Patrimony. Jean de Coras, Protestant councilor executed during the “Saint-Barthélémy Toulouse”
Through Toulouse editorial office
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Toulouse, on the night of October 4, 1572. Nearly 80 swordsmen break through the doors of the Capitol concierge, on the orders of Pierre Delpuech, a wealthy merchant and former capitoul. Protestant prisoners are executed one after the other. Among them, three advisers to the parliament: François de Ferrières, Antoine de Locger and Jean de Coras.
Hanged in their ceremonial dress
In the early hours of the morning, they are hanged in their abalone ceremonial attire from the courtyard of the parliament. A month earlier, on September 4, despite the commitment made by the Duke of Joyeuse, the governor of Languedoc, to protect the Huguenots, 300 of them are imprisoned. Toulouse, like most of the kingdom, is not immune to pressure from Catholics. After having procrastinated for a long time, King Charles IX ended up giving in to them and giving the conspirators a punishment.
A teacher recognized throughout Europe
Jean de Coras, one of the figures of the Calvinist movement in the region, nevertheless comes from a Catholic family from the Albigensian. The boy, who is born in Réalmont (Tarn) in 1515, to demonstrate, at a very young age, great capacities for studies.
At the end of the 1520s, he landed in Toulouse where he studied law. He counts among his teachers the eloquent Jean de Boyssonné, one of the greatest jurists of his time, friend of Rabelais, poet and maintainer of the Floral Games. The particularly precocious applicant, in turn, gave his first lessons in 1533, before attending the universities of Angers, Orléans and Paris where he taught canon law.
He left Toulouse a second time
In 1536, he left for Padua then for Siena where he obtained his doctorate. Back in Toulouse, the young professor fascinates thousands of students with his knowledge and his sulphurous critiques. The dogmatic guardians of the faith and the old barons of parliament seem relieved when the restless teacher once again leaves the city for Valencia in 1544.
His reputation kept enlightened sovereigns, like the Duke of Ferrara who introduced him to state affairs.
In 1553, he was charged with negotiating an agreement between the duchy and France. Impressed by his talents, the very influential Michel de l’Hospital assigns him a position of adviser to the Parliament of Toulouse.
The Martin Guerre case instructor
Cautious, he does not show his sympathies for the Calvinist camp in such a Catholic city. He refrains from appearing too much and is content to work on questions of justice.
In 1560, he was put in charge of the instrument, as a judge, of the relentless affair of Arnaud du Thill dit Martin Guerre, one of the greatest mystification cases of the Renaissance. He will be part of it in his memorable Arrest du Parlement de Tolose, published in 1572. During this decade, the tension between the two communities intensified.
In 1562, Coras narrowly escaped the massacre of May 1562 and recovered his property, between two moments of precariousness, in 1563 and 1570 when he spent most of his time on his property in Réalmont.
Mathieu Arnal
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