Les Methodes de traiter des Controverses de Religion (1638)

Abstract

François Véron (1575-1649), an tireless controversialist and author of hundreds of works ranging from feuille volante to treatises, was denigrated by the opponents of his time and generally despised by historiography. His life’s work was a method of controversy against the Protestants, combining theory and practice, a method intended to be simple and universal, slowly refined from 1615 onwards and directly responsible for the discredit into which he fell, because it was denounced as simplistic. However, the 1638 edition of this method, several hundred folio pages long, was intended to show the degree of mastery he had achieved. An unusual object, this book represents a kind of finale to a long process, which Véron perceived as a definitive work that could serve as a tool for the past, present and future. In this sense, it can be said that this testing reading also teaches us a great deal about the author, whose life was so intimately linked to his professional activity. Véron has indeed thought up and published a kind of total treatise on controversy, which is certainly difficult to grasp and denigrate, but which has its coherence and which he feels has reached perfection after a quarter of a century of work and experimentation.

Keywords

• Protestants
• controversy
• Catholics
• Véron (François)