French State and Catholic Church, v.I: Revolution and Restoration, 1789-1870

The problem of Church/State relations in France fills 600 pages of Antinon Debidour's tour de force historical survey. This first of three volumes ending with the ultimate and definitive separation of Chruch and State in 1906 shows how France set an example of how a modern European and Christian nation state managed the secularization of society. Debidour was head of the history department at the University of Nancy, and was given unique access to the archives of the Ministry of Worship. His approach was in favor of the Republic, and was happily free from Royalist, Legitimist, or Ultramontane sentiments. Debidour's work has not been surpassed.

Major developments in this first volume include Church and State under the Ancien Régime; Secularization of the State under the Revoultion of 1789; Civil Constitution of the Clergy and confiscation of Church property; the Constitutional Church; the Refractories, Civil War in the West, and the Terror; Separation of Church and State; religion of the Supreme Being; Politics and Religion under the Directory; Bonaparte and the Concordat of 1801; Napoléon and resistance of Pius VII; Concordat of 1814; Restoration and the Concordat of 1817; Priest Party and Liberal Party; from Lamennais to Montalembert; Church and University; Rome expedition and the Falloux law; Pius IX to Cavour; Napoléon III, the Roman question and the Syllabus; Battle of Mentana and Vatican Council; Consequences of Sedan (1870).

Previous Frank H. Wallis translations:

Blanche of Castile, Queen and Regent of France, 1188-1252 (2015). From Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, Reine de France (Paris, 1895).

Charles VII. 6 vols. (2020-21). From Gaston Du Fresne de Beaucourt, Charles VII (Paris, 1881-1891).

Queen Margot and the end of the Valois, 1553-1615 (2021). From Charles Merki, La Reine Margot et la fin des Valois (1553-1615) (Paris, 1905).