Politique

Politique (French pronunciation: [pɔlitik]) is a term that was used during the sixteenth and seventeenth century Wars of Religion, to describe moderates of both religious faiths (Huguenots and Catholics) who held that only the restoration of a strong monarchy could save France from total collapse. It frequently included a pejorative connotation of moral or religious indifference. The term gained great currency after 1568 with the appearance of radical Catholic Leagues calling for the eradication of Protestantism in France, and by 1588 the politiques were seen by detractors as an organized group, and treated as worse than heretics. In early critical writings, the politiques (largely jurists and intellectuals) were sometimes confused with...