L’intellectuel en procès: le cas Robert Estienne

The name of Robert Estienne (1501–59), the great French humanist, printer and editor, as well as leading scholar in Latin and Greek studies, is associated with his exile from Catholic France to Calvinist Geneva around 1547. Ever since his departure, the question has been raised whether it was legitimate for the Royal Printer to leave Paris. Beyond the case of Estienne himself, who has come to be viewed as a symbol of religious persecution and a precursor of modern democracy, what is at stake is the complex relation of an intellectual to his society and his country, the writing of a national history filled with great and illustrious men, and the difficult duty of individual conscience.