Conclusion

Whereas in the case of the Lutheran Reformation, Protestants clearly had the upper hand in the polemical debate with Catholicism, this statement needs to be qualified in the case of French Calvinism. Luther has been described by Reformation historians as a broker of modernity and often praised for his efficient use of the printed word in the vernacular. Catholics, on the other hand, are often depicted by the same historians as unable to exploit this new medium. ¹ Although this may have been true of the first half of the sixteenth century, it no longer applies to the latter half where Catholicism had had the time to catch up and strengthen its defences. By the time Calvinism started making inroads into France, the use of the vernacular and printing as a way of reaching the wider audience of those not literate in Latin was well established. Calvinism built on the strength of the Lutheran Reformation but its opponents had had more than 30 years to adjust to the new medium of religious discourse; a completely different situation from the Lutheran Reformation where the Reformers themselves encouraged the production of polemical pieces and vicious attacks against the Papacy. In France, the roles were reversed and it was the Catholic theologians, notably from the Faculty of Theology, who spearheaded the polemical efforts to debase Protestantism.