Politique

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, politiques (French pronunciation: ​[pɔlitik]) were those in a position of power who put the success and well-being of their state above all else. During the Wars of Religion, this included moderates of both religious faiths (Huguenots and Catholics) who held that only the restoration of a strong monarchy could save France from total collapse, as rulers would often overlook religious differences in order to have a strong country. References to individuals as politique often had a pejorative connotation of moral or religious indifference. The concept gained great currency after 1568 with the appearance of the radical Catholic League calling for the eradication of Protestantism in France, and by 1588 the politiques were seen by detractors as an organized group and treated as worse than heretics.