Gargantua 2: religion and
reform
Plan of lecture
 Old-style religion: the Sorbonne and Janotus de
Bragmardo
 Monks: the siege of Seuillé and its aftermath
(Gargantua, chs 25/27 and 38-39 / 39 – 40
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Monkish traits
The example of Frère Jean
Evangelical / Protestant theology with respect to
monasticism
 Pilgrimages (Gargantua, chs 36/38 and 43/45)
 Gargantua eats 6 pilgrims – giant humour
 Parody of Psalm 124
 Religious freedom: Erasmus and radical folly
The trip to Paris
The Sorbonne at the time of
Rabelais
 All teaching done in Latin
 Faculties:
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Theology
Law
Medicine
Arts
 Anti-innovation; debate stultified; anti-
humanist
The Collège royal
 Founded by the humanist Guillaume Budé –
1530
 6 lecteurs royaux in
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Greek
Hebrew
Maths
Latin (eloquence)
A climate of tension
 1533 – Noel Beda (Principal of Faculty of
Theology, Sorbonne, banished for sedition)
 1533 – Sorbonne ban the Miroir de l’âme
pécheresse by Marguerite de Navarre (sister
of François 1er).
 (1534 – L’Affaire des Placards)
Giant humour: the theft of the bells
 ‘Les compissa si aigrement qu’il en noya
deux cens soixante mille quatre cens dix et
huyt sans les femmes et petiz enfans.’
 Parody:
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‘And those who ate were about five thousand
men, besides women and children’ Matt 14: 21
 ‘Elles [les cloches] serviroient bien de
campanes au coul de sa jument…’
Satire of Janotus chs 19 - 20
 parody – scholastic vocabulary
 Nos faciemus bonum cherubin (nous faisons
bonne chère)
 Vultis etiam pardonos – pardons /
indulgences
 Chlochidonnaminor nobis
 Parisius habet clochas. Ergo gluc.
 […] s’il ne vous faict tous vifz brusler comme
bougres traistres, hereticques et seducteurs’
A point of comparison?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PubPWu
EQp8
 Also see:
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Dorothy Coleman, Rabelais, pp. 105 -109
M A Screech, Rabelais, pp. 150 - 162
Monkish traits
Vows:
 Poverty
 Obedience
 Chastity
Role:
 To intercede for the
world through prayer

http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Image%20Collection/Ima
geCollection-00114.xml
The Monks of Seuillé: defensive
action
Monks’ response
Weaknesses displayed
 Prayers to saints
 Cowardly
 Processions
 Ineffective
 Chants
 Ignorant
 Auricular confession
(see Gargantua’s
response : chs 38/40)
Frère Jean’s characteristics
(ch 25/27)
 Benedictine monk
 Thin and amorous
 Big nose (drinks too much)
 Gallops through his offices (prayers, masses
etc)
 Greedy and lecherous
 Effective: takes action by fighting
 Heroic: ‘jamais Maugis, hermite, ne se porta
si vaillamment […] ‘
Plainchant
 For some examples of the kind of liturgical
chanting that the monks in Seuillé would be
practising, click on the examples below:
 Caritas pater est (Plainchant by Chant Group
Psallentes)-youtube
Criticism of monks in this period
Critics of monasticism
 Christian humanists:
Erasmus
 Evangelicals
 Protestants : Luther
Criticism levelled at monks
 Petty-minded
 Obsessed with rules
 Lack of piety
Criticism levelled at
monasticism
 Celibacy not superior to
matrimony
 Vows impossible to
keep
pilgrimages (chs 38/39 and 43/45)
The pilgrims
 Led by Lasdaller (‘tired
of walking…’)
 Prayers to Saint
Sebastien (whom they
believe has sent the
plague…)
Condemnation of
pilgrimage:
 Superstition: saints do
not send plagues
 Pilgrimages cause
neglect of family and
home
Criticism of Church by reformist
Catholics
 Erasmus of Rotterdam
(Holbein)
- Praise of Folly (see
electronic extract
available here
http://www2.warwick.ac.
uk/services/library/main/
electronicresources/extr
acts/fr/fr115
St Paul 1 Corinthians 1: 18
For the word of the cross is folly
to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is
the word of God.
Criticism of Church by reformist
Catholics
 François Rabelais (c.
1494 – 1553):
- Pantagruel
- Gargantua
- Le Tiers Livre
- Le Quart Livre
Criticism of Church by reformist
Catholics
Marguerite de Navarre, L’Heptaméron (1559):
 Poking fun at monks (ie: 41, 48)
 Serious demonstration of abuse of power by
monks and clergy (22, 23, 72)
 Explicit questioning of the theology which
venerates monks and clergy (23)
Criticism of Church by reformist
Catholics
Guillaume Briçonnet
 Bishop of Meaux
 Headed the Groupe de
Meaux (evangelical
humanist)
 Spiritual advisor to
Marguerite de Navarre
Protestant reformers
 Martin Luther (1483 –
1546)

Justification by faith =
central tenet of
Protestant theology
Protestant Reformers
Jean Calvin (1509 – 1564)
 Institution de la religion
chrétienne first
published in French
1541
Find out more about the Reformation
 A History of Christianity

Reformation: The Individual Before God
Available here:
http://bobnational.net/record/_pzIAjYKhy7p3iWIjI
BIbIR and on the Gargantua page
Research project
The court of François 1er: art, architecture and
leisure
The court of François 1er: women at court
L’Affaire des Placards
Rabelais, Erasmus and the Just War
Instructions
 Groups of 4
 6 minutes per group
 Use presentational tools
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Powerpoint
Prezi
Poster
mindmap