Le massacre est-il né aux guerres de Religion ?

Dans les débats publics de la Révolution Fran aise, le massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy constitue un symbole répulsif à travers lequel le régime monarchique et les passions confessionnelles sont stigmatisés. Cette mémoire est la marque d’un basculement dans les sensibilités face aux violences extrêmes ; son origine est repérable dès les troubles de religion, au XVIe siècle. Lors du procès des magistrats du Parlement d’Aix-en-Provence en 1551, accusés d’être les responsables du massacre de Vaudois de Provence en 1545, la notion de crime hors humanité appara t. Au cours des guerres civiles de Religion, le massacre s’avère une pratique admissible sous la plume des hommes de guerre, mais aussi, a contrario, un seuil intolérable à partir duquel les victimes justifient une guerre totale et exigent reconnaissance. Se constitue ainsi une nouvelle norme qui distingue des violences qui relèvent de l’état de droit théoriquement mesuré et celles considérées comme des exactions parce que les civils en sont les premières victimes. La législation des paix de religion en témoigne. In the debates taking place during the French Revolution, the Saint Bartholomew’s day massacre appears as a repelling symbol through which the Monarchy and the religious passions are stigmatized. This memory indicates a watershed in the perceptions of extreme violence; it starts during the 16th Century, as early as the Religious wars begin. In 1551, during the trial of Aix en Provence’s Parliament magistrates who were accused of being responsible for the massacre of the Vaudois of Provence which took place in 1545, the concept of crime “hors humanité” emerges. During the Religion Wars, murdering appears in the writings of warlords as an admissible practice but in the same time and contrarily as a threshold beyond which victims of a “total war” demand for recognition. Thus, a new norm comes up which distinguishes State-related violence, in theory measured, from violence considered as atrocities for civilians are its primary victim. During the Religious wars, the legislation issued during peace times reflects this trend.