Editing Jansenism (section)

=== The conjunction of Jansenism and parliamentarism ===
[[File:Parliaments and Sovereign Councils of the Kingdom of France in 1789 (fr).png|thumb|'Parliaments and Sovereign or Superior Councils of the Kingdom of France in 1789']]

The [[Parlement|''parlements'' of the ''Ancien Régime'']], and in particular the [[Parlement of Paris|''parlement'' of Paris]], had long been defenders of [[Gallicanism]] against Rome. Since the beginning of the Jansenist controversy, the ''parlements'' tended to sympathise with Jansenists, reluctant to register the papal bulls condemning the movement.

This happened upon the promulgation of the bull ''[[Unigenitus]]''. The attorney-general [[Henri François d'Aguesseau]] considered the promulgation of the bull to be proof of the fallibility of the pope. He encouraged parliamentarians not to accept the bull and wait for a reaction from the bishops. It was necessary for [[Louis XIV]] to use [[letters patent]] to force registration of the bull. Despite this, the letters ''Pastoralis officii'' were not received in 1718, which alleviated the fears of the ''appelants'' in the short term.<ref name="Chantin-1996" />{{Rp|pages=40–41}}In fact, a ''[[lit de justice]]'' was required for the bull to be registered as state law in 1730, so great was the parliamentary resistance.

René Taveneaux,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taveneaux |first=René |title=La Vie quotidienne des jansénistes aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles |date=1985 |publisher=Hachette |language=fr |trans-title=The daily Life of Jansenists in the 17th and 18th centuries}}</ref> in his ''Jansenism and Politics'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taveneaux |first=René |title=Jansénisme et politique |date=1965 |publisher=A. Colin}}</ref> underlines the importance of Jansenist recruitment among the parliamentarians of the 18th century. According to him, Jansenism had a 'bourgeois base' which dated back to the 17th century, with the Arnauld, Lemaistre, Pascal and other families, who were considered '[[Nobles of the Robe]]'. Marie-José Michel also underlines the attraction of entire elite families to Port-Royal and Jansenism from the beginning of the movement, and speaks of a "proliferating Jansenisation of elites".<ref name="Michel-2000" />{{Rp|pages=366–386}}

Lucien Goldmann's thesis is that this was an expression of class spirit, which would have taken root during the [[The Fronde|Fronde]] along with a discontent regarding the centralising [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] monarchy. Faced with the growing power of the royal commissioners to the detriment of the officials (of bourgeois recruitment), the latter would have practiced increasingly anti-establishment 'critical retreat from the world'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldmann |first=Lucien |title=Le dieu caché, étude sur la vision tragique dans les Pensées de Pascal et dans le théâtre de Racine |date=1955 |publisher=Gallimard |location=Paris |language=fr |trans-title=The hidden god: study on the tragic vision in the 'Pensées' of Pascal and in the theatre of Racine}}</ref> Taveneaux moderates this interpretation with a [[Marxism|Marxist]] analysis of a 'meeting ground' between Jansenism and the bourgeoisie, arguing that the bourgeois noble was free under the Ancien Régime, detached from the seigneurial hierarchy, and that this individualistic situation, was, by some, easily associated with Jansenist morality, which preferred the development of the interior life in contrast to the splendour of [[Tridentine liturgy]], and a demanding moral rigorism rather than the easily accessible sacraments characteristic of Jesuit theology. The essentially urban basis of Jansenism also allowed this 'meeting ground' between it and the parliamentary bourgeoisie.
[[File:Christophe de Beaumont Colour.jpg|left|thumb|[[Christophe de Beaumont]] (1703–1781), archbishop of Paris, who instituted the 'confession notes' in order to rid the French [[Roman Catholic Church]] of Jansenist elements]]