Relious Riots in France
Religious riots in France during the sixteenth century were a direct result of the tensions between Protestants and Catholics. The rioters felt a sense of legality and legitimacy, and carried out their violent acts in ways specific to their own beliefs. Rioters legitimized their acts through feelings of religious duty and commitment. Riots occurred because numerous religious teachings to exterminate other denominations were interpreted as God's will. "If thy brother...entice thee secretly, saying Let us go serve other gods, which thou hast not known...thou shalt surely kill him... and afterwards the hands of all the people..." Such biblical passages wer
Rioters felt they were serving the community by ridding it of "the dreaded pollution" and that by doing so, were saving themselves from the wrath of God. " The Protestants also seemed to concentrate their attacks on the priests, monks and other clergy alone. And surely the barbaric and bloody executions carried out by the state encouraged an acceptance and enjoyment of violence. e used by both Protestant and Catholic priests as justification of violence. The Catholic riots on the other hand were marked by immense bloodshed, as they did not single out the Protestant leaders, killing any and all heretics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. The Protestants paid little attention to Catholic corpses, as they did not believe in p!urgatory. Almost every riot documented has a related disturbance, often occurring during denominational events, especially processions. The religious riots of sixteenth century France were not random acts of violence. In some instances magistrates could start the riots and more often were participants. The festive, colorful processions of the Catholics only maddened the Protestants who felt that the celebrations were abominations to their own doctrines, and must be quelled. As far as differences between the Catholic and Protestant riots, the latter were marked by large-scale destruction of Catholic properties, sensing danger in the "wrongful use of material objects. The government set an example to the people that certainly did not discourage riotous acts. Because of all the outside influences, rioters subconsciously dehumanized their victims and saw them only as devilish pollutants, resulting in a lack of guilt or shame. Rioters justified the legality and legitimacy of their violent acts through religious goals, government example and societal dehumanization, and had different riotous practices due to contrasting denominational beliefs.
Common topics in this essay:
Protestant Catholic,
Catholic Protestant,
Protestants Catholics,
,
catholic riots,
legality legitimacy,
religious riots,
sixteenth century,
violent acts,
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