Michel de L'Hospital, c. 1506–1573, A Humanist Chancellor of France in the Age of the Wars of Religion

Humanism, tolerance, fanaticism, civil peace and Wars of Religion, Fatherland and Faith: words that still resonate in our societies.
These themes already carried force and vigour — often tinged with blood — in the sixteenth century, the age in which Michel de L'Hospital, who had the fleur-de-lis in his heart, a virtuous and wise magistrate, attempted to calm the tragic quarrels tearing apart the kingdom of France.

In this context, this book presents the rare, complex and compelling personality of the illustrious chancellor in both his public and private dimensions — statesman, humanist, scholar, poet — and sheds light on aspects of his life that remain little known.
It plunges us into the history of France under its turbulent, legend-shrouded reigns: Francis I, Henry II, Catherine de' Medici, Charles IX. An era lacking neither glory nor splendour, yet convulsed by rivalries and discord, bloodied by civil wars and massacres in the wake of the Protestant Reformation.

During this period of great peril, certain episodes etched into collective memory have always provoked a shudder of horror: the Wars of Religion and their outbursts of barbarity, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The reader will observe the events, the figures, the various factions and their fratricidal struggles. They will also discover the originality of the great man's politics and the many attempts at religious reconciliation and the establishment of civil peace, of which L'Hospital, Chancellor of France from 1560 to 1568, was — by virtue of his strength of character and particular influence — a courageous and tireless architect.