Gradually the principles of what is known as Gallicanism took definite shape, evea thus early. Throughout its long career, while recognizing in theory the primacy by divine right of the Roman pontiff over the whole Church, it yet asserted the independence of national churches, and espe cially that of France, in many details of local government, and held the exercise of Papal pre rogative to be limited by the canons and decrees of general councils. It must be added that while the Gallican theory to this extent claims an exemption from dependence upon the authority of the Pope, it acquiesces, on the other hand, to an almost proportionate degree in the assumption of ecclesiastical authority by the civil govern ment; indeed, in many of the details of its later development it falls into the extremest form of Erastianism, the doctrine of State supremacy in matters spiritual as well as temporal. The con flicting claims of the rival popes in the Western schism (see SCHISM, GREAT) tended to weaken the Papal authority, especially in France. The expedient adopted of calling a general council to pronounce upon the respective claims of the rival popes gave prominence to what became one of the leading tenets of Gallicanism, the supe riority in point of authority of the general coun cil to the Pope.
Some of the disciplinary enactments of the councils of Constance (1414-18) and Basel (1431 45) were mainly directed toward the limitation of the Papal authority in the exercise of Church patronage within the limits of the National Church. These claims of privilege culminated in the Pragmatic Sanction (q.v.), passed at Bourges in 1438 by a national council of the French Church in union with the King, Charles VII. This abolished Papal reservations, and re stricted appeals to Rome to causes maiores. Though Louis XI. attempted to repeal it, it was maintained in spite of Papal protests until 1516, when it was superseded by the Concordat of Bologna (see CONCORDAT) between Leo X. and Francis I. The most conspicuous alteration ef fected by the new compromise was the transfer of the right of nomination to bishoprics and other benefices eonsistoriaux from the eapitular bodies to the Crown, with a provision for Papal veto upon any choice which did not satisfy canonical requirements. It was substantially a triumph of the absolutist principle, as represented by the King and the Pope, over the constitutional, as embodied in the `Gallican liberties'; the uphold ers of the latter quoted it complacently as estab lishing them, whereas it was the most formidable blow which had been dealt at them.
Soon, however, new and more far-reaching com plications arose with the introduction of the prin ciples of the Reformation into France. The first Protestant place of worship in Paris was opened in 1555, at which time the adherents of the Reformation in the kingdom probably numbered about a million and a half. Beginning as dis senters on spiritual grounds, the Huguenots were soon driven by the force of circumstances into the position of a seditious faction whose activity threatened the peace and stability of the State. Their history cannot be properly understood un less this fact is borne in mind. The story of the wars of religion is strangely complicated by its bearing upon their progress. Thus the League, which took its rise from the strangely indulgent terms granted to the Huguenots by the 'Peace of Monsieur' in April, 1576, four years after the massacre of Saint Bartholomew (see BARTHOLO MEW'S, MASSACRE OF SAINT ) , was founded upon peculiarly assorted principles; politically it was democratic, while its religious views were the most ultramontane. At the time of its pre
dominance, after the 'day of the barricades' (May 12, 1588), the Huguenots became for a time the champions of order and constitutional authority; but the situation changed again with the con version of Henry IV. That sovereign, when he issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, was actuated not only by a general belief in toleration, but by his knowledge that French Protestantism was a struggle even more for political than for religious predominance, and his desire to bring that con flict to an end, in the interests of statesmanship, by depriving his Protestant subjects of any rea sonable pretext for disaffection.
With the cessation of civil strife, a remarkable outburst of religious life manifested itself. There was need for it; three-fourths of the parochial churches and a third of the episcopal sees were without pastors, and miserable disorder was to be seen everywhere. Now, in all directions, new undertakings multiplied—colleges, schools, hos pitals, congregations for the systematic training of the clergy, seminaries, and new monastic or ders or reforms within the old ones. The names of Saint Vincent de Paul, of Saint Francis de Sales, and his devoted associate, Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, of Cardinal de BOrulle, and M. Olier—of La Trappe and Saint-Maur and Port Royal—speak eloquently of the great wave of zeal which passed over the land in the first half of the seventeenth century. When, however, the death of Richelieu removed the great personality which had stood for order and unity, this fair picture was marred by a new ebullition of strife, which proved full of peril and disaster, in the rise of Jansenism and Quietism (qq.v.). Toward the close of the century, moreover, with the at tempt of Louis XIV. to enlarge the ecclesiastical prerogative of the Crown as he had increased its political authority, the principles of Gallican ism assumed an importance which may fitly be treated here at length. Controversy arose over his attempt to enforce the so-called droit de regale, based upon his claim to receive the reve nues of bishoprics during vacancies, and to ap point to all benefices in the bishop's patronage, not involving the cure of souls, which might fall vacant during the interval. An effort to exer cise this power brought on a collision between the Crown and certain bishops. Their metropoli tan decided against them, and they appealed to Rome, where Innocent XI. upheld them, much to the displeasure of Louis and the courtier eccle siastics. An assembly of the higher French clergy was convened to find a way out of the difficulty. At its opening Bossuet, just chosen Bishop of Meaux, delivered his celebrated dis course on the unity of the Church. It was clear that his intention was not to deny the headship of Rome in any sense, but merely to reassert what were considered prescriptive privileges; yet it is difficult to understand how the prelate who pro nounced so eloquent a defense of the rights of the Pope could, before the end of the assembly, have signed the Gallican articles.