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We know of two versions of a singular memoir by the Huguenot pastor Pierre Du Moulin (1568–1658): one was published in the nineteenth century and the other is still in manuscript form. Each was written during a different period of the seventeenth century, and while these are the works of Du Moulin, the manuscripts are not in his handwriting. This article analyzes the idealized figure of the pastor that these versions formed and disseminated in France and in other countries where the Protestants had taken refuge. The study of these two versions of the memoir illustrates how gradually the exemplary figure of both a pastor and a believer was created. The comparison of the text reveals that this process of idealization was reinforced from one text to the other, thus linking the policy of repression carried out by the French monarchy, which reached its climax with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. It also shows the process of identity and memory building being carried out within the Huguenot community at the end of the seventeenth century.

Keywords: Pierre Du Moulin, Pasteur, Mémoires, Réforme protestante, Idéalisation

The true nature of the law of civil procedure in Québec sparks controversy both at the semantic and conceptual levels, be it from a doctrinal or jurisprudential point of view. The evolution of the law, the paradigm shifts within it, and the recent reforms to civil procedure in particular—effectuated by the adoption of a new Code of civil procedure—present an opportunity to reflect on its filiation.This article will explore the resurgence of Québec civil procedure's Romano-Germanic filiation by analyzing the historical development of the province's law and the reforms it has undergone. On the one hand, the founding of New France explains the direct line between its law and the Romano-Germanic legal family. On the other hand, Britain's conquest of New France explains the long dominance of common law principles in Québec civil procedure. Nevertheless, the long march toward the affirmation of its specific filiation began on the very heels of this conquest. Québec civil procedure's most recent reforms—notably the adoption of the new Code of civil procedure—suggest a resurgence of its Romano-Germanic filiation, beyond the law's generally-recognized mixity. Indeed, the new Code of civil procedure seems to enshrine autonomy, strong ties and an attachment to the civil law tradition and the Romano-Germanic filiation of the law of civil procedure in Québec.

In her memoirs, the Comtesse de Murat replies to the long list of misogynist accusations made in Abbé de Villiers’s Mémoires de la vie du comte D*** avant sa retraite (1696) by criticizing gender inequalities and by emphasizing female virtue. This article focuses on Murat’s positive representation of female friendship, whereby she denounces Villiers’s allegation that women’s affection is guided by greed. While Murat’s protagonist proves the contrary through her devoted comradeship with Mademoiselle Laval, not all female relationships in Murat’s memoirs are portrayed in a favourable light. The protagonist’s femme de chambre, for example, confirms Villiers’s critique of female covetousness and disloyalty. Even the relationship between the protagonist and Mademoiselle Laval is tarnished by sapphic allusions that are, however, outwardly denied. This article analyzes Murat’s paradoxical representation of women that builds on pro-feminist arguments by François Poullain de la Barre and Gabrielle Suchon. Yet, this paradox is lessened in Murat through the attribution of immoral acts to both sexes. Furthermore, the intimate connection between Mademoiselle Laval and the protagonist lends itself to a double entendre that advocates for homoeroticism and a preference for female-centred communities over heterosexual relationships.

Keywords: Querelle des Femmes, Comtesse de Murat, Female Friendship, Lesbianism

“It is so natural to think that it is color that constitutes the essence of humanity, that the peoples of Asia who make eunuchs always deprive blacks of their relationship to us in a more decisive way. The color of the skin may be judged by that of the hair, which among the Egyptians, the best philosophers in the world, was of such great consequence that they put to death all the redhaired men who fell into their hands.” This quote from On the Spirit of Law is famous. Montesquieu leaves no doubt as to the veracity of the facts he reports. According to him, in ancient Egypt, prevention against individuals convicted of the crime of having red hair bordered on genocide ! But our philosopher is not a man to treat erudition with casualness. Recorded as an exemplum a contrario, the absurd cruelty of the “best philosophers in the world” seems to be taken at face value, and the systematic extermination of redheads as a proven practice. The discrimination against redheads is ancestral : wickedness, lechery, felony, nauseating smell, demonic character, the avatars of prejudice are innumerable. This strange fascination – a mixture attraction and repulsion – has been perpetuated from century to century, almost everywhere in the Christian West, like a rumor that builds up and spreads, to the point of becoming an unanimously recognized, and in the end indisputable, truth. Was the XVIIIth century, the scourge of superstition and outrages against Reason, going to put a brake on the circulation of a received idea that was as stupid as it was unseemly ? Everything would urge us to believe so, if the return to the texts did not dampen the spontaneous optimism of the researcher and encourage him to exercise caution. How can one be a redhead in the Age of Enlightenment ? This is the question that this paper will try to answer.