The ''Satire Ménippée'' () or ''La Satyre Ménippée de la vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne'' was a political and satirical work in prose and verse that mercilessly parodied the Catholic League and Spanish pretensions during the

Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent ...

in France, and championed the idea of an independent but Catholic France. The work was a collaborative effort of various functionaries, lawyers, clerics and scholars. It appeared at a time that coincided with the ascendance of

Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

and the defeat of the League. The title derives from the classical Greek and Roman literary genre "

menippean satire The genre of Menippean satire is a form of satire, usually in prose, that is characterized by attacking mental attitudes rather than specific individuals or entities. It has been broadly described as a mixture of allegory, picaresque narrative, an ...

", a form of

carnivalesque The Carnivalesque is a literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. It originated as "carnival" in Mikhail Bakhtin's ''Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics'' and was further dev ...

literature in a free-form mixture of prose, verse and dialogue.

Mikhail Bakhtin Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (; rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Бахти́н, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bɐxˈtʲin; – 7 March 1975) was a Russian people, Russian philosopher and literary critic who worked on the phi ...

called the ''Satyre Ménippée'' "one of the greatest political satires of world literature".

Composition and historical significance

The ''Satyre Ménippée'' was written in 1593 and published in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in 1594 during the Etats Généraux convened in Paris by the leader of the Catholic League,

Charles, Duke of Mayenne Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne (26 March 1554 –3 October 1611) was a French noble, governor, military commander and rebel during the latter French Wars of Religion. Born in 1554, the second son of François, Duke of Guise, François d ...

. Charles hoped to get himself elected to the French throne in the place of the pretender to the throne, the future

. The work was conceived by

Pierre le Roy Pierre Le Roy (; 1717–1785) was a French clockmaker. He was the inventor of the detent escapement, the temperature-compensated balance and the isochronous balance spring. His developments are considered as the foundation of the modern precis ...

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

and

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the cardinal of Bourbon, during discussions with friends at the home of Jacques Gillot, canon of the

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Construction b ...

, in Paris. The work was written by Nicolas Rapin,

Jean Passerat Jean Passerat (18 October 153414 September 1602) was a 16th-century French political satirist and poet. Life Passerat was born at Troyes, on 18 October 1534. He studied at the University of Paris, and is said to have had some curious adventures ...

and Florent Chrestien, and edited/revised by

Pierre Pithou Pierre Pithou (1 November 1539 – 1 November 1596) was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus. Life He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young P ...

. The philosophy of the group around Pithou and Rapin, which formed the ideological motivation for ''Satire Ménippée'', was that of the "

Politiques During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ''politiques'' () were Western European statesmen who prioritized the strength of the state above all other organs of society, including religion. During the French Wars of Religion, this included m ...

" – moderate Catholics who privileged peace, conceived of a distinction between the State and Religion, and sought political accommodation with the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s. By the end of the civil wars, the "politiques" were the principal target of attack of the Catholic League.

Content

The work includes a description of a procession and all the forces of the League, a burlesque description of the opening of the États Généreaux, imaginary speeches by real personages such as the Duke of Mayenne, the legate of the Pope, and the cardinals Pelvé (attributed to Chrestien) and Aubray (attributed to Pithou), and a number of additional satires and epigrams. The writers paint the miseries of the nation and the blindness of their detractors, and they encourage an alliance of the people and the monarchy to save the nation. The comical and openly derisive brilliance of the work made it extremely popular at the time. Notably, Diderot's ''

Encyclopédie , better known as ''Encyclopédie'' (), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis ...

'' praises the work for its "singularity" and notes its usefulness to Henry IV.

Bibliography

Satyre Menippee de la Vertu du Catholicon d'Espagne et de la tenue des Estats de Paris, MARTIN Martial (édition critique de), Paris, Honoré Champion, 2007, "Textes de la Renaissance", n° 117, 944 p.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Satire Menippee Politics of France Political satire books French political satire French Wars of Religion Literary collaborations 1594 books

Composition and historical significance

Content

Bibliography

See also

References

External links