François Hotman

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François Hotman on his deathbed, after Joos van Winghe

François Hotman (23 August 1524 – 12 February 1590) was a French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with the

monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' in English. His surname is Latinized by himself as Hotomanus, by others as Hotomannus and Hottomannus. He has been called "one of the first modern revolutionaries".[1]

Biography

He was born in

Seigneurie de Vaugien and Villers-St-Paul. His grandfather Lambert Hotman, a Silesian burgher, emigrating from Emmerich, (in the Duchy of Cleves), had left his native country to go to France with Engelbert, Count of Nevers
. His father Pierre was a lawyer, practising at the Paris Bar. Around the time of Francois' birth, Pierre was appointed to an official position in the Department of Woods and Forests (known as the 'Marble Table'). By this time, the Hotman family, that is, Pierre, his brothers and uncles, were one of the most important legal families in France.

Pierre, a zealous

Anne Dubourg under torture gained his adhesion to the cause of reform.[2]

Giving up a career on which he had entered with high repute, he went in 1547 to

belles lettres and history. He was made a citizen of Geneva in 1553, his eldest child Jean was born there in 1552.[citation needed] On the invitation of the magistracy, he lectured at Strasbourg on law in October 1555, and became professor in June 1556, superseding François Baudouin, who had been his colleague in Paris. He was a member, from Strasbourg, to the Colloquy of Worms on 11 September 1557.[2]

His fame was such that overtures were made to him by the courts of

Louis, prince of Condé. In 1564 he became professor of civil law at Valence, retrieving by his success the reputation of its university. In 1567 he succeeded Jacques Cujas in the chair of jurisprudence at Bourges.[2]

Five months later his house and library were wrecked by a

Privy Council of King Henry in December 1585. In 1589 he finally retired to Basel, where he died, leaving two sons and four daughters; he was buried in the cathedral.[2]

Works

Hotman was a home-loving and genuinely pious man (as his Consolatio shows). His constant removals were inspired less by fear for himself than for his family, and he had a constitutional desire for peace. He did much for 16th century jurisprudence, having a critical knowledge of Roman sources, and a fine

French law. His works were very numerous, beginning with his De gradibus cognationis (1546), and including a treatise on the Eucharist (1566); a treatise (Anti-Tribonian, 1567) to show that French law could not be based on Justinian; a life of Coligny (1575); a polemic (Brutum fulmen, 1585) directed against a bull of Sixtus V, with many other works on law, history, politics, and classical learning.[2]

His most important work, the Franco-Gallia (1573), found favour neither with Catholics nor with Huguenots in its day (except when it suited their purposes); yet its vogue has been compared to that obtained later by

representative government and an elective monarchy. It served the purpose of the Jesuits in their pamphlet war against Henry IV of France.[2]

Family life

He had seven children by his wife:

  1. Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich
  2. Theages d 1582
  3. Daniel, Prêtre de l'Oratoire d 1634
  4. Marie b 1558 Strausbourg
  5. Pierre b 1563, Counsellor to the King
  6. Suzanne married first to John Menteith of Scotland, and secondly to Antoine d'Ailleboust, counsellor to
    Henri II, Prince of Condé. Their son Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge, was the governor of New France
    1648-1651.
  7. Theodora m Jean Burquenon, Secretary of this same
    Prince of Condé
    .

Bibliography

  • A recent reprint of the 1705 English translation of Franco-Gallia:

François Hotman [1574] (2007). Franco-Gallia (Large Print Edition): Or An Account of the Ancient Free State of France. BiblioBazaar.

ISBN 978-1-4346-1376-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
)

  • A modern English translation and the original Latin text of Franco-Gallia:

Salmon, J. H. M.; Hotman, François; Giesey, Ralph E. (1972). Francogallia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

ISBN 0-521-08379-6
.

See also

  • Monarchomaques

Footnotes

  1. ISBN 0-465-02405-X
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Gordon 1911.

References

External links

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