Conversion and Coercion

Abstract

This article examines the conflict between two understandings of conversion: one which saw it as a voluntaristic transformation, free from compulsion and another which claimed that coerced conversions could be valid. Rival Catholic and Protestant churches believed that true conversion resulted from an individual’s search for truth while also recognising a role for constraint in maintaining conformity. Theological traditions underpinned both views. Catholics reconciled the contradiction by equating religious orthodoxy with political fidelity to the monarchy. Minority Protestants also insisted on their loyalty, but Louis XIV’s 1680s campaign to force their conversions provoked a crisis of conscience. Two sources from western France illustrate the impact of the campaign on individual consciences. The first, a memoir by the Protestant schoolmaster Jean Migault, reveals the tortured conscience of a forced convert. The second, the personal confession of Bishop Henri de Barillon, demonstrates how a prelate reconciled conversion and coercion. Together they show that neither side thought of conscience as free. Royal policy and confessional competition ensured that consciences were constrained to conform.

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