- François Hotman
François Hotman (
August 23 ,1524 -February 12 ,1590 ), was a French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with thelegal humanists and with themonarchomaques , who struggled againstabsolute monarchy . His firstname, is often written 'Francis' in English. His surname is Latinized by himself Hotomanus, by others Hotomannus and Hottomannus.Biography
He was born in
Paris , the eldest son of Pierre Hotman (1485-1554), Seigneur deVillers-St-Paul , jure uxoris and Paule de Marle, heiress of theSeigneurie de Vaugien and Villers St Paul. His grandfather Lambert Hotman, aSilesia n burgher, emigrating from Emmerich, (in theDuchy of Cleves ), had left his native country to go to France withEngelbert, Count of Nevers . His father Pierre, was a lawyer, practicing 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
Catholic and a counsellor of the "parlement " of Paris, intended his son for the law, and sent him at the age of fifteen to theUniversity of Orléans . He obtained his doctorate in three years, and returned to Paris. The work of a practisinglawyer was not to his taste; he turned tojurisprudence and literature, and in 1546 was appointed lecturer inRoman Law at theUniversity of Paris . The fortitude ofAnne Dubourg under torture gained his adhesion to the cause of reform.Giving up a career on which he had entered with high repute, he went in 1547 to
Lyon . In the summer of 1548, atBourges , he married Claude Aubelin (daughter ofGuillaume Aubelin , Sieur de La Riviere and Francoise de Brachet). She and her father, like himself, were refugees. In October 1548 he moved toGeneva to beJohn Calvin 's secretary. He went toLausanne , and was elected to that university in February 1550. There, on the recommendation of Calvin, he was appointed professor of "belles lettres " and history. He was made a citizen of Geneva in 1553, his eldest child Jean was born there in 1552. On the invitation of the magistracy, he lectured atStrasbourg onlaw in October 1555, and became professor in June 1556, supersedingFrançois Baudouin , who had been his colleague in Paris. He was a member, from Strasbourg, to theColloquy of Worms on11 September 1557 .His fame was such that overtures were made to him by the courts of
Prussia andHesse , and byElizabeth I of England . Twice he visited Germany, in 1556 accompanying Calvin to theDiet of Frankfurt . He was entrusted with confidential missions from theHuguenot leaders to German potentates, carrying at one time credentials fromCatherine de' Medici . In 1560 he was one of the principal instigators of theAmboise conspiracy ; in September of that year he was withAntoine of Navarre atNérac . In 1562 he attached himself to 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 succeededJacques Cujas in the chair of jurisprudence at Bourges.Five months later his house and library were wrecked by a
Catholic mob; he fled by Orléans to Paris, whereMichel de l'Hôpital made himhistoriographer to king Charles IX. As agent for the Huguenots, he was sent toBlois to negotiate the peace of 1568. He returned to Bourges, but was driven away by the outbreak of hostilities. AtSancerre , during its siege, he composed his "Consolatio" (published in 1593). The peace of 1570 restored him to Bourges, whence a third time he fled themassacre of St Bartholomew (1572). In 1572 he left France forever with his family, in favour of Geneva. He there became became professor of Roman law and published his 'Franco-Gallia' in 1573. On the approach of theduke of Savoy he removed toBasel in 1579. In 1580 he was appointed councillor of state to Henry of Navarre. The plague sent him in 1582 toMontbéliard , where his wife Claude died in 1583. Returning to Geneva in 1584 he developed a kind of scientific turn, dabbling inalchemy and the research for thephilosopher's stone . He was admitted to thePrivy 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.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 Latin style. He broached the idea of a national code of
French law . His works were very numerous, beginning with his "De gradibus cognationis" (1546), and including a treatise on theEucharist (1566); a treatise ("Anti-Tribonian", 1567) to show that French law could not be based on Justinian; a life of Coligny (1575); apolemic ("Brutum fulmen", 1585) directed against a bull of Sixtus V, with many other works on law, history, politics, and classical learning.His most important work, the "Franco-Gallia" (1573), was in advance of his age, and found favour neither with Catholics nor with Huguenots in its day; yet its vogue has been compared to that obtained later by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's "Contrat Social". It presented an "Ideal of Protestant statesmanship", pleading for arepresentative government and anelective monarchy . It served the purpose of theJesuits in their pamphlet war againstHenry IV of France .Family life
He had seven children by his wife:
#Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul , Count de Hotman d 1634. He married Renee de St Martin, the former lady-in-waiting toPenelope Devereux, Lady Rich
# Theages d 1582
# Daniel , Pretre de l'Oratoire d 1634
# Marie b 1558 Strausbourg
# Pierre b 1563, Counselor to the King
# Suzanne married first to John Menteith of Scotland, and secondly to Antoine d'Ailleboust, cousellor to thePrince de Conde . Their sonLouis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge , was the governor ofNew France 1648-1651.
# Theodora m Jean Burquenon, Secretary of thePrince de Conde .Bibliography
A recent reprint of the 1705 English translation of Franco-Gallia:
A modern English translation and the original Latin text of Franco-Gallia:
References
*1911
*D.R. Kelley, "François Hotman. A revolutionary's ordeal", Princeton 1983. ISBN 0691052069
*Bayle, "Dictionnaire"
*R Dareste, "Essai sur F. Hotman" (1850)
*E Grégoire , in "Nouvelle Biog. générale" (1858)See also
*
Monarchomaques External links
* [http://members.aol.com/davidbaud/hotman.htm Genealogy of the Hotman family]
*
* [http://www.constitution.org/cmt/hotman/franco-gallia.htm HTML of the English translation of Franco-Gallia]
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