Harlow's Day Massacre Analysis

The proverbial question, “Which came first the chicken or the egg?” is a difficult question to answer. Some say that the chicken came first because without a chicken, the reproduction of the egg is impossible. Others say that the egg came first because without it the chicken is nonexistent. However, there is a relation between the two and that is that they both have the objective of existing. Similar to the chicken and the egg, the church and state in sixteenth-century France share the same objective. However, in The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre A Brief History with Documents edited by Barbara Diefendorf, she demonstrates through collective documents published in the sixteenth century the unseen relation between the church and the …show more content…
Armies grew intensely that the government of France needed more money in order to support their armies and these warfare the state made the decision of raising taxes. This is the basic strategy that the state of sixth century France used to reinforce their authority, they took advantage of religious warfare and forced the people to paid higher taxes. By taxing the people of France, it enslaved the people of France of following every political event that the state brought upon them. If they refused the state would take away their societal freedom, such as protection from the state. However, the Catholic Church was not affected by this taxation , this privilege was gained from the services that the church does in order to help the state get authority from the people. First, they eliminate groups such as the Protestant who are starting to challenge hierarchies, this strategy of the state and the church is considered a win-win situation. Since, the Catholic Church is eliminating a religious group that goes against their so call “God” and as mention before, it eliminates the minority who try to go against the state. In other words those who are on top remains on the top and those who are in the bottom stay in the bottom, this method leads to an unclimbable social ladder. Cardinal Richelieu a chief minister announced raison d'etatre meaning “reason of state,” in other words he stated that all other interest are worthless if they do not benefit the state because “the state’s interest above all else.” This statement shows the audience how the state’s only priorities are those of gaining power that would only interest themselves and not the people. Also, the rise in military power in France was also shown by the outcome of certain wars that France participated such as the war against Spain which as an outcome