Politique
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
politiques 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 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. In early critical writings, the
politiques were sometimes confused with another group, the "malcontents". This was mainly because the first record of
politiques referred to those Catholics and Huguenots who opposed the founding of a Guise dynasty in France. They rallied against the Guise because King Philip II of Spain openly supported the Duke of Guise.