Everything about Fran Ois Hotman totally explained
François Hotman (
August 23,
1524 -
February 12,
1590), was a
French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with the
legal humanists and with the
monarchomaques, who struggled against
absolute 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 de
Villers-St-Paul, jure uxoris and Paule de Marle, heiress of the
Seigneurie de Vaugien and Villers St Paul. His grandfather Lambert Hotman, a
Silesian burgher, emigrating from
Emmerich, (in the
Duchy of Cleves), had left his native country to go to France with
Duke Englebert of Cleves, 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 the
University of Orléans. He obtained his doctorate in three years, and returned to Paris. The work of a practising
lawyer wasn't to his taste; he turned to
jurisprudence and literature, and in 1546 was appointed lecturer in
Roman Law at the
University of Paris. The fortitude of
Anne Dubourg under torture gained his adhesion to the cause of reform.
Giving up a career on which he'd entered with high repute, he went in 1547 to
Lyon. In the summer of 1548, at
Bourges, he married Claude Aubelin (daughter of
Guillaume Aubelin, Sieur de La Riviere and Francoise de Brachet). She and her father, like himself, were refugees. In October 1548 he moved to
Geneva to be
John Calvin's secretary. He went to
Lausanne, 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 at
Strasbourg on
law in October 1555, and became professor in June 1556, superseding
François Baudouin, who had been his colleague in Paris. He was a member, from Strasbourg, to the
Colloquy of Worms on
11 September 1557.
His fame was such that overtures were made to him by the courts of
Prussia and
Hesse, and by
Elizabeth I of England. Twice he visited Germany, in 1556 accompanying Calvin to the
Diet of Frankfurt. He was entrusted with confidential missions from the
Huguenot leaders to German potentates, carrying at one time credentials from
Catherine de' Medici. In 1560 he was one of the principal instigators of the
Amboise conspiracy; in September of that year he was with
Antoine of Navarre at
Nérac. 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 succeeded
Jacques 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, where
Michel de l'Hôpital made him
historiographer to king
Charles IX. As agent for the Huguenots, he was sent to
Blois to negotiate the peace of 1568. He returned to Bourges, but was driven away by the outbreak of hostilities. At
Sancerre, during its siege, he composed his
Consolatio (published in 1593). The peace of 1570 restored him to Bourges, whence a third time he fled the
massacre 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 the
duke of Savoy he removed to
Basel in 1579. In 1580 he was appointed councillor of state to
Henry of Navarre. The
plague sent him in 1582 to
Montbéliard, where his wife Claude died in 1583. Returning to Geneva in 1584 he developed a kind of scientific turn, dabbling in
alchemy and the research for the
philosopher's stone. He was admitted to the
Privy 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'd 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 the
Eucharist (1566); a treatise (
Anti-Tribonian, 1567) to show that French law couldn't be based on
Justinian; a life of
Coligny (1575); a
polemic (
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 a
representative government and an
elective monarchy. It served the purpose of the
Jesuits in their pamphlet war against
Henry 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 to Penelope 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 the Prince de Conde. Their son Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge, was the governor of New France 1648-1651.
- Theodora m Jean Burquenon, Secretary of the Prince 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:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Fran Ois Hotman'.
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