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

The political turmoil of Louis XIII's early reign led to renewed efforts to police the book trade, but it also witnessed a golden age of libertine literature. Libertines and the Law examines the notorious trials of three subversive authors: Giulio Cesare Vanini, Jean Fontanier, and Théophile de Viau, who were executed for blasphemy, heresy, and obscenity. The trials are contextualized with a conceptual history of libertinism and an exploration of literary censorship and the criminal justice system in early modern France.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 14 October 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Following the assassination of Henri IV in 1610, Louis XIII's early reign saw a renewed effort to police the book trade. However, this period also witnessed a flourishing of libertine literature, characterized by sexually explicit and irreverent poetry as well as works that challenged the dogma of Church and State. As France moved towards absolutism, a number of unorthodox writers found themselves facing legal challenges. Libertines and the Law explores the notorious trials of three subversive authors.

Giulio Cesare Vanini, an Italian naturalist philosopher, was brutally executed in 1619 by the Parlement de Toulouse for blasphemy. Two years later, Jean Fontanier, a Jewish convert, was burned at the stake in Paris for authoring a text that refuted Christian teaching. Finally, the trial of Théophile de Viau, a renowned poet, for irreligion, obscenity, and poetic descriptions of homosexuality, proved to be a landmark in French literary and social history. Despite the poet ultimately escaping the death penalty in 1625, the trial marked a significant moment in the history of censorship in France.

These trials are contextualized with a conceptual history of libertinism, as well as an exploration of literary censorship and the mechanics of the criminal justice system in early modern France. Drawing from rarely explored archival sources, newly discovered evidence, and legal manuals, Libertines and the Law provides new insights into the censorship of French literature and thought from the perspectives of both the defendants and the magistrates. Through a diverse corpus including poetry, philosophical texts, religious polemics, Jewish teachings, and private memoirs, it sheds new light on this crucial period in literary, legal, and intellectual history.

Weight: 790g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197267004