la peur. Religious leaders continually emphasized the sinfulness of humanity and worked to create fear of what this would bring after death. 15 Frontispiece in Vincent, Des Charités bien ordonnées. 16 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 1:308, 380–2; 2:113–14. For the quotation see ibid., 1:333. 17 Most extant parish records in the Diocese of Coutances begin in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries; many have notes about or lists of endowments (fondations) set up to provide masses for the dead. Examples of fifteenth-century records that show the social spread of the concern for suffering after death and the growing complexity of services for the dead are found in DAC M 30 (parish of Carentan), M 35 (parish of Vindefontaine), P 305 (Mesnil du Val), and P 497 (St-Jores – a particularly full record of fondations). For continuation into the late seventeenth century, see M 17 (parish of Quibou). For the thirteenth into the eighteenth century see M 30, M 35, M 37 (Ste-Suzanne), M 40 (Cartulaire du chapitre de la Cathédrale de Coutances), M 63 (Teurtheville). 18 The origins, development, and spread of “popular religion” have been the subject of long debate among historians and anthropologists. The best short introduction to both the debate and the situation in eighteenth-century France is in McManners, Church and Society, 2:189–220. See also Robb, The Discovery of France, 112–37, as well as the extensive bibliography provided in volume 1 of Plongeron and Larue, La Piété populaire. Devlin, The Superstitious Mind, 1–42, provides a good overall view of popular religion in France. For the nineteenth century see Devlin, 43–230, and Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen, 23–9, 339–56. Robb, Weber, and Devlin have little information on Normandy and virtually nothing for the area covered by the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. For seventeenth-century Normandy and Coutances, see note 5 in chapter 7. 19 A striking example of the long-term continuance of pagan beliefs, located not far from the Diocese of Coutances, is to be found in the town of Bagnoles de l’Orne in the Diocese of Sées near Alençon, which is famous for its thermal baths. Nearby are the ruins of a priory of Canons Regular of the Order of the

294  Notes to pages 49–53 Holy Cross which included a “holy well,” most probably of pagan origin, said to have curative effects. A modern entrepreneur arranged for the water to be piped into the town where it is reputed to cure varicose veins. 20 For the saints favoured by Normans and their reputed powers, see Fournée, Le Culte populaire des saints en Normandie, 57–103. 21 See the discussion of the fourteen auxiliary saints on page 808 of the Saint Andrew Daily Missal published in the United States with ecclesiastical approval in 1949 and in use until the 1960s. 22 For the patrons of the parishes of la Manche, see Fournée, Le Culte populaire des saints en Normandie, 28–46. For the Blessed Virgin, see Fournée, Le Culte populaire et l’iconographie, 67–77. Given the statistics provided for the other Norman départements there is no reason to believe that the percentages for the Old Regime Diocese of Coutances vary much, if any, from those given for the whole Départment de la Manche. There were also many chapels in the diocese dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, but under many different names such as Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, de-Bon-Refuge, and de-la-Delivérance. Fournée, Le Culte populaire et l’iconographie, 125–43. 23 For confraternities in Normandy from the thirteenth through the sixteenth century see Vincent, Des Charités bien ordonnées. For the relative scarcity of confraternities in the Diocese of Coutances and possible reasons for this see, ibid., 27–81. See also chapter 7 below. 24 Toussaint, Coutances, 1:150. Mystery plays that portrayed events in the life of Christ and the saints remained popular in the Diocese of Coutances for a much longer time than Galpern found in Champagne. See Galpern, Religions of the People, 198–9. 25 Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, 75–82. 26 Ibid., preface. 27 The best description of the conflict between reformed Catholicism and popular belief in France is found in Briggs, Communities of Belief, especially 365–413. For the role of the bourgeoisie, see also Ravitch, The Catholic Church, 44–51. 28 For the two reformations, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 63–175. For the 96 topics, see ibid., 133, 347–50. For the rationale for choosing them for the provinces of Rouen, Tours, and Paris rather than the 118 topics used in other provinces, see ibid., 55n78. The patterns discussed in the following two paragraphs are basically the same when the 118 topics are used, but the distinctions between all the episcopates except Brienne’s are blurred and Brienne’s reform activity is somewhat over-emphasized. 29 The percentage of topics used were 1634–1643 (10.5), 1644–1653 (9.0), 1654–1663 (11.4), 1664–1673 (11.7), 1674–1683 (14.6), 1684–1693 (15.8) , 1694–1703 (20.6), 1704–1713 (19.7), 1714–1723 (14.0), 1724–1733 (11.3), 1734–1743 (11.0), 1744–1753 (10.5), 1754–1763 (10.5), 1764–1773 (8.9), 1774–1783 (9.3). The percentages were obtained by calculating the percentage of possible use for each year for which visit records are available (the number of appearances divided by the number

Notes to pages 53–9 295 of possible appearances (i.e., 96 multiplied by the number of archdeaconries for which records are available), and then calculating the mean for each tenyear period. Frequency of visits could not be a factor because survival of records is not a measure of happening. (See Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 416–22). Marc Venard’s method of analysing pastoral visits is too crude to permit such an analysis. See note 67 in chapter 6. 30 The percentage of the topics used by episcopate: Matignon (10.0), Auvry (10.0), Lesseville (11.0), Brienne (16.3), Matignon (11.2), Quesnoy (9.0), Talaru (9.6). See chapter 3. 31 For Rouen and the rest of France, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 350 (Appendix 3 H 2-b). Exact comparison with the rest of France is not possible because 600 Years of Reform amalgamated data from all the dioceses in a province and compared province to province. The chronological divisions were also different. See ibid., 133.

chapter three 1 Denis de Marquemont, Harangue prononcée … à l’ouverture des Estats. Quoted in Hayden, Estates General of 1614, 106. 2 See Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:129. In his 1509 will Bishop Geoffroy Herbert referred to the church of Coutances as “our mother and spouse.” Ibid., 2:381. 3 This estimate places the annual revenue of the bishops of Coutances at between 12,000 and 18,000 livres from the early seventeenth century into the 1670s. Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 110. For the estimate of episcopal revenue of all French dioceses during these years and the difficulty in assessing what a diocese was worth to a bishop, see ibid., 90–137. For a local estimate of the revenue of the bishop of Coutances in 1680 (20,000 livres), see DAC M 9, 11. By the time of the French Revolution, the total sums had risen significantly (Coutances was listed at 58,705 livres), but the overall pattern in the ecclesiastical province of Rouen remained the same. Sévestre, Les Problèmes religieux, 25. 4 See Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, for the continuing efforts of some French bishops to reform their dioceses from the late eleventh century through the eighteenth century. 5 Jacqueline, “Les Évêques suffragants,” 97–103. In modern terminology these men were auxiliary bishops. 6 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:560–6. 7 Toustain de Billy says of Gilles Deschamps that he was bishop “to receive the revenue of the bishopric, but not to fulfill its functions.” Of Marle he says that he preferred court intrigue to the duties of his diocese. Histoire ecclésiastique 2:189, 205. For the events of 1418 in context, see Barker, Conquest, 3–30.

296  Notes to pages 60–2 8 Malatesta became bishop because King Henry V of England did not want a French bishop in Normandy, but was willing to have an Italian. Barker, Conquest, 57. See also Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Italiens à l’évêché et au chapitre de Coutances au XVe siècle,” 117–25, and “Les Origines géographiques et sociales,” 204–6. Philibert de Montjeu is sometimes falsely accused of being a judge of Joan of Arc. See Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:217, 261–2, 265–7 and Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 891–3. See also Lecanu, Histoire des évêques, 241–52. 9 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:566–7. 10 In the late seventeenth century these records – the register of the diocesan secretariat – were extant from about 1487 to Toustain de Billy’s time. None have survived to the present. Longueil’s absence from Coutances is confirmed by the earliest available chapter deliberation records. DAC Chapitre, no. 75, entries for 1464 and 1465. 11 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:289. For examples of the mass ordinations, see ibid., 289–92, 342–3. In 1460, for example, 681 men received the tonsure, while only twenty-three men were ordained priest. 12 Ibid., 288–9, 328–9. Jacqueline, “Les Évêques suffragants,” 97–103. Gustave Dupont (Cotentin et ses îles, 5:25) says Jean Le Rat was the name of Janopolis. Toustain de Billy says Le Rat was the grand vicar and clearly distinguishes him from Janopolis. According to abbé Le Cardonnel, a nineteenth-century archivist of Coutances (RC, 1:677–8), Le Rat should not be confused with Jean Rati who was cantor of the cathedral chapter from 1470 to 1485 and vicar general at least between 1476 and 1478. This is confirmed by Gallia Christiana (11: col. 910), which adds details about a series of challenges to Rati’s taking the post. Chapter records confirm that Rati took the position of cantor in 1470, faced challenges from other candidates, still held the position in July 1485, and was vicar general in 1476. 13 A suffragan bishop took his title from an extinct bishopric (whence the title titular bishop), very often located in an Islamic area of the world. He had no right of succession to the diocese in which he served. Only a coadjutor bishop had that right. Porphyre was located in Greece. Janopolis (today Ineboli) is located in Turkey. An in commendam benefice was a benefice held by a secular cleric that was supposed to be filled only by a cleric who was a member of a religious order. See chapter 5. 14 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:305–8. 15 Ibid., 308–12. Richard McBrien, Lives of the Popes, 270–2. For the appointment documents of della Rovere, see DAC Chapitre, no. 76, October 1476. For further details see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Italiens à l’évêché,” 119–20. Della Rovere’s nephew was too young and never became bishop of Coutances, but he eventually obtained the see of Agen. 16 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:379. For dispensations and the other matters mentioned, see ibid, 344–8, 372. Mistakenly, some sources use the name Hébert. See ibid., 348. For his political connections and, especially, his

Notes to pages 62–7 297 appointment of his brothers and other relatives to the cathedral chapter of Coutances, see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Origines géographiques,” 199–202. 17 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:313. For Herbert’s career as bishop, see ibid., 313–96. 18 For the college, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2: 107–10, 384–6. For the tapestries, see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Origines géographiques et sociales,” 200. For the education of choir boys, see “Les Origines géographiques et sociales,” 364–8, and DAC M 40, 471. See also DBF, 17: col. 1032. Toustain de Billy’s statement about benefices is in Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:341. 19 The missal is in DAC M 82. See also nos 83 and 84. For later Coutances missals, see Pigeon, “Les Anciens livres liturgiques,” 217–34. For Herbert’s synodal statutes, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:315–23 and Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:567–75. Billy and Bessin do not agree completely on the contents. For Herbert’s ranking among reforming bishops of his time, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 79, 374, 377–83. 20 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:320–1. Herbert’s introduction speaks of the Virgin’s entrails, “chaste, pure, entire and sacred,” “an eternally green garden” which bore Christ, and of her “happy breasts” which gave him milk. None of this is in Bessin. See Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:570–3. 21 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:329–44. 22 Ibid., 3:30. 23 Castoria was located in the Balkans. For ordinations by the bishop of Porphyre, see ibid., 3:6–7. In 1513 he ordained 620 men in forty locations throughout the diocese. Leroux (DAC M 44, fol. 111r), using the records of Valognes, cites an ordination of 260 men that took place there on 19 February 1514 (n.s.) in which 48 became acolytes, 88 were ordained subdeacons, 55 were ordained deacons, and 68 priests. 24 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:41. The seventh and last bishop of Coutances to be appointed cardinal was Jean-Louis Guyot (bp 1950–1966). 25 Ibid., 3:44; Eubel, Hierarchia, 3:176. 26 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:10, 43–4. Eubel, Hierarchia, 3:287; 4:176. Cockburn was not from Ireland, as some sources say. As will be seen below, John Lesley, bishop of Ross beginning in 1566, was imprisoned by Elizabeth I in 1571, fled to France in 1574, was vicar general of Rouen for a number of years, and was confirmed as bishop of Coutances by the pope in 1592 on the nomination of the League. The names of both Scots appear in many strange forms in French sources. 27 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:45, 56–7, 63–4, 80–5. 28 RC, 2:577. DAC Chapitre, no. 78, 9 July 1548. Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 911. The cantor (grand chantre) was the most important official of the cathedral chapter of Coutances, equivalent to the dean of most chapters. 29 The (not particularly reliable) source mentioned is Rouault, Abregé, 331–2. There were pastoral visits in 1549 in some places in the diocese carried out by one or more of the archdeacons. Julia, Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:195.

298  Notes to pages 67–72 30 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:100. Rouault is the author who believed Martel left Coutances because he was afraid of the growing strength of the Protestants. Abregé, 336. Toustain de Billy confirms that from 1554 onward Protestantism was spreading rapidly in the diocese. Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:111. Martel’s vicar authorized the publication of a new missal in March 1558, a copy of which is in DAC. 31 The last two bishops of Porphyre were Louis de Saint-Gilles who died in 1580 and Phillipe Troussey, his successor, killed in 1590 by troops allied to the Catholic League. 32 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:102–4. Buchanan took possession of the prebend through a procurator on 23 May 1558. He resigned it in September 1561. See the entries in DAC Chapitre, no. 78, for both dates. See also M 41, 232, 247 and M 4, 37, 41. 33 See Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 370–408, for the reforming activities of Coutances’s bishops compared to that of their peers throughout France. 34 For the events in the cathedral, see the chapter deliberations for November and December 1561 and August and September 1562. DAC Chapitre, no. 78. 35 Toustain de Billy, Cotentin et ses villes, 90–1, 103–4. 36 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:110, 129–33, 147, 181–3. See also Lecanu, Histoire des évêques, 308–17. In 1580 Cossé tried to reassert the authority of the bishops of Coutances over the Channel Islands because of the fees he felt he was owed. Needless to say, he failed. Eagelston, The Channel Islands, 50–4. 37 For nobles using the financial predicament of bishops, see Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 351, 668. 38 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:186–7; Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 451–2. 39 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:142–3, 148, 171. Lecanu, Histoire, 322. The full record of only one of Briroy’s visits is extant, that of the Hôtel-Dieu of Coutances in 1599 (AD Manche H Hôpital de Coutances A 7, pièce 23). The wrong citation is given in Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:197. A fragment of his visit of 1582 to the abbey of Ste-Croix in St-Lô is in DAC ADC XXXII. An earlier attempt to reform Christmas celebrations in the cathedral took place in 1548. See DAC Chapitre, no. 78, 21 August 1548. 40 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:150–2. For the original Latin text, see Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:602–3. 41 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:153. See also 154, 163–3, 172–4. Le Concile provincial des diocèses de Normandie tenu à Rouen, l’an MDLXXXI (BNF 5601; Latin version BNF 5598). See Venard, “Le Concile provincial de Rouen de 1581,” 601–5, for the changes Rome insisted be included in the text. 42 For Cossé’s travel plans and death, see the chapter deliberations for 9 September, 19 October, and 20 November 1587 in DAC Chapitre, no. 80. Toustain

Notes to pages 72–6 299 de Billy was misinformed on the place of Cossé’s death and the services held afterward. Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:183–4. 43 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:186–7. Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 350–3 and the sources cited there. 44 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:189–90. 45 Ibid., 191–3. Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 588 and the sources cited there. See also note 26 above. 46 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:207. For the few bits of evidence of Briroy’s visits, see Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:196–8, and note 39 above. 47 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:208–10. The confirmation estimate is in DAC ADC XXXIV, Notes de R.P. Masselin, 260. DAC M 93 is the manual. The library of Ste-Geneviève in Paris has copies of the manual, breviary, and missal. The synodal statutes were promulgated in 1613, but no copy is extant. See Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 42–3. See also Vivier, “L’Imprimerie à Coutances au XVIIe siècle,” 119–27, 157. 48 Manuel de Coutances, 153v–60v. Briroy formally rejected any attempt by secular authority to insert decrees into this ceremony, citing a decision of the provincial council of Rouen. This resistance became impossible during the reign of Louis XIV. 49 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:193–8, 206–7. 50 In 1598, at the request of King Henry IV, the Parlement of Rouen issued an arrêt supporting his efforts to restore their benefices to the “chapter, abbeys, priories, curés, chaplains, treasurers and administrators of the goods and revenues of churches, hospitals and chapels” of the diocese of Coutances because the “letters and titles” concerning benefices had been destroyed during the civil wars from 1561 onward. DAC ADC XXXIV, 5 October 1598. 51 Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 60, 439, 588. 52 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:202. He also wrote, “One could say that for more than a century the non-residence of our bishops brought libertinage and libertinage gave birth to impiety. The virtue and presence of M. Briroy did the opposite.” Ibid., 211–12. 53 Ibid., 221. Rouault, usually ready to believe the best of anyone (except a Protestant), states that Henry IV gave the pension to Carbonnel “in recompense for his sincerity in refusing a dignity to which he did not feel called.” Abregé, 356. 54 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:225–9. For his pastoral visits, for which no records survive, see Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:198–9. Rouault credits him with playing an important role as théologal of the chapter of StMalo in the preparation of synodal statutes and a handbook for confessors of the diocese before he came to St-Lô and as a provider of theological education to the canons of Coutances where he held the same position. Abregé, 357–9. For details of the pensions see DAC Chapitre, no. 83, 27 April 1622. 55 Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 668. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:251. Lecanu, Histoire, 329, 332. For an excellent succinct treatment of

300  Notes to pages 76–80 the development of the concept of bishop in seventeenth-century France see Forrestal, Fathers, Pastors and Kings. 56 Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:199–204. The episcopal visit of 1637 has been described by others, but it was destroyed in the 1944 bombing, along with many other of the few known early seventeenth-century visits. Almost all the extant visits of Matignon’s episcopate were carried out by Jean Le Campion, archdeacon of Bauptois. The content of these visits will be discussed in chapters 4 and 7. For the synods, see DAC ADC XXXVII, paschal synods of 1635, 1636, 1638, 1643, 1646. For comparison with the synods of the ecclesiastical province of Tours in the first half of the seventeenth century, see Restif, “Synodes diocésains,” 210–17. The work of the missionaries will be discussed in chapters 6 and 7. For a summary statement of the need for reform from eyewitnesses, recalled many years later, see Blouet, Les Séminaires, 22–3. 57 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:248–50. For Lessay, see chapter 5. Répertoire des statuts, 217. The only known extant copy of these statutes is in B. Mun. Valognes C 5425 (pp. 3–4 are missing). The missing pages can be reconstructed because Bishop Brienne reissued these statutes with relatively minor additions in 1676. For comparison with the synodal statues throughout France during the first phase of the Second Catholic Reformation, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 111–12, 123–30. 58 Formeville, L’Ancien évêché-comté de Lisieux, 268–74. 59 For the location of the later editions of the statutes, see Artonne, Répertoire des statuts, 217, 501. One edition is missing in this source, that of 1694, which can be found in B. Mun. Valognes C 5696 or BNF 11395. Mansi, XXXVI ter, col. 221 is in error. 60 Toussaint, Claude Auvry, is complete but somewhat confusing in its presentation. See also DBF, 4: cols 777–9; Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 93, 202, 534, 566–7; Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:258–96, and the records of the Coutances chapter, nos 122–6. Auvry’s relations with the chapter will be discussed in the next chapter. 61 Concio Annua Synodalis … (BNF B 3061). The chapter stopped an earlier attempt by Auvry to reform the parish clergy by denying power to hear confessions, teach catechism, or preach to any cleric who had not personally proven his capability to the bishop or his vicar. The canons were primarily interested in protecting their rights over the priests in the cathedral and in their prebends. Toussaint, Auvry, 81–3. 62 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:279. For the attempt by Jean Eudes to convince Auvry to accept the position of bishop of Bayeux, see his letter to Auvry of 1 June 1659 in Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 11:74–6. See chapter 6 for more on Eudes and the founding of seminaries in Coutances. 63 Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 110–11, 231, 654. Auvry chose Lesseville and then convinced the king to accept him. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:301.

Notes to pages 80–3 301 64 The records of the episcopal visit of 1664 are not extant. The municipal library of Valognes has a copy of Lesseville’s 1663 Sacra et mystica verba ordinationum diocesis Constantiensis, evidently meant for candidates for ordination to each of the sacred orders. 65 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 305. 66 Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 447, states that the other candidate for the see was Claude Auvry of Avranches. There was never a Bishop Auvry in Avranches and it seems highly unlikely that the former bishop of Coutances would be offered that post again. The bishop of Avranches between 1651 and in 1666 was Gabriel de Boylesve. 67 If Lecanu’s source is accurate, Brienne’s pre-episcopal revenue would have been 48,000 livres with 9,000 livres being added by the king. Histoire, 352. As noted earlier, even the reformers accumulated in commendam benefices. For the revenue of the bishopric of Coutances as of 21 April 1665, see DAC Chapitre, Temporel de l’Évêché, 1497–1764. 68 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:330–55. He made it very clear that, while he admired Brienne, he was not writing a panegyric, though he praised everything from his oratory and prose style to his doctrine and care for priests. He declared, “I was born free and in the state I am in I have nothing to fear nor to hope for in this world.” Ibid., 333. He also said that he had received no favours, noting that his ecclesiastical taxes had increased steadily over the years. Details of the years 1709 to 1720 are covered in an appendix to Toustain de Billy’s manuscript and in Lecanu, Histoire, 352–5. The breviary was published in 1714. The fight against Jansenism, a movement that was never strong in Coutances, continued after 1708. 69 Catechisme avec les instructions pour les dispositions à la première communion & pour les principales fêtes & solemnitez de l’année, Introduction. The catechism will be discussed in chapter 7. 70 DAC ADC XXIII, vol. 5, fols 1r–51r. This volume is comparatively short and obviously incomplete since it includes one other visit (fols 52r–53r), also by Brienne, which took place in Cretteville-près-la-Mer (also known as Quettreville) on 29 October 1673. This visit is not mentioned in Répertoire de visites pastorales, 2:210. Evidence in the statutes also indicates that Brienne made more pastoral visits for which records have not survived. 71 The twenty-third dean was the Dean of the Isles who was, theoretically, in charge of the Channel Islands. Naturally, he had nothing to report. Partial records are extant for twelve of Brienne’s paschal synods and eighteen of his autumn synods (DAC ADC XXXVII). For details about the faults of the curés, see chapter 7. 72 The entry in Artonne, Répertoire des statuts synodaux, 217, is incomplete. The 1676 edition is in B. Mun Valognes C 5697 and in Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:575–99. The 1694 edition is in BNF B 11395. The 1718 edition is in Bib. St. Gen. 8º ∆ 65.330. For the content of synodal statutes of the second phase of

302  Notes to pages 83–90 the Second Catholic Reformation throughout France, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 150–1, 160–4. 73 DAC ADC VI, XX, fols 4–16. 74 Rouault, Abregé, 377–87, Lecanu, Histoire, 359–62, Toussaint, Coutances, 2:15– 16; Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 921–2. Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:232–47. A copy of his breviary is in the municipal library of Cherbourg. Much of the research for this book took place in the cold and dark but sturdy former stables. 75 Records of the synods of 1726, 1735, 1737, 1740, and 1745 are in DAC ADC XXVII. It is not possible to know how many parishes the bishop visited. Some of the records of his visits were destroyed in the 1944 bombardment of St-Lô, another has disappeared from the departmental archives, and the rest consist only of scattered notes indicating that a visit took place or was planned. For a negative opinion of Matignon (without a cited source), see McManners, Church and Society, 1:54. 76 Lecanu, Histoire, 362–4; Toussaint, Coutances, 1:16–17, 187–90. Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:247–9. For a detailed description of the new episcopal palace, see E. Vivier, “La condition,” 3–7. The episcopal residence was rebuilt after it was destroyed in 1944, but only the outside is as it was before. 77 Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 44, 69. 78 For the beliefs and actions of the bishops of France during the eighteenth century, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 147–75, 181–7. See also McManners, Church and Society, 1:345–744. 79 M. Le Pennec, “Le recrutement des prêtres,” 191–221. The numerical and social patterns of ordinations will be discussed in chapters 6 and 8. 80 Sévestre, Les Problèmes religieux, 6. In addition to his episcopal revenue of 58,705 livres a year, Talaru received 67,153 livres each year as abbot in commendam of Blanchelande and Montebourg. Ibid., 25, 27. See also Sévestre, La Vie religieuse dans les principales villes, 127–30. 81 Lecanu, Histoire, 367–74; Toussaint, Coutances, 2:17, 187–90. For the last two bishops before the revolution, see also DAC ADC X XXXIV, “Notes de R.P. Masselin,” 264–7. 82 See the mandements in DAC Series R and section 1 B of the fichier des actes administratifs religieux in BNF.

chapter four 1 The most extensive study of the canons of the cathedral of Coutances is Gilles Désiré dit Gosset’s three-volume unpublished 1995 thesis for the diplôme d’archiviste paléographe: “Le Chapitre cathédral de Coutances aux XVe et XVIe siècles. Étude institutionnelle et prosopographique.” It covers the period 1450 to 1564. Gosset’s main interest was identification of as many canons as possible (284) and, when possible, their social and geographical connections. His

Notes to pages 91–3 303 article, “Les Origines géographiques des chanoines de Coutances aux XVe et XVIe siècles” is a partial summary of the thesis. 2 Hayden, Estates General of 1614, 175–8, 199–201. Hayden and Greenshields, “The Clergy of Early Seventeenth-Century France,” 151–7. 3 Bridrey, Cahiers, 443–55. 4 DAC, M 4. “Usages et affaires du chapitre de Coutances recueilliés par Me Jacques Pouret chanoine et pénetencier de 1’église de Coutances.” Pouret wrote the section on the Diocese of Coutances in volume 11 of Gallia Christiana. Gustave Dupont used Pouret’s summary of deliberations in the 1870s. In 1881 the new bishop refused to let him do so again because he felt it put the clergy in a bad light. Le Cotentin et ses îles, 3:375. 5 DAC M 41–2. “Extraits des déliberations du chapitre de la Cathédrale de Coutances.” While some other dioceses had a nineteenth-century érudit who searched through chapter deliberations and left notes (e.g., Diocesan Archives of Sées, BD 102:23–92), no other instance of two independent scholars has been found. In 1984 the chapter of Coutances placed itself in suspension and has not met since 1985. See Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Chanoines,” 20–1. 6 The extant deliberations of the chapter (1464–1777) make up DAC Chapitre, nos. 75–97. There are a number of periods for which no deliberations are extant. For financial and property matters the major relevant sources are DAC, Series Chapitre, nos. 122–6 (the conflict with Bishop Auvry), 131 (fondations), 133–4 (comptes de habitués) and nos. 1623–73 (tithes paid to the chapter); uncatalogued: Comptes (various dates), aliénations de biens ecclésiastiques, 1563 to the late sixteenth century, Declaration des Biens (1418–1790). État du Chartrier (eighteenth century); Vicaires du Grand Autel (comptes, 1553–1764). In addition to records cited specifically in the following footnotes, other chapter records used were Chapitre, nos. 120 (fondations, 1504–1786), 127–8 (various legal proceedings, 1644–1669), 130 and 132 (personnel), and 159 (obituaries, 1384–1766); uncatalogued: Chapitres generaux, 1550–1598. All these records would have to be used to carry out a detailed prosopographical study similar to that referred to in note 1. This would take more years than the results would justify for the purposes of the present book. Very few records are available for the years before 1464 and most of those concern property and privileges. Most probably the ravages of the Hundred Years War, especially as a result of the siege of Coutances in 1356, are responsible for this. See Daireaux, “Les Divers périls,” 91–3, and Deslondes-Fontanel, “La Cartulaire B,” 71–83. 7 Contrary to Vivier, “Le Grand chantre,” 13, and “La Conditions,” 3, there were neither twenty-eight nor “about thirty” canons. Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:365, 456, also provides misleading information on membership. The mistakes come from not recognizing the occasional practice of allowing canons to resign their prebends and/or offices but to continue in an honorary capacity. There were fourteen canons at the end of the eleventh century. The number had

304  Notes to pages 93–6 grown to twenty-six by the early fourteenth century. There was no change after that. See, for example, the meetings of the chapter on 20 April 1640, 13 February 1641, and 20 August 1712. Technically, four other individuals were canons of Coutances, though, at least after the mid-sixteenth century, they were rarely present. These were the abbots of Lessay, Troarn (Diocese of Bayeux), St-Taurin (Diocese of Évreux), and the prior of St-Lô in Rouen. See Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Chanoines,” 29–30, 37–8. 8 For the chapter of Coutances in its Norman context during the tenth and eleventh centuries, see Spear, “La Compositions des chapitres,” 169–74. For the chapter of Coutances in the twelfth through the thirteenth centuries, see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Chanoines,” 18, 21, 23–4, 30–1, 37–8. For both periods, see Deslondes-Fontanel, “Le Cartulaire B,” 71–84. For the growing influence of the papacy on Norman chapters in the thirteenth century, see Montaubin, “Les Chapitres cathédraux,” 253–72. 9 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:36–41 (for the Latin text, see Gallia Christiana, 11: Instrumenta, cols 263–71. See also Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Chanoines,” 25. For the conflict between bishop and chapter before and after the settlement, see the visitations of the chapter by Eudes Rigaud, archbishop of Rouen, in 1250, 1256, and 1266. Rigaud, The Register, 99–100, 276–7, 633–4. 10 Désiré dit Gosset, “Les origines géographiques et sociales,” 109–213; Vivier, “Le Grand chantre Jacques-Louis Hauchemail,” 12–49. 11 For what can be known about the canons of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Origines géographiques et sociales” and “Les Chanoines du chapitre.” 12 For the details that are known about the grandes chantres, see Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 908–11 (an entry written by Jacques Pouret), Toussaint, Coutances, 2:36–44, and RC, 1:359–60, 435–7, 676–8; 2:576–8, 590–4, 652–5, 815–17. 13 For the chapter and education, see Lerosey, “Instruction publique,” 107–16. 14 DAC MS 9, 11–23, 145–59. 15 DAC Chapitre, uncatalogued, Chapitres généraux, 1550–1598. For an idea of the duties of the chaplains, see DAC Chapitre, no. 79, 5 January and 7 February 1573. They varied from one mass a month to one every day, along with attendance in choir for varying hours. 16 DAC, Chapitre, no. 133 (Comptes des habitués). 17 DAC, Chapitre, no. 155 (Usages). At times there were four or five cousteurs. French cathedrals tended to have between six and ten choirboys. See DAC Chapitre, no. 138. For their life and careers during and after their choir service, see McManners, Church and Society, 1:451–6. In Coutances several chaplaincies were reserved for former choirboys. They were also eligible for the much sought after scholarships to Collège d’Harcourt in Paris. 18 At times the principal of the college of Coutances was counted as a canon in addition to the twenty-six. The chapter resisted this. Compare chapter deliberations with Compère and Julia, Les Collèges, 2:236–7. For a comprehensive

Notes to pages 96–107 305

19

20

21

22

23 24

25

26 27 28

29

statement of the funds needed to pay for the full complement of people who formed the chapter community, see DAC Chapitre, no. 84, 20 April 1640. The earliest conference between the canons and the bourgeois of Coutances mentioned in the extant chapter registers took place on 3 February 1541. The subject was the return of the plague to the city. The presence of the plague in Coutances was also noted in chapter records in 1479 and 1502, in the 1570s, and often from the 1580s into the 1630s. Répertoire des visites pastorales, 2:189–250. Jacques Pouret was commissioned by the bishop to carry out a visit of the parishes of the Archdeaconry of Bauptois between 31 July and 2 September 1730. Greenshields, “What Happened in Quibou,” 80–8. The quotations come from pp. 81 and 83. See also DAC ADC M 17, “Notes et Documents sur la paroisse de Quibou” by abbé Hedouin. For further information about material aspects of the cathedral, see the articles by Jean Fournée, François Saint-James, and Marie-Hélène Didier in Lemagnen, Chapitres et cathédrales, 331–40, 341–4, 447–58, and the sources they cite. See also Le Texier, Coutances, 79–101. See Toussaint, Coutances, 2:35–6, Daireaux, “Les Divers périls,” 92–3, and Le Texier, Coutances, 90–6. See the chapter deliberations of 14 May 1501, 17 and 19 February and 6 July 1588. See also Le Texier, Coutances, 98–100, and Toussaint, Coutances, 2:103. The present organ, built in the eighteenth century, came from the abbey of Savigny-le-Mieux after the French Revolution. The curés of St-Pierre argued for many years that all of Coutances was part of their parish and that St-Nicolas was only a chapel. At stake was income from parishioners, especially connected with burials and endowments. The curés of St-Pierre also tried to keep people away from the chapel of the nearby Dominican friary for the same reason. DAC Chapitre, no. 155. A full statement of canonical duties can also be found in Chapitre, no. 85, 27 March 1647. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 1:340–1; 2:371. DAC M 41, 490. For rent setting, see DAC M 4, 8. For 1683, see Chapitre, no. 88, 20 April. DAC M 4, 14 November 1582. Pouret wrote that the pope responsible was Innocent VII and the year was 1484. The year is right, but the pope then was Innocent VIII. A copy of the bull was still in the chapter archives in 1582. It no longer exists. DAC M 3, Inventaire – 1508. The bull is mentioned in the chapter deliberations for 18 August 1484. Toustain de Billy reported that there were many papal dispensations permitting the holding of two or more benefices with the care of souls. The earliest he noted was in 1496, the latest in 1538. Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:64. For papal dispensations in the thirteenth century, see Montaubin, “Les Chapitres cathédraux,” 262. For the events mentioned throughout this section, see the relevant parts of the chapter deliberations and Pouret’s and Fleury’s summaries. For the reform

306  Notes to pages 108–11 measures mentioned above and below, see the chapter statutes (DAC Chapitre, no. 154). 30 See Chapitre, nos. 79 and 83 for the language issue. See the deliberations for 18, 20, and 24 December 1560 and 14 February 1561 in Chapitre, no. 78 for opposition to the abolition of the ceremonies of 28 December. A form of this custom was common in many chapters and religious orders where, usually, the youngest novice was placed in charge for a day. In some orders the custom lasted well into the twentieth century. 31 Compare DAC M 4, 81, with M 41, 493. 32 See also DAC Chapitre, no. 86, deliberations of 5 February 1667. 33 Meeting of 4 February 1656 in DAC, Chapitre, no. 85, and 4 February 1672 in no. 87. See also the chapter meeting of 2 July 1670 in ibid. For 1681, see DAC M 42, 277. 34 RC, 2:592–4; Toussaint, Coutances, 2:37–8. For the presence of canons from outside the diocese from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, see Désiré dit Gosset, “Les origines géographiques et sociales,” 197–206, and “Les Italiens à l’évêché et au chapitre,” 117–25. For the thirteenth century, see Montaubin, “Les Clercs italiens,” 67–82. 35 DAC M4, 165 (4 February 1672), 169–70 (21 August, 7 September 1676), and 198 (3 October 1692). 36 DAC Chapitre, no. 85, deliberations 29 August and 14 September 1650. DAC, Chapitre no. 132. (a file entitled “Chanoines – Chapelains – Habitués – Cousteurs 1616–1723. Affaires peu édifiantes”) contains many loose sheets and seems to be a fragmentary collection. There is no way of knowing how many miscreants there actually were. For other cases, see Chapitre, no. 85, deliberations of 9 February 1628, 27 September 1634, 1 and 7 October 1648, 25 February 1650, 6 October 1655, and no. 86, 12 April 1662. For lay supervision of the prison, see DAC ADC XXXIX, 8 September 1629. An indication that the problem was not new in the seventeenth century is an entry in the chapter deliberations for 22 July 1502 which noted that a priest, Pierre Ballael (or Ballad), who had “insulted a girl,” was sentenced to attend choir for eight days without wearing a surplice. Désiré dit Gosset provides examples from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in “Les origines géographiques et sociales,” 212–13, and “Les Chanoines,” 25–8. 37 DAC, Chapitre, no. 78, deliberations, 2–3 December 1561. Toustain de Billy has the wrong date (Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:112). 38 These events can be traced most easily in the accounts of Pouret (DAC M 4) and Fleury (DAC M 41). As a precaution the chapter sent some of its titles and registers to St-Malo. See Chapitre, no. 78, deliberations 15 September 1563, which notes that canon Suhard was sent to bring them back. 39 For the fullest statements of the economic problems of the chapter, see the chapter meetings of 22 March 1634 (DAC, Chapitre, no. 83, reported at length in DAC MS M 41, 592–4) and 20 April 1640 (DAC, Chapitre, no. 84, DAC M 42, 20–2).

Notes to pages 111–15 307 40 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:63–4, 80–5. 41 DAC Chapitre, nos. 122–6 and Chapitre, no. 95, deliberations of April, November, and December 1643, 1650, 1654–1658. The registers of deliberations are missing for 28 December 1650 to 3 February 1654. Chapitre, nos. 122–6, which were not used by Pouret or Fleury, provide important information for this period. See also Toussaint, Claude Auvry, 66–80. 42 Pouret has a good summary of the 1730 agreement. DAC M 4, 261–2. 43 Ferguson, The Ascent of Money, 127–58. DAC Chapitre, nos. 22, 16, 18, and 22 October, 4 December 1720; 23 May and 19 December 1721; 18 October 1722, 21 April 1724. Chapitre, no. 93, 13 July, 8 August 1731. 44 Bayeux: A.D. Calvados G 224–6 (1658–1680), 279 (fragments); Évreux: A.D. Eure G 54 (1707–1720); Lisieux: A.D. Calvados G 279–80 (1592–1594, 1654–1656, 1681–1686, 1718–1729; Rouen: A.D. Seine-Maritime G 2164–97, 9843–62 (best up to 1673 and after 1747); Sées: A.D. Orne 1 G 320–1 (1709–1733); Nantes: A.D. Loire Atlantique 36 J 5 (1673–1684); Vannes: A.D. Morbihan 47 G 2–5 (1685– 1731). Good runs of chapter deliberations also exist for Haute Bretagne (A.D Finisterre 5 G 525–38, for St-Pol-de-Léon, and 2 G 18–25 for Quimper). See also Nédélec, “Les Chanoines de Lisieux,” 283–4, Bottin-Louvet, “Le Chapitre d’Avranches,” 13–26, and Bodinier, “Les Biens des chapitres normands,” 27–40. 45 Reading between the lines of the accounts of Pouret (DAC M 4, 105–373) and Fleury (DAC M42, 291–652) provides the best way to assess the life of the canons from the late seventeenth century to 1774. After that date the two articles by Vivier, based on notarial sources, are the best sources available. There are, however, a few contradictions in names and dates in these articles. 46 Vivier, “Le Grand chantre,” 30–2, 38–48. Sévestre, Les Problèmes religieux, 9–10. Sévestre, La Vie religieuse, 128–9. It is not known why de Cussy, who was only forty-four in 1780, resigned the cantorial position obtained from his uncle in 1767 or if he had any involvement in choosing Hauchemail. Bridrey (Cahiers: 3, 456) is wrong in saying that de Cussy was still the cantor in 1789. After 1780 he was the honorary cantor. 47 In Angers and Chartres animosity toward the chapter was quite evident. See McManners, French Ecclesiastical Society, 57–73, 103–28, 163–207, and Vovelle, Ville et campagne, 167–207. 48 DAC, Chapitre, Déclaration des biens, 1418–1790; uncatalogued, Temporel de I’évêché. See also DAC Chapitre, no. 131, Fondations, 1504–1746. 49 E. Vivier, “La Condition du clergé séculier,” 7–11, 15–23. Toussaint, Coutances, 42–3; Bridrey, Cahiers, 2:28n1, 3:430–1n3, 432–3n2. See also Baulant, “Ascétique ou douillette,” 75–86. 50 My assessment of the social status differs from that of Vivier in his conclusion to “Le Grand chantre,” 37. Compare that page to the information he provides on pp. 14–36. 51 For the curious case of Claude Yvon, appointed an honorary canon of Cou­ tances in the late eighteenth century by Bishop Talaru, and a writer of a num­ ber of very controversial pro-Enlightenment works, see Toussaint, Coutances,

308  Notes to pages 115–25 2:195–200. For the intellectual life of the late eighteenth-century canons and their choices during the revolution, see Vivier “La Condition du clergé sécu­ lier,” 3–11. 52 Sévestre, La Vie religieuse, 156–7. 53 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 1:308. 54 Vivier, “La condition,” 7–11; Toussaint, Coutances, 2:195–200. 55 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:107–10, 384–6. Toussaint, Coutances, 1:184–8, 205–6. Lerosey, “Instruction publique,” 35–50. 56 Farge, Biographical Register, 35, 107, 201–2, 226, 273–4, 333–4, 384, 695. Angelo, Les Curés de Paris, 124–5, 173–4, 215, 222, 226, 237, 250–4, 449, 505–6, 626, 645, 647, 668, 687, 716–17, 728–9, 747–8, 765, 787–8. 57 Angelo, Les Curés de Paris, 593–603. Note that the table on p. 247 contradicts the evidence provided on pp. 611, 613, 616, 621–2, and pp. 695, 716, 728, 748, 787. 58 Goulet, Compendium recenter editum de multiplici parisiensis univeristatis … (Paris: Toussain Denis, 1517). 59 Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 108, and RC, 618 (gives the death date as 1610). For the Collège de Coutances and its students from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century, see Lerosey, 107–16, Compère and Julia, Les Collèges français, 2:236–9, Toussaint, Coutances, 1:185–8. Toussaint also mentions a few other notable ecclesiastical Coutançais of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who had careers in Paris, ibid., 205–6. 60 Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 349. Gouesse, “Ad utilitatem populi,” 183. See also the publications of Désiré dit Gosset for examples from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. 61 Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 451–2. Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 385, 394–5. Whether the Matignons should be called natives of the Diocese of Coutances or of Bayeux can be debated. 62 For the three Du Perrons, see Bergin, French Episcopate, 615–16. For Jean, see also Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 393. 63 Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 376, 443–4. For Le Sauvage, see also Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 393. 64 Ibid., 402. Gams, Series episcoporum, 627.

chapter five 1 Nédélec, Répertoire des bibliothèques et archives de la Manche, 47–9. The worst case was the loss of the vast store of records of the monastery of Mont StMichel in the Diocese of Avranches. Extant sources for the religious houses of the Diocese of Coutances include some scraps in the departmental archives and DAC ADC XXXIV, XXXVII, XLIV, and XLIV bis; Chapitre, soussérie: communautés and notes du R.P. Masselin, 277–310; Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 912–49; isolated comments and charters found throughout Toustain de

Notes to pages 125–30 309 Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique; entries about individual religious houses in Cottineau, Répertoire (see also the sources he cites), Lecanu, Histoire des Évêques, passim, Lecanu, Histoire du diocèse, 273–450, Bottin-Louvet, “Le Chapitre d’Avranches,” 13, André Dupont, Histoire du département de La Manche, 7:86–8 and the sources cited therein. Other sources are indicated below. 2 As indicated in chapter 1, a number of monasteries were destroyed during the Viking invasions and never restored. For medieval examples of lay support of monasteries, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 1:151, 240, 298–9, 306–7, 333–5, 367–72. 3 Rigaud, The Register of Eudes of Rouen, 97–105, 275–82, 632–41. 4 For 1680, see DAC M 6. For 1692, see Bernier, Tiers-état rural, 87–90. For 1769, see the references to individual religious houses below. 5 Though estimates vary and no solid numbers are available, it seems that the percentage of the population of the Diocese of Coutances who were members of religious communities during the early modern period was lower than the percentage in France as a whole (0.6 per cent). See Hayden, “States, Estates and Orders,” 64–7. 6 For a thorough discussion of states, estates, orders, and status in early modern France, see Hayden, “States, Estates and Orders,” 51–76, and Hayden, “Models, Mousnier and Qualité,” 375–98. For the clergy, see also Blet, “L’Ordre de clergé,” 5–26. By the early seventeenth century male clerics had come to refer to themselves as the only members of the ecclesiastical order, but the rest of society continued to include male and female religious in that order. 7 Details about the founding of all the abbeys of the diocese and a list of abbots, including an indication of the dates of the arrival of the first in commendam abbots, can be found in Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 910–49. For Lessay, see also SRDC, 52:512. For the resources and architecture of Lessay, see Beck, Quand les Normands, 35–9. 8 Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 910–11. For the abbeys, priories, and churches from which Hambye collected revenue, see Beck, Quand les Normands, 40. 9 Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 944. For Lancelot de Matignon, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:186. From 1622 to 1757 a Matignon was always the in commendam abbot of Lessay. 10 Lantier, Saint-Lô, 150–3. The abbey was not well treated by its in commendam abbots in the early sixteenth century either. See Le Clerc, “Le vieux Saint-Lo,” 57–63 11 DAC ADC M 6; ADC XXXIV, 277–95. SRDC, 52:773–5, 796–7. 12 Bernier, Tiers-état rurale, 83–90, citing A.D. Calvados C 1496–1597, 1500, 1505, 1508, 1547. 13 Lecestre, Abbayes, 3, 13, 34, 37, 41, 47, 75, 85, 91, 107, 115, 117, 127, 128. 14 Gallia Christiana, 11: cols 921–2, 939. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3: 345–6. SRDC, 52:794–6. Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 355–6. Merlet was a member of a family prominent in the Catholic Reformation.

310  Notes to pages 131–5 15 For Louise de l’Hôpital, see Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity, 99–100. For the founding of Notre Dame in Cherbourg, see A. Mun. Cher. GG 82. For the abbesses, see Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 934. For its architecture, see Beck, Quand les Normans, 162. For its history, see http://pagesperso-orange.fr/ abbaye.valognes. The original rule followed in the abbey can be found in BM Valognes C 1042. Déclarations sur le Regle de S. Benoist … en faveur de l’abbaye de Monsvilliers; avec quelques additions pour le monastère de Nostre Dame de Protection de Vallongnes du mesme Ordre Approuvées par Monseigneur l’Évesque de Coutances, published by Pierre Bessin in Coutances in 1641. 16 Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 935. Toussaint, Coutances, 58–61. See also Toussaint, L’Abbaye bénédictine de Notre-Dame des Anges. 17 DAC, Chapitre, no. 86, 13 November 1661. 18 There were between sixty-four and seventy-eight priories at one time or another, but the lack of records make precision impossible. Synod records (DAC ADC XXXVIII) show that in the seventeenth century there were at least forty-seven extant priories. Cerisy-le-Forêt is in the present-day Diocese of Coutances. 19 The Trinitarians who followed the Rule of St Augustine were an anomaly because they were not monks, canons regular, or friars. 20 Le Cacheux, Essai historique, 167–91. 21 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:295–6. In some records the priory is called St-Michel-du-Bois. 22 Council of Trent, 25th session, chapter 5. 23 DAC, M 6, 18. The first extant post-Trent Coutances synodal regulations concerning cloisters are found at the very end of the 1637 promulgation by Bishop Léonor de Matignon (Statuts et règlements, 93–6). These regulations were repeated with only minor changes in wording and order of paragraphs in all other promulgations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 24 The Vire hospital was in the suburbs of the town and, therefore, just inside the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances, unlike the town itself. For medieval hospitals, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 1:319–22, 376–7. For the hospital of Coutances, see Le Cacheux, Essai historique, and Aubry, Trois siècles. For the hospital in Cherbourg, see ADC M 49, 263–96. For the effect in the Diocese of Coutances of early modern reform of local hospitals and poor relief, see Hickey, Local Hospitals, 56–8, 83–4. For female religious in hospital work, see ibid., 134–74. 25 Very few records are extant for any of these houses. For Guernsey, see Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, 197. 26 For the Pénitents, see Lantier, Saint-Lô, 156–7, and Toustain de Billy, “Cotentin et ses villes,” 130–1. For the Capuchins in Coutances, see Toussaint, Coutances, 2:53–8, and Gouesse, “Ad utilitatem populi,” 184. The cathedral chapter donated the land for the Capuchin house in Coutances. DAC Chapitre, no. 83, 30 August 1615. For the Eudistes, see Toussaint, Coutances, 2:67–70, and Jean

Notes to pages 135–7 311 Eudes, Le Mémorial de la vie ecclésiastique and Manuel pour l’usage d’une communauté ecclésiastique. See also chapter 6. 27 For the Jesuits in Cherbourg, see DAC M 49, 493–509. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:250. Compère, Les Collèges, 2:220, 236–9, 676–9. Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 23–41. Compère gives 1775 and Lerosey gives 1771 as the date for the arrival of the Christian Brothers in Cherbourg. Lecestre, Abbayes, 128, however, lists them as present in both Coutances and Cherbourg in 1768. The Camaldolese hermitage will be discussed later in this chapter. 28 There was much controversy over what constituted solemn and simple vows. For many of the families involved, the primary practical difference was that solemn vows created “civil death” which made inheritance impossible. Women with simple vows and filles séculières could inherit property or money. Despite its title, Mallevre, “Les Religieuses normands,” 157–77, provides an overview of female religious life mainly in the Diocese of Rouen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The map of religious houses on p. 73 is inaccurate for Coutances. 29 Gueudré, Ursulines, 1:327–9; 2:5, 20–1, 87, 144–64, 444–55. Tronc, “Une filiation mystique,” 95–116. The other possibilities of origin are Rouen, Vire, and Paris. Paris was credited as the ultimate origin of all the Norman houses. The Rouen community faced grave economic difficulties in the early eighteenth century. At that time some one hundred Ursuline houses in France had to close. Their lack of funds had resulted largely from investments that failed due to the collapse of the John Law System. This may have been the fate of the Coutances and Valognes houses. See Gueudré, Ursulines, 2:19, 129–64, 515. 30 Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 328–30. Mallevre, “Les Religieuses normandes,” 157–77. First order refers to orders of male Franciscans and Dominicans, second order to female orders of the two groups. Both took solemn vows. Third order Franciscan and Dominican orders could be male, female, or include both. They took simple vows. A tertiary is a member of a third order who did not live in a religious community. 31 Le Cacheux, Essai historique, 277–334. Toussaint, Coutances, 2:61–7. Floquet, Diaire, 307–9. For Bishop Brienne’s problems with the canons regular, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:347. In canon and civil law hospitals were not considered ecclesiastical institutions. For the status of women religious in early modern France, see Hayden, “States, Estates and Orders,” 51–76 and “Models, Mousnier and Qualité,” 375–98. 32 Rapley, Les Dévotes, 74–112, and Ensz, “The Authority of Status,” 44–73. 33 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:250. Veuclin, “L’Assistance publique,” 132–3, 135, 137, 149–50. Deschamps du Manoir, “Élection de Saint-Lô en 1697,” 350–2, Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 21:23–41, 72–7; 25:31. Le Cacheux, “L’Archiprêtre de Sainte-Marie-du-Mont,” 29. For the Augustinians of Coutances, see Toussaint, Coutances, 2:61–7. For the Filles de l’Institution chrétienne, see Semaine Religieuse de Coutances et Avranches 49 (1913): 72–4.

312  Notes to pages 137–44 34 Daireaux, “‘Abjurer l’hérésie,’” 435–73. 35 Lehmann, Les Dames, 1–173. Lainey, “Le Couvent des nouvelles Catholiques,” 5–80. Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 353–4. For the decline in the Protestant population of St-Lô, see Benedict, The Huguenot Population, 34, 116, and chapter 8. 36 Rapley, Dévotes, 165. RC 2: 227–9. Lerosey, “‘L’Instruction publique,” 21: 23–32. Veuclin, “L’Assistance publique,” 130–54. 37 Hickey, Local Hospitals, 134–74. 38 The paragraph is based on reading Eudes’ visits. A very brief summary that makes no distinctions among monasteries is in Venard, “Répertoire des Visites pastorales,” 85. 39 For the effects of the Wars of Religion on the abbey of Lessay, see SRDC, 52:662. For the short reform period, see ibid., 773–5 and Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 921. For attempts at reform of the older religious orders in France in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, see Bergin, “Reform of the Old Orders,” 234–55. 40 SRDC, 52:797. Viguerie, “Les Abbayes mauristes normandes,” 209–20. See chapter 3 for Léonor II Matignon. 41 For 1637 and 1639, see A.D. Calvados H 7449. For 1720, see DAC ADC XXXI, fols 28v–29r. For the late eighteenth century, see Chevallier, Loménie de Brienne, 1:192; 2:182, and McManners, Church and Society, 1:596. 42 Cottineau, Répertoire, 2: cols 2701–2. Gallia Christiana, 11: col. 409. 43 McManners, Church and Society, 2:136–7. Sauvage, L’Ermitage royal, 6–27. The only reference found in the diocesan records is the collection of collations (DAC ADC VI. XX, 10v, 19) which note that Gilles Lecocq, a hermit of the Order of St Romuald of the St-Sever Hermitage, was granted permission on 9 April 1721 to be ordained a deacon and a priest on 27 May of the same year by the bishop of Avranches. St Romauld was the founder of the Camaldolese. 44 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:346–7. For St-Lô, see DAC ADC IV, Collations VIII, 231–4, ADC V, Collations XIII, 35–40, ADC VI, Collations XX, 40. 45 Lecanu, Histoire du diocèse, 99–104. The archives of the city of Cherbourg contain some material relative to Notre-Dame de Voeu. See GG 67–81, 75, 86. They are described in Amiot, Inventaire analytique, 261–70, 289–90. Fond GG71 contains a 1693 description of the abbey, its grounds, possessions, rights, and privileges. Some information about St-Lô can be found in Lantier, SaintLô, 149–56. 46 There are no extant good estimates of the income of female religious in the diocese, but it is known that, as was the case throughout France, they were, in general, poor. Among the reasons for this were the fact that most had not existed long enough to build up capital, poor management, increasing royal taxation, and the effects of the failure of the John Law refinancing scheme. See McManners, Church and Society, 1:474, and Lemoine, L’Epoque moderne,

Notes to pages 145–52 313 369–78. For the revenues of the religious houses of the diocese in 1790, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:85, 703, 781; 2:2–4; 3:6–8, 100–1, 164–5. 47 For an excellent summary of the work of the commission, except for its effects on canons regular, see McManners, Church and Society, 1:571–694. The most thorough treatment remains the two volumes of Chevallier, Loménie de Brienne. See also Lemoine, L’Époque moderne, 383–415. 48 For a sympathetic yet balanced summary of the positive and negative aspects of religious life in France at the end of the 1760s, see Chevallier, Loménie de Brienne, 2:261–85 and McManners, Church and Society, 1:505–70 (with some slight inaccuracies concerning Coutances).

chapter six 1 This and the following six paragraphs are taken in large part from Hayden, “States, Estates and Orders,” 55–7. See those pages for the sources, other than those listed in note 2, on which the paragraphs are based. See also Hayden, “Models, Mousnier and Qualité,” 387–91. 2 Bergin, Making of the French Episcopate, 211–12, 298–303; Bergin, Crown, Church and Episcopate, 121–2, 309–13. Council of Trent, Twenty-third session. 3 Marion, Dictionnaire des Institutions, 42. See also Blet, “L’Ordre du Clergé,” 12. 4 For a short treatment of the subject of benefices, see Marion, Dictionnaire des Institutions, 42–8. For more details, see Doucet, Institutions, 2:693–718, 813–34. 5 Sévestre, “L’Organisation,” 14–15. For the road to a position as a curé, see Poyer, “Mérites et protections,” 41–57. For the parish clergy below the rank of curé, see Poyer, “Vicaires, desservants,” 51–70. 6 Extant pastoral visit records are too scarce after the mid-eighteenth century except in Bauptois to make it possible to track a trend. There the percentage of parishes with vicars increased from 34 per cent in 1723 to 49 per cent by 1765. The two extant later visit records in Bauptois are too incomplete to provide reliable information. The percentages for 1791 were obtained by reconstructing the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances from the data in Sévestre, Le Personnel, 83–7, 143–9, 152–4, 159–69, 177–89. Tackett’s data (Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 340) is for all of la Manche and includes all vicars at a time when many large parishes had more than one vicar. 7 For the fourteenth-century growth, see Chiffoleau, La comptabilité. For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially in Basse-Normandie, see Skib, “Clerical Uniformity.” Carentan and St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte had the largest communities of habitués. The size of the first decreased from a high of thirty-one in 1651 to seven between 1741 and 1791 (see DAC M 44, pp. 47–9). In St-Sauveur there were nineteen habitués in 1634 and eight in 1723. The others mentioned had similar declines in membership. Twelve priests and two schoolmasters of the parish of St-Malo in Valognes were constituted as

314  Notes to pages 152–5 a collegiate chapter between 1580 and 1698. At one time six collegiate chapters had existed in the diocese. Between 1083 and 1223 they were united to or transformed into monasteries. See Désiré dit Gosset, “Les Chanoines,” 18. 8 Sévestre, “L’Organisation,” 1–135. 9 DAC ADC I–XI, XXXV, XXVI, XXXVIII. A collation was the granting of a benefice. An insinuation was the public record of the granting. See the following paragraph for clerical titles. 10 “Le recrutement des prêtres,” 191–234. The article was Le Pennec’s 1969 University of Caen master’s mémoire. 11 Le Pennec used the clerical titles for the notaries apostolic of Coutances and Valognes. The records of the other two notaries apostolic (St-Lô and Villedieu) have disappeared. In addition, he used the some 1,500 clerical titles preserved in the diocesan archives, many of which are duplicates of those he already had. 12 The only ordination records available for Coutances fall between 1699 and 1785. All those available except for 1718 and 1721 are in DAC ADC XXXV. There is a fragment of the ordination list for 1718 in ADC XXXVIII. Permissions for the ordination of priests for Coutances by the bishop of Avranches in 1721 are listed in DAC ADC VI (Collations XIX–XX) (see chapter 3). The number per year of ordinations to the priesthood during the available years between 1699 and 1785, excluding 1718 and 1721, are in Toussaint, Coutances, 2:190–3. They appeared originally in his article “Le Recrutement des prêtres dans le diocèse de Coutances au XVIIIe siècle,” 212–15. In my analysis the twenty-eight missing years and the eight years for which only partial records are available have been eliminated. Following Toussaint, I included natives of the Diocese of Coutances who were given permission to be ordained elsewhere, but not members of religious orders and those men who were sent to Coutances (usually from Avranches) only for ordination because their diocese temporarily had no bishop. 13 Compare graph 1 with Le Pennec’s graph “Le recrutement des prêtres,” 199. Ninety-seven candidates for ordination were sent to the bishop of Avranches to be ordained in 1721. This may indicate that the high point began earlier. More likely, this was a matter of “catching up” on ordinations after a hiatus caused by the death of Bishop Brienne. Tackett’s graph in “L’Histoire sociale,” 205, is based on Le Pennec. Tackett’s description of all of France is found in ibid., 203–9. His estimate of the population of the Diocese of Coutances in the table in ibid., 221 is far too high, even more so is the number he gives for ordinations during the years 1752 to 1756. 14 Le Pennec, “Le Recrutement des prêtres,” 191–234. Nédélec, “Apperçus,” 500. For the French context of both the geographic and social patterns, see Tackett, “L’Histoire sociale,” 209–17, 231–4, and “The West in France in 1789,” 328– 45, 588–604. 15 The actual percentages were 1742 -19%, 1752 -23%, 1762 -22%, 1770 -18%, 1781 -13%. St-Germain-de-Tallevende was in the second-highest group in the years

Notes to pages 155–9 315 1699 to 1732 but vocations fell significantly there during the rest of the eighteenth century. During the eighteenth century, Cherbourg and Hambye saw a significant rise in vocations, while the percentage fell for Villedieu. For the choice of the years after 1732 and information on my methods of identifying and analysing total vocations, see chapter 8. 16 For the similar situation in the Archdiocese of Rouen, see Goujard, Un catholicisme bien tempéré, 176–84. For Sandret’s list, see L’Ancienne église de France, 319–38. 17 For the different situation that existed before the Catholic Reformation, when vocation often meant less than did position and status when seeking tonsure and minor orders, see Bonzon, “Autour de Gilles de Gouberville,” 7–8. 18 See notes 11 and 23 in chapter 3 for examples of fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury ordinations. 19 For Gouesse, see “Assemblées,” 49, 60–1. The only years for which the pastoral visit records (which list the priests in each parish visited) of all four archdeaconries are extant are 1690, 1716, 1723, 1728, and 1734. The Bauptois pastoral visit records for 1758 and 1765 and those of Cotentin for 1759 and 1761 provide some information about the number of priests in the second half of the eighteenth century. The estimate for 1791 is based on the data for la Manche in Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 340, modified to fit the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. See note 86 for an explanation of the modifications. See also Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:364–94. 20 In addition to the sources cited in note 9, see DAC M 6–7 (Fleury’s lists), M 43–8 (Leroux’s lists), and AD la Manche 140 J (Fonds Hulmel). Hulmel also published short histories of some parishes in SRDC in the years 1912 to 1914. See also DAC M 14, 15, 17, 51, and Vivier, “La Condition du clergé,” 3–26. Leroux usually includes short summaries of pastoral visit findings and occasionally provides long-term summaries broken down into categories. 21 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:289; 3:6–8, 44–5, 51–2, 89, 92. 22 RC, 2:591–2. 23 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 2:31. 24 Ibid., 2:317–19. Nevertheless, the custom was still practised in the 1550s and 1560s. See, for example, Gilles de Gouberville, Journal, 1:296–7. See also Bonzon, “Autour de Gilles de Gouberville,” 23. 25 For the appointment of Roc of Montpellier, see Gouberville, Journal, 1:211. For his continued absence and replacement, see Tollemer, Le Journal, 519–20 and Gouberville, Journal, 3:776, 786, 835. Sainte-Margueritte traded a cure he already held with Roc for Mesnil-au-Val. See also Bonzon, “Autour de Gilles de Gouberville,” 8–13. 26 Tollemer, Le Journal, 518–33, Fedden, Manor Life, 38–41, 144–6, Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville, 98–9, Bernier, Tiers-État, 102–3. 27 In addition to the journals, see Bonzon, “Autour de Gilles de Gouberville,” 5–26. She notes (p. 17) that, mistakenly, some historians have referred to Fréret as the vicar of Mesnil-au-Val.

316  Notes to pages 159–65 28 For the desire to hold on to past benefits, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:125–7. 29 For an early twentieth-century attempt to minimize the disorder of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in Normandy, see Lerosey, “L’In­ struction publique,” 25:23–7 and Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 7–24. For a somewhat better balanced, but still overly forgiving assessment, see Blouet, Les Séminaires, 22–3. 30 Bonzon, “Autour de Gilles de Gouberville,” 18–23. 31 This work was summarized and completed by James Brundage in Law, Sex, and Christian Society. For much of the discussion of the medieval period that follows and other sources, see 2–3, 69–70, 143–50, 214–22, 224–6, 251–3, 314– 19, 342–3, 401–5, 542–5, 567–9. 32 That the process was slow and irregular is evident in the canons of the Council of Clermont (1095). See Sommerville, Councils of Urban II, Vol. I Decreta Claromontensia, 142–50. 33 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2: cols 546, 571. For the situation in England, compare parts 1 and 2 of D. Whitelock, M. Brett, C.N.L. Brooke, eds, Councils & Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1981). It is clear that in the early eleventh-century chastity was presented as an ideal for English priests but was not required, while by the early twelfth century it was required, but a significant number of clerics still had wives. 34 Lemaître, Histoire des curés, 150–74. Lemaître (163) indicates that the rate may have been higher in the Netherlands. In Geneva in the early fifteenth century almost 30% of parish priests lived openly with a concubine. See also Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 57. 35 Lemaître, Histoire des curés, 57, 87, 104–5, 124–30, 162–63, 526n2. Fedden, Manor Life, 156. Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville, 98–9. 36 See, for example, Greenshields, “An Introduction,” 52–4, Lemaître, Histoire des curés, 148–62, Hoffman, Church and Community in Lyon, 167–70, Brunet, Prêtres de montagnes, 737–44, Berge, “Prêtres et paroissiens,” 137–43. 37 Le Concile provincial … Rouen, 43–7 (examination for candidates for holy orders), 122–37 (seminaries). See Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 48–9, 53, 70–1, 140, 281. 38 Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 25:27. Blouet, Les Séminaires, 25–8. Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 57–69. 39 In 1645 Eudes presented a plan to the Assembly of Clergy that a seminary be established in each diocese in France. Some think that Godefroy had an influence on his ideas. 40 For the thoughts of Jean Eudes on the priesthood, see his “Le Memorial de la vie ecclésiastique” in Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 3:1–235. 41 Toussaint, Auvry, 91–6. For the French school of theology and a comparison with the Jesuit school, see volume 3 of Bremond, Histoire littéraire. See also Taveneaux, Le Catholicisme, 2:368–79. For Bernières, see the section on the

Notes to pages 165–9 317 Ursulines in chapter 5. For Desvallées, see chapter 7. For Eudes, see both chapters. For both Eudes and Desvallées, see Bremond, Histoire littéraire, 3:583–671. 42 The influence of Tronson on the training of priests in Coutances was still present in the 1930s when J. Blouet, a Sulpician, author of Les Séminaires and superior of the Coutances seminary, published a revised edition of Tronson’s Examens. See Goichot, Les Examens, 115, 197–200. 43 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 33–132; Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 25:27–32. For a quick sketch of the history of the seminary between 1711 and 1791, see Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 32–41. The same era is covered in much greater detail in Blouet, Les Séminaires, 133–214. See also Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 138–45. For Blouet’s works as a pastoral visitor, see chapter 4. 44 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 168–84. Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 295–8, 344, 452–67. 45 Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 324–6. 46 Goichot, Les Examens, 21, 45, 79. 47 DAC Chapitre XIX (4–5). Despite its lack of notice in Froeschlé-Chopard’s extensive treatment of confraternities (Dieu pour tous, 315–77), this was the first confraternity of the Sacred Hearts. She also slights the role of Jean Eudes in the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart. The nature of her sources explains the omissions. 48 Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 3:104–5. The letter was written in or near the year 1672. 49 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 79. 50 Eudes, Oeuvres complètes, 1:444. 51 For the importance Eudes placed on confession, see his detailed manual “Le Bon Confesseur” in Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 4:152–369. This will be discussed in chapter 7. For the results of the examinations of candidates for ordination in the 1720s (the only ones surviving for Coutances), see DAC ADC XXXVIII. For examinations for benefices, see Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 187–90. To place the spirituality taught to the priests of Cou­ tances in its French context, see ibid., 229–336. 52 Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 342–3. 53 The municipal libraries of Coutances and Valognes inherited many of the books of the two seminaries. The collection in Coutances features seventeenth- and eighteenth-century collections of sermons, liturgical works, catechisms, ecclesiastical conferences, and religious controversy. The Valognes collection is strongest in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philosophical, theological, and apologetical works, as well as catechisms and confession manuals. The diocesan library of Coutances also has many of the seminary books, though they tend to be from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The seminary card catalogue is housed in DAC. 54 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 215–76. Bonnenfant, Séminaires normands, 219–25; Toussaint, Auvry, 96–9; Compère, Les Collèges, 2:676–79; Lerosey, “L’Instruction publique,” 25:41–51. DAC M 57.

318  Notes to pages 169–76 55 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 186–94. 56 Ibid., 195–6. Sévestre provides misleading information in Les Problèmes religieux, 14. 57 Calends definitely existed in the Deanery of Saire in the 1560s as seen in Gilles de Gouberville’s journal entry, 16 December 1561. 58 For synods in France, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 11–13 and passim. For paschal and autumn synods in the Diocese of Coutances, see DAC ADC XXXVII, Jacqueline, “Aspects” and “Fréquentation,” and Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 37–48. For Coutances before the seventeenth century, partial records or indications of them exist for three synods in the fourteenth century, four in the fifteenth century, and ten in the sixteenth century. See chapter 3 for details. For the repair of presbyteries, see Musset, “Le Charge des frais,” 129–38. 59 Gouesse supports the latter explanation, but proof is not available. He also arrived at different percentages of attendance. Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 46–9. 60 Ibid., 44–5 and DAC ADC séries M. In addition, the Chambre ecclésiastique, made up of the bishops and representatives of the chapter, abbots, priors, and curés, handled questions of clerical taxation and property. No records remain. See Statuts et règlements … 1676, 116–17, and Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 49–51. 61 Gouesse, “Assemblées,” 51–68. McManners, Church and Society, 1:283–6, partially summarizes Gouesse and puts the Coutances conferences in context by discussing the conferences in eleven other dioceses. For additional context, see DAC ADA IV (ecclesiastical conferences in the Diocese of Avranches, 1669– 1680); Conférences ecclésiastiques … Rouen … 1717; Sujets de Conférences … de Monseigneur de Lorraine … Evesque de Bayeux … 1719; Conférences ecclésiastiques du dioceze [sic] de Perigueux … 1683. 62 Statuts et règlements … 1676, 93–105, Statuts et règlements … 1694, 117–19. DAC ADC XL–XLII contain reports from the leader of each conference which were submitted to a secretary who made comments which were approved by Bishop Brienne and then communicated to the conference. Twenty-eight conferences are known to have existed. Records exist for twenty-five of them, all incomplete. 63 The only other conference of May 1705 for which records exist is that of Cherbourg, but only the fourteen cases of conscience considered were recorded. 64 Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:336. 65 Sauzet, Les Visites pastorales, 97–113. Scott, Weapons of the Weak. 66 For the missionaries, see Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 102–8, 193–225. For the financial support given to missionaries by priests of the Diocese of Coutances, see ibid., 326, 335, 337, 341–3, 346–7, 349, 355. For further discussion of the relationship between the views of the missionaries and the content of the pastoral visits, see chapter 7. 67 For the 309 categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories established and used by Dominique Julia, Marc Venard, and their collaborators in preparing

Notes to pages 176–87 319 the Répertoire des visites pastorales and for the methods best suited to analyse the results of their work, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 287–95 and 420–22. For more detailed information see ibid., 296–367, 436–8, 443–69. Venard eventually decreed that the sub-subcategories should not be used. In fact these 232 codes provide much information. The unspoken reason for his decree was that the method he devised for analysis, constructed without the aid of a computer, could not accommodate sub-subcategories. Venard continues to be suspicious of the use of computers for historical research. For the other serious faults of the Venard system of pastoral visit analysis (failure to address the problem of missing data and inability to study more than one diocese at a time), see ibid., 15–20, 416–26, 519n52. Venard’s L’Église d’Avignon au XVIe siècle remains an important study, despite his system of analysis of pastoral visits. Phillipe Goujard (Un Catholicisme bien tempéré) and Nicole Lemaître (Le Rouergue flamboyant) found ways to use the Venard system as a part of their excellent studies of a single diocese, but at the expense of ignoring much important information. 68 Smith, Pastoral Visits in Bauptois, 1634–1723, 81–121. The visits selected were those of 1634, 1648, 1651, 1663, 1664, 1678, 1685, 1690, and 1697. 69 Leroux, DAC M43, 579. 70 Jouet, Une paroisse rurale, 40–3, provides a masterful summary of the relevant pastoral visit records. 71 Paul Le Cacheux provides some comments on the pastoral visits in the parish of Ste-Marie-du-Mont between 1624 and 1643 that show that the habitués of the parish needed close supervision to make sure they performed their duties. He also provides a description of the duties of the four archpriests of the diocese. “L’Archiprêtre de Sainte-Marie-du-Mont,” 22–36. 72 M. De Tocqueville was the ancestor of Alexis de Tocqueville. As noted in the introduction, the family had only recently established full control over the temporal affairs of the area. 73 The number of extant pastoral visit records falls off sharply after 1750. There are two available for Chrétienté (1751, 1752), two for Val-de-Vire (1753, 1764), six for Cotentin (1752, 1753, 1756, 1759, 1761, 1764), and six for Bauptois (1751, 1752, 1758, 1765, 1778, 1783). Several of these are partial visits. There is also one episcopal visit to three parishes in 1760 and several to one location. This is far fewer than in many French dioceses where visiting was frequent though shallow during the eighteenth century. The cause could be lack of action or, more likely, loss of records. See Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 150–5, 164–71. 74 For the interest in pastoral education, morality, and zeal throughout France, see ibid., 165, 333–4. 75 Annales de la Congregation, 1:28, cited in Jacqueline, “Aspects de la vie,” 103. 76 Quoted in Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 104. See also ibid., 102–8. 77 Vivier, “La Condition du clergé séculier,” 11–26, “Coutances au XVIIIe siècle,” 353–63, 502–31, and “Un curé processif,” 353–83, 507–31. Sévestre, Les Problèmes

320  Notes to pages 187–92 religieux. See also his L’Organisation du clergé paroissial. For Leroux, see DAC, M 46, 239r–241v. For the fascinating story of a radical priest, see Plaideux, “Le Citoyen Jean-André Michel,” 151–68. 78 Hayden, “States, Estates and Orders,” 51–76. Only religious who took solemn vows were eligible to be represented, even though, as seen in chapter 5, people generally had come to regard members of the newer groups who did not take solemn vows as members of the First Estate. 79 See chapter 1 for the formation of the modern department and diocese. For the geography of the Bailliage of Cotentin, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:1–12, and Atlas de la Révolution, 5: carte 2. 80 For the proceedings of the meetings of the First Estate, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:15–16; 3:429–2. For its cahier see ibid., 3:469–83. 81 The modifications were not specified. The report of the intendant based on an inquiry carried out at the beginning of 1788 stated that there were almost no Protestants in the Bailliage of Cotentin. He stated that there was one person living in St-Lô, several in neighbouring rural parishes, three or four families in Cherbourg, and a significant number in Condé-sur-Noireau in the Diocese of Avranches, indicated by the fact that fifty-two Protestants had died there in the last ten years. Ibid., 3:468–9n3. See chapter 8 for further information on Protestants and Protestant sympathizers in the diocese. 82 For the possible origin of the deport, see Tollemer, Le Journal, 523–5. For a description of it, see Marion, Dictionnaire, 168–9. For the noble cahier, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:508–17. For the cahier of the Third Estate, see ibid., 3:546–62. The provincial council of Rouen in 1523 had ruled that bishops should allow the new holder of a benefice enough income to provide for food and lodging. Nothing was said about the effect on parishioners. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:45–6. 83 For the protest of the members of the chapters, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:456– 66. The canons were most upset by the requested portion congrue increase from 700 to 1,500 livres (more than what some of the canons of Avranches received), other increased expenses for gros décimateurs, residence in benefices, and increased representation of curés in diocesan assemblies. 84 Ibid., 3:443–55. For the wording in the protest and the Third Estate cahier, compare ibid., 3:445 and 552. The thirty-two protesting curés were split roughly evenly between the two dioceses, but those from Coutances were mostly from the area of St-Lô and southward. 85 For the seventeenth-century development of Richerism, see Forrestal, Fathers, Pastors and Kings, 55, 74–108, and Golden, The Godly Rebellion, 152–5. 86 Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 52–6, 75–8, 112–15, 121–6, 135, 144–5, 172, 340. Tackett’s estimate of the percentage of oath takers in what was the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances is also 54%. For his method and results, see ibid., 100n5, 367. His numbers are based on the evidence presented in Sévestre, Le Personnel, 141–90. For inclusion and exclusion, see Tackett, Re-

Notes to pages 192–8 321 ligion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 1–27. I used Tackett’s numbers for the new département de la Manche, except for the districts of Avranches, Mortain, and St-Lô. For these districts I used Sévestre’s parish-by-parish listings to choose only the curés and vicars in parishes which had been part of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. I then added the curés and vicars in parishes in the district of Vire which had been part of the pre-revolutionary Diocese of Coutances. For the difficulties of establishing percentages of oath takers, see Flament, Deux mille prêtres normandes, 269–72. 87 Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 287–99. See also Tackett, “L’Histoire sociale du clergé diocesan dans la France du XVIIIe siècle.” For a breakdown by present-day cantons of refusal to accept the constitution, see Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie, 10–11. These issues will be discussed further in chapter 8. 88 For the last two factors, see Tackett’s “The West in France,” 324–45. 89 Sévestre, Le Personnel, 419–64. For the national context, see Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture, 59–74. For further evidence of the unhappiness of the lower clergy of Coutances with the church’s financial and organizational policies, see ibid., 133–56, 369–72. 90 Skib, “Clerical Uniformity.” See also his “Elimination of Pious Foundations.” 91 Sévestre, L’Acceptation de la Constitution Civile, 156–83, 247–86, “Le Gouvernement des églises,” 263–70, and, especially, all of La Vie religieuse. Lechat, “Le Gouvernement des églises,” 263–79, and Répertoire des Archives de l’Évèché de Coutances, 7, 10–11, 22–30. Flament, Deux mille prêtres normands.

chapter seven 1 Among the many studies available on these developments, four of the most useful with which to begin are Delumeau, Catholicism between Luther and Voltaire, Bossy, Christianity in the West, Galpern, The Religions of the People, and Dewald, The Formation of a Provincial Nobility and Pont-St-Pierre. 2 Bishop Arthur de Cossé might also be included. Bishop Briroy could be considered the last bishop of Coutances to be part of the First Catholic Reformation or the first to be part of the Second Catholic Reformation. For the chronology, geography, and differing approaches of the two reformations, see Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 63–175. 3 The other five “religious” holidays in France are Easter Monday, Ascension Thursday, Pentecost Monday, the Feast of the Assumption, and All Saints Day. 4 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:591, McManners, Church and Society, 2:233. See also Chaunu, “Sur la fin des sorciers,” 907, who cites an unpublished work of Jean-Marie Gouesse. 5 For the general background, see Briggs, Communities of Belief, 364–413. For sources dealing with popular religion in Normandy, see Plongeron and Lerou, La Piété populaire en France, 1:17–94. For superstition in the seventeenth cen-

322  Notes to pages 199–204 tury, see Thiers, Traité des superstitions. See also Lebrun, “Le ‘Traité des superstitions’” and Berge, “Prêtres et paroissiens.” For sorcery and witchcraft in Normandy, there are two books by amateur historians which can be read with caution for background and flavour. Le Tenneur, Magie, Sorcellerie et Fantastique en Normandie is a catalogue of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and demonic possession through the ages. The illustrations are particularly useful. For Costel, Car ils croyaient, see note 37 below. 6 For Marie’s life, see Brémond, Histoire littéraire, 3:583–628, Ferber, Demonic Possession, 124–47. Eudes wrote a biography of her, a partial copy of which is in the Eudist archives in Paris. Another manuscript life of Marie, evidently partially from the works of Eudes, is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris. For the French context, see Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 310– 32, and the sources cited there. 7 Ferber, Demonic Possession, 128. This is the only account of Marie’s life which states that the spell made her subject to fierce sexual temptation. All other authors write simply of demonic possession. Ferber bases her statement on a quote from the Bibliothèque Mazarine manuscript. 8 Blouet, Les Séminaires, 65–9. In the end the canons won. In 1919 Marie’s body was transferred to the cathedral where it remains today. The inscription on her tomb refers to her as “Sister Marie,” a title that Eudes and others used in referring to her. However, she was never a member of a religious order. No serious attempt was ever made to have her canonized. The opposition of the Jansenists and various theologians to Eudes’ mystical theology seems to have contributed to the slowness of his canonization process. He was not declared venerable until 1903. He was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1925. 9 Abregé de la vie et miracles de S. Gavde. See also Lecanu, Histoire des évêques, 351. 10 Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 229. 11 For a succinct but evocative expression of the reality of the liturgical life of Gouberville and his community, as well as its quantification, see Foisil, Le Sire de Gouberville, 88–99. For the details of religious life, see Tollemer, Le Journal, 518–77. For Norman confraternities from the thirteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth century, see Vincent, Des Charités bien ordonnées. For concrete examples or religion in the lives of the laity, open Gouberville’s journals at random and read a week or two of entries. Note that religious plays are called “jeux” in the journals. 12 Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 2:385, 4:xxxi. For the Coutances endowments, see Gouesse, “‘Ad utilitatem populi,’” 182–4. 13 Monique, Catéchismes diocésains de la France, 82–4. What may or may not be an earlier Coutances catechism is listed on p. 84. A copy is in DAC. For the development of catechisms in France, see Dhotel, Les Origines du catéchisme moderne, and Colin, Aux origines du catéchisme en France. 14 Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 2:385.

Notes to pages 204–14 323 15 Dhotel, Les Origines du catéchisme moderne, 274–8, 292–304, 446–7. The StNicolas catechism was titled Catéchisme contenant les quatre parties de la Doctrine chrétienne et les fêtes principales de l’année. 16 Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 4:151–294. 17 Ibid., 229–63. 18 Ibid., 294–360. 19 Ibid., 360–9. 20 Ibid., 367. 21 Ibid., 369. 22 Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 130–89. 23 Ibid., 1–37. For the history of missions in France, see Deslandres, Croire et faire croire, 35–196. Jesuits and Franciscans were active in missionary work in the Americas and Asia. 24 Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 312–13, plates 5 and 6. The Eudistes were not officially established until 1644. Eudes was an Oratorian before that date. 25 Ibid., 161, 174. For the numbers who attended, see note 41 below. 26 Costil, Annales, 1:13, quoted in Milcent, Un artisan, 57. 27 Eudes, Oeuvres complètes, 11:55–60. According to the editor the memoir was composed “vers 1648.” The wording suggests a date a few years later. For a chronology of Eudes’ life see Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 247–300. 28 Eudes’ tendency to exaggerate faults is apparent in Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 108–17, which provides a balanced assessment of his perceptions of the state of Catholicism in Normandy. 29 See volume four of Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, for his thoughts on preaching and confessing. For the support for his missions, see Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 131–40, 303–11, 323–4, 331, 336–7, 341–2, 353–4, 365–8. For an example of Eudes’ friendship with and influence on a devout family, see Brémond, Histoire littéraire du séntiment, 3: 592–9. 30 There are a number of documentary indications of pastoral visits before 1634, but nothing of substance remains, partly because of the 1944 bombing of the departmental archives and partly because of unexplained disappearances of documents in that depository and in the diocesan archives. See CNRS, Répertoire des visites, 2:189–99. 31 See Appendix 3 F in Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform, 328–42. 32 There are records for ten visits between 1634 and 1648 and six between 1758 and 1783. Before 1656 the only records not from Bauptois are those from the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté in 1648–1649. During the twenty years between 1679 and 1698, one year had visits in all four archdeaconries, while visit records are extant for three of the four in seven of the years. Visit records are extant in two archdeaconries for another seven of the twenty years and for one archdeaconry in three of those years. No visit records are extant for two of the twenty years. For the years 1648 to 1665, in addition to the eight years

324  Notes to pages 214–21 with visits in both archdeaconries, one of them was visited in eight years and only two of those years were without known visits. 33 It was not uncommon for the curé or another priest in the parish to fill the post if no one else could be induced to accept it. For an excellent example of late seventeenth-century parish financial records from the diocese of Cou­ tances, see A.D. Calvados, G (uncatalogued) Clinchamps-sur-Vire, Compte du Trésorier. For the role of the marguillier, see McManners, Church and Society, 1:304–7, and Marion, Dictionnaire, 363. McManners, like Bergin, uses the Anglican term churchwarden for marguillier. 34 For the effort to rebuild and decorate the churches as an aspect of the Catholic Reformation, see Gouesse, “‘Ad utilitatem populi,’” 186–201. 35 DAC M 46 (Leroux 4:249v ). See also SRDC, 10 September 1868. 36 Outside of Val-de-Vire questions about devotional confraternities were never found in more than 20% of visits and rarely that frequently. In Val-de-Vire questions were asked in approximately 80% of the extant seventeenth-century visits and in 70% of eighteenth-century visits. For what little exists about confraternities in the diocese, see the following. For the city of Coutances, see DAC Chapitre XIX, M5 and Toussaint, Coutances, 2:171–5. For Cherbourg, see Leroux’s work in DAC M 49 and M 85–9. For Carentan, see Desprairies, “Corporations,” 137–44. For the evolution of confraternities in the archdiocese of Rouen, see Goujard, Un catholicisme bien tempéré, 117–46, 337–62. For confraternities of devotion in Rouen, see Venard, “Les Formes de pieté,” 283–97. For the French context, see Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change, 339–65. For the change in emphasis from collective activity to personal salvation, see Froeschlé-Chopard, Dieu pour tous. 37 For a list of eighty-four schools with their founding dates and some other details, see DAC M 57. 38 Mandrou, Magistrats et sorciers, 397–8, 425–86; Briggs, Witches and Neighbors, 22, 195; Dupont, Histoire du département de la Manche, 7:91–2; McManners, Church and Society, 2:221–38. See also Le Tenneur, Magie, sorcellerie et fantastique, 151–320 (especially 235–54). For a fanciful recreation of the events of 1669–1670 that captures the spirit of the times while both inventing and distorting facts, see Costel, Car ils croyaient. 39 DAC ADC XIV, 18. It is interesting that Archdeacon Le Rossignol’s secretary had already written Questier’s name and position into the 1670 visit transcript before the visit started and had to strike it out. Was this because the news of the events had not reached Coutances or because of attempted bureaucratic efficiency? 40 Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 191–225. DAC ADC XIII pastoral visits to Denneville, Vesly, and surrounding areas between 1648 and 1651. 41 The number 10,000, like the numbers who supposedly attended Eudes’ sermons, is almost certainly a significant exaggeration. The whole of the deanery of La Haye-du-Puits had a population of about 6,500 and missions were

Notes to pages 221–5 325 scheduled to follow one after the other in three parishes in two neighbouring deaneries. See Dupâquier, Statistiques, 194–8. 42 Berthelot du Chesnay looked at the 1649 pastoral visits to twenty parishes in the vicinity of the missions of 1650. He found few faults recorded and accused Le Campion of not looking carefully. He did not read visits from enough places in enough years since people came from far afield to attend the missions. Compare Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 200n28, with DAC ADC XII, 5; XIII, 10–12. 43 Eudes, Oeuvres Complètes, 4:vi–xxxiv, 1–115. 44 After 1740 only twenty-four sets of visits are extant for the forty-nine remaining years of the Old Regime and the last few are quite incomplete. If one round of visits took place in every archdeaconry during those years there would have been 196 sets of records. How many actually took place is not known. 45 For marriage, see Gouesse, “Réforme catholique et endogamie,” 301–24. See also two other articles by Gouesse, “Parenté, famille et mariage en Normandie,” 1139–54, and “Les dispenses de parenté,” 30–9. For illegitimacy rates, see McManners, Church and Society, 2:108–9, 302–5. For the changing attitudes of parish priests, see Tackett, “L’Histoire sociale du clergé diocésain,” 198–234. 46 Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:521, 523, 524. The quotation is from p. 523. See ibid., 400–14 for the identity of the 399 nobles of the diocese who were called to the assembly. 47 For Tocqueville, see The Old Regime and the Revolution, 1:68, 78, 158, 173–4, 198, 287–94; 2:353–9. Shapiro and Markoff’s Revolutionary Demands is considered to be the most authoritative work on the subject of reading the 1789 cahiers. See pp. 219–43 for their sampling method and pp. 253–79 and 377–434 for their conclusions about the most common complaints in the cahiers. It should be noted that Shapiro and Markoff read none of the First Estate cahiers anywhere in France and only 16% of the extant Third Estate cahiers of the Bailliage of Cotentin (see ibid., 222, 241–3). 48 The seven subdivisions within the Diocese of Coutances were the bailliage principal of Coutances (with 127 communities or parishes covering much of the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté and part of that of Val-de-Vire) and the bailliages secondaires of St-Sauveur-Lendelin (with 50 communities or parishes in the northern part of the Archdeaconry of Chrétienté), Carentan (with 49 communities or parishes in a belt stretching across the peninsula, including much of the Archdeaconry of Bauptois), St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte (with 65 communities or parishes spread seemingly haphazardly in eight separate parts across the archdeaconries of Bauptois and Valognes), Valognes (with 131 communities or parishes covering much of the Archdeaconry of Cotentin), St-Lô (with 34 communities or parishes covering the northern sector of the Archdeaconry of Val-de-Vire), and Cérences (with only 11 parishes or communities in a small piece of southern inland Chrétienté). No preliminary cahiers survive for Cérences and St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, while only two survive for St-Lô

326  Notes to pages 225–7 and St-Sauveur-Lendelin and four for Carentan. Twenty-seven parishes of the pre-revolutionary diocese were beyond the borders of the Bailliage of Cotentin. No cahiers are extant for these parishes. 49 Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:357–566. 50 Over the years various objections have been raised about the authenticity of the cahiers prepared for the Estates General and the extent to which they represent the views of ordinary people, especially peasants. The conclusion of the major work on this subject is that the cahiers reproduced in the so-called Official Series are authentic and the collections are as complete as possible (Shapiro and Markoff, Revolutionary Demands, 125–65). Bridrey’s volumes are part of that series. While there is one example of a cahier largely inspired by a pamphlet (the bailliage secondaire of Cérences, Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:788–92) and a few examples of communities such as Dagny whose representatives copied parts from pamphlets and the model cahiers making the rounds (ibid., 1:294–5),of including complaints that do not seem relevant to the community in question (e.g., Montchaton, ibid., 1:447–65), or of copying part or all of the cahier of a neighbouring community (e.g., Savigny, ibid., 1:533–5), there can be no serious doubt that, whatever happened at the bailliage level, in almost all cases the ordinary people of France spoke their minds in the cahiers prepared at the community and parish level. See Shapiro and Markoff, Revolutionary Demands, 114–19, 125–65, 253–79, and Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:1–71. There is no reason to believe that in this instance the peasants hid their real views, despite the caveats of James Scott in Weapons of the Weak. The proof is in the willingness of the peasants to challenge the status quo. This was so because they truly believed that the king wanted to hear what they thought needed to be changed. So they told him in no uncertain terms. 51 Compare the following paragraphs with Shapiro and Markoff, Revolutionary Demands, 179, 380–1. 52 Hayden, Estates General of 1614, 211–13. 53 For the continuing hatred in the Cotentin of neighbours’ rabbits who ate crops, see Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1845 report on a proposed hunting law in la Manche. Tocqueville, Oeuvres Complètes, 10:683. 54 Attacks on the gros dècimateurs and complaints about having to pay for presbytery repairs can be found in the majority of the extant Third Estate cahiers of the Bailliage of Cotentin. For the presbytery repair controversy, see Musset, “La charge des frais,” ACDN: 142 (1984) 129–38. 55 The Mesnil-Rouge statement was influenced by a short pamphlet making the rounds in Normandy. Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:434. For déport, see the cahier of the clergy in the preceding chapter. For St-Sauveur, see Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:192. 56 These are probably instances of the influence of widely circulated sample cahiers since 77% of the parishes in the diocese had a vicar by 1791 and only 8% of the parish clergy depended on the portion congrue. 57 Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:556–7; 2:253–4, 284–5n3; 2:170.

Notes to pages 228–36 327 58 Ibid., 1:397. 59 The quotation is in Bridrey, Cahiers, 1:448. The cahier of La Haye-du-Puits criticized the effects of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes on the French economy (ibid., 1:737). Only two other Third Estate cahiers, those of the city of Valognes (ibid., 2:12) and of the bailliage of St-Sauveur-Lendelin (ibid., 3:153), discuss Protestants, both favouring the new law of tolerance. Cautiously, the deputies of the latter wonder if it would be possible for Protestants to become judges. 60 Ibid., 1:702–79. The quotation is on p. 747; the jab is on p. 778. 61 Ibid., 1:157, 346; 2:126, 289, 351, 475. For St-Aubin, see ibid., 1:543–4. For Montebourg, ibid., 2:379. 62 Ibid., 3:189–91. 63 Hayden, France and the Estates General, 211–13. 64 See Bonin and Langlois, Atlas de la Révolution, 6:9, 16, 90–1. 65 Tocqueville, The Old Regime, 97.

chapter eight 1 Quoted in Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 122. 2 See Wade, Voltaire and Candide. 3 What is available is best found in Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme (who used some of the documents destroyed in 1944), Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” and Benedict, The Huguenot Population of France. Other sources tend to repeat each other’s limited evidence. A useful summary is in Goujard, La Normandie, 109–24, 135–6, 294–306. For an example of the difficulty of studying Protestantism in the Diocese of Coutances, see Jouet, “Une famille de protestants ruraux.” 4 Camprond’s treatment illustrates both the co-operation between church and state and the brutality of punishment in early modern Europe. Contrary to the usual claim, Camprond was not burned alive. Rather, because he recanted his beliefs after having been sentenced by royal authorities to be burned alive, he was strangled as soon as the fire touched him. Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 367. 5 For the debate on the origins of Protestantism in the Diocese of Coutances, compare Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” 225–52, and Goujard, Normandie, 109–24. 6 In Gouberville’s case it seems to have been conviction. He was always intrigued by interesting sermons, regularly attending the sermons of visiting Franciscan friars and then inviting them home for supper and conversation. He not only publicly professed his allegiance to Catholicism on 1 October 1562 (perhaps under duress), he also continued to attend mass regularly and to observe feasts and fasts. His last will, prepared in 1587, makes it very clear that he was still a Catholic.

328  Notes to pages 236–8 7 See chapter 3 for further details. Rouault, Abregé, 331–2, 336. Toustain de Billy, Histoire ecclésiastique, 3:111–12. Toussaint, Coutances, 1:152–3. In July 1556 the records of chapter deliberations note that Vicar General Georges de Grimouville had often been absent from chapter in the last two months because he had been examining prisoners suspected of heresy. 8 See ADC DG IX for accounts of the attacks which are based on records that no longer exist. 9 Mours, Les Églises réformées, 51, 87. For the churches in the diocese in 1568, see Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 368. 10 For an unsympathetic view of these developments, see Toustain de Billy, Histoire de Cotentin, 75–128. Compare this with Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” 232–50. For St-Lô, see Benedict, Rouen during the Wars of Religion, 235, 254–5. For Basse-Normandie, see ibid., 237–9. 11 Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” 236n45. 12 Compare N.W., “État nominative des Protestants,” 246–58, with Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 370–1. N.W. provides the lists in which he found 632 names. I found 649. Of the 649 people I identified on the lists, 65% abjured, 35% did not. Perhaps most interesting is the list of ninety-two women (most of them the wives of men who abjured) who did not abjure and did not attend mass. Twenty-eight women joined their husbands in abjuration. Twenty-seven of the women who did not abjure were from Carantilly, where only one wife joined her husband in abjuration and twelve men refused abjuration. Curiously, fifty-seven men in La Chefresne abjured and eleven refused while no women are listed as abjuring or refusing. This leads to questions about how complete these lists were. 13 There are three maps in circulation that show Protestant churches in the Diocese of Coutances in the sixteenth century. They differ on the number of churches present but agree on the north-south proportions. Pastoral visit questions support the supposition that there were fewer Protestants in the north of the diocese than in the south. The most widely copied map is that published in 1958 by Samuel Mours in Les Églises reformées en France, 51. Cauvin’s map is in “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 366. Galland’s is at the end of Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme. See also Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” 236–50. For St-Lô, see Benedict, The Huguenot Population, 11, 33–4, 116. 14 See Vivier, “L’Imprimerie à Coutances,” 112–57. For apologetic works published in Coutances, see Desgraves, Répertoire bibliographique, 12:118–20. B.M. Valognes has a good collection of these works published in various places in the diocese. Ste-Mère-Église was one of the five parishes within the boundaries of the Diocese of Coutances that were part of the Diocese of Bayeux. See chapter 1, note 1. See also Le Cacheux, “L’Archiprêtre de Sainte-Marie-duMont,” 29. For life among the Protestants and inter-religious relations, see Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme, 57–152, and Canu, “Les Guerres de religion,” 312–14.

Notes to pages 238–42 329 15 Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme, 153–222. 16 Ibid., 64. Goujard, La Normandie, 294. Canu, “Les Guerres de Religion,” 314. Mours, Églises reformées en France, 161, 189. 17 Estimates of the numbers of temples and total Protestant population vary. See Mours, Églises reformées en France, 52, 87, 160, 196, and Essai sommaire, 6 (map), 13–14; Goujard, Normandie, 294–306; Haag, La France Protestante, 10:273, 316, 380–1; Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme, 62, 64. Dupont, Cotentin et ses îles, 4:327–42. Dupont believed that English intervention protected some of the temples from closure for a number of years, 4: 333. For the identification of the mysterious church of Groucy (Groussi, Gruchy, Grouchy), see Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 70–92. 18 Canu, “Les Guerres de Religion,” 315–24. Bridrey, Cahiers, 3:468–9n3, Benedict, The Huguenot Population, 11, 29–35, 116. Lantier, Saint-Lô, 158–62. Du Chesnay, Les Missions, 119–30, 180–3. The probably incomplete records of conversion for the diocese (about 410 persons) are in DAC DG IX. For a commentary on them, see Crepillon, “Autour des ‘nouveau catholiques,’” 118–29. Later estimates of the Protestant population in the Département de la Manche were between 150 and 400 in 1815, 688 in 1851, and 500 in 1862. The lower numbers are in Mours, Églises réformées en France, 189, the higher in Boulard, Matériaux pour l’histoire, 2:573–5. 19 The presence of Protestants is attested to by the maintenance of “a semblance of organization” in the southeast of the diocese noted in Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme, 381. See also Mours, Les Églises réformées en France, 135–7, 141. 20 Boulard, Matériaux pour l’histoire religieuse, Isambert and Terrenoire, Atlas de la pratique religieuse. See Sutter, La Vie religieuse des Français for the midtwentieth-century situation. 21 Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France, 287–99, 367. The quotation is on p. 299. 22 Compare ibid., 53 with Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie, 11, 19, 27, 29. 23 Le Pennec, “Le recrutement des prêtres,” 192–4. See also chapter 6, note 11. For 1710 to 1730, see ibid., 200. 24 Compare the data in column 3 of appendix 1 with the map in ibid., 225. In some instances Le Pennec uses 1780 as the end point, in others 1785. 25 Using cantons rather than deaneries makes it possible to compare the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Aggregating parishes into cantons rather than deaneries has no effect on the parish data. The leaders of the French Revolution transformed parishes into communes. The twenty-two deaneries were abolished and thirty-seven cantons were created. The relatively few changes in communes that have been made since the revolutionary period came through amalgamations which I accounted for in my tabulations. In pre-revolutionary France no one, except some ecclesiastical officials, had any loyalty to or identi-

330  Notes to pages 242–4 fied themselves with the deanery in which they lived or would have noticed if they had ceased to exist. The focus of an early modern person’s loyalty and identification was his or her community, whether it was called a parish, village, town, or city. Officially labelling it a commune made no real difference. 26 On one Sunday Gilles de Gouberville noted that because of a high wind he had not heard the church bell ringing for mass and therefore had missed the service. Given the distance from Gouberville’s chateau to the parish church and the testimony of present-day inhabitants, it must have been a mighty wind, indeed. 27 “Quelque chiffres et statistiques,” Association Saint-Joseph 6 (October–December 1949): 212–13; 7 (January 1951): 304–7. See also Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie. Enquêtes et documents, 12–15, 26–7; Boulard, Matériaux pour l’histoire religieuse, 2:279–80, 285–92, 307–8, 608–9, 614. 28 The relevant documents are in the Diocesan Archives of Coutances, ADC XXXV. My analysis of the extant records between 1699 and 1732 is based on a list of individuals who received tonsure and/or ordination to one or more minor and major orders during the years involved. The list was compiled and organized on a parish-by-parish basis by the diocesan archivist, Père Georges Couppey. I both compiled and analysed the ordination records for the five years chosen between 1639 and 1785. There are no ordination records extant before 1699 or for 1709–1724 or 1733–1738 (except for the partial records for 1718 and the isolated and possibly incomplete records for 1721). Seventeen years are missing between 1739 and 1785, the last year for which records are available. The choice of years to analyse after 1732 was based on a compromise between an even chronological spread and availability of complete records. 29 Dupâquier, Statistiques démographiques du bassin parisien, 1636–1720, 139–210. The numbers of hearths reported for 1709, 1713, and 1720 were averaged and multiplied by 4.25, a conservative version of a commonly accepted practice. See notes 11 and 12 in chapter 1 for further details. The map of Sunday mass attendance in 1987 is in Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie. Enquêtes et documents, 29. See pp. 19 and 27 for attendance around 1930 and from 1955 to 1960. Note that in the skeleton map on p. 9 the titles St-Sauveur-Lendelin and St-Sauveur-de-Vicomte are switched. This makes no difference for 1930 because the level of attendance is the same for both cantons. This is not the case for 1955–1960 and 1987. Fortunately, only the labelling is wrong. A map based on the same 1987 census has the same levels of participation for the two cantons as that shown in Les Catholiques. See Bellier and Herrin, Atlas social de Basse-Normandie, 2.64. Note that the latter source uses a less precise scale to measure attendance which produces a few slight differences from the map in the former source. See also Atlas social, 19, 2.65, 3.39, 3.40. 30 Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie, 19, 27, 29. 31 To identify the cantons in maps 2 to 4, see map 1 and column 1 in appendix 2. The progression from high to low in columns 2 and 3 of appendix 1 is reversed

Notes to pages 245–58 331 in maps 2 and 3 to make change over time more evident and to allow better comparison with map 4. 32 The city of St-Lô is here considered to be part of the canton of St-Lô-Ouest, though officially it is separate from both St-Lô cantons. Splitting Cherbourg into two cantons as was done in the 1987 survey creates an insurmountable problem of allocating eighteenth-century vocations so the same ratio is used for both parts, though in summary calculations Cherbourg was counted only once. 33 See appendix 2. The two exceptions are Canisy and Percy. The reason for their divergence will be explained below. For the presence of Protestants in those areas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Galland, Essai sur l’histoire du Protestantisme, 64, and the map at the end of his book; Cauvin, “Le Protestantisme dans le Cotentin,” 366; and Mours, Églises reformées en France, 196. See also map 4 below. 34 The map is in Mours, Églises reformées en France, 196. The similarity of the two patterns is emphasized when Mours’ map is compared with a map of communes with no or few vocations. This map can be constructed by combining the data in appendices 3 and 4. 35 A table showing the failure to perform the Easter Duty is too large to reproduce. 36 Canisy varied by two levels, Percy by one level of religious practice. See appendix 2. 37 Today there are only five Église réformée congregations in what was the Diocese of Coutances before the French Revolution with a total membership of about 1,000 members of whom about 150 are active. In addition, there are about 300 other active Protestants (Baptists and Lutherans). Their numbers are not large enough in any of the five towns where they are located (Coutances, St-Lô [2], Cherbourg, and Tourlaville [2]) to have any effect on studies of the percentage of the total population that attends mass on Sunday, the measurement used in most twentieth-century studies of religious practice.

conclusion 1 Répertoire des visites pastorales, 1:173–81 (Bayeux), 2:443–8 (Lisieux), 2:295–8 (Évreux). Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:411–14 (Évreux), 508–17 (Lisieux). Artonne, Répertoire des statuts synodaux, 115–18 (Bayeux), 230–1 (Évreux), 279–81 (Lisieux). The two papers by Bryan Skib listed in the bibliography provide some insight into the catholicism of the priests of Bayeux immediately before and after the French revolution. The thesis of Yves Nédélec, “Le Diocèse de Lisieux au XVIIIe siècle,” provides some relevant information for the Diocese of Lisieux. The raw material for further study of the priests of Lisieux exists in Piel, Inventaire historique des actes transcrits aux insinuations ecclésiastiques de l’ancien diocèse de Lisieux … 1692–1790.

332  Notes to pages 259–63 2 Répertoire des visites pastorales, 1:163–72. Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:319– 67, Artonne, Répertoire des statuts synodaux, 110–13. For the Avranches statutes of 1669 and 1671 which are not listed in Artonne, see the bibliography. For the other sources relevant to this section, see the bibliography under the headings of Bibliothèque municipale d’Avranches, Diocesan Archives of Coutances, ADA, Musée d’Avranches, and Norman Synodal Statutes. 3 Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis, 2:344. 4 Ibid., 364. 5 For the pastoral visits of 1694–1698, see DAC ADA IV; for those of 1749– 1751, 1763, 1770, and 1783–1784, see DAC ADA VI. For that of 1721, see Musée d’Avranches, MS 14. The listing in volume 1 of Répertoire des visites pastorales is inaccurate. 6 For the cathedral of Avranches, see Pigeon, Le Diocèse d’Avranches, 679–97 and Sévestre, La Vie religieuse, 170–89. Sévestre dates the second major collapse to 1796. 7 For an overview of the differing reactions to the French Revolution in Coutances and Avranches, see Quellien, Histoire des populations, 103–23, and Sévestre, L’Acceptation de la constitution, 362–71. For twentieth-century differences in mass attendance, see Debar, Les Catholiques en Basse-Normandie, 7, 19, 27, 29. 8 The original study, prepared for a diplôme de l’École pratique des Hautes Études in 1954 is in the Archives Départementales de l’Orne and was consulted for this section. Its essence is captured in Flament, “Les Moeurs des laïques aux diocese de Seez … (1699–1710),” 235–81. The visit questionnaires are catalogued by parish in AD Orne G 860–333. My experimental sondages in this source provided no reason to doubt Flament’s findings. See Jouanne, “Les Enquêtes paroissiales … Sées (1701–1709),” 95–117, for extracts from the questionnaires and secretarial notes of visits to ten parishes during the years 1701 to 1709. For the full listing of pastoral visits in Sées, see Répertoire des visites pastorales, 4:239–71. 9 Flament, “Les Moeurs,” 281. 10 For the visits of 1621–1695, see AD Orne, 1 G 145, 153–4, 175, 177, 186–221, 261. There is no trace of supposed episcopal visits between 1612 and 1618 despite the detailed analysis of them in the section on Sées signed by Marc Venard (Répertoire des visites pastorales 4:239, 242–3). In 1988, after a thorough search of the diocesan archives made at the request of Père Georges Couppey, the archivist of the Diocese of Coutances, the archivist of the Diocese of Sées then sought the advice of Canon Flament who replied in my presence that he had no knowledge of the documents in question. In a communication of 22 November 2010 the present diocesan archivist reported that another search had produced no results. See G 860–1333 for the episcopal visits made in the years 1712–1722, 1741–1747, 1748–1758, 1759–1767, and 1768–1775. 11 Flament, Deux mille prêtres normands, 11–19.

Notes to pages 263–5 333 12 Join-Lambert, “La Pratique religieuse dans le diocèse de Rouen sous Louis XIV,” 247–74, and “La Pratique religieuse dans le diocèse de Rouen de 1707 à 1789,” 35–49. Despite the titles of his articles Join-Lambert concentrates on the years 1687 to 1702 in the first and has only a few pages on the laity in the eighteenth century in the second. 13 Ibid., 262–74 and 35–6. As in Coutances the pastoral visitors became less vigilant in asking about Easter duty during the course of the eighteenth century. 14 Ibid., 46, 49. 15 Goujard, La Normandie, 227–32, 306–25, 389–404. 16 For the influence of Jansenism on the coming of the French Revolution, see McManners, Church and Society, 2:661–78 and the works of Dale van Kley.

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A  Bibliography

Manuscript Sources Archives départementales du Calvados G 224–6 (1658–1680) cathedral chapter deliberations of the Diocese of Bayeux G 279–80 cathedral chapter deliberations of the Diocese of Lisieux G (non-coté) Clinchamps-sur-Vire, Comptes du trésorier, 1675–1679, 1688– 1689, 1692–1693, 1696–1697 H 7449 pastoral visit to the abbey of St-Sever, 1637, 1639 Archives départementales de l’Eure G 54 (1707–1720) cathedral chapter deliberations of the Diocese of Évreux Archives départementales de Finisterre 2 G 18–25 cathedral chapter deliberations, Diocese of Quimper 5 G 525–38 cathedral chapter deliberations, Diocese of St-Pol-de-Léon Archives départementales de Loire Atlantique 36 J 5 cathedral chapter deliberations, Diocese of Nantes Archives départementales de la Manche H Hôtel Dieu of Coutances A 3, pièce 4, 1665 episcopal accusation A 4, pièces 23–6 archdeaconal visits, 1628, 1728, 1729 (missing) A 7, pièce 23 episcopal visit, 1599 B 643 episcopal visit, 1668 Fabrique de Percy Fonds Humel 140 J 1–153 notes on 153 parishes drawn from collations in DAC Archives départementales de Morbihan 47 G 2–5 cathedral chapter deliberations, Diocese of Vannes Archives départementales de l’Orne 1 G 320–1 cathedral chapter deliberations, Diocese of Sées, 1709–1733

336  Bibliography

G 830 to 1333 parish registers with pastoral visit questionnaires, Diocese of Sées, 1701–1709 1 G 145, 153–4, 175, 177, 186–221, 261 pastoral visits, Diocese of Sées, 1621–1695 Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime G 2164–97, 9843–62 cathedral chapter deliberations, Archdiocese of Rouen Bibliothèque municipale d’Avranches Ms 200 Registre des expéditions du secretaire de l’évêché d’Avranches Ms 204 Visites pastorales, 1708–1709 Ms 205 Benefices, property, and pastoral visit of 1627 Ms 240 Visites pastorales, 1694–1695 Ms 287 Charles de Robillard de Beaurepaire. Notes sur le diocèse d’Avranches Ms 290 Charles de Robillard de Beaurepaire. Notes manuscrits sur le diocèse d’Avranches … 1694–1696 Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms fr. 11916 Cahier des doléances of the Norman nobility, 1614 Diocesan Archives of Coutances ADA (Ancien diocèse d’Avranches) II Notes de Masselin sur l’ancien diocèse d’Avranches, vols 1–8 IV Notes sur l’ancien diocèse d’Avranches (Conférences ecclésiastiques, 1669–1680; Ordinations, 1760–1790; Visites pastorales, 1694–1699, 1721, 1748–1751; primary schools, 1721–1764) VI Visites pastorales, 1737–1784 VII–XII Insinuations, 1599, 1660–1790 Uncatalogued: Notes sur l’ancien diocèse d’Avranches ADC (Ancien diocèse de Coutances) II–VIII Collations, I–XXVI, 1487–1789 IX–XI Insinuations, I–IX, 1573–1789 XII–XXXII Visites archidiaconales, 1634–1789 XXXIV Varia XXXV Ordination Registers, 1699–1708, 1725–1732, 1739–1744, 1751–1757, 1762–1782 XXXVII Synodes d’automne (1635–1636, 1646, 1672–1737) et synodes pascal (1618–1767) XXXVIII Liber Ordinandorum, 1722–1730 XXXIX Varia XL–XLII Conférences ecclésiastiques, 1705–1769 XLIV Communautés Chapitre de Coutances 19 Confraternities 75–97 Délibérations (1464–1775) 120 Fondations, 1273–1500 122–6 The conflict between the chapter and Bishop Auvry, 1650–1658 127–8 Other legal dealings of the chapter, 1644–1652, 1667–1669

Bibliography 337 130 Habitués 131 Fondations, 1504–1786 132 Personnel (criminal records) 133–34 Comptes des habitués (1580, 1622, 1636–1637, 1639, 1693) 138 Petit College – journal et comptes, 1661–1785 153 Honoraria (pains et vins) 154 Statuts (late seventeenth century) and related material 155 Usages 159 Obits, 1384–1776 162 Dîmes (Registers, 1528–1546, 1643, 1690) 163 Baux de dîmes 164–73 Dîmes et baux de dîmes (by place, alphabetically) uncatalogued: Alienations des biens ecclésiastiques (1563 through late sixteenth century) Comptes Chapitres généraux, 1550–1598 Évêché – temporel Titres clericaux (mostly eighteenth century) Série DG DG IX Protestantism Série EM Marriage dispensations Série M M 4 Resumés des actes capitulaires, 1464–1745 by Jacques Pouret M 6 Estat générale et ecclésiastique de l’évesché de Coutances (benefices and their holders, 1680–1681) M 7 Répertoire des collations et insinuations M 8 Visites archdiaconales, 1634–1789, Tables M 9 Les Recherches de la ville de Coutances by Nicolas Daireaux M 14 Auguste Bernard, “Notes pour servir à l’histoire de l’arrondisement de St-Lô” M 15 Information on nine parishes, four of which were in the Diocese of Bayeux before the French Revolution M 17 Alexandre Hédouin, “Notes et documents sur la paroisse de Quibou” M 19 the parish of La Pernelle M 30–31 Extraits des archives de l’église de Carentan M 32–34 Information on the parish of St-Saveur-le-Vicomte M 35 Extraits des archives de l’église de Vindefontaine M 36 Extraits des archives de l’église de Rauville la Place M 37 Extraits des archives de l’église de Sainte-Suzanne M 41–42 Déliberations capitulaires, 1464–1774, resumés de Ernest Fleury M 43–48 Leroux, Jean-Baptiste. Documents pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de quelques paroisses du diocèse de Coutances

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M 49 Cherbourg M 51 Documents pour servir à l’histoire religieuse et ecclésiastique de Méautis M 52 Le paroisse de St Clement de Donville M 53 Le paroisse de La Meurdraquière M 57 the parish of Gratot; material concerning pre-revolution schools in the dioceses of Coutances and Avranches; Protestantism; Jansenism

M 58 Documents historiques concernant Quibou et autres paroisses M 63 Fondations faits en l’église de Teurtheville M 80 Cahier des notes sur l’historie de Cretteville M 85–86 Cherbourg, Annales de Ste-Trinité Série P (documents concerning individual parishes) P 1–P 615B Parish records (mostly finances and fondations)

Twenty-five of the parishes were in the Diocese of Avranches and eight were in the Diocese of Bayeux before the French Revolution. Files are missing for three parishes. The records of six parishes (including one from Avranches) are held separately among the uncatalogued manuscripts. See the M series for other parish records. Série R (miscellaneous pre-French Revolution mandements episcopaux) uncatalogued: Évêché – temporel Fabrique d’Alleaume – pastoral visits of 1614 and 1615 (not 1618 as stated in some sources) Musée d’Avranches Ms 14 Registre de visites de Monseigneur Messire César le Blanc, 1721

Norman Synodal Statutes Only those statutes not found in Bessin, Concilia Rothomagensis provinciae, are listed here. Examples of most of those in Bessin are also in one or more of BNP, BMV, or DAC. Bourbon, Louis de. Statutes for the Diocese of Avranches for 1494 and 1496 in BMA MS 287 Froullay de Tessé, Gabriel Philippe de. Statuts synodaux … le 6 juin 1669. Avranches: Phillipe Motays, n.d. (BMV C 5432) – Statuts synodaux … le 14 mai 1671 … Avranches: Phillipe Motays, n.d. (BMV c 5432) Loménie de Brienne, Charles-François de. Statuts et règlements … Coutances: J. De la Roque 1718 Luynes, Paul d’Albert de. Statuts pour le diocèse de Bayeux … 1735. Bayeux: Gabriel Briart, n.d. Second edition, 1781 (BNF B 4852 and B 41387) Matignon, Léonor de. Statuts et règlements … Coutances: Pierre Bessin 1637 (BMV C 5425)

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Bibliography 357 – Coutances des origines à la révolution. 2 vols. Coutances: Éditions OCEP 1978–1980 – “Daniel Huet, évêque d’Avranches, 1689–1699.” RAG 53 (1976): 3–142, 143–99 – “Le Recrutement des prêtres dans le diocèse de Coutances au XVIIIe siècle.” SRDC 107 (1971): 212–15 Toustain de Billy, René. Histoire du Cotentin avec celle des villes. St-Lô: Imprimerie de Elie fils 1864 – Histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse du Coutances. Edited by F. Dolbet and A. Heron. 3 vols. Rouen: Charles Métérie 1874–1886 – Mortain. Edited by Hippolyte Sauvage. Mortain: A. Mathieu 1879 Trigan, C. La Vie et les virtus de Messire Antoine Paté, prêtre … curé de Cherbourg … Coutances: Fauvel 1747 Tronc, Dominique. “Une filiation mystique: Chrysostome de Saint-Lô, Jean de Bernières, Jacques Bertot, Jeanne-Marie Guyon.” XVIIe Siècle, no. 118 (2003): 95–116 Vallerie, Erwan. Communes bretonnes et paroisses d’amorique. N.p.: Beltan 1986 Venard, Marc. “Le Concile provincial de Rouen de 1581.” In Lemagnen and Manneville, Chapitres et cathédrales, 593–608 – L’Église d’Avignon au XVIe siècle. Lille: Université de Lille III 1980 – “Les Formes de piété des confréries dévotes de Rouen à l’époque moderne.” Annales ESC 10 (1991): 283–97 – Répertoire des visites pastorales de la France. Anciens diocèses (jusqu’en 1790). Corrections et Compléments. Paris: Société d’histoire religieuse de la France 2006 Veuclin, E. “L’Assistance publique avant la Révolution dans l’ancien diocèse de Coutances.” ACDN 68 (1901): 130–54 Viguerie, Jean de. “Les Abbayes mauristes normandes.” In Chaline, Historie religieuse de la Normandie, 209–20 Vincent, Catherine. Des Charités bien ordonnées: Les Confréries normandes de la fin du XIIIe siècle au debut du XVIe siècle. Paris: École Normale Supérieure 1988 Vivier, Em. “La Condition du clergé séculier dans le diocèse de Coutances au XVIIIe siècle.” AdN 2 (1952): 3–26 – “Coutances au XVIIIe siècle: un curé processif, Julian Duhamel, et un curé charitable, Thomas Legerais.” RA 32 (1943–1944): 353–63, 502–31 – “Le Grand chantre Jacques-Louis d’Hauchemail et le chapitre de Coutances à la veille de la Révolution.” NMDM 99, nos 3–4 (1951): 13–48 – “L’Imprimerie à Coutances au XVIIe siècle.” NMDM 52 (1941): 112–57 Vovelle, Michel. Piété baroque et décristianisation en Provence au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Plon 1973 – Ville et campagne au 18e siècle: Chartres et La Beauce. Paris: Éditions sociales c1980

358  Bibliography Wade, Ira. Voltaire and Candide: A Study in the Fusion of History, Art, and Philosophy, with the Text of the La Vallière Manuscript of Candide. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1959 Weber, Eugen. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1976 Wood, James B. The Nobility of the Election of Bayeux, 1463–1666. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1980 Wraxall, Nathaniel W. A Tour through the Western, Southern and Interior Provinces of France. London: Charles Dilly 1784 Young, Arthur. Travels during the Years 1787, 1788 and 1789. 2 vols. London 1794 Zeller, Gaston. Les Institutions de la France au XVIe siècle. Paris: Presses universitaire de la France 1948

A  Index

agnostics, 7, 9, 257 Agnus Dei (sacramental), 205 Alençon and Protestants, 236, 262 Angelo, Vladimir, 117 Apostles’ Creed, 38, 204 Aquin, Louis d’, 261–2 archdeaconries of Coutances. See Bauptois; Chrétienté; Cotentin; Val-de-Vire archdeacons of Coutances: Blouet de Camilly, Jean-Jacques, 102, 116, 165, 184–5; Douet, Georges, 180; Douet, Giles, 100–1; Gourmont, Jean de, 99–178; Gourmont de Courcy, Vercingétorix, 182; Hache de la Mothe, Jean-Baptiste, 182–3; Hennot de Théville, Jean, 101–2, 217; Le Campion, Jean, 98–9, 221; Le Rossignol, Pierre, 99–100 atheists, 7, 13, 257 Auvry, Claude. See bishops of Coutances Avignon Residency, 28, 58 Avranches: bishops of, 62, 84, 118, 259–60; cathedral, 260–1; diocese, 19–20, 23–4, 27, 30, 57, 187, 265; ecclesiastical conferences, 173; and French Revolution, 189, 192, 225, 250, 260–1; pastoral visits, 259–60;

records, 20, 336; synodal statutes, 259–60 Baptism, sacrament of, 39, 40, 45, 238, 259 Barneville, 21, 268, 269, 271, 274–6, 281–2 Baupte, 121, 131 Bauptois, archdeaconry: map, 21; pastoral visits, 98, 99, 103, 151, 175–7, 182, 185, 187, 212, 214–16, 218–22, 244, 248 Bayeux: chapter, 96, 113, 307n44; diocese, 20, 25, 27–8, 68, 287n1; and French Revolution, 192–3; pastoral visits, 258; synodal statutes, 258 Benedictines, 128–9, 138–42 benefices, 61–6, 68, 69, 72–4, 76, 77, 79, 80, 85, 96–7, 106, 109, 114, 118, 120, 126, 130, 133, 147–51, 155, 157–9, 162, 164, 170, 171, 174, 186, 187, 189, 208, 227, 229, 261. See also in commendam benefices Bergin, Joseph, 201 Bernières, Jean de, mystic, 136 Besnage, Benjamin, Protestant minister, 238 bestiality, 11, 208

360  Index Bible, the, 37, 40, 41, 42, 166, 233–4 bishops. See Avranches; Sées bishops from Coutances, 121–3 bishops of Coutances: Auvry, Claude (bp 1646–58), 79–80, 112, 164, 169, 295n30; Bourgoing, Nicolas (bp 1622–25), 76; Briroy, Nicolas de (bp 1588[1597]–1620), 29, 70, 72–5, 80, 89, 107, 116, 121, 163, 171, 197, 203, 255; Brèche, René de la Trémouville de (bp 1525–29), 65; Castiglione, Giovanni (bp 1444–53), 59–60, 109; Cervelle, Sylvestre de la (bp 1371–86), 27–8, 59; Cossé, Arthur de (bp 1560–87), 68–72, 236, 295n30; Cossé, Phillipe de (bp 1530–48), 65–6; Crévecoeur, Guillaume de (bp 1387–1408), 59; Deschamps, Gilles (bp 1408–13), 559; Dovizzi da Bibbiena, Bernardo (bp 1519–20), 64–5; Duremont, Gilles de (bp 1430–34), 59; Erquery, Louis Herpin (bp 1346–70), 58–9; Essey, Jean d’ (bp 1251–74), 26, 93; Gouffier de Boissy, Adrien de (bp 1510–19), 64; Harcourt, Robert d’ (bp 1291–1315), 26–7, 46, 47; Herbert, Geoffroy (bp 1478–1510), 62–4, 118, 158, 197, 236; Le Clerc de Lesseville, Eustache (bp 1658–65), 80, 200, 295n30; Le Fevre du Quesnoy, Jacques (bp 1757–64), 85–6, 142, 295n30; Lesley, John (bp 1592–96), 73, 297n26; L’Estaing, Vivien de (bp 1202–08), 47, 115; Le Sueur d’Esquetot, Payen (bp 1549–51), 66–7, 236; Loménie de Brienne, Charles-François de (bp 1666–1720), 35, 82–4, 142, 165, 169, 182, 173, 203, 217, 295n30; Longueil, Richard Olivier de (bp 1463–70), 60–1, 157; Malatesta,

Pandolphe (bp 1418–24), 59; Marle, Jean de (bp 1413–18), 59; Martel de Bacqueville, Étienne (bp 1552–60), 67, 236; Matignon, Léonor I de (bp 1627–46), 70, 76–9, 137, 140, 163–4, 171–2, 295n30; Matignon, Léonor II de (bp 1721–57), 84–5, 130, 140, 295n30; Montbray, Geoffroy de (bp 1048–93), 26; Montferrand, Benoît de (bp 1470–76), 61; Montjeu, Philibert de (bp 1424–39), 44, 46, 50; Morville, Hugh de (bp 1208–38), 26; Rovere, Giuliano de (bp 1477–78), 61, 109; Talaru de Chalmazel, Ange-François de (bp 1764–98), 86–8, 114, 170, 188, 193, 295n30; Thiéville, Guillaume de (bp 1315–45), 58; Tholon, Nicolas de (bp 1386), 59 bishops, suffragan, 57, 59, 60–2, 64–5, 67, 73 Black Death, 46, 47. See also plagues Blancheland, abbey, 17, 60, 87, 128–9, 130, 142, 145 blasphemy, 63, 199, 211, 220 Blouet de Camilly, Jean-Jacques. See archdeacons of Coutances Bonzon, Anne, 159–60, 164 Boulard, Fernand, 240–1 Bourg-Achard, reform, 142 bourgeoisie, 52, 210, 212, 256 Bourgoing, Nicolas. See bishops of Coutances Brèche, René de la Trémouville de. See bishops of Coutances Bricquebec, 21, 25, 142, 146, 173, 174, 244, 252, 253, 268, 269, 270, 283 Brienne. See Loménie de Brienne Briroy, Nicolas de. See bishops of Coutances Brothers of Christian Schools, 135 Buchanan, George, 67–8

Index 361 Caen, 16, 28, 30, 35, 90, 136, 144, 164, 170, 236–8 cahier of 1789: First Estate, 187–90; Second Estate, 224; Third Estate, 224–30 calends, 82, 86, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, 176 Calvalande, priory, 133 Calvin, John, 28, 68, 203, 233, 236 Camaldolese, 135, 141–2 Camprond, Pierre de, 235 canons of Coutances: Cussy, MarieLouis-Léonor de, 95, 113; Fleury, Ernest, 92, 156–7; Franquetot family, 109; Hauchemail, JacquesLouis d’, 95, 113–14; Hullot, Jacques, 113–14; Pouret, Jacques, 91–2, 107, 305n20; Ravalet, Jean de, 94–5, 157; Varin, Jacques, 114 canons regular, 142–3 Capuchins, 135, 238 Carbonnel de Canisy, CharlotteScholastique de, 132 Carentan, 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 32, 34, 35, 137, 138, 151, 163, 192, 202, 219, 228, 244, 248, 256, 269, 271, 272, 274, 276, 277, 279, 282 Castiglione, Giovanni. See bishops of Coutances catechism, 74, 77, 81–2, 120, 203–6, 217, 222 cathedral chapter. See chapter of Coutances cathedral of Coutances, 26–7, 50, 103–5, 112 Catholicism defined, 13 catholicisms defined, 13 catholicisms: of bishops, 61–2, 68, 88–9, 254; of canons, 117–18; of the clerical elite, 120, 123, 254; of deists, 6, 234–5; of the laity, 195–6, 199–202, 224–31, 255; of parish

priests, 173, 175, 188–9, 191, 254; of Protestants, 6, 233–4; of religious, 138–45 Catholic Reformation, First, 29, 53, 63, 68, 75, 91, 117, 197 Catholic Reformation, Second, 5, 29, 43, 44, 50, 53, 54, 73, 77, 81, 83, 85, 91, 98, 102, 122, 123, 163, 181, 186, 196, 197, 202, 210, 212–17, 222–3, 229, 231, 239, 240, 252, 256–8, 264 Catholic Reformations, 3, 11, 37, 52, 116 cemeteries, 46, 59, 78, 82–5, 98, 99, 100, 102, 116, 209, 212, 215–16, 221, 223, 230, 261 Cenilly, 21, 269, 273, 277, 278 Cérences, 21, 178, 269, 272, 275, 276, 278, 281 Cervelle, Sylvestre de la. See bishops of Coutances Channel Islands, 20, 237, 298n36 chaplains, 96, 104, 105, 107–10, 116, 117, 149, 150, 151, 155, 174 chapter of Coutances: community, 96; income, 95–6, 114; members (see canons of Coutances); officials, 94–5; records, 92, 107–8, 111, 307n44; reform, 107–11, 113 chapter records of Norman dioceses, 307n44 charms. See Agnus Dei Cherbourg, 7, 15, 21, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 35–6, 76, 77, 81, 122, 129, 130, 135, 137, 142, 151, 155, 173, 182, 183, 191, 201, 225, 230, 236, 245, 247, 248, 251, 252, 268, 269, 270, 283 Chrétienté, archdeaconry: map, 21; pastoral visits, 99, 177–9, 185–6 Christian Brothers, 23, 135, 311n27 church defined, 57 Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 87, 156, 192, 229, 240, 261

362  Index clerical elite: from Coutances, 117–23; in Coutances (see canons of Coutances; archdeacons of Coutances) Coigny and witchcraft, 219 Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 36, 219 Coligny, Admiral, 235, 237 Colloque de Cotentin, 238 Commandments of the Church, 74, 83, 89, 169, 205, 206 Commandments, the Ten, 74, 83, 89, 169, 204–6 Commission des Réguliers, 126, 144 Communion, sacrament of, 39, 40, 43, 47, 71, 100, 167, 170, 197, 204, 205, 216, 221, 239, 248, 250, 257, 292n8 Compere, Pierre, 119–20 concubinage, 160, 161, 162, 171, 212, 249 Confession, sacrament of, 10, 40, 45, 46, 51, 83, 99, 139, 159, 167, 170, 173, 183, 198, 203, 205, 207, 209, 210, 213, 220, 222, 248, 249, 256, 259, 260 confessionalism, 9, 285n5 confessionalization, 9, 285n5 confession manuals, 7, 202, 206–9 Confirmation, sacrament of, 40, 45, 57, 60, 62, 73, 148, 170 confraternities, 50, 101, 202, 215, 217, 219, 230, 263 Congrégation de Jésus et Marie. See Eudistes Cossé, Arthur de. See bishops of Coutances Cossé, Charles de, Maréchal de Brissac, 67, 68 Cossé, Phillipe de. See bishops of Coutances Cotentin, archdeaconry: map, 21; pastoral visits, 102, 182–6 Cotentin peninsula, 19, 23, 32, 34 Couppey, Georges, 22, 330n28

Coutances, city, 19, 21, 23, 25–7, 30, 32, 35–6, 76, 79, 85, 87, 91, 96–7, 104, 105, 110, 111, 114, 125, 131, 134, 135, 136, 137, 237, 251, 252, 256 Coutances, Collège de, 120–1 Coutances: diocese of, 15–36; ecclesiastical conferences, 7, 81, 86, 170, 173–6, 179, 185, 190, 191, 196, 217; French Revolution, 191–2, 194, 231, 260–1; synods and synodal statutes, 59, 63, 66, 69, 73, 77–8, 81–6, 170–3 Crévecoeur, Guillaume de. See bishops of Coutances Crosiers, 260 Cussy, Marie-Louis-Léonor de. See canons of Coutances Daughters of Charity, 137 Dean of the Isles, 20, 301n71 décimateur, gros, 150, 189, 191, 215–16, 226, 230, 231, 263 deists, 6–7, 234–5, 257 demonic possession, 199 déport, 189, 227, 326n55 Deschamps, Gilles. See bishops of Coutances dime, 43, 150, 191. See also tithes Dominicans, 134–5, 143–4 Douet, Georges. See archdeacons of Coutances Douet, Giles. See archdeacons of Coutances Dovizzi da Bibbiena, Bernardo. See bishops of Coutances Duchesne, Guillaume, 118 Duremont, Gilles de. See bishops of Coutances Easter (charity) bread, 213, 216–17 Easter Duty, 42, 100, 101, 102, 201, 205, 212, 218, 220–2, 248, 250 ecclesiastical order, defined, 127, 148, 149

Index 363 Edict of Nantes, 213, 238, 239 endowments. See fondations Enlightenment, the, 191, 196, 224, 226, 228–9, 233, 257, 264 Erquery, Louis Herpin. See bishops of Coutances Essey, Jean d’. See bishops of Coutances Estates General of 1614, 55, 68, 90, 187, 190, 195, 229 Estates General of 1789, 7, 35, 115, 130, 144, 176, 187, 195, 215, 224, 253 Eucharist. See Communion, sacrament of Eudes, Archbishop of Rouen, 125–6, 139 Eudes, Jean, St, 77, 80, 102, 164–5, 168, 173, 199–200, 203–4, 206–11, 221–2, 238 Eudistes, 135, 144, 200, 210, 259 Évreux: chapter, 367n44; diocese of, 20, 259; pastoral visits, 258; synodal statutes, 258 excommunication, 46, 100, 101, 102, 111, 198, 220 Extreme Unction, sacrament of, 40, 123, 146, 170 Farge, James, 117 fertilizer, 226. See also lime; tangue; varech Filles de le Bon Sauveur, 137 Filles de la Congrégation de NotreDame, 138 Filles de l’Instruction Chrétienne, 138 Filles de la Providence, 137 Filles de l’Union Chrétienne, 137–8 filles séculières, 136–8 Flament, Pierre, 194, 258, 261–2 Fleury, Ernest. See canons of Coutances Foisil, Madeleine, 187n19

fondations, 82, 85, 96, 101, 105, 121, 141, 151, 152, 179, 186, 215, 255 Franciscans, 134–5, 143–4, 238 Franquetot family. See canons of Coutances Frémin, Thomas, 120 French Revolution. See Avranches; Bayeux; Coutances; Sées Fréret, Jehan, 158 Fronde, the, 30, 79 Gallicanism, 39, 213, 263 Gavray, 21, 241, 250, 268, 269, 271, 272, 274, 277, 278, 280, 281, 282 Gerville, Charles Duherissier de, 32–4 Godefroy, Charles, 163 Gouberville, Giles de, 18, 157, 162, 201–2, 236, 242 Gouberville, Jean-Marie, 156, 318n59 Gouffier de Boissy, Adrien de. See bishops of Coutances Goujard, Phillipe, 264, 288n4, 318n67 Goulet, Robert, 118 Gourmont, Jean de. See archdeacons of Coutances Gourmont de Courcy, Vercingétorix. See archdeacons of Coutances Granville, 21, 24, 32–3, 69, 71, 241, 252 Great Western Schism, 28, 58 Greenshields, Malcolm, xv–xvi, 98–9 Guernsey. See Channel Islands habitués, 6, 96, 98, 100, 107–10, 116, 152, 155, 156, 158–9, 174, 177–9, 180, 186–93, 206, 208, 229 Hache de la Mothe, Jean-Baptiste. See archdeacons of Coutances Hambye, 21, 25 Harcourt, Collège d’, 117, 119–20, 304n17 Harcourt, Robert d’. See bishops of Coutances

364  Index Hauchemail, Jacques-Louis d’. See canons of Coutances Hennot de Théville, Jean. See archdeacons of Coutances Herbert, Geoffroy. See bishops of Coutances Holy Orders. See Orders, sacrament of homosexuality, 11, 208, 220 Hôpital, Louise de L’, 131 Hôtels-Dieu, 134, 136 Huet, Pierre-Daniel, 259–60 Huguenots. See Protestants Hullot, Jacques, 113–14. See also canons of Coutances Hulmel, Louis, 156–7, 177, 187 Hundred Years’ War, 27–9, 58, 128, 133, 158, 230 illegitimacy, 223, 260, 264 illnesses, 27, 29–30, 34–5 Immaculate Conception, 168 in commendam benefices, 61, 65, 68–70, 77, 78, 81, 84, 87, 94, 122, 128–31, 132, 140, 142, 150, 169, 210, 227, 229, 230, 263. See also benefices indulgences, 42, 43, 59, 61, 65, 170, 198, 205 insinuations, 152 Jansenism, 78, 79, 81, 85, 86, 136, 164, 169, 173, 192, 199, 212, 213, 262 Jean-Chrysostome de Saint-Lô, 136 Jersey. See Channel Islands Jesuits, 135, 163–4 Jews, 7, 213 Join-Lambert, Michel, 258, 263–4 Knights of St John of Jerusalem (Malta), 134 Knights Templar, 134

La Bloutière, priory, 58, 81, 142, 146 La Chefresne, 237, 251, 328 La Haye-du-Puits, 21, 128, 133, 177, 220, 228, 268, 269, 271, 272, 274, 277, 282 laity, defined, 126, 197 Lamy, Thomas, 119 Law, John, system of, 185, 311n29, 312n46 Le Campion, Jean. See archdeacons of Coutances Lechat, Jean-Baptiste, xvi, 194 Le Clerc de Lesseville, Eustache. See bishops of Coutances Le Court, Jean, 121 Le Fevre du Quesnoy, Jacques. See bishops of Coutances Lefranc, François, 170 Le Hommet, 21, 133, 180, 241, 269, 272–5, 278–80 Le Pennec, Yves-Marie, 152–6, 241–3 lepers, 134 Le Pileur, Raoul, 120–1 Le Rossignol, Pierre. See archdeacons of Coutances Leroux, Jean-Baptiste, 156–7, 177, 187 Le Sauvaige, Guillaume, 122 Lesley, John. See bishops of Coutances Les Pieux, 21, 137, 244, 268, 269, 271, 274, 275, 278, 280, 281, 283 Lessay monastery. See Ste-Trinité L’Estaing, Vivien de. See bishops of Coutances Le Sueur d’Esquetot, Payen. See bishops of Coutances libertins érudits, 7 lime, 34, 36 Lisieux: chapter, 367n44; diocese, 20, 256; pastoral visits, 258; synodal statutes, 258

Index 365 Loménie de Brienne, CharlesFrançois de. See bishops of Coutances Longueil, Richard Olivier de. See bishops of Coutances Lutheranism, 235 magic, 40, 41, 48, 51, 52, 83, 198, 207, 219 Malatesta, Pandolphe. See bishops of Coutances Malherbe, Marthe de, 131–2 Malon de Bercy, Anne, 121, 137 Manuel de Coutances (1601), 73–4 marguillier. See parish treasurer Marle, Jean de. See bishops of Coutances marriage, 18, 51, 71, 74, 82, 83, 99, 161, 179, 198, 202, 204, 208, 209, 223, 234; clandestine, 46, 83; clerical, 160–1 Marriage, sacrament of, 40, 170, 202, 227, 260 marriage law, Norman, 223 Martel de Bacqueville, Étienne. See bishops of Coutances Masonic lodges, 7, 229, 234, 263 mass, 40, 50, 93, 96, 105, 129; attendance at, 7, 15, 43, 45, 103, 159, 165, 197, 207, 208, 211, 239, 240, 242, 243, 245, 257, 261, 263, 268; behaviour during, 82, 99, 100, 108, 178, 179, 217, 220; officiating at, 45, 55, 96, 104, 105, 115, 116, 141, 151, 158, 163, 178, 186, 197, 221; Sunday, 40, 50, 93, 96, 105, 129 Matignon, Jacques de Goyon de, 29, 69 Matignon, Lancelot de, 70, 72, 129, 140 Matignon, Léonor I de. See bishops of Coutances

Matignon, Léonor II de. See bishops of Coutances Maurist reform, 140 merchants, 30, 79, 195, 208, 256 Merlet, André, 130 Mesnil-au-Val, 18, 21, 158, 201, 280 Michel, Jean (author), 118–19 Michel, Jean (Carthusian), 120 midwives, 85, 101, 102, 217–18 miracles, 200, 201, 220 missionaries, 210, 220–1 monks, attitudes toward, 228–9 Montbray, 21, 26, 241, 268, 273, 275, 280 Montbray, Geoffroy de. See bishops of Coutances Montebourg, monastery. See NotreDame de l’Étoile Montferrand, Benoît de. See bishops of Coutances Montjeu, Philibert de. See bishops of Coutances Montpichon, 25 Mont St-Michel, Le, 132, 228 Morville, Hugh de. See bishops of Coutances mysticism, 136, 199, 210 nobles, 6, 85, 101, 102, 127, 265; actions, 28, 30–1, 70, 75, 86, 102, 111, 139, 190, 210, 230, 262; opinions about, 111, 226; relations with Protestants, 28, 68, 224, 230, 235, 236; relations with Third Estate, 216; rights and privileges, 34, 127, 190, 224, 226, 261; views of, 8, 47, 190, 201, 224, 255, 261 Normandie, Basse-, 13, 17, 20, 32, 151, 169, 232 Normandie, Haute-, 20 Notre-Dame-des-Anges, abbey, 132 Notre-Dame-des-Anges, hermitage, 135, 141–2

366  Index Notre-Dame-de-l’Étoile, abbey, 128, 141, 145, 256 Notre-Dame-de-la-Protection, abbey, 131 Notre-Dame-de-Voeu, abbey, 129, 142, 143 nouveaux convertis, 83, 101 Nu-Pieds, revolt, 30–1 Nuque, Edme, 181 Oratorians, 81, 144, 186, 212 Order of the Holy Cross. See Crosiers Orders, sacrament of, 40, 74, 83, 84, 149, 152, 154, 155, 157, 170 ordination records, 8, 65, 242–4 Orglandes, 21, 268, 273, 279, 280 paganism, 6, 12, 41, 49, 50, 51, 123, 195, 197, 198, 203, 205, 211, 233, 293n19 parish assembly, 213, 215–16, 230 parish finances, 178, 182, 212, 215, 231 parish treasurer, 178, 215, 235, 249 pastoral visits of Coutances: by bishops, 63–4, 67–8, 70, 71, 73, 76, 77, 80, 82, 85–6; contents, 98–103, 139, 175–86, 212–19, 222–3; patterns, 53–4, 212–5 pastoral visits of other dioceses. See Avranches; Bayeux; Évreux; Lisieux; Rouen; Sées Penance, sacrament of. See Confession, sacrament of Pénitents of the Third Order of St Francis, 135, 145 Percy, 21, 25, 268, 271, 273, 278, 280, 283 Périers, 21, 27, 137, 175, 268, 269, 270, 273, 277–9, 282 pigeons, 34, 225–6 plagues, 27, 29–30, 35, 64, 111, 131 portion congrue, 114, 150, 189, 191 Pouret, Jacques. See canons of Coutances

preaching, 4, 6, 41, 45, 65, 71, 73, 75, 76, 77, 84, 95, 100, 101, 118, 134, 135, 143, 145, 159, 163, 169, 171, 185, 206, 209, 213, 215, 217, 218, 220, 222, 227, 233, 235 presbytery repair, 215, 226–7 priests: education of, 158–9, 163–71, 173–5; faults, 171–86; and the French Revolution, 192–4; numbers, 152–8, 242–3; ordinations, 157–8; in pastoral visits, 176–86; recruitment, 152–4; social status, 154–5; spirituality of, 164–5; and women, 160–3, 168, 172, 174, 177, 179, 182–5, 190 prisons, ecclesiastical, 108, 110, 119, 163–4 prostitution, 137, 220, 260 Protestantism, patterns of in Coutances, 16, 232, 239–53, 282–3 Protestant Reformation, 3, 12, 29, 41, 42, 43, 61, 196, 230, 264 Protestants: beliefs of, 6, 14, 28, 232–4; clandestine, 16, 239, 247, 250–2; eighteenth century, 101, 181, 239; locations in Coutances, 20, 101, 218, 241, 247, 248, 251; numbers in Coutances, 237–9; relations with Roman Catholics, 38, 67, 70, 83, 119, 122, 137, 159, 161, 188, 207, 210, 211, 213, 224, 228, 257; seventeenth century, 81, 82, 238–9; sixteenth century, 28, 37, 66, 68, 69, 74, 97, 105, 110–11, 123, 201, 230, 235–8 purgatory, 12, 41–3, 46, 61, 74, 88, 170, 197, 204, 254 Quesnel, Margarin, 118 Questier, Antoine, 219 Quetil, Guillaume, 65, 66 Quibou, 98–9 Quietism, 81, 136, 165, 213

Index 367 rabbits, 34, 226 Ravalet, Jean de, 94–5, 157. See canons of Coutances Ravalet, Jean de, seigneur de Tourlaville, 131 Reformed Church. See Protestants relics, 41, 48, 49, 103, 198, 200, 205, 219 religion: defined, 13; patterns of practice, 15–16; practice of, 12–13 religion, official, 38–47 religion, unofficial, 38, 48–52, 83–4, 198, 218–19 religious, defined, 124 religious community, defined, 124 religious houses, 122–3 Restif, Bruno, 288n4 Rogation Days, 205 Roualt, Laurent, 236 Rouen: chapter, 367n44; diocese, 20, 263–4; pastoral visits, 263–4 Rovere, Giuliano de. See bishops of Coutances sacramentals, 41, 197–8 sacraments, 39–41. See also Baptism; Communion; Confession; Confirmation; Extreme Unction; Marriage; Orders Sacred Heart (of Jesus and/or Mary), 164, 168, 206 St-Fromond, priory, 133, 146 St-Gaud, 200–1 St-Germain-de-Tallevende, 21, 25 St-Laud, 200, 287n1 St-Lô, 21, 25, 27, 69, 135, 136, 137, 143, 146, 151, 154, 179, 180, 192, 210, 239, 244, 246, 248, 251, 256, 268–72, 274–6, 279, 282–3; and Protestantism, 236, 237, 238, 241, 245, 247 St-Michel-du-Bosq, priory, 133–4, 2 56

St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, 21, 125, 128, 151, 220, 227, 229, 244, 269, 271, 273, 280, 282 St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, abbey, 128, 141, 145, 146 St-Sever, abbey, 128–9, 141, 145 Ste-Catherine de la Perrine, priory, 133 Ste-Croix, abbey, 128, 129, 142, 143, 146 Ste-Marie-de-Hambye, abbey, 66, 67, 95, 128, 129, 130, 140, 141, 145, 158, 257 Ste-Mère-Église, 21, 238, 269, 271, 272, 273, 275, 279, 282, 328n14 Ste-Trinité, abbey, 68, 72, 77, 84, 122, 128, 129, 130–1, 140–1, 145 salt taxes, 30–1, 188, 211 Sauzet, Robert, 175 school for girls, 137, 138, 144, 213, 218 schoolmasters, 180, 181, 184, 213, 218 schools, 132, 136–8, 144, 217, 218, 221, 222, 238, 258, 261 Scientific Revolution, 196, 233 seaweed. See varech Sées: bishops (see d’Aquin, Louis); chapter, 367n44; diocese, 20, 261–3; French Revolution, 194, 261; pastoral visits, 261–3; seminaries, 6, 7, 8, 35, 52, 79, 87, 102, 106, 125, 135, 137, 143, 149, 153, 155, 158, 163–75, 206, 210, 217, 239, 252, 254, 259, 263 servants, 83, 85, 96, 100, 162, 172, 191, 200, 203, 207, 208, 242, 259 Sévestre, Émile, 187, 193–4 simony, 73, 170, 209, 228 sins: public, 220; sexual, 11, 208, 221–2, 250 600 Years of Reform, xv, 8, 290n22, 293n11, 294n28, 295n31, 295n4, 300n57, 318n67 skeptics, 7, 199 smallpox, 35

368  Index sodomy, 11, 208 sorcery, 45, 48, 51, 52, 198, 218, 261, 264 spirituality, French school of, 164 statues, 50, 82 Sulpicians, 165, 167 superstitions, 15, 16, 198, 205, 207, 240, 261 synods and synodal statutes, 44–6, 51. See also Avranches; Bayeux; Coutances; Évreux; Lisieux Tackett, Timothy, 154, 192, 240–1 Talaru de Chalmazel, Ange-François de. See bishops of Coutances tangue, 33, 226, 291n34 Tapié, Victor-Lucien, 187n19 taverns and cabarets, 7, 82, 85, 99, 100–1, 107–8, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 207, 208–9, 223, 242, 261 Thiers, Jean-Baptiste, 52 Thiéville, Guillaume de. See bishops of Coutances Third Estate grievances, 1789, 225–9 Tholon, Nicolas de. See bishops of Coutances tithes, 41, 44, 46, 66, 68, 70, 85, 91, 95, 97, 99, 111, 114, 120, 132, 144, 150, 160, 189, 197, 207, 226, 228, 230, 231, 236, 263. See also dime Tocqueville, 18, 224, 230 tonsure, 157–8, 167, 170, 173 Toustain de Billy, René, 16–17, 35, 70, 116–17, 157–8, 175, 236, 301n68 Tradition, 41–3, 233 transubstantiation, 205, 233 Trent, Council of, 29, 43, 71, 72, 91, 108, 133, 143, 148, 149, 161, 162, 163, 166, 192, 203, 264 Trinitarians, 133 Tronson, Louis, 165, 167, 168, 173 Ursulines, 135–6

Val-de-Vire, archdeaconry: map, 21; pastoral visits, 100–1, 179–82, 185 Vallées, Marie des, 164, 199–200, 209 Valognes, 21, 25, 35–6, 154, 253 Valognes, seminary, 169 varech, 33–4, 36, 226, 291n34 Varin, Jacques, 114. See also canons of Coutances Venard, Marc, 285n2, 285n3, 290n22, 295n29, 298n41, 318n67, 332n10 vicaire perpetuel, 150–1 vicars, 149, 150, 151, 152, 155, 156, 158–9, 171–2, 174, 177, 178, 181, 182, 184, 189, 191, 192, 212, 222, 227, 229, 236, 259 Vigne, Charlotte de la, 24, 26, 48, 126 Vikings, 24, 26, 48, 128 Villedieu, 21, 24, 25, 134, 237, 241, 251, 268, 271, 280, 283 Vire: river, 25, 33; town, 21, 23, 24, 135, 122, 128, 134, 136, 280 Voltaire, 234 Wars of Religion, 28–9, 68, 70, 74–6, 163, 214 weather, control of, 200–1, 256 weavers and Protestants, 235 wigs, 109 witchcraft trial, 219 witches, 198–9, 219 women and clerics. See priests and women women and Protestantism, 328n12 women: lay, 31, 35, 45, 83, 85, 87, 101, 110, 139, 141, 160–3, 168, 172, 174, 179, 182–5, 199–200, 208, 209, 211, 255, 260; religious, 24, 26, 48, 121, 126, 128, 131–8, 148, 164, 187, 191, 255, 256 Wraxall, Nathaniel, 32, 125 Young, Arthur, 32 Yvon, Claude, 307n51