Une mise en scène de la justice royale du premier Bourbon : la cérémonie du « théâtre de justice » de Mantes de 1594 pour la condamnation des meurtriers d’Henri III

Abstract

Since the assassination of her husband, the king of France Henry III in 1589, Louise of Lorraine had been pleading with his successor, Henry IV for justice. The latter, who was trying to conquer his kingdom that was divided after the last religious war, organized an unprecedented ceremony in the history of French protocol: the “theatre of justice” in Mantes in 1594. Judicially pointless as the accused were not present, this demonstration was a grandiloquent answer to the Catholic League demonstrations in the always-rebellious capital. It allowed Louise to externalize a baroque emotional display and to publicly engage, though in vain, the new king in a continuation of the regicides and to legitimize his position as the first of the Bourbon kings and as a king of justice.

Keywords

• Henry III
• Henry IV
• justice
• Louise de Lorraine
• Jacques de La Guesle
• Louis Buisson